Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8
If you’re paying attention, there’s a theme running through my posts this week. That’s one of limitations.
After spending three days talking about how I recognize that I can’t do it all, and how I need to focus on the main thing(s), I realize that there may be even more limitations.
For today’s illustrations, let’s talk about the yard. The backyard to be specific.
Because you know I never talk about or complain about my yard.
Please tell me that didn’t need a sarcasm tag.
If you’re new here, or if you really haven’t been paying attention, my yard is an absolute disaster. A good third of the back yard is still covered in leaves from last fall. The dry stream bed has been taken over by the neighbor’s ivy, and the front has lots of brown patches.
Have I mentioned that I live between two golf-course style lawns?
But this post really isn’t about complaining about the yard, well, except to say this.
I have realized that I’m not going to get it all done as quickly as I would like. I have realized that I will have to eat this elephant one bite at a time.
Did I mention that my elephant ears are coming up?
I digress.
I’ve accepted the fact that I can do about 15-30 minutes a day in the yard, and whatever gets done is what gets done.
Some days I think I can do more. But then there are days like yesterday when I mowed the backyard during lunch. It took 30 minutes.
It was all that I could do to get the mower back in the shed and get back to my desk.
Little by little.
Day by day if you will.
Or, to reference a 1970s sitcom, One Day at a Time.
I have not watched the reboot of One Day at a Time, but I do love Rita Moreno.
I am not looking for sympathy here.
I know that I am not alone.
I know that, in spite of the perfect life they may present on Facebook, everyone is fighting a battle of some sort.
The intensity of those battles may vary, but we’ve all go struggles.
As a person of faith I know that we struggle because this is not our home. Because at one point we took that wrong turn in the Garden of Albuquerque …er…Eden…and sin entered the world.
No, I’m not opening that statement up for theological debate, or ecclesiastical pointing of fingers. Do with it what you will. Just not here.
I know that I am very blessed. Even in the midst of all that is going on, I have a support system. I have people praying for me. I have excellent medical care. I have insurance.
I also have cancer. But I will not allow it to define or rule my life.
And let me stop here to say that I’m sure I’m not the only person you know with cancer or some other malady or challenge.
Call them. Text them. Email them. Send them a Hallmark card to show them you care enough to send the very best. Take them a meal. Clean up their yard.
Too soon?
I know this is circumstantial. This is for a season.
This too, shall pass.
It’s just very real right now. You are blessed with the opportunity to read all about it because it’s where I’m spending my days.
And, let’s face it.
It’s great material for another novel.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
WHAT I’M READING
RANDOM LINKS YOU SHOULD READ
Israel warns it has only just begun as it unleashes new air strikes in Gaza after Hamas fired 200 rockets and cross-border attacks left 24 Palestinians including nine children dead
Daily Mail
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the fighting could ‘continue for some time,’ claiming that Hamas had ‘crossed a red line’ by launching rockets at Israel. Read More.
Rep. Ilhan Omar accuses Israel of ‘terrorism’ following airstrikes on Gaza
New York Post
Members of the progressive “Squad” are coming out to accuse Israel of “terrorism” and calling for a shift in US policy toward the Jewish state — as tensions in the region reignite and Defense Forces respond to Palestinian militants showering hundreds of rockets over Israeli cities, including Jerusalem. Read More.
Ummmm…
Reporters Once Challenged the Spy State. Now, They’re Agents of It
Matt Taibbi
“That a media outlet founded in order to battle mass surveillance of ordinary citizens and to safeguard privacy rights is now trolling through stolen digital data of private citizens in order to expose and punish them for thought crimes and ideological dissent is as grotesque as it is ironic,” says Greenwald. Read More.
The Answer to DarkSide is Well Known
CDR Salamander
You should recognize this for exactly what it is; piracy. The cyber domain, a global common in a fashion, is not that different from another global common, the high seas. Human society has a template thousands of years old of this kind of crime. We also know how to solve it. Read More.
A Misleading C.D.C. Number
The New York Times
There is not a single documented Covid infection anywhere in the world from casual outdoor interactions, such as walking past someone on a street or eating at a nearby table. Read More.
PODCASTS I’M LISTENING TO
BENEDICTION
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26