The Write Side of My Brain – Page 153 – Creating the Things, Making the Art, Doing the Work

By Mike in Life

February 2, 2022

The first Groundhog Day was observed on this day in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It’ll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields… and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Somewhere in Pennsylvania a varmint is removed from a box and held high for all to see. There are those who believe that the varmint will predict weather patterns for the next six weeks. Six more weeks of winter, or spring is on the way.

Spring will arrive in six weeks, no matter what the varmint says.

Granted, Spring can still be cold. But the birds will be retuning. The jonquils will be peeking out of the ground.

Bring it on.

Renewal. Revival. Recovery, if you will.

I’m ready.

Last night, the wife and I saw the touring production of Come From Away. It’s the award winning musical that tells what happened in a small town in Newfoundland when some thirty-eight planes and seven thousand people were diverted there with the airways were closed on 9/11/2001. A beautiful show that tells of the human spirit of compassion and giving, and a good bit of endurance.

Before the show we were trying to remember the last time we were at that theater. Sure, we’ve seen a lot of local productions. Well, before the pandemic we were seeing a lot of local productions. And we’ll be seeing a lot more in the coming weeks as theaters have returned.

Even with having to mask up and show our vaccination cards, it was good to be back.

It was good to remember that there are good people in this world.

It’s also good to remember that, regardless of what the rodent says, spring is coming.

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Atif Qarni’s Alternate Universe
Bacon’s Rebellion

‘We Failed’: Danish Newspaper Apologizes For Its COVID Coverage
FEE Stories

Evangelicals Behaving Badly and the Problem of ‘Silent Evidence’
Dr. Kevin Brown in Firebrand

Johns Hopkins Researchers: Lockdowns Had Little Impact on COVID Deaths
NewsMax

Opinion: Youngkin’s biggest issue is abortion, not masks
Norm Leahy in The Washington Post

BORN ON THIS DAY

1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)

1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)

1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist

1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)

1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer

1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman

WHAT I’M READING

BENEDICTION

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21

Gifts We Didn’t Ask For

By Mike in Featured

February 1, 2022

Background vector created by starline – www.freepik.com

Dateline February 1, 2022.

It’s the shortest month that sometimes feels like the longest.

I like February because it means that March, a.k.a. the day when Spring returns, is not that far away.

If we can just get that silly groundhog to cooperate tomorrow, we’ll all be just fine.

A moment for writer’s true confession. While I try to make my posts sound current, I like to write them a day or two, sometimes even a week, ahead of time.

This is not one of those times. I went to bed last night and had to send myself a note on my phone that basically said “crap, I don’t have a post for Tuesday morning.”

But one of the “gifts” if you will from Last Summer’s Unpleasantness (TM) , is occasional insomnia.

So, this morning around 3:00 a.m. I was awake and scrolling through social media.

I posted to Instagram, as I often do, the daily verse from my Bible app. They provide handy little graphics that you can edit to your personal taste.

Today’s verse:

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalms 121:2

I don’t post every verse because I don’t want to seem preachy. At the same time, I’ve had friends thank me when I do share. So, I shared it to social media thinking that no one was up, but that they would see it the morning.

Almost immediately I had a private message from a friend who had thanked me for the verse.

Details aren’t important, but he needed to share about some medical trials he is facing. Knowing that I’d had

Mug Shots

my own year of discontent, he felt free to share.

I’m glad he did. We had almost two hours of text exchanges talking about health, life, and some fine memories from over four decades ago.

I’ll fully admit that the insomnia frustrates me. It’s 5:30 now and I’ve been awake for two and a half hours.

And when I signed off the conversation, both dogs needed to go out. Of course they did.

This morning was, if you’ll allow me to use the term, a divine appointment.

I think we probably have more of those than we realize. I’m just glad I didn’t miss this one.

It was like opening one of those Christmas or birthday gifts and thinking “why on earth did they think I needed this?” and realizing that perhaps it was exactly what you needed.

I didn’t think I needed to be awake at 3:00 a.m. But I did.

In talking to my friend I realized that as sucky as this year has been so far, we’re all facing challenges.

I don’t know that I offered anything other than a listening ear. Sometimes, that’s all that’s needed.

As much as I would welcome the gift of sleeping through the night, something I’ve not done for over a year now, I’m glad I missed some sleep this morning.

It was the gift I didn’t know that I needed.

Today is also the beginning of Black History Month. No lectures. No pontifications.

Just a little encouragement to step back from social media and maybe go learn something from someone who sees things differently than you do.

I’m off to do that and then look for groundhog recipes. Just in case.