A Puzzling Situation

 As one ages, it is common to see recommendations that mental acuity can be improved or sustained by doing puzzles.  I happen to like puzzles, so it doesn’t take much to convince me.  I enjoy Sudokus and logic problems, but my favorites are words puzzles.  When I discovered that I could get a subscription to New York Times puzzles without having to subscribe to the whole paper I jumped on it.

I typically start my day by doing the Mini-crossword, Crossword, Letter-boxed and Spelling Bee.  I don’t worry too much about the timing of the crosswords and whether or not I beat my previous times.  I try not to look anything up, but occasionally the Crossword has too much that relates to pop culture….names of movies or bands or performers.  I can’t be bothered with a lot of that, so I don’t allow myself to feel guilty for finding that information on the internet.  The Letter-boxed puzzle always recommends how many words to shoot for in solving it.  I challenge myself to do it in one less than the suggested number, and I almost always can.

That brings me to Spelling Bee with which I have a love-hate relationship.  I find it frustrating that it is frequent for me to come up with perfectly legitimate words that are not accepted.  I will type something in, and it is rejected…no points for that!  I will then open another window and check the word by doing a Google search…yup, I’m right, that is a word, and I spelled it correctly.  Why won’t the program accept it? 

I found this so annoying that I emailed the contact at the NY Times and asked about it.  I was informed that they don’t accept words that are part of some very specific body of knowledge.  This explanation doesn’t really satisfy me.  Sure, I come up with words that may be science or medicine related, but often they are words that I think lots of people know or are similar to words that are accepted.

For example…octane is accepted, but not octene.  Muriatic was not accepted, but muriatic acid is used in lots of home renovation projects. Aorta is OK, but not otic.  On more than one occasion the letters available have included Y and O, but yoyo is not OK.  In a total lack of logic, in today’s puzzle “nite” was acceptable, but “tonite” was not.

ARRRRGH!

This might not bother me so much if not for an embarrassing fact.  I can’t let go of the puzzle, until I reach “Genius” level….”Amazing” isn’t good enough for me.  Sad, but true.  If I can’t do it in one sitting, I go back throughout the day when additional words pop in my head until I am satisfied.  Yesterday standing in the line to vote, I suddenly thought of “definitive” which gave me lots of points in yesterday’s puzzle.

 I might be an addict.

Normally I do puzzles first thing in the morning, but today, I went on the Prayer Walk and then worked in the garden to avoid the heat later in the day.  I started the puzzles before lunch, but I was still working on them after lunch.  I actually fell asleep sitting up on the couch with my laptop on my lap, and my hands poised over the keyboard.  When I awoke, I had typed an entire line of the letter “O” and Bill was laughing at me.

Oh, yeah…I’m keeping my brain sharp!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

When Morning Dawns

 When morning dawns…

The clouds glow with vibrant color,

The world awakes from darkness,

The breeze blows fresh and clean,

The birds break into song.

 

When morning dawns…

The clouds will part and disappear,

The world will cast off darkness,

We will breathe an air refreshed and pure,

We will break into song with the angels.

 

When Morning dawns.

Grandmaster

 I do NOT play chess.  I know the names of the pieces, and at one time I knew how each piece moved, but I have never had any interest in the game.  I grew up watching my uncles staring at a chess board for hours at a time.  When I was quite young, my Uncle Frank informed me that I was a “smart little girl,” and he would teach me.  “No thanks!”  It was clear that the game just moved too slowly to suit me.

 I have two brothers younger than I am, who both played.  One still does and even goes to tournaments.  More power to him.  When my son was little, I played lots of games with him.  We would play softball, ride bikes, and at one time there were 57 board games in the house.  I would play most anything, but I did refuse to play football and chess.  I didn’t like Monopoly, because it sometimes took too long, but I would play it for his sake.

I have been trying to analyze recently why I don’t like chess.  Is it just that it moves so slowly?  I think it also has to do with strategy.  I enjoy strategizing when it has to do with planning something with a group or winning at something where I am playing against myself.  I even enjoy card games as a foursome.  But, using strategy in a head to head against another person seems to have a tinge of manipulation, and I abhor manipulation if it is an effort to one-up another person.

I know of someone who is a grandmaster.  He is patient when the game moves slowly, because he knows he will win in the end.  He does not plan a few moves in advance, but thousands of moves in advance.  He sets up the game not just to win, but for our good.  His manipulation is benevolent.  His opponent doesn’t see the ultimate move coming until it is too late.

Right now, we are in a chess game which, I think, is nearing completion.  We are in the end game.  The Grandmaster of the universe is moving the pieces into position for His glory and our good.  The enemy of our souls doesn’t see the big picture.  He is seemingly winning some individual moves…taking out some pieces…but soon there will be a checkmate and the winner will be obvious.

This is a chess game I can enjoy watching.  I stand in awe.

Lift the Torch

 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.  Isaiah 50:11

 

I lift high the torch of my own accomplishments.

Of my talents,

Of my intelligence,

And great wisdom.

 

As I encounter the winds of life, my torch

Flickers,

Sputters,

Fades to an ember.

 

Criticism by others and self-doubt, leave my torch,

And my soul,

In a sodden

Miserable heap.

 

Compared to the torches of others, my torch

Is but a spark.

Compared to the sun

It is nothing.

 

I stumble in darkness.

 

But, into my hands is placed another torch,

The Light of the World,

He in whom is

No darkness.

 

Lift high the Light!

 

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  John 1:4

No, Nancy, it is not Mother Earth who is angry!

 Nancy Pelosi says that, “Mother Earth is angry.”

I find it fascinating that instead of indicating that God might be at work, people anthropomorphize “Mother Earth” or “Mother Nature.”  We all know that these mythical beings are not real, but people can be so desperate not to get caught admitting that there may be a God at work, that they try to give thought and emotion to mythical constructs.

The world is currently a mess.  We want to blame everything and everyone rather than realizing that it is God who is angry about our sin.

Wild fires?  Climate change

Hurricanes?  Climate change

The pandemic?  The Chinese

Race Riots?  Law enforcement discrimination

Locusts in Africa?  Probably climate change too.

Explosion in Beirut?  Careless government

Political upheaval?  The Democrats or the Republicans, depending on your perspective

From Hebrews chapter 10:  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood…that sanctified them…? It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

From Romans chapter 2:  …as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

What we are seeing now is just the beginning.  I suppose for those who don’t believe in God, it seems like I have gone off the deep end and next thing you know, I will be walking around dressed in sackcloth, carrying a sign that says, “REPENT FOR THE END IS AT HAND!”  This post is an attempt to do that virtually.

WAKE UP!

Excerpt from Matthew 24, Christ is speaking to his disciples:  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation…There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All of these are the beginning of birth pains…. False Messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive…the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky…and all the people of the earth with mourn when they see the Son of Man coming…with power and great glory.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  But about that day or hour no one knows…only the Father.  …keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

If our current situation doesn’t get our attention, I’m not sure what will.   Revelation 8:10 does predict “a great star, blazing like a torch” falling from the sky.  Meteor?  Asteroid?  I don’t think that could reasonably be explained as “Mother Earth” being angry.  Will that wake people up?  I doubt it.  If you don’t want to believe in a sovereign God, there are loads of ways to delude yourself and explain away frightening occurrences.

There is no “Mother Earth.”  There is a God who is sovereign in the affairs of men.  He can take situations which seem truly awful and use them for His glory.  He will bring about His purposes no matter how badly the forces of evil try to prevent them.  God’s mind is not only superior to ours.  It is superior to that of Satan and his cohorts.  When Christ was crucified, the Devil thought he had won.  It wasn’t until the resurrection that he realized that it was God who had won the ultimate victory.

God is trying to get our attention through the circumstances going on around us.  The Devil thinks he is winning.  He is not.  You may think we are not seeing the hand of God…that what we are experiencing is climate change or poor government or a host of other causes.  Don’t be mistaken, God uses such things.  We need as individuals, as a nation, as a human family to come to a place of repentance.

It is, indeed, a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Trump and the Nobel

 When I woke up this morning and checked the news, I was astonished to see that Trump has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.  I looked to make sure that the source wasn’t the Babylon Bee.  When I realized it was one of my regular news sources, I thought, “Oh, Wow!  Here it comes…a deluge of negativity!”

Every time I try to put some comments out there to balance the negativity against Trump, I get accused of being a supporter.  I do NOT like Trump as a person, but I suppose that I am a supporter in the sense that I don’t like to see him accused unfairly, and I think that often happens.

Before Trump was even a candidate for anything, I mentioned him in a blog post I wrote, as an example of ostentatious display of wealth in a world…and even a nation…where poverty exists.  During the primaries, I wrote a post in which I hoped with all my heart that he and Hillary would not be our choices.  But, once the man was president, I thought we ought to give him a fair chance.

I was appalled that no matter how qualified the people he appointed to positions were, the liberal camp found a way to shred them.  I was disgusted to hear him referred to as “the orange one.”  Would liberals have tolerated Obama being called “the black one?”  I tried to point out that when you criticize a person on every little point, you lose your credibility when you criticize them on the larger more significant points.  Yes…criticize him…but do it over something valid and significant.  I had someone “unfriend” me, because I either didn’t explain myself clearly on this point, or he/she didn’t understand what I was trying to say.  Or perhaps, Trump made the person so angry that the lashing out was just irrational.

Trump is a divisive figure.  He is rude, narcissistic and indiscreet.  But, he is not the first president we have had to be rude, even crude. (I have read that LBJ referred to his penis as Jumbo and sometimes displayed it.)  Most people who rise to this level of power are a tad narcissistic.  Most are not so indiscreet.  (Kennedy and Clinton attempted to hide their sexual dalliances.) Most have managed to hide their sins and personality flaws.  Unfortunately, we now have Twitter, and a world full of people, including our president, who think that everything they think (or eat) is of great interest to the rest of the world.  Things tumble out in the moment unfiltered.  Lots of people do this…but lots of people aren’t the POTUS.

The media are not the least bit helpful in gaining an accurate picture of what Trump has actually done.  Currently he is being criticized for saying that war heroes are “losers and suckers.”  We have all heard him refer to people as “losers,” and even disparage John McCain.  I don’t think we have actually heard him refer to our war dead as “losers,” but the liberal media is inclined to believe it.  Meanwhile, conservative media outlets have countered with numerous sources that say this is absolutely not true.  Interestingly, the liberal camp is keeping its source(s) anonymous, while the conservative side is naming theirs.  Truth???  How can we possibly know?

So, how can we know through the media whether or not Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?  He has been nominated by a Norwegian parliament member for brokering diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE.  This has, heretofore, been barely mentioned in the mainstream media.  They are too busy with the covid pandemic, and the BLM protests and counterprotests, and the California wildfires which are, they assure us, caused by climate change.  Whether Trump actually wins the prize remains to be seen.  The nominator believes he is more deserving than Obama was.  (Gasp!)

I am heartsick over the venom being spewed by both the supporters and detractors of Trump.  He is someone who cannot and will not be ignored.  But, neither party gave us a stellar choice last time, and they aren’t doing so this time either.

Many years ago, when I was an instructor in a school of Nursing, a person was brought in to do group sessions with the students.  I was not privy to what went on there, but I got the impression that the students were encouraged to be open in their criticism of each other.  One of the other faculty members made the comment, “When he is done encouraging them to tear each other apart, who is going to put them back together?”

When we are done tearing each other apart, who is going to put us as a nation back together?  I fear that no matter who wins the upcoming election, the tears in the fabric of our nation will be deeper and wider.  Whether or not Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t really the issue.  Who will bring peace to us personally and as a nation?

 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:27

The Shroud

 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations, he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces...Isaiah 25:7,8

I can see it coming slowly closer.  It drifts toward me.  Sometimes its movement is barely perceptible; other times it seems to descend rapidly.  I know that one day this black sheet will cover and entangle me.  It will impede my movements.  I will not be able to reach out toward my family and friends, because it will bind me.  It will muffle my cries and laughter and whispers and songs, so that no one else can hear them.

The shroud is enormous and all encompassing.  I realize that it will not only envelope me, but all those that I love.  They too will be wrapped and bound in its folds.  I want to protect them, but I do not even know how to save myself from its steady descent toward me.

My mind and soul are filled with dark and depressing images. Is there no help?  I weep in despair and cry out for someone to intercede and stop the inevitable.

But what is this?  By a miracle I do not understand, the shroud begins to retreat!  It is gathered up, wadded up, and cast away by someone whose face radiates love.  He reaches down and with the sleeve of his own garment wipes the tears from my face.  The fabric of death is gone.  The fabric which covers him is dazzling, brilliant white.  For the first time, I see all things clearly, and I bow before him.