A day off for ear infections

Hello,

My ear has become hostage in a tragic plight against an infection.  No, not really - really it's just a beginning of an ear infection.  But, I'm taking the day off to give my head a break.

Hope you all have a great day!

Listening with Two Healthy Ears

The last week or so, my right ear has been clogged up.  Feeling like an ill fitting ear plug has been inserted in the ear, I can hear though sounds are a bit muffled.  I have grown more and more frustrated with this as the sounds around me are not heard as easily as they usually are.  Holding one hand over my left ear, I try and listen with the right and notice how sounds are still there just a bit dimmer. 

A clogged ear is frustrating enough in the real physical sense.  It impedes in conversation, hurts my head, and my hand keeps finding it’s way over to my ear and rubbing around my ear to see if I can relieve the pressure. 

A spiritually clogged ear is not only frustrating, but can be dangerous.  It can be so hard to hear God midst the sound of every type of media that is available, but when our hearts are hard it leads to clogged ears.  What can that do to us?  If we can’t hear God’s direction, we can head in the wrong direction, getting lost in the process.  Sometimes, we misplace the task that God has given us, putting it up on the shelf and collecting dust when we should have it out and working.  I think about a time in my own life that I had clogged spiritual ears.  My listening was full of grad school, friends, church, work, family; they weren’t bad things, but all busy, noisy, demanding things.  I had a conflict that needed to be dealt with and just didn’t know how.  Mulling this over and over and over in my mind, I would pour out my heart to God.  But, I didn’t hear the answer until my ears were unclogged.

There is a little bottle of swimmer’s ear drops in my bathroom, sitting on the counter.  It hurts just a bit as the drops sit in the ear, a sting which can be felt all the way through my ear and into my head.  Ouch!  I know that the liquid stinging inside my ear will help it heal and soon my hearing will be back to normal.  I have to take my medicine to make it better.  Often with spiritual ear clogs, it works the same way.  Something will sting as God starts clearing away the blockage.  Little by little the medicine of the ultimate Healer works and our hearing is returned. 

How are your ears today, do you need to borrow some swimmer’s ear drops?

The Exercise of Assumption Jumping

Turn on the news and you will catch snippets of events that are completing changing the lives of people.   Thirty seconds and you can very easily assume that you know all there is to know about the matter.  I think, I can’t believe that they, I would have, etc…  What wonderful exercise we can get from jumping from assumption to assumption. 

Some of you might be familiar with the news broadcaster Paul Harvey, who so famously would conclude his last point with a new plot twist or change after stating, “and now for the rest of the story.”  In other words, the first information you received was just that, first information.  But there is more! 

I think that God is a lot like that.  He gives us a little piece of information and we think that we have got a good grasp of what that means.  Then, God sits down to broadcast the nightly news and we hear that we really haven’t heard the whole thing. 

I think about what God has communicated to me through his Word, through prayer, and through the Holy Spirit.  It is my human side that starts thinking – okay God, thanks for the information.  I can take it from here.  But, just as soon as I jump on that particular conclusion, I find that my assumption was just that – my assumption.   

As the New Year is approaching, I am going to endeavor in the New Year to strengthen my leaning skills.  In other words, I am going to work on leaning on God more and jumping to assumptions less.  What do you need to start working on?

The Great Debate

Every year people seem to have an opinion on the Great Debate.  They argue over it, discuss it, shake their heads, act in agreement, read articles about, and plan for it.  What could this debate be about?  What could possibly evoke such feelings and opinions – politics, religion, family, medicine?

No, it’s when the Christmas decorations should go up and when they should come down.  Every year, I hear comments and tut tuts from people who disapprove of when the stores start putting out their Christmas displays.  After Thanksgiving, before Thanksgiving, the week after that, and for a few grumpy Scrooges – never!  There are just so many opinions and I think it’s rather funny. 

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!" (Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol).

Take down your decorations, put up your decorations – just remember to honor Christmas in your heart.  

There’s No Such Thing as Too Many Books

I love to read and do wear a sweatshirt from time to time, which proudly proclaims that there is No Such Thing as Too Many Books.  Well, okay maybe there is, in the total extreme.  However,  it would take lots and lots of books to get there.  What is it about these books though?  What can be captured in words that grabs the attention of the reader; inspiring, teaching, comic relief, worlds of words of imagination.

One of the books that grabs my attention the most are those by Tolkien.  I admire his writing, the creative ability that he used to make a world in his mind and heart and come to life for so many.  It is in the winter that I find myself turning back to those familiar pages.  First, there will be Bilbo and his story.  The shiver of the Iowa snow will be replaced with the warmth of the Hobbit gardens.  Then, the Lord of the Rings will follow next.  The stories always catch my attention and every year brings something new to mind. 

I think in the next few days I will start cuddling up with my books, a warm blanket, and let my imagination wander.