i've decided that my mind is sort of like a dragonfly that's just taken two caffeine pills and wahed them down with a bottle of vault. it doesn't ever stop doing things (terribly annoying sometimes), but here's why i'm writing about it:
lots of the time when i relate to brothers (or people in general) i like to make contingency plans for what would happen if...(insert something good or bad or neutral or whatever) or i'll try to piece together lots of things and get inside their heads and figure out their motives and intentions and everything else that i can about the way that they're thinking and why they're thinking that way (mmm...yeah, i'm a woman, what can i say? lol) my brain runs in circles and hovers for 5 seconds, skitters away, comes back, buzzes away again, like that demented dragonfly we talked about earlier. and then, eventually, i'll figure everything out (or at least everything will fit in a nice, satisfying order).
haha! i understand men! yep.
oh wait no. inevitably as soon as i think that i grasp how to relate with my brothers perfectly one of them (at least one) will do something that catches me completely off gaurd and i'll realize that all of the workings of my frantically fluttering dragonfly brain are just a silly illusion. i can't understand men! i most certainly can't understand christian men because they have the Holy Spirit inside of them and He's totally beyond my comprehension. all i can do, i guess, is love the brothers around me like a good sister should; luckily, that's something that i'm incredibly happy doing.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
hummingbirds...the sequel
i really did spend too much time this summer watching hummingbirds. one thing in particular that really bothered me was the mean bird. this hummingbird even looked mean. it had a black head, beak, wings, back, and tail, a white stomach, and a bright red throat so that it looked like it was wearing a black cloak with a red brooch. this hummingbird was constantly hovering around the feeder and chasing away all of the other birds.
i spent so much time devising ways that i could capture this mean bird. finally, i settled on a satisfactory trap idea...but it's too complicated to explain and i never actually put it into action.
why did i dislike that hummingbird so much? well, that bird reminds me of me at my worst. i dislike me at my worst.
our feathered friend was trying very hard to control his surroundings and he got terribly upset when he wasn't in control. also, he forgot to care about his fellow birds and ended up being very selfish in his relationships with them.
yep. i can be like that. much more often than i'd care to admit.
in relation to anyone this attitude is harmful, that includes in relation to my brothers. i don't want to be a mean hummingbird in a shadowy cloak. i should ask Jesus to help me have the attitude of a good sister rather than the attitude of a rude bird.
i spent so much time devising ways that i could capture this mean bird. finally, i settled on a satisfactory trap idea...but it's too complicated to explain and i never actually put it into action.
why did i dislike that hummingbird so much? well, that bird reminds me of me at my worst. i dislike me at my worst.
our feathered friend was trying very hard to control his surroundings and he got terribly upset when he wasn't in control. also, he forgot to care about his fellow birds and ended up being very selfish in his relationships with them.
yep. i can be like that. much more often than i'd care to admit.
in relation to anyone this attitude is harmful, that includes in relation to my brothers. i don't want to be a mean hummingbird in a shadowy cloak. i should ask Jesus to help me have the attitude of a good sister rather than the attitude of a rude bird.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
fluffy grass and soft pine trees
"Brave men are vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle. But these modern cowards are all crustaceans; their hardness is all on the cover and their softness is inside. (G.K. Chesterton's The Prehistoric Railway Station)
i live in a very interesting place. the campus of ashland university is probably one of the softest, least threatening places on the planet. i could almost go so far as to call it fluffy. we even have fluffy grass, as i discovered today. so, mixed with my discovery of soft pine needles last year, i could be tempted to think that all plants on campus are safe and harmless. i probably would think this if there weren't also spiky pine trees and sharp grass on campus.
however, though you might think this by now, this blog is not about plants...it's about our brother in Christ. God has gifted me with particularly wonderful brothers who work very hard to be helpful and not sharp or spiky, which is wonderful! but what should i do when i come across sharp and/or spiky brothers?
well, i should love them like they're my brothers (because they are) and like they're beautifully complicated masterpieces of the Lord Most High (again, because they are). maybe it would also be good for me to pray...lots (because talking to God is a good thing :) and to try really hard and pray really hard to see them in the way God does. it would be helpful too to look for ways to be a good and helpful sister and to "heap coals of fire on his head" by being extra kind and considerate. finally, i can be thankful (i guess...) because if all brothers were good and wonderful then i might think that all men are too and that is certainly not true (i really wish it was :-(.
i think that mean people are normally mean because they're hurting, or afraid, or lost, or insecure. so mayhaps i should work really hard to see past the reaction of a brittle and maybe even poisonous exterior and see the person God created underneath...though i hope very much that all of our brothers in Christ will be kind, helpful, strong, and good men of God.
i live in a very interesting place. the campus of ashland university is probably one of the softest, least threatening places on the planet. i could almost go so far as to call it fluffy. we even have fluffy grass, as i discovered today. so, mixed with my discovery of soft pine needles last year, i could be tempted to think that all plants on campus are safe and harmless. i probably would think this if there weren't also spiky pine trees and sharp grass on campus.
however, though you might think this by now, this blog is not about plants...it's about our brother in Christ. God has gifted me with particularly wonderful brothers who work very hard to be helpful and not sharp or spiky, which is wonderful! but what should i do when i come across sharp and/or spiky brothers?
well, i should love them like they're my brothers (because they are) and like they're beautifully complicated masterpieces of the Lord Most High (again, because they are). maybe it would also be good for me to pray...lots (because talking to God is a good thing :) and to try really hard and pray really hard to see them in the way God does. it would be helpful too to look for ways to be a good and helpful sister and to "heap coals of fire on his head" by being extra kind and considerate. finally, i can be thankful (i guess...) because if all brothers were good and wonderful then i might think that all men are too and that is certainly not true (i really wish it was :-(.
i think that mean people are normally mean because they're hurting, or afraid, or lost, or insecure. so mayhaps i should work really hard to see past the reaction of a brittle and maybe even poisonous exterior and see the person God created underneath...though i hope very much that all of our brothers in Christ will be kind, helpful, strong, and good men of God.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)