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What can creativity do?

Four blog posts from other parts of the interwebs that you should read:

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Real Life, I think as we move in this car toward an unknown sea. We are always moving toward it. And what if it is the real life? This world, only virtual, only words on a screen. But in that one, we will finally know. We will finally be known.

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The widow and her mother came through the door.  And we found out the deceased was only 36 years old.  Five years older than me.  Too young.

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In general, I don’t think that Christians should register with political parties.

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Indeed. Today I will pray, and I will vote, then I will do my best to laugh, dance, and shout—to do whatever I need to do to praise God for this most wonderful truth. A new creation is in his hands, unswayed by all that sways us, undivided by all that divides us.

We arrive at the house where we hope to move soon. This cold November day smells of wet earth and autumn leaves. We meander around the place, peeking in through the windows, noting the things that have been accomplished since our last visit. The kids shout at each other and their voices disappear in the woods.

There’s hope hidden around here somewhere: hope that things are turning for the better. Hope that after nine months in cramped quarters (a bus, then a basement), we will all be able to stretch our wings a bit. There’s hope found in the smell of new seasons and in the growing pile of wood with which we plan to heat the house.

This is what I’m learning these days: even when my hope in “big” things diminishes, there are still the very small shoots of green to look for. It’s harder work, unearthing these hidden hints of good things to come, but the hard work of searching for small hopes begins to shape my heart, prepares it to better hold the good things to come.

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In the Old Testament, one of the transliterated Hebrew words used for hope is Yachal. It generally means “to hope,” but there’s also a subtle nuance to the word that hints at waiting, even delaying or wasting time. There’s very little of the sudden, when it comes to Yachal. It feels to me like a slow building, a determination, a yoga posture of the soul.

This word Yachal is used mainly in two Old Testament books. The first book is easy to guess: Psalms. Psalms seems a fitting place to go while waiting for hope. While treading slowly through the valley of the shadow. While drinking from the icy springs of a waterfall, eyes closed.

But the Old Testament book with the second most uses of Yachal surprised me: Job. It would appear that the story of a man losing everything oozes with hope.

Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.

If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes.

Behold, I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings…

Perhaps this is the great lesson of hope, that it is not a gift for the rich or the full, the content or the comfortable. It’s not something strewn far and wide to the unappreciative masses. Hope is offered to those who need it most: namely, those who sometimes feel they have the least reason to believe in it.

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We herd the kids back into the warm van and buckle them in. Then Maile and I walk back through the surprisingly green yard and up into the woods. Along the path paved with yellow leaves. We turn right where the path turns left. Quietly. And there sits a small pile of rocks the children helped us gather not three weeks ago.

Warm in the earth beneath those stones lies a box. And in that box is a small baby’s nightgown my sister gave to us prior to Maile’s miscarriage last month. The two of us stand there by the pile of rocks. I stare off into the woods, and for the first time Maile doesn’t cry. She simply takes a deep breath, then exhales a cloudy burst of breath.

“Okay,” she says quietly, and we turn and walk back to the warm van filled with our four shouting kids. But my mind is still thinking about the small pile of rocks, and out of nowhere I remember the word etched on the top of the buried box:

HOPE

My brother-in-law forwarded this to me. I thought it was funny, but he’s British so he might be serious.

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’ ‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix ‘-ize’ will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up ‘vocabulary’). (I love that one)
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter ‘u” and the elimination of ‘-ize.’ ‘ (I love that one too)

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you’re not ready to shoot grouse.

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.)

8.You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

Apparently this has been floating around the internet in various forms for over a decade, but it seemed appropriate to repost on Election Eve. Happy voting!

Brennan Manning, in Ruthless Trust, challenges us to contemplation:

“Almost all children are born with a natural inclination toward contemplation – toward long, loving looks at the Real – and a tendency to moments of thoughtful silence. A simple thing may absorb children for a long time. Wiggling their toes, for example, is such an engrossing experience that it is difficult to divert their attention to something else. However, their gift starts to wither when we insist, “Hurry up; I don’t have all day.”

“‘No wonder,’ says Brother David Steindl-Rast, ‘that so many marvelous children turn into dull adults. No wonder that their wholeness is scattered and their sense of mystery lost.'”

“The good news is that the child within can be recovered. It can happen right now, with something as simple as giving a little one a piggyback ride or walking slowly down the street and listening tot he music of what is happening.”

What activity helps you recover the child within you?

1 – Join us tomorrow at Angela’s Cafe at 9:30am in Gap, PA for the second Central PA Writers’ Breakfast. NYT Best-Selling Author Ira Wagler will be sharing his writing journey with us. Also, there will be plenty of time for catching up with other area writers. Everyone is welcome. (There is no cost to attend, and Angela’s will be open if you’d like to purchase coffee or breakfast.) Here is the Facebook Event Page.

2 – Bryan Allain’s new ebook, Community Wins, is free today. It contains everything Bryan knows about building an online community, and, as is usual with his work, is the perfect mix of entertaining and informative. Get it HERE.

3 – Stay tuned next week as I fill you in on (and ask for your help with) my next book, which will hopefully be ready for release by the end of the year.

Irrefutable Opinion: Vanilla Tootsie Rolls are the best Tootsie Rolls.