Dedicated to all of my Golden FriendsOK. Stay with me. I know the Chapter intro sounds really stiff and stodgy....but hang in there with me. For today I am rejoicing! I am the child of a prodigiously loving Father who has widely opened His arms and is today enveloping not only me but also two of my “sisters” into His more than ample arms and is giving us this like awesomely great big huge hug....(lingo inspired by "Abs")....Anyway, for me, This is the best entry yet.....!!!!
[Technical Matter: OK, for those of you who are in some way shape or form perfectionistic (wait- is that last phrase an oxymoron? English experts...you never answer my questions!...where are you?) Mark (see below) is on Chapter II at this point in his journeys but I am in Chapter III of mine. Let's just put this down to the fact that Mark (see below) is much smarter than I and it takes me more time to get things done. I'll just have to live with that.]
Last night I was rather glum and down due to matters which are not so vital to today's commentary other than the matter of not my not having inspiration for my next “blog". And Mark......
[Reminder: Okay, here's the "(see below)" part. “Mark” = “Twain”, for those of you who have just picked up my story line. Do you mind if I call him Mark? I don't think he minds...I don't want to call him “Sam” as that is my earthly dad's name and a lot of talk about “Sams” and “Fathers” all in the same passage would make my head swim as I'm sure my dialogue makes your's. And Mr. Twain sounds so formal in light of the fact that he and I are about to commence on quite a long journey together.]
…......OK, so Mark who had been in great anticipation of this trip was mentally floating about The City proud that he had been one of “The Elite & Chosen” to board upon this auspicious three-month long journey to ALL parts of Europe and the Holy Land.... a journey such as anybody who was anybody would that very season be taking either with his or with another tour group. And please note that HIS group was very especially scrutinized and very especially handpicked. Le crème de le crop.
However, Mark was to be but a “minor passenger” (no, not mining....minor! We're talking about intangible matters here...) among many “Imposing Dignitaries” and had resigned himself to being “in” but having to take a back seat to those who were renowned and generally acknowledged to be most important personages. If you believe me not, here are his exact words! “I had carefully prepared myself to take rather a back seat in that ship because of the uncommonly select material that would alone be permitted to pass through the camel's eye of that committee on credentials.” Wow and sigh! Did he have the gift of the pen or what?!
Alas, by the end of his chapter II we are left aghast! For not only had all of the most select of the group dropped out of the expedition for “other and sundry” reasons (I have seen that remark before somewhere) but by the time the ship left port it was raining cats and dogs, therefore not only gloomy, but in the way of having put a damper on the festivities of their Bon Voyage Celebration, the ladies having lost their beautiful freshness and the men having lost their noise toys which were too wet to pop. To top it all off, the ship having left dock, ended up having to drop anchor and lie still in the calm of the harbor mouth until the fierceness of the storm abated. It would, in our not too distant past, be like preparing for take off in the Concorde for a trip of a lifetime to Le Paris and then being put in a holding pattern until the fog clears enough for the pilot to have visual and the passengers not to fear imminent death.
Now understanding, we believe, the great understated wisdom of where Mark is leading us, with the following warm words he ends his chapter II: “However, there is always a cheering influence about the sea; and in my berth that night, rocked by the measured swell of the waves and lulled by the murmur of the distant surf, I soon passed tranquilly out of all consciousness of the dreary experiences of the day and damaging premonitions of the future.” (Have I yet said, “Wow, he's good!?)
And here is where I take my first (???) aside...
[Tip: If you believe that last phrase of mine, I have some nice swamp land in Florida....]
...and to quote another wise man, a one St. Augustine who confessed these words in the year....huh, it was...well....well..sometime well before last year: “Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.”
And today, the day after the night I worried about “blogly” inspiration for Mark's Chapter II, knowing that a path is usually opened if I but wait and not fret, I heard from a long lost “sister” with whom I and another dear friend had been parted many a year and under mysterious circumstances (which we later learned were caused by “nothing more” than combined stresses of the sorrows and joys of life.) And I realize that human nature is to give up on others at some point and that this giving up is really giving up on ourselves due to feelings of unworthiness.
And all these matters tied together in my mind with the running thread of man's tendency to look for validation from others when it actually God who gives the blessings and it is for Him to hold them safe. If we were to but look around us at God's creation, as is to be seen not only in our own environs but in those across the far reaches of the globe, we could not help but know that we have been putting our eyes on the wrong focus. And cheesy as it may sound, God reminded me, as perhaps He reminded Mark during that time he was hunkered down in the mouth of the harbor, that He is the one we should keep our eyes on because He always keeps His eyes on us! And that's a good and remarkable thing!
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