Today is Friday, the third of September, 2021.
Shalom Aleichem!
Day 23,185
Three days until Labor Day!
C’s surgery went well, yesterday. It took roughly the expected amount of time, and the doctor said everything went as planned. After about another hour and a half, I finally got to visit her in the room. Currently, we are not allowed in recovery.
She was in pain, but the initial blockers were still working, plus she was trying to “stay ahead of the pain” with the push-button pain relief in her IV. She was groggy and falling in and out of sleep, which is to be expected.
Around 3:00 PM, the PT person arrived, with the goal of simply getting C to stand up, assisted by a walker. C, being the habitual over-achiever that she is, wound up walking around the nurses’ station twice! She used the walker, but had no assistance (that I could see) from the therapist. Last night, around 9:00, she texted me to tell me that she walked around three times, the second time, and that the attending nurse (the PT will be back this morning) was certain that she would be released today.
This morning, she has noted on Facebook that the blocker has worn off, and that the pain is a little more intense. She still has the IV pain meds, though. I’m not sure what all they have prescribed her for home, but she already has most, if not all of it, here at the house. I know that Hydrocodone is one of them. She is slightly afraid of that particular medication, but I feel relatively sure that she will take at least some of them.
In about fifteen minutes, I’m due to take Cleopatra to the vet clinic for her spaying. I hid all of the food and water in R’s old bedroom, last night, and put the toilet lids down, because I have observed Cleo drinking from the toilet. This morning, when I got up at 6:00, all the cats were looking at me, like, “Well???” I told them I would feed them after I got back from the vet clinic, but I don’t think they understood me. As a matter of fact, Rocky (Russian Blue, short for Rachmaninoff) is, at this exact moment, attempting to lift the toilet lid in the master bathroom. Or it might have been Luna (tuxedo kitty).
I also told Cleo to not be discouraged, that we were not, in fact, abandoning her, even though it might seem that way. I don’t think she understood me, either. But perhaps reassuring tones of voice help.
Anyway, in about five minutes, or so, I will be interrupting my typing to take her to the vet.
Okay. I’m back, and have made my breakfast. Thanks for waiting.
I would like to share a story; something that happened to me, yesterday afternoon, while I was driving home from the hospital. I was on Hwy 183, westbound, when I heard a horrendous, loud, “POW,” and I swear I felt vibrations, as though I had struck something. But there was nothing close that I could have hit. However, two lanes over to my left, there was an eighteen-wheeler, and I glimpsed pieces of rubber flying off of one of its rear trailer tires. I can only assume that it had a blowout! The driver never lost control, though, and, as I passed and moved on ahead, saw that the truck was gradually switching lanes and moving over to the right side.
It sounded like a shotgun had gone off next to me. I confess that I might have said a swear.
I have spoken with C, this morning, and, while still in pain, she is doing better. She said that they have taken her push-button away and have moved her to taking pills. It sounds like the coming home time will be largely up to her, if she feels that she has gotten to a point where the pain is well-regulated. We are thinking about later, this evening, after I pick up Cleopatra from the clinic.
Today is Lazy Mom’s Day. The “Mom” of our house will certainly be being somewhat “lazy” today, but not totally by choice. I, on the other hand, having somewhat assumed the role of “Mr. Mom,” will only spend part of the day being lazy. There are definitely a few chores that need to be handled, today, one of which has already been done (taking aforementioned kitty to the vet). However, I feel relatively certain that there will be some gaming time.
The word for today is moratorium, a noun, which means, “a suspension of activity.” Last night, there was a moratorium on cats getting to eat or drink. Said moratorium has been lifted, as of 7:45 this morning.
Today’s quote is from Jules Renard: “Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.” I remember moments when that is definitely true, most especially during adolescence. Jules Renard was a French dramatist.
And here are some folks who were born on September 3:
Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois), 1923-2018 Eileen Brennan (Laugh-In, Pvt Benjamin), 1932-2013 Freddie King (singer of the Blues), 1934-1976, born in Gilmer, TX Don Brewer, drummer (Grand Funk Railroad), 73 years old today Aaron "A-Train" Smith, drummer (The Temptations, The 77s, Rich Mullins), is 71 years old today. I am honored to be Facebook friends with Aaron. Clare Kramer (Glory in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), is 47 today
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
Come Let Me, by Daryl Madden
With so much to do Feeling so stressed With the gift of my peace Come let me, give you rest Such worries and fear Things out of control With the gift of my grace Come let me, heal your soul The effects of sin So great is your pain With the gift of my mercy Come let me, free the chains In times of despair Is hard to cope With the gift of my joy Come let me, give you hope With promises of man Each temptation flawed With the gift of my love Come let me, be your God
I’ve probably been feeling more stressed these last two days than I have in the last month (which is virtually not at all), so this poem came at a perfect time for me. Thank you, brother Daryl!
My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.
(Psalms 57:7-11 NLT)
Today I am grateful:
1. for the confidence that I have in You 2. that I can sing Your praises, as well as play the "lyre and harp" (guitar and piano will have to suffice) 3. that Your glory will one day shine over all the earth 4. for Your patience with me/us 5. that we, with boldness, can quote Your Word back to You
Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year
ORDINARY TIME – WEEK FIFTEEN – DAY SIX
INVITATION
I will praise you, Lord, for everyone to hear, and I will sing hymns to you in every nation. Your love reaches higher than the heavens; your loyalty extends beyond the clouds.
(Psalms 57:9-10 CEV)
During this quiet time, I stop to reflect on the praises that are due You, O Lord. I don’t praise You enough. Reflecting back on yesterday’s readings, I find that my natural bent is still toward grumbling or complaining. May Your Holy Spirit continue to change me until that natural inclination becomes praise!
BIBLE SONG
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.
Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the plots of evildoers. They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent; they shoot suddenly, without fear.
They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see it?” They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.
But God will shoot them with his arrows; they will suddenly be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
(Psalms 64:1-8 NIV)
That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, . . .
Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. . . .
“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”
(Numbers 14:1-2A, 10B-13, 17-24 NIV)
DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION
As I remain aware of the presence of the Lord, this morning, I linger over these passages, asking the Holy Spirit to show me something that applies to my life, during these times.
I find it ironic that, as I struggle to lean away from complaining, the passage from Psalms begins with a complaint.
David, however, is “complaining” about actual, human enemies. Any complaint that I might express usually involves some kind of inconvenience that has been thrust upon me. I rarely, if ever, have legitimate grounds for grumbling or complaining. Perhaps that is what I’m supposed to glean from this, today.
“You think you’ve got it bad? David had people shooting from ambush at him. They tried to kill him; they tried to steal his kingdom. Anybody trying to do that to you?”
Despite what many of us seem to think, we are all in pretty much the same “boat.” Therefore, our complaints are, largely, without merit.
We should keep reading, however, in Psalm 64. Verse 8 brings it all together.
The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!
(Psalms 64:10 NIV)
We might also remind ourselves that, when God does act, He does it for His own glory and for the sake of His own Name.
In the Numbers passage, the Lord had had enough of the grumbling of the ungrateful, short-sighted Israelites. (Honestly, I don’t believe He really planned to strike them all down. Perhaps He was testing Moses. You know what? What do I know?? I don’t have a clue. God knows everything, so He already knew how Moses would react to His threats.) He threatened to wipe out the Israelites, altogether, and turn Moses into an even greater nation. Was this an appeal to Moses’s vanity?? As it says in the parentheses, I do not presume to know the mind of the Almighty, at this point.)
But Moses, thank God, would have none of it. He stood up, not for his own glory or sake, but for the honor of the Name of the Lord!
Today’s Church must stop and ask herself, “Are we doing that, today? Are we standing up for the honor of the name of the Lord when we bicker amongst ourselves over our “freedoms” and “rights?”
Moses even quoted God back to Him! Talk about boldness!
“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
(Numbers 14:17-19 NIV)
And the Lord hears Moses, and forgives them. One thing to learn from this passage is that we can safely remind God what He said. It would probably be best, though, if we make sure that He really said it before we try that. I hear a lot of people claiming that God said things that He never said.
“God will never give you more than you can handle.”
“God helps those who help themselves.”
“God wants you to be rich and healthy.”
I’m sure you can think of others.
I’m not sure what to think about what I have written, this morning. I’m leaving it as is, though. Sometimes, I can come across as a bit “snarky.” But these last couple of days have been more than a little bit stressful. Yesterday’s blog was full of distractions and interruptions, and was completed on an iPad at the surgery hospital, in a room that must have been around forty degrees.
Nevertheless, I think I have gleaned some lessons. First, in continuation of yesterday’s post, learn how to live life without grumbling or complaining. For one thing, I don’t have it so bad, and for another thing, it almost got the Israelites eradicated. Second, learn the Word of the Lord. I can’t quote it back to Him, like Moses did, unless I know it. And it surely won’t do anyone any good to “quote” things back to God that He never said.
Father, I am so grateful for Your Word. It gives me so much in my life. It is so precious and so valuable. From it, I can receive everything that I need for life and godly living. From it, I see Your very great and precious promises, in which I can participate in Your nature, and escape the corruption of the world. Now, just help me to do this. And help me, please, to stop whining and grumbling about minor inconveniences. Just this morning, I found myself all disgruntled because I had to wait longer at the vet clinic than I though I should have. In comparison to Saul trying to kill David (throwing spears at him and stuff), that doesn’t seem so bad. In all seriousness, I love You Father, and I want to live my life in a way that shows that. Help me to excel at my two jobs, loving You and loving people. Loving people is a lot harder than loving You, but I guess You already know that, don’t You?
Lord, please give me great wonder at the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Give us all the capacity to suffer alongside other people. And I especially lift up those who are orphaned, along with those who care for them.
"Father, I hear Moses pray, describing Your character and bombarding You with appeals to Your promises. Give me that same hope-filled boldness, which flows out of an intimacy with Jesus, my praying mediator. And help me, like Moses, to pray even for those who treat You with contempt and refuse to believe. Forgive and show them Your mercy. In the name of Jesus, amen."
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
(Luke 18:1 NIV)
“What I learn again and again . . . is that the problems that twist me up so tightly and painfully today will unwind. The mere, mundane passage of time has a softening effect, yes. But the wiping away of every tear, the bracing wind of forgiveness, and the joyful acceptance of my life as He wills it come from God.”
(Amy Eddings, Daily Guideposts 2021)
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
(1 John 5:14-15 NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
(Philippians 4:6 NIV)
I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
(Jude 1:24-25 ESV)
Grace and peace, friends.
Spaces of Beauty, Grace, Prayer, and Mercy 