"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.".

Burdensome. Impossible. Nebulous. Unfathomable. Those are a few words that come to mind when people think of God's commands. How incomprehensible are these?
"Hate what is evil; cling to what is good."
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another."
"Keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
"Share with those in need."
"Practice hospitality."
"Live in harmony with one another."
"Be careful to do what is right."
"Live at peace with everyone."
"Overcome evil with good."
These commands are found in Romans chapter 12. These commands are not burdensome. They are not impossible, and they can be easily understood. The commands don't require hours of study; what they require is to be done. They need to be done a lot. Galatians tells us that we must not become weary or give up in keeping these commands and in doing good.

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people." Galatians 6:10

Tooting my own horn

Tonight was a good night. Despite being ill, I thoroughly enjoyed being outside and watching the sun begin to sit while Mr. M washed his car. Prior to that, we took several family portraits, which are on my Flickr picture page, and I highly recommend that you go and look at the photo, and even leave a comment. For your convenience, I will list several comments you might like to leave:
"How happy you all seem!"
"You make a very handsome couple-with a really cute dog."
"Is that a professional portrait?"
"How did you get Rufus to hold that pose?"

After washing the car, Mr.M and I went for a drive in the cool spring air. My illness had subsided as I sat on the porch listening to some classic rock while my Mister washed the car. Being ill, I am much more appreciative of the small things . . . sitting out on the porch, watching the sun begin to sit, listening to some cool tunes, petting the neighbors' dog. How much have I taken for granted in the past, I wonder.

Present and future hope.

I finished reading Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens yesterday, shed a tear of joy at finishing that seemingly unsurmountable task, and celebrated by watching the movie (which Mr.M considered to be a form of torture.) First thing this morning, I ordered Bleak House, another book roughly the size of my head. (My head is average-sized. I'm saying these are BIG books!) By doing this, I am assuming God will sustain me long enough to read these books. (I also have Pinnochio on the shelf waiting to be read.) I know my citizenship is with Him in Heaven, and I traverse this barren and sin-filled world as a stranger and an alien. However, as the Apostle Paul told the church at Thessolonica, I can't just wait for my true Home in Paradise. I must live out the full number of days that God has appointed me here on earth, and be faithful to Him, sharing His love with others.

Opportunities to show kindness and brotherly love.

A friend reminded me recently of the importance of taking opportunities to show kindness and love as those opportunities present themselves--not to put that off. Life is too short and unpredictable to do tomorrow the good that you can do today.
Another friend was talking to me about serving others, and spiritual gifts. What I believe is that in many cases, a person's gifts-capacity to serve in a specific way-are different daily. Some days, I can't drive across town to help my friend clean her house; but I can write an encouraging note to someone that day. I may have the gift of encouragement that day. I may well be able to drive to my friend's the next day to help her out, so on that day I can show the gift of helping. Some days I can do no more than sit at home and chat with a friend over a pot of tea that she's made. In my chatting (intellectual chit-chat, my mom would say), I can share with my friend some of the things I was thinking about that day, maybe something I'd learned on TV, so on that day I can share the gift of knowledge.
I'd like to be able to work in the public library, like I used to, or to teach like I used to, but God uses me now in a very unique and unexpected way. It is so very true that God works in mysterious ways.

A heart of flesh

In the book of Ezekiel, God promises to give His people hearts of flesh in place of their hearts of stone. Great promise. Thing is, flesh gets hurt, heavy, and even broken. My heart of flesh is pretty heavy-laden of late on account of the sufferings of my friend. Am I glad for this heart of flesh, heavy as it now is? Yes. If it were not for a heart of flesh, I could not love my friend, nor could I tell her so. I couldn't pray for her if I had a heart of stone. A heart of stone wouldn't remember my friend's smile and laugh (which I could write an entire sonnet on.) Am I sad? A little; but then again, my heart of flesh will not let me be sad for long, as it reminds me of the great fun my friend and I shared in high school. Am I discombobulated? Pretty much. Mostly, though, what I am is motivated to pray for my very dear friend, and adore God along with her.

Rufus the dog's perspective

I want to start off asking you to pray for Jennifer-not MY Jennifer (although it wouldn't hurt to pray for her, too)-but for Jennifer's friend Jennifer who is battling cancer. Thank God also for Jenn who is staying with Jennifer in Mr. M's absence. I must say Jennifer's concern for her friend Jennifer is making her physically ill-to the point of drinking some gross, thick, pink liquid that seems to have the texture of mud. Bad as I feel for my mistress, I do wish I had opposable thumbs so that I could videotape her drinking this stuff. The horrible faces she makes! The agony! She looks like an infant eating peas for the first time. Alas, the limits of canininity (a big word for doghood.) Woe is me--no not me, woe is you for not being able to see the face!
So I see my mistress mentioned Mystery Diagnosis. I was there too, you know, and what she didn't tell you was that one of the featured patients was a motivational speaker. His big line is, "Inch by inch, life is a cinch; yard by yard, life is hard." Good advice. Sounds familiar. Sounds like something that was written thousands of years ago by God. I saw Jennifer perusing her Bible until she found Matthew 6:34: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of it's own." That same verse was regurgitated in the form of the TV show, and popular saying, "One Day at a Time." (Just for the record, Jennifer likes that show, and has always thought Mackenzie Phillips a very pretty lady.) So, dear readers, be not fooled; many, many of today's wise little sayings and motivational proverbs are really disguised principles from the Bible.
Sorry for all the Jennifers, but Jennifer does have many Jenn, Jenny, Jennifer, and Genevieve friends. In fact, I have overheard a possible all-Jennifer party.

A song of thanksgiving

As I watch Mystery Diagnosis, (a factual show about difficult to diagnose diseases), I recall how blessed I am to have been so easily diagnosed. I remember a good friend saying to me, "Yay! A diagnosis. We must celebrate." "Celebrating the fact that I have an incurable disease??!? Are you kidding??!!?!" Now I see how much a definite, easy, final, diagnosis calls for celebration. I have always believed that God created me . . . and you. Now that I know that part of my brain has developed abnormally, I still believe wholeheartedly that God created me, AND that He created me just as I am for a purpose. I give all thanks to Him, for I know that He created me fearfully and wonderfully. I repeat David's words from Psalm 139, and the words of Isaiah the prophet in chapter 45, "Shall the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?'" I close with the beautifully true words of Job found in chapter 2 of his book, his reaction to tragic circumstances: "Shall we accept good from the Lord, and not adversity?" God has given me much good in my life, in the form of salvation, life, family, friends, and even this adversity that He is using for my good. Thank God for all the good He's given you. Again I quote the great King David. In Psalm 86, he declares God to be "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth." I will proudly stand with Ethan the Ezrahite and repeat with him the words he wrote in Psalm 86, "I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness."

"Be nice to Joey."

In my younger days, I was a bilingual substitute teacher's aide. There was a five month stretch in which I worked in a 5th grade classroom. I spent most of my time with the Spanish speaking students, but I occasionally helped out with the rest of the class. One of these times was during a spelling test. To set up this story, I must first tell you about Joey. Joey was the unfortunate scapegoat of that class, the butt of all those 5th grade jokes. No reason for that, I think every class has one of those kids . . . the kid who on whom all the other little 5th graders take out all their aggresion and stupid little 5th grade jokes. (Hence, the oft-used phrase, "Be nice to Joey.") Now I will tell you about Johnny. Johnny was a good kid, a really neat kid, bright, clever, and well-dressed. He mostly hung around other bright, clever, and well-dressed kids. (Interestingly, that group of bright, clever and well-dressed kids were all Mormons.) They were my favorite bunch of kids, kids who really made me laugh with their wit, and surprised me with their maturity.
I was helping the class at large with a spelling test, and the word was "brainstorm". Joey asked what that meant, and the teacher explained that it was like having a storm in your brain, but instead of raindrops falling down, ideas fell down. Johnny added that when Joey has a brainstorm, "it only sprinkles." Clever for a 5th grader. Clever for a college graduate. It still makes me laugh.



Another story I remember from those days happened when I was helping out in a special ed. class. (Again, the players were Mormons.) There was a very cute and sweet little boy named Nathan. It was lunchtime on this particularly rainy day, and Nathan opened his lunchbag. A nice sandwich, an apple, a juicebox and a note. "Rain, rain, go away, little Nathan wants to play." I asked Nathan who wrote the little note. His brother had written it for him. It was so sweet!


All these Mormon kid stories remind me that I wanted to share with you all that my friend and I went to see Blades of Glory last night. Funny, but rather crude.

This "Jesus freak" is getting old

Well, Mr. M. and I were talking last night, and wondering if the current social climate (where it's "cool" to go to church and talk about God), as evidenced in the many mega-churches, and the many, mini, Emergent churches, and the media and financial empires centered on one person teaching (sometimes Biblical) morality, is similar to the big Jesus Movement of the 1970s. Makes you wonder. AND it makes you wonder how hard it will be to discern if someone's really a Christian if everyone goes to church and talks about God. Hmmm . . . something to read up on. How will Christians stand out and be different if the majority is moral and church-going?

On a separate note, for the past year, I've been realizing that I'm getting older . . . and I'm glad. Almost nothing embarrasses me now; forgetting names and other facts, not being able to see or hear too well, is expected from me. This comes in handy when I forget a name, or answer to someone who is saying hello to their friend Sean. Also, no one snickers if I'm afraid of loosing my balance on a skateboard, or if I'm afraid of doing some crazy dive off a diving board like all the teenagers. I get to stay at home and read, and be quiet, without anyone accusing me of being a party-pooper. I get to drink tea. I get to knit without being labelled a nerd. I'm allowed to be scared of driving, and I get to say things like, "No wonder the young 'uns' heads are all scrambled."

My little-known life

Dear Friends,
I am overwhelmed with regret to the point of sleep deprivation on account of the information of my youthful days I have so deceptively been hiding from you throughout all the time of our intimate acquaintance via blog. My failure to share this information was in part due to my own selfish desire to put this all in the past and begin a new life. I am deeply sorry if the true facts of my birth and infancy hurt anyone. I have truly loved you all and considered you genuine friends.
The first confession regards the truth behind my birth. I have neglected to disclose these facts to anyone. The fact previously known only to my parents and myself is that I was born wearing a leotard and carrying a pickle. This unusual circumstance made me a natural for the circus, so in my younger days, I was sent off to the traveling circus to have my skills assessed and perfected. I regret to have withheld from all of my friends that I currently hold the world championship in hog-calling, and have been touring with the circus for the last 8 years. This is where I met Mr.M, who travels with the same circus performing his act which consists of walking, telling jokes, jump-roping, and editing audio and visual recordings, all while standing on his hands.
It is my sincere wish that you will not judge me, or any other circus performer, or any baby born wearing a leotard.

Thank you for providing a safe harbor for my secrets.
Sincerely, j.otis merster (A.K.A. “Sue E.”)



I would like to take this opportunity to put to an end the rumors that I was obtained in a trade with some Gypsies. (It has been speculated that I was obtained in trade for a tire pump.)