The Nice Chameleon

People are acting really hateful today. I'm not seeing it on Facebook, but I've checked Twitter a few times ... and whew! I'm newly amazed at how utterly cruel we can become in our self-righteousness. There is another thing I'm seeing, too. The people who aren't being cruel are talking about how they would never be so cruel as to cheer for a leader getting COVID, who would never be so hateful as to wish a sitting U.S. President would suffer and die. I imagine they wouldn't, but I find that thinking that way ("I would NEVER do THAT ...") can be dangerous. Because I don't think we can think that way without some degree of pride in our own personal righteousness. I am reminded of the Solzhenitsyn's words in The Gulag Archipelago: The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either--but right through every human heart--and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it os...

I am coming out of my blog-cave today. I have had a LOT of thoughts lately on a LOT of things. I imagine all zero of my readers have as well, since there is much to think about. I haven't had much opportunity to write in my journal (which is where I usually deposit my thoughts, since it's the only thing patient enough to listen to them), so I'm writing them all down here. I am seeing more and more of this concept of, "You can't possibly know what it feels like to be ___." Usually it's directed toward a white person who can't possibly know what it is to be a POC, or oppressed, etc. Sometimes it's directed to a man who has no clue of what women go through day to day. Whenever I hear this, I think, "Do people not read or write anymore?" I mean, isn't that one of the purposes, or at least one of the benefits, of good literature--to take a person out of themselves, out of their small "real world," and into the world, thoughts, an...

I wrote this one for Facebook but decided not to post it there because I came up with something better. But I don't want to lose this one, so here it is. Let beer be for those who are perishing,     wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty     and remember their misery no more. - Proverbs 31:6-7 I know, this isn't what people generally think about when they think "Proverbs 31 wife." This ceramic astronaut is a keepsake from my old job. Who knows why I took a picture of it with a glass of wine. Probably because I'm an avid taker of random pictures. I found the photo in my phone today while running a search on the word "drink." At first I scrolled right past it; my brain tends to scroll right past memories of that old job when they come up. But then I went back to the picture and thought about how my unhappiness at that job , for those last two years at least, resulted in a whole lot more wine-drinking on my ...

Here are a couple of articles, both by Robin Schumacher, that I found today on the need for apologetics education. Again, saving them here for later. The Tragedy of the Even Dumber Church (published 2020) The Tragedy of the Dumb Church (published 2007)

Today I turned 50 years old. Of course, this grand event has prompted some thoughts about my life up to now. Here are a few, in addition to the immediate, "Why didn't I take today off and give myself an even longer weekend?" (Yesterday the whole family was off for President's Day.) Since my teen years, each decade for me has been better than the previous one. So yes, my teen decade was my worst, my 20s the second-worst, etc. And my 40s were, hands down, the best. (I'm not sure where my childhood years would go in this ordering. They're probably right up there with my 40s.) This doesn't mean that my 40s were a decade of uninterrupted joy. It had its share of struggles. But overall, I was happiest in my 40s. Years ending in a "9" have been the best for me. Age 19 was my Yellowstone year, and age 29 was the year I was discovering backpacking and planning to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. It was at age 39 that I became a mom. At 49 I lost my jo...

I have so much to write, dear friends, and this Challies article prompted me to post today. I have been thinking about this blog and what I want it to be. Currently, nobody that I know personally is aware of this blog. I've never shared it with anyone. And I like the idea of writing anonymously. When I was younger, I dreamed of being famous -- for what, I wasn't sure. I just wanted to be famous. Now? Whew! I never achieved fame, and boy am I glad. I like my relative anonymity. So, why am I writing here? Want to know the #1 reason that came to my mind? Okay. I'm lonely. I have friends, but no close friends. I still treasure my close friends of the past, but none of them live near me. It's all Facebook and the occasional text or email. I know so many people nearby--in my neighborhood, at work, in my church, at my kid's school and other activities. Often, I'll think, "That person and I have something in common! Maybe we can be friends!" W...

I'm on a social media fast for several weeks and cannot share, with a simple click, some of the articles I read here and there. So I'm going to post some here, for now. Kids Without Car Seats: How My Newborn Exposes Our Nation - This article is another that points out the obvious disconnect between our devotion to child safety (the example of car seats) and our disdain for the unborn. Even if we aren't "pro-choice" and in favor of sacrificing unborn children at the altar of sexual freedom, too many of us (myself included) do little to fight against it. We are aware, yet we do little to nothing. Proverbs 24:10-12 are some of the most uncomfortable and convicting verses in the entire Bible: If you falter in a time of trouble,     how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death;     hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”     does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Doe...