Yesterday I watched Ernest and Celestine on Prime Video. It was delightful.
In 1912, Jim Thorpe had his shoes stolen before he competed for the gold in the Olympics. He found two mismatched shoes in the trash, made them fit by adding extra socks, and won two gold medals. You will never be that cool. But you CAN decide to do your best with what God has given you.
Doing your best with honor and dignity is a goal worth striving for.
Today I read this: “I’m sorry for all those who you loved that made you feel like loving you was hard work.” I remembered that time when someone made a speech in front of fellow elders and pastors that used the words, “I love everyone; but Sam Powell is hard to love.” I didn’t know that.
Every new morning, I wake up next to a beautiful and loving woman who never makes me feel like I’m hard to love.
In turn, she is quite easy to love. Love is like that.
When you decide that truth is an acceptable sacrifice to make for the survival of your system, you no longer have a system worth preserving.
When you decide that right and wrong are acceptable sacrifices to make for the survival of your system, you no longer have a system worth preserving.
Bob Seger is my guilty pleasure. My wife puts up with it.
I frequently hear that marriage is hard work and God will sanctify you through that hard work. I have no idea what that means. I have never once thought of marriage as “hard work.”
Speaking of marriage, housework, cooking and dishes have nothing to do with gender roles and have everything to do with being an adult.
A lot of men just need to grow up and learn how to act like adults.
When one is terrified of “losing their place and their nation”, they will do horrible things to each other.
But when your treasure, your place, and your kingdom is in heaven, and your life is hid in Christ at the right hand of God, you are set free to love.
My Only Comfort 
I like this more than I could possibly describe.
Your best work is your random thoughts.
Man, this is beautiful. Your wife is one blessed gal.
Not as much as I am
It’s hard to put into words what kind of person would announce that you are specifically hard to love in front of an audience, much less excluding you from the a group of those included in their love. Such a person is not only unkind, but doesn’t seem to realize how much words like that can hurt.
If it was meant in a “jovial” manner, my words still stand. That is neither kind nor funny.
I think marriage is “hard work” but I DO agree with you that He doesn’t sanctify us through hard work. He sanctifies us through His Son, who DID all the hard work on our behalf; work that we could never do on our own.
if you meant it in the way that love flows freely when you are freely abiding in Him who IS love—yes, marriage isn’t hard work. Too many people try to find “reasons” to love their spouse; as if they have to “make their case” before you will love him or her?
My “favorite” thought is the one about: “losing their place and their nation.” It’s a dark and disturbing thought so I’m not delighted by my favoring it. But it was so simply put, and so necessary to be spoken over and over again.
You do such a good job pointing out the evils of “ownership.” Husbands don’t own their wives, white people never should have owned black people (or any kind of ownership) and NO ONE should even slightly try to justify either abomination. So when you said “their place; their nation,” some of your previous writings came to mind.
As early as preschool ages, we’re taught (or should be) to share with others. But even there, we’re told to ask if the person will share with you; you do not grab something that you do not have ownership of.
I’m an American citizen because I was born in this country; my parents were not. I had NO idea how much resentment was out there. It’s like I took something that didn’t belong to me, and such persons did not want to share.
Is it okay to add to your thoughts; I had one that I think you’d like: I’m told that I don’t fit into the world, so you put the weight of the world on my shoulders?
This is how it works if you’ve been bullied or abused or ostracized: you don’t belong, you don’t fit in, and you can’t be fixed, so you don’t have a place in THEIR world. So the reasonable response is to put the weight of this world that you supposedly own, on me?