Skip to main content

More Plague Tales

             For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:5-8)

 

          Not really the verse I wanted to face today. I’ve dealt with it in the past, but today, I’m not liking the reflection I see in it. Let’s start with a phrase that sums up a lot of my reaction to other people, “You are not my parent, my master, or my God.” So when I say “I’m sick” and people start pushing me with “You have COVID,” and “Here let me get a stick for you to put up your nose so you’ll know,” is it any surprise that I get a little testy? And when (as happened in November) I do take the home test and it comes back negative, and someone says “Oh, no – you have to take it three our four more times because those tests regularly come back with false-negatives!” is it a wonder that I should find it irritating to have others  push the tests at me?

          It would be one thing if I thought the people pushing were doing so out of concern for me – but part of the time its to bolster their own egos (one has made lout claims about always being right before) or to feed their anxiety (this is just what she was afraid of – yet another in a long list of things to join in fretting about) The difficult thing isn’t just in being wrong, it’s in having to listen to incessant “I told you so” and heing told that henceforth I should consider their words as coming straight from the mouth of God. In other words – it has to do with accepting them as parents, masters, or God.

       And part of the trouble with that is that there are lots of responses that come to mind that may acknowledge their correctness but reject the attitude with which the statement is made. One of them is that I hope they are as gracious when they are humbled as they want me to be when they humble me. That’s a magnificent line and a significant bit of truth, and it must show up in my writing somewhere. But when put against the list from today’s passage, it should not come out of my mouth or be entertained as a response to the person in question.

          Another great response is to admit my error about it not being COVID by adding  something about my arrogance not wanting to compete with hers because mine is too worried about losing the contest. Great, great comebacks that will probably make it into my books somewhere (possibly my plague tale, if I ever get to it.) But they don’t fit into the list of things we’re to add to our responses to people.

          Hey God, You really need to make an exception to Your principles when it comes to great repartee!

Yeah – No. Such as the trials – and loopholes – of a writer. At least I can save them up to use them in a story.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more