Flamingo or Pigeon?

 

I found this little banner at the Dollar Store the other day, and because I like flamingos, I bought it, not realizing it had a saying on it. When I unrolled it and read it, I laughed and hung it up outside as a decoration in my yard. It makes me smile when I look at it.

However, as I was contemplating the meaning, I saw that the most obvious meaning in a worldly sense means ‘to stand out from the crowd.’ It occurred to me that this could be offensive to some of the ‘pigeons’ out there who might choose to look at it negatively, but then I began to see a deeper meaning to it from a biblical perspective.

We are called to be “lights on a hill” to the lost—a bright light of God’s love for His creation. As ambassadors for Christ, how are we doing with that? 

Are we being flamingos, not in the sense of our physical beauty and plumage or lack thereof, but inwardly separated out of the flock of humanity? Or are we hidden in the crowd, doing what they do in order to fit in and be like them so we can be accepted?  We are called to be separate, a peculiar people unto the Lord. Again, as the "peculiar, set apart people" of God, how well are we doing with this?

The other thing I saw was that each flamingo was a different shade of pink—one dark, one medium, and one light.  Skin color doesn’t matter to God for He made us all. We can look at the natural world around us and know that He likes variety and lots of it.

There are all kinds of lessons to be found in the natural world if we but have seeing eyes and hearing ears.

Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.    1 Corinthians 15:46  

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:   Romans 1:20

Presenting Pretty Poison

Lessons can come from strange places. I attended a going away party recently for someone moving out of town. There was a lesson in all of that, one I have come to call Pretty Poison.

There was a beautiful cake at the party. It was so big, everyone was invited to take some home. Even though I am a diabetic and my husband and I have both decided to forego the sweets, I took some cake home. I proceeded to dish it up on a pretty plate for breakfast this morning and WHAM! I had to take a picture of it. I saw something in my mind's eye that became the graphic for today's blogpost.

And, yes, I ate some of the cake minus the frosting which I threw away, feeling convicted the whole time. This is obviously one of those areas I am struggling to bring into total submission to the Holy Spirit. Some days are better than others...grrrrr. In spite of that little struggle on my part, I did get the lesson combined with an intense punch-in-the-gut feeling, from which I am still smarting a bit.

I usually start my day doing a bible study using Bill Bullock, Sr.'s Torah portion studies. I was about half way through that when I decided to get myself some breakfast and the above incident happened. I've included an excerpt from that teaching below. It all just seemed to combine together with my little mini vision of pretty poison. Hopefully, you will see the connection as well.

And I quote:

"...As a people, at Sinai and beyond, the Creator of Heaven and Earth has drawn near to us. We are conceived and born into that nearness. As Moshe taught us in Deuteronomy 4, the nations are to marvel at this, saying:  What great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Holy One our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?  Deuteronomy 4:7.  The nearness of the Creator is a wonderful thing, of course – if, as, and to the extent we respond accordingly and appropriately. If, as, when, and to the extent we respond to the Bridegroom-King’s nearness by responding to Him in childlike wonder, with humility, gratitude, and graciousness, and lean into Him, sh’ma His Words of Life, and sh’mar His covenant, we get blessed marvelously by reason of His nearness.  He actually wraps cords of lovingkindness around us - and those cords warm and comfort us. They give us shalom rav [i.e. great peace and security].

 Ah Dear Reader, but when we willfully rebel against Him . . . .  When we  trample His Betrothal covenant [i.e. His wonderful Torah] under our feet . . . . When we choose to clothe ourselves in layer after layer of willful sin . . . . And when we refuse loving call after loving call to make t’shuvah . . .  .  Well, when we do things like that the very same nearness of the Holy One which blessed us so wonderfully before actually becomes a threat to us. The same cords of lovingkindness by which we were once so comforted suddenly – by reason of our straining against them - start to burn . . . and chaff . . . and bind. 

Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger?

I am by no means a country music aficionado. Occasionally on my many automobile trips in connection with my business, however, I will flip through the radio stations trying to find something to listen to in an attempt to keep myself awake.  In the rural areas of Arkansas and Texas one normally finds only stations playing country music.  On one such occasion, as I was driving in a late-night daze through the backwoods of Arkansas, the ‘seek’ button on my radio kept returning me to a tune in which a country singer poignantly was asking his wife, in his song, why she did not wear her wedding ring when she went out [to nightclubs?]. I do not remember the melody or any of the words.  I only heard part of the song.  All I really remember is the title. It was “Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger”.  That title pretty much describes, in my mind, what the Divine Bridegroom would ask us as we squirm and struggle against His cords of love – i.e. the Shabbat, the mo’edim, and the mitzvot and mishpatim of Torah.

 As we seek to increase the distance between our hearts and His, the cords of lovingkindness with which He bound us to Him in a lover’s embrace begin to chaff against our flesh.  The harder we pull against those cords, the more it hurts.  The longer we strain against those cords, the more likely we are to sustain permanent injury.  If one of us does not ‘give in’, we will die. And so, if we continually refuse to make t’shuvah [repent and return], in order to keep us from fatally injuring ourselves, the Holy One eventually looses the cords of lovingkindness - and lets us go.  It is tough love at its ultimate level.

Willful rebellion against and refusal to hear the voice of the Lord God Almighty carries with it results that we prefer to ignore because our flesh wants something different. In the case of the 'pretty poison' of 'cake love', I wanted, in fact craved, some sugar, which I know is not good for me, yet, the urge to eat it anyway was overwhelming. I saw in that the analogy, a parallel of Israel's (and our) urge to follow after the ways of the worldly, ungodly cultures and religions in which we live by moving away from the Holy One who truly loves us. All these ungodly attractions are just pretty poison. It is no different today than it was back in the days of the Old Testament times.

The only real difference nowadays is man's ability to get the false message out to the masses with an ease that is astonishing. The wrapping on the message appears to be different, but the contents haven't changed a bit. The question still remains:  what wrappings and trappings in today's world lures us into agreeing and joining with the ungodly in our time? What 'god' are we actually closer to? Where and in what ways are we being deceived? What lies have we swallowed so willingly? What lies do we now call truths and what truths do we now call lies? What happened to discernment? Where should we be looking for that discernment?

The answer to all of this hasn't seemed to have changed much either: right where our Bridegroom-King desires us to be, "nearer my YHVH to thee...".

My Ugly Little Secret Exposed By an Ad in an Outdated Magazine!

I drew this guy a number of years ago. Turns out
he is a personal archetype since his expression
fits a number of different emotions and I have
used him repeatedly in various artworks. He's taught
me a lot about myself and the human condition over
 the years. The original was a charcoal drawing
which I used in a mixed media collage.

I was at my eye doctor appointment. The assistant had just put those numbing eye drops in my eyes and I had 10 minutes to do something with, so I grabbed a three year old magazine to look through to occupy my waiting time. As I was thumbing through the pages I ran across an ad for what looked to be a reading app for e-readers. I don't remember the exact lead line except that it had to do with binge reading becoming the new thing. It made me laugh. And then, the light bulb flashed on in my mind!

I recognized that I am a binge reader and have been for many years. In fact, I am currently on a reading binge—just finished re-reading Clan of the Cave Bear and am halfway through The Valley of Horses, both by Jean M. Auel. I have known that I often read as a form of escapism, but when did it become bingeing?

Looking back over the years I recognized that I have had these reading binges scattered throughout my life. Escapism is something we all do from time to time and has some very positive connotations, however, when it becomes something that is difficult to control and interferes with taking care of normal everyday functions that we all need to carry out, then something is out of balance. On some level I had already recognized this imbalance that was exacerbated by depression from a long winter, but had not put the pieces of the puzzle together. Putting the label of 'bingeing' on my out-of-control reading habits suddenly catapulted me into a whole different perspective. I discovered that over the years I have taken occasional escapist reading and turned it into binge reading that feeds the procrastination I frequently fall into. Ouch!

The truth be told, I have been bingeing in different areas all through my life, not recognizing that bingeing applies to so much more than just food. I binge when doing art or writing, sometimes when consuming alcohol or smoking cigarettes, when dieting or exercising, and even when cleaning or rearranging the house. OMG! Who knew?! Where does escapism or even passion and enthusiam for something turn into bingeing? Yikes!

Is spring cleaning a form of bingeing? Is gardening? Or lawn manicuring? Or any other hobby? Can you binge on religion, family, work, pleasure? And what about thinking? Is it possible to binge think? Is that what "overthinking" is? Can abstinence also become a binge thing? When and how did all of this bingeing take over my life? How did I get so out of control? And just as important, what do I now do with this unwanted information?

I like reading and art and writing and spring cleaning. I study everything from anthropology to applied psychology and neuro-psychology to cell biology (thanks to my tenth grade biology teacher, Mr. Wilson, by the way) to quantum physics. I'm interested in emotional intelligence, culture and sociology, suffering, and the cyclic nature of life along with all that escapist reading I do. That's only a partial interest list. I have a real 'liberal arts' mentality when it comes to learning, which is my true life's passion. I am so glad that anything and everything falls into the purview of the school of life. Curiosity and creativity are divine gifts no matter what area we apply them to.

Maybe the answer to all of this, if there is one, is finding and pursuing balance in all things, which I find is often easier said than done. It helps to remember that life is highly complex and, despite all our advanced knowledge, it is still a mystery, and don't we all love a good mystery? Life really is a journey made up of a plethora of processes, where balance is a fluid thing by nature and necessity, and there is a time and season for everything under the sun. It also helps to realize that life isn't all about the answers. As often as not, life is about the questions. Did you know that doing a search on questions at Amazon brings up 101 pages of books on the subject of questions? That's a lot of books! How in the world will I ever find the time?

Pendulums swing widely at first on their journey to balance, affected by outside influences, many over which we have little to no control. We are the pendulum in our lives always coming back to a state of equilibrium, at least that's my understanding of physics at its most basic level. Everything is energy which is neither created nor destroyed, merely changing form like water going from solid to liquid to gaseous depending upon outside circumstances.

In writing this article, I hope I have caused you to be aware of and spend some of your precious time exploring the mystery of bingeing, of how it does or doesn't apply to you. Maybe, having experienced it myself and sharing my current understanding with you, I can justify all that bingeing I've been doing over the years, putting a more positive spin on it, turning my negative into a positive. I believe that is called making the best of something, but it could just be rationalizing....

 Either way, it is all going to be okay in the end. I truly believe that.

Phew!! I really needed to hear that. Maybe you did, too.

Feel free to comment below.

Reality on Sale Now

Reality On Sale Now, Mixed Media Collage, 12"x18", Susan K Leslie

Do I really need to know who I am?
Is it important to know who I am?
Why is it important?
How do I define myself?　

Am I what I eat?
Am I what I say or do?
Am I my habits?
How do I define myself?　

Am I merely a physical body?
Am I what I think?
Am I what I feel?
How do I define my reality?　

Am I what others say I am?
Do they know who I am?
Do I have to be what others say I am?
Should I let others define me?　

What am I influenced by?
My job or career?
My hobbies and interests?
My family and friends?　

Should I be what others think or say I am?
Do I want to be what others think or say I am?
Am I responsible for who I am?
Should I be and how can I get there?　

Am I a bad person?
Or am I a good person with some bad habits?
Am I a negative person or a positive one?
How do I know this?　

What is my reality?
Is it always the same or does it change?
Who makes my reality?
What must I accept and what can I change?　

Really. WHO AM I?

What is A Face, Really?

What is A Face, Really?
8-7/8" x 11-1/2" Mixed Media Collage

This collage is based on a quote by Barbz Lewinsky:

 

What is a face, really?

Its own photo?

Its own make-up?

Or is it a face as painted by such or such a painter?

That which is front?

Inside? Behind?

And the rest?

Doesn't everyone look at himself in his own particular way?

Deformations simply do not exist.

 

You can find the original quote with an interesting photo at https://www.facebook.com/InspirationalPortraits which site I became acquainted with through Patricia Allingham Carlson's site. Both sites are well worth your visit.

I had recently joined Jennibellie's Monthly Challenge, the first of which had to do with a monochromatic black and white theme to which you could add one or two accent colors. This was my interpretation of that challenge. The quote just seemed to fit the black and white theme.

Asking the Right Questions

I truly believe that one of the most important keys in life is learning to ask the right questions. When I run across one of those 'questions' somewhere, they are like a solid brick wall stopping me abruptly in my path. I had one of those experiences today on Facebook.

A picture posted by Sketches in Stillness posed the following question:

Do you consider yourself a problem to be fixed...Or can you allow yourself to be exactly as you are right now, in peace, without believing in your stressful thoughts?

This was one of those "seeing what you really believe about yourself" moments for me. I realized that is exactly how I see myself and this belief directs a large portion of my life.

So then, the question for me becomes where's the balance between recognizing that you need improvement in some area and pursuing that purposefully and diligently, and, pushing yourself to change to the point that the stress you cause yourself becomes harmful to you physically, mentally, and emotionally?

And how does that affect what you believe others think of you or how they 'see' you, thereby causing you to act in ways that may not be good for you or anyone else? In other words, if anyone sees theirself as broken and needing to be fixed, they usually automatically assume that others see them the same way. We tend to think that others think the same way we do, although experience often proves that assumption to be false. That's just one of those traits that all of humanity shares.

How far do I believe that I differ from 'normal' or 'average'? And where am I getting my definition of those terms?

Most of us don't really know what we believe deep down inside and would be hard-pressed to define those beliefs if we had to. More often than not, our actions don't line up with what we say we believe, for if they did, we wouldn't struggle so within ourselves. It wouldn't be so hard to change habits, most of which we don't even recognize as habits in the first place. Usually we just think 'that's the way I've always done it,' or 'that's the way I was taught', or that's how my parents did it.' Or we fool ourselves into thinking we do things the way we do because that's just what we want to do.

It's too much work, and often too fearful or painful, to face the person within. We're afraid we won't like the person within, and most times that really is the truth. Truly not liking yourself, or hating yourself, is the ultimate rejection, a very scary place to be.

I have knowingly been close enough to that place to know I don't want to go there again, which brings me back to the original question of whether I see myself as a problem to be fixed. Maybe the emotional impact of that experience is what has made that question so real to me. And that is not necessarily a negative thing.

Obviously, the answers to these questions will be unique for each person as we are all individuals with different experiences, etc. But I wonder how many others are so affected by this question? I'm sure I'll never know but that doesn't stop me from wondering. It's the philosophical part of my nature I think.

What is a question that has truly impacted your life? I would love to hear from you.