Posted on by Anelemc

To be blessed…or Pennies From Heaven

What does it mean to be blessed?

I am blessed with gifts of pennies from heaven from the one and only ? 

Are blessings based on finance, accomplishments and gains?  

(c) IMOB/Walsh-McCalla

“God showers me with blessings” 
I won the lottery “God has blessed me!”
“I’d like to thank god for this Oscar!”
“Thank you!! Almighty god for that promotion!!”
Now I can buy that Lexus!” 

Are blessings spiritual gains resulting from service to others?

“God grant me the serenity…to not kill my co worker”
“I pray to you God for the people suffering in Gaza”
“Dear God, please give us volunteers, strength and kindness in the food pantry today” 

Are blessings material gains?  

Winning that all expense trip to Aruba? 
Your favourite team winning a championship? 
Blessings disguised as just plain luck when the cosmos line up like ducks in a row 

What if God’s blessings are to feel his presence in all that we see, hear, taste and feel? 
What if God’s blessings ride like the currents of a river, subtle in some areas, forceful in others, creating flooding and…traffic or just plain inconvenience? 

‘What if god were one of us?…’ 

Blessed

When I hear the seagulls screaming at sunrise, sunset and everything in between, including me when I stroll in their path

Blessings

When I turn on the faucet and feel cold water gliding through my fingertips

A soft pat on the cheek waking me for breakfast from Tara-Habby, mom, my mom’s cat

Blessings abound

Free baptisms every rainfall if you are willing to walk into the rain without an umbrella

I am blessed

When I open my eyes early in the morning and hear the seagulls…

When I close my eyes at night with the crickets having a deep conversation about the solar system

Blessings flow

Memories of mom, my mom appear through triggers and I no longer cry but smile

Memories of my sister, Evie, with the Judy Garland eyes, appear through triggers and I cry and continue to cry

(c) IMOB/Walsh-McCalla

Blessings abound.

Tree branches moving in time with the wind blowing through the leaves creates the swish swish swish that most do not hear 

But…

If you listen, truly, deeply, 
you will hear god talking with the trees

Posted on by Anelemc

All About Eve…or The Snake Made Me Do It

ACCORDING…

to the King James bible, GOD created Adam in his own image using dust from the ground and the breath of life from his own mouth. 

Thus, Adam became a living entity sown in the Garden of Eden constructed purposely for his tending.

He was immediately given charge of keeper of the garden, named every beast, cattle and fowl and could eat freely of every tree in the garden. 

EXCEPT…

from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

“Why not?”, one may ask. 

Because, he would surely die! 

AS…

God told him so. 

Adam needed a helper since the beasts did not serve this purpose so while he slept, God removed a rib and constructed woman. Both naked and not ashamed they carried on in the garden

UNTIL…

The woman ate fruit from that tree at the urging of a snake. Both were punished when God found out.

The snake?

Forever to crawl on its belly in the dust for the rest of its life, its head to be bruised by the seed of the woman. 

The woman now called, Eve? 

The heel of her seed will be bruised by the snake and her sorrows multiplied in the conception and delivery of children. Subservient to her husband she will always be.

Adam? 

He will eat of that tree, the root of all this ruckus, transformed to thorns and thistle the rest of his life. Bread he will consume until he returns to the dust he was taken from.

Eve is forever vilified for falling for the snake’s temptation. It was surely her fault and her fault alone for eating the fruit (now accepted as an apple). 

BUT…

Her apple eating was 

DISCOVERY AND FREEDOM!!!

Nakedness-God had to make them clothing.

Child-bearing-She could now have children (along with sex).

Banishment-She could get out of the garden and watchful eyes.

Passive aggressive-Adam does all the work. 

Her offspring’s, offspring, lived hundreds of years. 

I guess it really was all about Eve and thanks to the snake that made her do it.

Posted on by Anelemc

Living

Mom, my mom, loves to quote scriptures. Stories of revenge on the news and she will say, “You see, the Lord said ‘an eye for an eye’.” Mind you, for mom it does not matter if the person taking the revenge was the one who started the whole thing in the first place, received a reciprocal blow from the other and instead of allowing it to end, decided they had to have the last word.

Mom’s interpretation of bible scriptures is conducive to whatever mood she may be in at the time. The power of the words written by the all knowing from above is all she needs. Like whip cream on top of bread pudding her usage of the scriptures solidifies her point. Bible passages are converted to validate her opinions and predictions. The interpretations of the best theologian scholars have no merit and forget the thousands of hours these scholars spent researching and dissecting. Mom’s interpretations are set in stone-figuratively not literally, for she lacks the strength to hold a chisel and is not related to Moses-the movie kind of Moses, i.e. Charlton Heston, where the hand of God writes in stone tablets.

“Living is giving. All things would die if only receiving” is a favourite quote of mom’s, my mom, used frequently throughout my childhood into adulthood. When asked about the origins of the quote, she will swear it is from the bible. Using the phrase verbatim during a search in Google as well as the enlisted research skills of friend did not lead to any hits on the internet to prove this. So its origin remains a mysteriously (unless someone reading this can verify where it actually stems from).

“Living is giving. All things would die if only receiving”, mom will say when someone is complaining about someone else’s selfishness and that someone complaining is usually me. I get it, I think.

One must be able to give in order to live. What is the definition of “living”? Day struggles or conquering the world? What exactly are we to be “giving”? Money, volunteering, time, presence? We give, we live, we live, and we give. What happens when we give too much and others are content receiving too much? What happens is we give too little? Are the receivers aware that the giving is too little? If I give and do not receive, can I justifiably be angry or resentful?