My Place

During my morning check in with The Ground of My Being/God/Source. I was thinking about what kind of being I am. Now, I have left much of my religious dogma behind. I just can’t pretend to believe in something that I no longer accept as true just to fit in or get a pat on the head from a church or a group of people. I haven’t become an atheist. I don’t believe that way has any hope and it’s like becoming a meatbot or a brain fart. It’s not something I would ever aspire to even if it were true. I wouldn’t be joyfully acting as if it were good news. You can put lipstick on a corpse but it’s still a corpse. However, I no longer believe in a superman in the sky with a big S under his cloak and a rule book in his hand just waiting for me to screw up. So, that’s the fast version of some of my morning thoughts.

I’m not mad at religion. I’m not mad at the church and I have no horror stories of hypocrites or pedophiles or false prophets that caused me to lose my faith. I didn’t lose my faith. My faith is in the ever present dialog that I’ve had ever since I can remember. I have a quick story that has been the one absolute of my whole life. It started as a child and it developed during all the stages of my life including the Christian as well as the so called secular stage. It’s still developing. But, here’s the short version.

1968- 69-70 or somewhere in there. I’m 11,12 or 13 years old. Time is funny once you get older. My favorite author Stephen King once said something to the effect of “Once you reach 60 the expiration date expires.” I’m getting there. Fast. Matter of fact I have around 41 days left to say I’m in my 50’s. Yikes!

Anyway, there I am a young kid and I hear a Sunday School sermon in my local Southern Baptist church about how God can forgive anything except blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Well, being a very inquisitive child and a voracious reader with a very vivid imagination you can imagine (or if your lucky you can’t) the immediate thoughts and scenes and stuff I’d rather not even approach that went through my young mind. I was horrified. I was pretty sure I was about to be damned to eternal torment in flames of fire because of my thoughts. My “what if I thought or said this or that?” Ahh, intelligence. It can be a two edged sword to say the least.

So, as I’ve done my entire life I had to get away with my thoughts and be by myself. So, I go into the backyard and turn this situation over in my mind. I also begin talking to God as best I understood god to be back in those days.  But, here’s where it gets better. Right after it got worse. I’m praying and telling God that I really don’t want to be burned forever because of my thoughts and I really couldn’t help having thoughtsandohpleaseohpleaseohpleastdonthateme.

I get calm. I see a room and a couch. It’s my place. It’s his place. I’m safe. I hear a thought. It goes “I’m here and I know you.” “I’m not a fortune teller” “I’m not outside somewhere judging you as a person who doesn’t know you.” “Those thoughts you’re having are directed at me. So, you just sit here. See the door over there?” I thought yes. “Well, look outside the door. They’re beating on it.” “I’ll answer it.”

Instant Relief! The Holy Spirit, God will answer it.

So, from that moment on Everytime the intrusive and scary  thoughts came I would find my/our room. I would sit down and let him answer them.

So, yeah I believe in God. Now has my life been a barrel of roses? Of course not. I  don’t have an instant get out of jail free card. I don’t have absolute faith and I don’t have a box to put faith in. But, I have seen my room and my space and it’s wonderful. I’ve been attacked and abused and some have tried to throw me to the gutter. But, everytime I’ve been able to get to my space. My place, our place.

So, no I don’t believe because the bible says so or a preacher says so or I’m prone to accept fairy tales and wishful thinking more than the next guy. I believe because I have at a young age touched fear and came away with the hope of the infinite.

So, no I don’t need a preacher or a guru to teach me what I have already been given. I know I sound like a heretic to some and a space cadet to others. But, I have this place that I can be honest and whole and have a little touch of home while I’m still on the journey.

Peace.

Steve's Ramblings.

Who would you like to spend a day sitting and talking and hanging out with? I hear and read variations of this question often on the internet. “If you could spend one hour with anyone alive or dead who would it be? “ I don’t often answer it and honestly I give it little to no thought. But, once in a little while I think about it. I don’t know about an hour. We humans love to put limits on things. I read sometimes where people will look at the evidence for something that they are really skeptical about. For instance the reports of the Near Death Experience.

I will often see people say that it seems we continue to exist in “some form, for some period” after the brain stops. They (and I admit my self here also) have a real problem accepting that maybe we just are. We are still us when the brain stops. Conscious and unique.  But, no.  Folks have to have limits. Religion, Scientific exploration even with some people has limits. There is a theoretical Physicist named Michio Kaku who some have compared to Einstein who says something that I really like when he talks about scientific knowledge. He often says “This is what we know now.” In other words he doesn’t  put limits on exploration or possibility. I like that.

So, who would I like to talk with for as long as I wanted to talk and Listen? Well, I’m a pretty well educated (not high level but pretty well) American male. I’ve traveled the world and the seven seas. No, I  really haven’t but my little earworm started singing The Eurythmics song in my head. You’re welcome. Agggh! But, I digress. Again.

Anyway, I’ve traveled a little in the U.S. and I have questioned most of what I’ve seen and learned and heard along  the way.  I can’t call myself a “Evangelical Christian” or an Agnostic these days. I have seen too much to be either one. Sorry I don’t mean to sound arrogant. I’m just speaking for my own journey. Right now. In 20 years if God allows me to still be here I might say something different. I doubt it. But, I might. I’m sure my view on things will continue to evolve.  Anyway, I thought about the people I would talk with. Some close family that I miss who have traveled on. Some old friends and some classmates along the way  that I might not have even been close to in this lifetime. But, I have a few people that I would love to talk with.

1.       Jesus: (Bet ya saw that one coming since I am a product of the American South and the Bible Belt.) But, I really don’t mean the sanitized Sunday School version. I mean the actual man who walked and lived and died and was either the very incarnation of God (heretical thought here, I think we all are incarnations of source to some extent.) Or a wise teacher and Rabbi. I don’t know that I would ask many theological questions as far as churchy stuff. But, I would love to discuss the nature of reality and God and Spiritual views with him. Sometimes I meditate and picture myself coming into his presence and just listening. But, then again. I am a space cadet to some folks. My mother once said (while she was still fairly young and divorced and not adverse to going out on a Sattidy Nite.) Anyway, she once told some older loved ones who had questioned her “God already knows what I do. So why do you think I care what you think?” Well, sometimes I have to remind myself when I write something like this. I can just hear certain lifelong friends of mine saying “Steve, you need to get back to a biblical or church or more fundamental mindset of Christianity.” I always think “Ya know, God/Universe/Ground of all being already knows what I think. So, why should I pretend just to make someone else feel better about me theologically?

 

2.       Ms. Woods: Who is Ms. Woods? My sixth grade teacher at Walnut Park Elementary way back in the very late 60’s or maybe it was 1970? Years go by so fast. She was the first black person (no disrespect intended  but, Ms. Woods would not have called herself African American at that time. Black was not considered a slight and as a matter of fact people had just come into the realization that “Black is Beautiful” and not something to be ashamed of. So, I use it in that way. Ms. Woods was the first black person that I had really known that was in a position of authority in my life. You ever hear the expression that people don’t always remember what you say, but they will always remember how you made them feel? Well, that’s true here. I just remember this very warm and yet no nonsense teacher who instilled the importance of each and every child in that room. By doing that she also instilled her own importance. Later in life when growing up in the south there would be times when I would be in the middle of racial strife or at least watching or hearing it. Whenever, I would hear something disparaging about black folks or even if I got angry I would always see Ms. Woods face in my mind. It certainly put a new light on the subject. Yeah, I think it would be tremendous to be able to speak with her and hear more of her journey in the early 20^th century in the American South. How did she do that and still not project any resentment at all to those little white faces in her classroom? Couldn’t have been easy. Yeah, we will talk one day. Once I cross that river.

 

3.       My maternal Granddaddy: My Granddaddy (that’s what I called him. Not grandfather or any other name) was a survivor of the great depression. His family was Black Dutch and Cherokee. If you google Black Dutch it means a Germanic people that were not pure blood and had married darker people along the way. He looked Cherokee. He wasn’t or at least not full blooded but he had the high cheekbones and was darker than my Irish Grandmother. She was grandmaw. Not grandmother but that’s another story. She was also a pillar of my life.  My Granddaddy was a coal miner and a hard drinker. He had a tough time and his health was bad due to lifestyle and hard work. But, he was kind and he loved his family. Especially his grandbabies. I was a moody and angry teenager and a lost and angry youth. But, I felt him on the day he passed. I’ll just say I look forward to seeing him without the bad health or the demons of addiction and the beating that life can give a person coming through here.

 

There are other people that I’m not going to list here. I really don’t look much for guru’s in this world. I don’t really think anybody else knows anymore than  I do (which means they don’t know much) about the mysteries of existence. I keep my dialog in my head and in my prayers and meditations. It’s taken me a long  time to be able to put away the bullshit and just be me. At 60 years old (next month) I no longer have to pretend to attract girls or be a part of the group or make the preacher and the church happy. I no longer have to worry if the boss likes me or if I am going to be able to get that promotion. I have financial and personal  and family obligations. But, I don’t have to be “on parade” and that’s a good feeling.  I really think it’s how we treat others and how we respect ourselves that counts. 

 

So, eat that desert but, walk a little afterwards. Pray that prayer but don’t think your version of reality is the only way to go. The history of that book you are thumping? Well, it’s not a novel or a science book or written by one guy or girl in one setting. But, I’m not going to argue with you about it. Don’t be afraid of truth. Respect the scientific method but remember there is no single entity that answers to the name Science. It’s a method, not absolute way of being or person. Be honest with yourself and take it one day at a time. One moment at a time if you have to.

 

If you disagree with me that’s fine. We can still be friends (at least on my end) there are things I don’t understand. I don’t know how anybody can look at Donald Trump and not realize he’s a lightweight thinker and was born halfway to home plate and thinks he hit a home run. But, I would never abandon my friendship or love for another person over him or any other political figure. I can’t get the image of that idiot making fun of that disabled reporter out of my head. But, on the other hand I hope he succeeds wildly or the country does under his watch. Because at the end of the day I want what most people want. A place to live and clothes to wear. Food to eat and a little left over for fun. 

J

Peace.

Yeats and Me.

 

William Butler Yeats:

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

 

1. This is my favorite poem. Which might not be saying much since my relationship to poetry is about the same relationship “Gone With the Wind” is to great literature. A little dramatic and a little exaggerated but not to be confused with real deep.  

 

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

 

2. But, this one really does resonate with me for some reason. 

 

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

 

3. I remember seeing people in later years that I had known in my youth. I remember family members as they aged and I even see it now in my own face. I think love is a word we pass around a lot. Honestly? If you really love somebody then you don’t stop because they vote for a different political party or find a different religion than you.

 

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. ...W.B. Yeats

 

I see a lot of religious post on my friend’s pages. I don’t always agree but, I don’t challenge their beliefs because I don’t know all the answers. Now, if we were talking over a  glass of wine or a cup of coffee or a beer then I would gladly discuss what I think and listen to what they think. But, a short facebook “gotcha” post just seems pointless to me.

Anyway, back to the poem. I once read someone say it was a sad poem at the end. But, I  don’t believe that. I think Yeats was optimistic at the end of the poem. Love (could be romantic and in this case is. But love none the less) is not dead or hopeless. But, waiting amid the infinity of the stars and the cosmos until it’s time to come back around. 

 

I think this poem captures me because of certain events in my own life. Because of certain memories that I had as a child that allows me to look forward to the coming around again.

 

A dream as the thunder wakes her
And her highwayman disappears
On a life already lived before
In eyes welled with tears…Stevie Nicks

 

Speaking my mind.

I recently had a facebook “friend” tell me to post and not worry because real friends could handle it. Well, she later unfriended me because I posted what I felt and she thought I was to “fluffy” because I avoided hateful political and religious speech. She’s a tolerant liberal don’tcha know?  I’ve had facebook friends tell me that we shouldn’t abort babies because it’s unchristian. But, at the same time take kids off Medicaid and bomb kids in the Middle East because Christians shouldn’t interfere with the government don’tcha know?

I was raised as we say in the south “In the Church.” My grandmother who pretty much raised me was Church of God of Prophecy. My grandmother on my dad’s side was Southern Baptist. They agreed on what Christians call the absolutes of the faith. The virgin birth, born again and tithing. They disagreed on the gifts of the  spirit and the ability to “backslide” or once saved always saved. But, their faith was sweet. Their savior wasn’t a politician. The Jesus I grew up being taught about was a wounded and humble savior. He was with the downtrodden and the widow and the orphan. He was a friend to the poor and a stumbling block to the rich and powerful.

Back before it was politically correct and before and during a governor foolishly standing in a school house door I remember something from my childhood. Right there in the “deep south” of Gadsden, Alabama at the Church of God of Prophecy. So long ago that I barely have memory of it. A black choir came to visit that little white church. Did they rock? Lord yes. Did they worship? Lord yes. Did everybody shout with the Holy Ghost and did they have as we say in the south “dinner on the ground” together ? Good Father God YES! Did they all become more tolerant and become good liberals in the heart of Dixie? Hell to the NAH! But, they did come together and they did show a little Jesus that day.

So some of my more religious friends wonder why I don’t feel the way I used to feel about  the faith. Well, to be honest some of y’all act like a cult. You worry so much that you are going to insult an old man in the sky that you walk around with a stick up your butt all day and forget where ya came from and who you really are. You talk about a meglo maniac who wants to know if you have thought of sex or said a bad word that day so he can send you to burn forever. A place where you look down and see “sinners” in torment and shout praises to a very human ego maniac all day. Then you wonder why people don’t find it very attractive?  Your Jesus is used to justify a man who publically humiliated a disabled man and has cast widows and orphans into the street and you say he’s a “man of god” and will bring god back to America. Really? I don’t think the Jesus of the suffering and the one who said if he ask for your cloak hand him your coat too would be very welcome in Trumpland.

Saying what you really think can get you in trouble. I’ve seen tolerant liberals with their silly Obama worship want to cast me out of the club. I’ve seen big tough conservatives want to beat me up because I disagree with their religion and their politics.

I have Zero problem with fiscal conservatives who think we have too much government spending. I may or may not agree but I have zero problem with them. But, the ones who proclaim Christ. Those who would cut Medicaid and deny medical care to cancer patient’s and heart patients. Those who would call the fetus holy while denying basic care to the child once it’s  born. Those? Hell yeah I have a problem with them. Your God’s waaay to small for me to worship.

I’m not an atheist and I’m not an agnostic. I’ve been to far down the road and have actually had some things happen that I can’t deny and I hold them as precious. But, I’m not leaving my brain at the door. I’m not lockstepping with Franklin Graham and by the way it’s lovely how he just found the Lord in time to take over the mega organization of Billy Graham Ministries. Am I judging him? By their fruit you will know them. He’s in bed with the GOP and I hate to shake ya but GOP doesn’t stand for God’s Own Party. So, the hypocritical liberal lady that wanted me to be honest with my feelings? Well, I don’t argue on facebook. I don’t yell at my friends. But, this is my blog. I run my mouth about feelings and rock music and books and even religion. This is where I speak my mind. Nobody has to read it and it doesn’t come up in a rant in a newsfeed.

But, as always if you do read it I am honored. Agree or disagree I’m just honored that anyone would take the time to read a rant or an opinion that I post.

 

Peace.

I"m just sittin here

Ever wonder what it would be like to just sit down and talk with Jesus? Now, maybe you don’t believe in Jesus as a historical reality. I do but you don’t have to for this to work. Maybe, you don’t believe there’s only one way to heaven, virgin births or dead bodies rising out of graves and just knitting back together via some kind of unknown spiritual alchemy. That’s okay too. I’m not a fundalmentalist these days either. As a matter of fact I keep a lot of what I think to myself when it comes to religion. I cringe equally at the pronouncements of zealous religious people and zealous atheists. Actually, I’ve come to the conclusion that reincarnation best fits the available information that I have. I have thought this and wrestled with this since the early 80’s while still maintaining my Christian identity. But, I’m not interested in convincing or putting my inner journey on trial for anyone else’s judgement, amusement or salvation. I’m not interested in proving anything.

I love meditation. I struggle with it often. It’s hard (even for me) J to let my mind go completely blank. Now my wife might disagree with that last part. But, when I meditate all of a sudden I have to pee. NEVER FAILS. My head itches, my arm is asleep, my leg feels heavy , every car that passes sounds like a jet taking off. But, every once in awhile I get still. I breathe. I just be. I think that if I can just get quiet enough. If I can just be still and listen. Look, right there where my third eye is supposed to be in the center of my forehead. I know you laugh but if I can just….

So, Steve how are you doing? It’s okay you are in a holy place. Only you and I have the right to be here. Sit down right there. It’s your spot. Now, it’s been what 60 years since you started out on this particular journey? Me: Well it’s actually over 59. No need to rush. J  

Oh, right. What’s time anyway? Now, I know it’s been a little hectic for you at times. I know you didn’t always get everything perfect and I know you haven’t always been treated perfectly. But, I do want you to know that the things you get right carry more weight on the scales of life than the things you get wrong.   Me: Whew, that helps. I can name several things I’ve gotten wrong since I got up this morning.

This social work thing still getting to you?  Me: Yeah, it is. I started out a little right wing and then after seeing so much oppression and sickness and poverty I started leaning pretty far left wing. But, lately seeing so much whining and blaming and not taking responsibility I’ve started to go back a little more center. Still there’s that time I passed the Mexican border for instance. It looked horribly poor over there. I couldn’t imagine blaming anyone for trying to get their family across the border. Also, since that time we almost lost our own home and I wasn’t sure how I was going to buy food and medicine and my child has asthma and I knew we were not lazy or sorry or leeches. But, we needed help. Hearing some of my right wing friends talk about Christ in one breath and letting children drop off Medicaid with the other was frustrating.  I’m to the point now where I just want to go out into the woods by the river and build a cabin and drink coffee in  the morning and tea in the afternoon and my inner 19 year old wants to smoke a doobie and just let the frickin world go by.

Yeah, it’s tough. Still, you enjoy that sunrise and I know you were awed by that moon the other night. I  also know your heart went out when you saw what happened to that child while working at DHR. You have a good heart and I know that could have made you more cynical.  Me: It’s just that I learned long ago that God isn’t a cosmic Santa Claus and there are times when crap happens. But, I get the feeling that right there in the midst of the pain and misery and evil that you are still there. I don’t see hopelessness. I see evil that is temporary. I see heart wrenching soul sucking hell that is still overshadowed by the hope that this is a pale shadow of a greater reality.

Yeah, nice words but it still hurts. People seem to forget the take up the cross part. No matter what you believe there aren’t any magic beans to save you from the world.

Me: Yeah, I sometimes think about how Christ showed (no matter your religion) that this world is so precious that the “Ground Of All Being” would take on flesh to participate in it. Yet, it so pales to the reality of who and what we really are that he would lay the flesh down in pain and move on to a better place in the eternal journey. It gives me hope even though I’m sure I’m a heretic to the fundamental Christian and a fool to the atheist.

Yeah, well have ya looked at what I was to the leaders of the temple? Don’t worry about it. You have to be honest with yourself. After all you can fool mankind but in your heart when you are alone at night you can’t escape what you really believe.

Me: You know there are times when I don’t really  buy into the personal daddy in the sky. But, there are other times when I really need to just sidle up beside you and rest.

It’s okay. You can relax here. You  can pull up beside me and just rest.

Me: I will. I really will.

I love you.

Me: I count on that. I count on that big time!

 

Things I think I think.

Things I think I think:

1.       One of These Nights is the album I would want to have with me if I could only have one album with me on a desert island. It’s the Eagles and it’s one of those teenage angst memories for me. I got the 8 track of this one lonely winter night in my youth and drove around and listened to it for hours.

 One of these dreams
One of these lost and lonely dreams
We're gonna find one
One that really screams…Eagles

 

2.       Stephen King is the greatest and most unique writer of his generation. Luckily for me I already was a voracious reader from my youth. I say that because in high school for a lit class I was made to read “ Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens. I remember thinking “if this was the first book I had ever read. It would have killed the love of reading right then and there. Sorry, it’s just true. However, if as a young person 100 years from now I was made to read “The Stand” by Stephen King as an example of mid to late 20^th Century Literature I might just develop a taste for reading. Sometimes our schools and institutions take the most amazing things and make it as dry as dust and then wonder why our youth are stupid. Our youth aren’t stupid. Their often bored.

 “Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.”
― Stephen King, The Stand

 

3.       I really want Midnight Train to Georgia to be played at my funeral. Seriously.  The beat the incredible voice of Gladys Knight and the harmony of the original Pips. I had a friend who once said life is like a bus. At the last stop you get off. But, I think life is more like the midnight train. At the end you go home and find yourself after all.

He's leaving
(leaving)
On that midnight train to georgia
(leaving on a midnight train)
Oh yeah
Oh y'all
Said he's going back to find
(he's going back to find)
A simpler place and time…Gladys Knight

 

4.    Clint Eastwood movies are the most visceral or gut kicking. Who doesn’t at one time or another wish they could just deal out sweet justice to the bullies and bad men. Give the woman hitters and child abusers and the oppressors their due. As we say in the south “Give your heart to Jesus cause your ass belongs to me.”

Get your popcorn ready.
 

 https://youtu.be/Op9MV-A6kNU

 

5.    Remember to breathe. Life goes so fast. I remember two ladies from a long time ago talking one day at work. I worked for Etowah County Tax Assessor back in those days. These were “friends” but they really talked at each other. One day I  remember one of them regaling her friend with some bit of her life that was fascinating to her. But, her friend could barley stay still with the urge to relate something “more important” from her own life. When the first lady finally stopped talking? Her friends response was “Okay” and then she launched into the tale she had been waiting to relate with barely any real understanding of what her friend had just said to her. We talk at each other and over each other. If I can just get you to listen I’m sure I can MAKE you understand why my politics, religion, outlook on life and death are true. So, I’ll wait and maybe the other person will shut up and I can lead them to see “the truth.”

 

people have more fun than anybody, except for horses, and they can't.”…Needful Things..Stephen King.

 

 

Anyway, just ramblin. I hope 2017 brings all who read this (and especially me) all the good things and hope of the year and the years ahead. God Willing.

 

Peace.

Christmas 2016

Christmas these days is kind of like going on a vacation to a sunny beach if you’re originally from the north. You see all these pictures and videos of people having fun and only have a week and you have to rush from “fun to fun.” After all you paid your money damn it and everybody says it’s a blast so ya gotta go. Every day and every minute.  But, the truth is somehow it’s just not quite matching up to the reality of it.

 It’s not that the beach isn’t pretty and the ocean isn’t awesome. It’s just that I don’t have time to “look and ponder it.” I gotta rush and have fun don’tcha know?  Christmas is kind of like that. I see it on t.v. The gorgeous white bread or Cosby families with happy smiles and toys piled high and driving  the brand new vehicle to grandma’s house over the snow.

Now, I’m southern so driving over the snow hasn’t been much of an issue in my life during Christmas. But, the snow on T.V. is never slick. Nobody runs off the road and nobody worries if they can afford the heat or groceries next week. Now, I’m not saying I want to see a commercial about poverty. I’m like everybody else. Maybe if I don’t look at it it’ll go away. But, still. If you’ve lost someone and if maybe Aunt Alice is really not jolly this year and forgot to watch for that patch of ice and broke her hip…well that’s not the American dream either. 

Hey, remember that time the Brady Bunch had a death in the family and Carol had a spot on her breast and they didn’t have medical insurance? Oh, me neither.  But, remember that time the Cosby kids were having to duck behind the couch right in the middle of the Christmas meal because the gang bangers were shooting up into the sky because it was cooler than fireworks and Rudi got wounded?

Oh yeah, right. Me neither.

So, all I’m saying is it’s great to post how happy you are on facebook. Although, I really don’t care if you had taco’s before bed last night. Someone, somewhere might. It’s not hurting anyone that’s for sure.

But, if like me this season brings some bittersweet memory and you at times just wish it would be over. If you wonder why all your friends on facebook have the biggest, bestest, greatest families and relationships  ever. If you wonder when that old friend from school that wasn’t born rich or snotty became such a comfortable religious cold hearted conservative or the formerly conservative type who loved Jesus became a know it all liberal pompous ass. Well, I wonder myself. 

So, from my scroogy little heart I say Bah Humbug. But, from my inner soul I say Thank God for another year. Another day. Another chance to get it right or at least better. So, celebrate family and loved ones and friends. Even celebrate what you had for dinner last night and I’ll be glad to look at the screen shot of your coffee shop Pumpkin Spice Caramel Swirl Latte. J

But, my heart goes out to those who are lost (not in a religious sense) this year and this season. Those who don’t have cousins by the dozens and Christmas hams. Those who miss a touch or smile and long  to just “go back” for a minute.

God Bless you. God bless us everyone.

Peace.