Not Holding Up My End!

Over the weekend, I watched an interview with a man coming out of a Best Buy store.  He detailed how he had just purchased several wide screen TVs, a computer, an ebook reader, and several other electronic gadgets.  Altogether he had spent more than $3,000 for Christmas gifts in this one spree.

Later, poll results were released on the same news broadcast showing that people were expecting to spend more money this year on Christmas shopping than last year, an average of more than $760 each.

All I could think of was how I was skewing those figures.  Since we have not exchanged presents in our families for many years, I do not get into the frenzy of this consumerist hubbub.  What a relief it is to not have to fight the crowds, lose sleep by going out in the middle of the night to catch a bargain, and then fight those same crowds to return unwanted or ill-fitting articles.

Yet, I see all around me individuals who are laboring under the pressure to measure up to someone else's expectations through their gift giving.  They seem to lack freedom in the search for approval from others through their exchange of material things.  For many of them, this season is truly a burden.  The debt undertaken weighs them down long into the next year, long after the newness has worn off the proffered bauble.

I don't think that I am a Scrooge.  It isn't that I don't want to make others happy, or enjoy receiving from them.  It's just that I appreciate the freedom of not being manipulated by the retail and advertising industries.  The true spirit of this season is definitely giving.  God gave us everything in His Son, Jesus.  In anticipation of that Great Gift, I want to enter into the spirit of this Advent season.  I desire a true spirit of longing, but not just for things.

May this next month be a time of rest, peace and joy, not hectic guilt, burdensome debt and numbing worry over how to pay the bills.

I'm Thankful Because...

I'm grateful that I'm not a turkey, though some may dispute that reality.  Not because I'd be in danger of ending up on someone's table this week.  Not because I could give myself for the enjoyment of others.  Not even because my own purpose could be enhanced by the tastiness of dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie and other delicacies.

No, I am thankful because, compared to the thanksgiving bird, my brain in relation to my body is proportionately much greater.  The pea-sized brain of the turkey is so small that the poor fowl doesn't even have a sense of self-preservation.  I recall when I was a youngster at home, my Dad took his truck to haul young turkeys for a local farmer who raised them.  When the box of the truck was raised up to unload them, the turkeys would come off in a pile.  Then it was necessary to get into the pile with a broom and scatter them or they would just lie there on top of one another and smother.

This larger brain provides me with the opportunity to be grateful not just this one day each year.  My cranial capacity allows me to adopt an attitude of gratitude throughout the year.  I can truly follow St Paul's admonition:  "Rejoice always, never cease praying, in all circumstances give thanks" (1 Thes 5:17-18).  This mindset of thankfulness is a choice based not on how wonderful the circumstances of my life are, but rather on how deep within is the conviction that God is in charge of my life.  If God is truly in charge, then I have nothing to fear, and everything for which to be thankful.  "If God is for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31).  So, thank you!

Therefore, as we gather together as family at the home of My Love's sister to celebrate this family feast, with each mouthful of food, I will be breathing a prayer of thanks.  May that prayer become as second-nature as the breathing and eating, so that it will continue long after the left-overs have disappeared.

"I Wanna Go Home..."

When I went off to college after graduating from high school, it was the farthest I had ever been from home.  In fact, when I had traveled the 260 miles to visit the college before making my decision, I thought for sure that we were driving off the end of the world.  Not so!

I was reminded of my Grandfather who loved to tell the story of his neighbor who had traveled 21 miles north of home by horse and wagon.  After he returned home, he said to my Grandfather, "Man, Joe, if the world stretches as far to the south as it does to the north, it is really a big one!"

However, the emotional distance was even farther.  When my parents left after delivering me to the college campus, I became very homesick.  I was unable to sleep, or eat.  Studying was impossible.  I felt cut off from anything familiar, comfortable or secure.  It was a new experience for me, and I didn't like it.  I was truly sick.

My parents traveled the long distance on several weekends to support me, encourage me, and try to help me adjust to this new reality in my life.  However, after one such weekend visit in October, they left for home late Sunday, only to have me sign out of the college on Tuesday, mail all my stuff to my parents' address, and then hitchhike home.  I showed up at their front door late Tuesday evening much to their surprise.

After spending a couple of days around home, I soon discovered that all my friends were gone off to school.  Everyone around there was taken up with their own life and activities.  There was no future to hanging around my birthplace.  Life was moving on in the world in which I had grown up, and I didn't fit in there anymore.  So I decided to "tough it out" and go back to college.  But I will never laugh at, or ridicule anyone who struggles with homesickness.  It is a REAL malady.

With the hindsight of these many years (remember we celebrated our 50th anniversary of graduation!), I have come to recognize and appreciate the longing for home that lies deep within the human heart.  The hunger which God has built into our spirits can only be satisfied with the Divine Presence.  As the Psalmist says:  "As the deer longs for running water, so my soul thirsts for you, my God.  Athirst is my soul for God, the living god.  When shall I go and behold the face of God?"  (Ps 42:2-3)

Yet, I am also aware of the many times that I have tried to quench that thirst with things, people, activity, stuff.  I came away feeling like I did above when I went home from college and found no future there.  I recall the words of St Augustine back in the 5th century:  "Our hearts are restless, O Lord, and they will not rest until they rest in You."  (Confessions)

When, or in what circumstances have you found this same thirsting, this same restlessness, this same homesickness in your life?  How do you deal with it?

Healing Sleep

In the last year I have noticed several studies published highlighting the importance of a good night's sleep.  All of them seem to confirm the need of the human body for eight hours of slumber in order to maintain health, sustain a positive attitude and protect mental stability.  Nothing really new in this, but certainly something that is not practiced by a great number of people in our society.

I recall a woman I worked with many years ago who claimed that she only needed 3-4 hours of sleep a night.  She would function on that amount for sometime, then would get knocked off her feet by a terrific cold, sore throat, flu or other malady.  After being laid up for several days or a week, she would then go back to the same prior routine.

When I went to college, I made a decision that I would not stay up after 11:00 pm.  Others ridiculed me.  I missed out on some activities, though at this point in my life I am hard pressed to recall even a single one.  Since I was (am) a morning person, I knew that I would function better and be more productive by getting a good night's rest before entering into the next day's schedule.  I always recall my Mother's voice telling me "Go to bed on the same day that you got up!"  This tidbit of wisdom has served me well even up to today.

Why bring this up at this time?  The habits of our youth travel with us into old age.  Sleep is still the best medicine for the body, and is truly a gift for those who have it.  But people will say "I can't stop my mind from thinking about .....", or "I keep worrying about....."  How important it is to be able to place all our concerns and worries in the Lord's hands, and then truly leave them there.  We need the attitude of Pope John XXIII who, when he was going to bed at night, would pray:  "Lord, you take care of your Church.  I'm going to sleep."

The Psalmist also reminds us:  "It is vain for you to rise early, or put off your rest, you that eat hard-earned bread, for (the Lord) gives to his beloved in sleep."  (Psalm 127:2)  If we want God to take care of our problems while we sleep, we have to give them over to him and LET GO.  Then go to sleep.

The Book

When I began jotting down my reflections nearly two years ago in this blog form, my goals were quite limited and simple.  Though I was doing it more for myself, I have been pleased that a few others have appreciated my meanderings and ramblings, and have seen fit to comment, react to, and expand on them.

A rather surprising response came from friends Gail and Marilyn, whom I have mentioned more than once in this space.  They urged me to collect the blogs and publish them in book form.  Something I had never considered.

However, after several pushes and jabs from them, I began searching online for a way to accomplish this request.  Voila!  I happened upon a website:  Blurb.com.  Here were the tools for "slurping" (their word) my blogs, editing them into book form, and publishing them.  It was a fun and challenging project!  Also very satisfying to see the results.  Sometimes I surprise even myself!

You can view the finished product by clicking on the button in the left hand column "RondoMusings: The Book".  That will take you to the Blurb website and their bookstore.

While there, you may also look into the possibilities they have for publishing your own book.  Many people have a hidden dream to produce a book, with photos, text, or a combination of both.  Take a look, you may be on to something exciting!

Live Simply

On the evening news one night last week, there was a segment about a young man who was trying to live with 100 or less items in his life.  He is part of a growing movement of people who focus on simplifying their lifestyles, whether from personal principles or economic necessity.  He had actually succeeded in decreasing the amount of stuff that had previously burdened him down.  Yet, he was living a comfortable and adequate existence.

It reminded me of a priest friend from years past.  His goal was to be able to move everything he owned in his car when he was transferred from one assignment to another in his ministry.  Obviously, because he always lived in parish accommodations, he did not need to own, and therefore move, furniture, appliances, etc.  However, he did limit his personal belongings, library, other stuff to what he could transport in his automobile.

Such simple living has many benefits and advantages.  Besides providing the opportunity to counteract the greed and acquisitiveness that is part of our human nature and certainly our society, this choice to live simply brings great freedom of spirit.  All the energy that would be spent in collecting and protecting our stuff can now be spent in other more lofty endeavors such as serving other people.

When we journeyed through our Hurricane Experience, we found that changed our lifestyle.  What a blessing that has proven to be as we now enjoy a much more simple life.  The beauty, joy and peace of God's world have become much more evident.  The time My Love and I have for each other and our families has multiplied.  We appreciate the freedom that is ours because of our simpler existence.  We obviously have not reached the point of living on 100 or less items.  However, the definite choice to downsize has reaped a harvest beyond measure.

To see suggestions about Living Simply So That Others May Simply Live, go to this website: http://www.suite101.com/content/living-with-less-a279107.  There are many other sites that can be googled for more information, but this one is a good place to start.

Us vs Them

In high school there was the face off between the Geeks and Jocks.  Depending on which side of the divide one was on, the other side was seen as second class, lower than or less than human.  The ones that could "strut their stuff" were able to call the shots for entire school body.

That same tendency to divide the human race into Us and Them runs deep in our nature.  During times of war we label the enemy in order to dehumanize them.  So we had, during WWII, the Japs and the Krauts; during the Korean War, the Slant Eyes and the Chinks; Vietnam saw us facing the Cong, the VC; and in our current wars we are up against the Ragheads, the Terrorists, the Islamic Fundamentalists.

Once we have slapped a denigrating label on another person or group of people we have greater freedom in denying their human dignity.  It then becomes much easier to kill them.  For most people, it is very difficult to take the life of another person whom we recognize as an equal to us.  Hence our need to dehumanize them if we are to eliminate them from our personal world.

This same need to divide into Us vs Them is evident on the political front that is now over.  Whether it is Democrat vs Republican, Liberal vs Conservative, or whatever other category you wish to develop, the purpose is the same -- to cast the other in the role of enemy and so to eliminate them from the picture.  That division only brings about the loss of half of our human resources and leaves us that much more impoverished.  The point at which we have divided our world into Us vs Them, whether something so simple as Left Handers vs Everyone Else, that is the point at which we are all losers.  When we exclude someone else from our life we have deprived outselves of some form of richness.

Jesus came into a world that was divided between the Jews and the Gentiles.  Each saw the other as the enemy.  The Jews were further divided into the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Samaritans.  Each of these groups was pitted against the others.  Instead of choosing one group to the exclusion of the others, Jesus reached out and included all of them in His Father's plan of salvation.  Whenever confronted by one or the other, he would invite them into his circle, into his Kingdom.  No one was excluded except those who chose to exclude themselves.

How would our world be different today if, instead of Us vs Them, our vision was Us and Them, WE together?  If we viewed others through the perspective of Jesus, of including rather than excluding them, would we not handle the problems, differences and difficulties with a renewed energy and more hopeful commitment?  Let's begin with our own families.  Not Parents vs Children, or Older Generation vs Younger Generation.  But by bridging the gap between Us and Them, by changing our perspective to a WE Together, only then can we initiate the Kingdom of God in our midst today.  Only then can we hope to overcome the barriers between us all.

Fall Beauty

My memory does not go back far enough to recall a fall season that has been more pleasant than this one.  For the last four weeks we have had temperatures in the above-normal range with little moisture.  It has been a perfect harvest season for the farmers as they have completed both the bean and corn production.  After a couple of windy and cooler days, we are now back on track with beautiful weather, allowing those same farmers to apply fertilizer, work the soil for next year, and begin to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Many of the trees have been bedecked in fall glory.  The geese have begun drifting south, and the other songbirds are also absent.  Leaves rustle underfoot as we amble through the yard.  The garden has been cleared off after a most abundant crop of tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, onions, beats and finally mounds of squash.  As we close out this month of October, the recognition dawns that there is something new coming, something we are maybe not yet prepared to face.

Yet, with the approach of winter, we are reminded once again of the cycle of life.  Like the rhubarb and the asparagus, we also need a "down time" to be able to rest, reflect and renew our energies.  Recalling a year ago, we already had three weeks of cold, snowy, wet weather which had made it nearly impossible for the farmers to function.  So, it is with gratitude to God that we welcome the month of November and whatever the next few months bring.  We know for certain that the same God who has blessed us through this beautiful fall will go before us into the approaching winter.