I’m a bit behind in the readings admittedly. Yesterday was my daughter’s birthday and our family has been spending a lot of time together, planting berry patches near the pond for the wild animals. We planted a gooseberry plant, 2 blackberry plants, and 2 blueberry plants. We forgot to get the garden fence covers to protect the plants from wild animals, so my husband and I headed into town to procure these things. We came back and it looked like something had already eaten a part of one plant. To their misfortune though, they’d picked the gooseberry plant and apparently left the rest of it intact cause goosberries are super sour! So we put tomato guards around them and covered them with garden fencing with zip ties.
Sometimes, you really gotta protect little things when they first start to grow. Anyway, I really hope they will grow big and strong. It says it may be 5 years before they will produce berries but sometimes it’s good in life to plant good things for the future with no expectation of really seeing the harvest of those things.
I planted the berries for the wild animals cause I like to watch them with my binoculars. My husband, on the other hand, said they’d be perfect so he can hunt whatever comes up to eat the berries. I was like, “No! That’s not why we planted berries!” Sigh.
Yesterday was my daughter’s 18th birthday! She is getting to be so strong and confident and amazing to me. I am so proud of her. She will graduate soon from college and plans to be one of the first enrollees for the newly combined Vermont State University this Fall.
All her life, she has wanted to be a librarian. She tells folks its because it is the only job you can tell people to shut up and be quiet and you can still keep the job. That’s your job as a librarian, to shush people…..along with providing a calm and relaxing safe space for them to read and write and collaborate and do fun learning. I’m really happy she decided on this path in life from the time she was 5 years old. I don’t know anyone with as much stick-to power and resolve as that kid. Once she makes her mind up about something, she sticks to it with all her heart. Me, I’m all over the place with this idea and that idea and “What about this?” or “What about that?” I am a dreamer and a box jumper as Mel Robbins would say with a severe need for process and simple discipline.
So, I’m trying to be more simply disciplined which means writing everyday about the Psalms and Proverbs readings I am doing with the Billy Graham Words of Wisdom Bible Reading Plan. I keep thinking I will run out of good stuff to write about but there is a slew of good info in these Psalms and Proverbs to ponder over. So, here are my stream of consciousness thoughts on Psalms 46-50 and Proverbs 10. According to this program, reading Psalms will strengthen your relationship to God while reading Proverbs will strengthen your relationship to other humans. I could really use that, especially working on my bonds with other humans.
Psalm 47 “He (God) shall choose our inheritance for us.”
This is so true.
I had visions of what my life would be as a kid. I guess I figured I would get married, settle down, have a steady job, maybe travel in the summers with my kids, and that really was about it.
I mean, I did have that pipe-dream once of going to Hollywood that came to me after a dream one time in college at like 3 am in the morning….but that was a little crazy. I’m kinda glad I didn’t just take off and go there cause I have friends that did and life did not fair too well for them honestly.
One friend, I saw years later, with missing teeth and he looked a little worn down and I heard recently he’s like a truck driver now or something.
“All the gold in California, is in a bank in someone else’s name…”
I think that’s an old classic country song and pretty true. Nah, I probably woulda gone there and tried to break into one line of business and end up in some seedier side of business like some of my friends did.
When I was 18, I went on a model call hoping to break into business in NYC. I stood in line for like 4 hours with lotsa other young girls who were really hoping to get their big chance. When I got up to the lady at the desk, I handed her some pictures I’d taken for my upcoming wedding with my husband. She looked em over, she said I had “a lot of color”. I think that was the polite way of saying, “You got gobs of freckles.” I replied something like I’d seen magazines with girls with freckles and red hair and thought I’d try too. She approved of that and looked down at my pictures again. Then she kinda wrote something down and motioned me over and went to the next girl.
I waited and waited and waited. Then after about 2 hours, she stood up and called the names of the girls that got to advance to the next round. It kinda felt like a cattle call to me, not gonna lie. I waited with my head down and then about midway through she said my name and I honestly looked up all surprised and happy.
They even called me on the phone to invite me to come to NYC but my husband wanted to get married and was a soldier and was going to be stationed soon in Germany. I had the choice between love and career. I chose love. I went off to Germany to be a military spouse.
Another friend of mine went to NYC later for modeling.
Years later, we met up again. She had gone to Paris and was there for five or so years. She didn’t talk much about her experience or what she did in Paris. I kinda got the impression down the road, that maybe choosing love was the right choice.
Do I regret not trying those things? Honestly, sometimes. But, what I do know for sure now in my 40s, is that I have lived a good and adventurous life that far, far exceeded so far anything that I envisioned for myself as a kid.
“he will choose your inheritance for you.”
I think God chooses a better life for us, for most of us anyway. Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi often say that “life is working for you rather than at you.”
I think this is true. We just gotta go with the flow and make positive, good, and wise choices and things will turn out in our favor, way beyond anything we could have anticipated with our small minds and small visions.
Could I, as a child, have conceived the notion I would live in Israel and Europe and Kansas and Virginia and the mountains of Vermont? Heck no. Am I glad it happened this way? Heck yeah. I thank God for that and am grateful to still be around daily.
I look forward to what the future holds for me. I really do. Even if something bad happens, I have learned that it could be a lesson that will benefit me in the future. But most of the time, mostly good things happen through the grace and mercy of God.
Psalm 48 “Mount Zion”
I really don’t know what Mount Zion is.
Is that stupid?
I literally want to know exactly what it is cause all my life, I’ve been hearing this thrown about here and there and I got no clue what Mount Zion is. So one moment….
It says that it is the high hill on which King David of Israel built the citadel in Jerusalem.
Ok, I know that place. I stayed in a youth hostel once near there. It was kinda creepy. I ended up moving to some other hostel down by the Via Dolorosa, which is the road that Jesus took to the Cross (where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is now). We were neighbors with Benjamin Netanyahu. I just remember that which is kinda cool cause my friend pointed out his place with the flag on it one time. Anyways, that was a waaaaaay better youth hostel, oh my gosh!
At the first one, I was in a bunk bed in a big room with a whole bunch of other people and this one dude across from me was just staring at us. So then we went to the other youth hostel a few hours later, cause that guy wouldn’t stop staring at 3 in the morning, and we ended up in rooms by ourselves which was so much better. It was in the Christian quarter too and I could sit in the window and watch all the people walking the long walk up to the Cross and praying and some were even on their knees for some of the walk which had to hurt.
Psalm 48 “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an East wind.”
Where the heck is Tarshish? That’s like being in Germany and asking, “Where the heck is Ausfarht?”
This is the information on Tarshish that I found on http://www.biblestudytools.com:
“The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. The question as to the locality of Tarshish has given rise to not a little discussion. Some think there was a Tarshish in the East, on the Indian coast, seeing that “ships of Tarshish” sailed from Eziongeber, on the Red Sea ( 1 Kings 9:26 ; 22:48 ; 2 Chr 9:21 ). Some, again, argue that Carthage was the place so named. There can be little doubt, however, that this is the name of a Phoenician port in Spain, between the two mouths of the Guadalquivir (the name given to the river by the Arabs, and meaning “the great wady” or water-course). It was founded by a Carthaginian colony, and was the farthest western harbour of Tyrian sailors. It was to this port Jonah’s ship was about to sail from Joppa. It has well been styled “the Peru of Tyrian adventure;” it abounded in gold and silver mines.”The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. The question as to the locality of Tarshish has given rise to not a little discussion. Some think there was a Tarshish in the East, on the Indian coast, seeing that “ships of Tarshish” sailed from Eziongeber, on the Red Sea ( 1 Kings 9:26 ; 22:48 ; 2 Chr 9:21 ). Some, again, argue that Carthage was the place so named. There can be little doubt, however, that this is the name of a Phoenician port in Spain, between the two mouths of the Guadalquivir (the name given to the river by the Arabs, and meaning “the great wady” or water-course). It was founded by a Carthaginian colony, and was the farthest western harbour of Tyrian sailors. It was to this port Jonah’s ship was about to sail from Joppa. It has well been styled “the Peru of Tyrian adventure;” it abounded in gold and silver mines.
It appears that this name also is used without reference to any locality. “Ships of Tarshish” is an expression sometimes denoting simply ships intended for a long voyage ( Isaiah 23:1 Isaiah 23:14 ), ships of a large size (sea-going ships), whatever might be the port to which they sailed. Solomon’s ships were so styled ( 1 Kings 10:22 ; 22:49 ).”
Ah I see now, Tarshish is maybe some place related to Phoenician or Carthaginian culture which supposedly was founded by the Phoenicians who worshipped a different diety. Ok, that makes sense. Incidentally, I read something that when Rome and Carthage fought and had their 3 wars against each other, after Carthage was destroyed, the inhabitants relocated then to Ireland. I don’t know if this is true or not, but if so would that mean that the ancient Druids are really just evolved from Carthage culture and earlier back Phoenician culture?
Psalm 49 “I will incline my ear to a parable.”
Hmm, I love that Jesus taught valuable lessons in parables or stories. There’s something else I noticed about the guy too. He asked lots of questions quite directly. It must have been very unnerving to have someone come up to you and ask you directly the question that was bothering you in your heart. No wonder folks were bothered by him. He just seemed to know what to ask and how to ask to teach lessons that were sometimes probably quite harsh realizations.
I watched a zoom webinar recently in which the teacher started out by asking people to admit things they needed to change in their lives and this got a bit awkward for me as one of the major things I do not like to admit is I would rather not admit to you my “weaknesses” as I admit I do not trust you to not use those to your advantage or position of authority or power over me.
How many folks just don’t say what they are really feeling? It’s like everybody’s got a poker face trying to relate to each other but coming from a point of falsehood from the get go and so the outcomes don’t match the expectations and everything veers off course from what is intended if true words and true emotions and true thoughts were truly expressed.
It’s like that game we played as kids about talking on the telephone and one person has a message and passes it to the next in line and after 20 kids, the final message is way off from what the original message was intended to be.
This is life and yet, oddly it still works out and stays in motion and the planet keeps turning and we don’t all fall off it. So weird. So weird and baffling how everything works out.
Ok, so my favorite parable? Hmmmm, I like the one about the boss with the talents that are given to the employees. One buries the talents. One multiples the talents. One puts the talents in a bank so it can grow interest.
The guy who buries the talents gets in trouble and has everything taken away from him. I guess it’s a good reminder to be brave and smart and try new things even though the risks are high. It is better to try than not try at all. Life is meant to be lived, not survived.
Jump off the high dive. Either you do a fantastic execution of a jump or even a dive or you do a fantastic belly flop which causes a tidal wave and makes everyone laugh wholeheartedly. It’s meant to be fun, right? I gotta remind myself of this daily, especially at my 9 to 5.
Psalm 50 “He who gathers in summer is a wise son.”
My son will work this summer. He will get his first job. I am excited for him. We’ve been car shopping too for that first rusty clunker of a first car for him. We looked at an old blue Subaru with 126,000 miles on it and a big dent in the side. Hey, it’s good for him right….to have a clunky box of a car at first…to learn the value of a dollar and if you work hard enough, you can buy a better car that doesn’t die at intersections or look like a jalopy. It builds character to have a hoopty car right off the bat. Plus they are great fun for partying with friends cause you don’t care if you tear a car like that up. On the other hand, you get a red shiny sports car, you are handling it like your precious baby and polishing it every moment and getting jumpy about any scratches or dings in it. No fun at all.
Yes, hoopty cars are a blast! Great for cruising with your high school pals and doing wild and crazy stuff like you should be doing as a teenager to an extent.
I’m happy for him. He’ll get his first car and first job and start gathering money for college like this saying says….like a wise son.
Ok, that’s all I got for today for reading Psalms 46-50 and Proverbs 10. Thanks for reading and add any comments you want. I’m playing catch up on the past few days so my next readings are Psalms 51-55 and Proverbs 11 if you want to read along or wait for me to catch up to you on the trail.
Thanks, and have a good day!
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