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34

The picture above has no relation to this post except I thought his facial expression fit the subject.

People in the United States were mostly either happy, sad, or angry when the guilty verdicts of 34 counts of falsifying business records was announced. I am mostly in the sad camp, not because I don’t think Trump is guilty ( I think the man is a fraud, a cheat, a liar, and has no regard for the rule of law), but I’m sad that a former American president was convicted of not just one felony but of 34 felonies. It was a dark day in American history. A former American president and the current Republican nominee for president (officially he won’t be the nominee until after the Republican National Convention) was convicted of 34 felonies.

November 8, 2016, when a minority of Americans and a majority of the Electoral College was chosen to elect this fraud of a man president. January 6, 2021 was an even darker day when he called on his followers to try to stop the Democratic process from certifying that he’d lost the 2020 presidential election. In the past eight years, Donald Trump has been the cause of many dark days in American history.

A lot of Republicans will claim that Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts is/was politically motivated. However, I want us to keep in mind that the New York district attorney took these charges to a grand jury who indicted Trump, a grand jury made up of ordinary Americans who were doing their civic duty. Then, during the trial, a jury agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense heard the evidence presented and the district attorney and a defense put forth by Trump’s lawyers found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts. 

Whatever anyone might believe about political motivations, a jury doing their sworn civic duty found him guilty because the prosecution’s case, the testimony of witnesses, and evidence of crimes was convincing and the defense’s refutation, the defense of these crimes, and the repeated claims of innocence was not convincing. This was the American judicial process at work, not a kangaroo court or a show trial, but the justice system in the State of New York working as it should.

Is this conviction likely to sway Republican opinions about Trump or cause them to admit he committed crimes? No, at least for the majority of Republicans, it won’t. As both Biden and Trump said yesterday, the true judgement will come on November 5, 2024. The ultimate judgement will come in how history remembers this period of American history.

Republicans have said over and over that the Biden administration is using the courts as a weapon. The Biden administration had nothing to do with this conviction. Furthermore, for the past four years Donald Trump has proclaimed that he would use the courts as a weapon to punish those he sees as his enemies. He has repeatedly said he would get retribution and revenge against those who have not supported his political witch hunts against his enemies, have not supported his criminal activities, or his fascist rhetoric.

November 5, 2024 will decide whether America is a democracy or if  people would rather see this country turn to fascism. I pray that the majority of Americans choose Democracy. We can only do that by exercising our civic duty and voting!

P.S. Possibly only two other American president have committed crimes that could have led to convictions: Warren G. Harding and Richard M. Nixon (both were Republicans). Harding had the good grace to die of a heart attack before his involvement with the Teapot Dome scandal and the “Ohio Gang” could be fully investigated. Nixon was pardoned by another Republican president, Gerald Ford, of any possible crimes he might have committed during the events surrounding the Watergate scandal. Harding and Nixon never faced a trial. Donald Trump has, and he has been convicted. Like Trump, Harding’s and Nixon’s criminal associates have been convicted of numerous crimes.

Because politics can leave a nasty taste in your mouth, I give you a beautiful palate cleanser, Isabella pic of the week:

Even she knows she’s beautiful. Before I put my collection of DVDs in this cabinet, she would spend a lot of time looking at her reflection in the glass. Granted, she kept walking around the cabinet trying to find the cat staring back at her, but she knows she’s a queen.

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Goodbye, Discovery!

I used to always write my posts the night before, but for the past several months, I’ve been writing them first thing in the morning. However, this post, I wrote last night. I knew I would probably not have time to write one this morning. Why you might ask? The series finale of Star Trek: Discovery was released today, and I’m going to watch it before I go to work.

I’ll admit that Star Trek: Discovery has not always been my favorite Star Trek series. However, it was what brought Star Trek back to television, even if it was on a streaming service. Because of Discovery, we got Picard, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds. We also got Prodigy, but honestly, that one is really not worth mentioning. Discovery started the “New Trek” era. There have been ups and downs with this new era of Star Trek shows, but we got Star Trek back and it wasn’t through J. J. Abrams, who I think did Star Trek movies a major disservice.

I’ll hate to see Discovery end, and I’ll hate to see Lower Decks end with its next season, but we have at least two more seasons of Strange New Worlds to look forward to and the upcoming Section 31 movie with Michelle Yeoh and the recently announced Starfleet Academy series which will apparently have Holly Hunter as a lead actress. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but we’ll see how she does.

So, as one series ends, and another one about to end, Trekkies still have a lot to look forward to in the near future.

P.S. I hate to see the end of a series headed by Sonequa Martin-Green. As far as I know, she’s the only lead on a Star Trek series from Alabama, and she has a degree from the University of Alabama. Although Louise Fletcher, who played Kai Winn on Deep Space Nine, was also a fellow Alabamian, she was a recurring character, not a lead actress.

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Back to Work

After five days at home, I have to go back to the museum today. Friday and yesterday, I worked from home, so technically, I went back to work yesterday. However, this will be the first day back since last Thursday. This Thursday and Friday, I will be the only one at the museum. We have two work study students who might be in, I never know their schedules. Because we are a university museum, we don’t get a lot of visitors in the summer, so it’s entirely possible that I could literally be the only person in the museum on Thursday and Friday. Honestly, I don’t mind being there by myself. I can be more relaxed and even do some reading without being disturbed. I may do some filing that needs done, and I have a class to finish preparing for. Otherwise, there is nothing pressing that has to be done.

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Notes For Further Study

I like your hair, clothes, car—call me!

Notes For Further Study

By Christopher Salerno

 

You are a nobody

until another man leaves

a note under your wiper:

I like your hair, clothes, car—call me!

Late May, I brush pink

Crepe Myrtle blossoms

from the hood of my car.

Again spring factors

into our fever. Would this

affair leave any room for error?

What if I only want

him to hum me a lullaby.

To rest in the nets

of our own preferences.

I think of women

I’ve loved who, near the end,

made love to me solely

for the endorphins. Praise

be to those bodies lit

with magic. I pulse

my wipers, sweep away pollen

from the windshield glass

to allow the radar

detector to detect. In the prim

light of spring I drive

home alone along the river’s

tight curves where it bends

like handwritten words.

On the radio, a foreign love

song some men sing to rise.

 

 

About the Poet

 

Christopher Salerno was born on June 13, 1975, in Somerville, New Jersey. He received an MA from East Carolina University and an MFA from Bennington College.

 

Salerno is the author of Sun & Urn (University of Georgia Press, 2017), winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize; ATM (Georgetown Review Press, 2014), winner of the Georgetown Review Poetry Prize; Minimum Heroic (Mississippi Review Press, 2010), winner of the Mississippi Review Poetry Prize; and Whirligig (Spuyten Duyvil, 2006).

 

In the judge’s citation for the Georgetown Review Poetry Prize, D. A. Powell writes, “Salerno rifles through our empty wallets to show how much we’re missing. These poems are mystical transactions of body and soul, as dark as Faust and as illuminating.”

 

Salerno has also received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He currently serves as an editor at Saturnalia Books and teaches at William Paterson University. He lives in Caldwell, New Jersey.

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Memorial Day 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈

For many of us, Memorial Day weekend is about cookouts, sales, watching fireworks, and fellowshipping with family and friends. However, this weekend is supposed to be about honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They gave their lives serving in one of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. As a military historian working at a military college, I am very much aware of the sacrifices made every day by military personnel. Historically, LGBTQ+ soldiers have sacrificed even more. For most of the history of the U.S. military, LGBTQ+ soldiers had to be closeted because being “out” wasn’t acceptable. Being outed could have cost them their military career. Many LGBTQ+ soldiers kept their mouths shut and their business to themselves to protect themselves from harm and protect the nation.

In 1982, the U.S. military enacted a policy explicitly banning gay men and lesbians from their ranks. Before that, however, same-sex relations were criminalized and a cause for discharge. And in the early 1940s, it was classified as a mental illness, disqualifying gay men and lesbians from service. In 1993, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy (DADT) went into effect, allowing closeted LGBTQ+ soldiers to serve in the military. Under the policy, service members would not be asked about their sexual orientation but would be discharged for disclosing it. 

Many LGBTQ+ soldiers were outed as gay or lesbian by fellow soldiers and not allowed to serve. Some soldiers were killed by their fellow comrades while on active duty. If you saw the 2003 film Soldier's Girl, you are aware of U.S. Army infantry soldier PFC Barry Winchell who was murdered on July 6, 1999, by a fellow soldier for dating a transgender woman, Calpernia Addams. The murder became a point of reference in the ongoing DADT debate. Eighteen years after DADT was enacted, Congress repealed the policy, allowing openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve in the military.

Another barrier was lifted in 2013 when spousal and family benefits were extended to same sex married partners in the military. After ending temporarily in 2016, the ban on transgender individuals was again rescinded in 2021, allowing transgender individuals to enlist and serve in the armed forces. It’s been a long journey, but LGBTQ+ soldiers have always been part of the American military. In an era before gay marriage or open pride, military men fell in love, formed passionate friendships, and had same-sex encounters. Due to social and official discrimination, most of the stories of these LGBTQ+ soldiers have gone untold. One famous example was Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian military man hired by George Washington to whip the Continental Army into shape during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War. He was known for his bravery and the discipline and grit he brought to the American troops. Historians also believe he was gay—and served as an openly gay man in the military when sex between men was punished as a crime. 

So, if you have never considered the LGBTQ+ service members who lost their lives to serve a country that didn’t respect them, you should. We shouldn’t take our freedom for granted. It comes with a price tag, and we all need to remember this. As we celebrate another Memorial Day weekend, please note this isn’t just another time to party. Today is a day set aside to remember those who have sacrificed their lives so that we may live and be free, fight against discrimination, and love who we want. These brave, unsung heroes sacrificed the truth of themselves. Let us never forget them.

Be safe, be conscious, be proud, and remember our fallen LGBTQ+ service members who died in times when being “out” wasn’t allowed. Thankfully, things seemed to have changed drastically in the U.S. military. LGBTQ+ service members are able to serve openly and without harassment. While acceptance of LGBTQ+ service members is a relatively new development in the military’s long history, the Department of Defense is committed to maintaining a strong force that reflects the nation’s diversity.

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Live by Example

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

—James 1:19-20

 

Growing up, anyone outside of my family would have said I was a very polite and quiet kid. However, when it came to my parents, especially my dad, I had a bad habit of talking back. We both wanted the last word, and I often didn’t know when to shut up. My grandmama gave me the best advice on how to deal with my father. She said, “Your daddy is just like his daddy. You just have to keep your mouth shut, and eventually, he will shut up. Then you can go about your day.” To this day, my father and I barely get along. I’ve never been the son he wanted, and he says I “annoy him.” Last time I was home at Christmas, he actually said, “I was dreading you coming home because you usually annoy me, but I haven’t been annoyed this time until now.” It was all because I said I would not watch Fox News. He took this as me saying he could not watch Fox News. I did not; I just meant I’d go elsewhere. However, when it comes to me, my father is a man who is slow to hear (if he does at all), swift to speak, and swift to wrath.

 

I know that I get my temper from my dad. It’s one of the reasons I never wanted children. I did not want to be the kind of father my father and grandfather were, and I knew I had their temper at times. Over the years, I have learned to control my temper, but most people who know me know that I can be pushed just so far before that temper comes out. I wish I could suppress my temper at all times, so I try to “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Do I always succeed? No, but I do try my best.

 

Following the verse above, James goes on to say in James 1:21-27:

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; or he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

 

If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Too many Christians today are not “doers of the word.” Sadly, they hear what they want to hear and ignore the parts of the Bible they disagree with. They rely on bad translations and put forward a belief that is an anathema to Christ’s teachings. I have always believed that we should live by example, meaning to guide others through your behavior instead of your words. Your intention is to inspire others to copy your behavior. Luke 6:31 says, “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” The opposite of leading by example is to say one thing and do another, i.e., being a hypocrite. My father always lived by the saying “do as I say, not as I do,” but this is not how we are supposed to live.

 

We can study the Bible all we want, but if we fail to apply the lessons that God teaches us through His word, then we are only hearers and not doers. First Timothy 4:12 tells us, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” Could you, in good conscience, encourage someone to be to follow Christ’s teachings if you yourself are not? We must live in such a way that we are beyond reproach. Titus 2:6–8 says, “Likewise, exhort [encourage’ the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.” Live by example, then those who are not following the Word of God cannot fault you. They may try, but you have to remember what is important. It is how God will judge you, not how man will judge you.

 

In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus says, “7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Jesus is telling us that we cannot criticize or judge others for things we ourselves do not follow. 

 

When it comes to living by example, there’s no one who’s ever done it better than Jesus Himself. He is the ultimate example, because He built His entire ministry around living by example. At the end of the day, if we have not modelled our behavior to other people on that of Christ, then we are failing to follow Christ’s example. To do that, we need to practice humility and selflessness above all. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” Living by example isn’t always easy. If it were, then we wouldn’t need to rely on God’s strength to do it. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” If you’re at that point in your life where you’re discouraged and unsure if you can press on and continue living by example, remember that God will strengthen us, help us, and support us.

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Moment of Zen: Jeans 👖

Don’t we all love a man in a perfectly fitted pair of jeans? I’m my opinion, what makes it even better is if he has hair on his chest. There is just something so masculine about a shirtless guy with a hairy chest in a pair of tight fitting jeans.

Dolly Parton once sang, “Why'd you come in here lookin' like that / In your high heel boots and your painted on jeans / All decked out like a cowboy's dream.” Ok, so she actually sang “cowgirl’s dream” but I like my version better. 😂 

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While this bedroom is not my style, I find it quite interesting, especially the handsome man on the bed. (I love nice tanlines.)

Five Days

First, I want to thank everyone for their kind words yesterday about my depression. I know it will get better. My depression tends to go in waves with highs and lows. All of you will never know how much it means to me that you care enough to read my daily musings and ramblings. ❤️

Today begins five days of not needing to go anywhere. I’m working from home today and Tuesday, but at least I don’t have to go to the museum, though I have a lot of work to do today, but it’s work that I enjoy. I’m preparing for a class I’ll be teaching in a few weeks. I love getting bogged down creating a PowerPoint presentation. Some people may find that boring, but I always find it to be a lot of fun.

And while I don’t have to go anywhere for the next five days, I am planning to go to the grocery store first thing this morning, so I can beat the crowds I expect stores to have over the holiday weekend. I also hope that I can get out and enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are expecting today through Sunday. Our forecast calls for sunny weather with highs in the low 70s, which I consider perfect weather. Next week won’t be as nice with rain every day and highs in the low 60s. The temperature I don’t mind, and while I like rain when I don’t need to leave my apartment, I don’t like it when I have to get out in it.

While Memorial Day is a holiday only in the United States, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and nice weather that you too can enjoy. 

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A Case of the Blues

I wrote this post yesterday because the earworm mention below was playing over and over in my head. I debated back and forth after I scheduled it as to whether or not I wanted to actually post it. Obviously, I ultimately decided I would. Sometimes when I’m struggling with something, it helps to write it down. I’ve always done my best to be honest and straightforward about my depression and my migraines. I’ve sometimes been accused of complaining a lot, but this isn’t complaining, it’s me explaining where I am emotionally at the moment.

Do you ever get an earworm, a catchy or memorable piece of music or saying that continuously occupies your mind even after it is no longer being played or spoken about? For weeks now I have had Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” stuck in my head, but the bad thing is, I’m not hearing the right lyrics. The chorus, the only part of the song I really know, goes like this:

It's my life

It's now or never

I ain't gonna live forever

I just want to live while I'm alive

The problem is, I keep hearing: 

I hate my life

It's now or never

I ain't gonna live forever

I…Hate…My…Life!

The truth is, I have been depressed for several months now. Some of it is anxiety over problems at work that no one seems to actually try to fix and some change in personnel. However, it’s more than that. From January through March, I had a dramatic decrease in my migraines. I went from having migraines every day to having only about 10 a month. That’s a significant improvement, but that has not been the case since my last round of Botox. I have a suspicion it’s the different techniques of the nurse practitioners who administer it. One uses an older technique, which one uses a newer technique. I think the newer technique vastly more effective. I see the one who does the newer technique on June 19, so I will be asking her about this.

 

When I saw my doctor in March, I had also gotten to my lowest weight in decades, but some of that has been regained in the last 6 weeks. My fasting glucose has also been higher. I had kept my A1C low for over a year, and from the numbers I have been seeing, I will go from my doctor saying I was a diet controlled diabetic and might even consider removing the diagnosis, to being pre-diabetic again. It’s very disappointing and frustrating since what I’m eating, and my amount of exercise has not changed. While I have been stressed with things going on at work, it honestly isn’t that much more than I have dealt with over the past two years. It’s just a different kind of stress. For the most part, my job and responsibilities have not changed but having a director working remotely for the past nine months, has left me dealing with some of the personality (and I mean personality and not personnel) issues at the museum.

 

In addition to all of this I have also felt extremely fatigued for the past several months. If it wasn’t for Isabella waking me up in the mornings to feed her, I doubt I would even get out of bed some days. I’d just text my boss that I have a migraine, roll over, and go back to sleep. Let’s face it, I always have a migraine so it would be the truth, it’s just that I know there are migraine days that are worse than others. Some days the pain is minimal and allows me to do my work, read, watch tv, etc., and then there are days when I can barely do any of that because light, smell, and noise becomes unbearable. 

 

I’ve also had my tinnitus becoming more noticeable. I have always heard sounds in my ears, but it’s always been background noise. To be honest, I thought everyone heard ringing noises all, but apparently, not everyone does. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t hear a shrill sound constantly in my ears. It may also be why I am having increasing trouble hearing people talk. I’ve had that issue for years, but it really seems to have gotten worse lately. After asking someone to repeat themselves several times, I eventually just pretend I know what they said and move on. God only knows what I’m agreeing to sometimes.

 

All of these things together has me very frustrated and depressed. I try to put on a cheerful happy face most of the time, but when I am left to my own devices, it gets a little overwhelming at times. I am really hoping that when our new director comes on board in June, some of our personnel issues will be straightened out, though I hate the new director has to deal with the mess that has been left for her. I can only do so much to mitigate the problems. As for my glucose levels, it could be the stress, an illness that I haven’t realized I had, or my pancreas is just not working as well as it could be. These are all things my doctor said when I mentioned it to him, but he also said that my numbers aren’t too bad, they are just higher than I had grown accustomed to. Susan told me the same thing, and I always trust her advice. I hope the next Botox treatment will be more successful as well. I see my doctor on June 18 and have a Botox treatment on June 19, so I hope I will see some improvement or be able to make some positive changes. Maybe if all of these things can be taken care of, the fatigue will also get better. In the meantime, I am feeling a lot of depression and disappointment in myself.

Thankfully, I have Isabella here (and Susan just a phone call away) to keep me from being to despondent. Speaking of Isabella, here’s the picture of the week. I took it last night as she was sitting in front of the TV. Thankfully, I wasn’t trying to watch anything.

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Green 🌳

You’ll probably be able to tell very quickly from this post that I don’t have a lot to say today. It’s been kind of a boring week. That being said, Vermont is beautiful this time of year. Most of the trees have their leaves back, and those that don’t are full of budding green. There’s even some flowers beginning to bloom. While Autumn is my favorite time in Vermont because of the leaves changing color, it’s always nice to see green return to the Green Mountains after a barren winter covered in snow.

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Interim

Interim

By Clarissa Scott Delany

 

The night was made for rest and sleep, 

For winds that softly sigh; 

It was not made for grief and tears; 

So then why do I cry? 

 

The wind that blows through leafy trees

Is soft and warm and sweet; 

For me the night is a gracious cloak 

To hide my soul’s defeat. 

 

Just one dark hour of shaken depths, 

Of bitter black despair—

Another day will find me brave,

And not afraid to dare.

 

 

About the Poet

 

Clarissa Scott Delany was born Clarissa Mae Scott in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was the daughter of Emmet Jay Scott, secretary to Booker T. Washington and special advisor on African American affairs to President Woodrow Wilson, and Elenor Baker Scott. She attended Bradford Academy in Massachusetts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1923. This accomplishment landed her a cover article in The Crisis magazine in June 1923.

 

Delany gathered frequently with other young Black people in Boston at the Literary Guild. Claude McKay was among the institution’s featured speakers. She traveled to France and Germany and later published the essay “A Golden Afternoon in Germany,” inspired by this period, in Opportunity magazine. Delany then moved to Washington, D.C., and taught at Dunbar High School until 1926. While there, she joined the Saturday Nighters Club, a salon hosted by Georgia Douglas Johnson.

 

Delany entered her poem “Solace” in a contest hosted by Opportunity. She tied for fourth place, and the poem was eventually anthologized, alongside her other poems, “Joy” and “The Mask,” in Countee Cullen’s Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Black Poets of the Twenties (Harper & Brothers, 1927). Some of her other poems were also anthologized in Arna Bontemps’s and Langston Hughes’s The Poetry of the Negro, 1746–1949 (Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1949). 

 

Delany later moved to New York City, where she became a social worker and the director of the Joint Committee on the Negro Child Study. She published findings on delinquency and child neglect among Black children. She died at twenty-six of kidney disease.

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Sweet Dreams

I don’t often remember the dreams that I have, but I was having a very sweet dream this morning. In the dream, I was in high school and did  something I’d have never back then. There was one particular guy I had a “crush” on in high school. Thinking back, I know I had several crushes on different guys, but I wouldn’t let myself think about it that way, but it was these guys I was thinking of when I jerked off at night. There was one particular guy that was in more than his fair share of fantasies, he was who this dream was about. 

I dream went something like this:

I was standing with my back to a wall, and he asked me, “What are you doing tomorrow?” 

I replied that “I didn’t have any plans. Why?”

He said, “I’m supposed to go pick up some guacamole but was wondering if you’d rather play soccer instead.”

(This was a really strange part of the dream because I hate guacamole, and I doubt either of us actually would have known what guacamole was back then. Also, he would have probably asked me to play football or basketball, not soccer.)

I replied, “You know I’m not good with sports, but I am good with balls.” 

(Cheesy, I know, but we were in high school and this was a dream.)

“Really,” he said with a sexy smile.

I sort of stuttered, “W-w-well, I’ve never actually played with anyone else’s balls, but I’d like to.”

“Really. Well, that doesn’t have to wait until tomorrow,” he said and leaned in to kiss me.

I asked if he had somewhere private we could go, and I remember he nodded and started motioning me somewhere…

Just then, I heard a cat meowing. I rolled over hoping to get back to my dream, but as I was still half asleep, I never could get passed the part where he leaned in to kiss me before I heard a cat meowing again. Isabella wanted her breakfast, and she was not going to let me go back to sleep and finish my dream. So, after a few more starts and stops to my dream, I finally opened my eyes and got up and fed her. No matter how much I’d have liked to have finished that dream, I knew it wasn’t going to happen, so I got up and fed her.

Ugh, cock-blocked from such a sweet dream by a cat. So frustrating…

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Kindness

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

—Ephesians 4:32

 

To be kind, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to have a sympathetic or helpful nature. It also indicates gentleness, compassion and affection. Kindness is different than niceness. It goes deeper – it’s a genuine reflection of the heart. Niceness can be helpful, but kindness is a result of a heart in the right place. Mark Twain was once said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

 

We are surrounded by God’s kindness every day. Evidence of his kindness shows in our lives, in the Bible and in his character. Jesus set the ultimate example of kindness with his life. Following his example can be difficult, but God calls and equips believers to be kind. With this understanding of how important kindness is to God and in how we interact with the world,

 

The kindness of God is our starting place for a holistic view of kindness. He made us for community with himself and other people. For any community to thrive, there must be kindness. From God’s loving kindness, we start to understand how securely loved we are by God, and in that security, we can reach out to those we come across who need a reminder of kindness in their lives.

 

We know God calls Christians to be kind, but sometimes we struggle with knowing what that kindness looks like in everyday life. Where are we supposed to direct our kindness? And to whom? The short answer is to be kind to everyone. Galatians 6:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all.”

 

If we all did a small act of kindness each day, the world would be a better place. It doesn’t take much to be kind. It can be as simple as holding open a door for someone or picking up something they’ve dropped. Maybe the person behind you in line at the grocery store as significantly fewer groceries than you, and you let them ahead of you in line. The simplest form of kindness is to smile at someone.

 

Love and encourage people. And always be open to listen. You never know what people are going through and sometimes the people with the biggest smiles are struggling the most, so be kind. That’s why it’s so important to lead with kindness as often as we can. You may never know how much a small act of kindness will affect someone.

P.S. Steve Davis, one of my frequent reader and commenters, reminded me that today is Pentecost,* and I wanted to add a few words about how kindness is an appropriate virtue to celebrate the holiday. Pentecost is described in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” I’ve never fully understood “speaking in tongues” in the modern sense in Holiness and Pentecostal Christianity. What is often described as speaking in tongues never seemed to be a universal language that everyone could understand as described in Acts 2:4. However, I believe what Mark Twain said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Kindness is a universal language that everyone can speak and understand, and maybe that is what the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles with on Pentecost.

* Pentecost was never a holiday we observed in the Church of Christ when I was growing up so it did not occur to me to write a post about Pentecost.

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Moment of Zen: Pools