thoughts on the news of the day: doorway

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            The new year is traditionally a time to begin again.  For those caught in the tornadoes in northeast Arkansas who lost their homes yesterday, new beginnings are not an option.  They are imposed by winds that destroyed everything old, leaving nothing but a new year to cling to in hope of a better day tomorrow.

            If you lost everything where would you begin to put your life back together again?  Would you look in vain for remnants of a life lost?  Would you walk away, grateful that you were still alive to begin again?  Would you live in fear that you would never again have the security that your home and belongings gave to you?

            For the folks who have suffered such a loss, now would not be the time to point out that things are not what is important, that if we have our life, and our health and our loved ones, we have everything.  But for the rest of us, it is a good thing to be reminded that life lives on when things come to an end.

            2010 has come to an end and 2011 stands shining in the doorway of our lives, eager to show us a new year full of challenges and adventure if only we will embrace it. In this beginning of a new year, God bless those who have lost everything, but God bless us all.

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thoughts on the news of the day: new year

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            What a difference a day makes!  Yesterday was all about the end of the Christmas season and the melancholy that takes over when the decorations have to come down and the party seems to be over.  But wait …. It’s not.  Tonight at midnight, the crystal ball will drop in Times Square in New York City and we will celebrate the arrival of 2011 with lots of fireworks and festivities.

            What preparations have you made for the arrival of the new year?  Are your black eyed peas bought and ready to cook?  Do you have the T.V. remote ready to turn to the Rose Bowl Parade tomorrow morning?  Have you listed the resolutions for the coming year that you will probably keep next week and then discard like last week’s tinsel off the tree?

            The end of 2010 is here. And a new year is waiting for our hopes, our goals, our dreams of things to come. Take a minute or two today to review the accomplishments of 2010 and set new goals for 2011.  Is your new year’s planning and preparation all about doing and things, or have you searched your heart to determine what beyond yourself will be important for 2011? 

            Losing weight and getting my finances in order are always at the top of my list of resolutions for the new year; but this year, I am also asking God for renewed strength.  Perhaps God can change my heart – in ways I never expected – and the new year can be one of prosperity and hope – not only for me, but for the people who’s lives I touch.

            What are your resolutions for the new year?  Whose life will you touch?

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thougths on the news of the day: kodachrome

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            Remember when digital cameras didn’t exist and film had to be developed at a lab?  You had to wait for days to get your pictures of the latest holiday or trip developed.  Those days are gone forever.  Kodak discontinued kodachrome last year and in a small town named Parsons, Kansas, Dwayne’s Photo shop is processing the very last rolls of kodachrome film today.

            Paul Simon’s song Kodachrome reminds us that color film gives us “those nice bright colors; they give us the greens of summer; makes you think all the world’s a sunny day (oh yeah)”.

            Actually, I am not feeling like the world’s a sunny day today. I could really sing, “Mama don’t take my kodachrome away”.  It’s a sad day, really when one more remnant of the past departs forever.  Besides, Christmas is over; it’s time to take down the tree and box up all the decorations.  All of my company is gone and while the new year awaits, I just can’t get excited about it; at least not yet.  It feels like nothing will change and it will always be the day after Christmas.

            But in reality, everything changes.  Technology has left the film processing business behind and now Christmas 2010 is just a memory.  Sometimes you just have to hold onto the fact that while things might seem a little lonely at the moment, it won’t always be that way.

            So I’ll look over the photos of the holiday and take a mental snapshot of the happy times we had and I’ll remember that there will always be good times ahead.

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thoughts on the news of the day: softness

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            Today my internet connection is not working.  This happens every so often in the mountains here in northern Arkansas.  So I am not up to the minute on the news of the day.  But I can look outside and see that it is raining.  Not pouring, just a damp drizzle that softens the landscape and hazes the horizon. 

            Softness, that is what I am working toward for next year.  I would like for God (and maybe me) to soften all my hard edges.  Sometimes I have an edge that is not so pleasant to be around.  Not many people see it; I am usually able to hide it from almost everyone but my closet friends. 

            The hardness of life gets inside us and gives us edges that don’t always reflect the most beautiful things.  We get impatient, agitated, annoyed because life is sometimes hard.  And it makes us stiff and difficult.

            Rigidity is not so good.  In fact, I heard a psychologist say that inflexibility is a good definition of insanity.  When we are unable to allow life around us to permeate into us, then it can make us pretty crazy.  Now, that is not to say we should not have emotional boundaries.  Boundaries are good; they help us to know where we end and someone else begins.  It’s that “good fences make good neighbors” thing.

            But for 2011, I am going for softness -- for an easy touch, a gentle manner, a kind demeanor.  If I can accomplish that, it will be a good year!

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thoughts on the news of the day: sunshine

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            Apparently folks in the eastern seaboard are still digging themselves out of a horrendous snow storm; but that hasn’t stopped shoppers there from getting out to explore the after Christmas sales.  It’s sunny today here in Eastern Oklahoma, where I have come to visit my dad and get in a little after Christmas shopping myself.  The selection is not that great in our little country town, so we hit the “big city” every once in a while to take in some restaurants, a good movie and, of course, some shopping. 

            When I was in college in Denton, Texas, I used to go downtown Dallas and visit the Neiman Marcus store.  Even their sale racks were completely out of my price range, so I pretended that it was a museum.  I imagined that everything was just for looking and not for purchasing.  It worked out and I didn’t feel so deprived or intimidated.  The store actually had some very interesting wares and I could spend a whole afternoon there admiring the exquisite merchandise.

            We don’t have to acquire something to appreciate it.  In fact, there are many things, like sunshine, that we can never really contain or control.  I am guessing that the folks back east are wishing right about now that they could bottle up some of our southern sunshine and import it there.  But of course, they can’t.  So once again, we are left with gratitude that today sunshine is ours for the taking.  God is in the heavens and all is well.

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thoughts on the news of the day: legacy

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            Three post-octogenarians are listed in a major national newspaper today. Carlos Andres Perez was the former President of Venezuela and he died at 88; Karen Tuttle was a violist and teacher who died at 90; and Bud Greenspan who filmed many Olympic champions in documentaries died at 84.  They will each be remembered by family and friends in addition to being acknowledged nationally.

            What will your legacy be?  If you live to be 80+ will anything of note be recorded upon your passing?  Lots of folks have asked this question in lots of ways.  Some even go as far as to recommend writing your own obituary to acknowledge the events of your life. 

            It might be fun here at the end of the decade to make a wish list of what you hope will be your lifetime achievements. If you could accomplish anything during your lifetime, what would it be?  I imagine all of us would say something like “world peace”.  But beyond that, would you want to be identified as a successful and loving parent?  Would you list your church or volunteer work?  Would you want your education accomplishments to be stated?

            Would you say how much money you made in your lifetime? It’s a funny question to ask, but isn’t that what we focus so much of our time and energy on – our ability to earn income?  Then, again,  you never hear someone say, “I wish I had spent more time at the office” at the end of their life.

            Today make a list of what you wish to accomplish next year – and then, get on with it!

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thoughts on the news of the day: the day after

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            There is a man named Walter Breunig who has spent 114 Christmases on the planet.  Yes, this man was born on September 21, 1896 and is thought to be the oldest man in the world.  He remembers Christmases at the Methodist church as a young child where he received a little holiday box with a couple of nuts and a piece of candy.  His family was poor and many Christmases that was all he was given.

            What will your memories of this Christmas be? And will you or anyone else remember them 100 years from now – or even one year from now?  It’s easy to get depressed the day after Christmas.  There were so many expectations about how the day would go that in the aftermath  the blues can over take us.

            But maybe a good way to combat that sadness is to write some thank you notes.  I bet you could make a list of ten or even twenty people you could thank for gifts received this Christmas season.  My mom always sat us down the day or so after Christmas and we wrote notes of thanks to relatives who had extended the kindness of a toy or a candy gift.  It gave us a chance to re-live the excitement of opening the present and to pause long enough to realize again what Christmas was really all about… the gift of love.

            I hope that if I live to be a 100, I will still be writing notes to say thank you at Christmas.

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