thoughts on the news of the day: dr seuss

hmmm…..

                I am a pretty big fan of Theodor Seuss  Geisel.  You probably know him as Dr. Seuss.  Today, March 2, is his birthday, or was his birthday.  He was born in 1904 but died in 1991.  Over his life, he wrote 60 different books, many of which you are no doubt familiar.  Books like, “A Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” 

                When I was pastoring a church in south Texas, we had a mission project which involved providing school clothes for kids whose parents didn’t have money to buy them.  In conjunction with this project, a young Girl Scout decided to try and provide a book for each child that visited our church for clothing.  She brought boxes and boxes of books she had collected for her project.  When we had completed the distribution of clothing and books, several boxes of books remained.  We debated what to do with them.  Should we put them in our church library?  Or give them to the local library?  We seriously doubted that anyone would want them; they were tattered and torn and didn’t look particularly appealing to most kids.  But I opened up one of the remaining boxes and delighted in a carefully stacked assortment of Dr. Seuss books in near perfect condition.  We were stunned that anyone would so carelessly toss such a fine collection.             

                After making a reasonable donation to the kids clothing project for the books, I carefully carted the Dr. Seuss classics back to my pastor’s study.  I loved sharing them with kids who visited my office.   Most of the popular ones are gone now, given to young readers.  But I don’t regret that they are not in my bookcase anymore.  After all, it was Dr. Seuss who wrote, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

                hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: sign up

hmmm…..

            Yes, it’s a picky detail, but you have to sign up.  Scott Downward found that out the hard way.  He won the Cowtown Marathon this past weekend.  Or, maybe not.  Scott ran the fastest finish of the 9,000 competitors in the race; but he had failed to register for the event .  He ran on a friend’s bib who had signed up for the race but was unable to run in it.  Unfortunately the judges caught the error and took away Scott’s victory. 

            Yes, for many things in life, you have to sign up.  Our parents had to sign us up for kindergarten.  We had to sign up to play on the baseball or softball team.  The Department of Public Safety  requires us to sign up for our driver’s license.  And then there is that detail with a marriage license.  To vote requires a sign up.  Our own children need a sign-up for their social  security numbers shortly after they are born.

            Some people say that all you have to do is “suit up and show up” for life.  You just arrive and life happens.  That might be true.  But there is lots to be said for mentally signing in each morning.  That would be something like waking up and saying, “Good Morning God! What do you have for me to do today?”  Signing up with God when you arise has its merits.  It says that you are willing to let God be in control of your words and deeds.  It says that for today, whatever happens, God will be there to protect, guide and guard you.  And when you sign up for God’s daily marathon, you win, no matter what.

            hmmm…..

            

thoughts on the news of the day: leap year

hmmm…..

            What “would ya, could ya, should ya” do if you had an extra day in your life?  Would you take the day off and go for a picnic or a bike ride?  Would you finish up that project at work?  Would you play with your kids?  Visit your grandma?  Clean out the closet?

            Well, guess what?  This year you do.  We have one more day this February in  a year commonly called Leap Year.  It happens every four years in order to syncronize our calendar with the astronomical or seasonal year.   This keeps the calendar from drifting through the seasons too rapidly.  In the Hebrew calendar, a month is added seven times every 19 years. Wow! a whole month would really be nice – think of the vacations you could take!!

            When I was growing up, the big question was how old would you be if your birthday only came every four years?  When everyone else was 16, would you only be 4?  And …. Would you still get birthday presents, even though, technically, you didn’t have a birthday?  I have personally never know anyone born on February 29.  One of my friends came close – she was born on February 28 in a leap year.  She was always kind of grateful that she didn’t have strange birthdays to deal with. 

            I guess I should say here that we should all do something special, something we wouldn’t ordinarily do on this special extra day.  I could … but I won’t.  That is way too obvious.  Instead, let’s just be grateful for every day … every day when we can enjoy our family, be grateful for employment, food and shelter … not just one day every four years … but every day.

            hmmm…..