Fun with Flags ~ Interactive Interlude

Greetings Dear Reader,

Apparently there exists less understanding of the history of the Confederate flags and the South’s succession from the Union than I thought.  My post yesterday triggered some virulent responses from people who know me well enough to see past the issues to the effort.  It also showed how monocular we can become over our banners or the banners we hate.

As a teacher for most of my adult life and someone who loves history it saddens me that we carry so little understanding of the past into our present.  We cannot change the past.  It is there to teach us.  If we ignore part of history to favor our agenda then we no longer carry the truth.  We may be absolutely right concerning our position.  If we are right then right will bear up under the whole truth. 

If we have to ignore facts or even suppress part of the truth to further an agenda then our cause is no longer righteous.  Justice must be for everyone.  We cannot afford to ignore the truth in order to further even a righteous agenda.  When we hide truth, we lie.  When we ignore truth, we abandon the high ground for unjust willful ignorance.

If we do not see history as it truly Is then we will not understand why people rally around flags that represent horrible ideals.  Seeking truth and understanding does not validate evil.  Seeing how things came to be when they are bad may point out the thread that we can grasp to unravel a banner of hate and wrong.

I must embrace all truth no matter how I feel about it.  I cannot minimize its impact on history or my need to see the actions of those living in that time relative to the things that motivated them.  Again, I apologize that I stepped on some toes yesterday but liberty cannot survive without truth.  I cannot follow if I ignore truth to hold on to my ideals.  Perhaps the flag of truth is one of the few worth waving.

Faces of America – Dan Fogelberg

There was a time, a simpler time
When a man could be sure of where he stood
I used to work at the yard, working honest and hard
The hours were long but the pay was oh so good

I had a family and friends, oh so many friends
We'd drive to the lake on holidays
Back then it wasn't so dear for a sandwich or beer
At night I still dream I can see their faces

Certain things that you depend upon
There are places that you know
And the faces of America
Oh, where do they go, where did they go

I was born on a farm, a mid-western farm
I rode on the tractor with my dad
And though we never had much it was always enough
And we made the best with what we had

But then came four years of drought and the bottom dropped out
My father was broken like the rest
And I can still see his hands pining over his lands
And the bankers grow fat on the flesh of the dispossessed

Certain things that you depend upon
There are places I can go to sift the ashes of America
For someplace I used to know
Someplace I used to know
Someplace I used to know

There was a time, a simpler time
When a man could be sure of where he stood
I used to work at the yard, working honest and hard
The hours were long but the pay was oh so good

Certain things that you depend upon I used to think were guaranteed
Like the right of every man to work And feed his family
And the faces of America seem so distant and estranged
Have their eyes become too blind to see
How much their hearts have changed
How much their hearts have changed
How much their hearts have changed

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Opening the Year – That’s Why It’s Called the Present.

Happy New Year Dear Reader,

A week ago today at this time I was waiting for my Daughter to awaken so we could open our presents to each other.  That was last year.  It is in the past.  I still feel the waves of joy rippling through me as I watched each of my children and grandchildren open their gifts. 

Alas, I have already heard the sighs and moans of returning to normal.  I have already heard the joy and mirth being dis

missed by those who see the day in and day out of life as a grind.  I cannot approach the world this way.

My favorite way to articulate this since 2008 has been through the instruction given in Kung Fu Panda.  “Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present.”  Each morning that I awaken is a gift from God.  It is my privilege to give it back to him one moment at a time.

I plan and God guides so that I do not get lost in my plans.  I try to pull on the tethers to the past and God gently turns my head back toward the path in front of me.  Today I open a year, a month, and a day.  What I forget is that I am also opening hours, minutes, and moments.  Every one of them is a gift from God for me to use as I will.

Living in the moment must be an eternal exercise in not looking for more in the future.  It must be seeing that the tethers to the past are guides and not puppet strings.  I need to give each moment back to God by assuring that I look for him in it.  I cannot stress this enough. 

In the last two weeks some very painful and dangerous places in my heart have been stirred to a fearful contentious wakefulness.  My thoughts try to push me to think more of the past and the future that the moment.  If I do this I will fail so miserably in living in the moments and that is the only place where my hope and faith work.

So as I open the gift from God that is a new year I pray that he keeps pointing me back to the moment.  I hope that he does not lose patience with my constant looking back or ahead in unhealthy ways.  Perhaps he will be merciful and make my looking back in the wrong way cause me to see things in the right way.  Perhaps as I look to the future I will only see what is good for me to see and try to over think what comes next.

Just like Christmas day with my Grandsons, I want to be so caught up in each gift that I open that I forget that there are others waiting for me to open.  I want each moment to be so filled with the presence of Christ that those around me are anxious for me to open the next one but I am content with the moment until it passes naturally.

Magic Every Moment – Dan Fogelberg

I awoke this morning to a shattering sound

And I went downstairs and found these shards of glass strewn all around

There upon the floor I found this poor broken dove

And it made me realize how very fragile is this life that we so love

I came back up to bed and I held you so tight

And I prayed up to the Father, oh I prayed with all my might

That He'd always keep you with me, that He'd always keep you safe

And when I went downstairs I found that dove had somehow up and flown away

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

On a high and windy island I was gazing out to sea

When a long forgotten feeling came and took control of me

It was then the clouds burst open and the sun came pouring through

When it hit those dancing waters in an instant all eternity I knew

There's so much we take for granted--there's so much we never say

We get caught up in the motion of just a living day to day

We are fettered to the future; we are prisoners of the past

And we never seem to notice 'til our lives have finally

Slipped right through our grasp

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

You can see forever in a single drop of dew

You can see that same forever if you look down deep inside of you

There's a spark of the creator in every living thing

He respects me when I work but He so loves me when I sing

There's a magic every moment

There's a miracles each day

There's a magic every moment

Oh won't you let the music play

Oh won't you let the music play

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store." 

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Why I love Christmas – Christmas Stories

Happy Christmas Dear Reader,

In my library I have several books of Christmas stories.   Dickens is of course among my favorites.  I think that “A Christmas Carol” gets so much attention that some of the others get overlooked.  “The Chimes” if you have not read it is a beautiful tale. 

Other stories that surround the history and spirit of this season drift through my thoughts.  I reread my favorites.  I write short stories that I hope to someday share with you Dear Reader.  It is in the telling of Christmas stories that we share the ultimate Christmas story.

All good stories become part of his story.  Everything about the spirit of giving and the hope for humans runs back to the stable in Bethlehem where hope was born.  All that the world needs transects at the pinch in the hourglass.  Time was full.  The world was ready and God had promises to keep. 

The cascade of events that would lead to the cross and empty tomb begin in that moment when the angels announced the birth to shepherds.  All Christmas stories flow from the angel’s words, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”

That baby in that stable in that city changed everything.  God already knew every tale that would flow from this event to proclaim the good news of great joy.  The world is changed forever by this primary Christmas story.  I am changed forever by it.  Maybe there is always time for one more Christmas tale.

A Baby Changes Everything – Faith Hill

Teenage girl, much too young

Unprepared for what's to come

A baby changes everything

Not a ring on her hand

All her dreams and all her plans

A baby changes everything

A baby changes everything

The man she loves she's never touched

How will she keep his trust?

A baby changes everything

A baby changes everything

And she cries!

Ooh, she cries

Ooh, oh

She has to leave, go far away

Heaven knows she can't stay

A baby changes everything

She can feel He's coming soon

There's no place, there's no room

A baby changes everything

A baby changes everything

And she cries!

And she cries!

Oh, she cries

Shepherds all gather 'round

Up above the star shines down

A baby changes everything

Choir of angels sing

Glory to the newborn King

A baby changes everything

A baby changes everything

Everything, everything, everything

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

My whole life has turned around

I was lost but now I'm found

A baby changes everything, yeah

A baby changes everything

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store." 

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