The Impossible ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

We opened this thinking by considering baseball.  The act of hitting the ball is clear evidence of doing the impossible.  There is other evidence that we do the impossible every day.

When I set aside my anger, preferences, or selfishness to show love to others, I am doing the impossible.  It is made possible because of grace and love.  When I am called out on something I do wrong and respond in humility instead of pride, I am doing something that is impossible for me to do alone. 

When we follow Christ faithfully, we make the impossible not only possible but probable.  Love and grace crush the impossible that allows others to change.  A friend told me last night how different I am over the last year.  The observation was based on hours and hours of conversation and interaction over real issues.  The conclusion that people can change makes the work worth it.

The thing we get to be a part of that is the most impossible is the impact of our love on the lives of others.  We get to turn death into a fighting chance to live.  We get to see others become their better selves.  Relationships can be restored.  Families can heal. Those we have written off can be written back on. 

It only works when we believe that the impossible is possible.  If the Father can redeem us, we become the impossible transformed to the possible.  Our lives become testaments to the journey that reveals the possible every day.  How we travel with others reveals the impossible coming alive in us and being shared with others. 

In this space, in that 1/10 of a second when we believe and choose to act in love, we make it all possible.  That, Dear Reader, is where life exists.  It is in that moment when we choose to believe, follow, and act.  I hope that you can embrace the depth of this reality long before I did.  Life is so much richer when we see it this way.  There is still pain and sorrow.  The difference is that each replication of that moment yields results that can last for eternity.  That is the impossibility that we can all make possible.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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The Impossible ~ Not Forgotten

Greetings Dear Reader,

I recall an event from when I was four.  It may be earlier.  I know it was before the oldest of my younger siblings was born.  I was singing a song I had heard.  My mum asked me how I knew that song.  I said I had heard it on the radio.  It had not occurred to me that I had only heard it once.

It seems that I have the ability to hear a song once and retain most of the lyrics.  This complements that thing in my brain where I hear a song relative to almost every conversation that I am having.   I am able to carry music with me anywhere I wish.  It is entertaining for me when songs bubble to the surface and I immediately see how they relate to the current conversation.  Sometimes I can share this with the person because I feel the song will help him or her.  Mostly it is something that helps me understand the person better.

As part of this, I associate songs with people as well.  Almost all of my friends and family have a song that is “their” song in my mind.  It plays in my head when I encounter them.  It truly helps me assess my attitude about the person.  It also tells me a great deal about my instincts concerning that person when we first get to know each other.

What does all this have to do with making the impossible, possible you may ask?  It is impossible for me to remember all the songs.  I wish that I could.  What I do know is that there are songs surfacing that I have not considered in many years.  They are the “songs that the darkness composes to worship the Light.”  They spin on the turntable in my mind with the pops and crackles of an old LP. 

The songs remind me to constantly be aware that the time is coming when all the music that matters will be available to me.  The one I follow will bring about the harmony that can only exist in the one song that contains all songs.  This seems too simple I know.

It is, however, true.  There will come a time, outside of time, when the music is always there and it is always good.  Until then, know that in my heart and mind you have your very own song, Dear Reader.  I may or may not tell you what it is.  You are welcome to ask.  It is never bad and always reminds me how to love you.  We can sing together as we walk home.  I have been told my voice is passable.  What matters most is the growing catalog of songs that remind me to love others and by doing so, love the Father.

When the Music's Not Forgotten ~ Deadman

Please come close, for I long for you to hear
Hear the sound that will rid you of your fears
In a land, where no water can be found
In a place, where there is no fertile ground
Longing for, yearning not to be forgotten
In an age, when the music is forgotten
In an age, when the music is forgotten

And the truth (in the truth)
Speaks of great and mighty things
Teaching us (teaching us)
What the peace of heaven brings
We must give (we must give)
We must give to all the others; those in need (those in need)
Who we fear to call our brothers

Reaching out (reaching out)
So that we are not forgotten
In a time (in a time)
When the music is forgotten
In a time (in a time)
When the music is forgotten

If we stand on a hill and do not touch
How can we do good?
If we wash our hands of all our friends
What change can really come?
If we hide our fears and don't draw near
Have we really lived?
Or are we all just standing here
Hoping there is grace?

In a dream (in a dream)
That I had not long ago
Visions of (visions of)
A city made of gold
And a sound (and a sound)
That I never heard before
Such a sound (such a sound)
Saturating to the core
Such a sound (such a sound)
One that cannot be forgotten

In a time (in a time)
When the music's not forgotten

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

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The Impossible ~ The Water Before the Water

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the things that seems impossible to me is to further reduce my consumption.  I think that then I laugh as new ideas surface as to how to accomplish it.  I have determined that I am going to focus on my water usage as preparation for the realization of Project Tortoise Shell.

In that pursuit, I have tried to measure out the water I consume each day and the way in which I obtain it.  In my apartment, I have readily available water.  Once I have my motorhome (Tortoise Shell), I will not.  The model I am seeking has a 26-liter fresh water tank.  This will matter.  In that knowledge I am trying to learn better discipline with water consumption.  I may write a longer piece about everything I am doing but today I want to focus on the water I drink as plain water.

If I am supposed to consume three liters a day, I need to have that much available to me.  This does not count the water needed for cooking, bathing, washing hands, and toilet flushing.  This morning I needed to wash a dish.  For this, I needed hot water.  I have wondered in the past how much water it takes to get it from the heater to my faucet in my apartment.

Having wondered and then measured, I know it is almost four liters.  This means that I can fill my two 1.5-liter bottles and my 1-liter bottle with water whilst waiting for the hot water.  When I do this, I have water for the day at my desk without having to get up.  I also have a 5-liter jug if I need to get to hot water from the sink at another time during the day.

When I first considered it, managing my water this way seemed impossible.  Now that it is a habit, I realize that I save time and water.   Since it is normal, I understand how much water is wasted simply waiting for the hot water.  The water before the hot water is good water.  Adding the step of capturing it for later use has saved me much time in the day filling my vessels. 

If I can manage this simple change in habit just to reduce water consumption, in what other areas can I achieve what seems impossible?  If we break down all of the things we think, say, and do we can discover healthy efficiencies that seem impossible at first.  We can turn gaps in our intention into intentional acts of kindness, grace, and love. 

The jump from saving water to loving my fellow humans is not that far.  I recently mentioned to my friend Kim that one of the first instructions given to humans by the Father was to care for the planet.   Proper planetary stewardship is part of loving the Father with all that we are; the first commandment.  

I cannot honestly say that I follow the Son if I am not doing all that I can to love the Father.  If I focus on this, Dear Reader, then every act of consumption must be intentional, thoughtful, and loving.  That seems like a great way to turn the impossible into possible one liter of water at a time.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

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The Impossible ~ Losing Oneself

Greetings Dear Reader,

Recently a coworker said, “I really need a vacation from my life.”  Given the level of pressure in her job, I can understand that need. I suppose we all reach times when we wish to live in a different place in a different way for a bit.  This is likely why destination vacations are so popular.

Then there are those events or circumstances which push us to change our lives on a larger scale.  Sometimes this is good.  Sometimes it is not.  The common denominator in all of these is the discrepancy between what is desired and what exists.  We can lose ourselves if we let that discrepancy endure for too long. 

The crux of this is that we need to lose ourselves in some ways.  Who we are outside of Christ is not something we can endure well.  I am not saying that all of us have miserable lives because we do not follow Christ.  I am saying that no matter how good or ill our lives are with Christ, it is not our first, best destiny to remain that way.  Until we lose ourselves in Jesus, we are not complete.

I realize that this sounds both simple and puerile.  In truth, it is what works.  When I gave up everything, it was because I was no longer able to sustain anything.  My fork in the road had three paths.  Two of them led only to darkness where my mind embraced the unthinkable.   The third was giving my entire being over to the impossible task of dying to self so that I could live.  A year and a bit down the road, I can see the impossible becoming the possible.

Even though I have a glimpse of this impossibility, I still have so very far to go.  Leaving my self for my better self is the hardest divorce there is.  Years of habits ingrained in my journey are hard to ignore when the call for my attention.  The more often I succeed, the easier it becomes.

There are still some parts of my heart and mind that want to reclaim their superior inferiority.  The journey gets hard and the discipline is tiresome.  I know, however, that I am being pried away from something that I wish to be free of anyway.   The peace and sweetness of being removed from those things that harm me and others is incomparable to anything that resembled home before it.

We must lose all of our natural selves in order to find our way home Dear Reader.  It is in this losing oneself that we can find our true enduring selves.  It is here that we can see the path home, walk it together, and become examples of the impossible becoming possible.  We can discuss this as much as you wish.

Home from Home - Roo Panes

Bright young sun, it looks like the morning's come,
And its all come so easy like the heavens are wishing me well.
And those dawning eyes brought forth my own sunrise,
Well, it's been a long time since the beat of my heart was a friend,
It's been a long time since I felt I was breathing again.

In you, I found my home from home,
Left all that I knew for a love that I know.

So fresh air, open ways, mild nights, wild days, wondering in wonder, pondering what wandering we'll do.
I guess I don't care about what? When? Or where? Because I'm starting to realize the question worth asking is, who?
I'm starting to realize the question worth answering is you.

In you, I found my home from home,
Left all that I knew for a love that I know

And that grip you prized me from I was already trying to lose.
It was holding me, to hold me back from you!

I guess its funny, this two-fold irony;

I guess its funny, this two-fold irony,
My greatest victory was my own defeat,

Greatest victory in my own defeat.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

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The Impossible ~ Social Alchemy

Greetings Dear Reader,

Because I study the ancient world for my fictional writing, I come across much about the mystical and alchemical.  As science and mysticism grew apart, that which remained for some time was arcane and little understood by the masses.

One such thing was the belief that one could somehow transform lead into gold.  I first read about this when I was seven.  I read that one of the ways in which alchemists attempted to do this was boiling lead.  I spent an entire afternoon that summer boiling some lead shot on my mum’s kitchen stove.  In my defense, I was left alone and had been told to read. 

Years later, I read further about this and found that the attempt to do this had resulted in heavy water and some terrific explosions.  Fortunately, my system was not a closed one.  Also, I did not spend but a few hours boiling and replenishing the water.  It is still true that I was determined to create a pot full of gold beads. 

The process, transmutation, has been successful on a very narrow scale.  The difficulty is that were it successful on a larger and equitable scale, the value of gold would decrease from the bounty of it that would exist.  When people describe heaven, they sometimes reference that the streets are made of gold.  This is not a statement of affluence.  It is a commentary on value. 

In our world, gold is a treasure.  In the Father’s world, it is simply a building material.  What is valuable is the redeemed soul and the transmuted heart.  What we are meant to invest in is spiritual alchemy.  We are to use love to transmute hatred to even more love.  We are to refine our lives so that the dross is burned away, the elements that produce hatred are inert, and that which remains is love.

I cannot change lead into gold.  I can change anger into peace.  I am able to transmute bad into good.  The impossible idea of getting everything back to good becomes possible and probable in the light of Christ.  It is in the constant burning away of self so that what remains is the love of Christ.  For now, Dear Reader, we do that in faith and hope. Those too will burn away until all that remains is the love of Christ evidenced in the transmuted souls of those he loves. This is the transmutation, the transformation that produces the greatest value.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

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The Impossible ~ Holding it for Life

Greetings Dear Reader,

When my sister and I were at the beach many years ago, she convinced dad to let her bury him in the sand.  They dug out a shallow ditch and he lay down in it.  She began to pour buckets of sand on him.  The light wind kept blowing the sand away.  Dad mentioned that it was because the sand was too dry. 

Discarding the bucket, my seven-year-old sister tried to carry the ocean water with her hands to wet down the sand on dad.  I took great joy in watching her try to transport the water in her hands without losing it all before she got to him.  She could not.

He suggested that she use her bucket.  She stubbornly insisted, “I can carry it.  I can carry it.”  She could not and quickly became frustrated at trying to carry the water.  She also refused to let go of the belief that she could.  If you have ever tried to carry water in your hands, you know that it is impossible to maintain over long distance.

There are so many things we try to carry that are impossible to carry.  It takes so much energy and our hands are not able to hold them all. We cannot carry resentment, anger, and hurt without becoming frustrated at what it takes to maintain it.  If we ponder the people over whom we hold these things, we feel tired from the effort.  Their offenses have become part of us.  We lack peace when we think of them.  We are simply not designed to maintain the offenses that we carry.

We think that forgiveness is impossible.  We may wish to hold our anger and bitterness.  That is what is impossible.  That is the thing we cannot carry.  It is the idea that we must and can forgive others that makes the impossible possible.  We can become people who do not carry offenses if we choose it. 

We are people who are designed to do the impossible.  There are, however, things we are designed not to make possible.  We are not designed to carry offenses, anger, resentment, and hurt.  I am not able to turn carrying them into something good.  It is, therefore, necessary for me to stop trying.

I must not work to make carrying or holding offenses possible.  It is like trying to carry water in our hands for a distance.  We are simply not designed for it.  We must let go of these things Dear Reader.  We can then fill our empty hands and hearts with something better.  We will look at that tomorrow.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

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The Impossible ~ Perfection

Greetings Dear Reader,

Yesterday I mentioned that a baseball game in which no batter on one side reaches base for any reason is called a perfect game.  This is a misnomer.  Even though the perfection is identified as no batters reaching base, true perfection would be if the pitcher only threw 81 pitches and every one of them was a strike.   This is almost statistically impossible. 

I wrote a short story about this event.  Even conceiving it in my imagination was difficult.  Still, the idea of a perfect, or as it would be called, an immaculate game.  That would mean 9 consecutive immaculate innings.  To understand the rarity of an immaculate inning, one needs to know that since record-keeping started in baseball (1879) there have been almost 4 million innings of baseball.  At this writing, there have been only 100 documented immaculate innings.  That is 0.0025%.  That would be 1 inning out of every 9,826 played.

This is why statistically an immaculate game is almost impossible and certainly improbable.  That level of perfection is not something for which one strives but it is that same level of perfection a pitcher seeks with every pitch.    It is the seeking of perfection that makes great pitchers.

As for the rest of life, we need to understand that perfection is an illusion.  It is something we cannot attain but it is worth seeking.  We need to hone things until they are the best we can deliver.  This does not, however, mean that we will attain perfection in this life.  We may be perfected but that never means that we are not far from perfect.

If we are going to be true followers of Christ, we must not for a moment believe that we cannot improve.  We must believe that we can always become more loving, less offendable, kinder, gentler, and meeker.  We may have days when we tick all the boxes but we also have days when we lose our pencil altogether and ticking boxes is right out.

Like baseball, however, we always have the next inning to try.  I can do better today than I did yesterday.  I can hone my skills and perfect my attitudes so that they align with Christ and his love for us all.  As we walk through each day, I can work harder to become perfected in my following.  If we work to do this daily together, we can produce some immaculate innings of our own Dear Reader.  That makes the journey sweeter and better for everyone.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

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The Impossible ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

For those who do not already know, March 26^th is opening day this year.  If you are unaware of what opening day is, it is the official first day of the regular baseball season.  For the third year in a row, all thirty teams will start their season on the same day.  It is the Spring right of the impossible becoming the possible.

I realize there are those who do not like baseball.  Whatever your reason, there are things about the game that anyone can appreciate.   The hardest thing to do in all of sports happens in baseball.  Batters attempt to hit a ball moving at 95 miles per hour in 1/10 of a second.  This is impossible yet they do so every game. 

The impossible becomes possible in every season.  There are no-hitters where the pitcher achieves the impossible.  In some seasons there are perfect games where no one even reaches base.  Even rarer is the immaculate innings where a pitcher retires the side on nine pitches; three strikeouts. 

There are video records of impossible catches, throws, and runs that leave us scratching our heads over how it was done.  Then amidst all of these is the most mundane and glorious of impossibilities.  Every moment in baseball contains all the potential of every possibility in play.  Each pitch signifies a moment when potential impossibilities can become reality. 

The life we lead is so attached to the potential of the impossible.  I do not wish to stretch the baseball analogy too far.  I do wish to use it for us to see the great parallel that is the life of following Christ.  I wish to spend some time pondering the impossibilities that make up our faith and following.  If you do not share my faith, Dear Reader, you are still welcome in the conversation. 

If you will walk with me for a bit, we can examine how foolishly impossible our faith is.  We can also see, like baseball, how the Father makes the impossible possible.  We will consider the depth and length to which the Father goes to request our company on the journey and guide us home.  You are welcome to ask all the questions you need and share your thoughts with me.  As always, if we walk together in love, anything is possible.

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 homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Contacts for Aramis Thorn:

#aramisthorn

Support Page on Patreon: www.patreon.com/aramisthorn

Novels: From My Publisher or on Amazon          

Web Page:  www.aramisthorn.com

Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com

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This BLOG:  http://aramisthorn.blogspot.com/