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The Bachelor (February 2009)

Here's my pre-show prediction as of 7:31 pm Feb 9th:

Jillian to go home 1st

Naomi next week

Molly following

Engagement to Melissa

Scripture Study on-line

For those of us addicted to being on-line ~ we can still study scriptures - one available site that is easy to use: www.lds.org - then click on prepare a lesson / scriptures - then you can click on old or new testament (they use the King James version) - select a chapter and there you are - then there are underlined topics that can be clicked to show cross-references to other verses on the same topic.

 

New Testament

Romans 15: 4 For whatsoever things were ^awritten aforetime were ^bwritten for our ^clearning, that we through ^dpatience and comfort of the ^escriptures might have ^fhope.

I looked under hope - here was a reference - not sure why it is included - doesn't mention the word hope, but I like it.

1. 1 Cor. 1: 10
     10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no ^adivisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same ^bmind and in the same judgment.

Ye must press forward, having a perfect brightness of hope, 2 Ne. 31: 20

 

If ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true, (Heb. 11: 1). Hope comes of faith and maketh an anchor to the soul,  (Heb. 6: 17-19).   The Holy Ghost fills you with hope, (Rom. 15: 13).

 

Romans 15: 4 For whatsoever things were ^awritten aforetime were ^bwritten for our ^clearning, that we through ^dpatience and comfort of the ^escriptures might have ^fhope.

I like this scripture - actually - this is the scripture that showed up my door this morning by a Jehovah's Witness who was canvassing the neighborhood on the bright & very cold day.  To me, it is not just about writings that are cannonized scripture but writing by people in general - authors writing to people of the future (even a not too distant future) and strangers - unknown people - it is their way of touching us or of us touching others. 

 

Writing is how we homo sapiens pass along our learning, so that each of us doesn't have to learn from scratch.  A great deal of information we pass along ~ & now the internet - information passing to the max.  So, now we have to sort out true information from fanciful or deceitful information and discern how to use it. . . .

 

 

 

Thinking, Working, Moving, Loving

I was just thinking . . .  my biggest problem in life has been right inside my own head.  Sometimes the thoughts that whirl around are not original or helpful; they are sometimes stereotypes that have been floating around out there in the world.  "I"  have to take control of my thoughts - "I" being that part of my brain or being that wants to influence my destiny for the good.

 

Those other thoughts in my brain - the "reptilian" brain as I've heard it described - they could destroy my marriage, my employment or work, my body, my hopes & dreams. Oh, I've heard they have their place and need some degree of compassion and respect - they are part of me too, but . . .

 

Excuse me for rambling; it's just my way.  If you don't like it, you may just need to go read some other blog.  I'm thinking about a time in my life - I think I was about 25 or 26 years old at the time.  I was working at a hospital in the basement where the computer room was located - and also the morgue.  Only part of the basement was finished - Other parts were merely a large crawl space with the ground not even concreted.  Old records were kept under there.  Actually there weren't ever dead bodies under there while I was there, but it was available in case of a disaster.   I worked there on the graveyard shift, coming in around 11 pm and leaving with the light about 7 in the morning. 

 

 I remember struggling with depression during this time - I don't think it was really chemical depression, I think there were things in my life worthy of that feeling.  For one thing, I had a 4 1/2 year old daughter at home and what I really wanted to do was be a stay-at-home mom.  So I was gone during the night while she was sleeping but in the day when I was home with her I was sleeping - so what was she up to while her mom was sleeping? And, I had a teenage stepson who had raped a girl;  of course I could not talk about that to anyone - it was too horrible to talk about.  And he was still living with us - for nearly 6 months - it took that long to drag out the time for him to go to trial; taking him to psychologists and slow court proceeding.  Eventually he did get sentenced to a mental hospital that had a sex offenders unit; what a relief to have him gone!  He was there for 2 or 3 years and didn't live with us after that.  My first husband had committed suicide nearly 4 years earlier; I still experience post traumatic stress relative to that but it has lessened significantly over the years.   And I was up in the night, exhausted.

 

So, I was reading a Christian book about depression as a sin and it recommended the process of repentence to overcome the depression.  I am not making a judgement about that.  I tried to do as the book recommended and pray for forgiveness for my depression and since I worked alone in the basement in the middle of the night there was no problem; I often was on my knees trying to work out the depression.   Sometimes I would want to go home so badly and there would be a tug-of-war in my brain - stay and make money we need or go home and be with my little girl.  My neighbor Mary Ann had quit working when she started having babies; she said if her husband was not making enough money, she would stay home no matter what and let her husband rise to the challenge. Hmm - how different would my life have been if I had taken that approach (I'm not sure if this sentence should end with a question mark or an exclamation point).  Would he have arisen to the occasion - would we have stayed happily married - I think the answer is "no" both ways.  Why did I have to go through this marriage?  Or did I?  Why did I do it? 

 

Well we make certain decisions in our life and there are blessings and troubles at each turn.  It's like the game of chess & redoing the past - if we take back some of our "mistakes", we may also lose some of the blessings that came along that route as well.  We may lose friends and family - but we may have gained other friends and family along another path . . .  we can't say for sure.

My deadly sins

<table style="width: 400px; background-color: #000000; border: 1px solid #110000;" cellspacing="1"><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Greed:</b></td><td style="background: #220011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Low
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 40px; background: #330077;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Gluttony:</b></td><td style="background: #220011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Low
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 50px; background: #330077;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Wrath:</b></td><td style="background: #220011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Low
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 46px; background: #330077;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Sloth:</b></td><td style="background: #330011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Medium
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 94px; background: #660033;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Envy:</b></td><td style="background: #330011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Medium
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 66px; background: #660033;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Lust:</b></td><td style="background: #220011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Low
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 40px; background: #330077;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 85px; border: none; padding: 7px; background-color: #331111;"><b style="color: #ffffff; font: bold 13px arial, 'sans serif';">Pride:</b></td><td style="background: #220011; width: 85px; border: none; font: normal 13px arial, 'sans serif'; padding: 7px; color: #ffffff;">Low
</td><td style="border: none; background-color: #331111; width: 200px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 5px; padding-left: 0px;"><div style="height: 14px; border: 1px solid #000000; border-left: none; font-size: 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 8px; width: 58px; background: #330077;">&nbsp;</div></td></tr></table><br>
The <a href="http://www.4degreez.com/misc/seven_deadly_sins.html" target="_top">Seven Deadly Sins Quiz</a> on <a href="http://www.4degreez.com/">4degreez.com</a>

Puns Alert

> PUNS  ALERT!
> 
> 1.  The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir  Cumference.  He
> acquired his size from too much  pi.
> 
> 2.  I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out  to
> be an optical Aleutian.
> 
> 3.  She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her  still.
> 
> 4.  A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was  a
> weapon of math disruption.
> 
> 5.  The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in  his
> work.
> 
> 6.  No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be  stationery.
> 
> 7.  A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for  littering.
> 
> 8.  Two silk worms had a race.  They ended up in a  tie.
> 
> 9.  A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.  The police are  looking
> into it.
> 
> 10.  Atheism is a non-prophet  organization.
> 
> 11.  Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.  One hat  said to
> the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on  a-head.'
> 
> 12.  I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger.  Then it hit  me.
> 
> 14.  A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the  Grass.'
> 
> 15.  A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a  hospital.  When his
> grandmother telephoned to ask how he  was, a nurse said, 'No  change yet.'
> 
> 16.  The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a  seasoned
> veteran.
> 
> 17.  When ca nnibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of  religion.
> 
> 18. Don't join  dangerous cults, practice safe  sects!
> 

Decoding

Communication - no wonder it's so complicated - we encode things.  We learn about it in networking class, encryption class, in computing theory, in linguistics, in religion.

 

     So, we send another person a message - it can be a straightforward direct message or we may be sending a message "between the lines".   And children learn it early on - so we're sending all these encoded messages - but on the receiving end, we're left with needing to decode the messages.  We encode them for all sorts of reasons.  Some of it is cultural, some within families, some political.

 

   So, the mom may say "gee, the garbage is piling up"  What she means is "please, take out the garbage; that's your job".   So, it can be a gentler way to state a command.  Or, "would you like to take out the garbage?" - but the answer could be "no, not really".

 

   "Would you like a tic tac?"  can be interpretted "That breath could knock over a walrus!"

   "Cozy cottage for sale."  could mean "This fixer-upper is SMALL."

 

    This week we had a little family communication crisis.  I said, "Would you like to babysit?"

It might look like a direct communication.  But,  it was decoded "You don't want me to come along".

Was it a direct communication?  Yes, but it did have some hidden message in it - but the hidden message was "I trust you, I know you can handle a big responsibility".

 

      Well, thanks to some maturity on all parts we got it straightened out & it had to do with the frame of reference of both parties at the time.  So are there some lessons here?  Well, hmm... on the surface you could say, "be more direct", "don't take things at face value", or "don't read things into it".   But I guess what is best (on the receiving end) is checking into it - "Is this what you meant?"  or on the sending end "I have a compliment for you"  or "May I make a suggestion."   I guess the encodings & decodings are to soften messages & make us feel less vulnerable - or they can be ways of saying things people wouldn't have the nerve or good manners to say.  If it is serious, we may need to get help if we can't be direct.

 

      Not everyone will like us.  But some people will love us.  Moral of the story - "Check it out".

And in sending our messages - "Is it true, Is it necessary, Is it kind?" can be our guide.