COMMUNITIES

 

There is a proverb made popular by Hillary Clinton’s book, IT TAKES A VILLIAGE. The original goes like this:

"It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb that means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

For thirty-five years, Nora has been the postmaster of Coldwell, when the USPS for thirty-five yeT The movie Colewell is described as "A lovely, quiet look at rural America and how Community is built. In this age of "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", Colewell delivers and shows us the neighborhood and the simple joys in everyday interactions at the local Post Office located in the home of Allen's character, Nora. The film asks and examines what happens when that local hub is threatened. It allows the viewer to watch as Nora struggles with the changes that are proposed as she examines how she came to be where she is today. Karen Allen gives an outstanding and honest performance.” (There is a link to this movie at the bottom of this post).

Another name for “village” is “community.” How many communities are you a member of? Community is comprised of:

• Schools are one place where children socialize. I’ll be heading back to my hometown to commemorate a big reunion (I won’t say how big). We are heading there because of the connections of the community we made many years ago.

• The church is a community we build lasting relationships and are united together for one purpose.

• Clubs, like Optimist, Rotary, Bridge, etc. are a community centered on an activity.

• Work is a place we spend a lot of time, so communities develop there.

• Neighbors can become some of the closest of communities. I have two friends who were at my wedding. We call each other, the “Three Amigos.”

• Spouses are a very important community we have. It may only involve two people, but this small group is often the most intimate.

• Coffee shops have become America’s living room. People take their laptops, phones, and books with opportunities to develop relationships and develop new ones.

• I’m sure you can name other communities.

Much like the older TV show, “Cheers,” this Boston bar became a community. Remember Norm walking in and everyone yells, “Norm.” They have their rituals. They always sit on their special stools at the bar, much like people in the church, exchanging a stool for a pew. We all need a place “...where everyone knows your name.” What communities know your name?

Lonely people don’t usually have much by way of communities. They become isolated and cut off. Sometimes it takes others to reach out to these people to begin to initiate community. Community building takes time. I can go into a coffee shop once or twice, and the regulars don’t know me. I have a neighbor who has a specialty blended drink, and when she walks into the door they start making it. She is called up by name, and her name is written on the cup.

So building communities takes time and some effort. The results are usually worth it.

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Please hit “comments” below to share about your communities and ideas on how to get them started. We would love to hear from you.

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Colewell, the movie: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2803417881/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk HTTP://www.imdb.com/user/ur112090173/?ref_=tt_urver office, she must choose whether to relocate for a new position or face retirement in (Colewell. decides to close her office, she must choose whether to relocate for a new position or face retirement in Colewell. r thirty-five years, Nora has been the postmaster of Colewell, when the USPS decides to close her office, she must choose whether to relocate for a new position or face retirement in Colewell.

For thirty-five years, Nora has been the postmaster of Colewell, when the USPS decides to close her office, she must choose whether to relocate for a new position or face retirement in Colewell.

Spring: Rebirth, Rejuvenation, and Renewal

 

We live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon (Wil-lam-it; Or-e-gun). We know when Spring has arrived, our daffodils start coming up. Spring seems to offer new starts. Winter is gone, and some beautiful days are ahead. It’s my wife’s favorite season (and so is Christmas!). Personally, I like Fall. I love the cool breeze and the beautiful leaves on the trees. For me, Spring is a close second.

St. Valentine’s Day may be in February, but the old saying goes:

“In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” – Alfred, Lloyd Tennyson¹

Love, is indeed, in the air.

I imagine you have read the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. ² It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

There are some evil things going on in the world right now, but it’s good to know that love can conquer any of that.

There are various stories about Easter. Pictures come to mind like eggs (from bunnies?), candy, Easter baskets, etc. When I was a boy growing up in Indiana, my Mom would dress us up in our “Sunday finest.” We would pose for photos in front of our house flower bed. Little suits, ties, and Fedora hats. We looked so well behaved, but much of the time we would be underfoot so Mom would yell, “You kids go out and play in the street!” I know that sounds odd, but we lived on a dead-end street with little traffic. It was a safe place to kick bounce balls and throw footballs. We also had plenty of yard space. No one had fences then and one yard continued into another.

Spring. Though winters could be harsh, and we would receive lake effect snow off of Lake Michigan, the hope of Spring brought brighter days ahead.

Spring is a wonderful time in that God reminds us that life may seem gone, but only dormant. On that Resurrection Sunday we call Easter, the dormancy of death could not keep Jesus buried in a tomb. He broke out of there so he could always play with us in the street. And with that, demonstrated no evil can defeat His good, giving us hope that would never end. He is real, and his love is eternal, it never gets “loved-off.”

1https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45362/locksley-hall

2https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html

Saint Patrick's Day...a Horse of a Different Color

We once lived in Santa Monica, CA. I served as an associate pastor of a church. We had a young Irishman visiting for a time, so I thought we would help him feel at home. We invited him to our apartment for a St. Patrick’s Day party. We had the place decked out with green and shamrocks. After our other guests were gone, he said, “You know I’m from Northern Ireland.” I replied, “Okay?” He continued, “The Northern Irish are Protestant, not Catholic. Our color is orange, not green.” I hadn’t realized there was a difference and embarrassingly apologized. He responded, “No need. I just appreciate you thinking of me.”

If you look at the Irish flag below, you will notice the two colors. The white unites them.

There is quite a history behind those colors. My ancestors were from Scotland and were forced to move to Northern Ireland under King Charles I. They had to pay high rents to their English landowners. They were persecuted in Southern Scotland and then again in Ireland. The Catholic Irish didn’t like this imposition, which led to hostilities. My family put up with this for a while but eventually moved to America around 1750/60.

To learn more about this, and enjoy some Irish music, etc. click on  [1] at the bottom.

 Here’s my take on St. Patrick’s Day. The Catholic St. Patrick came to convert the island hundreds of years before the Protestants showed up. He was the one to bring the light of the Gospel (Good News) to the Emerald Isle. I don’t think we should let symbols cause divisions.

Sometimes various groups try to change the meaning of symbols. One example is the Blue Line Flag, which symbolizes that law enforcement is the barrier between anarchy and citizenry. It also pays honor to fallen officers. Some groups tried to change the meaning of that flag with a false narrative symbolizing bigotry.

I say on this St. Patrick’s day, we are celebrating the Christian Saint who brought Christianity to Ireland. On March 17^th, he would be wearing green. Let’s join him.

 Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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[1] All Things Orange and Green

THE FEAR AND JOY OF HIGH SCHOOL REUNIONS

I’ve never been to a high school reunion. Life got too busy and I usually lived far away from my Indiana hometown. I have plans to attend this summer. I won’t tell you how many years have passed but here is a hint...it has been half a century!

I went to the attic to find my class yearbook. It was buried so far back that I had to stop at a rest area on my search. I’m not sure why I need it. I remember my classmates when they were in their teens, and their class photos reflect that. NEWS FLASH!!! They don’t look like that anymore, and neither do I. It will be like joining with a group of strangers, who can’t recognize each other, yet have stories about you. It may seem like a Twilight Zone episode.

I had very few friends at school. My social circle was the youth group at church. They will always seem like family to me. Thanks to social media we can stay in touch but I noticed that none of us have felt brave enough to hit the video camera so we can see each other. Perhaps it will remind us of how “seasoned” we are. I was at a party once where you received a small piece of paper. We were asked to “Write down something about yourself that no one here would know about.” The papers were thrown into a container and each one chose someone else’s paper. We then had to figure out who the author of the answer was. The slip I got said, “I was once under 30.”

I have a question for you...Where has all the time gone? When I was young it seemed like life would never end and yet I find myself in the winter years of life. I’ve had so much water go over the dam that it dried up!

When I was young, I didn’t believe older adults who would say, “I wouldn’t trade being a young man for anything.” Are you kidding? I would have said, “It would be nice to be in my 20s and 30s again.” Let’s think about that. A youthful body would be a good thing, but without the life experience and knowledge I have now, I would probably get into real trouble! The last I looked, the only way to get life experience is to experience it. And if we are worth our salt, wisdom would be added to that life experience and knowledge. So now that we have talked this through, would I still want to be young again...here’s the answer...drum roll, please…Nope!

Maybe going to my high school reunion will be fun, as long as we all don’t expect youthful faces and figures (BTW...my six-pack is now a keg!).

FOR LOVE OF COFFEE

Pexels.com

 Ever since the costume party threw over that tea in Boston Harbor in 1773, Americans have been involved in a ritual called "coffee break" or "That first cup in the morning."  

In a study conducted by Urban Coffee Bean, they discovered...

The Most Interesting Coffee Statistics

• 64% of American adults currently consume coffee every day.

• More than 150 million Americans drink about 400 million cups of coffee per day or more than 140 billion cups per year.

• 79% of Americans prepare coffee at home.

• Americans drink about 146 billion cups of coffee per year.

• 35% of coffee consumers usually drink black coffee.

•An average American drinks 3.1 cups of coffee per day. Read the complete article to find out more interesting facts: 

(https://urbanbeancoffee.com/coffee/usa-coffee-statistics/)

We all seem to have rituals around coffee.  For example, when I'm the first one up, I find my way to the single cup coffee machine and turn it on.  Then, I go back to my room to put on my sweats.  If I see a faint light at the bottom of my wife's door, I'll head back and make her a cup of coffee and take it to her (we don't sleep in the same room.  It's the Battle of the Snorers where no one wins...or sleeps).  Then I get my cup and lose myself in my comfy lounger.  That first sip is like magic.  I thank God they threw the tea in Boston Harbor.

I never understood people who say, "I love the smell of coffee, but I don't like the taste." That would be like saying, "I like the smell of home-baked cookies, but I can't stand the taste." Right.

I know you probably love coffee, but don't let that overshadow the more important loves of your life.  Your love life says something about you.  What do you want it to say?

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

The Weeklong Haircut

When I was a youngster, during the Jurassic period, my Dad took my brother and me to a specific barber. He only charged something like $1.50 for a haircut. Dad always looked for a deal. On another occasion, we arrived to find the barbershop burned down! It was a non-union shop and could charge less. In the end, that apparently made some union people upset. Now his shop was gone.

What was my dad going to do now? He decided HE was going to give us haircuts! He set us down and set out to create a masterpiece. He never won awards for his hair carvings. We hated it.

For the next week or so he would find feathered out hairs on our heads that needed trimming. Out came the comb and scissors. I tried to move in with the neighbors to get away but it was no use. I was stuck with week-long haircuts.

After my freshman year at college, I met a girl (later to be my wife), who then took on the challenge of cutting my hair. She said she would only do it if I wore an Afro (okay, it was the '70s). She actually did a good job by using a ruler to section off my hair. It was a thing of beauty. I gave up the Afro sometime in the ’80s.

From then on it was off to the barber I went...until COVID. Now I do YouTube haircuts. Anything is possible with YouTube...except a good self-haircut. I just about gave up. I was thinking my barbering days are over and would have to go to a real barber, but the other day my wife was looking at me and said, “You did a good job on the back of your head.” It was a moment of inspiration. I finally found how to do a decent job. I guess I won’t be hanging up my clippers any day soon.
Wally Johnston© 2022
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What are you doing about haircuts? What else have you done to adjust to life with COVID? Perhaps you might like to share it with the other readers. Please send your story to me at journeyintostory@gmail.com. If it is an original story, I’ll be sure to credit the copyright to you.  

TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF...IT'S CHRISTMAS

 

I nearly missed being home for Christmas this year! I spent three days last week in the hospital. It started with a three-hour wait in the emergency room. I felt I needed help since I had been vomiting uncontrollably (how do you control vomit?). My tummy was not enjoying a night at the opera. Then I looked across the room and saw a young man sitting with his wife, holding a bucket on his lap and his face in the bucket. I had a bucket too but mine was still unused. I now didn’t feel so bad (pardon me for being so insensitive, but it was true. Anytime you want to feel better you look for someone worse off).

I felt out of control, like so many times before. That’s saying something for someone who is used to taking care of EVERYBODY ELSE. It’s not that I felt better than others, I just believed I had to take care of them. It’s called being co-dependent, and it sucks! Sometimes the person who appears to be most in control is least in control. That’s another story for another time.  

Melody Beattie, world-renown author and codependent, had a great story in her classic work, CODEPENDENT NO MORE. She describes a story about some young men who decided to trick an old hermit. He lived up in a mountain cave. The boys reached his place, and one guy grabbed this small bird. He said, "I have an idea to use on this wise hermit.” As they entered, the old man greeted them. He asked, “Is there something I can help you with?” The boy stepped forward, put out his hand, and said, “I have this little bird in my hand. Tell me, old man, is the bird alive or dead (If he said alive he would crush it). The hermit looked him in the eye and said, “That is up to you.” 

 We have a choice to hold on or let go of our control.

Mary, as in Mary and Joseph, must have felt out of control. How would you feel if you were a teenage virgin girl who was visited by an angel and told you were going to get pregnant? On top of that, Joseph wasn’t going to be the father. The father was going to be...well...God! Try explaining that to your folks. Mary did the right thing, SHE TOOK HER HANDS OFF. At such a young age she learned to let God have control. That must have been so freeing for her. 

You don't have to be codependent to want to control things.  Life can go sideways on us and we try to control the circumstances and outcomes.  There may be estrangement in the family; job loss; health issues; political problems, etc.  God's Christmas message is "Take your hands off." We need to trust Him even when He doesn't make sense, and that happens often.

Are you tired of trying to do it all, to keep all the plates spinning in the air at the same time? As a child, I tried to protect my Mom and brother. It didn’t stop there. I soon began to take on the world. It reminds me of that great post-reformation preacher, John Wesley, who said, “The world is my Parrish.” Wesley and I had something in common, we both took on too much.  How about you? Maybe it's time to "Let go and let God."

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Tim Keller has a great Advent devotional thought about Mary and her response to what was happening in her life. I strongly encourage you to listen to it.

The Fruit of Submission
You can jump to 8:28- 12:04 for the specific comments.

Merry Christmas Everyone!