The Bone Collector

Also on Sunday, while I was working out, after listening to Jean Vanier, I was forced to listen to a sermon by P.D. Jakes Ministeries. Well was this a production! That lesson was titled "The Bone Collector". First he spoke of unity in the community. Helping yourself and not blaming society for your troubles. Very well sermonized and useful information I thought. But how did this tie into collectiong bones? Tie in he did! Moving from the community uniting to help itself, he began speaking about helping yourself. You see, when you are down on the ground, having been beaten by life, and you just can't get up and the "devil" is laughing at you - you just get up! You force yourself out of your misery because the Bone Collector is there to take each of your bones, tiny as the broken pieces are, and "he" puts them back together and you are whole again! With the Bone Collector on my side I will never need to be alone to endure the "slings and arrows of misfortune"! P.D. Jakes is quite a televangelist. I was very inspired by his words. I can understand why these services are standing room only. Every Sunday, you get to dress up, go with your loved ones to church for a couple of hours, hear some awe inspiring preaching, a great choir, lots of theatrics at the pulpit and in the congregation. Then, when you are truly feeling like you can conquor the world, you get to go out to eat a great lunch with family and friends. Could life get any better? Vanier and P.D. Jakes all in the course of one hour of treadmilling. I went home and made a great dinner, had a couple glasses of wine and watched T.V. with my husband. A great day after all.

The Saint

Yesterday, Sunday, I spent most of the day surreptitiously reading blogs. Therefore, not much was accomplished until about 4 p.m. when I went to the gym to work out. It is a small gym at our golf club and not too many people are working out at any given time. Yesterday I was there alone. The staff had gone home and I had to let myself in by using a "fob" to open the door. I actually liked being there alone. The T.V. is tuned so that you can't turn up the volume. You have to tune into a radio station and use your headphones. My headphone wasn't working very well so I set the channel to a station I could receive somewhat, and started my workout. What should it be but a series of sermons. Oh Brother!!
Well, since I was stuck with it, I listened. The first discussion was with Jean Vanier, a great Canadian philosopher, humanitarian and christian. He is an intellectual from a very honourable family and could have had everything but no, he spent his life caring for people with mental disabilities. I had heard of him many years ago, but never listened to him. He spoke of love and acceptance of all people. Alhough this man spoke of life issues we have all heard many times before, what was striking about him was his face. When he spoke you could see a light shining out from within. If there really is a heaven, this man will be there. Maybe he does have everything. He humbles me.

Bad Dream

Last night I had a very bad dream. I dreamed that I was driving my sister somewhere. God knows where. I pulled into a backwoods gas station and promptly hit some car behind me when I reversed. I was so upset that my new car was smashed up, that I gave my keys to the driver whom I hit when he asked me. I didn't even ask why. When I went into the gas station to ask about my car, everyone was gone and so was my car and my sister. The dreaded thought finally surfaced - My beautiful new car had been hyjacked and my sister with it! It was so distressing that I sat bolt upright and out of a dead sleep. It took a few seconds to realize that I was dreaming. Thank God! It was 3 am and that was the last of my sleep last night.
I golfed 9 holes today and didn't do very well as per usual. I blame it on my distressing dream and sleepless night. I wonder what I can blame a lousy score on next time I play?

Golf Deficit

I golfed in the Tuesday Ladies Day yesterday. I don't know why I even bother. I think I am genetically golf-deficient. I just can't seem to get the hang of this game. Everyone else seems to improve somewhat over the years, but not me!
A joke I heard - When is golf better than sex?
When you hit a really really goooooood one!
I guess that's why I keep coming back. There is a euphoria I feel when I see this little white thing sail away in the blue sky and lightly land in the spot I intended, and all I want to do for the next few minutes is stand there and look at it. But, of course I can't. I must keep moving forward with the eternal hope that I can accomplish such perfection again.

Anyway, other than the Tuesday Ladies Day, I golf with friends some of who are as golf -deficient as I am. We socialize as we move forward. You will be surprised about what women discuss over the course of 2 hours and 9 holes. What's interesting is that there is such a diverse mix of women and their life experiences and careers, you can't help but learn something new almost every day. And what's even more interesting is that no matter what station each of these women is in life, healthy, unhealthy, wealthy, not wealthy, beautiful, not so beautiful, etc., we are all recipients of life's smacks upside the head! Talking about all these "smacks" on the golf course is like professional therapy. Some of these women are medical doctors, psychologists, and nurses, so in fact, we get professional personal therapy and advise. Maybe sometime I will talk about what we talk about. Yes, we do talk about middle age sex or the lack of it and all related subjects. Verrrrry interesting!!

New Age

What do you do when you finally come to the irrefutable conclusion that pretty much all you believed and trusted to be true is not and most likely never was?

I'll tell you what happened to me. I lost 15 pounds in 15 days. The best thing that has come out of this mess is that I have a better figure now than I have had in as many years!

Normally I read a lot - books of all kinds, but through this upheaval I haven't been able to concentrate very well, so my literary intellectual life has suffered. Although I did receive some interesting Christmas gifts - "A Thousand Paths to Happiness" "R.I.P. Famous Last Words" and "The Mind of the Soul"(Gary Zukav). I get the distinct feeling that everyone is trying to tell me to pull myself together and get on with it. Whatever "it" is, I don't know, but I'm beginning to look.