Staying Active ~ When Life is a Challenge

From recent colour calendars, comes sound advice:

Everything we do and every movement we make, involves our joints.
When arthritis makes our joints painful, stiff and swollen,
our lives can grind to a halt.
Taking care of our joints and getting them moving properly
is the number one priority. Make a commitment to get moving today!

Two yearly calendars I have, depict a colourful field of purple lupines
from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.

And in the cloud-laden sky, Albert Einsein stated:Learn from yesterday...live for today...hope for tomorrow.

Emily Barr's opinion: It is always the simple that produces the maarvellous.

Several months ago, I read The Shack, a novel written by Paul Young
who remarked, “Emotion ebbs and flows ~ and it tends to get in the way of reaching goals!”
Following is a conversation between two of his characters.

Jesus asked Mack,”Would you like to go for a walk?”
“Sounds great,” responded Mack with enthusiasm.
Mack assumed they would be taking one of the canoes across the lake
as Jesus passed the third canoe, walking past it.

I'm not a swimmer ~ and besides, the water looks pretty damn Cold, remarked Mack
who suddenly realized what he had said.

“Now,”said Jesus, “We both know that you are a very capable swimmer, having once been a lifeguard.
And the water is cold! And it's deep! But, I'm not talking about swimming.
I wnat to walk across with you!”

Mack finally realized he was talking about walking ON the water!
“Come on, Mack ~ if Peter can do it........”

Mack laughed, more and more out of nerves than anything.You want me to walk on the water to the other side?
Is that what you are saying?

Mack walked to the edge of the dock and looked down.

The water lapped only about a foot ~ below where he stood.

(That might have been 100 feet ~ the distance looking enormous!)

“Peter had the same problem, Mack ~ how to get out of the boat. It's just like stepping off
a one-foot stair. Nothing to it! Of course, the water is wet. Tell me, Mack, what are you afraid of?”

Well, I'm afraid of looking like an idiot.
I fear you are making fun of me ~ and I will sink like a rock!

Exactly, Jesus interrupted: Such powerful ability you have and imagination.
That power makes you so much like us.

But, without wisdom, imagination is a cruel task-,master.

Mack stopped and thought ~ it was true.
He spent a lot of time fretting and worrying about the future
and in his imagination, it was usually pretty gloomy...and depressive...and outright horrible.
And Jesus was correct in saying that Mack's thoughts about the future:God was always absent...Why do I do that, asked Mack.

It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can't.
It is impossible for you to take power over the future
because it isn't ever real...nor will it ever be real.

You try to play God:
imagining that the evil you fear will become reality ~
and then, you try to make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear.

* * * * * *

Chapter 11 in the novel opens with an Einstein quote:Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge
is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

The foregoing is selected from the afore-mentioned novel: The Shack.

Jackass Mission
 A World War II Photo Features a Soldier
carrying a donkey across a country field.
It is not that the soldier (among others) ~ or perhaps has some perversion.
What's happening is that the field is mined ~
and that the donkey was free to wander as it pleased!And that, if so, would likely detonate a charge and kill everyone!

The moral of the story, is that during difficult times,
the first ones you have to keep under control
are the jackasses who don't understand the danger ~
and will Do as they Please!(forwarded to me by Tom)

Writer: Merle Baird-Kerr...April 7, 2020
Your opinions, I value: mbairdkerr@cogeco.ca