Friday, July 27, 2012

HATS OFF to LOndon


WSJ image
When realities pour down,
When plans for summer drown,
I just spill my little jar of
'Summer's Comin'.


A cudgel of the shells
Ina Moser saved from hell;
Once Upon A Thursday she'd come
Knocking.

Now I keep them out all year
Where they harken her day's fear,
When those G.I.'s beat back daily
Foggy gloom.

No one asks, but I would tell
What her Donald did in hell,

Beating steel into those
Ships and turrets tall,

So that men and boys could die
In a land where Brits held high
The last vestige of a hope in
Summer's dream.

Now we glean what all we can
From mere memories that stand
For ideas that once loomed large
But trampled now.

Maybe London had to rain,
Had to bend so we could gain
A better grip upon the bludgeon
They held high,

Reminded now, of then,
When a foe was put to death
By the hell-hatched pray-ers
Timeless on their knees.

You just finger turn each one
With a prayer for sun to open
All the promises of someday
Sand and surf.



Then you pour out cups of Teafull
Chats recalling with the faithful,
Whisps of hope half cheered from fearful
God-breathed times

When rain produced a sorrow, and
Downturned smiles press'd out dour
Need borne pleas;
Sustain your minute, then your hour.




So tonight, we'll tip the pot
Pressed on couches that we got
From a butcher (whose old
Cumbrian remains

Won't be sipping tea; no.
Spirits much more of the highHO.)
And we'll cheer the Stars n'
Stripes and Union Jack.


Sipping, Tippling, Praying, Staying,
Wanting only for the baying
Hounds of heaven to just hurry up
Already.

Can we gain some kind of poke
And triumph o'er the joke
That are Ameri-weak an' holl'd
Centurians?


You just finger turn each one
With a prayer for Sunday's comin'
And full promises of someday
Bold Relief.






Friday, July 20, 2012

Pondering Rachel

So, given that we're "between churches" after leaving the one that was our "home" for 23 years, it's been our privilege and joy-fun donating our xy% to various amazing other causes and charities each month. This one came across our in-box, and I promised the young missions minded Grover (GroveCityCollegeGrad) that we'd consider the possibility of partnering with her.  She will soon begin a Social Justice internship raising awareness about Child Sex Trafficking.



There is a question I have, though, and I know it's one my husband will also ask when deciding how much to give, and for how long:

Is this Non-Profit ready to admit that the demand by sex addicts for ever younger people to exploit is fueled by an exploded internet availablity of every kind of porn? How ready are these socially aware young people to admit that there really is NO EXCUSE for porn of any kind?

On Stitcher Radio this week, a couple on an alternative talk-show had the pinheaded temerity to defend soft porn as a good thing.

Read Kinsey, Sex, and Porn, by Judith Reisman, my dears. You will never give Larry Flint or Hugh Hefner the time of day again. Not like I ever did.

dEar GOd. I feel sick at how little I've done with my life.  So, YOU GO, RACHEL.  I'M GONNA MEET WITH THE MAN AND PLUG YOUR NEXT STEP AS A COMMITTED GROVER & CLAW HAMMERED CRIME FIGHTER when Mr. D gets home from Half Dome. SO Proud.


Meanwhile, I'm compelled to keep my head in sand, and again retreat to an UPlift.  I will

go view

the vid @  


SeeingTheEveryday.com    .  REVERY for anyone feeling nauseous over our dim, sick, sinSaturat-e-d.culture.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Serve It Up

Waiting to move is taking a little toll on the Marital Contentment Dial. There's an issue under every cuppa Joe.  Roofers and plumbers and estimates, and decisions and, and, and... such a wellspring of male vs female conflict over nearly ever matter.

No wonder, then, why this was today's first click at the INbox.

MiddleChild swooped in to make sure I actually cooked with the wine, and not visa-versa


Edited down.
FamilyLife.com for the full treatment.


July 16, 2012
15 Things Wives Should Stop Doing
by Mary May Larmoyeux


"In the 1960s, The Supremes recorded their hit song “Stop! In the Name of Love!”

Can you identify?

I asked some girlfriends, “What should a wife stop doing if she wants to improve her marriage?” This list is based on their responses.

1. Stop thinking that your way is the “right” way.
2. Don’t put others before your husband. 
3. Don’t expect your husband to be your girlfriend.
4. Don’t dishonor your husband. Suggestions included: Stop all nagging and don’t correct hubby in front of others. If you finish your husband’s sentences, you may be unintentionally communicating, “I don’t really care about what you have to say.”
5. Stop expecting your husband to fail you as your dad failed your mom. 
6. Don’t put your husband on the defensive.
7. Never use sex to bargain with your husband.
8. Stop reminding your husband about things over and over. 


*** ding ding ding ***
9. Don’t make your husband earn your respect.  Many women think, I’ll respect him when he earns it. But there’s a reason that Ephesians 5:33 says, “Let the wife see that she respects her husband.”  As one friend said: “If women could learn to understand that respect is a man's native tongue, that it absolutely heals his heart and ministers to him like nothing else, it would make the biggest difference in the world.”
*** ding ding ding ***
- - Edit this to item #1 - - 

10. Stop giving your husband your long term to-do list.
11. Don’t act like your spouse is a mind reader.
12. Stop putting housework ahead of hubby. One young mom told her husband that she didn't want to make love one night because she had just changed the sheets and she wanted them to stay clean. What do you think that response said to her husband? Another woman, who puts her husband ahead of the housework, said: “Do not leave the unfolded laundry on your marriage bed.
13. Put an end to taking the lead because you think he won't take it. “The first many years of our marriage,” one wife said, “I would see what needed to be done and get frustrated that my husband would not take charge and get it done.” She went on to say that she’s changed by learning to wait on her husband’s leadership. “I really believe,” she says, “that our men don't lead because we women are too quick to jump in and take care of it all.”
Ephesians 5:23 says, “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body … .”
14. Do not expect your husband to be Prince Charming.
15. Never look first to a book, a plan, or a person to fix a problem in your marriage.Instead go to God’s Word and believe and act on the things that He says. “He will lead me to any resources I need,” one woman said. “God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) but we have to live according to the promises and expect Him to show up for us.”


A question
The Bible paraphrase The Message, says in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love never gives up … isn’t always ‘me first,’ … doesn’t keep score of the sins of others … trusts God always, always looks for the best.”

What do your words and actions say to your sweetheart about your love? Do you need to stop doing something in your marriage?
Before you answer,

'think it o-o-ver.' "


I LISTEN every morn'g, 8:30AM,  99.5 FM