Everyone has problems; always have, always will.
But some problems are better (more desirable) than others.
I have some of the best problems in the world. Everyone should have such problems. They’d be so much better off.
For example, this man shows up every time I look in the mirror, and I’m absolutely hating on him. He’s so good-looking, I can’t stand it. I’m jealous.
Originally posted 2014-12-31.
John 9:1-3:
1As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
The disciples want to place blame. Their posture can be referred to as fault-finding, judgment and condemnation. Jesus calls attention to the opportunity to heal, to do good, to make a beginning.
I don’t like Elder Conrad.
At the shelter, they compel us to attend chapel every night. A different group presents each night, following a monthly rotation. Elder Conrad and his group come the second Sunday of each month. In nigh on four years, he’s never said a single thing I felt merited attention.
There is one exception.
Continue reading “Son”
Here is a short list of things I can be grateful for.
| ✓ | A clean sheet every night* |
| ✓ | A clean pillow case every night* |
| ✓ | A blanket every night* |
| ✓ | A pillow every night* |
| ✓ | A hot shower every night |
| ✓ | Clean clothes available every day |
| ✓ | A good supper every night |
| ✓ | Financial resources: At this time, anything I want, I can get. (Anything I can’t get, I don’t want.) |
| ✓ | Moral support from my family, my friends and my church. A ton of people are pulling for me, hoping for my prosperity. |
| ✓ | The best problems in the world. (See next Wednesday’s post.) |
*(To my knowledge, no other shelter in Baltimore City provides these things. If you don’t bring your own, you sleep on a bare mat. A change in that situation is something to earnestly hope for.)
Originally posted Christmas Eve 2014.
Sooner or later, it had to happen.
Sunday, about 14:00, I had just bought my second coffee at McDonald’s. I put it on my table and, as they require me to do, took all my things with me to go out and smoke.
Related: Does McDonald’s discriminate against the homeless?
Outside, I took one more shot at trying to understand how evil — negativity, conflict — happens.
There are those who say that evil is necessary because without it, humans would never be able to appreciate joy. I have never found this believable.
Continue reading The inevitability of evil
On Tuesday 12/02, my therapist asked for a thumbnail summary of my overall situation.
I said, “I have goals, I’m taking concrete steps toward those goals, and I have a ton of hope.”
I know no way to account for this but the exact scenario I set forth in “Chaos overwhelms the poor:” I pay attention only to the concrete here-and-how, and to what I myself can do. (Related: Here – Now – Can.) From the farthest reach of my right fingertip to my right, to the farthest reach of my left fingertip to my left: within that range lies all my responsibility, everything that I can control. Here, the world appears orderly. Here, I can order and manage my affairs. Here I have power. I can act effectively. I can easily find hope.
A ton of hope.
Continue reading Status report: A snapshot of my life right now
A post re-blogged from Tracey Seekins’ “Random Words;” originally posted 2014-12-15.
Until black folk love themselves
like white folk love themselves,
there will be no change.
Related: FBI – UCR – Table 21
Related blog post: Someone stole my tablet.
Related blog post: Many problems, one solution
Related: The Endless Fall of Suge Knight
Music: George Benson, “The Greatest Love of All”
The 07/26/18 post, “When needs are met,” gives the text concerning Joseph’s time in prison, and looks at that time somewhat.
I want to amplify that examination, given that his circumstances and opportunities in that setting weren’t that much different from my own now.
Continue reading Joseph in prison
