GBE #83 PRECISION vs. PERFECTION-( I still Pray)

Precision Vs. Perfection

My prayers for  Peace & Comfort  go out to all who have been affected by the horrible tragedy in Newton, Ct. Its not just the loss all of the Love , Hope and dreams we may have seen , but the way it was brutally ripped away from us. The weight of grief that family and friends are carrying ,unimaginable, their lives  forever changed, as they are forced on a dark path towards an untrusted destiny.

Many have asked the same question that was asked so many times before, "God what is your plan?"

God, (or Our Creator) does not sit in the heavens with a joystick, and with one flick of  his wrist  have a maniac take the precious lives of the innocent. He does not conjure up Hurricanes and Tornados and aim them at the the very same people who pray and give thanks. He doen't guide evil through our world like some child guiding Super Mario on his game pad.
  
Just because we do not understand the language of our Creator, doesn't mean a plan doesn't exist.

So, what is the plan?

The answer is ( as it always is) right in front of us.
Scientists and Drs. have marveled over our construction, it is a work of genius! We are a  network of arteries, veins, muscle and bone. We are a symbiotic series of systems (nervous, digestive, repoductive) that come together and allows us to sustain our species.We are infused with an invisible spirit which has 16 sets of paired emotions ( love/ hate, joy/sorrow, courage/fear)
 Think an iPhone is an amzing piece of work? It doesn't come close to us! We are an amazing creation! Yet, with all of this precision, it takes only one cancerous cell, one micscopic virus or clot and all this precision comes tumbling down!  Just one moment of hate, one selfish moment and the course of lives completely changed. What was God thinking??? To create something so very, very precise and yet, so imperfect!

  Precision is not perfection.

The plan?  It is knowing how imperfect we are, how imperfect this world, how imperfect our destiny can become that  should keep us thankful for each day. Its a plan to have us instinctively live our lives with a purpose  that positively affects others . The plan is to work on perfecting ourselves .

I am deeply saddenened from this horibble tragedy, but find comfort in still seeing, that for every person that falls, there will be 10 hands to carry it, and a thousand hearts to provide comfort for the grieving.

Just in case the plan to strive for perfection would not work, we were blessed with HOPE.

Stick that in your iPhone!
meanwhile
I still pray...

GBE-2 Subject: My First Car- "CHE"

CHE"

…In 1970 I purchased my first car. A 1960 Rambler, also known as the “box”. For those of you who have never seen this particular model, I suggest looking up this piece of folk automobile history.

The first upgrade this faded grey auto got was an 8 track player. Nothing could be more sublime than driving down the streets of New York City with Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Richie Havens blasting out the open windows, wailing their songs of peace and anti war sentiments.

Yes, in 1970, it was all about making a statement! I soon felt that the music was not enough; after all, everyone that drove had an eight track stereo and was blasting music. On a beautiful fall weekend, I collaborated with an art student and together we attempted to paint a huge smile on the trunk of the car. Bright red lips, stretching from the left rear light to the right light! The bright red lips were “my statement”. Many things come from lips, words of love…a sweet smile, or a tender kiss!

We spent a few moments admiring our work when I noticed how terribly faded the front of the car was. On the sides of the front headlights we wrote in an Old English font “CHE” (Latin for “short and chubby”). Satisfied with our artwork we decided to give CHE a test ride.

Down the street we drove. Some of the cars tooted us and people were blowing kisses at my female companion, others raising their fists and chanting, “Viva Che Gueverra”. Che Gueverra? I asked, who is Che Guevara? “Oops” she smiled, I think Che Guevara helped Castro with the overthrow of the Cuban regime. “Groovy”! I exclaimed, as I turned up the stereo and allowed Bob Dylan’s “rainy day woman” to come pouring out the windows. I was thrilled! In a time when people wanted to be heard, to have their feelings made visible….I was doing it! In the following days I drove that car and enjoyed the attention it brought…..till one day my sister needed to use the car! (She helped me finance the purchase). "Do you know who Che Guevarra is?" I used as my defense as she threatened to call her loan in. Screaming back me with her high pitched voice of anger,"I don't care who he is, but I'm sure every guy in Brooklyn that has pulled up next to me while I am stopped at a traffic light and blows kisses at me, doesn't give a sh*t about Che Guevarra!"

The road of life……drive that car as far as you can!

GB-2 Subject - "Bedtime Story" - The Circle Game

The Circle Game

One of my favorite photos is situated in the middle of a large wall collage of photos that hangs on the wall. It's not a family portrait, nor some posed shot at a milestone family gathering. It is a photo of my three sons, at the ages of two, five and eight. Three beautiful squeaky clean smiles peering out of a shower stall door that is just opening.

What makes this photo so dear, is the timing of the photo. Just staring at it I am swept back to those days and that hour of the day...."O.K. boys, dry yourselves off and hop into your pajamas...I'll meet you in bed for your bedtime story!" Through the door, I could hear their excitement...."oh boy, I hope he tells us a good one"....

They were still small enough to fit on one bed and curl up around me. A chorus of requests would emanate, "tell us the Toys R Us story," "tells us the story when we got Locked in McDonalds" "tell us the story when we were shrunk and put into a video game"......No, you won't find these stories in your Story time books....Every once in awhile, I would hand sew a night time tale to custom fit their imaginations. "The airplane story"!....yes, that was one of their most requested......My, how they loved watching airplanes taking off and landing at the airport! In this particular story, I had taken them to the airport for an afternoon of watching. While there, they wandered onto a jetliner that was idle. They sat in cockpit musing at the hundreds of dials and switches. The older boys dared the younger one to flip a switch. The youngest flipped the switch and the door to the jet closed. "Whoa, better flip it back" they beckoned. When the youngest did, the engines of the jet began to turn..........and each subsequent flipping, the wheels were set in motion for taking off........till, they finally did!

The story continued how I grabbed a pilot and we jumped on another plane and took off after them! We lined up the planes, wing to wing, and I described how I would open the door to walk across to get into their plane. My five year old would always ask..."dad, would you really walk on the wing on of a jet at 25,000 feet high to save us?" "yes" I would smile.."that's how much daddy loves you".....(sneaking in my ultimate message!)... I boarded their plane and took them in for a safe landing. "Did you punish us?" The oldest would ask...."No T.V. or nintendo for a year!" I firmly stated. The little one would pout, but it wasan accident, we didn't mean to fly the plane"...."I know" ....."and while no one got hurt, ...you did wander off away from Daddy....so, that's in part what the punishment is for"....

The scent of their freshly washed hair, their skin so soft, their heartbeats so tender, we would lay a few minutes more before each one was escorted off to his own bed. They would close their eyes knowing they were protected, and loved beyond measure.

I don't think I have known anything so eloquent as those moments.

I look at that photo, and do not say "what a shame those moments could not last" but rather, I muse, "what a shame it would have been, had I not had one of those moments"

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and the wheel spins round......

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when youre older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and dawn
Were captive on the carousel of time
We cant return we con only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round, in the circle game.- Joni Mitchell