Saturday Solace: Love

Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." - Matt 22:37-40, NKJ

Sometimes loving your neighbor (who could be a family member, friend, co-worker…anyone you come into contact with) is difficult. You may feel frustration or anger, annoyance or even contempt. These feelings shut out love. 

 Even if someone is acting contrary to the love of God him or herself, we are still called to love. And pure love is not based on conditions—for God loves us in spite of our disobedience, our selfishness, any sins we have committed (or will commit), and the most glaring weaknesses we have.

 In the story of The Prodigal Son, some may identify with the older brother—I mean, was it fair to give the younger son all that special treatment after all the bad stuff he did? Perhaps not. But it was just. Embracing his returned son as a loving father and allowing him to start anew was the right thing to do. Love, expressed and lavished, made all the difference in that boy’s future—you can count on it.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. – Romans 13:8, NIV

And so it is with us. Love is not wasted—it is an extension of a relationship with Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Law. 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. –Matthew 5:17, ESV

Sometimes love breaks the rules. When the human mind dictates that distancing or “temporary rejection” would make more sense, God, who is Love, gives us a higher calling. God, in His all-knowing wisdom, challenges us to catch a glimpse with Him of what it’s like to walk in love. To be doers of His Word in the way we choose to love others.

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. –Romans 13:10, NIV

Love is not based on rules, how we feel at the time, or what seems logical. It’s based on what the heart of God would do—and so it is a much higher law than any we may have previously ascribed to. Jesus acted in perfect love throughout His life and even to the point of death. That is the kind of love we are called to. The love we give is actually a measure of God’s work being fulfilled in us.

…if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. – I John 4:12b, NET

Love isn’t always easy, but it is a privilege and identifies us with God, who is the author and manifestation of it. 

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:35, NIV

Friday Phrases: "Half a Bubble Off Center"

According to my Aunt Elsie, a phrase my grandparents (my dad’s folks ) used to use is “I believe his bubble is off center.”

According to the Urban Dictionary, the original phrase is “half a bubble off center,” meaning:

·         not all there, mentally speaking. A couple of sentences short of a paragraph, a few shards of pottery short of a full anthropological theory, a few wafers short of a communion, one's belt doesn't go through all of the loops, one's driveway doesn't quite make it to the road...I THINK YA GET THE PICTURE!

I was not able to find out when, where, or how this expression originated, but it has also been translated “a half-bubble off center” and other words such as plumb and level have been used in place of “center.” 

In thinking about my husband’s level—which he uses to assist in hanging things correctly on walls—I picture the bubble in the middle. It has to be in the precise middle in order to be accurate. Otherwise, one ends up with crooked pictures, cock-eyed shelves, etc.

I guess I find myself wondering why it’s only half a bubble. Maybe it equates to “half crazy,” which sounds more polite, I suppose, than “completely nuts.” And we all have those days when we feel a little half crazy. Ever had to ask yourself any of these questions?:

·         What did I come in here for?

·         How did that get in the fridge?

·         Has that always been there?

·         Where in the world could I have put it?

·         Who was I calling?

These and other brain lapses can cause one to feel like we must be “losing it” to some degree. But rest assured, if those are your worst signs, your bubble is intact. J

A person who is truly a half-bubble, or even a whole bubble, off center is one who exhibits more than the average clues suggesting that something is not quite right—wires are seriously crossed; they’re “out to lunch;” the mother ship is coming.

It’s still curious as to why a “bubble” was used as the visual symbol in this phrase. Could it be that because of a bubble’s nature to float around aimlessly, it became associated with having a mind that is not targeted or grounded? Could it be related in any way to the oft-used expression “burst your bubble”? Having a bubble go off center denotes coo-coo, while having one’s bubble burst involves disappointment. Maybe those who are off center are more likely to have their bubbles burst because their ideas don’t quite match with reality…

I don’t have the answers, but what I do know is this: My bubble is centered, so I’m not going to worry about it—maybe I’ll get myself some bubble gum, blow some soap bubbles to celebrate my state of “stable bubble-ness,” and take a bubble bath. Maybe even listen to Michael Buble (yes, I know it’s not “bubble,” but it’s the closest I could get).

In the meantime, may the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face; and may your bubble always be centered.

Thursday Throwback: Big Glasses

Word has it the big frames and geometric styles of the popular 1980s (and trickling into the 90s) eyeglasses frames are coming back. 

 

Annie Potts in Ghostbusters

 What I haven’t been able to determine is why people ever started wearing them to begin with. And some, of course, have never stopped. 

Carrie Donovan of Old Navy fame

 I can only assume that there is something subconscious that determines why certain fads are desirable. As one who wore big glasses in the 80s and on into the 90s, I can only speak for myself and analyze my possible underlying  reasons. 

Me, graduating from OSU with my Master's in 1992

Why did I wear them? One reason was that they were the choice mostly available. I started needing glasses my last year of undergrad. Looking back now, I think I liked the “wide open wonder” they seemed to symbolize, which to me was probably synonymous with being “in tune” and intelligent.

I also wanted to be “cool,” and when everyone’s wearing something—even famous people--you can associate yourself with coolness pretty easily. 

Melanie Griffith, Mariel Hemingway in Superman 4, and "Weird Al" Yankovic

And to go all psychological on you—I think they might’ve stood for “living life to the full,” making the most of every opportunity, being “in” on important things happening in my world. They made me feel happy, important, and smart—so I wore them proudly. 

 

Radar from the M.A.S.H. television series; Rick Moranis; Velma from Scooby Doo

I have to admit, I still kind of like them, even if I did resemble a walking windshield. There’s something about big glasses that says ‘I’m livin’ large, and I’m ready to take on a challenge.’ 

Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns; Estelle Getty of The Golden Girls

 

Fitting with the current popular themes of Go big or go home (Digital Dolby Surround Sound via Regal Cinemas), Bigger is better (AT & T Wireless), and ads aimed at getting more of this or that such as Crazy with chips (Chips Ahoy) and Thicker! Creamier! Cheesier! (Kraft Macaroni’s “Cheesy Explosion”), big glasses give us a sense of doing more, understanding more, being more. 

Sir Elton John

Whether you are a “throwback” who wears big glasses or you prefer smaller, less conspicuous frames, you can still live BIG. Glasses don’t make the person. But they sure do have personality.

Wednesday "Weird Word": Collywobbles

Collywobbles

Pronounced /ˈkɒlɪwɒb(ə)lz/ to “have collywobbles” is “to experience an upset stomach, a bellyache or the gripes.” It’s a silly-sounding word, so it makes sense that it is most often used for children’s minor ailments rather than in reference to negative adult dispositions. In books and newspapers it is almost exclusively used in the figurative sense, i.e., the nervous fluttering of the stomach.

The first known use in print is from 1823, in an edition of Francis Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

It is surmised that “collywobbles” may have originated from a combination of colic and wobble. Another theory says it was the result of folk etymology, in which uneducated people converted the medical term for cholera, cholera morbus, into something that made more sense to them

How might we use this word creatively? To me, it sounds a bit like a word for tangled-up cobwebs or walking around in a drunken state. Or something Old Mother Hubbard may have served her children for dinner. Or even a job not particularly well-done (Kids, come scrape these collywobbles off the dishes!).

It could make a super-hero comic sound…well, comical: In spite of his collywobbles, Iron-Man faced the much larger foe bravely. Or… “”I’ve got the collywobbles again!” moaned Spider-Man, looking to Mary-Jane for encouragement.”

I have to admit that I’ve experienced “the collywobbles,” as I’ve chosen to refer to them.. I had them in first grade. Being my first school experience, it seemed quite intimidating. The rows of chairs, the big chalkboard, the high ceilings, a nice but unfamiliar woman to spend my day with rather than my understanding mommy. My six-year-old anxiety resulted in nausea followed by expelled collywobbles a few times.

I also had the collywobbles when I was in college and found out I’d somehow missed the minor detail of a final project being due in my Children’s Literature class, on top of having to write an essay on a novel I hadn’t finished reading. The Lit instructor was willing to accept my project the next day. But I had a collywobbling amount of work to do on top of it! That was the time I was up for 38 hours straight and downed a pot of coffee—giving me not just the collywobbles but coffeewobbles as well. But it kept me awake. And I got A’s in both classes.

Sometimes having the collywobbles can be motivating—just enough nervousness to push you to do something you know you’re supposed to do, but not enough to cause you to pass out. They can serve a purpose.

There are those, however, I would rather didn’t have the collywobbles: my hair stylist…my tattoo artist (I’d like Winnie the Pooh not to resemble a mushroom with legs)…my taxi driver…or my surgeon!

Of course, we must acknowledge that the griping sort of collywobbles may sometimes occur—synonymous with getting up “on the wrong side of the bed,” being a “negative Nelly (or Nancy),” or more recently, getting one’s “panties in a wad (or twist).” I would offer that if you wake up with that brand of collywobbles, it is best to pray hard before opening one’s mouth, lest your collywobbles spill out. Nobody wants to walk into a collywobble-infested environment. It can be very toxic.

It seems that the best rule of thumb would be to handle collywobbles with as much positivity and glass-half-full mentality as one can muster. Determine that with God on your side, you can face the world victoriously—your collywobbles may wobble, but they won’t knock you down.

[credit to World Wide Words for background information]