Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* To See Ourselves
* Scripture: Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?" Matthew 5:13, NKJB

I have yet to see a coin that didn't have two sides. Sides that are different, just like most arguments and opinions.
Both sides of a coin represent the same value; not so with arguments and opinions.
The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, wrote a little verse:
"O would the gift the giver give (gie) us,
To see ourselves as others see us."

It is said that he conceived the ditty while sitting in church behind a lady all decked out in her Sunday finery, complete with a hat with a large feather on it, and watched as a louse crawled up her neck.
Ah! To see ourselves as we truly are - that would indeed be a gift from the Giver above. That's one side of the coin. Not only to see, but to possess the tact and fortitude to handle the truth, whether about ourselves, or about others.
The other side of the coin is truly to be able to see ourselves as we ARE, but NOT as others see us! Perhaps you have been told, as a youth undergoing teasing and name calling, that,

"Sticks and stones may break my (your) bones,
But words will never hurt me."

In all truth, words can cut deeper than any two-edged sword! Words can leave wounds that do not heal over time, as most physical bruises do. Harsh 'put-down' words can be like pouring salt into an open wound.
Think about a plant, any plant, a growing thing. We can readily see what is above ground; the stem, stalk or trunk, and the leaves, reaching up to the beneficial rays of the sun. The health of the plant depends even more critically upon the root system, however, the unseen network through which the plant is nourished. Damage to that system threatens the well-being of the rest of the plant. Salt is good, in the right place, but not on most root systems, the other side of the coin, so to speak.
A person's psyche - soul, self, mind - is like that plant's root system, not visible like the physical body, but ever so vital in the wellness and wholeness of the person. How easily can that psyche be damaged by ridicule and words that cut and rend asunder a person's self image.
We can relate how people went on to achieve great things in spite of criticism to the effect that they were dumb, and would never amount to anything, people like Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein. They are an inspiration, surely, but how many more Edisons and Einsteins would there have been - would there be - had their spark not been quenched by the cold water of ridicule and scorn.
The music and comedy act, The Smothers Brothers, got great milage from the line, "Mother always liked you best." Why? I think because it touches a tender spot with so many people.
We are vulnerable, each one of us, to wounding by words. The remedy is not in retaliation, but in lifting up, encouraging, comforting. We are called to be the 'seasoning' of the earth, not the salt poured into opened wounds. Salt, true, but different sides of the same coin.
This week, try to be the encourager, the enabler, the good 'seasoner' in someone's life. In doing so, you will not only lift up their life, but your own, as well.
April 2, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Joshua said, “Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you.” Joshua 4:5b-6, NIV

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) notes in his poem Paul Revere’s Ride that:
“Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year”

in 1875, when Paul Revere made his ride to spread the news of the British troop movements. While we still commemorate the Declaration of Independence, and the Revolutionary War, we do not relate to the poem the same way the American populace did in the 1800’s, when it was written. http://eserver.org/poetry/paul-revere.html
The poem was still a staple of literature and history during my school days, back a half-century ago, just at the close of World War Two. I committed it to memory at that time, so the line came to mind as I sought an example of how remembrance is diluted as each generation is distanced from the event.
My parents were in elementary school during WWI, and saw older uncles and cousins march off to war. The original “Armistice Day therefore had special meaning for them. They were married in the depths of the Depression, so people born during my generation are called “Depression Babies.”
I was in elementary school during WWII, and will always carry indelible memories of ration stamps, scrap drives, and total war impacting the home front, including bomb drills in the schools.
The “Boomer” generation -1946-1964 - questioned why they had to study “that old stuff” meaning not Paul Revere’s ride, but the depression and WWII. Just think how filled with joy today’s students are when the teacher breaks out the studies of the 20th Century, including the Cold War and Vietnam that the Boomers lived through!
How can you teach, how can you pass on the reminiscences of something another generation has never experienced?
Memorials, statues, music and poetry are often deployed to keep some reminder before the populace. Theater, including video and film, probably come the closest to eliciting the emotions of the original event.
The wandering tribes of Israel had spent forty years preparing for the day they would enter the Promised Land. Now, only the flooded Jordan River stood between them and the land they were to occupy.
As the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the surging Jordan, the waters piled up in a heap a great distance away, and the people crossed over on dry ground. (Joshua Chapter 3)
Twelve men each picked up a stone from the middle of the now dry Jordan River, to build a memorial. Joshua 4:1-9 relates how children were to be told the significance of the stones; that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the LORD.
October 26, 2003