Looking at the world today, it’s pretty easy to grow cynical.  I am not typically a person who has trouble seeing the good, but something about the past couple of years has worn on me, and I don’t like it one bit.  My new goal is to stop looking at the negative and, even more importantly, to stop talking about the negative.  There is beauty everywhere and there is good everywhere, and my soul has got to line up with God’s so I can see it too.  Because, you see, He sees so much differently than we do.

Genesis 18:21 (GWT)–I must go down and see whether these complaints are true.  If not, I will know it.

I am so glad God doesn’t just listen, He acts.  He checks out the facts.  He never, ever moves without being absolutely certain in His just self that this is the action He wants to take.

Unlike us.  How often do we jump just because we heard something?  Judge simply because someone told us it was this way or that way?  We don’t check out the facts, don’t look past appearances, don’t dig any deeper than what the news on the TV or the gossip down the street tells us.  We make our judgment, we take our action… and often we are wrong.

See, God didn’t have to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah to know what was going on.  He already knew.  I wonder if part of the point here wasn’t His way of saying to us, “Hey, make sure you know for yourself, that you’ve seen with your own eyes before you form an opinion about anything, good or bad.”

Now there’s a lesson I need to learn.  How about you?

Care to share the verses from Genesis 18 that touched you the most?  Or is there a lesson you need to learn?

-JB

The Bivouac of the Dead
By Theodore O’Hara, 1847

The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat
The soldier’s last tattoo’
No more on life’s parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few;
On Fame’s eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread;
But Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.

I posted this back in August, but I have my students doing it in class today.  It seemed like a fun repost.  I’d love to see yours in the comments!  The link to the template is at the end of the post.

Where I’m From…

I am from pickup trucks, from Weber grills and long evenings chasing lightning bugs with a half-dozen cousins.

I am from the green-sided house in the center of the gray dusty field.

I am from the green centipede grass, pecan trees and spring dogwood blooms.

I am from oyster stew on Christmas Eve and hair that never grays, from Youngs and Halls and Wyckoffs.

I am from the long days fishing by the sea and the sweet yellow scent of fresh sawdust.

From “your face will freeze that way” and “you learn anythin’ at school today or you gonna have to go back tomorrow?”

I am from church pig pickin’s, pewmates who love you like family, and hugs between the prelude and the opening prayer.

I’m from Scotch, Irish, and German, from caramel cake and summer squash.

From the frozen turkey that my aunt Shirley and my Uncle Tommy passed back and forth every Christmas, the beach music my Daddy raised me on, and the sea glass my mother had a knack for finding.

I am from an old wood secretary desk, a tire swing on the edge of a field, and an old yellow typewriter, from laughter, and smiles, warm summer evenings, and love that never dies.

My dear writer friend Carla Stewart posted this on her blog yesterday, and it touched me so much that I had to do one myself.  The template is here.  I’d love for you to go to the comments and share your version!

-JB