There is a community
As yet remains unseen.
It flows through every particle,
Each quark and every string,
Exists as well in every cell
Of every living thing.
When once it is identified
I imagine all will sing,
By the presence of His Holiness,
His universes Most High King,
Alpha, Omega, God of all,
Eternal praise we bring!
Copyright 2011. L.L. Shelton.
We humans are a funny lot,
We throw God around
Where He is not.
We use His name as we see fit,
He sees all
From where He sits.
We make Him up as we go,
Paste His name on books and shows.
We make up our theology,
We suit ourselves
While He,
Plots His return- our destiny.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
Due to the outcome of our Civil War, the preservation of our nation, we are each subject to a greater society- that of The United States of America, and the government of such has grown to include ideological territory far beyond the original intent of “protection and defense against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
We are each subject to a larger community of feeling, thought, and behavior- in short, subject to one another, and therefore affected by one another, and feeling some degree of ownership of one another’s corporate possessions and territories. We can not flee the inconveniences of the union and yet embrace its benefits. The advantages and disadvantages of the union are part and parcel.
The statue belongs first to Charlottesville and then to Albemarie county (where sits the University of Virginia, the campus having been designed by likely the states most famous resident, multi-slave owner, Thomas Jefferson), next it belongs to Virginia, and then to the United States of America; and the ripple effect of decisions concerning said statue will be felt in varying degree from sea to shining sea. This should be no surprise. An absolute division of one citizen from another is logistically impossible.
And may I respectfully submit to you that this would be the case no matter the outcome of our own civil war? The truth of our interrelatedness by virtue of our existence has been screaming in the heads of humanity’s empaths throughout the ages. Many of these are our poets, our priests, our philosophers and our theologians, our artists of various type and persuasion.
Many empaths are themselves writer’s and there have been those others fascinated by the empath’s words and expressions who have labored to preserve them. Their work is overflowing with the passionate plea to recognize our genuine connectedness and our inability to escape it, and the need to therefore bend with it when all but sin will allow, as in honoring and respecting one another we honor and respect ourselves.
Now it appears that some felt that my earlier remarks on this subject indicated a callous disregard for the feelings of those who are opposed to the statue’s position in the town park, maybe even to those injured during the eruption of evil occurring there on Saturday. I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth. It should go without saying that hate and violence are not only mean, but are a recipe for disaster as to mistreat and despise one’s fellow human is as detrimental to one as is wounding and abhorring oneself. I am most of all opposed to such things.
I simply hope to encourage our depth of thought surrounding our activities- a search for patterns and predictable precedents that we may make the best use of our resources, and in conclusion, ask that we thoroughly consider, as we can not completely separate from one another nor from our collective past, in this case as well as in every situation like it, what may best serve all.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
Please do not insist that we remove every reminder of our struggle to be who we ought. Leave us traces of our wrong-doing in the form of art. Let some things stand to help us to recollect who we do not want to be and wish we never had been. These are fine artifacts as they exist to teach; to show us a history we hope never to repeat.
Perhaps in our desire to do away with every unpleasant memory we may do ourselves and our posterity great harm. What if the Bible is truth and its explanation of wickedness beginning in us, originating in human beings of each and every color is accurate? What then if there is nothing to bring this truth to mind? Would we not be destined to replicate many difficult and painful lessons should be already learned?
Let us think carefully before rendering our past free of hard things. For memory is not restricted to the past; it exists also to inform the future, and to ignore this aspect of memory, to relegate this valuable tool of the mind to a place of obscurity is a fool’s game.
Rather, let us stare appalled. Let us gaze aghast at these moments in our corporate story and at similar happenings in our individual stories, and let us fall to our knees and beg God to help us to come to healthy terms with the knowledge, and with ourselves, that these hideous and contemptuous events may never again occur.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
How is it that the soul is stirred
Blurring those definitive lines
Of our hands?
Is it done at command of that Wind,
Wind that burned lines of His own
In stone?
What is this then that He demands
Of impassioned clay,
That it lay
Still and restful in His plan?
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
It took me twenty-five years to grow seven children to the point that even the youngest could brush her hair and teeth, tie her shoes, and make a PB&J. Note that I said could- not would.
I’ve been re-living a great deal of the experience recently as I’ve spent the last ten weeks raising nine giant breed puppies for the first ten weeks of what I hope will be their long and lovely lives. And as I’ve been compelled to skip yet another fitness class.
The cloistered lifestyle required for such an assignment is an experience in itself. But add to it the fact that one is not secluded alone or with other like-minded adults as in a convent or a monastery, rather one is not sequestered with adults at all. One is confined with newlings and the very young.
This also is not a confinement such as the voluntary commitment for segregation one might make to an institute of higher learning or to a health and beauty spa. Instead, this is a requirement of the job of full-time at home motherhood. Of course, those dedicated mothers who work outside the home are not going off to vacation every time they leave for the office, and are likely calling home often and running straight back there to labor after finishing up on their secondary jobs.
For the past ten weeks, I have cleaned up more poop and pee than I would have ever thought possible- and of course spit-up and the occasional vomit. I’ve listened to the same soft and some silly songs over and over and over again, because they were enjoyable or calming to the little ones. (This is a technique of torture used on adults in certain situations.)
I’ve spoken in soothing tones countless hours regularly repeating myself as the youngsters behavior clearly indicated that they needed to hear these things over and over and over again. Line upon line, precept upon precept, so to speak. I’ve spoken firmly. And I’ve occasionally spoken too loudly, and in a harsh manner and felt the sting of guilt and shame, as well as a need for confession and repentance. I’ve watched in joyous gratitude as some began to do little things for themselves, and as a few began to obey simple instruction as a result.
I’ve washed the same hair- okay fur- cleaned between the same toes and washed behind the same ears, day after day after day. I’ve carefully looked after each one’s diet and need for medications. I’ve comforted the sick and bound up the injured.
And I sang along with those favored songs again and again, hugged, cuddled, petted, played, pleaded and loved more than I could have imagined possible.
Finally, last evening, after all my tremendous effort, someone arrived to take the first of my small charges to a new home. I was over-joyed! Someone new to love her- hopefully better than I ever could! Someone for her to share with- both a home and her life! I was anxious. Would she remember the things I had taught her? The things she’d learned from others? Would she wisely apply them? Would she remember my great love for her? Would she call me when needed but would she be able to stand on her own four feet? I was sad. Would she remember me at all? Would she ever be back to visit? I was concerned. Would her new helper truly love her? Forever? Would her new helper give her all and yet refrain from spoiling her?
This morning I woke to tend my brood and counted. One was missing! Oh, Dear! Six, seven, eight… where could she be? Where was she hiding? Is she in danger? In moments, it all came back to me. And tonight someone will arrive to take the first boy…
Happy Mother’s Day simply isn’t fitting. Happy EACH AND EVERY DAY to all of you truly devoted young mothers! May God bless your smallest efforts to train aright the boys and girls who will be our future. Next to Christ and faithful fathers, you and they are certainly our hope.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
A healthy person is a whole person. A healthy person is not of a different character depending on his altered circumstance or position. A healthy person is the same person whether with kings or commoners, whether in want or in plenty, whether being praised or criticized.
A healthy person displays the same self in every room in the house, and whether at home or abroad. His identity and morally sensitive values are clear to him and to others. A healthy person is of an honest and steady character. He is most often able to be relied upon to behave prudently and tends to inspire confidence.
This is not to say he has a perfect character, it is to say he possesses a stable, socially acceptable character. The healthy person is human and will experience a wide range of emotion. He will make his share of mistakes, commit his sins, however he will generally respond to his mistakes and to his sins by taking ownership of them, and by attempting to correct or atone in a responsible manner wherever possible, no matter his personality or temperament.
Some people are unheahlthy, as they have made their way through life never forming a solid identity of their own. They have failed to develop a cohesive sense of self or a coherent system of belief and values. These people are unpredictable at best. They have great difficulty in making decisions- generally either making them too hastily or tending to avoid decisions altogether. They find it complicated to be consistent from day to day.
These people are usually reacting to the moment, behaving in whatever way the hour appears to dictate. Their behavior tends to inspire or at the least contribute to chaos. To be emotionally out of control is more normal than not for these persons as they are routinely fluctuating between emotional flooding and an emotional void. Many are labeled by the mental health field as clinically neurotic and often as disordered personalities.
Then there are those who form a definite identity of their own, including a system of belief and values, but the identity is for one reason and another a socially or morally unacceptable identity. These people are nearly always on stage- acting- pretending to be whatever the moment requires as they do not wish to make their true identity apparent.
They are often difficult to discern as they are highly manipulative and are usually largely engaged in managing impressions and outcomes, regularly leaving little time for anything else. They are most concerned with managing the thoughts of others and ultimately the behavior of others, especially those closest to them. It may be rightly perceived as a highly sophisticated form of bullying.
Mental health professionals are easily occupied with clients and patients who have spent too much time in the company of someone of this type. This type is recognized to have a disturbed or disordered personality and is increasingly known by the mental health field as CHARACTER disturbed. These are the essentially psychotic. Once recognized, others do best to distance themselves from these people, immediately if possible.
Surely, it is evident and we must admit that the stream of mental health must grapple with every other brook of study and with all academic disciplines ultimately converge to form a river running straight into the ocean of Theology.
To read more on this topic please see, Character Disturbance by George K. Simon, Jr., Phd, also see, People Of The Lie by M. Scott Peck, MD, and Lies, Lies, Lies by Charles V. Ford, MD.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
Six full moons
My soul has raged
Astounded at the level
Of my pain
Considered every aspect
Of this loss
Breathing grief
Angry at the cross
Hoping hard
To drown my sorrow
My strange companions
Simply rise tomorrow
Maybe never
Paid a greater price
Made so large
A borrowed sacrifice
Finally
In joy surmise
Find it’s morning
Wake as your surprise
Woman’s loss now recognized
In the eyes of a child
Discover strength
Again beguiled.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
You are kind,
Beyond all I conceive.
Often I am blind,
Yet you always see.
You keep me occupied
With all that pleases.
When I am weary,
On my knees,
You are there to comfort me.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.
A mountain towers over me
I curl into a pebble
Slip into the spring
Get lost along the bottom
Water crystal clear and cool
Seeks to cover me
There I rest.
A storm cloud gathers round me
I blend into the breeze
Slip between the trees
Get lost among the leaves
Raindrops large and fresh
Splatter round about me
There I rest.
A raging sea lies before me
I fold into a violent wave
Slip down to the sandy floor
Get lost between the grains
Silence quiet and still
Beckons me
There I rest.
Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.