Good morning, friend. Coffee? I’ve a pot of fresh, hot Community Columbian right here. Slide your cup over; I’ll pour.
“Okay, Dan. You haven’t begun a 2nd Cup like that since you started blogging. I know how focused you are on becoming a better writer, both for your readers and for yourself. I know it’s tough for you to swerve over, stop on an anonymous pull-out someplace scenic, and get out and stretch. What gives?”
I guess you do know me. That’s a good thing. It’s also unnerving to think I am beginning to have ‘a following’ sufficient enough to have expectations whenever I pick up a—-a keyboard. Right. No-no-no… it’s okay. It works. My keyboard is wireless.
“I thought you used steno notebooks to keep random thoughts in.”
Right again. I do. I think part of what I do today will be to share some of that randomness with you. Mmm. That’s good coffee. I owe my allegiance to Community coffee to some extended ‘family’ from Lousiana. All y’all know who you are. Nothin’ I’d like more than to sit down to a crawdad feast with you again, broiled over an outdoor burner with crab boil, corn, potatoes and all the fixin’s to go with it. Lew and Patsy, Mike and Daisy, Robert and Margaret? You got a couple of Yankees up here who love the stuffin’s outta all y’all. (‘Member “It’s Me Agin, Margrit”? You got us hooked on Ray Stevens almost the minute we unloaded the U-Haul).
I told you this would be random. I think often of Coy and Leda Edwards, the solid Christian couple who managed the independent radio station out in Dry Prong, LA: KVDP. The call letters stood for Victory, Deliverance and Power. Nobody outside of central Louisiana knows anything about Dry Prong, and few in the state do. But those who do remember hearing me slurp coffee over the mic during our mid-morning call-in prayer time together. . . I think that’s where “2nd Cup of Coffee” really got its start. So it’s all y’all’s fault. I don’t know if we’ll ever see one another again this side of Home, but if we do, I’ve got some big hugs for all of you. Tell the rest of the crew down there Pastor Dan still prays for ya. I love you. All of you. Even if I do talk funny.
Okay. A little randomness . . .
“You made me envision a small, country cemetery, surrounded by nothing but quiet, perhaps a chilly fall day, where one is glad they remembered to throw a coat in the car… I liked the workmen giving the salute with their hunting rifles, playing taps on the cell phone. When you first mentioned that one of the guys placed his cell on the music stand, I wondered why, but the explanation was forthcoming. Clever. Bringing today’s technology into a scene that felt timeless. Could’ve been any veteran from any war. LOVE the Wm Hazlitt quote: “Grace is the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul”. Makes me wonder about my outward expression to others. What am I showing people? Thought provoking… “ [ Response to Grace Has A Ring To It ]
This humbles me. It means God’s beginning to answer my prayer that my writing will speak to the heart and soul of you, my readers, and somehow encourage you and induce a response. I read all your comments. “Good article.” “Great thoughts.” I appreciate those, but I can’t discern how you’ve been helped. When you take time to share your deeper thoughts, it helps me do what I do better. It also helps me know how to be praying.
“Sometimes I feel like a saved sinner other times I am an evil person I carry a lot of baggage and these messages… once read I feel human again I am so messed up in my heart sometimes I ache so bad that tears well up and a heaviness overtakes me cancer third time around trying to keep positive hoping God will take this agony away bless me with secure happiness and settle the question am I truly saved and secure that heaven will be my home away from emotional and physical pain my heart is very heavy and I am afraid that this time I’m not going to make it” [ Response to What You Think Doesn’t Matter ]
My heart’s tear- and prayer-soaked again as I reread this. I’ll just say in response to the question, “Why do you keep this up?” This. This is why.
Okay. On to the random collection of witty stuff and other amazing profundities – and a laugh or two. . .
Be what you WANT to be, NOT what others want to see.
Someone asked me if I missed you… I didn’t answer. I just closed my eyes and walked away. Then I whispered, “So much.”
I WILL win. Not immediately, but DEFINITELY.
I can and I will. Watch me.
The things you’ve taken for granted someone else is praying for.
All my passwords are protected by amnesia.
“Dude. I was crazy before it was mainstream.”
Letting go doesn’t mean you stop caring. It means you finally got tired of trying to force somebody to care about you. As Oscar Wilde said, “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” The most resilient, stubborn, committed and unconditional love will eventually die, once confronted with the reality of conditional selfishness in return.
“We broke no rules, but we bent a few, especially the stupid ones.”
“That’s racist!” Naw–I just stereotype. It’s faster.
“In an age where the word sin has become quaint – reserved for such offenses against hygiene as smoking and drinking (which alone merit ‘sin taxes’) – surrendering to the authorities for armed robbery and manslaughter is not an act of repentance but of personal growth.” [Charles Krauthammer, THINGS THAT MATTER ]
The ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless.
“Hey, can I ask a dumb question?” “Oh, yeah–better than anyone I know.”
Ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality.
I hate it when the voices in my head go silent. I never know what they’re planning. My brain’s giving me the silent treatment today. That can’t be good.
Getting knocked down in this life is a given… Getting up and moving forward is a choice. True joy comes when you inspire, encourage and guide someone else on a path that benefits him or her. (Ziglar)
Been there, done that. Then been there several more times, because apparently I never learn. I’ve always been a rule-keeper, feeling guilty if I tossed a candy wrapper on the ground or walked on grass that was posted. It’s no small thing for me to give up on something or someone. That’s why it’s always permanent. I hate being made to look like a fool. Since the Bible has a very low opinion of fools I see nothing in Scripture inconsistent with not letting that happen again. Love is commanded; foolishness is not.
If we were all forced to wear a warning label, what would yours say?
I wish someone would look at me the way my dog looks at pizza crusts.
Overheard on a date: ‘What’s wrong? You’ve hardly touched your phone.’
Learn how to handle rejection. Be willing to move on, work hard and make it a habit to function outside your comfort zone. Success will be yours.
Just because someone is related doesn’t mean they are nice, reasonable, sane or even likeable.
If you had a theme song that played every time you entered a room, what would it be?
Character requires you to be more concerned about your obligations than your feelings.
Your future is created by what you do TODAY, not tomorrow; and never by repeating yesterday.
I don’t try to annoy people; it’s just a gift.
From dark clouds we get precious water. From dark mines we get valuable jewels. And from our darkest trials come some of our greatest blessings from God.
LOVE IS DEAF. You can’t just tell someone you love them; you need to show it.
Everyone makes mistakes in life, but that doesn’t mean they have to pay for them the rest of their life. Sometimes good people make bad choices. It doesn’t mean they’re bad; it means they’re human. You can’t know all their story because they rarely tell all of it. * “Well, how long can ‘for granted’ go on?” * Indefinitely. We don’t admit unfavorable and harmful things or attitudes unless it becomes more uncomfortable to conceal them than it is to admit and reveal them. * “But how deep can the wounds caused by that go?” * Again, indefinitely. You can only keep pushing someone away for so long until they realize they’re not wanted and realize they’re better off without you. If the ‘for granted’ continues long enough the wounds won’t heal. What you allow is what will continue. * “Wow. That’s a lot to think about.” * Yes, it is. The unfortunate part is that most refuse to think about it until it’s too late.
Satan manufactures confusion, but people distribute it.
Girls, if you dislike sarcastic answers, do NOT walk up to the guys in your life, grin great big and ask, “Notice anything different?” LEAST OFFENSIVE ANSWERS: a ) “You leased a personality.” b ) You trimmed those pesky nosehairs.” Trust me– it won’t end well.
Okay, why do you call it ‘beauty sleep’ when you wake up looking like a disgusted troll, with the disposition of a cape buffalo needing a root canal, and having the breath of a goat?
Hey–wouldn’t it be nice to get a rebate on those people into whose lives you’ve invested so much who aren’t worth it?
I’m curious. Is life really easier for other people or are they just better at faking it?
You KNOW it’s gonna be a long day when you scream, “SERIOUSLY?” at your clock radio.
Aw, MAN. . . I wish just one of my personalities liked to clean.
I was normal once. Worst 3 minutes of my life.
All you need to know is the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.
The mind replays what the heart can’t or won’t delete.
Kahlil Gibran once wrote, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” To that I add: Those scars come with a history. That history – your story – needs to be received and welcomed to heal. There needs to be a safe place where you can unload and unpack all that. Until you’re willing to make time for that, to empathically listen and allow that, and be transparent in sharing yours in return, you are talking about love. You are not yet experiencing it.
I am under no obligation to make sense to you. I sometimes don’t make sense to me, either.
Society: ‘BE YOURSELF.’ Society: ‘NO, NOT LIKE THAT.’
When someone does something wrong – and they will – remember all the things they did right.
Wow. I DID say it would be random, and it is. It’s my way of proving I actually DO use my notepads to collect lots of stuff as I research for what I write. I hope it gives you some belly laughs and some thoughtful moments.
Since I began this as I used to, back in those email days, I’ll end it the same way.
I love you, and I believe in you,
Dan
© D. Dean Boone, November 2014