dual personalities

“This is the day which the Lord has made,” says the 118th Psalm. “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Or weep and be sad in it for that matter. The point is to see it for what it is because it will be gone before you know it. If you waste it, it is your life that you’re wasting. If you look the other way, it may be the moment you’ve been waiting for always that you’re missing. 

All other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion or not yet emerged from them. Today is the only day there is.

–Frederick Buechner, “Whistling in the Dark”

And while we’re thinking along those lines, let’s go back to one of our favorites by Walt Whitman:

O Me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Well, I thought I would finish my elephant needlepoint by the end of August, but as you can see, I did not. But I am getting close! Little victories. You just have to keep plugging away…

We did have some good news this week. Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church won their legal battle with the state of California and Los Angeles County after the governments agreed to pay $400,000 each as part of a settlement for violating the church’s religious liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic. California has already paid over $2 million in legal fees to other churches. Yes, it’s a drop in the bucket for California, but it is important.

Yahooooo.

In other news, I watched the first three episodes of Only Murders in the Building, the new “series” starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez on Hulu. I really liked it!

It is funny without being silly and the characters develop along with the story. Considering the stars, we were not surprised that the cool kids show up in cameos–so far, Tina Fey, Nathan Lane and Sting–but it has something serious to say about loneliness and how little we know our neighbors. I recommend it.

Count it all joy.