Skip to main content

Airplanes

       There is a song by B.O.B. entitled, "Airplanes." And I love it! Absolutely love it! The hook is such: 
Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars. I could really use a wish right now. Wish right now.
       I often listen to this song on repeat just screaming the hook. And even now I catch myself looking into the sky when I see an airplane and hoping it was a shooting star. Because how often in life do we need a wish? I read a quote once that stuck with me, "Dear eyelashes, wishbones, dandelions, pennies, shooting stars, and birthday candles...do your job."
       We wish. We as humans wish. We wish to wish; we love to wish. And sad that we spend our grandest moments wishing. Because I am sure I have heard my parents say before, " Shit in one hand, wish in the other and see which one fills up first." And how often do these come true? We are superstitious beings because we want to believe in luck and hope and good, but what if it is all just someone else's fate? 
        During the time of Homer, it was a common belief that the gods played with the humans, toyed with them. Nothing that happened was ever a product of a human action or decision, it was the moving of your bodily piece on the chessboard of the gods. It was all in their hands. You were pretty much fucked. But not many believe that now. No, not belief in the gods, but belief in The God. Has this thought changed? Have we not just settled on the idea of monotheism as opposed to polytheism? Do we still harbor a little idea that we are just pawns on God's chessboard?
        How often do we say, "It all happens for a reason"? How often do we put our trust (or try to) in the hands of an invisible God? I do. I try. I fail...but I do because I believe in the divinity of His existence and being. But I still find myself wishing on stars, picking up front facing pennies, blowing eyelashes, and efficiently distinguishing my birthday candles--all with one thing in mind: a wish.
        What I am trying to learn is this: not to live from wish to wish or miracle to miracle but from grace to grace. For God's grace is sufficient. It is never ending and always plentiful. 
        But what is the difference from grace and wishes? Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. A wish is wanting something that probably won't happen. So, maybe instead of shitting in one hand and wishing in the other...we should have grace in one and wishes in the other. I am pretty sure I have an idea of which one will fill up faster. ;-)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tiger must stay in your backpack...

   I'm not that parent. The one who gloats too much, and shows off all the pictures. The parent who relays every detail of their kid to let others know how incredible I think they are. Perhaps it is a flaw. Who knows. And I also pride myself in not being a helicopter parent. I teach and let go. I discipline and let go.    And I thought I would be ready for this: first day of Pre-K. I have been very positive and uplifting and have wanted my son to be extra ready to go to school. We have talked about it for months! I am ready... Or so I thought.  This morning, as white boy was leaving to take them to daycare, he said to Owen, "You can't take Tiger to school tomorrow or he will have to stay in your backpack, so do you want to take him to daycare today?" I thought little of it, but as Owen threw him down on the ground and turned to head out the door, my throat hitched. "Are you sure you don't want to take him today?" He said no. It was a sense of finality.  ...

The Sacred Requiem

  He handed me the hymnal and asked me if I was ready...if I could do this. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I had never planned a funeral, and even if I had imagined planning one it sure wasn't this early in life and it sure wasn't for my only brother, my only sibling. At 25, I felt like a little child getting left behind in a sea of strangers. I was terrified.   2 days prior, my heart stopped beating. 2 short days before this, my peaceful world collided with the dark. And now I had to prepare for the world to say goodbye to greatness. The tree fell in the woods and the world shook with its sudden end. And we, as the collective, needed to imagine that very tree as the beautiful piece of woodwork it now was and bow to it's new exulted shape.   I wasn't sure how to plan a requiem. But, it had been placed in my hands and I wanted to give him the best I could. He deserved it. He deserved life...to live...to breathe still and chase every dream he thought into...

"To be or not to be..."

   In the famous lines from Act 3 Scene 1 in Shakespeare's Hamlet, we hear the contemplation of suicide: "To be or not to be...that is the question." And what a powerful question that is.    All over social media we have been privy to the not so secret decision made by Brittany Maynard to end her life. And what a horrifically tragic story this is. So what is the right attitude or stance we should have concerning this beauitful, young girl who decided to take her life?    I remember several years back I watched a documentary on Dr. Kevorkian aka Dr. Death. It was a look into his methods of assisted suicide. And as I watched this video I couldn't help but mentally stand behind the actions of this doctor. And up until the point he made it a political issue, I supported him. I still do.    Now, whether you think one way or another, let me say one thing...I don't think suicide is God's perfect will for our lives, but His perfect will wasn't for Brit...