Humble is the Way by David Jones

Humble is the Way 

 by David Jones 

Publisher: McDougal & Associates 

Pub. Date: July 2007 

ISBN-13: 9780977705368 

208pp 

 I usually just post the info about a book but I've decided that maybe -- I won't promise this, mind you-- I'll just give a little intro before I go on to post the book info. Last week I had a near run-in with my husband's boss. He's an okay person but let's just say that my husband has been the longest-employed guy at this firm. Because, well, the boss is a tough one. So I called hubby's office and the boss has this weird rule that if an employee gets a non-business-related call from family or friends -- and if the phone isn't picked up by said employee-- that the phoner should hang up the phone after the third ring. (yes, the guy is a bit on the anal side.) So I always follow this rule. But on this particular day I kinda faded out into a daydream while I waited for hubby to pick up the phone. When my mind returned to me, I realized the phone had rung about seven times. The secretary picks up the phone and says to me, "The boss said to remind you to not let the phone ring more than three times." I was so peeved with this jerk. I felt the holy spirit say to me, "you have got to learn to deal with folks who use authority badly. You have got to learn to be humble no matter how badly you are treated or no matter how cruel or stupid you think someone is." I realized, of course, that this was the same exact situation I had been in before...with asholey neighbor down the road. I hung up the phone. I wanted to call my husband later and tell him to quit this job (my husband is a super-asset in this company.) but then I thought, "Let's not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Do something out of anger and God might not watch your back." I wanted to tell this boss off and say, "Excuse me! Everyone who works for you has left you. You are not exactly liked. Do you know why?" But I didn't. It took a whole lotta strength. I can't say, though, that I won this battle of humility. I'm still pretty strongwilled and arrogant. Immediately after the secretary gave me that message from the boss, I called back the office and made the phone ring four times. Just to be a pain. I wanted to make it ring seven times. To really nag this guy. But I held back. Yes, yes, I know. Childish. My neighbor got a good laugh at it. Remember, she's the one who saw me being dragged off to the police station because I got pissed off at menacing gun-toting neighbor. I think that those of us who have been abused and treated really shabbily by family, racists, etc...tend to have a chip on our shoulder. But as Canon Jim Glennon has said, "The devil of resentment is that it's justified." I find myself getting very short-tempered with Christians sometimes. I still haven't forgotten how cruel they have been to me. (Imagine being in a great deal of pain about one's son's illness and some minister who is supposed to be praying for you saying that black folks shouldn't be married to white folks.) I suspect that the reason many black christians have had nothing to do with the church is because of white racism and the slave trade. But what if the power of God cannot be manifested if we aren't humble? Here it is on Barnes and Noble Here is the blurb:

Humble Is the Way: The way to what? The way to God's favor, the way to form and then maintain a relationship with Him and, as surprising as it may seem, the way to maintain our human relationships as well. Humility is not just required before God; it is also required before one another. Because of this, humility is one of the most needed characteristics and virtues in the Body of Christ today. The Bible clearly shows us that humility is indispensable in the Christian life. "The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility" (Proverbs 15:33). Jesus Himself demonstrated the greatest degree of humility in His earthly life and ministry, and in so doing, He set a pattern for us. The result was this: "God highly exalted him," (Philippians 2:9). So humble is where we must begin, and humble is where we must remain. In these pages, Pastor David Jones masterfully lays out, in the simplest of terms, what terrible consequences pride will bring and what glorious rewards humility will bring, and, best of all, he shows us what is required for each of us to walk humbly before God.

Adam weeping

 

How long did Adam weep

when he fully understood the totality of good and evil?

When he saw the fullness of it, i mean?

Tiny bullets, great wars.

Monstrous lies, subtle betrayals.

When he understood death in all its fullness

The grief and devastation of the dying

The grief and devastation of the bereaved.

Tiny cancer cells and the fear of them

Mass hidden graves

Broken hearts

He cried for himself, of course.

But for his children, grandchildren, great-greats

All the sorrows of his descendants before his eyes?

No doubt God comforted his regret eagerly

But regret is not so easily tamed.

All those pre diluvian years

With each new murder, calamity, woe

Weren't his tears renewed?

How could they not be?

How could the parent of all mankind ever grow numb?

Fractured Villanelle

 Myth is perpetual

Racism is stalwart

The past is changeless and therefore everpresent

Princes leave their kingdom

To find their destined bride

The myth is perpetual.

But kingdom must approve the far-off  Bride

And the Bride must always be fair.

Racism is stalwart.

 She enters the kingdom

A descendant of the conquered

Myth is perpetual

The populace remembers the greatness of its conquerors

They remember their ancestors' burden

Racism is stalwart.

There is wrongness in the truest love

if the myth of race and empire demand the perpetual

Because the past is stalwart, changeless and everpresent

Short-short

 Coffee – Whatever

It's a new taste for me - coffee.

Some other new thing to add to a week of new things.

He says, 

"This is what my father does..

.brings coffee to my mom. 

Every morning. Like clockwork. 

And yes, I guess it's like the clock because sometimes he even wakes her up to drink it. Sometimes not, though. He puts it on the floor or on the table near her head."

I am unsure what to think of this, this new thing on the first day of our marriage.

I've never liked coffee, but I could grow to like it. 

I smile, sip. As expected, it's bitter.

I am convinced I will resent having to grow to like it.

I'm not his mother. 

I like the tradition.

But he loves the tradition and he adores his mother.

I sip again and turn to him,

"Sweetie," I say, "all traditions grow and merge with the addition of new family members."

He nods, hugs my toes, waits.

"Can we make it whatever?" I ask him.

"Not chocolate?" he asks. Because he knows I love hot chocolate.

"No," I reply. "Whatever. Make it whatever. 

Bring me whatever every morning. 

Tea, chai, chocolate sometime, Ashwaghanda, ginger, lemon, peppermint. 

Whatever. Let's keep the tradition, but let's make it our own. Not too rigid or set in our ways." 

I wink. 

"Let's make this fluid fluid."

Bridgerton series on Netflix: Mini Review

 I forgot to post a mini review on #Bridgerton. 

Good points. Really good depiction of how eldest sons pretty much ruled everyone's life. Great multicultural take on Austen tropes. The costumes of the Featherington girls are amazing. 

Downsides: It seems as if the societal change happened only in recent generations. Which makes the multiculturalism somewhat unbelievable. The solid working class servants are pretty invisible. The lovelorn girl is intelligent but plump. Why oh why? The girls with questionable mores and ethics are dark complexioned and fall into the 'tragic light-skinned mulatto' basin. Heroine is only blonde among siblings. Eldest son's love for his mistress is shown as primarily sexual with no internal commentary or balance like a sweet gentle picnic. Diva, she may be but the depiction of mistress is seamy wallowing and slummy. Not sure if these are all in the book and meta or even commented upon but it all makes me wonder. Playing with a genre means being hyper trope wary and often i wondered why these things weren't changed, updated, commented on, or thought through.

Not a lot of depth here at all. I remember a professor of mine telling hs how tobspot the jewish, racially tainted unworthy heroine in one book. The line was "Her hair had no sheen." The literature major in me likes the playfulness of Bridgerton but the same lit major in me just cringes at how entrenched racism, patriarchy, and judgmentalism is in a book which is using the cloak of multiculturalism. Heck, we even have a gay storyline. But of course the gay folk is an artist and a pretty young lord. It feels free from racism in a blatant way but it retains racism in and unthinking way. It feels as if it's pro woman but the judgment of women is still in it, especially good and bad women and skin or hair coloring. It feels well thought out but it's really fluff. I did enjoy the fluff but i had to put away my mind and my offense several times.

 I hoped a black production company would have been more insightful and aware.

There's something i encounter in stories. The missing character. Even worse than the missing scene, the missing character can make or break a book. The thing that could have made Bridgerton more racially balanced i think would be if there were a young black duchess in the story as someone looking for a suitor. In Thackerays Vanity Fair , there was Miss Schwartz a bi racial daughter of a Jewish character. She was mentioned in passing, with a bit of a sneer but her presence in the story intrigued me. I strongly believe that if the Duke had a sister the story would have to question some of its tropes of race, morals, and beauty. The duke would still retain his bitterness against his dad who was obsessed with having a son. The older sister would have issues too, and Duke would be protector of and friend to an aristo sister. And duchess would be a good balance to the biracial country cousin. I understand country cousin issues in regency novels but i dont like the fact that the country cousin who had such loose morals was black and was thus technically pushed away and deemed unworthy of the marriage pool. Duke's protector is also unmarried. This kind of subtle putting away people from the wrong race ethnic group or religion is done a lot. I remember for instance how they dealt with the Jewish character in The Big Chill. It's so dang common and it shows the writers subtle disdain and racism even though they try to seem enlightened.There's something i encounter in stories. The missing character. Even worse than the missing scene, the missing character can make or break a book. The thing that could have made Bridgerton more racially balanced i think would be if there were a young black duchess in the story as someone looking for a suitor. In Thackerays Vanity Fair , there was Miss Schwartz a bi racial daughter of a Jewish character. She was mentioned in passing, with a bit of a sneer but her presence in the story intrigued me. I strongly believe that if the Duke had a sister the story would have to question some of its tropes of race, morals, and beauty. The duke would still retain his bitterness against his dad who was obsessed with having a son. The older sister would have issues too, and Duke would be protector of and friend to an aristo sister. And duchess would be a good balance to the biracial country cousin. I understand country cousin issues in regency novels but i dont like the fact that the country cousin who had such loose morals was black and was thus technically pushed away and deemed unworthy of the marriage pool. Duke's protector is also unmarried. This kind of subtle putting away people from the wrong race ethnic group or religion is done a lot. I remember for instance how they dealt with the Jewish character in The Big Chill. It's so dang common and it shows the writers subtle disdain and racism even though they try to seem enlightened.