Marin T. rex

  Today’s BiOY reading includes Numbers 22, which contains the Sunday school favorite, the story of Balaam’s ass, or if you grew up Baptist, Balaam’s donkey. It’s a story made for flannelgraph, a (sort of) light-hearted account in the middle of curses and wars. The best part of the story is that it’s about a donkey who talks. The second-best part is that no one in the story freaks out over the fact that a donkey talks.   When my daughter was small, she had a dream that our dog Taylor could talk. It’s a dream that she still remembers fondly, the very definition of a good dream.   It would truly be amazing (and also horrifying) if animals started to talk to us, could tell us what they think, what they need. For dogs, it might simply be like the Far Side cartoon where they all yell “Hey!” all the time, but I suspect it would be much more, much cooler, and depending on one’s relationship with animals, possibly horrifying. It would be a Very Big Deal and I imagine it would...

  Do to others as you would have them do to you . Luke 6:31   Known as The Golden Rule, today’s BiOY Verse of the Day encompasses much of what we’ve been mulling over these past weeks: acceptance, love, patience, loyalty, effort, consistency. What do we want in a friend? Be that friend.   I always used to tell my kids (altogether now, R, S, and A): “The most interesting people are the people who are interested in you.” Don’t be a creeper, but ask questions; remember the answers to those questions, and be present, be interested. If you realize that you’re dominating the conversation, take a step back and listen instead. This, like yesterday’s advice not to be an idiot, is so simple—or it should be. But looking at our isolated and often mean and divided culture, it’s clear that we are not collectively following Jesus’ very good and simple advice. With my animals, it’s simpler and much easier: I give, and they take, and then they pay me back in cuteness. It’s an arr...

  Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” Luke 6:9   In a time of parsing, of lawyering up, of justifying action or inaction, of self-protection at all costs, maybe the question Jesus asks points to a better, simpler approach: should we “save life or destroy it?” Should we “do good or do evil?” Seems so easy, so obvious. I hesitate to quote Jesus Christ and Dwight Schrute in the same context, but here goes: "Whenever I'm about to do something, I think 'Would an idiot do that?' And if they would, I do not do that thing.” Words to live by. Don’t be evil. Don’t destroy life. Don’t be an idiot. But evil surrounds us, lives are intentionally destroyed every moment of every day, and there seems to be an abundance of idiocy. Jesus’ simple teaching turns out to be not that simple, apparently, and certainly not so easily adhered to, sometimes especially by those who claim to be hi...

But the meek will inherit the land   and enjoy peace and prosperity. Psalm 37:11 We’re halfway through the 40 days of Lent, although I’ve been sort of cheating by not cheating on this daily discipline—I’ve been counting Sundays, which are not actually part of the official 40 days, but are rather “mini-Easters,” a time to celebrate instead of fast. But just now I counted up the days and by my unorthodox (heh) calculations, we should be on Day 24? I’m really, really confused … which is often my state. Lovely. Edit:  apparently I am bad at details (shocking!) and mis-numbered  The verse above, from today’s BiOY reading, is most likely what Jesus was citing on the Sermon on the Mount, when he famously said “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek, not the powerful, will win in the end. That’s hard to fathom in these days of war and violence and hate. But I believe the promise and will do my best to help usher it in. As for Libby, she d...

  Today’s BiOY Verse of the Day: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4  I think a lot of us misinterpret this verse; we choose to read it as a contract: I will be “good,” and God will give me everything I want. If things don’t work out, it’s either my fault (I sink into self-loathing) or God’s (I take up faith-loathing). The danger and insidiousness of “Prosperity Gospel” or “Word of Faith” teaching springs from this sort of mindset, to the detriment of millions and the enrichment of a very few. It’s an easy, even lazy, way to view God and faith. It’s the sort of shortcut thinking I referred to in yesterday’s musings.   So how do I read this verse, this concept? I think that God promises to reward our friendship with the desires he wants us to have: compassion, mercy, and love spring to mind. I also think he wants us to be active, to strive for Earth as it is in Heaven, even though we know it won’t come in our lifetime....

  Libby and I have a long way to go in this whole training process. We had our third session today, and now we are both exhausted and in need of a nap. She is snuggled up against me as I write this. We had mixed success today. She was sort of weird and seemed extra stressed. It’s just a lot. She is a lot. And I, a fan of shortcuts, am accepting that there will be none here. No amount of love will circumvent the need for order, boundaries—rules. And learning/enforcing the rules is going to take a lot of work.   Makes me think of faith. It’s easy to talk about the love of God. Less easy to talk about the expectations of God. In the modern Christian church, I think some of us have turned what is supposed to be a relationship into something pretty one-sided: God loves us (which we appreciate!!), while we live our lives on our terms, content in simply being loved. Rules are old-fashioned and don’t really apply in our enlightened age; only love given and grace bestowed matter. ...

  From today’s BiOY commentary on Luke 4, the account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert: “ All these temptations revolve around control – control of our appetites, control of our ambitions, and control of our lives. ” Control. It’s one of my strong suits. Ask my kids, my spouse, my friends, my family … I can micromanage like no one else, usually backed up with sound reasoning as to why I need to be on charge in this (not that!!) exact way. Everyone really enjoys it. Libby also enjoys being in control of her environment. Life moves along swimmingly as long as certain parameters are maintained. A steady, quiet routine, void of interruptions or outsiders suits her just fine, thank you. And when her preferred boundaries are crossed, everyone will pay. Can I relate? 😒 The problem is, Libby’s life remains exceedingly small with this measure of control, and so stressful (!!) when things veer outside the unreasonable and unfriendly standards she has set. And what she doesn’t real...