Crickets, Fabric, and a Good Night's Sleep
Posted 08-23-2009 at 03:49 AM by LookinForMayberry
There's a cricket sounding outside the window behind our computer, he's been going at it all night. I would think he'd be exhausted by now, but I am glad for his "song." Around midnight, there was a veritable cacophony of them, thrumming throughout the campground. Now, it's only him -- a vibrant voice from the darkness. 
Yesterday, while my DH went shooting at the pistol range for his birthday present to himself, I stayed home to cut two more skirts down to tank tops. (Clothes recycling project.) As I cut away the unwanted seams, zippers, and elastics from the skirts, I thought how marvelous it is that we always have the gift of re-purposing things. These two skirts will become two new tank tops. The zipper cut from one will go to another purpose, as will the elastic from the other.
Just so, we can dissect ourselves, removing what is no longer useful to us, and reusing the parts still useful to other efforts.
I left Corporate America as a full-time employee some years ago, moving to working contract positions where I could explore different environments and re-purpose skills previously acquired. Even before that, shifts in the corporate climate had given me the means to do that within my corporate tenure. I moved from the service sector to manufacturing, from planning to buying, to process improvements.
In the next year, I expect to move to yet a new sector, so now I am beginning to review my skills -- my usable "fabric" to determine to what use it may be best applied.
At the same time, with more immediate application, I am reviewing the parts of my character that need to be discarded, and finding new applications for those still useful.
As a thinking, capable person I can make the most of my life, with my God-given gifts.
But what about that cricket and his brethren? If I and MY brethren don't make allowances for them, retaining the wild places that provide their habitat, will they be able to continue to give us the gift of their song?
Many people grumble that there is no God, because if there was a God, he wouldn't let our world become such a shambles. There wouldn't be the poisoned environments (physical, mental, nor spiritual). But as I recall, God gave US, his created PEOPLE, the responsibility to care for the world and its inhabitants. Only WE received the power of dominion that could solve the worlds hurts. The planet, the skies, the waters, and all their inhabitants rely on us to stop the ills, put the good to use, and move forward to a healthy new day.
I am grateful for the cricket, and the good night's sleep he and his brethren lulled me to, so that I might wake this morning with a fresh optimism.
I believe now, at this moment, that each and every one of us may decide for ourselves to do what we were put here to do. I believe we can look around and see what is ugly, and cut it away, keeping what might still be used, to create beauty.
At the end of the day's work, we can relax, look back upon our efforts, and know that they were Good.
Thank you, God, for this knowing. Bless us all and give us strength.
Amen.
Yesterday, while my DH went shooting at the pistol range for his birthday present to himself, I stayed home to cut two more skirts down to tank tops. (Clothes recycling project.) As I cut away the unwanted seams, zippers, and elastics from the skirts, I thought how marvelous it is that we always have the gift of re-purposing things. These two skirts will become two new tank tops. The zipper cut from one will go to another purpose, as will the elastic from the other.
Just so, we can dissect ourselves, removing what is no longer useful to us, and reusing the parts still useful to other efforts.
I left Corporate America as a full-time employee some years ago, moving to working contract positions where I could explore different environments and re-purpose skills previously acquired. Even before that, shifts in the corporate climate had given me the means to do that within my corporate tenure. I moved from the service sector to manufacturing, from planning to buying, to process improvements.
In the next year, I expect to move to yet a new sector, so now I am beginning to review my skills -- my usable "fabric" to determine to what use it may be best applied.
At the same time, with more immediate application, I am reviewing the parts of my character that need to be discarded, and finding new applications for those still useful.
As a thinking, capable person I can make the most of my life, with my God-given gifts.
But what about that cricket and his brethren? If I and MY brethren don't make allowances for them, retaining the wild places that provide their habitat, will they be able to continue to give us the gift of their song?
Many people grumble that there is no God, because if there was a God, he wouldn't let our world become such a shambles. There wouldn't be the poisoned environments (physical, mental, nor spiritual). But as I recall, God gave US, his created PEOPLE, the responsibility to care for the world and its inhabitants. Only WE received the power of dominion that could solve the worlds hurts. The planet, the skies, the waters, and all their inhabitants rely on us to stop the ills, put the good to use, and move forward to a healthy new day.
I am grateful for the cricket, and the good night's sleep he and his brethren lulled me to, so that I might wake this morning with a fresh optimism.
I believe now, at this moment, that each and every one of us may decide for ourselves to do what we were put here to do. I believe we can look around and see what is ugly, and cut it away, keeping what might still be used, to create beauty.
At the end of the day's work, we can relax, look back upon our efforts, and know that they were Good.
Thank you, God, for this knowing. Bless us all and give us strength.
Amen.
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