Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

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Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
24,799
8,103
113
By being born into the family, of course. People who are born into the family don't have to marry into it. :giggle:

Or adopted... Very rarely somebody might be adopted in. When Bro. Jackson died, our family kind of adopted Sis. Jackson (that elderly lady I give a hug whenever I see her.) She is covered by our family insurance, though she is fairly self sufficient and has never availed herself of "Smith" family insurance benefits.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,247
25,716
113
Good morning everyone :) Bob is flying out of Oklahoma to Seattle today, and the weather is not good. In fact, it is snowing here also. His original flight plan was for tomorrow, but I think the weather is supposed to only get worse; it was the airline that changed his plans. He is to bus from Seattle to Vancouver tomorrow. It may actually be a good thing that his trip will be over two days so he does not have to spend so much time all in one day cramped and cooped in a seat.

Please pray for a safe trip for him, and also that he is able to quickly find a place to stay once he arrives that is amenable to him and his needs, spiritually, financially and physically. Thank you!

Any prayers you could spare for us would also be appreciated :)
 

love_comes_softly

Well-known member
Feb 13, 2019
768
822
93
Loss is a pretty interesting thing. It’s quite powerful.

It brings about endless amounts of emotions.

It is also something that hides away for long periods and reappears at the oddest times.
 

love_comes_softly

Well-known member
Feb 13, 2019
768
822
93
It fascinates me that a rainstorm can be so loud (I find comforting), yet a snow storm brings such an incredible silence (just as peaceful).
 

17Bees

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2016
1,362
800
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Sitting out on the front porch tonight I wondered just who the hell I was. I worked all day and I hurt all over and accomplished nothing. Nothing of importance. Nothing gained. Nothing making a change. I looked out at the dark clouds and the ease of the summer sunset back lighting cloud outlines in white and I cried to God "what is it You want from me?" "Dear Lord God am I worthless?" and didn't really wait or expect anything. Any answer for likes of me. God I hurt. My legs really ached from climbing poles today.

Couple of days ago I realized there weren't many mosquitoes out here this year. Hardly any for a summer like this with humidity as thick as pudding. Then I realized why when I saw them. Maybe a hundred of them. Maybe more. At first I thought they were bats, but they weren't. They were martins. Purple martins. All darting and diving and non-stop flying. Swooping in and devouring the hordes of mosquitoes typically here. And most of them were juveniles! You could tell from their lighter color. Purple martin males have that dark color all over and the females and juveniles have the white bellies. Only a few had that dark color at all.

"Where did all these matins come from?" but the answer came to me before the thought finished the sentence. I had put out maybe 20 or 30 gourds up in the trees a few years ago. Maybe three years ago. I had drilled holes in them and dried out all the insides. Maybe that was four years ago? and painted them white. I hung them everywhere. Thing is, after about a year or two and no purple martins or swallows or much of anything showed up, I gave up. A couple of gourds blew out of the tree and I didn't rehang them. Most of them flaked off the white paint. Just another useless thing I did.

It came to me then God was answering me after all. There were well over a hundred of them flying everywhere, did I say that?. And I remembered... "when you shall eat of the fruit of your hands. You will be happy and it will be well with you." Psalms 128:2.
So I wrote the above last summer. Purple martins. What in the heck is my fixation?... So last winter.......I think about December maybe..... I built a purple martin house. I read up on it and made this 16 room condo for the little boogers. Then in February before all this flu stuff I put it up on a 16' post.

So today I came home and walked out back just to stare at nothing, I guess, and saw a bunch of activity. I couldn't say they were purple martins all around that birdhouse. Could have been starlings or blue birds all I know. But it was a regular bird cabal. They were everywhere.

It's just not useless. Even the dumb things I do. It did something - even when you think you don't make much difference.

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1588123168308.png
 

love_comes_softly

Well-known member
Feb 13, 2019
768
822
93
So I wrote the above last summer. Purple martins. What in the heck is my fixation?... So last winter.......I think about December maybe..... I built a purple martin house. I read up on it and made this 16 room condo for the little boogers. Then in February before all this flu stuff I put it up on a 16' post.

So today I came home and walked out back just to stare at nothing, I guess, and saw a bunch of activity. I couldn't say they were purple martins all around that birdhouse. Could have been starlings or blue birds all I know. But it was a regular bird cabal. They were everywhere.

It's just not useless. Even the dumb things I do. It did something - even when you think you don't make much difference.

View attachment 215736

View attachment 215737
I love how the Lord is still continuing your initial conversation. He's still showing you the fruit of your labor. <3 What a great message and thank you for sharing.

It's really neat to see this over a year span.

* Everything we do really does matter. It's all some sort of ripple effect.*

That's a really awesome bird house by the way! Out of complete curiosity, what job has you climbing poles?
 

17Bees

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2016
1,362
800
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I love how the Lord is still continuing your initial conversation. He's still showing you the fruit of your labor. <3 What a great message and thank you for sharing.

It's really neat to see this over a year span.

* Everything we do really does matter. It's all some sort of ripple effect.*

That's a really awesome bird house by the way! Out of complete curiosity, what job has you climbing poles?
A continuing conversation.... I love that! Thanks about the bird house, the birds apparently like it and the rent's cheap. I work on building automated equipment. Sometimes some of the hardware is up on poles - like modules for automated lighting and such.
 

love_comes_softly

Well-known member
Feb 13, 2019
768
822
93
A continuing conversation.... I love that! Thanks about the bird house, the birds apparently like it and the rent's cheap. I work on building automated equipment. Sometimes some of the hardware is up on poles - like modules for automated lighting and such.
That sounds rather dangerous and no wonder you'd be so exhausted and sore. Thanks for being willing to do that kind of work. I'm sure it benefits many people.

Cheap rent. :LOL: I will have to keep this in mind. Look for a house on a very tall pole.

Have you always been interested in birds? I'm trying to picture the gourds in the trees.
 

17Bees

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2016
1,362
800
113
That sounds rather dangerous and no wonder you'd be so exhausted and sore. Thanks for being willing to do that kind of work. I'm sure it benefits many people.

Cheap rent. :LOL: I will have to keep this in mind. Look for a house on a very tall pole.

Have you always been interested in birds? I'm trying to picture the gourds in the trees.
They're just bottle gourds.
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I grew them one year and I bet I had a hundred. You wait till they dry out, drill a hole in them and shake out all the seeds and viola. Birdhouse. Trouble is, you really never want to check them out up close. Paper wasps like them too. Pain or paradise. Pill blue or red. Tis life.
 

love_comes_softly

Well-known member
Feb 13, 2019
768
822
93
They're just bottle gourds.
View attachment 215738
I grew them one year and I bet I had a hundred. You wait till they dry out, drill a hole in them and shake out all the seeds and viola. Birdhouse. Trouble is, you really never want to check them out up close. Paper wasps like them too. Pain or paradise. Pill blue or red. Tis life.

That's really neat! Thanks for sharing. Always learning something new.
 

Socreta93

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2015
2,244
324
83
There are nice people in this world. Thanks to all of those who deliver meals for free to my house and many in my community during this pandemic. It has helped a great lot. Received two boxes again this morning, have breakfast lunch and dinner for the next couple of days therefore don't have to spend money and go outside during this craziness.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
24,799
8,103
113
[rant]
Apparently everybody needs somebody to look down on. I just can't figure out exactly why.

What brought this to my attention was the way a guy at work has been treated. He's a nice guy, conscientious worker, but he's... mentally disabled, or developmentally disadvantaged, or whatever the politically correct term is for "somebody not quite as bright as most people." He doesn't need assisted living, but he's not quite up to par with everybody else. But he's a great guy.

Some people at work have noticed his peculiarities, but instead of talking TO him, they have been talking ABOUT him and making up theories to explain the oddities. These theories really are quite negative, and the people making these theories state them as fact. I respect him a lot more than I respect the people inventing gossip about him, so every time I heard this gossip I have wedged myself into the conversation and mentioned his positive traits and explained the things they thought were so bad. But it still bugs me that I should even need to. Why don't they just ASK HIM WHY HE ACTS THAT WAY instead of making up bad things to believe about him?

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising though. Humans have done this as far back as our recorded history goes. But I wish I knew why.

Ever heard of the Sourdoughs? They were the earliest settlers in Alaska and northwest Canada. They planted themselves and started living there, made communities, and after they ran out of baking powder they made their bread with sourdough yeast because they had no stores from which to buy baking powder. When newer settlers came, with their baking powder, the old-timers used the distinction of their yeast bread as an excuse to look down on the newbies.

Yeah, that's right. They used something they couldn't get as a reason to look down on the new people who had it. Silly, huh?

Remember the golden age of internet, when only nerds were smart enough to use a modem and connect to other computers online? The elite computer users made up what they called "leet speech" except they spelled it "1337 5p34k." They used a lot of numbers and symbols instead of letters, partly because they thought it was cool and partly because it made what they were saying hard for the unwashed masses to read.

Then came AOL, and suddenly every kid could connect. The internet ballooned and "normal" people started noticing and adopting leet speak. Well! This just would not do for the true computer elite. They stopped using it, started calling it AOL speak and made fun of anybody who used it.

Yeah, that's right. They made fun of people for doing what they themselves started. Silly, huh?

But WHY?!

I have a couple of theories.

My first theory is if people can find somebody to look down on, they feel better about themselves. No matter how low I feel, no matter how much I hate myself, if I can find somebody who is lower than I and point to all his failures and faults, I can feel better about myself because at least I'm not as bad as he is. And if I can't find anybody who is obviously lower than I, I can pick somebody and find a trait about him that is different from me, and make that the reason to disparage him. Hey, it'll work to make me feel better about myself.

My second theory is if people can find a reason to look down on others it makes it easier for them to justify their opinions and actions. If a car is driving slowly in front of me I can spout something about elderly drivers, or women drivers, or whatever group I want to gripe about while I'm driving behind a slow person. It gives me a target to get angry at... right up until I have the opportunity to pass the slowpoke and find out it's a guy in his late 20's. It's not enough for me to like Ford - I have to also hate Chevy and find every excuse I can to put Chevy down, because that boosts my pride in my beloved Ford. I can't just like my high school's football team, I have to also say mean things about their rival team from another school... it makes it feel better to trample them when we win and it gives me a target to gripe about and insult if we lose.

These are just theories though. I don't really understand why we automatically find reasons to look down on people.

Somebody once said that if we woke up tomorrow morning and found that everybody in the whole world was the same color, belonged to the same kind of church, spoke the same language, and was in all other respects alike... different groups of us would find a new reason we are different from other groups, and claim that makes us better and them inferior, before lunch time. And I have to admit that observation is true. But I still can't really figure out why. It's not logical, it's counterproductive and it is actively harmful.

So why do we automatically do it? Anybody got any answers?

[/rant]
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
24,799
8,103
113
But he did talk when he was in the bath house... he had a frog in his throat though. =^.^=
 

Butterflyyy

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2019
1,571
1,293
113
If i die today, will i be saved. Salvation makes me very apprehensive and nervous.
If you were in a good church you would have learned that you may have blessed assurance if you really know God and He knows you.
It is through trusting in the precious Blood of Christ that we receive salvation.
Only in this blood is there power to save eternally.
Please ask any questions, there are many on here who truly know God and can help you. God loves you and it isnit His will that you should perish. His Word is true. X