Matter of Fact

Matter of Fact

I once heard a preacher

Who said matter of fact and

 The truth of the matter a lot.

As a matter of fact,

The truth of the matter

Is that matter, matters.

I know some think not

And in doing so make matters worse.

Truth of the matter is if matter is all there is

Well then all that matters is matter. 

But if there is more than matter

Well, that changes the matter completely.

If there is a creator then creation is more than matter

And the fact of the matter is

Creation matters more than matter

And the truth of the matter is

That matter is more than a matter of fact.

The fact of the matter is that matter matters

And the truth of the matter is that its

A matter of fact that the Creator of the matter

Is the heart of the matter.

In sum, the creator of matter, matters more

Than the truth of the matter and that’s a

Matter of fact. 

Play Your Hand For Others

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucile, four hungry children and a crop in the field.  I’ve had some bad times, lived through some sad times, this time the hurtin’ won’t heal.  You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille.

You got to know when to hold’ em, know when to fold’ em, know when to walk away and know when to run.  You never count your money while you’re sittin’ at the table…there’ll be time enough for countin’…when the dealin’s done! 

Or in this case…there’ll be time enough for countin’ when the singin’s done.  I wonder what Kenny Rodgers life has been like.  I don’t wonder enough or care enough to try and find out but I do wonder about people who sing songs like this or others.  They sing about life…maybe not their life but life in general and so we sing along and remember the words years after the fact because that’s just the way life is.

Life isn’t fair so make the most of it!  Stuff happens or you know that other word.  Life is like a poker came and you get dealt a hand and you play it the best you can.  Most of us didn’t get 4 Aces and King high.  We may not have even got a pair and so we just play the hand we were dealt.  What are we to make of all this?  We could just say that’s just the way it is so deal with what you’ve been dealt.  We do that in life, more or less.  But that’s not all we do.

The witness of the Bible is that we are in this together.  We have personal stories and a community story.  The bible tells the stories of individuals but it does so for the community.  I think the idea is we can show each other our hands and in doing so help rather than hurt one another.  None of us can make up for what another doesn’t have but we can help here and there.  We can make things better by sharing our lives.  I can play my hand in such way that you benefit from it.  I can also make sure that if you play your hand in harmful or hurtful ways, I don’t retaliate. You get to decide how you will play the cards you have been dealt but so do I.  I might decide to exclude you from my game but that can be a healthy and even loving thing to do.  The best thing to do when and if possible is to win you over instead of brushing you aside or destroying you.

Think about the Biblical charters that you know and how they played the hand they were dealt to the best of their ability.  They also played their hand for others so that the community experience helped those who had a bad hand or even the worst possible hand.

Let’s face it…the fact that life isn’t fair can make us do so destructive things.  We can get angry or fearful and act out.  But it can also provide the opportunity to help one another.  We can say…we are all in this together.  Let’s live and learn and laugh and love together.  Let’s weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.  Let’s overcome evil with good not be overcome with or by evil.

So…what’s in your hand?  How will you play it and why?  How will you use what you’ve got to make things fairer for others?  Those are better questions than why isn’t life fair.  Play your cards… and we will see!  Play your cards… so all can see!

Why?

I went to the dentist the other day and it reminded me of how much I don’t like going to the dentist.  Well, do you??  It started early in life for me and it did seem strange that they would give me a sucker for having a cavity.  I guess they thought it was job security for them and it worked.  Almost all of my major teeth groups are filled.  I have no doubt it was those suckers they gave me laced with some cavity causing agent.

It was bad enough having a cavity but even worse was when your brother or sister didn't have one.  Why?  Why do I have the weak teeth and get to stay longer in the chair while they laugh and play next door?  I suspect a lot of people have thought life unfair when they compare!  Why did they get that package for a body and me this one?  Why do they look like model on the runway of life and I feel like a model T on a back road to nowhere?  Why do they stick out in all the right places and turn so many faces?  Why do I have this disease and they seem so at ease?  Why do I feel like my take home pay won’t get me home and they live at the mall?  Why can’t I run fast or think fast or work fast.  Why do I seem always to be last?  How come I am the born loser and they are so lucky?

Funny is it not that one of the things in life that makes the biggest difference I had nothing to do with.  One day you are born and you had nothing to do with it but then you have nothing to do with the family that takes you home nor the home they take you to.  They name you and then others do the same.  It all seems insane, how it works or doesn't.  You belong to more… or… less but you are where you are and everybody has to be somewhere.  Who of us has not thought…why could I not be born…to that family?  Why could I not have that privilege instead of this poverty of spirit?  Why couldn't I get all the breaks and be able to celebrate luck and lucky and even name my affluent dog after my fate.  Why do I have to live and think, them’s just the breaks, man!

Have you ever wondered any of these things and more and not so much for yourself but for others?  I wonder what it feels like to be red, yellow, or black since I have the white part covered.  Do black people want to be white?  If you were black would you want to be white?  Can we put ourselves in their shoes and do ours fit them at all? 

If life was fair we wouldn't have dentists or at least the hygienist wouldn't try to get you to talk with your mouth full.  They wouldn't ask crazy questions like how are you when you walk in the door either.  I always  say…I’m here aren't I…how do you think I am?  That gets the ball rolling down the hill quickly and we talk about what all we don’t like about life.  Well, at least she does.  I just amen her here and there…with some strange sound.

The other day she took that suction thing out of my mouth and I asked why people are born where they are and who they are and how that’s fair.  How is it fair that we get to live here and they in third world country?  Why do their kids starve for lack of food and ours overeat?  Why do we have so much and they so little?

God!  God she said!  God did it!  God decided before we were born all of that and so why ask why?  God decided that I was going to be born with weak teeth?  God decided I get to enjoy so much and they so little.  Don’t question the Bible she said…after all you’re a preacher.  You should know how things are and just accept them and you should be telling others to do the same. 

Listen…things are what they are.  It is what it is.  So…don’t ask why!  Just be thankful…God liked you more than them.  And when they say…life isn't fair…say…take it up with God!  After all He’s in charge!    

I would say more…but my time in the chair ended and I moved on to better things.  

Fair Enough

I went to the Fair today

And the weather was fair enough.

Someone broke in line

And then their ride stopped in mid-air

And we all thought… fair enough.

The food was overpriced

And the cashier short-changed herself

And putting the extra in my pocket was… fair enough.

They judged the hot chili contest

And the judges’ daughter, well she won

Then slipped and fell on her face claiming the award

And the sound of laughter said… fair enough.

What to do with all my trash

Since no can could be found

And so, on the ground it went

And my conscious lit up with…fair enough.

Some poor soul left their big ol’ teddy bear

All alone and went on to other things

That bad boy spotted it for his girl

And saying he won it seemed… fair enough.

Eager to come and even more to go

That car parked way too close and so

The open door left its dent

But not a note, nor a name since it was… fair enough.

I went to the fair today

And the weather, well it was fair enough.

And the people, well they were too!

Like We Plan

They say we should plan our work

And work our plan

And whoever they are I guess they’re right

Since I have quoted them

But I have not always done as we said

But that’s not all

They also say those who fail to plan

Plan to fail

But I have also discovered that planning

Doesn’t’ always go as planned

And so I feel guilty when I don’t plan

And perplexed when I do.

I wonder if they ever heard that other one

You know the one…

Men make plans and God laughs

It hard for some to see God laughing

Until the plan to succeed ends in failure and then

Then I guess we know that a plan is just that

A plan and not an outcome but then again

It’s best to have a plan

And then a plan B and even a C

And a few more since things don’t always go

Like we plan

Being Perfected, Not Perfect

I wonder if anyone has ever had a perfect life?  I mean, you know, other than the God-man and I don’t think he had one either since his parents had feet of clay.  Let’s not forget how they left him at home alone, so to speak…in Jerusalem.  But what about a day?  Has anyone ever had a perfect day?  Have you?  A moment?  Have you ever had a perfect moment?

I think perfection is overrated and I think that more now than ever.  After all, where do you go once you reach perfection?  You get back the test and there’s a 100 written on it and circled in red.  You go 5 for 5 at the plate.  Every relative shows up on time, there’s peace on earth and good will to men since they liked your green bean casserole.  Your last words are met with a standing ovation.  All the votes are counted and you not only won but it was unanimous.  You get the job and a stock option to boot.  Your sermon is greeted with rousing amen’s…at a Methodist’s Church.    

What happens after perfection?  I wouldn't know since I have never ever achieved it but I can only guess that after the dust settles you’re left questioning now what?  How do I maintain this level of performance and feeling of euphoria?  How much fun is it to pitch again after your so called perfect game?

There may be moments of perfection but for the most part that’s not how life works.  At least not how my life works.  My best moments are followed by my worst moments or at least lesser ones.  I preach a good sermon and some even think it was great and as I say thank-you a little voice inside my perfectionist head says…Sunday is coming…next Sunday is coming and what will it be?  Can you duplicate what you did so that the audience doesn't leave saying…he’s slipping and that certainly wasn't his best and I wonder what happened to him since last Sunday.  How long has he been here now?  Maybe we need a change…

A hit song sings imperfect is the new perfect.  Perfect discipline or perfect control is the best way to miss out on the joy of life.  The fact that things don’t always go according to plans is permission not be perfect.  Imperfection is life’s invitation to let go of the illusion of control.  Our planning as well as our plans are meant to control what happens so things turn out the way we want them to.  But that’s not how life works, at least not most of the time.  Since we are imperfect, our plans are too.  Our plans are limited by our limited knowledge.  We only know what we know and when plans don’t work out right we get to see and accept that we are human beings.  As Robert Burns says to a mouse:  “The best-laid schemes of mice and men go astray and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy.”  And let us not forget that Murphy’s law rules us all…”what can go wrong will go wrong.”  But what if…what goes wrong teaches us what we need to know?  Yes, that there are things we don’t know but more importantly what we don’t know teaches us too.  Teaches us that we are not in charge.  Teaches us to surrender our ego.  Teaches us that life is not about being perfect but about being perfected.

Have you heard the story about the Chinese farmer?

In medieval China there once lived an old farmer who had a weak, ailing horse for ploughing his field.  One day, the sickly horse ran away to the hills.  The farmer’s neighbors offered their sympathy to him:  “Such rotten luck!” they exclaimed.

Bad luck?  Good luck?  Who knows?  Mused the farmer.

A week later, the old horse returned, bringing with it a herd of wild horses from the hills.  This time, the neighbors swarmed around the farmer and congratulated him on his good luck.  His reply however was the same:  Good luck?  Bad luck?  Who can tell?

Sometime later, while trying to tame one of the wild horses, the farmer’s only son fell off its back and broke his leg.  Everyone thought this was bad luck.  Bad luck?  Good luck?  I don’t know said the farmer.

A few weeks later, the king’s army marched into the village and conscripted every able bodied young man living there.  The farmer’s son, who was laid up with a broken leg was let off, for he was thought to be of no use to them.

Now what was this?  Good luck or bad luck?  Who can tell?

Things that seem adverse on the surface may actually be good in disguise.  Something that seems lucky may actually be harmful to our best interests.  We must leave it to a higher power to take our plans and life in a different direction for only He knows what’s best.

Sometimes plans don’t go as planned.  And that’s a good thing for the planners.  Sometimes, in this life, a perfect game is going 3 for 10 at the plate.  To do that means you been perfected not perfect.  And that’s as good as gets in our field of dreams.  

Changing How We View Change

The times, they are a changing or at least the seasons are.  I love Autumn with its reprieve from the hot days of summer.  I love football, sweater weather, hot cider, and the beauty of foliage.  I remember sharing one Fall how much I enjoy watching the leaves change in color and in fact, each year I enjoy it more than the one before.  The response from an older gentlemen was… “Dean, you’re getting old!”

I’m getting old because I love to watch the leaves change??  I’m getting old??  Thanks to him, I now connect my favorite season with getting old.  I watch the leaves change and realize that I too am changing.  Just as they go from youthy green tones to mature amber ones, I too am changing in color and texture.

There a difference between my morphing and that of the trees.  They do it gracefully and effortlessly.  They change from one day to the next and even own change by letting go.  Falling…falling…falling…falling…falling…falling… to their death.  Such grace and gracefulness as they change and let go of their hold on what’s holding them.  It seems they know exactly how to change and come to the end of themselves. 

I know what follows Autumn.  The barren trees will broadcast winter in no time.  No time at all…now!  One day they are bursting forth in lively colors and the next they stand naked against the blue sky.  Naked trees…for all to see.  You get see what they look like when the camouflage is gone.  You see their bare limbs and those that aren't so…limber anymore.

Life has a way of undressing us…so to speak.  We do everything in our power to cover up but at some point we get dressed down and it can be a blow to our egos.  We cloth ourselves with degrees and careers, and power, and popularity, and desires, and lovers, and family and wealth and goods and cosmetics and perfumes and…  We dress up well!!  So well, that we don’t want to be undressed.  We hold on…with grit and determination to what we have along with the pretense of control. 

Most of us talk about the weather so much because it bothers us.  We can’t control it. Since we can’t, we’re glad it changes.  If you don’t like the weather… stick around!  What if viewing nature changed how we view change.  What if we relinquished our illusion of control and just went with the flow of things?  What if change is not a bad thing…after all?  What if change, changes us and we saw it not as loss but liberation?  What if change helps us to let go of what was so we can take hold of what is.

Have you heard the story of the monkey?  The monkey wants a banana!  The monkey finds a banana!  The monkey puts his hand through the hole and takes hold of the banana!  The monkey tries to remove his hand but finds he is boxed in.  The monkey has the banana or the banana has the monkey.  Which is it?  The monkey is trapped not by the box but by the monkey himself.  Talk about monkey business!!  The monkey is held captive but not really...not by reality.  The monkey is imprisoned by nothing more than…holding on!  If the monkey lets go… the monkey can go…on to freedom.  It’s up to the monkey.  What are you holding on to?  What’s monkey-ing  with you?  Let it go!!  Let it go so you can take hold of what’s next…before you go bananas!!

The times, they are a changing and the seasons of your life too!