Safe

I have a job -- well, awaiting security clearances.

I have a job. 

Me and my circle of old friends may be small but we are big on coinage of phrases to encourage each other, giving each other our 2¢ take on things.

Case in point:

• An old friend used to remind me that every adversity, obstacle and challenge I faced could be helpful to others one day - I call it gathering great fodder*. So far, he has been 100% spot-on. 
• Another old friend recently mused that if the saying " what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is true, then I may have broken a Guiness Book of World Record even if there isn't a category for this type of strength.
• Sometimes the smarter move is to lay face down stretched out in mock surrender when life is chasing you down like a big bulldozer. You may be flattened but you could survive to pop-up again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sassy snoozes curled up in her rocker, so I decided to stay downstairs with her instead of working in my upstairs office. Besides, its warmer down here this morning as the deck thermometer struggles to get to zero degrees! 

Good tunes on Pandora radio, a second pot of coffee dripping in the kitchen, my newest food concoction burbles in the crockpot and I sit here surrounded by piles and piles of law books as I attack a few pro bono cases today. Outside a light dusting of new snow makes the world seem peaceful, serene.

Today I feel safe.

Not that great "Safe" of having swung your bat and as the ball arcs through the sky you race towards home - airborne then SPLAT as you slide and your toe connects with the plate while the catcher's mitt swipes and misses the tag.  Close, but different and I can't think of a good analogy. 

Darn – now I need to stop writing this post and check-out the date of the Twins opening home game because I am going. 

I can afford it now.   

I have a job.

* For my agriculturally challenged readers: Fodder - Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw. 2. Raw material, as for artistic creation.

Sassy snoozes on a bitter cold morning - January 26, 2013

Two Ways

Eagles at Colville Park - Red Wing January 2013

Thermometer reads almost -20 on the back deck this morning, so decided to spend my "Front Porch" time inside this morning.

Holding my "nth" cup of coffee, I was pondering the psalmist words while looking out at the frozen tundra.  How the trees meditate on the law of God day and night while staying planted near the water that feeds them.

What an amazing picture that brings to mind. 

Whether its the cold winds tearing at their branches, the hot sun beating them down or the torential rains and tornados whipping a frenzy bending them almost to the breaking point, there stands the trees.  Close to the waters. Delighting in God.

Sometimes I feel like one of these trees.  Maybe not often enough.  Still...
I won't break. I will not blow away. I am not chaff.

I am solidly planted in my belief there is a God.

Psalm 1
The Two Ways


Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Sassy at the top of the stairs