A million distractions
by Elouise
A million distractions
rise daily from fertile ground
I close my eyes
trying to concentrate on Now
Now laughs at me
wonders whether I’m alive
Focus is for the birds
not for live human beings
swept up and along in
warped boats struggling
to stay afloat long enough
to be appreciated if not loved
The crowd roars its approval
begs for more showers of poison
from tongues wed to never-never land
coming your way today
unless you’d rather be
a bird
Just a few thoughts that reflect my desire to be over and done with the 2020 Election for our next POTUS. Why? Because we have unfinished business. It isn’t about one thing. It’s about our entire history as a nation. We’re in a national ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment, invited to light a candle deep inside the hidden yet not-so-hidden history of this nation. Put another way, we’re invited yet again to stop walking over our history in Trance mode.
So yes, today I’d rather be a bird! Focused on what matters most.
This morning a couple of cardinals visited our recently-hung bird feeder. Clearly focused on food! Hoping this day offers food for our souls, and that we’re alert enough to accept it.
Happy Tuesday!
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 25 August 2020
Photo found at kaytee.com
Telling the Truth 
Yes, indeed, Elouise.
The problems that plague us today are simply larger, more public manifestations of the things that have always been there, but used to be, in some cases, more hidden (because they were seen as unacceptable by many), or more visibly invisible (because they were understood to be “the way things are, or are meant to be”).
Animals act according to their inner programming. They act, react, communicate as they are (cat, bird, spider, fish, etc.). We can choose our actions, our reactions, our words, and our attitudes.
My prayer is that the Lord would get our (everyone’s, but certainly anyone’s who claims to be in relationship with God) attention, and help us see him more clearly, so that we might see, understand and treat ourselves and others in ways that reflect God’s mercy, grace, patience and kindness to us, and which result in us living lives with and for each other, as did Jesus – and this life includes the cross, where Jesus GAVE HIS LIFE for the other…
If what happened at the cross spelled hope – of forgiveness, reconciliation, LIFE now and beyond the grave – from God, then those who will trust God and dare to live like Jesus will see God continue to do what God has always done: make new – individuals, groups, situations, creation – and that life is my prayer, and I am committed to living into it as long as the Lord gives me days.
Hebrews 10:23-26 comes to mind: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Thank you, Elouise, for the way you embody the exhortation in these verses, and spur me, along with many others, to love and good deeds. I look forward to the day when we can once again meet together face-to-face, even if at a bit of a distance, rather than on screen… 🙂
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You’re so welcome, Debbie! I can’t wait to have a good sit-down conversation with you! 🙂
Thank you for your heartfelt response. One of the most difficult realities we have to address is our own (white and privileged) inability to ‘lead’ because we’re a huge part of the problem. By “we,” I mean white and privileged people like you and like me who somehow seem stuck in fix-it mode, even though we’re likely the ones who need fixing.) The humility to accept this, along with the reality that we (the so-called privileged) aren’t here on earth to fix everything and everybody, is difficult to practice. Especially in the midst of a world torn apart by a pandemic, dictatorial leaders, unforgettable grudges, etc.
At the same time, we can only do (as individuals) what we’re able to do, even though some of us are eager to ‘fix’ things beyond our circle of influence or power. Too often I’ve been oblivious to the stark differences between growing up white (especially middle or upper class), and the way others grow up as black, brown or disadvantaged white persons.
Your comments about Jesus are spot on. I’m coming up to the third of four chapters in Howard Thurman’s book, Jesus and the Disinherited. Thurman is helping me understand white privilege from a theological and social/everyday point of view. Not because he talks about white privilege, but because he links the behaviors and habits of the disinherited (black, brown, plus white people living in poverty) to what Jesus lived with as one of the disinherited. Yes, he was a Jew. He was not, however, a Roman citizen. Who was his ‘real’ father? And then there’s his arrest and public crucifixion between two thieves. No privilege cards to cash in as needed.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful response!
Elouise
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