daily life as life goes on . . .

A picture is worth a thousand words!  So what words are in this picture??

If you look on a kitchen countertop you may find a bowl turned upside down.  A melmac bowl, a term that is year’s old and no longer used. 

An inheritance from my grandmother.  From almost thirty years ago.  One that has lasted the years.  Of all the things we may inherit, I’m inclined to enjoy the daily reminders.  Those ordinary items that remind me day by day of those that have had an effect on my life.

Grandma lent us her house when we first got married.  She raised nine children.  Carried plowshares across fields to town to be fixed.  Had that quiet kind of approach to life you love to be around.  And every time her husband would tease us and start to joke with the grandkids we’d hear “Now, Carl!” and we all knew we were in for a good time!!

We are going to be grandparents.  End of October.

So, I’m practicing.  Last night we had a famiiy group over that had an 8 month old.  So I held her for a bit while the mother ate (high chairs are good for a few minutes, then there is always the inevitable desire to escape – that’s where another set of hands is good to have around.)

The week before, we were with a young couple in a restaurant.  They had an infant less than a year old.  He was rather cute (rather photgenic if you ask me!).   I grabbed him (OK, so mom let me gently lift the young man) and held him.  It’s just plain fun!

Of course, I’d like to think I’m still young enough to be a father!  But I have to accept reality!  At 52 (which I hit on Wednesday), I’m no longer what I used to be.  And maybe there is some good to that. 

The kids go home at night.  I go home at night.  I sleep – and they . . .

An author proclaimed he disliked bumper sticker theology.

That’s where someone writes something in a short sentence summing up myriads of thought and consideration over centuries of discussion and debate. 

I love bumper stickers.  I have a feeling this author did too!  His article was full of pithy sayings.  “We don’t live to survive, or even thrive, but to serve.”  Not bad.

But here is the one that really struck me.  “Let’s die facing the right direction.”  Never in retreat, always in advance.  That’s how I want to live! 

The preceding comments brought to inspired by the latest Promise Keepers book The Awakening Experience.  [Which book is not on a Canadian website – you have to phone 1-888-901-9700]

Here’s a word for you!

I love to play with words.  Once in a while one comes along that is hard to define.  So you look it up in etymological dictionaries.  They give great background and history for words.  Or you go to lectures and listen to great academic explanations.

And sometimes the word pops up in popular language of certain subcultures.  I was a part of an age specific class called a “koinonia” group.  And we had “koinonia fellowships”. 

All well and good!

But today I’m reading my Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, second edition, p. 438.

Koinonia – a favorite expression for the marital relationship as the most intimate between human beings.

We generally translate this word as . . . fellowship.  Kind of puts a new light on our Sunday potlucks!