Sweet Dreams

I don’t often remember the dreams that I have, but I was having a very sweet dream this morning. In the dream, I was in high school and did  something I’d have never back then. There was one particular guy I had a “crush” on in high school. Thinking back, I know I had several crushes on different guys, but I wouldn’t let myself think about it that way, but it was these guys I was thinking of when I jerked off at night. There was one particular guy that was in more than his fair share of fantasies, he was who this dream was about. 

I dream went something like this:

I was standing with my back to a wall, and he asked me, “What are you doing tomorrow?” 

I replied that “I didn’t have any plans. Why?”

He said, “I’m supposed to go pick up some guacamole but was wondering if you’d rather play soccer instead.”

(This was a really strange part of the dream because I hate guacamole, and I doubt either of us actually would have known what guacamole was back then. Also, he would have probably asked me to play football or basketball, not soccer.)

I replied, “You know I’m not good with sports, but I am good with balls.” 

(Cheesy, I know, but we were in high school and this was a dream.)

“Really,” he said with a sexy smile.

I sort of stuttered, “W-w-well, I’ve never actually played with anyone else’s balls, but I’d like to.”

“Really. Well, that doesn’t have to wait until tomorrow,” he said and leaned in to kiss me.

I asked if he had somewhere private we could go, and I remember he nodded and started motioning me somewhere…

Just then, I heard a cat meowing. I rolled over hoping to get back to my dream, but as I was still half asleep, I never could get passed the part where he leaned in to kiss me before I heard a cat meowing again. Isabella wanted her breakfast, and she was not going to let me go back to sleep and finish my dream. So, after a few more starts and stops to my dream, I finally opened my eyes and got up and fed her. No matter how much I’d have liked to have finished that dream, I knew it wasn’t going to happen, so I got up and fed her.

Ugh, cock-blocked from such a sweet dream by a cat. So frustrating…

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Kindness

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

—Ephesians 4:32

 

To be kind, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to have a sympathetic or helpful nature. It also indicates gentleness, compassion and affection. Kindness is different than niceness. It goes deeper – it’s a genuine reflection of the heart. Niceness can be helpful, but kindness is a result of a heart in the right place. Mark Twain was once said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

 

We are surrounded by God’s kindness every day. Evidence of his kindness shows in our lives, in the Bible and in his character. Jesus set the ultimate example of kindness with his life. Following his example can be difficult, but God calls and equips believers to be kind. With this understanding of how important kindness is to God and in how we interact with the world,

 

The kindness of God is our starting place for a holistic view of kindness. He made us for community with himself and other people. For any community to thrive, there must be kindness. From God’s loving kindness, we start to understand how securely loved we are by God, and in that security, we can reach out to those we come across who need a reminder of kindness in their lives.

 

We know God calls Christians to be kind, but sometimes we struggle with knowing what that kindness looks like in everyday life. Where are we supposed to direct our kindness? And to whom? The short answer is to be kind to everyone. Galatians 6:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all.”

 

If we all did a small act of kindness each day, the world would be a better place. It doesn’t take much to be kind. It can be as simple as holding open a door for someone or picking up something they’ve dropped. Maybe the person behind you in line at the grocery store as significantly fewer groceries than you, and you let them ahead of you in line. The simplest form of kindness is to smile at someone.

 

Love and encourage people. And always be open to listen. You never know what people are going through and sometimes the people with the biggest smiles are struggling the most, so be kind. That’s why it’s so important to lead with kindness as often as we can. You may never know how much a small act of kindness will affect someone.

P.S. Steve Davis, one of my frequent reader and commenters, reminded me that today is Pentecost,* and I wanted to add a few words about how kindness is an appropriate virtue to celebrate the holiday. Pentecost is described in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” I’ve never fully understood “speaking in tongues” in the modern sense in Holiness and Pentecostal Christianity. What is often described as speaking in tongues never seemed to be a universal language that everyone could understand as described in Acts 2:4. However, I believe what Mark Twain said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Kindness is a universal language that everyone can speak and understand, and maybe that is what the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles with on Pentecost.

* Pentecost was never a holiday we observed in the Church of Christ when I was growing up so it did not occur to me to write a post about Pentecost.

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Moment of Zen: Pools

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TGIF

Friday couldn’t come soon enough this week. Although, it’s supposed to be cloudy today and tomorrow, Sunday should be a nice day. If Sunday does turn out to be nice, and I am feeling well, i.e., no migraine, maybe I can go for an early morning hike on Sunday. Even though tomorrow will be cloudy, if I wake up energized, I might take that hike tomorrow. The high temperature will be a bit cooler tomorrow than Sunday, but the Sunday morning temperature is expected to be lower than on Saturday. Because of all the rain and flooding we got last summer, I was not able to take some occasional hikes because the trails were damaged during the flooding, but hopefully, the trails will now be in good condition. I’ll definitely be careful, and if anything doesn’t look right, I’ll turn around.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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Discovery

I watched Star Trek: Discovery this morning when I got up, and considering where I work, this was a very interesting episode. However, because I watched the episode, I didn’t have much time to write a post today. So, enjoy your Isabella pic of the week. I took this one the other day.

Isabella: “Why are you disturbing me?”

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Halfway

I’m taking a vacation day Friday, so my work week is halfway done. I was home sick yesterday due to a migraine (we have a weather front moving through). I still have a bit of one today, but it’s not as bad as yesterday. So, I’m going to work today. As long as my office isn’t too hot and there are a minimum of strong smells, I should be ok. I have some work to do, although nothing that I would consider of great importance. I really wish I could stay home another day, but I think it will be good to get out of my apartment. I hope everyone is having a good week.

A bonus pic of the guy above:

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Sonnet 116

Sonnet 116

By William Shakespeare

 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom:

     If this be error and upon me proved,

     I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 

 

About the Poem

 

Along with Sonnets 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) and 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”), Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous sonnets. Traditionally, this sonnet has been almost universally read as a sonnet of praise or triumph to ideal and eternal love, with which all readers could easily identify, adding their own dream of perfection to what they found within it, modern criticism makes it possible to look beneath the idealism and to see some hints of a world which is perhaps slightly more disturbed than the poet pretends. In the first place it is important to see that the sonnet belongs in the sequence of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Sonnet 116 is sandwiched between three sonnets which discuss the philosophical question of how love deceives a person’s eyes, mind, and judgement. Sonnet 116 is then followed by four others which attempt to excuse the poet's own unfaithfulness and betrayal of the beloved.

 

Most scholars thought agree that Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. The poet praises the glories of lovers who have come to each other freely and enter into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and strong and will not "alter when it alteration finds." The following lines proclaim that true love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive any crisis. In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree but does not mean we fully understand it. Love's actual worth cannot be known and remains a mystery. The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is unshakeable throughout time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom," i.e., death. In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant, unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth, and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes.

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