Absurdities and Other Things

 Lord God, the title "Absurdities" came to my mind earlier, perhaps last week, when I was in a conversation with someone at work.  He was "in charge" of assuring compliance with mask-wearing to mitigate the risks of spreading COVID in the hospital.  The twin absurdities were 1) he was not wearing his own surgical mask (63-75% effective) correctly and 2) he was giving me grief for wearing my KN-95 mask (94-95% effective) correctly.  "I don't know where you got that mask, if it is approved, if it is safe.  It is not authorized by the hospital."

See the absurdity?

In fact, on reflection, there are so many absurdities in the world at this point.  Blatant lies are pushed; wars are declared on flimsy projected grounds; lies are "true" and truth is not valued.  Is there any such thing as honor anymore?  Can anyone's word or promise--except Yours, of course--be trusted?  Is this how your prophets found the world and is this how they felt when they essentially shouted truth into their situations, only to be ignored or, worse yet, persecuted?  

That four-letter word: WILL.  Willfulness.  Opposite of willingness.  

Oh, God, soften my heart and make me *willing* to be corrected by You, taught by You, and disciplined by You.  Tolerating all of these absurdities is a strain on me.  In my own stubbornness, I think that sarcastically challenging someone's absurd belief--one quote similar to the one above mentioned "deluded"--will convince them that they are wrong, and they will cheerfully change their minds.  Yeah.  That has totally worked so far.

I am falling asleep here!  (Worcester Public Library--Volunteer reading, doctor's appointment, new hearing aid molds this afternoon.). 

Please intervene wonderfully in Tue's (and Julie's) life.  Broken ankle, torn Achilles--not even to mention our (Yours and mine) desire for his heart to be overcome by You.

Gonna go now, dear God.  Dear, dear God.  Are You frustrated these days?

Grace and Peace

( I rarely have a few moments when DH is not at home when I am; "working from home" has made it difficult for me to claim undisturbed time here.  Now I have a little time, thanks to a client cancellation this morning.  But DH wants us--Bailey and me--to visit him at the Harvest Fair on the grounds of the Holden Nursing Home/Oriol Health property.)

Lord, I started to title this post "Peace and Grace" because my annual theme has been grace but my devotional these past few days has addressed the theme of peace.  Then I remember that You often put grace and peace together in Your word.  I will end this post with one of those verses.  There are 17 in the Bible Gateway New Testament!  The first one, in Romans, reminds me of today's devotional, which highjacked me over to a few chapters in Romans.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peaceto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7