Believe the Bad Days Are Over*

By the time I got into my 40th decade of this embodiment, I felt a need to 'revamp' my life outlook. With occasional reminders from a dear friend, (it took about 3 years of daily attention), I learned to refocus my attitudes by appreciating every good, positive, helpful and enlightening event in my day. It does become a matter of intention and when I became more aware of my own intentions, I began to think more critically about other people's intentions. There lies another chapter that unfolded in my life events, but that's another story. My point is that we can learn to recondition our own responses by intentionally being in the present. An attitude of gratitude is definately what works on this planet. My attitude adjustments take daily attention and I don't always remain in the 'present', but it does do a whole bunch to iron out life's creases and take heavy burdens from my shoulders.
So enough philosophy, I can still speak of the bad things, I just choose not to most of the time. Last Thursday the 16th, was bad because I started running a low grade fever that continued for 7 days. Now it's like recovery from a cold, and I'm still coughing. Midterms throughout all of this made for more than one bad day, certainly challenging. Well on the mend now, everyday is better. Jeanie*

Oh yeah, that awful poem

I understood the Susanna story and it validity, but not the poem about it by Wallace Stevens. His head was sure in a wierd place and I would have to google other people's understanding of the poem just to pretend I got anything from it's very text. Big yuk from me on that. Good night.

'like' thinking on Job,dude

The trials of Job were surely horrendous because of all he endured. Loosing your stuff can be one thing, but when you lose your health, you also lose some of your mind. I think you lose a 'presense' of mind when your ill because a part of you has to tend to what is ailing. The body makes demands on the mind and the brain to 'fix' or take care of what is no longer functioning properly and so you have lost some of your mind, hopefully only temporarily.
Take 'like' this past week for me; I've been sick since last Thursday evening, low temps everyday since, bad cough now a runny nose. I mean all this hinderence to the 'work' of being a full time student in the midst of midterms, that it is quite the trial to 'keep the faith' that I will be a successful student at the end of this semester. So much instruction to remember and assignments to process that it can drive a twenty year old over the edge! I ponder why God chose me for the auduous task of continueing education for myself at this age, in this run down, sick, and tired, broken down body, and for no pay! Couldn't someone invent the 'chip'?! {Idea I have of subjects of worthy study chips that can be easily and painlessly transplanted into your brain fo instant knowledge in the desired area. Just a thought I toy with over the years!} Yes, one must have the 'patience of Job' sometimes just to make it through a day; yet, as we learned in class the other day, Job had no patience, but he did pray. So, I'd like to change that to having the 'faith of Job', in that it all comes out in the wash anyway, it's just how you play the game. Bible literature is starting to look 'like' fun.

P & J is sounding good about now!

After reading Haley's blog of 9/22, it was fun to think about the P & J writer's who seemingly started this whole thing on the multiple writers in the Bible. Haley said that the idea of multiple writers was new to her too. It didn't dawn on me what Genesis 1 and a Genesis 2 could have such phenominal dinamics! This astounds me because of how oblivious I was about even the remote possibility of multiple writers. As I have mentioned before, I was raised Catholic, and I know that I opened Bibles and read some before, but attending this class actual opened my mind to many more perspectives of "the good book." Today, I am more satisfied reading the Bible closer as a study, than any of my other classes, because it leaves me in a different state of mind, a different mood that leaves me feeling 'full'. Anyway, I agree with Haley about the 'P' Priestly writer being logical and repetitive, somewhat scientific, can be tedious and chronological and bulletted. And the 'J' Jaweh writer has got a more literary quality and lyric style of story telling. Here's a thought on that I haven't thunk before; Maybe 'J' was a feminant male. Or a homosexual.

The Bible in 50 Words

Found these on cliffnotes and had fun with it:
God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Jacob fooled
Joseph ruled
Bush talked
Pharaoh plagued
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Judges led
Saul freaked
David peeked
Kingdom divided
Prophets warned
People exiled
Hope rose
Jesus born
God walked
Anger crucified
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained
Then I gave it a shot!:
God bade
Adam ate
Noah rowed
Abraham parted
Jacob fowled
Joseph royaled
Pharaoh phlemed
Sea mirrored
Tablets read
Promise ground
Judges first
Saul froze
David perved
Kingdom amok
Prophets yelled
People gone
Hope grew
Jesus came
God pedestrianed
Anger killed
Word arose
God maintained!
Peace Out*

God's Face God's Ass

Was it full frontal or only the moon?

From the 'New American Bible' (online) Exodus 33:11 "The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face as one man speaks to another."

From the 'The Skeptics Annotaed Bible' (online) Exodus 33:20-23 "...and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."

Susanna and the 'Ugh Poem'

Interesting story. I looked up the passage in a few different bibles and came to realize that it isn’t in all Bibles and its in different places in different books. Doesn’t make it very easy to find. Anyway, honestly I really don’t get much connection between the story in the bible and it’s connection to the poem. A tad to deep and off center for my taste. The bright side is that I now know the Susanna story and it is a good one. I think the Hebrew spelling is Shoshanah (Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend's name, and their both Jewish!); a modern spelling is Sosana, a Tiberian spelling is Sosanna. The story teaches us it’s best to presume innocence, while facts are reviewed! This story also gives more insight into the young Daniel, and his early view of justice.
BTW – I think I left one of my hard cover Harper Collins in the classroom on Tuesday….if anyone happened to find it.