Blog 1821 – 09.18.2020

Horton Hears A Who

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UNXUyEpE90dHC8UkF3d1JMPZZ4VZ4VG1/view?usp=drivesdk

Horton Hears A Who

Today’s story is another classic Doctor Seuss rhyming children’s tale. From a child I have and still do appreciate a good time rhyme and Seuss’s are some of the most fun and familiar. You can be sure if there is an elephant in the room or a cat in a hat that with Seuss it is always there to have and to provide a good time for all.

Cyndi Lauper’s song about girls just wanting to have fun is true of girls and boys of all ages, but it is a truth many adults seem to forget when they allow themselves to be caught up by a world of cares and the deceitfulness of riches. Jesus warned the boys after their fun mountain top experience that all too quickly the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches would and could choke out that sweet memory and cause them to forget if they let the really important stuff of life.

Without any trouble at all, most of us over five could easily tick off quite a list of those great cares of life. But, what exactly did Jesus mean by the phrase the deceitfulness of riches? The illusive promise of riches is three fold – health, security, and happiness, none of which money can buy nor secure, but the lie is always if my pile were just a little wider, a little higher, it would provide all that that I need for me and mine to be taken care of, to be satisfied, and to be fulfilled.

One of the most shamed and vilified acts in the Old Testament, even more than the first “sibling-side”, when Cain in jealousy took the life of his brother Able, even more despicable and dastardly than Jacob’s deception and lie to get his father Jacob’s blessing as the first born son (which he clearly was not), is the act of that manly-man brother Esau who valued his inheritance so little that he was willing to sell it to his younger brother for a bowl of food, just to ease his momentary hunger.

I think as in one of my often posted Mockingbird songs, In This Life, that we all know what it is to be addicted to the power and promise of gold. Some time ago I decided to try to keep a little silver and gold on hand, in reserve, but I try to always remind myself that silver and gold have caused a lot more trouble than they have cleared up historically. The atrocities of the taking and raping of this country and the world, the cover up of which like so many other attempted cover ups still continues, has its root in the quest for riches, silver and gold, and the power and security they falsely promise.

One more Bible reference to the Jesus parable that some call “the Barn Loser” and I will rest my case. The story goes there was a certain rich farmer who decided that he would tear down his barn and build a larger finer barn to store all the vast increasing crops he proposed to grow and then that he would rest and be satisfied. Mid barn raising his number came up, not the winning one, but the game is over one, and he heard the haunting voice saying what businessmen and women but not probate courts fear most, “Now whose will all these things be.”

I like to remind myself that everything I could ever want or need is already mine and coming to me at just the right time and in just the right way from my loving and infinite source. Things we try to pile up can be even more quickly blown away. The best and truest treasures that truly satisfy are kept safe in heaven, in our hearts. They are owning and being owned by love, family, friends, and the feeling of belonging to something higher, bigger, and better than silver or gold.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O9TSiE35PKzupP8NjHY7QDRKHN4HWngE/view?usp=drivesdk

Never Enough