Grace, Restraint & Peacemaking

Responding with grace and diplomacy is always the best policy.  It is a lesson that builds upon the saying if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all.  It is a lesson that I use when my response has the potential to be too heated, too emotional, unfair or belligerent.  When debating and contesting may not increase knowledge, or foster friendly relationships, I choose this tact.  Thinking like this helps me to defuse situations and to also practice good conflict resolution.

Many years ago, I bought an electronic typewriter that began to have problems shortly after purchase.  I contacted the company, but was not able to resolve the issue to my satisfaction.  Though I was disappointed, angry and dissatisfied, the customer service manager was graceful in her formal letters to me.

Unfortunately, their service plan never served me well, so I never purchased an item with that brand name again.  I had always liked that company and they lost a customer.  However, I never forgot the consistent grace with which that person used to communicate with me.  Despite my angry and aggressive approach, she did not allow herself to respond in kind.  It did not cause me to remain loyal to her company, but it worked to diffuse my anger.  It prevented the situation from escalating, which was very helpful to me, emotionally and socially.

As you can see I am still impressed, after almost 20 years, by that manager's skill in the practice of restraint.  I choose to use the lesson of responding with grace and diplomacy in all of my interactions, and you know what? It always works.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

(Matthew 5:9 New International Version)

By a soft answer wrath is turned away, but a bitter word

is a cause of angry feelings.

(Proverbs 15:1 Bible in Basic English)

Whoever loves pure thoughts and kind words will have even the king as a friend.

(Proverbs 22:11 New Century Version)  

____________________________________
Image Credit: OCVA

Breaking The Rule To See The Cats

I should report it, I thought, as I stared at the two little, plastic, black pans.  They were at the bottom of the steps on the concrete stoop.  One was lying sideways, half on the grass as if it had been knocked aside.  An impatient or playful paw had swiped it after emptying it in leisurely dining.  If I tell, I won't see the cats anymore.

The apartments lease plainly stated that stray cats were not to be fed.  Some kind soul was breaking the rule, and had been ever since we'd moved into this complex.

Watching the cats gives me great pleasure.  The four blacks, a stripe and a tabby always had their favorite areas on the property.  Now I only occasionally see two black ones.  They like residing in the back yard, near where the rule-breaker lives.

As I stared at the evidence, I began to miss the cats already.  If I told, that is.  The rule-breaker would be reprimanded.  No more food.  No more milk.  No more cats.

I try not to pad the truth, tell little white lies, straddle the fence of law-abiding and law-breaking.  You know, that type of thing.  I try not to change my tune when it suits me.  This time though, I think I'll become an offender .  If I'm not part of the solution to keep pigeons and wild rodents from congregating to eat the illegal cat food, then I'm part of the problem.

My hope is that when I come out, in the early morning, to observe nature, that I'll see one of the cats.  As I sip my steaming mug of coffee, and read the Bible, I hope that I'll look up to see the yellow, almond-shaped eyes blinking at me.  As I pray, and read Christian poetry for my morning devotion, hope is always present.  Hope that I will see an occasional cat, as I enjoy God's outdoor splendor.

Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
  (Acts 2:26, Kings James Version)
_________________________
Image Credit: Kevin Dooley

Watching Birds Fly South

As I sat drinking coffee and enjoying the Fall morning, I kept seeing dark flickers from the corner of my eye. Looking out, I saw drifting shapes dipping and dodging past my window.  Squinting without my glasses, I thought I can't believe that many birds are flying past. Then I thought I can't believe that many leaves are falling. Then I realized that it was birds and leaves swirling madly.

I walked to the window to get a closer look because I have always loved watching birds.  I raised my son to enjoy the delight of observing their daily antics. I've probably written at least twenty poems about them. As I looked over the fence, I saw that there were more birds than leaves, and they whirled dizzily as one, shifting direction effortlessly.

Like a giant, undulating, black sheet, they settled into the neighbor's backyard. A few of the small, glistening black bodies stalked stiffly along the fence top. More stragglers continued to whirl and alight. I wondered what in the world they were after as they mixed with the carpet of colorful leaves, making a darker carpet themselves. They were too little to be crows, unless they were young crows, which I don't recall ever seeing.

This fascinating activity reminded me of when my siblings and I were young. We used to lie on our backs in the grass, and watch the birds fly south every fall, without fail. Fall was a real three-month season and the birds left, making a spectacular show of their departure. Some made V-formations, and some flocks just swirled and whirled several times, before making a final pass over to wave goodbye.

I lamented on why I haven't seen the birds fly south since childhood. We know the answers to that are many. Things always change.  Nothing stays the same. The cry of the aging. I don't even live in the same locale where I enjoyed this show-stopping finale to hot summer days.  We know from what the Bible teaches us that this world is not going to remain as it is anyway.  John, when he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos, received visions of a new heaven and earth.  He reported that the first heaven and the first earth were passed away (Revelations 21:1). In Genesis 2:19, we are told that God formed every fowl of the air out of the ground.  Interestingly, in Leviticus 14, I learned that the Lord instructed Moses to use birds in the cleansing of lepers.  Other than this, and the mention of specific birds in priestly ceremonies, and owls being unclean, I found only cursory mention of birds as a whole in the Bible.

Will there be birds in the new Heaven and the new Earth?  I don't know.  I don't feel a need to research it. I do know what I would say if God asked me this question, Daughter, what is one minor thing that you would like to do again before you leave this earth?  I would respond, Father, I would like to lie in the grass, look at the sky, and watch birds fly south.

__________________
Image Credit: ob1left