One of my very favorite things in the world, which I now no longer have because my beloved husband let our then-three-year-old play with it was my Angel Mouse. She broke his little arms off, and it was time to say goodbye to the little character who had brightened every Christmas since my early 20's.
Years ago, I worked for a guy with a weird sense of humor. You never knew what he was going to come up with. He always decorated the office for Halloween, usually complete with booby traps to scare the daylights out of his employees that had a sense of humor (or didn't seem likely to sue). One year he got a motion detecting animatronic 3 foot long rubber rat and put it under the accounting clerk's desk. Her scream was sufficiently satisfying such that it guaranteed future entertainment for many years to come.
He also always decorated for Christmas. I don't remember any of his decorations except the year that he got the freezedried white mice dressed up as angels and Santa Claus and hung them from the ceiling.
Let that sink in. Real (dead) mice with little Santa suits and hats, or with little white feathered wings. Hanging as ornaments. From the ceiling. Several dozen of them.
It was fabulous. I had to have one.
Discontent to part with even one of his own darlings, he ordered one for me from the artist in New York. Artist. It was ART.
It was one of my favorite things. Ever. I would LOVE to have little Angel Mouse back.
This has nothing to do with anything. I just felt the need to confess.
***
PS. By the way...I did read my passage for this week: 1 Samuel 26:5-25. I'm not sure what I think about it, except that Saul should have been Short Attention Span Saul. Or Short Term Memory Loss Saul.
The point is supposed to be how we should love our enemies. Mostly, I'm just thinking that it's not good to go halfway with God. Go all the way, or give up entirely. This halfway mamby pamby, I think I might believe in God thing just doesn't cut it.
Which takes us to today's complementary verse: Hebrews 12:24. It tells us to strive to live in peace with others and live holy lives. Before that, though, it encourages us to run the race with gusto. That God disciplines those he loves, just as any father who loves his children. Discipline makes us into better people. It's not fun, but it's good for us.
Again, the theme is more about giving it ALL. Not holding back, not letting fear get in the way. Being ALL IN. Like David, who in this story again holds at the forefront what Saul is, rather than who Saul has become. He is God's anointed, and that is greater than anything Saul himself is about.
May I be all in. May I see God's anointing on those who annoy me. May I be fully committed to living at genuine peace with others, earnestly striving to live a holy life.
Amen
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