rambling rosemarie

Recently a friend of mine gave me a writing assignment. My friend (one that wishes to be anonymous) challenged me to find 3 or 4 of my other well read friends and have them read something I penned in 10 minutes or less. I was told to find folks who would be honest with me, something I am happy to say is not difficult. My friends, God love them and so do I, are nothing if not honest. My task included and asking them to tell me if, after reading three or four paragraphs of something I'd assembled in haste, they would put the book down or turn the page and continue reading. I am all things curious so I took the challenge. Two out of three of my friends said they would continue reading. Reporting back to the friend issuing the challenge I was curious what their response would be and what point they were attempting to make. I wasn't prepared for their answer. "I hate your guts." My friend doesn't really hate me, of this I am confident. Armed with that assurance I ...

I have a few blogs that I read regularly. Well, as regularly as I do anything in my life. Steve Camp, at Camp On This, is always a good read. I don't necessarily agree with everything the man writes or how he chooses to write it, but that's true of everyone I read. In fact, I am mercurial enough to disagree with my own writing on any given day. Steve wrote a list of resolutions that are right from Scripture. Not only is his article a good read, the comments are worth reading too. One of the things that came up in comments was the idea that living by resolutions can give way to self-dependency. It's a valid warning. There is always a fine line between having faith in your faith and having faith in the sufficiency of Christ. There's a lot of information out here on the superhighway. Some of it isn't worth the powder it would take to blow it back to hell. It can be difficult to navigate your way to stuff worth reading. I am not one that thinks you should re...

You and I are both slaves to something or someone. Despite the way autonomy, independence and individuality are pressed into the fabric of our being, it is a delusion. You, me, the guy next door, all of us without exception are enslaved. Whether we be bond servants of Christ or enslaved to our own desires and passions...we are enslaved. I know why some Christians try to introduce people to the gospel of Christ by saying we all have a God-sized hole that only Jesus can fill. I understand why the analogy is attractive to them, but I find it really ridiculous. It would be more accurate to say we created for worship and therefore, we will worship something. We are compelled or driven to worship. Left to our own and without divine intervention, we will worship ourselves by pursuing anything that provides us temporal relief and enjoyment. Temporal relief from what you ask? The compulsion to worship. The next step in my plan toward discipline is to reread several books. Elyse Fitzpatri...

The problem with general revelation is that every fool has an opinion on what it means and trust me, this world is not suffering for want of fools. The other day I confessed to being a fool because I lack discipline. Being foolish isn't difficult, it is admitting you are a fool that is problematic. When you prize intellect you conversely despise foolishness. Despite the commonly held belief that most of us suffer from low self-esteem, I haven't met a person yet that truly hates him or herself. I am no exception. I don't know about you, but when I hate someone I am secretly glad when something unpleasant happens to them. I have yet to be truly happy about unpleasantness in my life. Sure, I have talked myself into not reacting externally the way I feel internally about my misfortune. I have even seen God's wisdom and mercy is the midst of whatever no good, miserable awful thing that is transpiring. However, to say I was actually happy about the darned thing would be to pe...

There is something about aging that causes you to reflect on things differently. I was telling a friend the other day that there was tremendous freedom in being fat, over fifty and having gray hair. It eliminates the game playing of being young, beautiful and single when you're single, 'fluffy' and look your age. I get to say what's on my mind with the freedom of just being me and have acquired the wisdom of knowing when to shut up (most of the time). My birthday was fun. My sabbath day has been both encouraging and convicting. I have hopes for tomorrow being spent in the garden. I want to subdue a small piece of earth in my backyard. The last two years horrible squash bugs have decimated my zucchini. This year, we are at war. I am planting nasty smelling flowers that bugs don't like all around my vegetables. I am ready with my soapy water and if that doesn't work..... I'll wage chemical war on them. So what if I glow in the dark after consuming my Swiss c...

I am a fool. I have it on good authority. I am a fool because I hate discipline. Proverbs 25:28 says {Like} a city that is broken into {and} without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit. In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about those of us who try to make it through life without discipline. I am not talking about the sort of discipline that is a consequence given to us, I am talking about the self-control, setting up good habits type of discipline. I really enjoy reading the Proverbs. They convict me, but somehow it hurts so good to see what a wretch I am. Probably because they don't just leave you there in your wretchedness. They tell you the alternative. This caught my attention tonight. Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to discipline, and your ears to words of knowledge. I decided to look for other verses in Proverbs that go with that. I ended up picking these and then topped off my conviction tank with some words from James. Proverbs 2:2-6 2 Make your ea...