Get Up

Have you ever noticed how Jesus told people to get up? I am particularly drawn to Jesus' interaction with the man at the pool of Bethesda. He first asks the man "do you want to get well"

Well do you? do I? I think sometimes I just want to feel sorry for myself. Have you ever just wanted to be mad? You know that you are being irrational, maybe immature, maybe even wrong? But at that moment you really just want to be mad.

Well so this guy has being laying in this spot for years now just wanting to get into the pool when the Angel's dip their wings so he can be healed. How many people has he watched go into the water? How many people have pushed the old crippled man back out of the way? I see this guy and I think, "Poor guy, nobody will help you in, Bless your heart!" But not Jesus. He looks at the man and asks, "Do you want to get well?" So often we fall in love with our pain, even though it sucks it is what we are used to, it defines us, and how we operate.
In prison when a man has been inside for a long time and gets released, he often finds himself right back in jail, not because he needs to commit crime, but because he doesn't know how to be different.
I wonder what the man thought when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well. Did he sarcastically think no I'd rather spend another 30 years laying here while others get my blessing. But instead he told the man with the followers, the man that they called Rabbi, "Yes" not really even knowing why he would put his trust in this stranger why he said it. Why after all this time did he still believe, did he still have hope. While he had not received his blessing so far he at least had attention from time to time as he told about his plight. Jesus didn't fuss over him, he said, "Get up, take up your mat and go." He told him to get up!

Were Jesus' words magic? Doubtful I bet that Jesus wasn't the first to tell him to get up, and I know that if anybody else would have said, Hey old dude, get up man. He would have thought them cruel. What about Jesus was different? Is Jesus telling you to get up? Will you? Or you can lay there for another 20 years waiting for a miracle, hoping that someone else doesn't get your blessing or you can... Get Up.

I want fancy pants and tiaras dang it!

I am admitting that I am a wanna be. I have wanted to be many things: Taller, thinner, prettier, richer, and more cultured. I have wanted to be more southern, more country or at least have a neat British accent. I have wanted to be a cow-girl, a volleyball player, a dancer, a singer and a writer.
Some days I want to be a debutante sipping champagne from crystal flutes, but instead I will slurp pepsi or grape juice out of a wine glass. I want to be a person who enjoys eating raw vegetables like broccoli and carrot sticks but I'm not. Today I want to be more Southern than my old Kentucky home allows. Don't get me wrong there are certain benefits of being a Kentuckian and being able to claim the redneck, hillbilly, sweet bluegrass girl properties of Bourban fired blood and simple sayings. However being from the deep south allows you a certain amount of Scarlett O'hara charm, and turns of phrase that I envy the opportunity to use such as "Well I Suwanee" or "popping up like yard onions"
For now though I will pour some bubbly (Pepsi) into my Home Interiors Humming Bird Wine Glass and think about the things I want.

The Rock: Rockcastle Kentucky

There is a road out there that leads to a place where dreams are made. It's winding and seemingly infinite but at the end of the journey there is a cliff that opens up to stars sleeping on water. It is so peaceful it makes you excited. It feeds and nourishes your soul, and as you hear the waves lap against the shore, it has this gentle way of caressing the emotion right out of you. Some days it coaxes out the tears and sometimes makes you laugh. Somehow this place knows you as a friend. Fortunately it won't talk back, but just lets you talk all the weariness out of your heart. The dewy night air just hugs you when its right, and the gentle breeze will wipe the tears from cheeks. I go to this place often and it feels like home. As soon as I step onto this rock and take that first breath of the summer air I know how much I have missed this feeling, this place. For some reason the air seems softer out here, the elements less harsh. Its a place to share memories and a place to make them. Sometimes it insists that you be the only one out there, just an old talk between old friend.