Christmas on the Fence

It's December 1st, thought Simmy. Hmm, how will I start off the month?
Two emails went out, before 8 a.m., offering Peace. Good start, good start!
But, what else? Simmy tuned in to the Brad Paisley Christmas CD which, Oh! Oh!, I think might belong to Youthful. I'd better see if she is missing it!
Song #11 was a hoot! Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday!

As Simmy fetched the stocking that she was going to put out for the neighbor children (more like youth, now), she looked at the picture of Jesus and Joseph and Mary and the lamb on the front and, the irony of this, combined with the song Kung Pao Christmas playing in the background, gave her a definite kosher giggle.
Can I say that, she thought.
Oh yah!
Kosher means 'fit or proper or pure.'
So, the giggle was a good fit for having a fit.
Kung Pao Kosher Christmas?
If there is a 'Kung Pao Kosher Comedy' (a Jewish Comedy on Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant) in San Francisco, and a Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday at the Grand Ole Opry theatre... which used to be a one hour radio 'Barn Dance',...
then,... it should be just fine to give a stocking with the manger scene to the neighbors.
That is a kosher or 'pure' action.
Besides, son of Salmon had himself been wondering just a couple of weeks ago if Simmy knew about the Christmas story.
Oy!
Sometimes being too politically correct confuses the children... don't want to do that now, do we?
So, Simmy wanted to do the kosher, or 'proper' thing and make sure she didn't confuse son of Salmon so...
Simmy put that stocking, that her friend Deborah had encouraged her to purchase, right there... on the wooden fence,...
which really means I'm not, right? 
Simmy instructed Dove Girl to put the stocking back when she had emptied it... for another little gift the next day and the next, and...
'Let's have some fun! It's December Christmas!'  

Peace Offering

Simmy had always loved this little church. It was now mostly inhabited by birds but it had always stood out as a little warm welcoming kind of church. Sandwiched in between two highways, it now had 'historical' status and had even been given a new roof in recent years.
The Jewish Encyclopedia states, "There are three kinds of peace- offering: 1. the thank offering...
The thank offering is a a response to divine beneficence;..."
Now, those are big words and so Simmy had to find a book to read on divine beneficence. She found a good old book called 'The Divine Law of Beneficence' written by Reverend Parsons Cooke in 1850.
We'll see what that book has to say... you can actually read it on-line at...
http://www.archive.org/stream/MN40211ucmf_4#page/n5/mode/2up
The first quote that got my attention was this one, "And when he put in motion the broad mechanism of his mercy, he put upon it laws of action and reaction, and made the work of heavenly charity, in all its branches, twice blessed, blessing him that gives and him that takes." p.6
"... to give scope to our benevolent affections." p.7

Loyalty to the Ring

The bridal shower at Old Winery Inn was being hosted by a sister and the other triangle of sisters were all in attendance.
The mood was tense as the festivities began because Betty and Veronica had been shielding themselves from the other for five years already.
Veronica would make sure Betty wasn't invited to any of her parties and Betty would hide the secret shame of the overt and public rejection by staying mum on the subject. Sort of... Betty has a passion for writing so she started her own little sorority column which was proving to be quite popular.
Betty had provided very lovely bling rings for prizes and for some inexplicable reason, there just happened to be three, four and five winners for each game. The bling rings started to adorn the fingers of the guests.
Suddenly, Veronica won one of the games and as each woman at the party encouraged her to go choose a ring, she sat there in angry defiance, showing all the young ladies in attendance that to be in a relationship with her meant... her rules of rejection had to followed.
She was refusing the gift that Betty was providing. Now, Betty wasn't the blonde most people mistook her for and she had, in advance, gifted a young woman with one of the rings and asked her to be the ring model for the day of the shower.
This had worked out rather well as Veronica had not put the social hit out on this young woman so all the winners of the game were actually allowed to receive a ring when she would announce the winners.
As the bridal shower drew to a close, Veronica was one of the first to exit the party. Another sister also took her leave but there was one sister who hung around.
Betty, always ready to help people with their problems, sensed there was a reason that one of the sisters was hanging about so... she kindly said, "You may have a bling ring too if you wish. I purchased lots of them and you are welcome to have one."
Now, this sister knew she had to stay loyal to Veronica or her social life would suffer so she said with a blush, "Thank you! I thought it looked so nice on the model who was wearing it today!"
Betty sighed, knowing that she had worked the party very well... but, it was a sad thing that this woman had to wait until the others weren't looking to receive the gift of the ring.    
And Betty also wondered, 'Would the ring have to stay hidden in a drawer now?'

Penalty Foul

... for offensive action.
Simmy had spent too much of her day responding to angry sisters... this, of course, created a vicious circle of anger because that made Simmy angry... and so on and so on and so on...
Now, there was this quote that some evangelist had once said on television but because this was second- hand information it would not be right for me to credit that person but I will write the quote because Dr. L, a pastoral professor had spent some time teaching on this subject after a big church fight and split.
Oy!
So, here goes, "There is no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense."
So, what does this mean in preschool language?
'If Betty punches Veronica, Jughead, who listened to Betty later on and decided to take her side in the matter, actually has no right to spend time hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation. He can listen but he has no business making it his business until Betty and Veronica try to make up.
Matthew has a good example of the order of things.
'Conversely, if Veronica had been constantly bickered at by Betty until this day when she'd had enough and  socked Veronica in the nose for her unending impudence, Archie, who listened to Veronica and understood her plight should not be hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation either.'
So, on this football weekend, a penalty or sanction may have to be called for an offender who 'meddles' in the messy relationship of Betty and Veronica.
This violation of the rules is called a foul. There must be a time out for the offender.
Now, Dr. L used to run 'kids club' with very loose football rules. If you got a yellow card, it was a warning and because it was kids club, there was a two yellow card warning system before...
the dreaded red card was given for the offensive action. (pun intended)
If the dreaded red card was given to the offender... he or she would have to go see the referee, Dr. L or a.k.a. the pastor.
Oy!
Football, being a high contact sport requiring a balance between offense and defense requires many rules to exist that regulate equality, safety, contact and actions of players on each team. (We'll leave out contact hoping the differences of opinion don't end in contact.) It is very difficult to always avoid violating these rules without giving up too much of an advantage.
Ergo... an exhaustive system, (exhaustive for most wives of husbands who love football anyway), of rules regarding fouls and penalties has been developed to 'let the punishment fit the crime.'
The goal of this is to have a balance to maintain a good flow in the game and to follow the rules.
To quote Dr. L., "Rules make it fair and fun for everyone!"
So, Betty and Veronica are going to have to follow the same rules in order to make it fun and fair for everyone.
So are Jughead and Archie, by the way!
So is everyone... that is in the game.
So, why is there 'no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense?'
Well, after going through a huge church split... I think the answer lies in there... rules are for everyone... when someone feels they are exempt from following rules... well, that is a problem. If there is no 'face to face' communication but a whole lot of 'behind the scenes gathering of forces,' there is no reasonable way to resolve something.
'Creep' becomes the slippery slope in the problem. Creep in functionality, feature, mission, and scope is a problem for any project manager like (Dr. L), where the initial objectives of the project are jeopardized
( people getting along and moving towards wholeness), by a gradual increase in overall objectives
( gathering bullies to be on your side), as the project progresses.
Proverbs 6: 6-19 is a good warning for everyone.
Let's accept the fact that rules are to make things fun and fair for everyone... and everyone wants things fun and fair.
Yes?

White Friday

Decorating the white tree, on Black Friday, gave Simmy the catchy blog title of White Friday which, of course, it cannot be because that would be the first Friday after Pentecost.
Why is it that the United Kingdom seems to be the only country that celebrates this holiday?
'Scholars' Walk' or Whit(e) Friday, carried with it a tradition... girls would have a new dress and boys would have new trousers.
Simmy remembered her mother sewing them new dresses for each Pentecost and now she finally knew where that tradition originated.

Which Jewel this Yule?

Jewel tones will always be a natural Christmas element, for historical and precious reasons, and both perhaps. There has always been this niggling belief inside of me that Biblical symbolism has a physical and metaphysical meaning and that the two do hold hands quite nicely when we understand... or just get to know something. I think the clues for understanding do reside in tangible history. One needs to know a lot of history though, to get even a little glimpse of what it all means.
In ancient times lapis lazuli was known as sapphire.
Cylinder seals were often made of lapis lazuli and were picture stories. Seal impressions and texts in cuneiform told the story.

L. Michael White, Professor of Classics and Christian Origins at the University of Texas wrote an article entitled 'The Book of Revelation- Understanding the Book of Revelation.'
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html
Quote from the article...
"Now we see another important component of how Revelation works by thinking about its sense of the time-line of the story. The various visions of Revelation are not a linear progression, so that the events in chapter 12, for example, do not follow in time after the events in chapter 11. Quite the contrary. In the way they set up, the events described in chapters 12-13 are meant to explain how those circumstances in chapters 5-11 came about. So the time-line of the story moves in a kind of cyclical fashion so that we keep coming back to the "present situation" as it stood for the ancient readers of Revelation."

So, are the cylindrical Babylonian seals that 'tell a story' ( See 'Babylon Myth and Truth' Exhibition for an example-  http://www.smb.museum/smb/babylon/show_text.php?page_id=2&child_id=76&lang=en) the tangible real life item for the symbolic language of the seals in the Revelation?

We'll have to ask White.

Fairly Forgiving Attitude Latitude

Simmy had been thinking about forgiving since Saturday... when she had been at a party with someone she had worked hard to forgive but... felt very awkward around.
Let's face it, she thought, we all think so differently that the thing that bothers one person doesn't bother another... and the thing that bothers another is silliness to many... and the thing that is silliness to many is the thing that ends a friendship between others.
So,... how does one go about dealing with an issue, a boundary crossed, a unforgivable injury as Beverly Flanigan calls 'an offense that forever changes your life?'
I don't have all the solutions but I've waded through a hell of a lot in relationships to be willing to offer an opinion.
Now, this injury happened to have happened in a churchy setting.
Gasp! I know! Unimaginable!
My friend, Deborah, has told me that she thinks church people are: always kind; always generous; always a bunch of other good stuff that I can't quite imagine anyone living up to... well, okay, just One very special person.
I have told her many times that people who go to church tend to be in need of help or helping a need... basically... and both simultaneously, quite often. 

Now, I grew up with three words coming out of my mouth constantly.
'That's not fair!'
And, that is why I have been trying to level the playing field for those less empowered for a long time... since the playing field was quite literally the playground.
Many bullies have found themselves at the wrong, or is that the right, end of a tongue lashing if they gang up on someone.
Bad power! We all despise it but do we do something to keep it in check?

The two things that I think are at the core of all successful life skills are communication and a forgiving attitude.
There are definitely things like timing that do tend to be rather crucial too but communication and a forgiving attitude really lie at the center of all successful aspirations.
So, how exactly I will adopt a forgiving attitude this season..., I am still working on.  Actually, I am always working on it... it is a daily thing, isn't it?
I mean, each act of latitude should really come with an act of communication.
Right?
Latitude without communication will just create repeat offenders.
Right?
But, latitude with communication should create another opportunity.
Right?
To get it right.
Right?
So, this Christmas season I'm going to try to offer some latitude of forgiveness... it's only fair but fairly good!

Shuffle the words around and it seems good no matter which way you phrase it!
A fairly forgiving attitude brings latitude.
A forgiving attitude brings latitude fairly.
Latitude, fairly forgiving, brings a good attitude.
Latitude attitude brings forgiving, fairly.

No matter how you parse it, it just works out!