The Iron in the Lady

"Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my Red Star chiffon evening gown. My face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved. The Iron Lady of the Western world. A cold war warrior, an amazon philistine, even a Peking plotter. Well, am I any of these things? ... Yes I am an iron lady, after all it wasn't a bad thing to be an iron duke. Yes, if that's how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life." -
1976, speech to Finchley Conservatives.

It is said that Lady Thatcher was the Iron Lady.  She even agreed to that name.  So was Joseph Stalin!  So let us recall one single fact--that the iron hand which held up the values and freedoms of her people first came from the heart of flesh which beat with their lives. She stands with Sir Winston Churchill and his iron will which came from the life who was foremost the Britisher.  That was the strength of the real woman--velvet before steel.    

Your greatest work of art...

Norman Rockwell's classic Self-Portrait 

What strikes me is the fact 

that in our society, art has become something which is only related 

to objects, and not to individuals, or to life... 

But couldn't everyone's life become a work of art? 

Why should the lamp or the house be an art object, but not your life?

 
Michael Foucault, 1926-1984
French Philosopher and Sociologist

So if you did your own self-portrait, exactly what would you see?  What features would you highlight?

But here is the question:  if you could paint the interior, the virtues of your spirit--then what would you depict?  Ah!  that's God's masterpiece!  

Easter at Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery Easter

I attended a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery...row upon row of white markers standing at attention over the soldiers they guard. Suddenly, as the words of the service droned on, I saw the graves open and vast numbers of the faithful climbed out and joined each other for the most spectacular Easter Egg Hunt imaginable!  Their guns replaced with baskets full of life.  The new day they rested in peace for came in peace for them.  And it was all God's doing! 

What the Birds Teach

Life on Guard



How carefully birds feed…

            One by one they come

And take their turns,

            By landing on branches,

Pausing to descend,

            Onto the feeder gently,

For each and every seed,

            While never turning,

Their backs for long ,

            Knowing that they too,

Easily become food,

            For those in wait for them. 

Is that the way we eat,

            Setting our feeders,

Around the tables,

            Where we hover,

And wait our turns,

            To pass food mannerly,

Naturally covering mouths,

            When our meals talk back?

If only we could eat,

            With such civility,

In a world where we dare not,

            Turn our backs,

Feeling unseen eyes watching,

            With hungry talons for us.

Easter All Over Again!

Red Bird’s Resurrection

In the early hours,

I opened the door,

to find the sound,

and follow the sight,

of the bird,

with such redness,

into the branches,

of the Bradford Pear,

so snow white,

that before my eyes,

it burst into flames,

in my soul. 

Gump Gospel

"Momma always said...

Life is like a box of chocolates,

you never know what you are gonna get!"

The Gospel according to Gump is that no matter what life gives you---you go on loving unconditionally with no strings attached. 
Think about it.  As absolutely impossible to believe that Gump could do all those things--including the Medal of Honor, the most lovable part of him is the simplicity with which he is dedicated to Bubba and his Jenny.  Momma is right about life.  You cannot predict it and it is not fair.  But you can always choose how you will respond to it--and you can live the Gump Gospel.  I can imagine Jesus smiling away at that movie.  

Revisiting the Cross

It was just one week ago that we "celebrated" Good Friday.  What do you see?  What comes to your mind when you see these three crosses--never just one, but also the ones that held the two thieves? 

Surely there is the history of the cross as the instrument of torture and death.  There is also the religious fact that the cross stood for the condemnation of God.  You were just executed.  You were put out of the Kingdom of God itself. 

So when Jesus is put to death on a cross--he suffers the worst torture and the condemnation of God.  He dies the criminal cursed of God! 

This is the message of Easter--that this man we executed and believed accursed of God--this Jesus, God raised up.  All condemnations pardoned.  Nobody put out of the kingdom.  Nothing beyond the love of God.

How does that feel to you a week later?  Has the day passed?  Has the gift of new life come?