What a beautiful day it has been! I wanted to see the beach so I took the easy drive down to the end of 421. I would go to the tide pool I thought, but I was unpleasantly surprised to find parking meters in the sand by the wooden walkway. What nerve! Ten dollars? No way. So I drove on, finding a spot at the big rocks near the picnic area in Ft Fisher. I walked to the left which was new to me, and it was filled with pretty sights. (Top pic.) Maybe it will be my new favorite place.
The “flood of the century” came not too long after I moved here, but the last three days seemed to have been a repeat. Dark skies! Loud house-shaking thunder! Flash floods! Yesterday I was thinking I should postpone my necessary small trips and duties until a brighter, drier day. Really? What had become of me? Was I turning into a sissy? Where was my courage hiding? I had never before considered staying in because of weather. I loved a challenge!
After the hubby died, I lost strength. I realized that because he was so strong, I drew strength from him. He was also a port in the storm, a safety net. I have not been fearful since he has been gone, just older and more cautious, less bold. Mulling this over, I saw the bad weather as an opportunity to get out there and take courage. It was a small thing but necessary.
When my stepdaughters came to live with me, they were afraid of the dark. I used to tell them that the same God who takes care of them during the day, takes care of them during the night. Same with storms. He is still with me in the storms as well as in quiet times, and whether I have my human safety net or not.
For many reasons, I stopped watching television a few years ago, and I still haven't missed it.
But a month or two ago, Peter hooked up an antenna for my idle tv and got the free stations for me. It hasn't been bad. There is one news/public interest station that, unlike the others, is not commie propaganda and is informative on many levels. I have also watched some old black and white westerns that I enjoyed. As I ate my suppertime nachos this evening, I watched an episode from 1957 of Tales of Wells Fargo. I am old enough to remember when it was a regular show that I watched with my daddy on Sunday evenings, I think it was. Like the rest of the country, my daddy liked westerns, and I enjoyed being with my daddy
Today I saw the show from the perspective of the old woman and retired psych nurse that I am, and I have some comments to make: The women dressed modestly and appreciated a sincere compliment from a man. There was a clear difference between good and bad. The bad guys were not the good guys. Dale's character displayed wisdom and confidence, and he took time to figure out the situation. He wasn’t driven by anger or revenge but by justice and doing right. The townspeople were glad when the good guys won. At the end of the show, Dale spoke words that could have come straight from Aesop. Today he concluded, “A man is like a rope. He’s only as strong as its thinnest part." Love a good moral to a story.
Before leaving the gallery today, I decided to walk down to the river and get a few steps in. There are several routes I can take, and today I chose the one that goes to the short fishing pier. At the end of it I saw folks fishing, a white haired, barefoot white man on the right side and a black couple fishing off the end. The man offered me a friendly greeting, then said, "God has given us a beautiful day." Indeed it was beautiful with a break from the intense humidity, a blue sky full of pretty clouds, and the river running a rich deep blue. The three fishing people had been fishing for a while and had gotten to know each other. He said to me, “She’s a spiritual woman.” I replied with something like as long as the spirit is from Jesus. Then the conversation among the four of us turned worshipful. The woman quoted some Bible verses and said how wonderful it is to be in the family of God. We all started proclaiming God's sovereignty and our thankfulness. The white man said, “I’m Catholic but I believe in Jesus and the Trinity.” He talked about how there are forces trying to divide us, and everyone agreed that we are not divided. Pretty soon the woman spotted a rainbow, some pretty colors coming through the clouds. She said God wanted to show he was listening; that he wanted to manifest himself to us. As I left, they said, “Pray for America, the land of the free for now.”
When I studied history in school, I remember it largely being about leaders, wars, empires, and dates, but I wondered about the people, the average people like me. What were their lives like while the wars, revolutions and changes were going on all around them. How did they survive? They must have, I presumed, because the world continued to be populated. So I found things to read that settled somewhere in my broad big picture thinking.
My generation has been living through many big changes. Over the years I remember hearing threats by Communist leaders who clearly stated they would destroy America from within, without a visible war. Now it is easy to see how they have done it. While we were comfortably resting in our little worlds, the enemy of America was at work through the public schools, the media, government, even churches, conditioning all of us and especially children to accept the tenets of communism without our being aware of their tactics. It eased its way into culture in the form of immorality, ripping away the underpinnings of society. It perverted truth that is from God. It assailed our minds causing unhealthy emotions and selfish desires. Evil has been patient and has worked us over. To me the culmination was in the takeover of the last presidential election. It was a revolution. Did that really happen in America? Yes.
Only God knows what will happen in any part of the world, but for many Americans it is life as usual. If this is indeed a revolution we are living through, many of us are indifferent, plodding along through our daily duties, keeping up with trends, living our lives, seeming to accept those things that are beyond control. I can’t predict how this time we are in will be evaluated by the writers of history, if we happen survive. One of these days people may wonder what the styles were, the language, the diet, the work during this era? How did we live during the vast changes around us?
