Ties

 Not the cloth round the neck nor connectedness.

Just simply tying one's shoes.

Imagine a kid who wouldn't tie shoes.

It was so bad his Mom got special clip on shoes.  So tying was avoided and not tying was indulged.

His brother got fed up with such indulgence.  He sat the kid on the couch and wouldn't let him up til he tied some shoes.

Kid tried to get up and bro shoved him back down.

The kid knew how.  He was just spoiled.

Bro knew that the kid would eventually suffer in years to come.  He knew there were things one has to do oneself.

Sweat broke out but the kid finally tied his shoes.

Bro just walked away.

That was that.

The kid can wear loafers and ties both -s-.

No clip ons.

Ties go beyond shoes.  

Knots and other attachments might follow.

And independence rises.

Stars

 We think of gold and blue stars.  We honor our military.

This is about something else spurred by a passing thought.

Remember those little sticky stars pinned by our names in the lower grades?

Good conduct and achievement.  I don't remember if I got any lol.

Guess I didn't pay attention.

Anyway, I thought about how we anticipate rewards and, yes, punishments.

Do we do right just for stars?  And are we just trying to avoid punishment?  

What's underneath?

A sincere wish/will to do good for goodness sake?  Or only to look good?

My Dad taught me content of character.  Doing what's right, even though it's often painful.

This is what was fervently taught in the New Testament.  Dare I trip a bot?  Jesus.

Let us live accordingly.

God knows our hearts.

Ruts

 I remember a saying that made the rounds when I was a student minister.  'But we've always done it this way'.  And this was supposed to lead us to fresh thinking/methods.

Well, it didn't.  It blew over.  People were safer doing it the old way.

There are patterns in life we get used to.  Some are ok for day to day routine.  Others stifle us.

We go on and get something done.  Then suddenly another way dawns on us.  

Inspiration?  Serendipity?  Nah.  There are no coincidences.

The lingering thought with a new method is 'this is so simple so why didn't we do it before?

Leads us back to the rut we fall in.

Newness pops up.  Rarely do we search and find it.

So, breath, stay calm and let circumstance refresh you.  

Don't let the winds of fate bat you around.

Ride the waves of destiny.

Envy

 When I see the success of decent honest people, I salute them.  I pray for their health and all good things.

There are always those who have a negative opposite attitude.  They are lazy.

Instead of working and earning whatever the goal, they would rather steal.  It's an abysmal substitute.  

Obviously the fallen and their ilk are rife with this.  Delusional.

Success is very subjective.  Individual, local, national, world are just the surface.  

Whatever the goals of success, it is the proliferation of the Light that counts.

Decent?  Honest?  Yes.  Truth above all.

Be grateful.  Strive for success and Freedom.

Our destiny awaits.

24....

 Another fave series.  Spoken of before.

Hard justice and very grey areas.  Watch it yourself and see.

There is truth in the fiction.  I'll let you find it.

When it was running, 24 seemed to appeal to both libs and conservatives.

Is there a tendency to fight?  Yes but that's where the comparison ends.

Are you fighting to preserve Freedom or tyranny?  Justice or injustice?

You see what you want to perhaps.  Or you have a clear grasp of what you fight for.

War is hell.  It's messy.  Yet, we try not to be like the enemy.

That is both simple and rough.  

We fight an enemy who wants to control.  We seek Liberty.  We value people to be themselves and we get together to affirm this.

We can be brutal but we help heal.

Vigilance never goes away.

So it's beyond 24.

Right There

 Thriller is one of my favorite paranormal/horror shows.

I watched one the other day called Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper.  Very imaginative re Jack, who he was and why he did what he did.

It's a modern day story.  A scholar has researched and made a diagram of Jack and similar crimes for a century.  He claims Jack is still alive and does the crimes as blood sacrifice to live.

The cops are reluctantly convinced and try to trap Jack.  He eludes them.

This continues til Jack murders the scholar to cover his tracks.

Turns out, he was right there all the time as the police therapist!

It's a twisted version of friends close and enemies closer.

If they hadn't been blinded by Jack's role, there were clues as to who he was; certain predilections/behaviors.

That got me to thinking how our enemies do indeed hide amongst us.  It's not that there are 'commies under every bed'.  It's the mere tactic to be moles, which btw is a common intel tactic.

Don't be paranoid.  Simply be guarded re info.  That includes personal and plans.  Don't feed the bad guys.  

It's not a matter of loyalty oaths.  It is concern that friends are friends

What we can do is resolve to be right there ie, to work to restore the Republic.

Truth will out!

7

 Not the Magnificent Seven, though the original is great.

It's about greed and injustice.  

Over the years, imagine being cheated out of several inheritances.

Naivety and youth had something to do with it at first.  Then reticence and helplessness set in.  

He kidded himself that he had taken the high road, that his morals were better than the thieves.  That's all well and good, but it does nothing inre justice.  They don't care, like our enemies scorn us because they think they can get away with their theft.

The thieves/grifters are cowardly and weak.  They prey only when others don't fight back.

All 7 should have been contested.  Gone now.

However the diamonds can be returned still.  Not literally perhaps, but by a different avenue.

Prayer, planning and standing up for oneself can overcome.

Perseverance and determination without revealing plans can work.  

There is some Sun Tzu involved.

That's the limit of revelation.

Spirit and truth as long as they are action and not just words, will whittle/whack the perps down to size.

Guard well and watch 6 for 7.

Success on one's own terms is the best revenge.

Justice.