PUMPKIN HEADS AND SILLY PUTTY COMICS

I opened MSN.com the other day and was immediately arrested by the following headline:

“Wild deer gets plastic pumpkin stuck on snout! A plastic jack-o'-lantern meant for collecting Halloween candy is threatening the life of a small deer...” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15649788/from/ET/

Okay, now tell me why everyone is going to get worked up about this poor animal's trouble, only to free it in time for deer season? They are literally going to worry about that plastic pumpkin, track it down to remove it so the poor deer can have a drink and then turn it loose to become a legal target! Their momentary mercy will only allow it to see better when the hunters start blasting on opening day, right?

Sometimes I just can't stop shaking my head at the way things go. We can't make up our minds between the compassion we wish we had and the harsh realities. Doesn't it seem ridiculous to use tranquilizers just to free its head and then use live ammo to kill it?

I'm not against hunting, nor against eating meat, but I'm rebelling against the craziness of it all. Why does life seem to blur all the lines of reason? Why is it that we run around in circles trying to do something to help and completely miss the point?

This image really struck me. Maybe it's because it is such a pitiful picture of the truth. We should be figuring out how to be saved instead of how to deal with plastic absurdities. Maybe it makes me mad because I feel like that too. So much of life is preoccupied with pumpkins and yet there is a hunter’s rifle awaiting us. Life is so short! There are so many vital issues to consider, but we too easily miss the big picture and end up straddling fences, or losing our way completely. Meanwhile, life hangs in the balance.

The real question becomes not how do I deal with the temporal veneer before my eyes, but how will I deal when the bullets start flying? I need a real survival strategy, not a facelift! Yet, in all our emotional knee-jerk reactions, the real issues are quickly warped. This is a cry for reason.

Don't even get me started on abortion and the three seconds difference we've set between freedom of choice and heinous murder, sucking the brains out of half-born infants so that they can be dismissed from this earth without a voice. It’s wrong, so terribly wrong, and yet it’s the women, the very mothers of this generation, who champion the cause in the name of “freedom” with fervor.

We need clarity and common sense. We need conviction and clear direction on a daily basis. Instead, I have confusion and blurred lines. I have opposition and inner conflict. The things I want to do I don’t seem to get to. The things I don’t want seem to overtake my life and fill my calendar. That's it. I'm that stupid deer and I feel doomed. I’m stuck in many ways.

Life is too full of predicaments. Weird, almost comical, how stuff happens and gets twisted. Things get distorted, blown out of proportion. Like silly putty comics that get stretched beyond recognition. That's been my life lately.

And when facing various troubles I get lonely. It makes me miss Frank all the more. This is a cry for understanding.

There. I just spewed out all my frustrations and it cuts right to the heart of me. As I wrote Frank's name I started crying again. It's hard enough to go through misunderstandings and conflict, but to have to stand up in meetings and public hearings and sort it all out on my own has made it feel so much harder.

I know the Lord knows it all and has promised to be my husband. It just feels so much lonelier now. Come on, who doesn't need a hug at the end of a hard day? I miss hearing Frank’s reassuring words. "It'll be alright honey." You know, all the little things that people do to support each other when the going gets tough. I need his corrective lenses to look at life. I need the balance of his reasonable thoughts. I need his steadiness when life seems to be rocking and rolling. Gosh, he was so steady. I’m an emotional basket case.

I miss him for so many things. So many little, everyday, huge and meaningful things! I miss snuggling on the couch and talking about the day. I miss cooking supper for someone and planning surprises. You know, lifting the lid of the pan and saying "tada!" You don't do that for yourself. I miss lying in bed on rainy mornings and saying, "Let's go get coffee!" I miss saying, "Where do you think we'll be in five years?" or "Remember the time we..."

There's no more "we".

No more "let's" anything.

He was truly my best friend and I miss him more than ever when I feel stuck and the lines are blurred.

Dear Lord, this is my cry. Be my God and my reassuring husband. Be my best friend when life presents its pumpkin head predicaments and silly putty problems. Show me that there is still a 'we' and a 'let's' in my life.

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Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans... on that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me, and I am in you... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you... Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid... I am coming back..." John 14

"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God, and so we know and rely on the love God has for us." I John 4: 15-16