Remember

A Valentine’s Day To Remember

Written by Justin Gaynor

It’s a busy time of year and the weight of the world is on my shoulders right now.

“Mom! Sean won’t stop!”

“Sean! Leave your sister alone. Come on we have to get you two to school.”

Moments of reflective contemplation are all too often interupted. The important giving way to the urgent, and then slipping off somewhere into an ethereal land of “I’ll get back to those thoughts.” This is the rhythm of my life right now. Their dad isn’t here to help anymore. Not that I can completely blame him, though I want to. Bastard wasn’t ever much help anyway. These things just happen, right? I don’t know, I don’t have time for this right now.

As we pulled up to St. Thomas Elementary, I can’t help but to run through the checklist in my mind a tenth time. Backpacks, check, lunches, check, Sean’s got clean clothes for gym class, I put them in his bag, check, oh, shit! I need to stop and get gas. I’m going to be late.

“Alright guys, listen to your teachers! And make sure you get any missed assignments from last Friday.”

I had let them play hookie from school last Friday and we took a three day weekend to the shore. It was a much needed breather, but now I have so much to catch up on.

God! That door is heavy. I almost dropped the armful of things as I entered the office. Three minutes late. That’s not bad considering. My desk is a disaster, I’m going to need to spend a few minutes getting this stuff organized otherwise I’m going to be lost all day.

“Hey girl!”

“Damn, Janet, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Them kids at it again? Girl you need to decompress. I’m going to this new place downtown after work, and you’re coming with me.”

“Yeah right. I just got back and my head is already spinning.”

“Doesn’t matter, you have got to take care of you girl! You can’t give nothing to those kids or anybody else that you don’t have. You need some ‘momma time’!

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

She’s right. I just had the same conversation with my counseler last time we met. Let’s see how the rest of the day goes. I guess I can have dad pick the kids up...

It’s 4:48 pm.

Ok, that was better than I thought. I am almost completely caught up from what I missed last week. I still haven’t heard back from the Johnston account. I’ll need to follow up...

Gentleman’s Purpose Believes In A Better Future.

Will You Believe With Us?

www.ChristChurchJerusalem.org

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www.FreedomChurchPB.org

...on that tomorrow. Let me just wrap up the rest of these emails...

“So are you coming tonight or are just going make me keep hounding you till you break?”

“As a matter of fact, my dad picked the kids up and they’re cool for the evening. Apparently, they didn’t miss any tests and they have enough homework to keep them occupied for a while. So, yes, I’m all yours...”

“Oh, baby girl, we’re about have some FUN!”

It’s 8:37 pm.

“So it is a nice night tonight.”

“What do think about the food? Mine was pretty good.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad, I’m ready for another round though, you?”

“Hell yeah, girl!”

I walked up the bar and it was a little busy, so I was waiting to get the barman’s attention. There was a guy next to me, pretty cute, I guess. One of those panama hats. One of these Palm Beach guys I guess.

“Oh, hi...”

Ok, he’s talking to me, be nice, don’t say anything stupid,

Alright, I definitely think he’s cute, no wedding ring, cool, maybe he’ll buy us a couple drinks...

“Hi”

“My name’s Jack. At least that’s what my friends call me. Here’s my card though.”

“Jennifer, nice to meet you.”

We talked for a few minutes. He seems really nice. This must not be his first time here, he seems to know everyone...

“Well, here’s my drinks, nice talking with you...you can come and hang out with us over here if you want.”

Did I just say that?

“Oh, thank you, that’s very nice of you.”

Ok, walking away...he’s not coming...oh,well...kinda cute...

“Alright girl, thank you, here’s to ‘Momma’s Night Out!’ And don’t think I didn’t see you talkin’ to Mr. Mysterious over there.”

“He’s pretty nice. He gave me his card? Do guys do that, so weird.”

“Well, maybe he wants it back, because he’s walking over here right now...”

The adventure always starts somewhere, somehow....

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Relationships

BUZZ WORD: RELATIONSHIP

Written by Justin Gaynor

Relationship has been a buzz word for a long time, and it’s not going away. Ever since the concept was embraced by a large group of people, the Israelites, in their daily prayer called the Shema.

“Hear, O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is One.”

This worldview that tells us that everything that exists, exists within this divine entity and that all things are interdependant. This ought to cause us to care for ourselves, our families, our communities, and all of creation in very deep and meaningful ways. But often times it doesn’t...

First of all, there are competing worldviews. Not everyone embraces the Judeo-Christian outlook, a monotheistic understanding. Worldviews that embrace more than one central guiding image and place them on equal, or even hierarchical footings are setting the stage for division and dis-unity.

However, when embracing the value of relationship, having one point of origin and one ultimate destination creates common vision and common mission. Then what happens as we move from where we are to where we intend to be, the things that divide us begin to be re-imagined, and with wisdom, the narrative begins to change in those areas and we grow closer to reflecting the God that we are focused on. The God who is One. The truth is we become like what we behold.

Relationships are difficult. That is an understatement. If you are looking for easy, a checklist of do’s and don’ts is a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, performing a list of moral chores doesn’t actually help us genuinely love at all, and this Judeo-Christian God is not only One, He is love, as an ancient Jewish student of Torah tells us.

If you want to truly love and be loved, you will go through some very difficult things. The reason why, is that your heart is callous and hard, but that can be corrected. The required operation is not easy though.

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