Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

In my last post, I wrote about praying for daily bread in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic.   You would think that such a crisis would drive me to pray more.   Yet, I’ve been wondering if I really have become more prayerful?   I’m starting to wonder if: I’m using words but I don’t really have an awareness of what I am saying; I’m saying the same things over and over again; I’m using way too many words.   Is it possible that my words have actually made me less prayerful?  And yes, I do realize how counter intuitive that sounds! As I was reading through the Psalms, a verse did catch my attention and it even seemed to provide some clarity for me: “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”   (Ps 5:3) No, I didn’t read into it that my words need to fly off my lips just in the morning!   Nor did I assume that I should adopt a new posture of prayer t...

Through some missionaries, we’ve become aware of some people in dire need during these difficult days of COVID-19.   Geographically, they range from some families in Kenya , to some Venezuelan refugees in Peru to a Bolivian community in Argentina .   They each have some unique challenges but the common thread is that they need food for each day. As one who lives in the United States and as one who has experienced economic security all my life, the basic need for food for each day is far from my experience.   While I might feel the need to pray for ongoing employment, health insurance and a stable retirement account, I must admit that I have more than enough food for today.   In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.   The phrase “give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3) is very familiar but I must admit that it has not really encompassed a sense of urgency, at least for me personally.   But the folks described above fe...

Having lived in Oregon and Washington and having been to the coast on numerous occasions, I am somewhat familiar with fog.   I’ve been in the wispy type that moves and shifts to the pea soup variety that seems to envelope all of life.   The latter is no fun.   It feels much like a dark, impenetrable, wet blanket. When fog is thick, landmarks seem to disappear, making it hard to find your way.   Dense fog even seems to absorb sound or distorts it so that it becomes almost unrecognizable. COVID-19 seems to have fog-like qualities.   Landmarks, in the form of routines and regular events, have either disappeared, become obscured or have become so distorted that they no longer resemble the original.   This COVID-19 fog-like phenomenon even seems to have otherworld abilities to move familiar landmarks to different locations.   Sounds and noises have also either been absorbed or have become a cacophony.   To say we feel lost is an understatem...

Last week I mentioned that, due to my age, I am in one of the categories of high risk for COVID-19.   During the early days of the virus, there were stories that people with asthma might also be at high risk.   As a person with mild asthma, I’ve thus been under the assumption that I am doubly at high risk.   So I’ve been very careful to do all the social distancing things, I’ve rarely ventured out and my wife does the shopping.   While I have not contracted COVID-19, I must confess that I have been living with the fear of contracting it.   And there have been moments when such fears have almost been overwhelming and debilitating.   Sometimes I find myself reacting to my fears with a desire to just throw caution to the wind and ignore all the recommended precautions.   But is that really how I should respond? In another way of trying to deal with my fears, sometimes I think that if I’m spiritual enough, shouldn’t I be able to just pray for pro...