Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

There’s an old saying:  “he who hesitates is lost.”  It’s not a biblical proverb but it almost could be! The saying has many meanings including: Acting swiftly and decisively can lead to success. Those who fail to take quick action may miss a good opportunity. To delay or vacillate may have unfortunate or disastrous consequences. For our consideration, the word “hesitate”, from a Biblical perspective, is also translated as: Delay Taking too much time Did not move fast enough Just stood there   In one particular Biblical account, to say “he who hesitates is lost” is a major understatement: With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot , saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”   When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them ...

What do you do when you want someone to stop doing something and also to stop doing it for good? You could give them a “cease and desist” letter.  Such a letter is a request that asks another party to stop a behavior (cease) and never do it again (desist).  The request could also include notice that legal action may be taken if the conduct continues. The Ten Commandments were sort of a “cease and desist” letter from God to the Israelites.  The commandments provided standards of conduct for them to follow.  Some of the commandments indicated what the Israelites should not be doing and if they were doing it, that they should cease and desist! But the last commandment is quite unique.  It moves from the realm of external deeds and focuses attention on the heart and mind.  This commandment has to do with coveting.  Coveting is to eagerly desire that which belongs to another.  Without some kind of intervention, o ur eyes tend to look at that wh...

Environmental issues are of great importance to many.  As a result, they work hard at being environmentally aware and invest significant efforts to minimize their carbon footprint.  They desire measurable results for their efforts and they also want others to be onboard. To some degree, it’s even cool to be “green”.  And since so many people want to be cool, it does get some onboard.  If that doesn’t generate enough participation, sometimes those who are significantly engaged in environmental efforts resort to shaming others to get them involved. One of the more common environmental initiatives is recycling.  Recycling is the processing of materials or substances (such as liquid body waste, glass, or cans) in order to regain it for human use.  Another environmental effort is to encourage people to repurpose things instead of just throwing them away and filling landfills.  That old wooden hutch, for example, could be repurposed into an entertainme...