Today is my last opportunity to write a blog post for the month of April. (Hard to believe it's been that long since the last time I wrote!) There has been a lot of news and lessons in the last month - and although I haven't written on my blog in awhile, I have still been writing through other means here and there. I'm going to keep it light today, and talk about some of my corona failures. If God has been teaching me one thing these last few months, it's that it is ok to fail!
A lot of people have been taking on new hobbies during this quar-ant-ine. (You'll see what I did there, in a minute.) I decided to throw it way back to childhood and start an ant farm! ... Involuntarily. In my kitchen wall. 😒
On the bright side, my kitchen is SO CLEAN right now!
I've also been working on my baking skills! ... Out of a box. (It was still more work than you'd expect - the only effort it saved me was measuring dry ingredients.) I'm not winning The Great British Baking Show anytime soon, but these scones maybe weren't a total failure. I think I nailed it... don't you agree? 😏
(Hey, they tasted all right! A win is a win!)
And last but not least, I tried my hand at fixing electronics - the obvious next hobby to try in isolation. (I've done some minor internal maintenance on gaming systems in the past! It wasn't completely outside my realm of possibilities.) Some buttons on my TV got busted in, so I figured it was an easy fix to take the TV apart, find the buttons, and put them where they belonged.
Turns out, tube TVs are a little harder to navigate than a NES. I busted the casing. ... And then not only was unable to fix the original busted buttons, but pushed in another one to boot! Oops.
That was a bummer. But tube TVs aren't too hard to come by these days (I guess no one wants them anymore? 🤷), so I picked one up for the low, low price of free! No VHS/DVD player included, but I can still go hunting whenever I want... so I did.
This is your reminder that life is full of peaks and valleys! You won't appreciate the peaks, if you don't have to go through any valleys first. Success isn't everything. Celebrate your failures too, and see what you can learn from them.
Glad I can keep it real with you! Until next time...
It's hard for me to remember where an idea comes from sometimes. Was I reading an article? Did I see something on Facebook? Was one of the worship songs one Sunday "Break Every Chain" ("There is power in the name of Jesus...")? Was I closing a prayer "in Jesus' name," out of habit? I really can't recall the origination. However, at some point in the last few weeks, I got stuck on the idea of the power and importance of names, and it's been following me around since.
This isn't a new concept, by any means. God tasks Adam with giving a name to all the animals and birds, and Adam named each and every one of them (in Genesis). God changes the names of some of his followers - Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter. God names Himself:
But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?" God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you." God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations." (Exodus 3:13-15)
And of course, the name of Jesus has significance as well:
"She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" (Matthew 1:21-23)
In that time, names had meaning that directly reflected a person's character. For example, Abram means "exalted father," and Abraham means "father of many." Abraham's name change coincides with God's promise (covenant) with Abraham to make him the father of many nations. The other name changes follow a similar progression.
Names these days don't necessarily carry the same kind of weight as they did back then, but they aren't any less important. I couldn't tell you what my name means without Googling it, but I can tell you that I am known by different variations of my name to different people. Jessica is the name I give to people at work and to strangers. My friends and family know me as Jessie. Sometimes, it's affectionately shortened to Jess.
Even works of fiction recognize the significance of names! I love the Harry Potter series as much as the next person. Most people, even those less familiar with the series, know that Voldemort, the main antagonist, is also known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, because most characters in the franchise are so terrified of this villain that they won't even utter his name aloud.
More recently, I saw "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." If you haven't heard of it, it's a movie based on the true story of a journalist profiling Fred Rogers (played by Tom Hanks) of the classic TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The movie is a little lighter on Christianity content than I think is probably accurate, from the little I've read about Mister Rogers, but it is really good. The article that the movie is based on is really good too - you can check it out here.
In the movie, there are a number of powerful moments, but one that hit me was a scene of Fred Rogers kneeling by his bed and praying for people. It was depicted simply: he just said their names out loud. But he didn't try to abbreviate or shorten his prayer by, for example, saying "the Smith family." No, he prayed for each person by name, first and last. It was a beautiful moment, hearing this man pray for people - some of whom he had never even met - specifically by name.
So, where does all of this leave us? I think names are really powerful. Our identity is based in our name. The name of God and Jesus Christ is important (and why they are not to be said in vain), and there is power in the name of Jesus because there is power in Him. God knows us and calls us by name (in Isaiah). If we are believers, our names will be found written in the book of life (in Revelation). Therefore, I believe there is huge significance in knowing and calling and praying for people by name. Saying someone's name shows that we see, appreciate, and care about them. It might be one of the most neighborly things we can do. And after all...
Anyone who knows me AT ALL knows that I am not a fan of most bugs, least of all spiders. Spiders are creepy demon spawn. (You won't convince me otherwise, but you can try!) So I am more surprised than anyone that I am slightly affectionately inclined toward an eight-legged squatter residing between my house and my garage.
I took pity on her when I almost ran into her and her web while mowing last week. I recently read an article that insect numbers are decreasing at an alarming rate, so I resisted my initial gut reaction to grab a can of Raid and instead gently destroyed her web. She scuttled along into a bush, and I finished mowing. I figured that was the end of it.
THE VERY NEXT MORNING, she was back in the exact same place and had rebuilt her web. I admired her boldness to openly defy me. So, she has earned my respect, and I have earned hers (as long as I don't get too close - which I assure you is not a problem). I check up on her when I come and go.
I think she is a barn spider, but she is definitely an orb weaver. Her webs are beautifully intricate. I've done a little research on her. (I'm confident she's female because males rarely build webs - their only interest is finding a mate.) She'll only live about a year, she prefers to stay outside (thank goodness), and she rebuilds her web everyday. She probably tends to be nocturnal, but I've never seen her not in the middle of her web. If she gets scared, she has at least a couple of escape lines, which are not sticky like her web is.
Growing up, I LOVED Charlotte's Web (the animated movie). It was one of my favorites, along with (The Tale of) Bunny Picnic. I can't explain why this spider is different from any of the others I've encountered in my life. I extended her a little bit of grace, and I guess I got stuck in her web. She's my own little (kind of terrifyingly big, actually) Charlotte.
If nothing else, she's helping to control the bug population around my house. I'm going to have to find her a new place of residence soon, though... the pest guy is coming next week. 😬
