Life Truths

People watching.  I love it.  You can learn so much about society in general by simply taking time to sit in a mall food court for an hour and observe the humanity crawling around you.  I am a hound for free wi-fi so I have my favorite mall food court which affords me this luxury every so many weeks.  What a trip! 

• First I see an elderly couple dressed like they are going to an art gallery premier.  I know that they must have money because they are eating and drinking Sbarro.  No one with any financial common sense and a limited income buys pizza from Sbarro.  Of course…she has a salad.
• Woops…scratch that because to my left I see a single mom with three in diapers and she just polished off an entire Sbarro pizza.  But she’s probably on a tight budget because she clearly can’t afford enough clothes to cover her own body.
• Gathered around the kiddie playground area is an intriguing layer of moms who are basically clueless to what their children are doing as they dish away with someone sitting next to them.  I can hear the conversation now, “So I told Jerry, we simply can’t afford the riding mower.  If he buys that mower there’s no way we’ll be able to keep Samantha in her dance and equestrian classes.  He thinks horseback riding is silly for a preschooler but I feel it’s a significant form of therapy while she’s potty training.
• Over my shoulder are four men standing in front of their respective restaurant counters offering the same things on toothpicks.  Bourbon chicken, honey chicken, spicy chicken and sweet & sour pork.  Of course I take a sample from each.
• Lastly are the teenagers.  It’s the middle of the school day but somehow they are here.  Amazing.  I’m sure they are eating their fast food over a heated discussion regarding what excuses they need to use this week.

My point to all of this is not to mock those different from myself but to highlight an extremely important concept from the Bible .  John 3:16 is one of the most recognizable Bible verses simply because of that guy behind the goal-posts at each NFL game.  It says, “For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”  God loves the world!  My human tendency is to stereotype, differentiate and categorize.  In God’s eyes He sees humanity as His cherished creation that He loves and it was worthy of giving up His Son in order to save.  Everyone in this room surrounding me is cherished.  Everyone.

It’s snowing again. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not have a personal problem with snow. I’m down with the whole political correctness thing with regard to weather systems. Sunny and 80 is no more important than snowy and 20. Week-long rains are just as appealing as warm breezes and crickets on my back deck. Equal opportunity weather, right? WHATEVER!!
The joy of the first snow is watching my son pretend to be Shaun White blasting down the back hill on his sled while I get a nice workout shoveling the driveway. During the second big snow it’s the joy of seeing him try and loose his little sister in the three foot drifts while I overcome my aches and pains to get yet another good workout shoveling the driveway.
By the time you hit the third big snow something begins to change (read “snap”) inside of you. Now the joy is replaced with inner bitterness towards groundhogs and “those stupid snowplow drivers” who keep burying your mailbox. Your children have lost numerous toys in the snow and whine because they can’t shoot basketball outside due to the fact that you haven’t shoveled the driveway yet.
Some are saying that all the cold and snow this year indicates that global warming is a joke. Other geniuses say that all the snow and cold is a result of global warming (snicker). I’m just fascinated how one year can be so dramatically different from the other. A complete 180! At least, with regards to God, He always stays the same. The Hebrew word for God’s love is chesed and it denotes His unchanging love. Unchanging! I like that. Kind of like San Diego weather. Sunny and 70.