Faith

Sometimes I wonder about that. Yesterday, I was returning from Santa Rosa, and saw a “fake” cow. You know, one of those black and white “California” cows that produces the milk that makes the great cheese. Hopefully you have the picture now. This “statue” was so realistic looking – even had bones sticking up on her back. Not skinny type bones, just the bones that are on cows backs.

It was so real looking that the give away was how it’s tail kind of wagged the same as the mechanical cows in window displays. Better description is the cat tail on a halloween costume – just kind of rotates from the attachment point like a big crank or a winder. I thought, “what a great picture to advertise California cheese.

Then, the cow moved it’s head, ate some grass and raised it’s head. Oops, my mistake. It was a real cow – how did I make that mistake. Was it that fake cows look so much like the real thing, that on seeing the real thing, I could not tell the difference?

Maybe that’s how it is with our lives – it’s what we look like as we live every day. How we live (“do”) our lives is all people have to go by. So, if we look like the real thing, but don’t, won’t or can’t do the real things, then they see that we are fakers. Maybe I need to change the way I live so that others see by my actions that I am what I really look like or say I am. Maybe this is what James was talking about when he said “by our works” we are known. What if there aren’t any works? What if…

There have been better days, but they usually are “better” because we got totally immersed in what we enjoy doing. There were also those days that were better because the day before was the “pits”. You know…sicker than a dog one day, and the next you are not. The days that have you buzzing from place to place, with little time to sit and contemplate or catch your breath – those are probably not our better days. This week has flown by, with little time to contemplate or “smell the roses”. Sure, there have been moments, but then the rush of “whatever” came and captured the moment. Too bad that we just don’t stop and let the world rush by. Catch our breath, look for something good and beautiful close by, spend time with someone we care about, think about the words to a song or poem or Bible verse.

Finished James chapter 1 this morning. Interesting choice of words in verse 27 – “keep oneself unstained by the world.” He may have been talking about the impact the world can have on us, but I remember the first time I stained some wood. After carefully reading the instructions, then pouring the stain on the wood…it looked like a disaster as the stain immediately soaked into the wood. Now, this was some furniture that I had spent hours stripping the old finish off of, and the thought that now buried deep in the wood grain was this “color” that wasn’t quite right. Stain is different than paint – when paint dries, basically you can chip or sand it off. Not so with stain – it (depending on the wood) penetrates deep within the wood grain. You want it off or out, then start cutting away. If that is what the world can do in my life, then perhaps I need to be a little more careful – watch out for what I let cover or get in to my life…