“Watch Closely Now”

Not The Only One!
Post # 150
29 Aug 24
” Watch Closely Now “
Howdy,
Welcome One more and let’s see what kind of mischief we can get into today 😀. When I was around fifteen or sixteen years old I saw this movie and like many teenagers experiencing something romantic in nature, it left a deep impression on me. The movie was called ” A star is Born” . I know that most of you are probably familiar with the one a few years ago staring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I didn’t mean to bust your bubble about it being a remake☺️☺️. The one that I saw when I was in high school stared Babbs… Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson . The movie that I watched was also a remake, and the original went all the way back to 1959. Depending on your take on things , it can be another King Solomon thing with nothing new under the sun, or that there are just no original ideas in Hollywood and they just loves a good remake.☺️☺️
I’m an original soundtrack guy, but sadly they have mostly gone bye bye as a cost cutting factor from all of the cost overruns from actually making a movie. They just mostly draw in music that they think will fit the film, much like the songs that I place at the end of my blog post each week☺️. That being said, I had known and loved the voice of Babbs, but no idea of who Kris Kristofferson was at the time. The sound track contained both solos and duets of the two of them together. The track ” watch closely now ” and ” Hellacious Acres” were two high spirited tracks by Kristofferson , with just a heavy rock over tone to it. The song ” watch closely now” , basically asked the question ” did I see what I thought that I saw”? We have talked before about how our eyes can sometimes deceive us. We throw in our jaded perspectives as to how we think things should be and work together and we can put together something very much on the distorted side of things. ☺️
There is something known as a ” misnomer and it is often defined as incorrect, misleading, or an inappropriate name or designation. It can be used sarcastically such as calling one of those little smart cars a luxury automobile, maybe to someone, somewhere, but not in my mind☺️☺️. I would also consider people doing things against their own best interest as a misnomer. In all fairness we don’t always get when we have blinders on to a particular observation. Most of the time we like to think of ourselves as true north, meaning having our own best interest at heart. We don’t always see everything that we should see or in the way that we should and they create blind spots in our lives. Sometimes we miss it, by just a little and at other times when things become more focused, we have to ask ourselves what the hell were we thinking in the first place and how did we get so darn far of course and away from what we said that our objective or goal were. Again!, may not be the best example, but think about us buying foreign oil, and then having that investment returned to us in the form of worldwide Terrorism. Not exactly what I would call well thought out. An ends to a means….debatable! We experience these same kinds of things on a personal level, perhaps not as dire, but still very much consequential. I will occasionally think and say to myself that I just can’t get out of my own way. It’s almost as if I subconsciously sabotage to prevent myself from having success and moving forward. I’m not alone here and it is something that I’ve observed in others and in ways that I find very perplexing. The twelve dollar question is why do we act and carry on in ways that undermine our development and growth as human beings? Yeah, yeah, we could just take the simple approach and just say that we don’t know any better, but that’s just partially true. If something is partially true, then it’s a full lie. Ouch!, harsh and needed to be said.
There are things that we know that we often just don’t want to own up to as truth. We know that those delicious glazed donuts aren’t going to help us loose weight, but we tell ourselves that just one or two won’t hurt, and we even give it a fancy name to make ourselves feel better about it. It’s a ” cheat day”☺️☺️. I get it , none of us are a hundred percent all the time and if we were we wouldn’t be human, but robots☺️☺️. The same can be said about smoking or a hundred other vices. We know that smoking doesn’t improve our overall health and we tell ourselves that we are all going to die of something and at some point which is true, but why go way out of your way to help the Grimm Reaper out?☺️☺️. This isn’t supposed to be one of those negative pep rallies, which makes you want to go off and slit your own wrist, but one of those let’s stop and do a quick re-evaluation
Have you ever wanted something so bad, but it just constantly eludes you? Even when you believe that it’s within your grasp, you find yourself ever further away from it then ever before? Let’s just put a picture to it and I’m going to apologize in advance for any negative feelings that I may dredge up. We are going to use the cloak of infertility. It’s something that so many couples struggle with and they will have hope over and over again, to only have their hopes and dreams dashed on the rocks of disappointment. It can become an endless span of inhales and exhales. We hold our breath as we count the weeks hoping to get further along than the time before. We may know the scientific why, we aren’t having success and the reasons for that can just be a multitude of things that aren’t working in the way that they are supposed to. The knowing why is not always a comfort, when we just want to set up the nursery with pretty colors and toys. There can be a massive amount of guilt and unforgiveness to one’s self, if the reason for lack of success is specific to one partner or the other. This is just a little caveat that a friend expressed to me a few days ago and that is, what is your goal? Do you want to be a parent or do you want to be pregnant? Lots of kids up for adoption and would love a good home.
I have confessed many times before about being a people watcher, and that sometimes I will go as far to give them a back story. Yes, it’s a little weird but just harmless fun☺️☺️. Sometimes it’s a little bit more than just people watching, but it’s the people that we interact with. We are all wired differently and then we have all of those experiences in life, that do more to shape us than we are ever aware of. Some years ago now, I remember meeting someone a little bit outside of Boston. We had a lunch together and as usual, I prayed over the meal. They were some what impressed with that to the point that they went on to share with others, what had taken place. There is nothing magical about giving thanks to God for providing a meal. I guess my thought process was if it’s such a big deal, then why wasn’t it a part of their everyday life? It’s not a judgment thing, but why are people drawn to other people’s spirituality as if it’s something not available to themselves? I don’t really believe that this is that unusual because they are drawn to the light within us. There is something distinct about an active and authentic spiritual life , opposed to people who go around doing good deeds to feel good about themselves and calling it spirituality . That may sound harsh and judgmental, but it’s just to prevalent and pervasive in our culture to deny it.
People are drawn to true, real , authentic spirituality, just like they are drawn to the word of God and often the thing that keeps them on the outside is the hypocrisy, from those who say that they know God….yep another ouchie!!☺️ I have done a fact check of myself and asked that question as to how many people I have turned off or put a stumbling block in their path to God and heaven. Shameful, probably more than I would want to admit to. Yeah!, I’m human and make mistakes just like everyone else, but that’s no excuse, because the word of God encourages us to be gentle and soft spoken and to approach people with humility and I think all to often it’s just about winning an argument, and even when you win…you still loose. 🥲🥲
Another observation/ interaction. I see people who want to draw near to God, but they want it on their own terms, and all I can say to that is , good luck with that one there.☺️☺️ What kind of God is cookie cutter to your particular will? I think that we often want to reduce God to a genie in a bottle, and if I rub the bottle just right with my good deeds, and good intentions, then God will somehow be indebted to me and have to grant me favor☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️, yep it’s just that funny. We get it twisted and somehow believe that God needs us…again laughable ☺️☺️. We somehow believe that God should bend to our will and our desires. Again what kind of God would that be, if we could so easily manipulate Him? You may have believed that I was done with ” Watch closely now “, but not so fast!! This is like having Dyslexia, and we transpose some numbers or words. People who attempt to draw closer to God in this manner actually find themselves further away from God, then they were before they started the ill-fated journey. A major misnomer, actually achieving the complete opposite of the goal to know God. It’s as if they are running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction, they want God on their terms.
I shouldn’t do this, but it’s soap box time and I know how dangerous that can be. I know that there are those out there who would just love to give a good kick or pull it out from under me and that’s OK, give it your best shot☺️☺️. It seems that some percentage of women, over the fifty percent mark identify as liberal. I’m not sure why that is, and it really looks like you backed the wrong horse. It’s not working for you, and instead of backing away, you double down on it. It just seems like you have given up so much to be able to shout the mantra , I am women, hear me roar! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that women aren’t capable of competing with men and doing many and most of the same jobs, but they often have to turn into men to accomplish that. I mean they become hard and callus like men and sometimes loose pieces of themselves that draws them away from the original design. Sometimes you guys will talk about how men don’t show up and that can absolutely be true. I just don’t know many men who run to embrace ball busting emasculation. ☺️☺️
Yeah!, I used that much hated word that we just can’t escape regardless of how hard we try and that’s ” design “. We want to push through and set new norms and the more and harder we try to do that, the more jacked up the culture becomes. Women were designed to be help mates and that doesn’t mean that they can’t pursue anything that their hearts desires. So women were kind of designed to be lead, it’s not that they are inferior in any way, and it doesn’t mean that they can’t be leaders themselves. Many have chosen to follow liberalism as if it is somehow freeing , when in actuality, it causes them to get further away from their design. I’m not saying that women are gullible, but I do believe that we sometimes end up on a path, and that becomes all that we know or are willing to accept.
It may seem as if I’m giving men a pass…no, no, no.!! Men are simple creatures, we really are. I will occasionally talk about us in the context of being puppies or dogs, and it’s really that simple. The things that You reward and praise , you will just get more of that, it’s a positive reinforcement. However the opposite is true as well. If I’m scolded for holding the door open for a woman and get a very militant, ” I can do it myself ” . That message is loud and clear and you won’t ever have to worry about me doing that again ☺️☺️. That one may be a no brainer, but think about how many times we are asked to do something and we get flack about how we do it, because it wasn’t done exactly the way that perhaps you would have done it. Most men will receive that as we pissed on the carpet and you just rubbed our nose in it☺️☺️, again message received. Oh! No! Men don’t get a pass, but I will tell you in many instances, men have just completely checked out, hell, some of them are trying to be women now☺️☺️. I don’t know if that’s a cry for help, or they think that is away to circumvent and get some of the power back☺️☺️ . So , men vacating their design as well. 🥲
Ok, let’s see if we can close this rodeo out without any broken bones or even worse a broken neck☺️☺️. It absolutely breaks my heart, not just a saying, but with actual tears and lament, when people actually set out to know God and then find themselves further away each time that they try. It makes me ask the question, did I just see, what I thought that I saw. It’s a hard a painful place to be, but it starts with surrender. I’m not a fan of that word and obedience is another one that gets stuck in my craw☺️☺️, if I’m being honest. . It’s a really big stinker to see people desperately seeking love and putting up all sorts of road blocks to ensure that they won’t receive the one thing that they desperately want and it’s the love and acceptance of God. They won’t surrender their will to God , it’s a really hard thing to do. And every time we lean in , but refuse to surrender, it makes our hearts just that much more cold and hard. It gets easier as you spend more time with God and realize that He has your best interests at heart and He knows what is coming around the corner, when we are completely clueless. ☺️☺️
There is this saying in church circles and that is, you can’t out give God. I’m going to add one to it and say that, you can never live your life, better than the things that God has in-store for you.
God has hidden salvation in clay pots. Cracked and flawed pots and it’s through those cracks that others are drawn to God. We can both be drawn to and repelled by the earthen ware, but please don’t let it become a stumbling block, push through as if Your very soul depends on it, because it just might! ☺️☺️.
Till Next Time ✌️peace!
Sandy The Southerner

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