July | 2021 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for July, 2021

No one is an Island

Posted in Faith, tagged #ancestralmathematics, #nomanisandisland, #nooneisanisland, #weareallpartofsomethingbigger on July 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

No one is an island, so says … someone.

Though it is easy to think of ourselves as independent of anyone else, our human race is diversely interconnected. Our lives are the products of those who have gone before us, of those who we do not even know.

I recently read something titled Ancestral Mathematics :

In order to be born, you needed:

2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great-grandparents
16 second great-grandparents
32 third great-grandparents
64 fourth great-grandparents
128 fifth great-grandparents
256 sixth great-grandparents
512 seventh great-grandparents
1,024 eighth great-grandparents
2,048 ninth great-grandparents

For you to be born today from 12 previous generations, you needed a total sum of 4,094 ancestors over the last 400 years.

— Lyrical Zen

Obviously this is just simply the mathematics, the biological numbers that our physical existence is dependent upon. This list says nothing of those who stepped up, or stepped in, who had no familial DNA. Thus increasing the numbers not just to be born, but to survive and even thrive.

What is fascinating about these numbers, to me, is that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves … read that again …

we are all part of something bigger than ourselves

Think of your own ancestral mathematics … how many can you name? As I asked the same of myself, I could only name thirteen!

In Hebrews 11 we read of the heros of the Bible. It is the hall of fame of faithful to God.

The chapter opens with a definition of faith :

“Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.”

Then, an explanation of what faith does for us in our lives:

“By faith
we understand that the world has been created
by the word of God
so that what is seen
has not been made out of things that are visible.” (v. 3)

We are what is seen. Those who came before us are the unseen, the invisible. Though they no longer walk this Earth, their contribution, if nothing else, is our very existence. We are what comes after the equal sign. And, we will contribute to the existence to others, eventually becoming the unseen.

Think for a moment – How many struggles? How many battles? How many difficulties? How much sadness? How much happiness? How many love stories? How many expressions of hope for the future? – did your ancestors have to undergo for you to exist in this present moment…

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Learning from the Best (Dog)

Posted in life, tagged #adogslife, #learningfromthebest, #learningfromthebestdog on July 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Lately I have realized that I have a great teacher, right under my roof.

He rises when he’s ready, or when his people are getting up … because he knows that being with his people is the best.

He never worries about food or drink (though, like me, he does think about them all. the. time.) … because, at the appointed time, his bowls will be filled (and there’s often a toilet seat that doesn’t get put back down … so there’s that option, though I am not endorsing that life choice of his).

He doesn’t care about his appearance, EVER! Though he does love to be told he’s pretty, handsome … heck, just say it in a higher pitch and he’s eating it up.

He can and will sleep anywhere and anytime … the floor, the sofa (crushing my cushions, despite many, MANY reprimands not to), the bed.

Walk? Heck ya. Hubby just has to click the clasp on his leash and he comes running. And while out for a walk he notices everything in his proximity. He loves seeing people, barking at other dogs (sigh) and spotting bunnies (my arm does not appreciate this), sniffing anything in his sight.

Greeting others with excitement is a gift of this guy and his breed. As a Wheaten Terrier (terror fits too), his line is known for their Wheaten greetin’ including leaping for joy … at face level. Except for the unnerving surprise that this can be to a first time visitor, he knows how to show joy when someone comes into the home.

He sticks close to those who meet his needs. He knows his people … those who feed him, speak gently to him, those who take him out for his (multiple) bathroom breaks … at all hours of the day (and sometimes even the night). He knows whose touch is gentle, who he can count on. And he sticks close to them.

So, here I sit, on an early Sunday morning, learning from the best.

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Feel the Burn

Posted in life, tagged #createdformore, #feeltheburn, #grasswithers, #madeforanotherworld, #madeformore, #thisworldisnotmyhome, #unseenareeternal on July 2, 2021| 2 Comments »

Where we live, in the Pacific Northwest, we typically enjoy a temperate climate … never too hot, never too cold. During our wet winter season it seems as though we live in a rainforest.

The recent days of early summer here have seemed like we moved to a desert. With daily temperatures reaching the mid 40°C (105°F) range and nighttime temperatures only lowering to near 30°C (86°F). These temperatures are not normal for this area.

Heat-related deaths have even been a very real reality over these sweltering days (and nights).

As the temperatures are now cooling my daily walks around our neighborhood have resumed. As I walked the other evening, I saw something that I had not ever seen before. Plants and trees showed clear evidence of having been damaged or killed by the heat of recent high temperatures.

Azaleas, lilies, rhododendrons, ferns, hydrangea, coniferous trees, roses and more browned and withered by the intense hot sun. Though many of these plants are native to this area, they were not created for such heat and they withered in place.

As I walked the devastation was everywhere. Not a garden was exempt from the damage the heat inflicted on the Earth. Some of the plants and trees will recover, but others, quite literally, have no life left in them.

The words of Isaiah 40:8 echoed in my mind,

The grass withers,
the flower fades,
but the word of our God
will stand forever.

In the Bible there are numerous references to our Earthly life as being like grass, trees or other plants. Often the verses compare their short existence to the brevity of our life.

Those comparisons were on my mind as I walked and, I have to say, there was a sadness in my heart. Sad to see these beautiful growing things burned by their environment. Sad to think of the areas where my life has also been burned.

Then my thinking drifted a bit. These plants that have been killed or damaged, it wasn’t because they failed, or weren’t watered, or were poor quality plants. They withered, faded and were burned not because they were in the wrong place, but because the conditions of the place they were created for changed.

This is our reality, as well.

When God created the human race he did so placing them in an environment where we could thrive. Then sin became a part of our DNA and we began to feel the burn of the world around us.

The thing is, we are in the right place, it is the conditions that changed. Yet, our souls continue to long for the life-giving refreshment of what they were created for. As long as we long for that Eden, we have certainty that it awaits us, that it is promised to us as we stick with the One who created us.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. … If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthy pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. … I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and help others to do the same.” CS Lewis (Mere Christianity)

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