Two Score and Ready For More

Last year we celebrated my parents 40th Anniversary in The Caribbean with a family reunion.  Fifteen of us gathered at The Providencial Islands for a memorable, relaxing time. I wanted to surprise them with a long lasting gift to commemorate their marriage. I knew I wanted to use art, something that can be lasting and has depth and meaning but how does one accomplish choosing the subject matter when there are over forty years of inspiration between a couple?

I tried to capture my parents in loving snuggles while at the resort, I even told them to mock kiss as if they were in a romance scene, trying to capture the moment of inspiration. They were not privy to my scheme to have an artist depict their forty years together as a gift, they probably thought I was nuts asking them to hug and snuggle for photo sessions while trying to relax in paradise. 

We returned home and I was at a loss on how to accomplish my goal. The pictures I took were hazy or not framed properly, what was a girl to do? Since the photo part of my gift wasn't coming together I thought I should write something to help those creative juice ideas flow. I asked myself about love, romance, marriage, vows and a thought kept appearing in my head. 'Love has so many faces'. How can I pinpoint Forty years of a couples life? It's impossible. 

I thought, start at the beginning, when they first met. I pulled out my Mom's high school portrait. The one I love so much of her and have showcased on this blog before. I look at her fresh features, her champagne locks tumbling over her shoulder, the effortless beauty she presents. I smile at the confidence in her amber eyes and know this portrait is inspiring. (Funny, later my mom told me she was reluctant to take this photo and just wanted to get it over with.)

I had my sister sneak a picture of my Dad's photo to me because I didn't have one. When she sent it, I knew these were the art pieces waiting to become my gift. My Dad's high school portrait is striking. The All Star American sports King with dashing jaw line jumped off the screen. His eyes cast a promising, strong yet unassuming structure about his face. The strength of his kind demeanor makes your eyes rest on his likeness with a sense of comfort.

After studying these two young love birds, I understood why they would have been attracted to each other and want to spend the rest of their lives figuring out what love means. Their youthful faces in their school year portraits taken about the time they met (my dad was in college) was a beginning. One with hopes, dreams, wants and willingness to navigate whatever life throws in the path together.

Without further ado, the following poem was inspired by their portraits and by their life example I have witnessed as their child. 

Revealing Their Art Gift
Photo by: Chandra Brown

Forty Years

Fix your eyes upon this face

and think of bygone time

of youth,

of beauty,

of grace.

A time when life was ahead of you

full of questions,

of hopes,

of dreams.

Next to you sits a part

with whom betwixt shared forty years

of the experiences,

of the details

of life.

With whom you forged a path

for family,

for friendship,

for love.

A path that speaks

of authenticity,

of wisdom,

of strength.

Fix your eyes upon this face

as time continuously unfolds

and treasure how two parts became one

by promise,

by deed,

by God.

Dedicated to wonderful parents!

Love,

Nathan, Chandra and Alex

The following Graphite Portraits and Time Lapse Video are produced by Artist: Brooke Burnaugh

Her talents have been a great source of Joy for my family. Thank you Brooke!

Then and Now
By: Chandra Brown

Guest Post: Comparing Heroes

I am proud to display my daughter's most recent essay for school, Comparing Heroes.

The wife of Odysseus

    Literary works are an avenue to define a hero, which the definition of, varies in different cultures. The ancient poem by Homer known as The Odyssey, written in the eighth century B.C identifies a Greek hero, Odysseus or Ulysses (Ulysses is the name given to Odysseus in Roman Mythology). Fast forward to the twenty first century, heroes are commonly depicted by pictures in story board form in  books such as; Marvel Comics. I will be writing about the similarities and differences of an Ancient and Modern hero.
     First, I would like to discuss the qualities and tests Greek heroes are put against.  Greek heroes consist of courage, strength, wit, maturity, and often commit bold exploits to prove their heroism. They do suffer failure as well but learn from their mistakes and become stronger. Greek Mythology takes a large part in the heroes' life, gods and other creatures manipulate their journey in good and bad ways. It is clear that Ancient heroes, when not relying on gods, rely on their human strengths and qualities. While most Modern heroes have abnormal powers within themselves. Some heroes' power is natural born while others are bestowed upon them through nature and or science; the gods of the Modern age.
     I have extracted a few examples of Greek heroism from the book. Ulysses uses his wits to escape from the clutches of a menacing cyclops. He uses humor to gain confidence with Polyphemus, who then asked for his name. Ulysses uses this opportunity to deceive Polyphemus and gives his name as, 'Nobody.' Soon Ulysses men are in terrible danger and he blinds the one- eyed creature in order to escape. Polyphemus seeks help for his injury and when asked who did this to him he replied, "Nobody." Secondly, he used his physical strength to hang on to moss growing on the side of a precipice to escape the treacherous monsters Scylla and Charybdis.  He also commits to bold exploits, though not mentioned much in the book, Ulysses fought The Great Battle Of Troy and was credited as the mastermind behind their demise through the Trojan Horse.
      Modern heroes share basic qualities with Greek heroes, similarities seem to be neck and neck but one difference stood out to me. Modern heroes seem to acquire the characteristics of a god while Greek heroes accept guidance from them. Modern heroes are depicted with special god like powers. For instance, Peter Parker, who is a human teenage boy is bitten by a spider that was experimented on in a science lab. He goes through a physical transformation and takes on the finest abilities of the spider enhancing his performance and senses.  His transformation into Spiderman makes him better than human and this was bestowed upon him through an accident. Other modern heroes such as The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man depict a hero who have god-like powers through natural abilities enhanced by science and technology.
       Through discussing the similarities and differences of Ancient and Modern heroes, one character rose above and proved as a true hero, her story crosses all bridges of time. This hero was Ulysses's wife, Penelope. Penelope defines a true hero with her reaction to real life circumstances.  She is put against a plight, we find her waiting patiently for her husband to return from his glory war in Troy. She not only waits 5 years but we enter her story in her twentieth year of faithful biding despite  suitors constantly at her door because they assumed Ulysses was dead (Penelope thought otherwise). She endured in her love for her husband who she only knew for a brief moment before his travels took him away and shows this by telling her suitors that she would not remarry until she finished a burial shroud for Ulysses. She uses her wits to delay succumbing to an unworthy match who would use and abuse not only her but her son and the land they lived on. So, each day she would work on the piece and rip up her progress by night ,so the cloth was never to be finished as a way to delay the suitors.  Her heroism rests in her character and the resolve to stay true to her word and original commitment to her husband. She protected her son, her household, herself and her property through her virtuous, un-selfish substance. She did this without a god interfering or helping and this relates to a more real view of our human story.
      In conclusion, Ancient and Modern heroes have worthy qualities and flaws that support the idea that self sacrifice in order to help those that cannot protect themselves defines a hero.

Written by: Alex Brown

Tend Your Garden: Post #8

Thistle
Photo By: Chandra Brown

"As is the garden, such is the gardener. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds." -Francis Bacon

I made a goal for my winter garden, eliminate a five gallon bucket full of weeds a day until the over growth was under control. I started in the East corner of the yard and worked slowly, inch by inch, towards the West corner.  By day three the weed problem was under control. The work wasn't tedious by any means, the soil was soft so the roots came out with ease as I dug deep in the soil. The sun shining on my face was welcomed as I methodically performed the task at hand with a mind set of constancy.  This pace lead to a quiet, pleasant state of solitude.

I found myself thinking about how much growth took place during a season when plants usually rest. The warmth and moisture we've experienced in these winter months have tricked plants into early propagation.  Winter's cruelty was soon felt; frost came not too long after the deceptive incubating environment. Weeds seemed impervious to this blight but more delicate plants like my hyacinth would die at frosts' first snap.

It was almost as if the weeds growing in healthy abundance were taunting the more delicate, seasonal plants to reveal themselves too early as an iniquitous jest, knowing all too well their final fate. I looked closely at the weeds in my bucket, they were large, green and plump; they stayed that way days after I pulled them. The hyacinth, still in the safe haven of the ground, were wilted with deaths' black mark on the edges of the flower petals.

A fleeting sadness was lifted as I studied the make up of the hyacinth. It may have suffered a few battle wounds but deep down, nestled snugly in the soil was its hidden glory. The energy reserves held in the bulb would come back to fight another day by sending another flower in the proper time.

It is true, "as is the garden, such is the gardener." I've had a recent bout with tending to those nasty, unwanted weeds that want to take root and sneer at you. A deceptive environment was letting them grow quickly, but thank goodness, I have a Master Gardner in my corner. He warned me to what was happening and told me what was required before the ground was lay waste.

Sure, a few petals have been frayed, wounds have left their mark but deep down and because of God's faithfulness, I know His plans will triumph.

Psalms 130: 3,4
Ephesians 4:32

Emerging Hyacinth
Photo By: Chandra Brown

Our Immortality

Recently, my daughter and I have read through a condensed version of The Odyssey for a school reading and writing assignment.  She is currently writing an essay on what constitutes an ancient hero contrasted with a modern definition of a hero. Epic literature can best be described as stories, narratives, tales laced with harrowing adventures perspicaciously put together with language to drive home an elemental truth. As I think on writing and history, another human theme emerges; morality and what is considered good, right and just. These components of writing kept bringing up another theme to my thoughts found in epic story telling, immortality.

The word immortality seems to be appurtenant with mythology; the traditional stories belonging to a culture with tales of gods and heroes depicting the answers to some of the greatest questions the human race encounters. Why we are here, how we got here and what we are to hominify as uniquely created beings.

Greek Glimpse of Immortality

Calypso offers Odysseus immortality using time as a conciliatory tool in her persuasion. She states, "For us there is no before or after, only now, wherein all things are and always were and always will be. Time, you see is a little arrangement man has made for himself to try and measure the immeasurable mystery of life." She proceeds to show him his past and future along with promises of imaginative variety to sway him.

Odysseus sees the pitfalls of the kind of immortality Calypso was selling. He placates her with adulation and states, " I can not be immortal, never to die, never to grow old. What use is courage then?" This statement sums up the idea man has one life, confined within time and growing old gracefully leading to a final end is a heroic, virtuous endeavor. Mortality in its indeterminate freedom is better than being a captive immortal.

Greek Mythology certainly champions the humanistic view that we have all that is needed within ourselves to successfully maneuver through the journey of life. Yes, people can live moral, good lives aside from God and even do some heroic amazing things that benefit human kind. Although some good may come of this, this way of life is pitted with paucity. It blinds one to the fullness God has in store for those who submit to His ways. Humanism has its end in self glorification which is limited by human bounds and has no eternal merit.  Humanism is essentially a Dead End. (Matthew 23, Romans 3:10, John 15:5)


A Modern Glimpse of Immortality

The modern age has regurgitated Greek immortality in the form of entertaining comic heroes and heroines such as; The Avengers, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and these stories mix humanisms' diegesis. In today's culture immortality is touched upon with a new mythology in the form of Transhumanism. Transhumanism is a belief that the human race can evolve beyond its  current physical and mental capabilities, especially by means of science and technology.

We have seen some of the effects of Transhumanism in the controversial human genome project. Robert K. Grahams, Repository for Germinal Choice was a precursor to current attempts at Genetically Engineered human perfection.  MIT is currently at the forefront of furthering these attempts at human advances towards immortal features.  Mary Shelly's Frankenstein comes to mind when I read about these technological advances.

Without going into more detail of our modern day, unethical, god-complex, humanism on steroids attempts at defining reality, I want to stop and define what real human immortality is. It must start with God and His immortality. He is the pure expression of immortality. Psalms 90:2 states His existence before anything created. God himself states his immortality in His name (Exodus 3:14) when he tells Moses, " I AM."  I AM signifies his self-existence and the Being of all beings.

Time and Eternity
Photo by: lumix2004

Human Immortality: A Truth

Since God is the ultimate immortal being, who created the human race (Genesis 1:27), we can now define what human immortality is. We know that we have a beginning through the fact of birth, philosophers throughout recorded time have tackled the issue of mind, body and spirit and the Internet definition of the word 'immortal' talks about the state of our current reality in this sentence, " Our mortal bodies are inhabited with immortal souls."

So it seems immortality has a basis in something outside of ourselves. It lies in something bigger than ourselves. I'm getting ahead of myself here, I need to stop and clarify a few facts regarding human immortality. Please bare with me as I try to explain a line of thought.

Calypso says time was a man made arrangement as a witty jab towards Odysseus' apprehension towards her offer. In the realm of truth,  God invented time for our benefit (Genesis 1:14). Time is placed in human history as a measuring tool. Time tells us we have a physical beginning and an end and in between these marks we have decisions and choices to make regarding the promises God has given us regarding eternity. Time is a mouthpiece of our mortality yet God intervenes in this medium through conditional, future promises outside of the confines of time in order to save us from the finality of mortality; Death.

The fact is God made humans in perfection, in His image then sin entered the world and corrupted the physical as well as spiritual aspects of His creation. Yes, in this lifespan our bodies are mortal,  decaying towards death but our souls  are immortal and when physical death occurs the soul lives eternally. (Hebrews 9:27)

This is where I need to bring my thought line back to the idea immortality is bigger than ourselves. I pose a question I'm sure has been asked before but is good to discuss under this subject matter. If our souls live on no matter what, why do we need God?

This is where the term death needs to be addressed further. Not only do our physical bodies experience a real death with all its physiological elements, our spiritual condition is either alive or dead as well. If your soul is spiritually dead, meaning without the redeeming value of Christ's promise accomplished on the cross, something humans can not ever accomplish on their own merit, your soul will live in a state of eternal separation from what constitutes life. There is no moving forward so to speak, it is a constant state of stagnation and want.  (And making a statement of faith  in Jesus does not constitute a free pass, salvation is an ongoing process through time).

Time is God's way to shake us out of our blind stupor, to see the reality outside of ourselves, and make every minute count towards what matters in life, sloughing off the things that hinder us in relationship with Him in the present state of being and solidify what will be made true in the future.

One more point and I'll end my speal. Calypso tries to seduce Odysseus with the promise of youth and says, " I was 2,300 years old yesterday. Look at me. Do you see any wrinkles." The world will promise us self gratification and stroke to our vanity now. God cares for your right standing with Him, he makes sure this is priority in our brief life in the point of time He places us in. If we can grasp the importance of Who He is, His nature, Why we are here (an interactive relationship with Him that CHANGES us) in that period of time before eternity he also promises us a new body, whole and without decay along with the mind of Christ outside the limits of time.

Human immortality brings us back to the perfection God intended for us in the first place; in body, mind and spirit!
PRAISE GOD!

Resources:

Bible Versus About Immortality

The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evelin

Note: Ulysses is the name Roman culture gives to Odysseus. Odysseus is the name Greek culture uses).

More Thoughts:
I find it interesting Eliphaz, a 'friend' of Job who unjustly accuses him of being punished by God because of his sin, does get the basic idea that humanism is wrong in his statement found in chapter 4 verse 17. "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?"

I Corinthians 15: 35-58 is a glorious passage written by Paul to explain the future promise God has given us regarding immortality. This makes me thankful for any service or sacrifice that God may require of me during my lifetime.




A Great Memory from 2014:

Alex is learning about the Universe. The latest lesson was listing the characteristics of each planet. One thing that popped out to us was the measurement of time for each planet. There is rotation and revolution. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to rotate and 88 Earth days to revolve around the sun. This got us thinking about the characteristics of time. All these planets are spinning at different rates, we certainly compare these to the constant we know, Earth. This got us thinking about Psalms 90:4 "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.." (The entire chapter is about our life in the span of time and how we need to be attentive to the accountability we have to God.) We find it amazing that God set the Earth's rotation and revolution as it is 1 day (Rotation) and 365 Day revolution. (It would take too long to go into all the details that make life happen because of this detail.) When we look out into space to study it, we are looking into something other than what we tangibly know and when we look outside of ourselves to God our perspectives have to change as well. In reading Psalms 90 it sure seems God has given us the mechanism of time as a benefit for our soul (verse 12). Is it a correct statement to say, time is a gift to help finite humans understand the 'position' we are in and to learn to trust the eternal infinite God? (It certainly looks like God doesn't 'need' time)