Mindful Be

 

 

 

Please read the portion below, and then return to listen

 

 

Mindful
(by R.P.Edwards)

All around
The weeping ones
We pass…and feel no pain
O Lord
Give eyes
Let love
Arise
To heal
In Jesus
Name

I woke up with it going through my head.  A mournful tune I first heard over forty years ago; a part of a Christmas special titled, “Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol.”  The young scrooge was in his boarding school…and very much alone.  I remember it still.

Funny, you wouldn’t think cartoon fare could move one but, through that innocent medium a boy became thoughtful of things beyond his toys and trivialities. 

There have been a couple deaths in the family lately; one, physical; the other…deeper.  And, since we all sip of the cup of despair from time to time I’ll not dwell on my portion, other than to say to myself, and to you, dear reader; let us be mindful of the precious souls in our midst.  Those many that we pass by and pass with to our inevitable end.  For you see, in our many daily greetings there may be sorrow behind the smile; hurting behind the hello; and, if we’re too self-centered, too self absorbed…we’ll miss it.  And with the missing…we miss our reason to remain…and do His works; works that may include a hand, a hug, a shared tear, and the lessening of a terrible, crushing weight.  Yes, let us be mindful; mindful of what’s really important in this life.  Now, if you will…please listen to the song.

****

Not quite ready

 

 

Not quite…there
(by R.P.Edwards)

Not quite ready
Not quite…there
So keep the stockings hung…with care
Keep the tree up
Shining bright
Keep on singing
Silent Night
Whatever reason
Kinda slow
Just warming now
To mistletoe
So, please
One week more
Of Christmas fare
I’m not quite ready
Not quite…there

Years ago it got me a ticket.  It was evening and I was on an unfamiliar street--long and straight and dotted merrily with stoplight after stoplight.  I was on the job; driving the company van, somewhere, to do…something.  Anyway, here’s this long road and I dutifully focused on a coming light.  Problem was, it was the light “after” the nearest.  As a result I blew right through an intersection.  By God’s grace there was no traffic, but there was…a cop; of the State variety.

Well, today, on the way home from “the job” I did the same thing.  No, not the intersection “ticket” thing, but the “look down the road” thing.  And, as we had been blessed with a Christmas-eve snow (a few unassertive inches) and, as traffic was nearly nonexistent, I happened to fix my gaze just a little bit higher, and a little bit…further.  And I saw them.  Just above the common path--the always traveled from here to there roadway--there were stars; stars and angels and stars and angels, one after the other--each softened and framed with heavens glitter--for blocks and blocks and blocks.  You see, in this Midwestern town we still have some holiday decorations--the street light variety--that have not yet been sacrificed to the PCers who swarm on the edges.  Yes, an unrepentant  recognition of the season, and the season’s…reason.

It’s Christmas Day, and I’m not quite ready for it to end.  Not quite ready to give up on the feeling and the finding.  Not quite ready to shift into the non-essential…essentials.  Yes, for whatever reason--be it work or worry--I’ve been a bit slow to the warming that is the finer part of this time.  And, even though we’ve been bombarded with fashions of the message for nearly two months, I’ve been slow to turn; slow to listen. 

And so, with presents presented, and good wishes to all, I shall endeavor to hold on…just a bit longer.  Yes, just as this working-man’s town holds on--in spite of the railings of the unfeeling or forgetful--to the symbols of substance, I, too, shall seek to extend the season beyond its normal confines.  One more week should do it.  One more week with the tree still lit.  One more week with the parables still playing and the carols…calling.  And then; perhaps then I can freely let the year give way to the new.  But, if I am wise, if I am…very wise, I shall not fully…let go.  I shall, as a converted Ebenezer spoke to the final phantom, I shall… “honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

****

The People Business

The People Business
(by R.P.Edwards)

Be it widgets or windmills
Pliers or paste
Buttons or toupees
Hauling of waste
Building of buildings
Numbers to crunch
Serving the entrée
For supper or lunch
Pouring the steel
To sell as a sheet
Cleaning the hall
Where conventioneers meet
 Whatever you’re doing
Whatever for dough
Whatever your station
Be it tip top
Or low
The things that you sell
The items you’ve made
In eternities light
Will all fade away
It’s people, you see
The lasting…is there
A moment to touch
A moment to care
Yes, our business…is people
Whatever our trade
The heart…touching heart
That’s where profit…is made

“I didn’t come here to make friends.  I came here to make…money.”  It’s a phrase I’ve heard more than once in an industry that can sometimes be as hard as the product we produce.  But, the other day, having finished my seven day stint of “midnights” and, since I was a bit worn down, fatigued, vulnerable due to an unnatural schedule and poor time management, I, groggily making my way towards the escape hatch, passed on and received a pleasantry or two from coworkers I’ve know, after a fashion, for years.  Oh, sometimes our greetings are reflexive, but there are those times, when we are not rushed, or pushed, when a more in-depth wondering gives way to deeper questions and, with these, a deeper concern.  And I concluded, as I’ve known off and on from always…we are, no matter what we sell, or produce…we all are in (or should be, at least)…the people business.

Last night, as I lounged in the living room and others had gravitated to other rooms in the house, I wanted something to watch that could match my melancholy.  In short order I was lazily viewing the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott as Scrooge.  And, it is in this rendition that his old partner, Jacob Marley, says it so convincingly.  “Business!  Mankind was my business.  The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.  The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

I hope, in these desperate times, that those who are able… would pause to look up from the ledger…and then refocus to see the heart of flesh that is on the other side of their decisions.  

And...God Bless us all…every one.

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