July 20, 2023 – A

Clingman’s Dome (Parking Lot) 01/28/2006 Oil Paint Rendered — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee, North Carolina
Having plans doesn't factor
very much into my life.
Some day I will have the filter
changed in the HVAC system.
That is as close to a plan as I get.

I'll have something for the evening meal.
I plan not to have ice cream and blueberry pie.
I'm off added sugar,
and in seven days,
I will celebrate 9 years of sobriety.
But, I've never remembered to celebrate
that anniversary for the past 8 years.

What seems to motivate other people
doesn't move me.
The "eat when hungry, rest when tired,"
adage fits me well.

I'm moved by ideas,
realizations,
questions.

Religion as a way of controlling
what happens--
The "Prayer works!" declaration 
applied to everything we want or fear
as the legitimate basis for life
cannot compare to "Gravity works!"

If prayer worked like gravity,
what a world it would be.
Prayer wars would rage constantly.
The very idea is hilarious.
I can entertain myself endlessly
with thoughts like this.

It doesn't get the grass cut,
but we have an HOA for that, at last.

I entertain myself
with looking forward
to the next thought/realization/question,
with no clue as to what it might be,
or where it will lead.

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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