MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN

I watched a movie' last week about a guy who spurned a woman's pure love by his own philandering practices. When he finally went back to the woman who loved him, she shut the door in his face.

"Mene, mene, tekel" he had been weighed and found waiting.

This got me to thinking about how many times in life are we unknowingly weighed; judged by God and our peers? We cringe at the thought that we are judged and others determine if we don't measure up. But often, these times of judgment only expose the truth that we have kept hidden.

I once asked a man, a friend, if he were interested in me did he think I'd be willing to marry him. The correct answer, was no, because even though I cared for him as a friend, as a husband he would be found to be wanting. But this is not the only time of judgment. We are weighed and we weigh others, when we meet new friends, interview for jobs, and look to share our confidences. And when are quietly sent away, we don't realize that we are found wanting. Or if we do, we are disappointed at the other person's "unrealistic expectations." Instead of dealing with the truth and aspiring to be all that God made us to be, we snub our nose at their snobbishness and proudly keep our low standards at our own comfort level.

Mene, mene tekel, upharsin. Are we weighed and found to be wanting?

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"And this is the writing that was written, MENE , MENE , TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE ; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Daniel 5:25

Life and dropped-stitches

I was driving down the interstate this afternoon, thinking about how far behind I am in things I need to do, and I wondered if I need to recreate my life…Then I realized that, no, it’s more like my life is a dropped stitch in a knitted afghan, that leaves behind a run. Like my grandmother used to do when she pulled out her crochet hook and worked the stitch back up through the rows, I need to go back and reconnect the drop stitches in my life.

Over the years, as I’ve added interests and responsibilities other things drop off the edge. Google my name and you’ll find a trail of interests that have fallen by the wayside, including this blog. (And that’s without looking up my aliases. ;) ) But six months of caring for a sick old dog, and six months of training a new puppy add up, add to that the fact that I’ve increased my dinnertime guests to 25, and my favorite sous-chef married and left home, and I, at least, understand how I’ve fallen behind in the less important things. Of course, there is satisfaction in faithfully caring out the important responsibilities God has given me, though I’m not sure that I shouldn’t find a way to be more faithful with using some of the other talent He’s given me.

So here’s my attempt at picking up, at least one “dropped-stitch.”