Beauty in Broken Places

I was out for my five mile Sabbath Run today which is a run I take on Sunday through Columbia where I leave the watch at home, don't time, and don't push. Even on my fastest days, I am coming in at 11 minutes a mile. I am not even sure that is good enough to qualify for the Senior Games. To be fair, it is a hilly run.

I just enjoy the jog on Sunday and it is still rigorous. Today, I noticed along Route 441, which is the busy North and South road that parallels the river, that there were pockets of flowers and vegetation that were quite beautiful amongst the trash, dirt, and exhaust.

I had decided to bring my iPhone today on the run because the temps were in the low 50's and it was misty so I wore my rain jacket which has pockets to house the phone. I was hoping for a nice pic of the river but it just was an is a gray day as we are on the outskirts of the hurricane. Nothing majestic about that. So, I snapped a pic of these flowers instead in  the yard of a place that looks like a Meth Lab, makers and users. Flowers from days gone by when someone gave a damn about the property.

To switch gears a bit, last night I was listening  to the Gospel of Matthew on the iPhone. I am not able to read like I used to. Age and the Ph.D. caused me to lose my reading sight so I often resort to podcasts because as far as I can tell, my hearing is still decent. I listened to the first three chapters of Matthew trying to be attentive to details that I have missed in my previous readings of the Gospel. It is funny, sometimes a phrase sticks-out when listening to words versus reading them.

If someone had asked me previous to my listening to the Gospel of Matthew, why Joseph decided to move to Nazareth after returning with Mary and Jesus from Egypt to escape Herod's murderous wrath, I would have said that he was just returning home after the census of Rome and the Bethlehem "Baby in the Manger" deal. And that is true. But there is an additional detail that Matthew inserts that Joseph was intending  to live in Judea but after being warned in a dream about Herod's son Archelaus reigning there, he decided to go back to Nazareth.

Maybe that was bad news for him. Nazareth was a real nowhere town. Maybe not a good place for a carpentry business. This is speculation but details are important otherwise such facts would not be included by the writers under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. God decided that His Son would grow-up up there.

How many of us feel like flowers along a busy dirty highway? Unlikely to be seen and appreciated. 441 is not a safe road to take a leisurely stroll on in that there seems to be a Turkey Hill 18 Wheeler blasting by every few minutes on its way to and from the Turkey Hill Dairy down South a few miles. I warily run against traffic, watching selfish millennials drive-by while gazing mesmerized at their smart phones.

My buddy and I were having coffee yesterday and we got in a discussion about ego and wanting to be important and get recognized, applauded, and showered with accolades. That would make us seem important and significant.

It is really not a healthy impulse. A good remedy for that ache of importance that can go so off the rails is to be content where God has placed us. Do good work, even if it is not on the main stage. God sees.

I live in  Columbia , Pa. which almost became the Capitol of the United States. I think it lost by one vote. Now, it is just another Sad Sack town which Pennsylvania has in spades. I learned a while back not to think I was too important to live in Columbia. I could live in a upscale neighborhood elsewhere with new and shiny stainless steel  appliances. In the end, my fried eggs would still taste the same. I have no mortgage, no debt, and some cash saved up.

The problem about being a Big Shot is that you have to pay for the ammo.  So, I have a lot less stress. I am off the gilded gerbil wheel. I'd rather run to the river.