What a World We Live In............

As a Libertarian I am all about our Constitutional rights.  I fully support freedom of religion and free speech, and I've often said when I put forth my bid to take over the world, I will run on the platform of I support your right to be a total dumba$$ just like I support my right to TELL you you are a total dumba$$.

Now having said that I gotta tell you how much people like this honk my tail feathers!  What makes me mad isn't what they are saying, I could care less.  They are entitled to their opinion just as I'm entitled to mine.  It's the way they are saying it that sickens me.



On Christmas Eve a young man died from wounds sustained in combat in Afghanistan.  I didn't know this man, but he is from a local community and The Youngun and I drove through this town on our way to buy our monthly staples on Wednesday.  The town was beautiful and I wish I'd had my camera with me.  From the east edge of town where we came in, all the way until you turned to go out of town, the street was lined on both sides with American flags.  Every 8 foot or so there was a flag proudly planted in the ground.  Every business sign had messages of condolence to this young man's family, and messages of thanks for his bravery.  It was beautiful and moving.  The flags led into the cemetery where there was a backhoe digging the final resting place for this young soldier.  The Youngun and I were telling The Man about it when he got home and he mentioned he'd heard there would be protesters there. 

Now I'm fully aware that our Constitution protects the right of free speech and I support that.  However, protesting a funeral is just plain wrong. If you feel that the war is wrong, gays in the military are wrong, or it is just plain old wrong to eat ham and beans without cornbread that is your business and your right, but I'll say it again, protesting a funeral is just horrible.  There is a time and a place for such protests but a funeral ain't it.  What kind of person does this?  Trampling on the right of this man's family to bury him in peace.  Trampling on the right of his very young daughter to say goodbye to her daddy with dignity and honor.  That little girl should not have to see people holding signs saying thank God for dead soldiers at her father's burial. 



picture from St. Louis paper



I am proud to say that hundreds of people from little communities all over our counties turned out to line the way to the cemetery with signs of thanks, condolences and American flags.  I pray that these wonderful folks stand out in the memory of that little girl, instead of the sick and misguided people who chose her daddy's final resting place as the venue for their venom and hate.

God Bless.........................

Sherriff Ed Earl Dodd....................

Do you know Ed Earl?  He's the character played by Burt Reynolds, opposite Dolly Parton's Miss Mona in that most wonderful of movies, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  In that movie Ed Earl is trying to keep the Chicken Ranch open and he gives this impassioned speech to the governor......

"I've been fightin' crime all my life but let's not confuse crime with committing a sin. You can't legislate morality. Those girls out there have never caused any trouble to anybody. They're healthy, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens who supply a demand and provide an economic asset to the community."  

Now at the risk of whackin' a hornets nest, I've got to say I wholeheartedly agree.  You simply cannot legislate morality.  You cannot force people to be good.  The idea of a "law" regarding a moral issue in my opinion is ridiculous.  A moral person would never do it, and an immoral person isn't going to care one whit that it's illegal.  For example, I, as a sane person, would never murder my neighbor for walking his dog on my lawn.  Does it piss me off?  Sure, but I'm not going to kill the guy over it.  That would be immoral.  Now lets say that murdering my lousy neighbor for letting his dog pinch a loaf on my yard was suddenly made legal.  Am I going to sit on my porch with the 12 gauge loaded with deer slugs and just wait for that sucker to come by?  I should hope not because even if it was legal, it would still be immoral.  Killing somebody over a little dog poop is just plain wrong.  Now if he is coming into my home uninvited with the intent to harm me or my family, that is another ball of wax all together.  Is it still illegal to kill him??  You bet.  There will be an inquest and all sorts of investigations and whatnot.  If I live in the right state I'll probably get off with no charges, but it's still illegal.  However, in that case, is it immoral?  Not to me it isn't. 

There is a headline in St. Louis right now that says.........

"Belleville woman sold kids' Christmas gifts for crack"

Hmm..........isn't crack illegal?  I'm pretty sure it is, last time I checked anyway.  Now, if the use of crack were legal, would a moral person steal their kids' Christmas gifts to get money to buy said crack?  In my honest opinion, drugs are a moral issue and illegality certainly hasn't stopped the use of them.  I'm not saying all drugs should be made legal, but making them illegal has surely not helped the people who are addicted.  If the pull of drugs is so strong that you would steal from your own children, then you need serious help, not necessarily jail time.

Laws were/should be created to protect people from others.  They should protect children and animals.  I don't need a law to protect me from myself.  Murder is, of course, wrong, rape, child abuse, animal abuse, of course all wrong.  Gay marriage............polygamy.......smoking, alcohol, drugs................the use of seat belts............purchasing raw food products..............what I can and can't buy at the store?  None of this has any business being legislated by our government in my opinion.  If you are an adult or two consenting adults it is nobody's business what you are doing as long as you aren't harming anyone else.  How do I feel about all these issues I just mentioned?  Well that doesn't matter because they are moral issues and something you must decide on for yourself.  For the record, I really don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone to live my life the way I want to live it.  How I choose to live my life is between God and I and quite frankly it's no-one else's business.  I'm an intelligent adult.  I have the capabilities to make decisions for myself and I respect the abilities of other adults to do the same.

In closing, I'd just like to say this...............

We are born with free will.  This is how God designed us.  He is the Supreme Creator.  He could have created us anyway He chose and He chose to give us free will.  God wants us to be good and moral, but He doesn't force us.  He wants us to choose right.  If our Creator and Savior gives us the right to choose, how in hell does our government think they know better?  How can they possibly think they can make the world a more moral place through the passage of laws?  Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not saying we should throw all caution to the wind and have no laws.  That would be anarchy.  We need laws to keep the populace safe.  We don't need laws to keep the populace moral.  Morality must be taught at home.  We must teach our children right from wrong, and right from wrong can be subjective.  I'm sorry and I know that may really honk some folks off, but it's true.  I'm a very black and white person, but even I know that right to some is wrong to others.  We don't drink.  I have no use for alcohol and I hope that The Youngun doesn't drink.  Does that mean I think alcohol is immoral?  Of course not, it just isn't for us.  In our home, Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life.  I wouldn't want to live in a place where my right to that belief was taken from me.  If I want my rights preserved, then I have to fight for the rights of others to be preserved.  Is it wrong to not believe in God?..........well in my home it is wrong, but if I want to be able to believe how I wish, and raise my daughter to have those beliefs then I must respect the beliefs of others.  How could it be otherwise?

As always during my rants, I must give you my disclaimer.  I love a good debate and as long as you keep your comments polite, plenty of passion is ok!  ;)       

PS, The Man had to go into work at 1:15 AM because we are having an ice storm.  After getting him off to work and laying back in bed, my little pea brain was a swirl with these thoughts and I couldn't get back to sleep until getting them off my chest. 

I hope you are safe and snug this fine December morn!

God Bless....................

A Perfect World......My Thoughts on God and Freewill.......

Oh oh, here we go..........the Goodwife's been thinkin' again.  I was just vaccuming my hardwood floors when this popped into my head.  As you know, if it pops in, I gotta let it out and share it with you all.......so here we go.

God gave us free will.  He could have made us robots, or dummies, or I don't know what, but He chose instead to make us human, full of failings and oh so very full of free will.  We have so many choices in our day to day lives.  God doesn't force us to do the right thing.  He usually doesn't strike us down in the midst of a bad choice, no matter how bad or even evil that choice is.  That's because He wants us to repent and He wants us to have the chance to make the right choice the next time.  That's powerful love, that is. 

Being Christian isn't about living in a bubble away from temptations and the world.  It's about being faced with evil and temptations every day and making the right Godly decision.  God put us all here in the midst of immorality and decay and said Do the right thing even when the wrong thing is easier or more fun.  I used to think abortion wouldn't exist in a perfect world.  Now I think in a perfect world, abortion would be an option, but no one would ever do it, because even though evil would exist, humans would rise above it the way God wants us to.  Ya know??

It's very hard to convey what I want to in the written word.  I'm a much better oral communicator, but I hope you got at least the gist of what I was saying.  As always, feel free to comment and disagree and as long as you keep the hate out, I'll leave 'em up! 

Till next time..........God Bless!

Just Some Pics..........

This guy was waiting for me in the front yard this morning when I got home from my run.  See the holes in the leaves of my hosta from our hail storm of a few weeks ago?

I love, love, love this plant!  It's an ivy geranium and I hope I can find one again next year.

Lily....

This is another favorite of mine.  It's was labelled Jacob's Ladder when I bought it but after doing some online research I don't think that's what it is.  Whatever it is I adore it.

This is a close up of a flower cluster and an open bloom.  If you click on the pic to make it bigger you may see the tiny sweat bee that is sitting on it.  If you  know or have a guess as to what this is, please leave me a comment. 

Till next time..........God Bless!

More Thoughts.....And These Might Offend Ya....... :)

God put these thoughts on my heart yesterday and I wish I'd found  made time to get them down cuz sometimes if I don't then they flit away and I can't catch them again.

I'm such a sinner.  So evil and rotten and mean and just plain ole' not good. I cuss (although having to pay The Youngun $.50 per word has put a big dent in how much of that I do)  I have a wicked wit, a sharp tongue, and sometimes I'm not very compassionate.  I'm a do-er and folks who aren't do-ers get on my ever lovin' last nerve.  I don't have much sympathy for them.  I can be so short with the ones that I love, and my wicked sharp tongue can cut them deep before I even know what I've said.  I've got a filter with most things, although the folks who know me will find that hard to believe.  It's true though, as outspoken as I am, I don't say 1/10 of what goes through my head!  I'm proud (pride is one of the 7 deadlies ya know, but boy I've got bushels of it) and passionate and very vocal about the things I believe in.  You get me talking about something I feel strongly about and my blood heats up, I can feel my body temperature rising and even though I don't shout, my voice gets stronger and carries better and if it's something I'm REALLY passionate about I'll sometimes shake.  I can be a hard woman and that's not a good thing.  Life is black and white to me, either it's right or it's wrong, there is no in between.  There is no such thing as "the lesser of two evils" in my mind.  It's evil or it ain't and if it's evil then it's evil and you just can't choose to do it! 

Anyway, the point of this dissertation into the mind of the Goodwife is this...... I am all of those things I said and more.  I'm weak and unworthy and I fail my Lord every single day multiple times over.  There is only one thing in this life I'm certain of.  There is not a doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, walked this earth, loving, preaching, teaching.  Not a doubt in my mind that He willingly went to that cross to die for my evil-ness.  Not a doubt in my mind that His death saved me.  As full of sin as I am, God made me.  He knows me, all the inner evil that I can manage to hide from ever'body else, I can't hide it from God and He loves me anyway! 

Yesterday The Youngun and I had to run to town (for the THIRD TIME this week!) and on the way home we were discussing God and Jesus as we so often do.  We got to talking about the Crucifixion and what a wonderful gift that was.  I told her how when I'm having a bad day I feel so incredibly selfish.  What right do I have to think I'm havin' a bad day?  Jesus Christ was humiliated, beaten, nailed to a cross and hung there to die, just so we sinners don't have to.  THAT my friends was a bad day!  Jesus didn't do anything to deserve that, and there is nothing we can do to deserve salvation, but He gives it freely.  That's powerful stuff. 

Sanctimonius people honk me off.  I'm really going to open up here and tell you that I don't go to church.  I was raised in church, and The Paintiff and I have gone off and on a few times in our 14 years of marriage, but I don't like the fact that there is a mere human being standing up on a raised platform telling me what a piece of trash I am.  Boys and girls, I know I'm a piece of trash, but so are you.  So is ever'body who's ever walked this beautiful earth God created for us.  There's only been One who was worthy, and He's the one who died for us.  Should have been all of us who died for Him, but we weren't even worthy of that, if you understand my meaning.  We aren't good enough to die for Him. 

Some "Christian" groups scare me to death, with the hate that they spew.  That's why you've got to live for the Lord every single day, not just on Sunday.  The Jesus that I know loves everybody.  He loves Charles Manson, and He loves Ted Bundy, and He loves Ellen Degeneres, and He loves the registered sex offender down the street, the abortion doctor murderin' babies, and the poor misguided woman layin' on the table.  He sure doesn't love the behavior, but He loves their soul just ever' bit as much as He loves mine or yours.  You know all those sins I just told you I commit, and all the wickedness that lives in my soul and God loves me anyway?  Well he loves those folks too.  I don't believe there are "degrees" of sin.  I believe in God's eyes, sin is sin is sin is sin is sin.  I don't believe it's my place to judge folks, or tell them they are livin' wrong.  I tell ever'body I know about my love for Jesus, as does The Youngun and The Paintiff.  In my mind the very best two ways to witness to folks are by living and loving Jesus ever' day and instead of tellin' them what's wrong with them tell 'em what's wrong with you, cuz brother we've all got material there.  Urge them to read the Bible and figure it out for themselves.  You'll never ever have a rock solid relationship with Jesus until you've been face down with your nose resting right on the floor, crying your heart out to Him.  You can go to church every single Sunday and sing the hymns and shout Amen's and put your money in the collection plate and quote the Bible with the best of them but until you've stripped your soul bare and given it all over to Jesus, until you've given up every last bit of control to Him, until you've said with your soul, not just your mouth that you are a worthless sinner, you are cheating yourself out of a really awesome thing. 

I used to be a little bit afraid of dying.  When I was a young teenager, I used to cry every year on my birthday because I just knew I was going to die on my birthday.  A few years ago I was in bed sleeping and I had the most beautiful vision.  I was in flowing white robes and my hair was all down my back.  I was walking in the most beautiful garden I've ever seen in and I came upon an old man sitting by a huge old tree next to a small pool.  He was old and white haired and had on white robes and he had a twisted wooden staff.  He didn't say a word to me, but the feeling of peace that came over me was just amazing.  I was flooded and I didn't want to leave.  I truly didn't want to wake up and leave that place.  Of course I did wake up and I knew then and I know now that I'd had a glimpse of Heaven.  I've not been afraid of dying since.  I actually look forward to sitting next to that pond with that old man again.  Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly want to die just right now.  I've got lots of living to do yet, but if God decides to call me home, brother I'm ready to go.  I've got my bags always packed!  The Youngun has said to me, Mama I don't want you to die.  To which I reply, Well I'm gonna someday, when God calls me home, but I'll be waitin' in Heaven there for you.  The Youngun isn't afraid of death either because she knows it's just another step and she's got a long list of topics she's like to talk about with the folks who've gone on!

Wow............I should probably stop there and perhaps another day God will put some more stuff on my heart and my mind to share.  If I've offended anybody....well....I have to do what God puts on my heart, regardless of who I might upset.  I do like debate though, so if you'd like to leave any comments, positive or negative, well that's all right with me.  As long as you are respectful, I'll leave them up!  ;)

Till next time.........God Bless!   

Random Thoughts............

Why do certain people upon seeing your child after an absence of several months always ask......What size shoe is she in now?  or.........What size clothes does she wear now?  Is this their way of saying, My how you've grown!  and if it is, then why in the name of corn on the cob can't they just say My how you've grown!  Being an 11 year old girl is hard enough without people making comments on how big your feet are or how big you are!

Why do acorns have little hats on top?  I mean, I like the hats.....they look good!  I'm just wondering how come an acorn rates a jaunty little beret when the other nuts don't.

Why do chocolate and peanut butter taste so darned lip suckin' good together?

Why is broccoli so easy to grow and cauliflower so hard?

Why are green peppers so cheap and colored peppers so expensive? 

Why do some people refuse to believe in God?  How can they look around at the world we live in and think it all "just happened"?

Why do some people have children and then refuse to take care of them? 

Why do some folks get married when it's obvious they can't stand each other? 

Why are some words "bad" and some words not?  Other than the ones that invoke the Lord's name in vain, I seriously don't understand.  It is the way they are used (in anger or rage) that makes them bad, not the word itself. 

On that same topic, why is ok to say Oh shoot, I forgot my purse but it's not ok to say Oh Sh!t I forgot my purse.  The meaning is exactly the same..........

Why are cigarettes and beer legal and marijuana isn't?

Why do some people think if it's legal it must be moral??  And just because something is illegal doesn't mean it's immoral.  God's laws are the ones we should be concerned with, wether man says it's ok or not!

And finally.............why does the Goodwife feel that this justifies a blog post?  LOL..........we'll never ever know!

Til next time........God Bless!