Secondary to Primary

Matthew 15

You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying, 

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

Isaiah 29

This people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip-service, but they remove their hearts far from me and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote.

We generally blank the slate in our rebirth with God. Then we start to grow hedges, organic-like, as we embrace His teachings:
This is right                             This is wrong
This honors God                     This dishonors Him
This is the truth                      This is falsehood
The hedges grow, and we find comfort in their presence, for their perceived protection.
In our wisdom,
we dig up the organic hedges and replace with stone walls,
from farmers to masons,
trading nature for precision,
from working in the dirt to finishing concrete.
As God-followers, we would do well to be in the habit of purging the precepts we take comfort in and expose ourselves to the direct influence of God.

Lost in Space: Astro-Todd, Episode 2

Episode 2 of Lost in Space: Astro-Todd, where we follow up on the two warring parties and find out that their impatience was based in lack of mutual understanding. Cultural differences between frantic five hour energy and almost-opposable thumbs nearly lead to a galactic war. If only other world leaders had Astro-Todd to help them through their differences. Unfortunately, while worlds apart are finding common ground, things are tensing up on the homefront, where we find a kindness competition in progress. Who will win? Find out here...

Lost in Space: Astro-Todd, Episode 1

Episode 1 of Lost in Space: Astro-Todd, where we find two folks being impatient with one another, reminding me of two people (for example, my favorite five and six year old), who occasionally show patience with each other (wait, I meant to write 'impatience', but it is too late to change now).
Click here for Episode 2, where we find out what happens with this galactic dilemma.

"Sam" didn't market well

Had guacamole and salad for dinner, while the kids picked their favorite sandwich with carrots. The guac bowl must be guarded at all times, or the four vultures swoop in. After having my fill, I allowed the kids free reign to the remainder of the chips and guac.
Eliza and Garrett lost no time in eating and chatting through the guac process. Discussing guacamole and saying 'guacamole' is just about as much fun as eating it.
"I love avocados," Eliza says.
Struggling with the 2.5 seconds of silence within the conversation, Garrett asks, "Dad, is this really called 'guacamole'"?
"No Garrett, it's called 'sam', but no one would ever eat it with that name. I've been lying your entire life about this, and I am sorry."
Silence.
Eliza breaks it, "I like the name Steve."

Mr. the King, Ms. Parks (and don't forget Ms. Tubman)

Had to break the news to Eliza that she wouldn't be attending school tomorrow, a source of disappointment to us all. "Why", she asked.
"Because tomorrow is the celebration of Martin Luther King," mom replied.
"We learned about him. When he was a kid, he was playing with his friends and he had dark skin and his friends had light skin and their mom said that he could not come back to play with them. So when he grew up, he changed the law, because the law was unfair."
"There was another lady, who had dark skin, and she was sitting on the back of the bus. The people with light skin told her she had to go up to the front of the bus. She told them 'no', and then they arrested her."
For those paying attention to the details above, remember that to a kindergartener, sitting on the back of the bus is the highest honor, so Eliza's confusion is understandable.
Not to be outdone, Garrett chimes in, "I know about Harriet Tubman."