A Dog's Eye: clutching at straws

I find myself of late, for a couple of months now actually, without anything much to say. Time has not been the issue. Desire has. In terms of my writing, I have felt uninspired.

Thankfully, I am not troubled by this. Every now and then, I think about opening my WIP file, chasing up all the beta readers who let me down, pushing my published works, beginning something new, banging out a short story, or disseminating some pithy piece of commentary here on Square Pegs. However, these are mere blips on the radar of my life these days.

True, my new job has forced a routine change, but so has more discipline re gym visits, and also the necessity of watching as much cricket as I can.

Waffle. Waffle. One of dad's favourite words. Miss you Dad! Speaking of favourite words...here are three* that have struck me recently. Polar Vortex, Extra** and Banana Freckle. First, an extreme weather event, then a brand of chewing gum which appropriately sponsors cricket umpires, and lastly a fruit disease which has only just been eradicated in the Northern Territory after a five year battle.

And with that overly long previous sentence and this one beginning ungrammatically with "and", I sign off until next time the capricious wind of muse blows.

*five words in fact

** Extra is a brand of chewing gum made by Wrigley, but in cricket is refers to runs awarded to the batting team when the batsman has not hit the ball. For example, wides, no balls and byes.

More Chewing Gum Anyone?

You may well wonder what on earth chewing gum could teach us about life. (see November 6, 2010 for my initial musings) Life is short and then you die. Chewing gum gets chewed up quickly and then discarded, often carelessly. Whatever pleasure it may have provided is soon forgotten. It is a question of comparisons, of relativity. I could eat a whole packet of Extra but still feel infinitely more satisfied with a baked dinner. Life lesson #4: in crude terms life is packet of chewing gum whereas Heaven will be a banquet.

Is the chewing gum fulfilling its calling in life? After the initial burst of flavour it gives, chewing gum soon becomes a taker; the more you chew the harder you have to chew. Someone should invent a slow release chewing gum. That would be a better, more balanced approached which would prevent the chewing gum suffering burnout. Life lesson #5:Godly people are nothing like chewing gum in this regard. In fact the harder life chews them, the more flavour they release, and they don't get hard or become hard work for others. God's power is more than sufficient to sustain the righteous. Love doesn't get tired.

Life lesson #6: Even the humblest, most mundane things in the world, like chewing gum for example, can be used by God to teach an open minded soul who is listening. Are you listening?