Mystery Writing

I'm taking a mystery writing class online.

So far I've discovered:

Mysteries must involve a good and a bad character. The 'good' character is not all good - he or she has a flaw that must be overcome. The 'bad' character must hit the good character right in the weak spot.

The end involves a resolution in which the good character realizes and overcomes his own personal flaw. The bad guy gets retribution, but it comes in direct proportion to the magnitude of  his own personal flaw.

Who knew?

How Conservatives Can Lead

Halloween is over. We've had our chance to carve the jack-o-lantern with a forbidding face, and now the pumpkin is rotting. On a national level it's time for conservatives to stop relying on dissent as a strategy. Nearly everyone is aware of the failures of Affordable Care Act, but preaching to the choir doesn't build the congregation.

Real leaders never lead people anywhere with negativity. Yes, we want fair and equitable healthcare, and we'd like to be able to choose. Yes, the president is championing other policies that at least half the country doesn't want, but he was voted in for a second term according to the rules of our republic. Now what?

We've got three years to present a valid, vibrant conservative vision for the future of America. When the country awakes to the massive Obama hangover in 2016, we need to be ready with the cure.
Now now is the optimum time to begin crafting a plan for the future that will woo, not sicken the worn and weary country. We know we have what the country needs, but at some point we must transition from hand wringing to a workable strategy that includes the everyday American conservative who wants to know the answer to the burning question of the day, "What can I do to make a difference?" We can no longer leave it up to Washington. That clearly is not working.The law of inevitability teaches us that focusing on a thought like 'the country is going to the dogs' will lead it there eventually.

How will we fix the insurance stranglehold and healthcare nightmare that will soon become obvious to everyone? What answers do we have for becoming a responsible, earth-friendly nation without being dangerously dependent on other countries? How can we grow our own economy so that we no longer need to be dependent on the nanny state? How can we encourage our citizens to take charge of their own health? Has everyone forgotten that good health is about so much more than finding a healthcare plan? How can we give our below-poverty masses the hope to raise themselves up to become productive, successful citizens? What will we do about the shrinking middle class? How can we discourage the obscene excesses of the ultra rich classes such as celebrities, media moguls and over-grown banks, who prey on ordinary citizens? What solution do we have for unscrupulous lobbying? How can we manage immigration (isn't it a good thing that we are so popular?) so that we can lift our lamp beside the golden door without bringing vipers into our bosom? Who's going to take responsibility for the NSA? How can we go forward without losing the heart of who we are?

I confess I'm a regular Hannity/Limbaugh listener, but the message is beginning to sour in my stomach. I'm not promoting naïveté. I know the problems that beset politics, and that's exactly why we need the wisdom of serpents along with the gentleness of doves.

As much as I love to hear the dirty details, I think it's time to stop bad-mouthing low information voters, and give them the dignity of education with respect. I think it's time to stop insulting the 'drive-by media' and give them something to report about. Enough already. 

I'm listening for the clarion voice that speaks above the whining and leads us toward the real wide-awake American dream. The land of unlimited opportunity for everyone that's willing to work hard, the compassionate America that provides mercy for the truly unfortunate, and a governing body that weeds out avarice even when it's found among their own. That is a voice that will be heard above the chatter.

For over two hundred years we've been working on this thing. Today's sharply divided ideology seems to be unprecedented, until we remember the conditions under which Lincoln said,"We are testing...whether we can long endure."

I believe that with courageous leadership, we can and will.

Timing or Trust?

Ever wonder why, when God comes through on something we've been holding our breath about, He seems to act in the nick of time? It can't be a lack of planning on His part, though it may have been on ours. Still, I've been puzzling about it for some time. If He's going to do the deed, why not make it happen ahead of time, so we aren't biting fingernails about it.

The answer came in the form of our recent litter of kittens, and the memory of a Bible story I heard long ago.

My journey with God has led me through more than several dozen midnight hour rescues, and until this very week I'd been almost (no, not almost) irritated with God for not giving me more lead time on His spectacular provisions in my life.

I thought about the baby kittens, in fact, babies of all kinds. Their mother feeds them every few hours. She never gives them enough milk to last a whole week, or even a whole day, for if she did, they might run off too far away from her and hurt themselves. Similarly, in the Old Testament of the Bible, the Israelites were stranded without any natural supply of food and God sent them manna from heaven, supernatural food that rained down from the skies every morning, and it was just enough for one day. If they tried to save it and keep it over for the next day, it spoiled.

I'm convinced that whenever God is attempting to keep us close to Him, He stages these little crisis to keep us looking towards Him in faith and dependence. Otherwise, we'd run off with a year's supply of treasures and never look back. It's been well documented that we are wired  like that. I should say that it's been well documented that I'm wired like that. The first sign of spring after winter and I'm outta here, like the nine ungrateful lepers. It may be the reason that Jesus said, "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." He also taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," but don't we love to back the SUV up to Costco and not have to worry about it for a month? We try to hoard the manna in the spirit of the prodigal son demanding his inheritance all at once so he could get on with it.

Instead of a problem that God has with timing, its more likely a problem I have with trust. How about you?

Austenland Isn't Quite

I was more than intrigued when hearing about the new book and movie Austenland by Shannon Hale.
Being the kind of Austen fan who keeps a copy of Pride and Prejudice in the bathroom just for snatching a few Austenian phrases and who has probably seen every movie based on her books. I sadly have no more authentic Austen to explore, as I have read every book, some multiple times, therefore, I lapped up Hale's promise to assuage my thirst.

Her main character, Jane, is a lot like all of us girls because she just happens to live in our modern world and can't seem to get over her obsession with Darcy. So far so good. Who can? With a stack of failed relationships meted out at the beginning of every chapter, we seem to get the idea that this girl has been around. It's obvious that this Jane is no expert in love, so much so that when her elderly aunt dies, the clever woman wills her niece a trip to the exclusive and pricey Austenland, a resort featuring the reenactment of the Regency period complete with actors, costumes and setting. Jane promises herself one last fling in fantasyland and then she will join the real world once and for all.

And this is where the slow leak in Hale's book begins. I'm afraid I didn't feel it. I wanted to. I wanted my last fling in fantasyland too! I imagined the feel of that Spencer jacket myself. I smoothed my imaginary empire waist gown over my own stomach. I love, love the idea of it all. I tried.
But Hale's Darcy, Mr. Nobley didn't deliver. Her veiled Mr. Wickham, Martin the gardener, was not quite up to snuff either. I won't give the end away because you may want to decide for yourself on this one.

I'm back to re-reading the Queen of Regency herself. So what that I know the characters like the back of my own hand? Never mind that I sometimes speak Austenian and often compare people in my life (and my daughter's lives) to all of the characters.  I was a prime consumer for the book. I'll take a look-see at the movie and let y'all know what I think. Hale is onto a good thing. But so far, it's pretty
hard to beat Jane Austen.

Staying Close to the Shepherd

When I was a wee girl at the tender age of 5, I began my formal education in a small town in the midwest with a population of under four hundred people.

My mother would walk me to school up the hill about three blocks away from our house each morning. I remember bits and pieces about kindergarten, such as the cards with words and shapes on them to learn the colors, and every now and then I can still catch a whiff of what I think my teachers perfume smelled like. I learned to read almost immediately but I was shy and cautious in group settings. Recess was particularly traumatizing and I recall that I spent most of every recess next to my teacher, standing as close to her as I possibly could.What a patient woman she must have been. I only remember once venturing into the mass of children to play 'Red Rover'. I was a little embarrassed about that later, but at the time it was a survival technique.

Years later, I find myself reviewing the 23rd Psalm and during a particularly tough season, I have been learning to practice staying close to the Good Shepherd. There I feel safe, and there I feel protected. He too is patient, and doesn't mind that I need to be near Him. Indeed, He encourages it. And now, as a mature woman, I'm not the least bit embarrassed.

I guess it is true that what we need to know in life, we learn in kindergarten.  

Helping to Lift the Lamp

I distinctly remember the name of my first choral teacher. Mr. Armentrout.

The first song I remember learning in the choir was, "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor".

We assembled in the muggy, musty gym, a motley crew of teens just getting back to school again in the still hot days of early September. Our small private school had just moved into a brand new-to-us building and my best friend and I had volunteered time over the summer to paint the girls bathroom a faint shade of aqua. If I concentrate, I can still smell that paint job, that building, and I can still remember the excitement, both the agony and the ecstasy of being fourteen.

The words to the song, enhanced by a lovely melody and masterful chord structure, entreat the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free...promising that America, the global mother, will lift her lamp beside the golden door to light the way in. The ideology of that song was beautifully inspiring to me then, and brings a sting to my eyes still, as I type this. And back then, on the eve of my fourteenth year and my first experience in a choral group, it drew me in as well to the magical power of music. In a way, music itself welcomes the tired, the poor, and all of us who need to catch a breath of fresh air in our busy lives.

Today I had the privilege of witnessing seventy-plus middle schoolers in their new choir class as I accompanied what was for some their first choral experience. I listened with an inward chuckle as the teacher, whose name shall remain anonymous for reasons other than that it happens to be just about as amusing as "Armentrout", urged the students to open their mouths and exaggerate their pronunciation.
I remembered hearing that very same thing several decades ago, and thinking I was doing just that, got a jolt when we watched ourselves on video later. I had barely opened my mouth!

So, I must admit to being just a little jealous of these unsuspecting children who do not yet realize what a great privilege it is to be able to sing to the world, to woo an audience, and to learn the language of music. But, the lamp is being lifted, the door is opening for them all.

Although they sometimes look and act as if the experience is not reaching them by maintaining that deer-in-the-headlights look, I know better. Their lives are about to change forever.

Feet up