Tuesday, October 15, 2024

A Little Bit Lonesome (song, Kasey Chambers)

Hello Grafted In Reader,


Today is Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024 in my corner of blog-land. Autumn has arrived here! In fact, the overnight low dipped to 38 degrees F. First time this season!

I wanted to talk a little about nothing in particular, but everything in perspective.

Our title is "A Little Bit Lonesome" by the Australian acoustic singer, Kasey Chambers.

I think it's okay to be 'a little bit' something, and will let you fill in the something.

I recently left a major social media site, which also means having to change where my stories will be posted henceforth. My platform, as far as known to me, is still existent as:

https://www.spillwords.com/author/davidcrussell

Several stories are there free for the perusal and reading.

In fact, if you are a semi-regular visitor to this blog, and have read a story or two of mine, would you leave a short comment?


So, I am a little bit lonesome as I transition both to Reddit and Mastodon, social media sites.


For pleasure reading, My wife and I are listening to "A Stranger Is Watching" by the late Mary Higgins Clark; it's a very entertaining read!

For growth, I am reading "Escaping the Matrix" by Greg Boyd and Al Larson, 2005 publication. Again, for personal growth and edification.


This past Sunday, I had the honor and pleasure to play two music solos at The First Congregational Church, New Baltimore Michigan.

If you google the church name, as above, you can hear/see the service online and hear my two solos. The minister, whose name is Bri, spoke at some length on the biblical character, Job, and his friends. Job is a character who loses just about everything near and dear to him in life, but yet he doesn't deny his trust in God Almighty. The friends, comforting at first, become overtly challenging of him in the story.. I have been asked to return to this church to play more music in early February 2025.


How is your season of life in general?

I like comments, and like that you chose to stop by and share a visit together.


Until next time, the presence of the Lord (Adonai) be with us always!


Mellow Rock

David C. Russell, Author

 

Friday, October 4, 2024

Closer To You (Song, Brandi Carlile)

Hello Grafted In Reader,

Today is Friday, October 4, 2024 in my corner of blog-land. 

Earlier today, my memories were somewhat enlivened from the decade of the 1990s. I read a reflection from the "New Life Devotions Archive" that was written during this decade, and I will share below.

I think it has some valid, uplifting, considerations for that four-letter word we know as "love".

I found this online, so credit goes to the writers and entity that posted this topic.


Secure Love


We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies and that our lives had become unmanageable.

lrd-secure-love

The search for love and permanent security in relationships is deep within all of us. Even though we may be in a relationship where we are loved, we may deeply fear the loss of that love. This is especially true if we’ve been abandoned in the past or had our love betrayed.

The Song of Solomon is a love poem dedicated to the girl Solomon loved. He describes a nightmare she had: “I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. . . . Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem—If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love” (Song of Solomon 5:6, 8). The fear of separation darkened the girl’s joy at being deeply loved. At the end of the poem she says, “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave” (Song of Solomon 8:6).

We are all haunted by a deep need for a “permanent betrothal,” a secure love that won’t escape us. When we lose a close and intimate relationship, we become lovesick. We feel powerless over the forces driving us in search of permanent and true love. No matter how much a person loves us, our needs seem deeper. Perfect love that never leaves can only be found in the one who is Love. When we are powerless over the forces of love or over our own obsessions, we need to look to God to satisfy our deepest longings so that fear and dissatisfaction don’t become a trap.

God can—and will—satisfy our deepest longings.

Taken from The Life Recovery Devotional copyright © 1991 by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. 


In 1991, I was recovering from a five-year relationship that ended by mutual agreement. It took a few months to come out from the fog of that experience. Life did go on for me!

Love is a powerful emotion as we read. Do you think indifference and or dissatisfaction if allowed to fester, can become equal in power or felt force?


Perhaps our steps if turned over to our Higher Power, whom I believe to be Yehoveh, Messiah Yeshua, will be put in order and that includes our innermost passions.


Something to consider for sure, and enjoy the song title for which this post is derived on your favorite music channel.


Feel free to drop a comment. A couple of you have done so in the recent past, and it was a boost to my spirits!


Until next visit: be well and may you do well.


Mellow Rock

David C. Russell, Author