A thinking moment...

I have been really ill.  Not being a doctor, I have finally realized that I am 99.99% sure that I am having an allergy flare.  I spent much of my life in the throes of allergies, to the point of having to have four shots a week.  However, since moving north, where there were real winters, I slowly left that part of my life behind.  Well, actually, I traded it for asthma.  SIGH.

I had heard that Indiana was a hefty allergy zone.  I scoffed.  However, each May/June, I sneeze and groan and try to pretend that I do not have an allergy problem again.  This year, I caved.  I took meds that, in the past, were my Go-To drugs.  Only my STUPID BP/HR spiking problem reared its head.  Dysautonomia strikes again.  I cannot have a decongestant.

I switched to just the plain version.  No more sneezing (for about 22 of the 24-hour period).  No more painful throat.  No more coughing.  No more stuff nose.  Only, I am not sleeping and I feel just plain wretched.

I fetched the milk today, along with other things, so at least I am feeling wretched in milk contentment.  And I swapped out the generic brand of allergy medicine to my most favorite generic brand.  Here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day.

I did have a thinking moment today.  

Oh, how I miss my brain.  

SIGH.

I posted my thoughts on Facebook, to no avail.  I probably should stop trying to be a thinking person anymore ... especially there.  The up side, though, is that birthday present book is surpassing all my hopes and dreams for it gave me a thinking moment!!

This is my Facebook post:

I am already GREATLY reveling in CS Lewis' Reflection on the Psalms. In the introduction, he addresses a few things that come into play here ... with why something like this is just plain WRONG.

In this let's-put-scripture-with-imagery-so-I-can-drum-up-some-"likes" meme from Facebook, the person making it decided to just ditch the rest of the verse. I believe she chose the NIV translation (not a favorite of mine): "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."

You see there, she gutted the verse!

Things Lewis reminds us: 1) Psalms are poems, lyrical in nature and need to be viewed as such so as not to read more into them or less out of them. 2) Hebrew poetry (as is much poetry) is often based on parallelism. You have things stated twice, things that are not neccesisarily cause/effect related, but in a corollary sense. 3) Being lyrical in nature, the Psalms are meant to be on the tongue and in the hear, not merely in the eye.

Sure, the artwork is pretty and the imagery is captured somewhat, but what pretty little blue bird is a shield or rampart? I'm pretty certain that if someone wanted to capture this, maybe it should be of a baby eagle in a smelly, poopy, food-filled nest. There, where beneath pinions and the wings of their parents, eaglets are protected and their every need is tirelessly tended to when they are vulnerable to the trials and travails of life in a fallen world.

Of course, we tend to live in a world where consumerism has taught scripture marketers that folk wants verses to be all soft and fluffy and don't mind them being truncated at all ... especially in bible studies.

SIGH.