Month: September 2020

Daily Reflection

“Thankfully, we have a God who does not quit being God when the situation is bad.” (Daniel Brown)

I have two small ornamental ponds in my front gardens. Two or so feet wide by maybe four feet long, they merely are for decoration with a bubbling fountain in each’s center. For as little as they are and for having nothing in them but the fountain, they require a lot of maintenance, which includes skimming them daily from the day they’re opened, usually around Memorial Day, to the day they’re closed, usually the day after Halloween.

So, as I stood there the other day skimming the leaves and debris out of them for what felt like the umpteenth time this year, I watched a cricket swim around, totally unable to get out. Quite typically I find a half dozen of them dead in it on any given day late in the summer and through the early fall. Lately, this has me wondering why they continue to jump into the water over and over again when they see their fellow crickets already in there dead or desperately trying to get out but unable to do so.

The more I pondered this as I skimmed my ponds, the more I realized this is a lot life my life. How many times have I jumped into some pond I couldn’t get out of on my own? Countless. All those “beautiful bubbling waters” I’ve often dived into throughout my life where each have led to numerous mishaps, missteps, and some almost to the brink of my death.

Jobs, relationships, addictions, and more where each began with me staring transfixed into some bubbly fountain of perfection I believed they had, that the answer to all my life’s problems was somewhere within their depths. Only to discover me struggling to get out of their grasp eventually, clinging to some wet side of their murky walls that had now become my prison, until I was forced to cry out for help to escape.

While these crickets have me on most mornings saving most of them from sure death by skimming them out of there, many still never make it. Thankfully, I can’t say that of myself when it comes to all my pleas for help. Because God most assuredly has saved me time and time and time again, day after day after day after day, from one alluring pond after another that I’ve quickly jumped into, thinking that happiness was somewhere within its depths, when it never was probably from the start.

I’m just glad I can say that God has been there for me repeatedly to skim me out of places I never should have been swimming around in the first place.

Dear God, I know I’ve repeatedly jumped into one pond after another that I was never meant to jump into in the first place and have often been unable to get out of on my own. Thank you for always being there for me to skim me out of each of them and thank you for knowing you’ll be there again for me when I most assuredly will probably fall into yet another at some point in my flawed humanness of life. 

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Silly Joke Friday

Silly Joke #1

A woman went to the doctor’s office and was seen by one of the new young doctors. After about four minutes in the examination room, she started screaming and ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he told her to sit down and relax in another room. The older doctor marched down the hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded, “What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?” The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and, without looking up, said, “Does she still have the hiccups?”

Silly Joke #2

Three guys are trying to sneak into the Olympic Village to scoop souvenirs and autographs. The first says, “Let’s watch the registration table to see if there’s a crack in the security system that we can utilize to scam our way in.” Immediately, a burly athlete walks up to the table and states, “Angus MacPherson. Scotland. Shotput.” He opens his gym bag to display a shotput to the registration attendant. The attendant says, “Very good, Mr. MacPherson. Here is you packet of registration materials, complete with hotel keys, passes to all Olympic events, meal tickets, and other information.” Hearing that, the first guy grabs a small tree sapling, strips off the limbs and roots, walks up the registration table and states: “Chuck Wagon. Canada. Javelin.” The attendant says, “Very good, Mr. Wagon. Here is you packet of registration materials, hotel keys, passes, meal tickets, and so forth. Good luck!” The second guy then grabs a street utility manhole cover, walks up the registration table and states in a pretty good Australian accent: “Dusty Rhodes. Australia. Discus.” The attendant says, “Terrific, Mr. Rhodes. Here is you packet of registration materials, hotel keys, a full set of passes, and meal tickets. Enjoy yourself.” They scamper in, but suddenly realize the third guy is missing. They groan – OH NO. He is not too bright. They forgot to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid and blow their cover stories. They spot him walking with a roll of barbed wire under his arm. He walks up the registration table and states: “Foster Bean. USA. Fencing.”

Silly Joke #3

Three women were returning to their Hungarian village when they spotted a man, obviously very inebriated, walking ahead of them. As they watched him stumbling, he fell face down into a mud puddle. When they walked up to him, one woman turned him over to see if she recognized him. However, his face was so covered with mud that she bent over and unzipped his pants. She remarked, “Well, he’s not my husband.” The second woman peering over her shoulder agreed, “Your right, he’s not your husband.” The third woman, somewhat older than the other two, bent over to look and said, “And he’s definitely not from our village either!!!”

Bonus Silly Joke

A recent survey was conducted that asked women of what they thought of their ass. 85% of women said that they thought that their ass was too big. 10% of women said that they thought that their ass was too small. And the remaining 5% of women asked if they were referring to their backside or their husbands.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thought For The Day

Quote #1

“I didn’t consider myself a drifter; I was just a victim of schizophrenia. I had gone 10 years without getting any kind of treatment. Once I accepted and cooperated with the treatment, I started to beat the illness. My accomplishment is that people are hearing what can be done. People can and do recover from mental illness. The medication is important, but it doesn’t cure you. I won with the things I did to help myself, and people who may be suffering now or people who may know someone who is suffering can hear that.” (Lionel Aldridge)

Quote #2

“Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.” (R.D. Laing)

Quiet #3

“Living with bipolar, schizophrenia, or any other mental condition takes a recognition that one has a chronic condition that needs managing. The management can be through pharmaceutical intervention, talk therapy, mindfulness programs, diet and exercise changes, all kinds of things. (Stephen Fry)

Bonus Quote

“I have schizophrenia. I am not schizophrenia. I am not my mental illness. My illness is a part of me.” (Jonathan Harnisch)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson