capricious

It has been so hot of late that I am starting to look forward to getting into the cooler temps of fall that seem much too slow in coming. In fact, all the seasons seem to move slowly once they get here, even though we have more summer than anything else in our part of the country. It’s much easier to work outside in the winter but nothing grows to have to dig up, prune, cutback or harvest. If I were in charge of the season speeds things would probably get messed up really bad so they are better left to their own speed – slow.

The seasons of our lives change slowly as well, going quite unnoticed except when looking back to the "used to be" and "used to could", but these changes are just as sure as summer turning to fall. The changing of the weather seasons prompt questions such as: Is there something I should have done or didn't complete this season and still need to do or will it have to wait till next year?

At times even the daily chores of yesterday or last night come to mind and I don't remember if they were completed. One of these might be - Did I put the cat out last night? This one usually doesn't occur to me since we don't have a cat.

As a matter of fact, we don't even have a dog, but if we did, that last question would have been very meaningful to such a canine. Especially since the dog, which we don't have, really doesn't care that much for the cat we don't have either. We do have some fish that merrily swim all day in their little tank. The fish don't seem to care or even recognize whether we have a dog or cat or even a water buffalo. The latter would be too big to stay inside anyway.

These fish seem to have no stress at all in their lives, and probably won't have unless the cat we don't have was dipping it's paw in the tank in an effort to make lunch of these baby sardines. So not having a cat eases the stress the fish would have had otherwise. The dog we don't have is probably glad about the cat as well.

How would one detect stress in their fish anyway, since they don't communicate very well? You can't even give them an affectionate pat, something the dog I don't have would have been glad to receive. It's just as well about the dog because I would have named it something weird - like maybe "Phydough".

I have no idea if this whole soliloquy is a digression, regression or even a transgression. Is it still digression if you never return to the original subject? In this case it is, since I am about to.

The changing and advancing seasons and years of our lives tend to leave us weaker in the physical, mental and even emotional areas, but the spiritual can gain strength up until the death of this outward body. I recall an early mentor that could hardly walk and was nearly blind, but he was a mighty prayer warrior in the Kingdom of God. May we be such spiritual giants as well.