Having awakened early enough this morning, I managed to get a few things done before attending an early church service here in the City. Thinking I was late, I discovered the minister being the one who was tardy.
I’m not a regular of that church, and being as such, I happened to notice all the more quirky things some of the attendants were doing. There were several woman there whom I’d noticed in the past, showing copious amounts of outward signs of faith which after a while, grows annoying. For years, I’ve always considered people who do that, those possibly looking for attention, admiration, or perhaps sympathy from those around them. Sorry, I’m just not a taker for such dramatics.
Pretty much all I got out of the Service was reflecting on today’s Gospel of Luke and it being the one about the prodigal son. I’ve always enjoying reading/listening to that parable because I believe the foundations of Christianity is based on the core meaning of that Gospel, and that being, love and forgiveness.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned my challenge to those few who’ve in the past pulled me into religious debates, but if I haven’t, I’ll share with you what I believe to be the basics of spirituality. First off, I’ve come to believe/understand that the core of all evil is fear, and secondly, I’m convinced that the core of goodness being love and forgiveness.
There’ve been a few who’ve tried to convince me otherwise, but no matter how many other cores they would come up with, their arguments were weak at best. Perhaps the reason for some to walk away from such simplicity, is that they’re looking for technicals and volumes of substantiating evidence. Sounds a little bit like doubting Thomas doesn’t it?
After church, I went out to meet a buyer at a home for his final walk-thru on his new home we’re closing on tomorrow afternoon. I was delighted to find that all the personal belongings were gone. Far too often this year, I’ve been finding sellers leaving junk behind which always create ripples in the closing process. Today’s final inspection was a pleasant surprise. I’ll give that buyer six to nine months of work on it, and you can bet there’ll be a noticeable transformation with that home. He and his family always do fabulous work.
My following appointment took me out of town to do an inspection on an estate home. I could see they hadn’t done much with it since their death in the family, but made sure I looked past all the family “stuff” so to get a good idea about size, location, and value going forward. Several of the children were there, and of course they were asking me about price. I did give them my assurance that it would certainly sell above assessed value, but I’d have to do some research this coming week before I could give them a ball park figure.
Afterwards, we had good chat about family dynamics and the whole process they’ll be going thru these coming months, along with giving them the encouragement to stay focused and not get side-tracked by hear-say and/or inter-family dramas. Since I’ve worked with countless numbers of estate sales over the years, I’d say even on the outside looking in, I’ve seen some pretty wicked adults doing some downright awful things. The one thing I do know for sure, is that if there are un-resolved issues between family members, they’ll all surface after the last parent is dead.
When I got back to the City, I returned to my office, changed my clothes, and began busying myself with several of my on-going projects. I was outdoors most of the time, and loving it. There were a noticeable number of people out walking which always makes me happy to find there still are outdoor enthusiasts here in our City. In spite of it getting up to 85 degrees today, it really didn’t feel that hot even though I was sweating. The hours went flying by, and before I knew it, it was time to call it quits.
Late this afternoon I managed to capture the above photo of a hummingbird extracting nectar from a flowering bush. Isn’t it the cutest? Today there were two of them and one looking like it still had its “training feathers” on because of how it didn’t seem to know exactly what to do. I’m sure Mamma will have it up to speed before they fly South where they’ll be able to keep humming along the entire winter.
Tonight’s one-liner is: I can’t stand a naked lightbulb, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action.
