Who is Su-Doku? Has anyone in our time met him up close and personal? How old is he? Where did he come from, and how did he get “here”? By boat, plane, horse and buggy, train? Who named him and how do I know he’s a “he”? Well everything, or every word in the French language is either masculine – “Le”, or feminine – “La”, and Su-Doku is a “jeu” (not a Jew, I don’t think he is) and in the dictionary I found “le jeu”. So from that I deduced that Su-Doku is male. I may be wrong, but so far I’ve not heard anyone say otherwise. That’s amazing too because in the English language even though we don’t genderize every word, we do do some words. :-) Like “car” for instance. In French it’s “la voiture” and in English/America I’ve never met anyone (yet) who named their car (or even their guitar) “Eugene” or “Leroy”. It has always been a lady’s name like “Gloria” or “Rhonda” or “Tinker Bell”, and the famous BeBe King named his guitar Lucille. LOL!!
Anyhoooo, this morning I spent some time with Su-Doku to quiet my thoughts and my aching body from so much traveling and singing, as I meditated on my lover Jesus. This game I started a couple of weeks ago (and it doesn’t usually take me this long to complete one, but this one did) and I put it down because I got stuck. So this time I picked it up again and as I worked it I heard in my heart “it’s time to look at things a different way.” A huh, hummm, okay there’s another number for that square, but this time I looked at it not from INSIDE the box, but on the vertical peripherique. Those of us living and traveling in Europe understand the peripherique to mean the highway outside and circling Paris and other cities constructed comme ca. We may have these types of roads in the United States too, but they differ from state to state, and I don’t think we refer to them as the “peripherique”.
I’m not going to give a lesson on how to play and solve Su-Doku, but today Su-Doku taught me a thing or two about how to “play” a better way this “game” called “life”, and how to solve challenges with a more open mind. I love the saying “life is like an elephant. How does it look from your side?” But today my eyes were redirected and opened even more to see that my side of the elephant is a description of where I’ve been, and where I am now. But how am I supposed to see another side? Life can become mighty boring and stagnant just staying in one position (you can get a cramp), and doing things the same way all the time. It’s time to “change my view point” and I’m not talking about morals, right and wrong, or changing from loving and serving Jesus to living with another god (which is really no god at all). I’m talking about what Su-Doku taught me today:
- Where I am is because of where I’ve been and what I’ve done, and where I’m going is because of where I am now, should I decide to move from “this place.”
Am I willing to move, go on, change, to see another side of Paris, another part of Europe, another side of myself and my dreams, the world, my ministry and music? In these blogs I share my adventures – where I am on the way to where I’m going. I’ll admit too the ride is sometimes bumpy, but it’s not always due to my driving. LOL!! (blame it on the taxi driver, the metro, or the bus driver.) Sometimes it’s the “road” itself, or maybe the tires of “my Explorer” need more air or even changing, or the shocks need to be replaced. Hmmm, you get my drift? (Puns sometimes, okay most of the time, are intended.) :-)
It has taken me a long minute to learn to enjoy the ride, though bumpy it has been and may be, and not just anticipate and rush towards my destination. I was so results-oriented that when I “arrived” to where I was pressing to go, I was ready for another trip. I really couldn’t tell you about the journey except when obstacles arose which made an impact, making movement impossible. Looking back I realize I would be “driving” so fast (and Miss Daisy was not in my car, thank the Lord!) that God had to allow problems to arise to keep me from crashing (like the prophet Balaam on the talking donkey on his way to meet the angel’s sword), for several times I was truly on my way to a head-on – mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, and in some of my relationships. Looking back again I can describe myself as an addict – never quite satisfied with the current fix – always in pursuit of the next bag of M & M’s with peanuts (very important, for I was not too fond of the plain.), the next singing engagement, the next Sunday service – always something outside of myself to bring happiness unto myself. Yet never satisfied when I got it, or satisfaction came, but was either short-lived or just packed away as another memory. I had to keep “moving”, but not in the way Su-Doku taught me today.
- Nine numbers in each box of squares, one through nine, in any order, however you must look at all the angles of the entire picture before you can put, in this case, the “right” number in the correct square.
You see, in life, as much as many people don’t like this truth, there are still absolutes that must be respected. There is still right and wrong, black and white, up and down, in and out, and cold and hot, GOOD and BAD. There’s gravity and oxygen to be respected and appreciated. The necessity of clean water and nutritious food, sleep and security, warmth in the winter and cool in the summer. You get my meaning? So you SEE what I’m SAYING and HEAR where I’m GOING?
To be successful in life we must honor and respect the absolutes while looking at life on the horizontal and vertical, the interior and exterior peripheriques, inside and outside of the box (-es). There’s YOUR side, his and her side, their side, God’s side and yes, the devil’s side, and there’s MY side. LOL! We all have a perspective, motives, M.O. and agendas, but only ONE of us has the multi-dimensional view as described above by Su-Doku, and at all times: past, present, future and eternity.
- Some things don’t seem to be related, but they are.
Everything is connected whether we see, feel, hear, taste, smell or understand it or not, directly and/or indirectly. I was trying to place a “5” in what seemed like a logical place in the middle left interior perpherique, right? But Su-Doku said “look to the far upper right quadrant and then to the left upper quadrant”, and I said “Aah, thanks, Su-Doku.” But at first, my immediate short-lived reaction was “what does the upper right hand quadrant have to do with the middle left interior perpherique? Well, as far away from each other as they are, they’re still connected, for the placement of the “5” in the one affected the successful placement of the “5” in the other because of the “5” in the top left quadrant – it was connected to the upper right quadrant AND the middle interior peripherique. Gheez! :-) I know at least one bass man here in Paris, who is also a mathematician, understands what I’m talking about. LOL!!
The decisions I make today, right now, depend upon those I made yesterday, and the plans for the ones I must make tomorrow depend on those I make today. And not only that, they affect the people in my life directly and or indirectly so it’s not just all about me! We cannot and must not live our lives totally unto and for ourselves without considering others – from our past, our present and our future. Yes you have a right to smoke like a chimney today and drink alcohol like a camel, but when you decide to have children later in life your decision to indulge and “enjoy” yourself now will impact them too. Yes! We each must live our own lives in the skin we’re in. Yes! We’re each responsible for our own thoughts, words, deeds, and actions. Yes! We each have a right to enjoy our lives without harassment from others and each other. But we are still dependent and interdependent on and with each other somewhere down the line, for no man (or woman) is an island.
Years ago in our family church at home in Dublin, VA my dad and my cousins Pam and “little” Alpha would sing this song (and man could they blow!!!):
No man is an Island,
And no man stands alone. . .
Each man as my brother,
Each man as my friend.
It’s okay to see life from your side and as a matter of fact, you have so many things to share with family, friends and the world from your side of the elephant, for those experiences helped to shape who you are and what you now do. But stagnant water stinks, and breeds diseases. It’s undrinkable and therefore unusable for humanity in any way. Useless. We cannot afford to just “stay on our side” – where we’ve been and where we are. WE must be willing to move in order to grow, and be willing to grow and learn new things in order to move. We cannot afford to become useless and lifeless for God created us – men and women to be life-givers. We are full of purpose. Scripture tells us we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”, and we are made in His image, and that God is God of the living, not the dead. Wow! (Like Morgan Freeman said in the movie The Shawshenk Redemption: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” It’s your choice.) And one of my favorites is “He Who has begun a good work in you is able to complete it. . .”
Back in the 70s the late Reverend James Cleveland recorded a popular song that we just wouldn’t let die: “Please be patient with me, God is not through with me yet.” Well that’s what I say about you and that’s what I say about me. It ain’t over until the Black lady sings!!! (I’m not fat anymore so the original version of that saying does not apply to me.) Yes be patient with yourself, but don’t stay in the same place forever – emotionally, mentally, financially, physically, even geographically – at least travel some time. Be patient with others – be gentle treating them like you need to be treated – with kindness realizing we all have issues and pains and we’re at different levels of growth and change. But, keep motivating each other for change. God didn’t create us to be mold or moss on a rock, but even mold and moss grow. LOL!!
Thus my next question at this place, as I prepare to “move” to the next is, “what does it look like?” What’s the new perspective for change in my life now? As I experience growth pains anew, what kind of choices will I make? What about you? May I introduce you to Su-Doku?
:-) BTW, is that his whole name, or the first or last? Was he so famous that he has only one name? Hmmmm.
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