Palm Reading

 

   We lived in Arkansas for 13 years and saw only a couple of snows that were of any good (ie. snow men, snow ice cream).  Now we are here in Mississippi, and they have had more than that this month.  I hope everyone up there is settled in by a heater with a good movie and hot chocolate.  If you love the snow… congratulations!  Out of school? Celebation!  Don’t like it?  You could be in Washington D.C.  (Of course you could also be in Key Largo, Cabo, or Martinique.)      

  If you haven’t been able to keep the snow off your satellite dish, you may have missed the prominent news story shaking the airwaves.  Iran is ratcheting up its nucleur program another notch, Haiti conitinues to dig out from under its infrastructure, the west coast has been hit with major mudslides, the Winter Olympics are about to begin, and the New Orleans Saints fans won’t be wearing the “Ain’ts” sacks on their heads anymore… but that news will have to wait.  CBS and other major news  sources have uncovered a scandal that will shake this country to its foundation.  They have had their eye on those “Tea Party” folks for some time.  Something was very suspicious.  How could a movement be so conservative and yet so popular?  They knew there had to be something sinister behind this cloak of popular uprising.  How else, they thought, could you explain the popularity of their image bearer… Sarah Palin?      

  But now, thanks to clandestine photographic work, all is laid bare!  After mulling over countless photos with magnifying glass in hand,  there is definitive proof from the Tea Party National Convention.  They caught her red (actually black) handed.  She wrote the talking points to her speech on her HAND!  Gasp! Shock! Horror!  Can you believe what she says if she has to use crib notes?  What about the children?  Will we ever be able to stop kids from writing on themselves with ballpoint now that it is paraded on National TV?  It is an outrage!    

  I guess you might note there is an air of sarcasm in my tone.  Some of you may actually think this is a huge matter worthy of pushing Haiti and Justice Alito shaking his head and mouthing “not true” right off the front page of the news.  However, before you get too wound up, let me ask you, can you think of moments when you wish the person would have wrote a reminder to themselves?   Remember a time when you wish you’d left yourself a note?    And Sarah’s not the only one.  I offer you these from the archives of hands…         

Custer forgot to check his hand at Little Big Horn

     

   

  

      

Remembering lines was tough on young Stallone

    

      

      

 

Jotted down during long-winded middle ages sermon

 

 

 

 My hand last Sunday 

    There is a real serious point in the midst of this all.  It really does not matter that she wrote her notes on her hand.  Regardless of whether you agree with her, her ideas are not any less viable because she used her palm for her talking points.  Maybe she has plans, if elected someday, to pay-off some of the national debt by selling all the governments teleprompters on Ebay.

  No, this is about something much more important than her method of speech delivery.  Creeping ever so slyly through the national garden of our culture is a slithering serpent called “slander.”  He has always lived here and needed periodically be beaten back with a hoe.  It seems, however, that more and more of a stage is granted this serpent, and more and more money devoted to feeding it.  From celebrities, to heros, to leaders of every stripe there seems to be an obsession with making sure we not hold them in too good a light.  The papparazzi of dirt seem to exploit every little possible opening  in hopes of sinking deadly venom into their reputation and the spirits of everyone else.  We should not judge, the culture says… we should leave that to the media to do for us.    

   We would do well to remember that the world’s Lord said such a spirit and act are sin.  Whether in print or on the news… slander is still diabolical.  So next time you see a story trying to demean and undermind somone, ask yourself, “Why are they running this?”.  There is always more news than a newscast can put on the air, so, “Why is this one so important to the newscasters?”  You may see a poisonous reptile crawling on its belly across the screen, sneaking up on its victim.     

   On the other hand, remember that God writes on His hand as well.  His writings are not the source of denigration, however, but of value, worth, and treasure.  He says through the prophet Isaiah…     

 ”Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
       and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
       Though she may forget, I will not forget you!       

  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands    (Is. 49)     

   Not only did God write it down, he wrote again in blood.  There were never such palms as His palms.  No ones hands ever said as much about you and I, or as much about the one to whom they belong as did the hands of Jesus.  For as the songwriter says, when we see Him we shall know Him… by the nail prints in His hands.   And what does He think of us?  Read his palms!