My Thoughts This Week

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week, and as I do, I have those pangs of my past that I miss on occasion.  Granted, my childhood wasn't rosy, and even my high school and college years, as well as early married life, had their challenges as well, but they had a lot of good moments too.  I started this particular discussion site to talk some about those experiences, to share aspects of those memories, and to just somehow relive some of the best moments of my past through those things.  It is so easy often to think about how "good" the "good ol' days" were, and indeed in many cases they were, but a large part of that is how we perceive those earlier times too.  Were they really better?  Only God knows that, and what got me thinking about it yesterday was when our parish priest, Fr. John Poole, mentioned that often it is indeed our idealistic vision of the past that makes the "good ol' days" better than they probably were.  That of course doesn't mean we don't cherish the good of our past, but it also means we need to grow from some of the stinky fertilizer (the bad experiences) life spread on us in the past too.  By looking at it that way, the "bad" in essence may actually make us better!  Now, that is a thought, isn't it??

Over the past 10 or so years, I have made it a point to reconnect with many things from my past, and through all that I have learned much about myself - I have kept a consistent journal for 15 years, been working on my personal memoirs for about 10 years, and have been doing my genealogical research since my high school days.  Those three things in themselves have provided a pretty comprehensive picture, and with the help of the internet and other miracles of modern technology, I have even been able to revisit some things I haven't thought possible.  And, I would not trade any of that for the world, to be honest.   I have noticed though that three dominant things have surfaced as stimuli in my life in regard to establishing the identity I have myself, and all three of them play a very interesting role for some weird reasons.  They are:

1.  Food and cooking
2.  Music
3.  Religion

Most everything many of you have read about me has centered on one or more of these three things, and I suppose they probably do define me more than I realize.   I am not going to spend a specific amount of time discussing any of those here, because I feel much of what I have written to this point pretty much spells the connections out.  However, sufficive to say, those who know me also know I have unique tastes in all three areas, and all three provide creative expression bringing out the true essence of who David Thrower is.  of course, there are other things as well, but for some reason everything else gravitates back to one or more of those three things.   And, as for food, in recent years my midriff shows that too, as the dreaded "middle age spread" caught up with me in my mid-20's, and at 41 now, it shows my age along with my bum leg, my gray hair, and so many other things the body degenerates into as it gets older.  But, despite the flaws and imperfections, I am a being created in the image of my God, and therefore that is something to be thankful for.

I also credit the three things mentioned above as God's way of protecting me when I was young from many of the ills that plagued my generation.   Many of my generation, for instance, listened to some sort of rock music, but I never did - never had a desire to actually.   Also, many of my generation, when we were all kids, thought that church was something boring, but from the time I accepted the Lord as my Savior at age 16, I have loved being involved in the church in some capacity.  And, even before that, church was something that my folks taught me was a good thing, and my mother made me dress up for church even when she refused to go (it has been almost 20 years since Mom stepped foot into a house of worship) and I knew Bible stories before I was in 5th grade from memory.  As for food, I have always identified certain food (like certain music) with a certain identity, and some things I didn't eat or hated to eat I associated with the negative - certain condiments for instance were to me dirty, nasty, and their stinkiness denoted something bad.  I know that probably sounds bizarre, but that is how my mind works.  For instance, I won't eat a hamburger or any sandwich or salad, but have no problem eating kangaroo steak or shishkabobed curried monkey tenderloin - go figure, right??  As for religion too, I generally eschew the latest Evangelical fads and opt instead to be more of a conservative traditionalist - I am at home with either a pipe organ or a Hammond in a church setting, but not a CCM praise band; there is something almost sacrelegious about the latter,   My own religious music collection contains Ethiopian liturgical chant as well as vintage Blackwood Brothers records, and I am blessed equally.  But, you will not find any "religious Top 40" music in my Christian music collection.  Way I figure it is like this - I didn't listen to rock music before I was a Christian, so why would I lower my tastes and standards as a Christian??  To me, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to embrace something that you are personally repulsed by just because it is tagged with a "Christian" label.  DC Squawk to me is as repulsive as is AC/DC, and to me there is no difference, sorry.  No offense intended to my friends who enjoy CCM, but personally I want nothing to do with it.  However, I will be addressing the issues of CCM more in my Sacramental Present Truths site, so stay tuned there in the future.

Anyway, I didn't mean to sermonize about my personal tastes, but just felt like sharing some thoughts.  I will be back again next week perhaps with more concrete stuff to talk about, so will see you all back here then.