Jumbles

Known since the middle ages under a variety of names, flavored with strong spices like anise and caraway, and prized for their keeping quality, jumbles are a virtually indestructible and somewhat nourishing cookie, if not exactly a delicate morsel. Think hardtack biscuits. Principle thoughts, not cookies, are my current jumbles.

Getting to the principle of the thing has always been my bottom-line. Neither telling funny family stories nor tossing off truth with a breezy air is my strong suit. And, honestly, isn’t principle what steers our ship through life events, rather than stories? Trying to duplicate the quirkiness of our family dinners won’t help anyone. Setting a course to bring big ideas home for supper and serve them up in bite size pieces night after night will.

But pulling principle out from a swirl of events requires pondering—lots of Sunday nights and devotion time and quiet afternoons. Time and effort are both required to unhinge principle from the hurt feelings, euphoria, bad days, good days, tiredness, energy bursts, corporate pressure, pressing needs, urgent responsibilities, immediate gratification, and subsequent regret–all those messy specifics that should stop clamoring and align themselves under the pertinent principles for any given circumstance, holding life on course.

But,what happens when thinking time gets curtailed (or neglected)? What happens when events pile up on each other, before reflection can sort them out? That’s one jumble.

What happens when the comfortable priority balance gets tipped off  its cozy balance point?  Should the new normal be embraced as better or corrected? How long can something be out of balance before getting set to rights?  That’s another jumble.

What happens when life sends events that permanently change life as it has been known? When something will never be undone? What is the new balance? What has to change? That’s another jumble.

What happens when words and perceptions lose their mooring and come to mean something antithetical to the intent? What happens when the counsel and “common sense” of everyday-people-just-living-life (rather than the opinions of the agenda-ed fringe) chaff against the rigors of living with integrity? That’s another jumble.

Taken all together they mean a person, a family, or a society is in flux, bouncing on rough waters. Whether the ride stays smooth, settles in after a few joggles, or pitches until everyone is sea sick, depends less on the condition of the water, and more on the principles built into and running the ship.