Who says?

I have been told you can never go home again. I do not believe this is true. Numerous children of all ages and stages have graduated from dependency on parental units and begin free and independent lives only to return, with more stuff and sometimes with dependents of their own. Why do people make up such ridiculous statements which fly in the face of the reality?

Yes, you are going to tell me that they do go home, but not like it once was. I can tell you, some of those families revert right back to pre-existing roles and not only are they home again, they are home like it used to be. Only they tend to fight more about curfews and taking their own car places. Strangely enough, if you are willing to do the laundry, pay the bills and provide clean room and board, many of them will honor the curfew!

I suppose there was a time when the transportation was so limited that kids who left home and went west young men, that going home was much harder. I presume if you had been fortunate enough to get back home, the struggle would have changed home and traveler. All those westerns seemed to indicate the trip out was one way because someone was going to shoot you somewhere out west anyway. We are still a pretty violent culture, but your chances of getting shot in on a trip into town for supplies is reduced, I believe.

Here is another saying that burns me: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." I am appreciative of the understanding that we ought to be a little bit wiser than to walk into the same foolishness twice. However, we have this little thing called 'forgiveness' and 'grace' in Christian circles. We are supposed to be restoring people into fellowship and yadda, yadda, yadda. So if we have been faithful to forgive (as we have been instructed to do so we will not become angry, bitter people and also because God says He will follow our lead there) and someone makes us look like a monkey again, is this really a 'shame on me' thing? I am not talking about buying the same snake oil twice, I am talking about assuming there has been genuine repentance because it has been indicated that has occurred and getting toasted again. I think the shame ought to and does stand squarely on the shoulders of the fool er.

And, since I have a good rant started, let me add that I am equally unhappy with is 'no smoke without fire'. That is so incredibly untrue that I am out of all patience with it and I want to stamp my feet and throw a cute, little, mature, professional fit. I have heard more rumor based on nothing more than someone was thinking something could possibly be true, where no fire had ever been. There are people who's reputations have been injured, where drama has run amok and there was never anything at all more than spiteful vindictiveness. I guess you might argue that the spitefulness was the fire but that isn't what the saying means. It infuriates me that once something is said, no matter how casually, it becomes a 'thing'. No smoke without fire after all. UGH. I want this to be outlawed. In fact, I want the whole gossipy chain to be snapped in enough places, it cannot be re-attached. I think this is hardly a new problem, as Paul was writing about it a little less than 2000 years ago, but we have not cured it. I am, myself, a participant at times and afterwards I think, you have just done it again, you dimwit! I have recently been reminded of the deadly force words carry. I am putting a guard on my tongue and I begin to understand Isaiah much better. I too am a person of unclean lips and I want God to purify them.

Strange that my rants always lead back to God convicting me. You would think I say to myself "Stop! You are about to be corrected again", but no, I go boldly where any other thinking person would fear to tread. I would explore this more but I cannot really take on much more than one thing at a time, and I see the unclean lips taking some focus. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sins.