'GOD IS WATCHING US"

Grab an umbrella, hot cup of coffee or tea and come join me here on the Front Porch!  My, my getting rain; lots and lots of rain.  It’s raining here, there and everywhere…. rain…but long overdue and much needed indeed.

Well, how we doing on our discussions?  Ready for another ‘ize’ word?  Remember that suffix means ‘to cause, to be’.  The more I dig into these words, the more I realize just how meaningful this little study time is helping me in my pursuit of Lifestyle Living.

 My goal for 2013 is to have more than just “ a list of resolutions and revolutions” that looks so good on paper but in reality never jump off the page and become something fluid, living and active in my life.  Mere words, hopes and dreams and wishing upon a star for a lifestyle change in my life.  I hope maybe you have a moment of inspiration or two, too, from our little talks.

So let’s just get down to business here.  Scrutinize…that’s it…that’s our word discussion for today. The word just sputters and spits out when spoken.  Gives you an indication that it is not one of those nice words we like to hear about-especially if we are the recipient of scrutiny.

 The root word, scrutiny means: a close, careful examination or study. 2. Close observation; surveillance.   So scrutinize means to cause or to be closely examined or observed.  Not the nicest thing we meet on the street or coming down the block. We want to jump out of its way, cross the street and avoid this fellow at all cost.

Scrutinize…that’s the two fingers to the eyeballs and back at ya thing, “I’m watching you” with that little threat in the voice. Reminds me of the Bette Midler song, “From a distance”…suppose to be a nice, soothing little song about peace, harmony, I’m Ok you’re ok…we are brotherhood song.

Here is just a portion of the lyrics:             

 “This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance.
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance”.

This song was a hit for Bette Midler in 1990. Other people have also recorded it: Judy Collins, Nanci Griffin (who?), The Byrds (anyone remember them?) Cliff Richard (who?).  The songwriter, Julie Gold, had this to say about the song’s meaning “I believe in an imminent and beneficent God, and also think that people have a right to interpret the song any way they want, as with all art.”  She also stated that the song is about the difference between how things appear to be and how they really are.

Perhaps a reminder that God is watching and so are others!

Interesting. Interesting indeed. God is watching us…and not from a distance…but He is up close, personal and very much involved in our existence.   Yes, He is watching us…especially when we start doing the scrutiny thing

 

 

Romans 2:1 from the Message reminds us just how up close and personal He is:

“Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.” OUCH!  Now who is under the magnifying glass and rightfully so?!

Scrutinize is something we do not like to have done to us…however, we love to do it to others; we are self-appointed experts when it comes to scrutinizing others! We nail that person down under the microscope and pick, peer, peek, poke, tear, trim, terrorize and spread our own brand of tyranny among those placed on our microscopes. We do this with our own self appointed scrutiny.  We stand with our arms folded across our chest, foot tapping, a frown on our faces with the list of offences we have against that person.  Scrutiny…

We are back to the splinter, speck in other’s lives that just bugs us to pieces.  We stiffen up when we see them coming, we cringe when we hear their voice; we have heart palpations when we hear their name.  Somewhere along the way we have scrutinized that person with our high powered microscope and found something or many somethings that we don’t like; feel we just can’t bear or live with.  Our scrutiny has blown out of portion the fact that we are all humans, none of us perfect, all of us with our little faults, pet peeves, tics, habits, annoyances, and our humanity.  Scrutiny of others brings about that sense of superiority…better than you, brighter than you, bigger than you mentality.  The more we scrutinize people the more we see wrong with them (in our perceived sense of rightness and wrongness) and the less we see wrong in ourselves.

Who should we scrutinize?  Who are we qualified, justified and specialized in scrutinizing?  No one, but ourselves.  We do not the right, the power the wisdom or ability to scrutinize anyone, anytime, anywhere.  But we do all the time, most of the time without even realizing it; we have whipped out the Scrutiny Toolbox and begin pulling out all those probing devices.  New people we encounter, people in the neighborhood Wal-Mart, folks driving by, sales people in department stores, people at our job, in our church, even in our family.  Scrutinize.

We are back to the plank, the 2 x 4 piece of board sticking straight out, front and center, in our own eye.  But we cannot see it or if we do get a quick glance at it, we blink and convince ourselves its gone, if it even existed…a figment of our imagination. We have this huge mess hanging on us, obvious to all, and when we get close to others that plank, that 2 x 4 is poking, and hitting and battering the poor soul we are scrutinizing.  Whew, are we a mess or what?!

Why even try to scrutinize others?  Good question!  I think we sense some weaknesses in others…so we much like a bully or a group of wolves, circle in for a ‘kill’…when we scrutinize others we somehow feel better about ourselves (huh?)part of that nasty human nature we have), we feel threatened, fear that person and want to ‘one up’ them and try to establish our position or superiority.  Who knows!  Just like Mammy said in Gone with the Wind,” It ain't fittin'... it ain't fittin'. It jes 'ain't fittin'... It ain't fittin”….meaning it ain’t right, so don’t do it!

 

So scrutinize yourself, look at yourself closely, examine yourself often and thoroughly. Change as un yesterday’s word: revolutionize….your thinking, your perceptions, yourself-more than enough to handle.  Gonna close out with this quote:

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy

So until tomorrow:  watch the scrutinizing!  TCB…take care of business