Tuesday, February 23

Odds and Ends

Why do so many obituaries begin with ...." ( She ) went home to be with the Lord.....". How do they KNOW someone is with the Lord? Saying it does not make it so.

Landing in whatever is your idea of Heaven is NOT a foregone conclusion for 99 % of us, especially for those who spout Bible verses, religion and spirituality ad infinitum, but continue to do many things that are the complete opposite of what they profess to believe!

*******

Here's a happy little story from New York City (and a good blog to bookmark, to boot!)


***

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.”

Ellen DeGeneres
(I'm not sure I want to be normal! Read it twice, so it will sink in. )

20 comments:

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Love the Ellen quote!

Looking to the Stars said...

My husband and I are lucky. Our business office is in our home, so the drive to work is 2 steps to a spare bedroom turned into an office. My office clothes are sweatpants and a t-shirt. Our car is paid off. I don't know how many people live beyond their means but I know I try to live within mine.

Have you found out anything more about your wet drywall? It sure has me stumped.

Kay Dennison said...

Remember, Judy? As long as we make a good Act of Contrition, our sins will be forgiven. That's what the nuns told me a longggg time ago.

Nothing about me is normal. Ask practically anybody.

LL Cool Joe said...

Well I'm a Christian so I do believe one day I will be with the Lord. But I'm not going to preach on your blog!

Who wants to be normal anyway?

Gilly said...

First of your paragraphs - yes, I totally agree! Though most obituaries here, at least in the newspapers I read, would not end like that anyway. People just die.

And the second quote - well, I don't want to be normal! Though being retired it doesn't quite apply to me, but its so very true anyway.

Perhaps we should all be smallholders, and spend the day tending to our veggie plots, milking the cows, and digging in the muck!

But I insist on a washing machine!

Peter said...

Would Ellen DeGeneres know anything about normal????

Dorothy said...

Oh my gosh, if that isn't the craziest and yet the truest statement I've read in awhile..I'm going to write a post about those words some day..

Thanks so much for your comment on my site...the picture did really surprise me...

I love your site.

Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com

Pat said...

I look forward to reading 'She has gone home to be with Old Nick.'

Tabor said...

Ellen is a wise old girl. Death is so hard on people that we have to tell them what they want to hear about the departed.

Lynn said...

Ellen has a point.

When my dad passed away in December, I hammered out his obituary in 10 minutes and submitted it to the funeral home, who said they would add to it to make it read better. I said to them - none of that "going to be with the angels." They ended up using mine as is.

Star said...

I love Ellen. And that is reality, but it isn't what they show on reality TV!

rosemary said...

Pondering everything you said. i have seen the backs of a few Christians. As for Ellen....while that may not be "normal" I wish it was true.

robin andrea said...

I reached the same conclusion Ellen did years ago. We put a whole lot of "work" between us and our food, shelter, and clothing. It used to be much more direct.

Jamie Dawn said...

Ellen is right, and being normal is way overrated.

:-)

Maybe they should say, "She went home to be with the Lord... we think."

LZ Blogger said...

Judy ~ I like your new avatar! It's cute. ~ jb///

oklhdan said...

All truths! Heck, with my genetic disposition I have known for sometime that normal is like beauty it is in the eye of the beholder and I say that with some authority! :)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Soooo Soooo true, Judy....Sometimes I feel like the people who scream the Loudest are the people who are the least connected to "The True Good".

Loved that site....Great place to propose....!

Normal? What is that, pray tell? HELP!

I don't know where I will be, because, I don't know where or what, or if, there is anything after this...BUT, I cannot believe I won't be someplace really really nice, even though I am not a Christian.

Oh, and BTW: I have never read an Obit that starts out like that. In fac, I was truly surprised that you said so many Obits start out that way where you live....I read The NYT and The Trade Papers and some other periodicals, and none of them begin with that first sentence...In fact, not any Obituary that I can remember has ever started out that way or even says something like that in the body of the Obit. Interesting. I wonder what that means??

Darlene said...

I have a pet peeve about obituaries like that. I also wonder why the word 'death' is so hard for some people. She/He passed. Passed where, how and passed what?

Grannymar said...

Judy, your mention of obituaries reminded me of a neighbour. His wife was discharged from hospital late one afternoon following surgery, he persuaded her to stay another night and come home the next day. She phoned the following morning to say she was ready to be collected, hung up the phone and promptly dropped dead on the spot!

When I called down to see if they needed anything he was rejoicing that his wife was with the Lord!

I must say that scene left me cold and I was happy to return to my own house.

Paul Nichols said...

Hold on a minute. Obituaries and funeral services are NOT for the deceased, but for the mourning. "...at home with the Lord..." is a message of comfort to those who can read and hear. You probably wouldn't want to see something like "...roasting in hell forever..." would you? So if it comforts family and friends to know that the old Aunt is resting comfortably in the arms of Jesus, let 'em be comforted.

Two cent's worth...