Jonathots Daily Blog
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Take a few minutes and unscramble this week’s inspirational thought from the words provided:
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1 Thing Santa Has More of Than You and Me
He’s jolly.
I looked up the definition of “jolly,” and quickly found several dictionaries which claimed that the word is so little used that it has become “archaic.”
In other words, “Move over, Grandpa. No one under the age of seventy knows what you mean.”
Jolly is not complicated.
Jolly simply means “to purpose to be exceedingly glad.”
We don’t favor that anymore. We have this idea that we demonstrate our true worth by appearing strained, overworked, busy—and just a little bit cranky.
We assume someone who’s jolly has no worries whatsoever and therefore can presume to be frivolous.
But here’s a clue: that would not refer to Santa Claus.
You’d have to agree that he has a pretty big job. He’s supposed to provide toys and gifts for all the children of the world. And even though the calendar says he has three hundred and sixty-four days to do it, that would still require manufacturing and packaging millions of toys every single day.
What further complicates the Toymaker’s pursuit is that his employees have very tiny hands. I don’t know why he chose to labor with elves, but I certainly hope there won’t be a scandal over how much he pays them.
Also, I don’t know why he’s jolly since he’s so fat.
It certainly doesn’t make anyone else happy, with its threat of heart disease and diabetes. Being jolly would almost appear to be insanely in denial.
Yet for some reason, he giggles his way through several million chocolate chip cookies on one passage across the globe. (I wonder what that does to his blood sugar…?)
Meanwhile, how do you keep up with the inventory? The budget must be frightening. And on top of that, he’s supposed to be involved with animal husbandry—caretaking a whole team of reindeer.
Did I mention the fact that he runs a mailroom? And supposedly the billion or so letters which come his way every year—well, it’s claimed that his eyes fall on every list.
Then, after all of this concerted effort, he also has to deal with a wide range of disbelief. Each one of us probably would groan and moan at the first suggestion that we aren’t real, or we’re “against Jesus,” or that it’s time to hang up the red suit and “put the old boy on a diet.”
Yet, throughout history, including literature, one of the first words used to describe Old Saint Nick is “jolly.”
It kind of makes you wonder what we achieve by trying to appear so adult and contemplative.
It certainly doesn’t draw children.
And it doesn’t make us the point of focus for one full month a year, while those on their way to Bethlehem to worship the Christ child stop off to see Saint Nicholas, requesting their hopes and dreams.
Joy to the world should never be stated or sung by a grumpy believer.
Go ahead–try jolly.
At the very least, it’ll give you a word that you have to explain to all the millennials.
Sit Down Comedy … December 6th, 2019
Jonathots Daily Blog
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Now and then I come across someone or something that I believe to be inadequately named by the New Oxford Dictionary.
So I make up a word of my own.
This week I’ve been thinking about “hero.” Everyone has an image in mind when they hear the term, but we do not really have a word for people who are not heroes, but thump their chests, proclaiming themselves to be.
So I would like to offer my word for such a person:
HEGO
Just to clarify:
A hero is an individual who rises to the occasion and is adequately surprised and humbled by the positive results.
A hego is a person who fails to deliver, but still insists that he* did the job.
A hero doesn’t promise, but still provides.
A hego fails and claims he never promised.
A hero considers the responsibility before agreeing to try.
A hego assumes there is nothing he can’t do.
A hero searches for others better qualified than himself.
A hego believes he is the most qualified without ever searching.
A hero demands no reward.
A hego needs the reward to confirm his worth.
A hero carries his cross.
A hego places his cross on another.
A hero tells the truth because he must.
A hego exaggerates because he must be perceived as great.
Whether in politics, business, entertainment or religion, each path requires a certain amount of honor. When this is provided, a hero can emerge. When it’s ignored and shortcuts are sought, a hego is hatched.
A hero gives of himself.
A hego uses others.
A hero fears being a coward and ends up brave.
A hego believes himself brave and ends up a coward.
A hero steps back.
A hego pushes forward.
A hero lays down his life for a friend.
A hego asks the friend to perform the sacrifice.
A hero seeks peace.
A hego yearns for war.
Bluntly, we could consider the hego to be an exercise in foolishness except for the fact that when our enemies know that we no longer respect the role of a hero, they are more likely to attack whomever has become our latest hego.
A hero believes in others.
A hego believes in himself.
It is my heart that America needs a hero, or maybe two. For after all, we are well-staffed with the hego.
*he or she
Dudley … June 1st, 2017
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DUDLEY
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Jesonian: Three for the Road … May 25, 2014
Jonathots Daily Blog
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The weakness of religion is that it draws people to the ceremony of worship instead of the heart of God and empathy with their fellow-humans.
You can read it all through history. The same complaints that Jesus had toward the religious system of his day hold true two thousand years later with our particular derivation.
But honestly, it does little good to complain about religion, politics or immorality if you don’t have a solid idea as to what will work, and a pathway to the door of understanding.
In becoming a Jesonian follower instead of a typical Christian, who is constantly stirring the Old Testament with the New Testament in an attempt to keep peace, three ideas have to be placed in primary position, as the dictionary for defining the terms of our faith:
1. God created the earth without form–and useless.
Yes, kind of a mess. So He could work on it. God is a builder, not an apartment manager. He likes His universe and He likes people because we’re both fixer-upers.
2. God created people for companionship.
He already had angels to worship Him. He was already well-served. He had no intention of running our lives or even devising plans for us to discover in the midst of our confusion. Granting us free will, He gave us the ability to both walk toward Him and walk away from Him with equal dimension.
3. God created nature as a balance–an even playing field–and also as an environment for humans to take responsibility for, as their home.
Environmental issues are not “liberal” or “conservative.” They are spiritual.
I must candidly tell you, until these three ideas become our spirited journey, there will be a sensation of being lost instead of found.
It is the Jesonian way of looking at life:
- God is a Creator.
- I am His friend.
- The earth is our home.
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