Tag Archives: armor

Armadillo

dictionary with letter A

Armadillo: (n) a nocturnal omnivorous mammal that has large claws for digging and a body covered in bony plates. Armadillos are native to the south central US and Central and South America.

Along with crocodiles and spiders, armadillos clearly remind us that our world is ancient and was once occupied by really scary creatures.

Even though these animals are now much smaller and have a shrunken fear factor, you can certainly comprehend that in their heyday, they must have turned a head or two.

Matter of fact, the first time I saw an armadillo in the middle of the road while driving through Texas, I pulled over and stared at it for a while.

In some ways it looks like a knight in unshining armor. A really ugly knight, mind you.

Rather than seeming to be something natural, the bony plates on the outside of the body look like some kid placed them as a joke on his pet dog and then released the puppy into the wild, and stood behind a cactus and laughed.

The armadillo is also kind of like the pineapple of the animal kingdom. Even though the fruit inside the pineapple is really quite sumptuous, the outside looks like it was constructed by a medieval tinsman.

So it always causes me to reflect on the great debate between creation and evolution.

I will have to admit, if God made all of these creatures at the same time, He certainly had to be on some sort of heavenly acid trip.

And if evolution is completely accurate, it’s difficult to comprehend why the armadillo survived and the stegosaurus ended up in the pits.

So for me, I land somewhere betwixt: envisioning a God who used evolution to create, and a Creator who even to this day, continues to evolve.

 

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Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Apoplectic

dictionary with letter A

Apoplectic (adj.) 1. informal overcome with anger. 2. dated relating to apoplexy (stroke).

If anger is a turd, then rage is a pile of manure. And if we were able to deal with our turds, we wouldn’t have to shovel our shit.

You see, that’s the problem.

Some sense of false kindness prevents us from speaking our hearts, causing us to be deceptive rather than forthcoming.

It doesn’t change the fact of what we feel. Choosing a gentle answer does not make us more gentle. It actually causes us to create a second storehouse, where we stockpile resentment instead of building up our barns of blessing.

It is impossible for me to live a blessed life if I’m pissed off–and the longer I stay pissed off, the less chance I have of ever satisfying the breach I’ve created in my own emotions and soul.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the driving habits of the American traveler. People who would normally appear rational lose all sense of dignity when they get behind the wheel of an automobile, because they feel they’re protected by armor, like a knight on a crusade to kill dragons. They become profane, horn-honkers and selfish intruders into the lives of other human movers.

Why? Because the anger that should have been dealt with days ago is now stinking up the joint.

There is one mission in discovering the value of human life: don’t be afraid to say what you feel … as long as you’re prepared to be wrong.

And since most people are not suited for such an admission of guilt, they would rather keep their feelings to themselves and maintain them in a chest of self-righteousness.

  • Rage is what kills.
  • Anger is what opens the door to communication.

If we allow ourselves to be transparent in our emotions, we will avoid the danger of rage.

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Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Abeyance

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Abeyance: n.  a state of temporary disuse or suspension.

I’m not positive. Oh, I have inklings.

I certainly am aware of little monsters that try to come into my life and leave their footprints all over my freshly cemented ideas. But I’m not really quite sure how to bring all of these munchkins under abeyance.

I don’t know about you, but I always start out really well. Matter of fact, I cruise brilliantly in the middle of the road. But somewhere along the line, I despair over well-doing. It’s not because I don’t have evidence that such actions are beneficial to me. It’s more that the celebration of my victories begin to mingle with the temperament of my bad habits and create a climate of self-righteousness, causing me to temporarily believe that I have arrived at my destination, when actually I am five hundred miles from home.

Yes, there are tiny, little cracks in my armor that welcome the arrows of failure.

Recently, I’ve been trying to lose weight. First of all, I’m not quite sure it’s possible. My body has never been completely amicable to the idea of dropping what it views as my “support system.”

I persevere–but I do see these tiny little inclinations, which I would like to catch early, showing that I am weakening to the severity of discipline and gradually nurturing the need for self-hugging.

Last night it was eating a mozzarella cheese stick–about fifty calories. Sometimes it’s an extra handful of walnuts–about eighty calories. As you can see, neither one in itself amounts to a hill of beans (about 3000 calories).

But the problem is, without me pursuing abeyance in this matter, somehow or another I get from the cheese stick to belching on top of that hill of beans without ever exactly knowing what calorie increases I have consumed in between. It would be freaky if it weren’t so predictable.

So how can I bring this particular appetite in my life under abeyance? I know this–the enemy of any change is to remain silent.

So thanks for the talk.