Okay yeah sureeeeeeeee... we have fire season and rain season and swimming season... there are others? :) And the lettuce gets downright pathetic midsummer... likewise the strawberries won't be in any shape until February at least! ;) This is why our very general locations are on the profiles... sometimes they are relevant. So yes, I was thinking of seasons primarily as "harvesting different things". Obviously with the Lord as the sun forever located in Jerusalem, our seasons and everything will change RADICALLY, in ways I can't imagine. We'll go with "seasons = regularly occuring change in routine", if you will?
You have a point about bloodsucking creatures. Anything that lives off of death (ie tigers) will have to be changed so why not them? But... therein lies the question. Will specific dogs and tigers etc be in Heaven, or just "tigers" generally? DO they have an immortal soul? This would mean that not only tigers but all of the extinct animals would be there... mammoths, dinosaurs, what have you. I tend to think that God will populate the new earth with what suits Him rather than crowding it with everything that has ever lived. I am anxious to hear your thoughts on that, honestly I've never given it much consideration.
Coverings, male/female: Dr. McGee explained the Nazirites thusly, that they were willing to humiliate/make themselves visibly different for God, and that's what the whole deal with long hair on men was. Likewise, the shorn hair of the temple prostitutes in Greece was what prompted Paul to instruct women to grow long hair and/or cover their hair. I don't have any definitive answers, although I've heard good discussion both pro and con on the covering issue. Have YOU ever tried it? What did you think for yourself? I liked it, but I would have liked being somewhere other women were covering more. In a way it made me feel specially protected, and in a way it made me feel really self-conscious. I stopped because of the latter... I didn't want to be thinking about my own "holiness" while in the act of worship. Also when I gave it up I was gaming and my avatar ingame was far from modest and the two didn't go together for me at all... I don't do hypocrisy, at least when I can locate it! (Likewise I'd really like to say that I wear skirts for religious reasons, but I really just don't like pants).
I'm willing to do a "cover all day" and see if I feel any differently this time 'round... do you want to try that with me? Not tomorrow/Tuesday but sometime this week? Say Thursday or Friday?
That brings up self-consciousness in worship and all kinds of random things... it's really silly/pathetic, but I don't want to kneel down in my church to worship (even though I'm sure no one would mind) and at the same time I vastly prefer to kneel when worshipping on my own. Sometimes I'd like to kneel, but don't want to make a spectacle of myself. UGH. Sooo not a good thing... but then if I do kneel, am I going to be thinking about people looking at me or about God? Bah. Good Baptist girls sit completely motionless (or stand, depending) during worship services, so the change to the nondenom church where people raise their arms and sway is a big one for me! Thoughts? I am much more free in my "prayer closet" (ie my bedroom).
The prior was little stuff... this one is a big one. How do you approach wanting Christ for Himself alone? So many of my devotionals and religious texts emphasize that that is why we were created, to love Him. And I feel like I want Heaven for the sake of friends and loved ones, for rest and quiet, for a release from the body ruled by the old nature... for any number of things, but wanting Him? That's really hard for me. It's hard to know how to approach Him, as a person? rather than deity and not be disrespectful. I don't even know how to begin to want Him for Himself alone. I am trying to learn, as you know this has been a hard season in my life and I have been spending a lot of time listening to His Word and praying for guidance etc etc... where does that leave off, "Daddy help me ... fix it... heal meeee..." and go to "I love you Daddy!" for yourself alone - or to think of Jesus as Bridegroom... This is a big mystery to me. I could quote you about it, but I'm interested in how YOU approach this if you do. I want to please Him, and very honestly, I WANT to love Him properly. Obviously as a human I can't love Him as He deserves or even begin to, but... I want to. Does that make sense?
A fine mess I leave you with... enjoy!
