The Amazing Adventures of Lunimous Lucid, The Scropulous Joyful Jester

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Ringtale Notes....VIII

Of Hope and Cynicism

My Dear Butterfingers,

I must confess to a certain curiosity with why things turn out as they do. I have read the scripts history reveals to us, the past turn to show us the plot of where we're heading to. I've even heard one man say 'all new news is old news happening to new people.' And being of a particular age, I was raised with a certain degree of optimism. With the shackles of childhood broken, once again we could get back to the normal business of pursuing happiness, love and success, which at the time we though it was going to be easy. However optimism is not hope, yet it is a recurring feature of life in good times. It is also a feature that all to quickly vanishes and reveals itself for what it is when bad times return.

My friend, my heart has been growing heavy when I look back on all the friendships that ended abruptly due to the emotional concoction that wanted to take these relationships to a world created for romance, Eden, yet instead left a trail of butterflies our stomachs and a lot of elephants in the room. But I must thank God that instead of growing cynical from such historical awakenings, I found hope and a space to breadth in these suffocated rooms. When hope fades, cynicism is often waiting in the wings. And this is indeed one of the great challenges for us. Skepticism (there is nothing good and I know it) and cynicism (I can’t trust anybody or anything and I know this) seem reasonable choices. But is this a necessary outcome or orientation for us? I think not. Yet, if we have bought into a rationalist vision, if we have embraced the vision and values of our age uncritically, if faith is merely a part-time investment in an over cluttered life, then perhaps we don’t have the necessary orientation or resolve to face the issues and challenges of our time.

The moments will be awkward, and most of the times frustrating. The memories will be haunting, and the journey even more tough cause of the heart that grows weary with every step. But the hope that we have, that of Eden, where, after many years of hopeless wondering, God will be re-enacting the two souls that were meant to be. For now it going to be tough, I now  it is, but the scripts that are revealed by history (His-story) are the learning and building blocks that are there to equip and better us, instead of shooting us down, lingering in broken hearts and tainted emotions.

May the Beauty be patient with us, as we are only young men growing daily in the heartbeat of God.



Yours Affectionate Brother In Arms,

Ringtale, The Guy Who Plays A Certain Instrument

Friday, September 20, 2013

The Ringtale Notes.....VII

Punctuated Equilibrium...

My Dear Butterfingers,

Ever since I heard that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, I've been looking for the one whom she tells the truth to. Because, perhaps, finding that being will bring rest to my turmoil of searching for the beauty itself. And it's a quest not without hassles and tussles. But my negativity has pushed me beyond insanity and the peer pressure masculinity I thought I had already fought through. For months on end, I've put my ear to the ground, to listen through the cracks, to hear her footprints when she comes beating with God's own scintillating pace. It was as if my fear of getting into a bad relationship was drawing me towards the wrong exit. When they said 'you must live for the moment', I began to forget about the future in an instance, and what's at stake when following the path of pretense. Yet I saw them eat crumbs of love, live life on a high and let reality escape them like those youth on drugs. I've seen them all around me, their stories remain long like graffiti, the streets tells them all without mutiny. And having learned the lessons from all these unsuccessful relationships, I've come to a conclusion that all relationships, whether it be a friendship or a romantic one, are meaningless when there's no purpose, direction and the common courtesy of respect. Trust becomes intrinsic. When these are violated, our journey of love becomes one that is marked by signposts of sex slaves, premature parenthood, getting dribbled by nipples and tingled in a cluster of mistakes and heartbreaks. Really, we all get lost to fallible courses. Some people you meet they love you today and leave you tomorrow ululating in sorrow, their infidelity makes loud noises. So at all times I guard myself that, I too, don't walk around carrying love on hormone lustful bags, dragging my soul to refuse bins like filthy rags.

Marriage is a wonderful and sacred engagement, and I believe in all relationship that should be an end goal. And if beauty keeps lying in the eyes of the beholder, and the end, when the beauty fades, she'll have nothing left except her lies. While the beholder will be drenching in his foolishness, having lost the very thing that brought a smile to his heart and completion in his eyes. The harmony, brought by the One whom she tells the truth to, becomes lost if both the beauty and beholder loss sight of the One. At the end they'll both be staring at the hollow mirrors of their squandered youth.

My friend, one thing for sure is that the young and restless die cold and alone, and I don't wanna experiment with human hearts so much that I end up becoming numb to the real thing when it finally comes. So it is important to stay true to God, that our love towards the beauty becomes unconditional, even when she doesn't deserve it.
My journey towards the beauty still continues my friend, by gazing more on the One we all tell the truth to, whether willingly or not, and knowingly or not.

P.S. Now regarding your letter you sent during the week, it was gladly received and I shall write to you and give you feedback soon.


Yours Affectionate Brother In Arms;
Ringtale, The Guy Who Plays A Certain Instrument

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Ringtale Notes........VI

A Friendship Rendered...

My Dear Butterfingers,

My friend, I thought to write to once again, an excerpt from my journal of a friendship once held dear but now lies in the face of oblivion. She left, he stayed, life moved on to tell other story while the end to others still hanged in the balance, whether awaiting an unexpected twist, or just preparing to play out the credits...

She set her face like a flint, on her path, moving on from the cascade of protracted dream she once held true. Him, now a fleeting memory. Feelings of years past fled like a dew in the midst of sunrise, forgetfulness has left her in a daze. Perhaps, the possibilities that now stare her jarringly in the face are oblivious to the memories she once held true. Him, her, them together, the joy, the wonder, she now finds it hard to remember. So where to from here? the question beckons. An answer which, maybe, cannot be found lingering on bathroom mirrors where she leaves her reflection every morning hoping that when she comes back it would have found the answers. The things that were left unsaid now seem to be making loud noises in their silence. Arrangements overlooked, distant echoes of 'I miss you' that were never turned into a sound-beat to bring rhythm to their love song, and the time stolen by the 'busyness' that lazied the attempts to reconnect. His heartbeat skipped a beat, whipped, leading to loss of breadth in disbelief, memories is all he has now. She left, he stayed. She left not knowing where. She had lost patience in what was certain, wondrous in possibilities and what is enchanted, for the uncharted. He stayed, not knowing for what. He had to let go of what was real and true, to perhaps journey to what  will be, when times opens her hands to reveal her intentions. But for now, he's staying, and she's leaving...perspective comes when two pole are apart far enough to have horizons at both end.

You and I know very well, my dear Butterfingers, of this pain of having to let go of some friendships. While we wait for our First Ladies, such an exercise is one that defines the true from the rest. How we respond is very pivotal to character building. And I've also learned that not everyone is the right one for us, no matter how right it feels.

May our emotions guide us as far as they should and our minds also carry us as far as they should, while God carries us from the start to finish.


Yours Affectionate Brother in Arms,

Ringtale, The Guy Who Plays A Certain Instrument.
Dated: 15 September 2013

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Sacred Romance

Vanity Fair

Today I wanna share a except that change my life in terms of my journey to a sacred romance with God, it's from the book The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge.

"Don't be afraid of embracing the disappointment you feel, old or new. Don't be scared of the unreasonable joy either. They're the highway markers home."
We snort with disdain at such quaint sentiments, and our choice made, strike off down the straight highway of discipline and duty. All goes well for a while, sometimes for years, until we begin to realize that we're really not feeling much anymore. We find ourselves struggling to weep with those who weep or even rejoice with those who rejoice. Mostly we don't bother looking people in the eye. They may want to engage us and nothing much inside feels very engaged. Our passions begin to show up in inappropriate fantasies and longings interspersed with depression, anxieties, and anger we thought we had left behind. With a start, we realize our heart has stolen away in the baggage. It is taking the journey with us but under protest.
We redouble our efforts at discipline to get it to knuckle under but it refuses. Some of us finally kill it well enough that it no longer speaks as long as we're occupied. Any quasiredemptive busyness will do. We look as if we're still believing. Others of us decide the deadness is too high a price to pay and agree to let our heart have a secret life on the side. We even try to be passionate about our faith but the fiery embers that once sustained it have turned to cool gray ash, the evidence that life was indeed once present.
We find ourselves at the same place of heart resignation we left so many years ago before we were Christians. We arrive at the Vanity Fair that John Bunyan describes in The Pilgrim's Progress. It is a familiar city populated with many of the companions we had hoped to leave behind: deadness of spirit, lack of loving-kindness, lust, pride, anger, and others. Nonetheless, having been out on the Christian journey for a number of years by now, we assume that this is as close to the Celestial City as we're ever going to get. We set up housekeeping and entertain ourselves as well as possible at the booths in the Fair that sell a variety of soul curiosities, games, and anesthetics.
The curiosities sold at the fair are endless in their diversity, many of them good in and of themselves: Bible study, community service, religious seminars, hobbies we try to convince ourselves are eternally transcendent (e.g., "Wow, I can't wait to ski deep powder!"), service to our church, going out to dinner. But we find ourselves doing them more and more to quiet the heart voice that tells us we have given up what is most important to us.

Keep Thinking!

The Ringtale Notes....V

Of Dust, A Journey of Being...

My Dear Butterfingers,

A friend of mine once said "Every thing will always fall into place once the timing is right..." Last night I was reminded of how somethings, even if they were meant to be, if their timing is rushed they end up impaling us, though on their own they might be good, and our hearts become collateral. It's harsh reality really that keeps us in check, that we're not oblivious to fact that we should always be dependant unto God for the precise timing of things. So the scramble tangle continues, the likes, the mishaps, new friendship, the end of old friendships are all not without a cost really. 'Cause some make you question the way you build friendships,is it good? is it bad? If so, how to change&make sure you build correctly. But all in all, the lessons are learned and then we move on from there having grown and bettered by the experiences. One side note though, is that sometimes all these experiences can make you despondent when the right person and timing comes along because of fear of making the same mistakes. And so we might miss the moment and end up with the wrong person. My friend, there's a few things that can test our faith in Christ other than this issue of relationships.

So who will the 'one' be? Where is she? And how will i know when I see her? In all honesty, I don't know. But one thing I know, God is always faithful, firstly to prepare us and then to provide. I'm reminded of Adam and how God provided. He was of dust but made in the Image, and she was woven from the fabric of Adams' being, made for no one else but for him. And I still believe that's what God has for us, someone made only for us, amidst many potentials, there is but one.

It's a journey, which sometimes peer pressure can render insurmountable. It's a journey of being, who we are in God that we might also find the one whose being also is in God.

I have to say, you inspire me my friend, you and the First Lady. I'm glad that once again there's harmony between you too. And i eagerly await the day that i will be a best man in your official union. My prayers are always with you. Also send my love to her.


Yours Affectionate brother in Arms,

Ringtale, The Guy Who Plays A Certain Instrument.