The Holy Pac Man Ghost

I haven't been outside to check on Edgar yet today, but I am looking forward to seeing his sweet  fluffy hairy self in a bit when I get  myself moving.  Was a late night with a swim meet and half priced banana splits at Bruesters last night.  (Every Thursday you can bring a banana to Bruesters Ice Cream and get a half price banana split with your choice of three ice cream scoops, three toppings, and a pretzel rod.)  Everyone is sleeping, except me.  I have lots to do.  Swim meet award ceremony at 9:30 AM, followed by some relaxing before we head to my friends' play, then Friday Family Fun Night with, yep, the family.  Our New York family is in town for the next month, and we will spend every possible second with them, making them wish they went with better judgement, and booked a cruise, sans Ahrens's, instead.  We will bring non- New York Pizza, which I am sure they will feign appreciation for.  Fancy word there, huh?  Feign.  Hope I used it correctly.  IF not, sorry, I thought I might make this educational. If I did, fabulous, I'm done education-ing you.

I once got an email from a non jock strap, that was criticising my parenting and discipline style.  (Apparently, "hovering, over concerned, religious zealot who cares to raise people she wants to spend time with" is not an approved form of parenting anymore.) So, this person emailed, and sent magazine article after magazine article on how my parenting was damaging to the future of my children.  And I kid you not, the title of the very last email this person wrote to me on this subject was this, "Eduakation is key."  I suppose this person was making fun of themselves, but after reading the copied and pasted article, I realized, this person is for real- messed up.  Luckily for me, I laughed, and then dealt with the it with my marriage counselor at the time, and luckily, she helped me to see that you don't fight with stupid.  (Yes, our marriage was saved, but not because of that advice.  I'm not implying my husband is stupid.  Love you babe!)

So, I got the Book of Mormon, and when I woke up, opened it to see what it was all about.  These Mormon people do a great job of an abridged version in the beginning of their book.  Here's the basics. The bible is of man, but the book of Mormon is of the Holy Ghost.  Once I got to that part, I realized, not for me.  I like the more current form of that, being the "Holy Spirit."  Not as scary sounding.  Dude, you might be "Holy," but a ghost?  Come now.  Although, it could be less scary of a think of the Holy Ghost as the ghost from Pac Man.  Those ghosts weren't so scary.   So, now, I decided to read this and each time the Holy Ghost was mentioned, I replaced it with "Holy Pac Man Ghost."  Much better.  I really wanted to learn more.  So, I continued.

The book said that this man was wanting to understand the differences in all the different religions in his area.  The "Holy Pac Man Ghost" came down to this man,  who could have been an English man with a last name of Smith, first name Joseph.  I swear, didn't he and Pocahontas have a thing? Oh wait, that was John Smith.  Never mind, I'm back on track.  Thank the Holy Pac Man Ghost that I education-ed myself before not sharing the story right.  Then, the book said that he was ordained a lesser priesthood by the Holy Pac Man Ghost, but then, later, some of the original disciples came and ordained him the higher priesthood.  I have issue with this, but guess it goes back to the Holy Pac Man Ghost being super humble to allow someone else do all the exciting work.  Well, turns out, the original "baptiser" was John the Baptist, and from what I have learned of him, he was sort of kooky.  Kinda' out there dude, but I think today we would call him "eccentric" and in the south, they would look at him and say, "Well bless his heart."  And you know they would have this pity in their tone and face and you might wonder if he was "challenged" in some way, therefore, accept his weird behaviors and then label him with the current "it" diagnosis, which as far as I have seen, is autistic, and then realize that we have been reading about autism since the beginning of the new testament and wonder why early intervention wasn't implemented and why it wasn't just healed by our Holy Pac Man Ghost.

I really have more to say about my reading, but think I need to pray on it more, as this was what I was told to write on.  The Holy Pac Man Ghost made me do it.

While I might appear to be making fun of this faith, I am not.  I promise, I am an equal opportunity appreciator of all faiths that teach on love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  However, I have always said that we all are called differently, and that there are many roads to our higher power.  Many roads, many names, and many practices.  However, they all start with love, and end with forgiveness.

I was raised in a Jewish home.  While we attended our place of worship 2-4 days a week, I merely attended.  I was not engaged, nor did it speak to me.  It actually felt wrong, and I remember very vividly, this conversation I had with my mom, when I was about 10 years old.  I asked her what it felt like to be Jewish.  It was actually a deeper question, hoping to open the gates to a deeper conversation on how I felt I was being called in another way.  I didn't know then what that thing was, but I knew then that something was different.  I always have known that my mom is a really unique and kind person.  She radiates love,  forgiveness, and acceptance.  She, by southern standards, is the perfect Christian.  However, she is not.  Nor does she try to teach anyone about her faith.  She simply lives her life as a wonderful teaching model, by example.  I am not that.  I am way flawed.  I love who I am though, and I think my mom loves herself, but feels less confident it the idea that she is beautifully made by our Holy Pac Man Ghost.

PS  If you envisioned a Pac Man ghost with a halo on top of its' head each time I mentioned the word "Holy Pac Man Ghost," you might need to go to confession.  I'll see you there!