Ms. Crankypants

The following three questions are from WriterChick (the person from whom I originally discovered Alabaster Crippens Five Questions … see previous post on this blog).

1) What historical person would you have liked to spend the day with and how would you spend that day?

I found my mind running through lists of people. Lists of people in the Bible (the apostle Paul, John, King Solomon, Jesus, Simon Peter), lists of people in American history (Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr), lists of people throughout History (Cleopatra, Winston Churchill, John Calvin) … and I found it hard to pick just one.

I also found myself thinking that if I spent a day actually doing something with any of them, it would probably change history in some way (I think I’ve watched too much Star Trek in my lifetime … I sat here worried about Temporal Anomalies … LOL!). Heaven forbid I should ever mess with the space/time continuum.

So after dealing with my temporal problems, I decided I’d like to spend a day with Benjamin Franklin. He was such an intriguing, odd little man. I think his autobiography is one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. He was brilliant, thoughtful, and very egotistical. In other words, quite human.

I wouldn’t want to interact with him or with his time period, though (because of that temporal thing). I’d just basically want to be a fly on the wall, seeing what he was really like, what made him tick, how he treated people, how he responded to real life, etc.

Can you believe I actually worried about temporal anomalies? I’m so weird.

2) If you could change one person’s life (family members excluded) who would it be, what would you change and why?

Wow. I’m making an easy question tough again. LOL

I keep finding I have trouble getting beyond the idea that people’s lives are the way they are for a reason … and God is sovereign, not me … and if I changed anything to what I thought would be “better” for someone, I’d probably mess them up for all eternity.

Hm … but as I continued thinking about this, I suddenly realized I might have an answer. There are kids living on the streets of Calcutta … the traditional cultural party line there says that those kids are there for a reason (working out some sort of karmic “problem” in themselves). But I’d want to take them all off the streets, feed them, give them shelter, and offer them hope rather than make them feel like they’re simply helpless victims of karma and the caste system.

So I guess I’m wrestling through some of my own “fate” related questions while I’m thinking about this. Hm. I think maybe I’ve just confused myself more. This is more of an off-the-cuff response rather than a well thought out posting. I might spend some more time thinking through this and trying to make sense of it for a future post, but in the meantime, you can just deal with my random ramblings.

I believe that God can work all things together for good in someone’s life. That doesn’t mean those things are good per se, but those very things can be used toward a good end and a meaningful purpose in someone’s life. For example, if I changed my own life, I would no longer be the person I am today. Some of the things I’ve gone through are horrible, but they helped to mold me into who I am today. And somehow I believe the outcome in my life can be used to serve God’s purposes.

Now all that’s not to say that I wouldn’t step in and help someone today. Changing someone’s life today would not only effect their “here-and-now” … but also their future … and maybe even their eternity. Plus, I also find myself getting caught up in that whole temporal anomaly problem again.

So I guess I’d feel like I could step in and offer help and change and encouragement now … but I can’t go back and change someone’s past.

I’d like to bring hope and healing and practical support into the lives of lost and hurting people who feel hopeless, helpless and trapped. I know that isn’t exactly what you asked me, but my mind never seems to go in a straight line or do anything “normally.”

3) If you could be the author of any book ever published what would it be, why would you choose that book and what would be your reasons for having written it?

Guess what? I made this question hard for myself, too! LOL!

I thought to myself, “Which books have had the most profound effect on me and my life over the years?”

Book Number One: The Bible — Well, since I’m not God, it would’ve been more than a little bit difficult for me to write the Bible. LOL!

Book Number Two: Anything by Elisabeth Elliot — But I’m not her. I couldn’t have written her books because I haven’t lived her life and most of her writings are based on lessons she’s learned through life unfolding.

I chatted with my daughter about this briefly, and she said that maybe it’d be easier for me to come up with a novel to have written, rather than a non-fiction work. She’s probably right. But novels don’t usually have such a profound change element in my life so they don’t jump out at me as things I wished I’d written or said.

I think I would’ve liked to have written Anne of Green Gables. It was such a fun book. Touching, funny, insightful. Set in a beautiful place. I always felt Anne was a bit of a “kindred spirit” … She loved learning. She knew firsthand about rejection and life’s difficulties. She discovered true friendship and love from her new adopted family. She was real. And quirky. I think I would’ve liked to birth her from my brain. LOL!

Thanks for your questions, WC.

~Ms CP