Author: willishmoore (Page 4 of 32)

Today is Halloween. Halloween is a less than sacred day that occurs one day before a Sacred Day, “All Saints Day.” All Hallows’ Eve, over time, morphed into Halloween. We celebrate All Saints Day on November 1 each year as Christians recount the memory of those who have died in the past year. This custom, observed during worship service on All Saints Day, is a Solemn ritual. Each name is read, a candle is lighted, and a bell tolls — as a sacred time of remembering the life of each Saint (Christian member) who died in the past year.

Latinos celebrate Día de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead. We mistakenly call it “Mexican Halloween,” but it isn’t. The Day of the Dead and its significance is closely related to All Saints Day. Secular celebrations have hijacked these sacred celebrations, transforming them into raucous carnivals, more focused on death, horror, and frightening festivities.

As has happened to Christmas and Easter, Halloween has hijacked the celebration of sacred events, metamorphosing them into something barely resembling their original intent and meaning. It becomes especially difficult to discern their significance in light of the hype of commercialism.

According to Forbes, …Halloween is not only the most profitable festival in the USA but also in the world. The estimated total consumer spending for Halloween in 2025 is projected to be $13.1 billion, a record high. This spending includes $3.9 billion on candy, $4.2 billion on decorations, and $3.5 billion on costumes. This holiday’s commercial success is driven by a combination of factors, including the extended holiday season, early shopping habits, and the influence of online trends. Halloween’s profitability continues to grow because Halloween is celebrated in thirteen countries, each with their own unique traditions and customs for celebrating the holiday.

“Trick or Treat” reigned as the heart of Halloween for children for years. However, cruel tricks, various criminal activities, and other nefarious deeds seem to have pushed children’s activities to safer places. Our church, along with various other organizations, hosts “Trunk or Treat” events. Members and neighbors park their cars with trunks open toward a walking pathway. Decorated automobile trucks are filled with candy and other treats for children. The event lasts several hours and features other activities, including music and a cake walk. Child safety and fun-filled entertainment are the focus of a safe and fun-filled event.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

Today is United Nations Day. The words of the Secretary General of the United Nations: “We the peoples of the United Nations…” These are not just the opening words of the United Nations Charter – they define who we are. The United Nations is more than an institution. It is a living promise – spanning borders, bridging continents, inspiring generations. For eighty years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty and hunger, advance human rights, and build a more sustainable world – together.”

Noble goals are not always popular or well-received by everyone. Greed, hatred, racism, and blind patriotism throw grit into the mechanisms of meaningful and harmonious comity. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, world leaders often reminded us — We are in this together. Modern space explorations often give us pictures of Planet Earth in contrast with the Cosmos. We live on a tiny boat spinning in the Universe. More than we are willing to admit, we all need each other.

People are different, communities are different, and countries are different. Nations represent their current leadership’s opinion, resulting in dramatic policy shifts. The United Nations, flawed as it is, allows an opportunity for open dialogue, understanding, and positive direction for the peoples of Planet Earth. Living together in symbiotic relationships is possible. Compromise, in the best sense of the word, is not only desirable, but also possible. 

Compromise, too often, is seen as weak or flaccid. The root word comes from the early 15^th Century: The sense of “a coming to terms, a settlement of differences by mutual concessions” is from extension to the settlement itself. The meaning “that which results from such an agreement.” To reach an agreement, there must be give and take. Both sides must be able to give as well as to receive.

According to Britannica, one of the greatest compromises was the Compromise of 1850. Compromise of 1850, in U.S. history, a series of measures proposed by the “great compromiser,” Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. The crisis arose from the request of the territory of California (December 3, 1849) to be admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. The Apostle Paul urged the Church at Rome to open your hearts to one another, as he worked to bring them into agreement. 

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

I heard an apparently smart student say, ” I’m bored!” My immediate thought was that person is either using the wrong term or is not nearly as smart as he appears (or thinks himself) to be. Genuine boredom, according to Merriam-Webster: the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest. Therefore other than a temporary weary or restlessness, boredom arises from initiative deficit.

There has always been opportunity for the human mind to create something interesting — imaginary or real — out of nothing. It is inherent in our God-given soul. I am writing on a laptop computer. Soon I will send this text through cyberspace (that unseen mysterious Ethernet) to my Editor, who will save my bacon, correcting my errors. From this desk, it is hard to image how the first written communication were accomplished!

Connected Translations offers a brief glimpse into the first written communications — The most noteworthy events in humankind’s story might be marked by the first appearances of writing. In our minds, we probably hold images of clay tablets bearing strange markings and of ancient scribes hunched over their work. But how much do we really know about the origins of the first writing? Was it invented separately by different cultures or did written language somehow spring up all at once? Like so many other significant developments by early humankind, was written language a ‘tipping point’ in human history?

Photo Credit – Stefan Roelofs

Immersion into boredom need never happen. My friend, Charles, is deeply interested in Geology. Riding down a long same-ole-same-ole, nondescript section of the Interstate, he sees eons of geologic history. He stops, takes pictures, and can explain in detail which era in which a particular stratum of rock developed. revealing light, life, and brilliance from that dumb piece of rock! Doing that, he makes rocks interesting. Rising from boredom, and digging deeply into– well, anything that you consider boring, you can find great opportunity… Each of God’s Creations provide opportunities for in-depth study and new insights.

Just consider Dr. Goodall, regarded as “the world’s preeminent chimpanzee expert.” She started out about, basically as a young child interested in Tarzan movies. Some people considered Tarzan movies boring. Dr. Jane Goodall died recently. She spent her entire life doing what many may consider the most boring of all time, living in the wild, watching chimpanzees.

Our amazing world beckons us, indeed, compels us to never be bored.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

In my humble opinion, a homemade biscuit comes as near to being the Swiss Army Knife of foods as any food. They adapt easily and well to almost any menu or combination, egg and cheese biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, or any other breakfast combination. Biscuits adapt easily as a topping or crust for casseroles, pies, or almost any oven-baked dish. 

Jimmy Dean, a few decades ago, made famous the phrase, Pass the biscuits, Please! a funny country song with the underlying theme “I just can’t eat without bread.” In years past, when most meals were cooked at home, made-from-scratch biscuits served as the basic bread. Soon after Paige and I married, we sat down for an enticing meal. I looked at our table and said, “Oh, sweetheart! You made tea cakes!” She burst into tears and said, “No. They are biscuits.” They were as flat as a sheet of copy paper! Although Paige was a good cook, she had never made biscuits before.

Growing up in Deepstep, I was surrounded by relatives. Our farms joined borders or were close together, with most parcels having been part of original land grants centuries before. Therefore, it was customary to visit and eat with our numerous relatives. One Sunday after church, we visited Aunt Ada, Grandaddy’s sister. The large table was filled with luscious food, and the room was crowded with relatives. After eating, the young cousins played well into the afternoon. Tired and hungry, again, we went back to the kitchen. Aunt Ada gave each of us a “bore hole biscuit.” They were large, fluffy, and delicious biscuits. She said, “Here. Hold this biscuit. Turn it on its side and poke your finger into the top side. We did, and she poured sorghum syrup in, filling the hole. It was a wonderful, hand-held afternoon treat!

Southern Living wrote this about biscuits — If there’s one thing Grammy’s known for, it’s cooking with lots of love—and sweetness, of course. These easy biscuits (which call for honey in the dough) are sure to please any day of the week, especially since they don’t require much hands-on time.

One segment of a Time Management Seminar I used to teach included an example of how Paige’s grandmother made biscuits. Her description of Grandma Lindsay’s biscuit making was so metered that every batch — which she made at least twice a day — turned out with exacting precision and mouth-watering taste. We never forget things like that!

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

When I think of Palm Trees, I think of those tall, skinny, Florida or Hawaii trees, standing firm against hurricane force winds. However. I have learned that there are six different kinds of Palm trees, right here in my home State of Georgia. According to Matt Gardener, of Gardening Bank, There are at least five different palm trees growing in Georgia: They are, Saw palmetto, cabbage palm trees, Mediterranean fan palm, windmill palm trees, and dwarf palmetto palm trees which are among the most popular types of palm trees in Georgia. 

I am not even close to being an expert on Palm trees. But I am fascinated by their resilience and adaptability. Wind, water, cold, and heat seem bo fail at destroying them. Growing up in middle Georgia, along the Fall Line, I was familiar with the Palmetto Palm. They were prolific on Buffalo Creek, bordering the eastern edge of Deepstep, GA, my hometown. The Palmettos cover the Oconee River Swamp, further downstream as Buffalo Creek flows into the Oconee River.

We often used Palmetto fronds in decoration for play productions at Georgia Southern University, gathering them from Ogeechee River lowlands nearby campus. Golf course managers seem to love the Palmettos as ground cover in the rough of their golf courses.

It may be a stretch to make something of an analogy between Palm trees and human beings; for one thiing, we migrate. Even though Palm trees do not, migrate per se, to some degree, they do. The Buffalo Creek Palmettos, mentioned above are an example of such migration. Florida is about 300 miles South of the source of Buffalo Creek, with prolific Palmettos all along its banks. My sorta informed guess is that when Native Americans ages ago using that creek as a transportation avenue, likely spread plants and seeds as they camped alog its banks. Not to mention hurricane force winds of the past, probably dropping whole plants .

These palms, as did human beings, not only survived atmospheric assaults, but also thrived in new locations. I see an interesting and vital symbiotic relationship between Palm trees, yes, even the Palmetto Palms, and human beings. This glimpse is only a microcosm of The Creation; we are all related, and need each other. When greed, avarice, and egomania take over, God’s magnificent Creation suffers. When we live together in harmony, we thrive.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

I live about one mile from Interstate 85, inside the I-285 Perimeter. There are massive thoroughfares that pass next to residential housing. Along the way, GDOT has placed noise abatement screens, metal or concrete. For residents in those areas, those screens help. My house is upstream, off a tributary of the North Fork Peachtree Creek. Although there are numerous trees in-between, it is not unusual to hear the din of city traffic, especially under certain weather conditions.

Many urban buildings, especially churches, utilize acoustical engineered structuring inside the building. These products reduce excess noise and enhance clarity. Leonardo da Vinci made significant contributions to the science of sound, including understanding of sound waves. Modern technology fine-tunes such studies to adjust to audience size and seating arrangements.

With politics, geography, industry, population, and, well, cell phones, noise increases exponentially– inside our heads and outside our bodies. Our very soul silently screams for noise abatement. So, how do we turn off the noise? We can’t. And don’t want to. Not entirely, anyway. It’s like having a baby monitor that could disturb your sleep. Yet you will not turn it off, because a tiny life depends on your hearing their distress signal.

There are ways to manage noise, that ubiquitous noise you can’t/won’t turn off. Physical barriers aside, noise inside our heads must become the focus of our journey toward noise abatement. It may very well require physical adjustments to your environment and actions including meditation, deep breathing, or listening to music.

Back in the early 1960s, a Meme became immensely popular. You’ll remember GIGO — Garbage In Garbage Out. The same goes for our brains, a point well taken by James Allen: 

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage (fruits) of opportunity and circumstance. Grandmother Veal often said, “You cannot help it if birds fly over your head. You can, however, prevent them from nesting in your hair!” Simply stated, my grandmother was sharing a mantra for life — while we may experience temptations, we should try our best to resist them.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

We have several beautiful oak trees in our yard. One is a Northern Red Oak. Its distinctive leaves look like a hand stretched out as a greeting — an incredibly happy greeting. The large leaves create an abundant canopy, shading a significant part of our yard. In the summertime, its beauty adds practical help, shielding our roof from scorching sunlight thus lessening our air conditioning expense.

Those oaks provide entertainment as well. Squirrels love trees, especially this one, because of the shower of acorns pouring onto the yard and driveway. The squirrels chase each other all through its branches, like kids playing hide and seek. I’m quite sure they are not battling over who gets the next acorn, because there is a surplus of them in the tree and on the ground.

Then, there is beauty! As Fall nears, the luscious green leaves begin a gradual transformation into spectacular splashes of color; orange, red, and brown begin to dominate their limbs. It is as if a silent sentinel is guiding the skilled hand of an invisible artist, joyfully painting the landscape.

Joyce Kilmer begins his poem, Trees, with this sentence; I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree... and goes on to speak more poetically than I could ever,  …a tree whose hungry mouth is prest/ Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray… Since my space won’t allow it, you’ll have to read the entire poem for its drama and beauty!

In addition to the Northern Red Oak in my yard, there are over a dozen other hardwood trees including dogwood, tulip bay, and an assortment of others. These precious trees provide our own canopy, a cooling shelter along with the beauty of the leaves. 

A wonderful advantage of living in Atlanta, called “A City in a Forest,” is because of the abundant tree canopy. While, unfortunately, some developers violate the tree ordinances in Metro Atlanta, there are rules and regulations for replacement of removed trees. A nonprofit organization here, Trees Atlanta, does a remarkable job holding off development, and lobbying for better rules for retaining our beloved tree canopy.

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I’ll never see a tree at all. 

-Ogden Nash

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

~written by Dr. Thomas Muffet, Physician & Entomologist of the 16th century.

According to EarthKind, Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) is the 3rd most common of all phobias in America. Considering that there are at least 4,000 known species of spiders living in the United States, it’s not hard to see why so many people get upset about finding these pests in their homes.

Although most people do not care for spiders — either fear them or find their webs annoying, some people delight in teasing others with spiders. Near Halloween, lots of homes sport spooky decorations including fake spiders and their webs.

Yet, spiders also provide valuable benefits:

• Spiders help control flies, mosquitoes, and other pests.
• Help balance the ecosystem in both natural areas and gardens.
• Spiders are a valuable food source for birds and lizards.
• Reduce the spread of deadly diseases.

More importantly is a lesser-known fact — medical research on the medicinal value of spiders. Spiders have played a valuable role in new medical treatments. Research has discovered that spider venom has the potential to act as a safer painkiller and may be able to treat strokes, muscular dystrophy, and, of course, is used for antivenom in cases of harmful spider bites. These are among the many reasons spiders live among us.

You may remember Charlotte, the gray spider in E. B. White’s classic, Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte, Wilbur, the young pig, Templeton, the rat, and other barnyard animals form and teach friendship among the variety of barnyard animals. Charlotte, the main character teaches the valuable lesson of sacrifice for others.

This classic, written for children, carries an impactful lesson for, and is beloved by many adults as well. In fact, Charlotte’s Web reminds me of Naomi, of the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. Both were widowed women of ancient Israel. Ruth’s late husband was Naomi’s son. Alone and because of the culture of their day, they were worse than homeless. Naomi tried her best to get Ruth to continue on, without her, so that she could find a husband for sustenance and, possibly, to have children.

Ruth refused, saying, “Oh no. I’m not leaving you. I will go with you. I will worship your God with you, and we will look after each other!” And so it was, and as it came to pass, Ruth became a link in the ancestry of Jesus. It’s in The Book.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

School has started. For the past two months, school supply ads have been abundant. But I have not seen any ads for back-to-school shoes. When I was growing up in Deepstep, new jeans and shoes were at the top of the list as Mother prepared for back-to-school. She always got them a tad larger than I really needed, because my feet would grow to fill those shoes during the school year. Shoes were scarce back then.

Taking care of one’s feet is essential. Melanie, our first child, needed corrective shoes. Globe Shoe Company in Savannah was the best-known establishment providing fitting for children’s corrective shoes. When Melanie’s shoes came, she stood in front of our TV and showed Mr. Rogers, “Look Mr. Rogers, I have new shoes.” She thinks that he replies, “Oh Melanie, I love them!”

Being well shod is no minor thing. Our feet, keeping us in balance and transporting us from place to place, take a severe beating. An injury to your foot can have severe consequences. George Herbert’s poem makes this dramatically clear:
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
And for want of a horse, the rider was lost,
Being overtaken and slain by the enemy,
All for want of a horseshoe nail.

On a softer, and well, yes, more romantic note, here’s Kitty Kallen’s song — Little Things Mean a Lot.

Blow me a kiss from across the room
Say I look nice when I’m not
Touch my hair as you pass my chair
Little things mean a lot
Give me your arm as we cross the street
Call me at six on the dot
A line a day when you’re far away
Little things mean a lot

My dad was a truck driver, and he did his own maintenance and repairs. Each night after a day of hauling, he went over his truck to check every tiny detail. Attention to those details kept him from having major breakdowns while on the road. It seemed tedious to me then, but as an adult, I came to understand the immense value of his attention to details.

When the Israelites faced the Philistines, the Philistine’s warrior, Goliath, paced before them with loud vicious threats. But not young David, he selected a small stone, and with his slingshot, felled the giant.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025

I have several loquacious friends — that’s a fifty-dollar word which means they surely do talk a lot. But I love being in their company. They are smart, talk easily — and a handful speak absolute genuine “Southern” which endears them to me. I do not enjoy being around people who yack aimlessly or are negative. Good conversation is nourishing for the soul.

“We need to talk,” can have different meanings, often depending on who says it. A friend on Facebook may say it because conversation in print can be like a bucket of bolts. It may be weighty, even useful, but lacks the texture and tenor of the spoken word. Spoken in a negative sense, it could portend unwelcome news from your boss or worse, your spouse.

I had a deaf friend who could not speak; he could utter meaningful sounds. We enhanced our conversations with hand signals (neither of us knew American Sign Language). When all else failed, he would write the word. A big smile let me know when WE understood. I usually stopped at his gas station on my trips home from college.

I always looked forward to our conversations. Our friendship depended on our attention to each other, not words not spoken. I considered our visits “our time to talk.” Looking back, I am glad I never rushed our visits. We just needed time to “talk.”

Many years ago, I learned the importance of our need to talk — to really talk. A medical article, circa 1981, reported that in times of crisis, some families fall apart. Yet, in other families in similar circumstances, the family members grow more closely knit. As it turns out, families that fell apart tended to silo, shut down, or cease talking altogether with each other.

Families that grew closer, weathering the crisis successfully, tended to talk. They talked — freely — with each other. Talking is a therapeutic means of easing anxiety and tension. They spoke of hope, often when there appeared to be little hope. Talking helped them maintain their connections, including each other’s feelings. Talking provided clues to their needs, opening windows for clarity and succor.

Jesus talked in parables. Sometimes, his followers did not understand, so he talked to them in detail. One such event was their questions about the Sower. He listened to them, then spoke with them, offering clarity.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025