It Is What It Is

Musing… Stuff from the last couple of days…

Ian said: ‘It is what it is’. There’s no point in complaining or arguing. It’s beyond his control. He can’t change the situation…

Robins: Jill was visiting her mum’s grave. A robin hopped up to her… Some people believe that robins are a reminder that loved ones are watching over you. It’s a robin, but for some it’s more than that. It’s a spiritual messenger bringing comfort and reassurance.

Cheap ring: Yesterday’s paper told of a woman who bought a ring from a car-boot sale in Botley, Oxfordshire, for £5: ‘just an attractive piece of costume jewellery’. She had it valued. It’s a three-carat diamond set in 18-carat gold worth £15,000. It isn’t what she (or the vendor!) thought it is.  

Gruntled: Tim and I were discussing being grumpy old men… being ‘disgruntled’. Is the opposite ‘gruntled’, meaning content, satisfied… We checked. It is! We were ‘gruntled’. We read further… Old English ‘gruntle’ meant ‘to utter small, low grunts’; gruntled meant ill-humoured, discontented. It wasn’t then what it is today.

Rev James: Allan and I drunk ‘Reverend James’, named after Rev James Buckley a Methodist minister who married the daughter of an old Welsh brewery owner. But Methodists – aren’t they teetotal? They advertise, ‘Rev. James Buckley, saviour of souls and satisfier of thirsts.’ It isn’t what I thought it was or should be!

Wonky bodies: I read actress and comedian Miranda Hart’s views on body image. She encourages people to accept their ‘lovely, wonky selves’… being comfortable and confident in who you are… not bound by someone else’s idea of perfection. Your body is what it is; beauty isn’t what people say it is.

Transformation: I read:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Isaiah’s vision of restoration and healing… Although ‘it is what it is’ now, it won’t always be what it is!