Pale Green Pants with Nobody Inside Them

"God gave us His Spirit.  And the Spirit doesn't make us weak and fearful.  Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love.  He helps us control ourselves."  2 Timothy 1:7 NIRV

One night I went along a trail,

deep in the woods I’d walk.

But then I felt my courage fail.

Yes, it was quite a shock!

For floating there was something strange

that made me want to hide.

It was a pair of pale green pants

with nobody inside!

I ran and ran and hid from these

pants lurking in the trees.

I hid behind a bush but then 

a noise made my heart freeze!

Now I have never been afraid

of anything.  Not very!

Behind me were those pale green pants!

I tell you they were scary!

I screamed out loud and gave a cry

but then was shocked to see

the pale green pants shaking in fear!

Those pants were scared of me!

These pants and I are now good friends,

and I learned something new.

That sometimes fear will make you scared

of things that just aren’t true.

If you feel fear, don’t you forget 

that God is full of love.

He’s right there with you, and you’ll ask

aw, what was I scared of?

He’ll never leave you or forget.

He’s right there by your side!

With Him you’ll have no fear of pants 

with nobody inside!

I wrote this devotional entry today, of course in rhyme.  I can't stop speaking in rhyme!  Anyway, it was actually the eleventh such rhyming entry I've done for the Dr. Seuss series so far, which is to say that the devotional is coming along nicely.  And it's very pleasant and refreshing to Daddy, going back and reading all these classic rhyming stories.  This one above was called, "What was I Scared Of?"

And it was haunting to me as a really young child.  At least, I hope I was pretty young, because for some reason the first image you see of the pants to me was slightly unsettling.  Perhaps it is the blue color on the page to indicate nighttime in Dr. Seuss' world.  Or maybe it is the green pants themselves - they're not like ordinary pants.  That is to say, of course they're floating pants.  But even their appearance was somewhat odd, and as such, when I happened upon this story many, many years later, a slight memory came back to me of being afraid of these pale green pants with nobody inside them.  Yes, we all know that in the end, the pale green pants with nobody inside them are not to be feared after all, and it is really a story about perception.  But those initial moments are terrifying.  Seriously, what would you do if you saw a pair of pale green pants that look just like that, hovering there in the woods.  And what would you do if they suddenly started running towards you?

I'm waiting for the live-action version of this story.  I can imagine Danny Elfman doing the soundtrack to it.  Release it around this time of year, and of course it'll be a hit.

I read this to Madison, who enjoyed it of course.  But she was by no means terrified.  She's not scared of much, except for perhaps very tall heights.

Anyway, today was an ordinary day.  We read some comics when she got home from school, including one I have of "Nomad," this obscure comic character from the 90's.  He was battling Gambit, or at least working with Gambit for a time.  You know how that sort of thing goes in comics. The next ones in the chronology are Wolverine comics, which I'm excited to be reading to Madison.  He's a fun character.

We have a pretty big orb spider in the front yard too, by the way.  These things will stay there for as long as they want.  Because there is no insect on earth that will mess with that thing.  It's creepy.  Don't worry, insects, because we humans feel the same way.  We're like, "Okay we're walking and... okay, let's just walk a comfortable distance around the orb spider in his web.  Something like 500 feet away should be fine!"

Mommy got Daddy a birthday present a bit early, and it's awesome.  It's a two vinyl albums that have the soundtrack to "Nightmare Before Christmas" on them!

Pretty cool stuff!  Of course, I listened to them right away!  This will be the soundtrack of the month, of course.  Although it usually is - Daddy loves that soundtrack very much so.  Anyway, it has been a pleasant, normal day today.  We were moving a lot of things around, cleaning up a particular room to prepare it for Mommy's sewing and craft ideas.  Really, Madison doesn't use the playroom at all much, other than a place to store her costumes.  So we've been reorganizing, and that sort of thing will take time, but we made progress.

On the way home from piano class today, we stopped for some taquitos and Arnold Palmer tea.  This would be something Madison could eat every day if she could.  It's one of those treats that she looks forward to almost as much as ice cream.  I did say almost!

Tonight we read "The Beatrice Letters" once again, this time with more awareness of what certain things were referring to within.  It made better sense to read it after "The End," by the way, so I'm not sure what that one librarian referred us to that beforehand.  No matter - nothing really hurt there.  We just read it again, and in one sitting, as it is pretty short comparatively speaking.

We said our prayers, and it was time for bed soon after.  Although with this video game series, Daddy has been playing old Atari 2600 games on this very computer here - there are emulators online that allow you to play old games, and even use joysticks as well.  I went through one game of Adventure, and I just might make Madison try that one out, as it's so old school, and such a big game in our past. It's like a video game museum!

Anyway, it's time for bed.  As I was looking out the window into the back yard tonight, I thought I saw something.  I can't say for sure, but it almost looked like a pair of pale green pants... with nobody inside!