Profit Margins, Marginal Prophets - Major, minor Add-just-meants 

Stages and sages: before I get to the prophets of old, let me start with what we, the readers, all who presumably have born after 3/20/2006, but not too old to be able to relate to what's considered to be...

Contempt-orary: As in current, contemporary times, that those who have reached the age of "full-on curmudgeon" status may find contempt for..."this generation is gonna' be the reckoning...ball, to be sure..." (quotes like these have been afloat since BC, as in Before Children were recognized as having any...rights). In any case, no matter what your current attitude is toward those "coming up" it's a pretty universal experience (if "universal" is operationally defined as "modern western society") that when so-called "minors" reach the "age of majority" they acquire a whole new set of adult amenities, privileges, and rights! Which were, in my day, greeted with such casual, almost as if we expected them..."Cool, far-out man..." (how did we ever get by without the moniker "dude"?) Privileges that were, of course, followed closely, almost as if they went hand-in-hand, with adult RESPONSIBILITIES! Which, for my gen, included "Here's your draft card and this slip here allows you to start paying into Social Security -- welcome to the Major League, kid" "BUMMER!" was all we could muster up. As we entered into a whole new age of...

Account-ibility: Which gets age adjusted (i.e., "dependents") as well as seasonally. The latter represented by the figures, so-called "bottom line" you'll want to show the board of directors when posturing for that HUGE bonus, which for most corps happens near the beginning of the calendar year. Whereas just a few months later, it's as if the profits have almost vanished -- as in "marginal" when you are prepping, perhaps with a whole cadre of CPA's in tow, for tax time. This is where the whole convo of major and minor, profits and prophets actually begins...as in way-y-y-y back...

Geo-graphically speaking: In what today is called the "old world" which those younger "dudes" mistake for anyone over the age of...Asia Minor, the first records of which go all the way back to 2334-2083 BCE -- which turns out to be a real (modern day) "Turkey" -- the name of which we sometimes us in reference a less-than-stellar performance. But in reality, whose gems include at least Seven Wonders...of our world. So, not so minor as it turns out, eh? Speaking of performance...

Spring, Training: In the game of baseball, any rookie viewer quickly catches on that a pitcher, for example, who loses what's frequently commented on by the...commentators, as their "best stuff" can be sent down to the minors to take whatever corrective action is indicated...major (attitude!) or minor (delivery, stance, dirty pants...) a place that's also referred to as The Farm which, of course, appeals to the intuition of even a rookie watcher, as it can be one where one reharnesses their potential. A place where I frequently mention to teens lacking a work ethic, that teamwork can be fully appreciated, just prior to having their parents consider sending them...for the summer. 

Throwbacks: What a catcher learns to do in response to the pitcher, sometimes with a bit more velocity if the pitch was not "called for". But in this context to a place and time past the time baseball was even thought of as a possible past-time...as in B.C. -- Before Cubs -- a time that prophets of the day were throwing out lots of predictions. So, how would you feel, after your whole life was spent looking out on the horizon, on behalf of all the future gens, as in all the way to "Z" -- and come back to find out your entire works were archived in the minor leagues😢. Consider the plight of Micah, a distant teammate of Isaiah...who, after coming in from what's now called the bull pen (another Farm reference?) to spell him for a bit...whose shoes were (figuratively speaking, probably resembling Birk-and-socks that prophets these daze seem to prefer) hard to fill. Can't you hear him, lamenting (which was the older word they used for contemporary constant complainers)..."How in the Hallelujah Chorus do you expect me to compete with the likes of this dude...I mean he gets to foretell about all things Messianic and all I get is the leftover messes -- the fall of Jerusalem, other minor and major calamities, if they don't clean their act up...the Debbie Downer of my day, I was...and who, in their right mind, would want to tune in to this type of "Breaking News!" night after night...enough to make one want to tune out!" Like I said he was a prophet, who fore-told such things...

A Huge Stretch: As in what you could easily accuse me of, in playing loose with all the analogies. But, stay with me, as well past the "seventh inning stretch" (which can catch a rookie viewer off guard) of my life, as in "coming late to the game" I'm finally informed by Bible scholar types that the distinction between "Major" and "minor" as applied to prophets, at least, has nothing to do with the quality of their product or its respective impact...simply the number of words and space their works take up in the Bible. What a curve ball! So, it turns out that those of poor Micah, a "man of few words" can be just as impact-full of all those of Isaiah combined -- especially those of 6:8 the so-called "chapter and verse" that provide a tri-fecta of what's required to restore me to full potential..."act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly...with your God" Strong works to contemplate, as I walk back to the bull pen, where most of my best works can be found...