{"id":118208,"date":"2026-09-21T18:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T18:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/?p=118208"},"modified":"2026-09-21T18:48:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T18:48:34","slug":"puffs-of-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/puffs-of-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Puffs of Smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n  .tb-reflection {\n    --tb-ink: #1f1b18;\n    --tb-soft-ink: #5d554f;\n    --tb-cream: #f7f1e8;\n    --tb-warm: #eadcc8;\n    --tb-gold: #9b7443;\n    --tb-deep: #2a211b;\n    --tb-line: rgba(71, 53, 40, 0.18);\n\n    max-width: 860px;\n    margin: 0 auto;\n    padding: 72px 26px 84px;\n    color: var(--tb-ink);\n    font-family: Georgia, \"Times New Roman\", serif;\n    font-size: 20px;\n    line-height: 1.78;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection * {\n    box-sizing: border-box;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection header {\n    text-align: center;\n    margin-bottom: 58px;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection 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#fffaf3;\n    border-radius: 22px;\n    box-shadow: 0 24px 60px rgba(42, 33, 27, 0.16);\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-drum-label {\n    display: block;\n    margin-bottom: 18px;\n    font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\n    font-size: 11px;\n    font-weight: 700;\n    letter-spacing: 0.19em;\n    text-transform: uppercase;\n    color: #d9b783;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-drum h2 {\n    margin: 0 0 28px;\n    font-size: clamp(30px, 5vw, 48px);\n    line-height: 1.08;\n    letter-spacing: -0.025em;\n    font-weight: 500;\n    color: #fffaf3;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-drum blockquote {\n    margin: 0;\n    padding: 0;\n    border: 0;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-drum blockquote p {\n    margin: 0;\n    font-size: clamp(21px, 3.2vw, 29px);\n    line-height: 1.55;\n    color: #fffaf3;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-ending {\n    margin-top: 52px;\n    text-align: center;\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-ending strong {\n    display: block;\n    margin-bottom: 14px;\n    font-size: 28px;\n    line-height: 1.25;\n    color: var(--tb-gold);\n  }\n\n  .tb-reflection .tb-ending p {\n    max-width: 610px;\n    margin: 0 auto;\n    font-size: 19px;\n    color: var(--tb-soft-ink);\n  }\n\n  @media (max-width: 640px) {\n    .tb-reflection {\n      padding: 48px 20px 60px;\n      font-size: 18px;\n      line-height: 1.72;\n    }\n\n    .tb-reflection header {\n      margin-bottom: 42px;\n    }\n\n    .tb-reflection .tb-god-quote {\n      padding: 28px 24px 28px 28px;\n      font-size: 21px;\n    }\n\n    .tb-reflection .tb-drum {\n      margin: 48px -4px;\n      padding: 36px 24px;\n      border-radius: 18px;\n    }\n  }\n<\/style>\n\n<article class=\"tb-reflection\">\n\n  <header>\n    <p class=\"tb-kicker\">A Reflective Thought<\/p>\n    <h1>Puffs of Smoke<\/h1>\n    <p class=\"tb-byline\">Written by World Ruler Sher<\/p>\n  <\/header>\n\n  <p class=\"tb-opening\">\n    Isn\u2019t it tempting to be lauded, idolized, complimented, applauded, adored?\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"tb-smoke-line\">\n    Fantasy. Facade. Puffs of smoke if it\u2019s being done by strangers.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    Public admiration can feel like substance because the feeling itself is real.\n    Your chest lifts. People repeat your name. They tell you how brilliant, beautiful,\n    important, exceptional you are.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    But strangers usually know only the version of you they encounter for a few minutes.\n    Your spouse and children live close enough to know whether the substance matches the image.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"tb-emphasis\">\n    There is something almost absurd about craving the applause of hundreds or thousands\n    of strangers while the people sleeping under your own roof feel unseen.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    Seek the applause of your spouse, your children. Applaud them in return.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    Being appreciated is good. Being loved is good. Having your work recognized is good.\n    The trouble starts when the praise becomes the thing you are working for, or worse,\n    the thing you use to measure whether your life is real.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    Then you can end up protecting the image instead of building the substance.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <blockquote class=\"tb-god-quote\">\n    Don\u2019t tell me you love me, adore me, when you can\u2019t even love and applaud\n    your own spouse who is closest to you.\n  <\/blockquote>\n\n  <p class=\"tb-emphasis\">\n    What good is being adored by people who barely know you while the people closest\n    to you are starving for your admiration?\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p>\n    Even our love of God is tested there, among the people we can actually see,\n    touch, serve, forgive and live with.\n  <\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"tb-divider\"><\/div>\n\n  <section class=\"tb-drum\">\n    <span class=\"tb-drum-label\">Keep This Close<\/span>\n\n    <h2>Drum it into Your Thick Head so Your not Seduced By Applause<\/h2>\n\n    <blockquote>\n      <p>\n        \u201cIsn\u2019t it tempting to be lauded, idolized, complimented, applauded, adored?\n        Fantasy. Facade. Puffs of smoke when all of it is coming from strangers.\n        Seek the applause of your spouse. Seek the delight of your children.\n        Applaud them in return. What good is being adored by people who barely know\n        you while the people closest to you are starving for your admiration?\n        Even our love of God is tested there, among the people we can actually see,\n        touch, serve, forgive and live with.\u201d\n      <\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n  <\/section>\n\n  <footer class=\"tb-ending\">\n    <strong>Fantasy. Facade. Puffs of smoke.<\/strong>\n    <p>\n      They can fill the whole room for a moment and still disappear when you reach for them.\n    <\/p>\n  <\/footer>\n\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Reflective Thought Puffs of Smoke Written by World Ruler Sher Isn\u2019t it tempting to be lauded, idolized, complimented, applauded, adored? Fantasy. Facade. Puffs of smoke if it\u2019s being done by strangers. Public admiration can feel like substance because the feeling itself is real. Your chest lifts. People repeat your name. They tell you how&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/puffs-of-smoke\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tbfbkm_featured_url":"","_tbfbkm_featured_mime":"","_tbfbkm_featured_type":"","_tbfbkm_featured_title":"","_tbfbkm_featured_poster_url":"","_tbfbkm_featured_mode":"","_tbfbkm_featured_music_video_url":"","_tbfbkm_featured_music_video_items":[],"_tbfbkm_featured_music_video_slide_duration":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":"","_tbfbkm_featured_dynamic_movie_id":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-random-tbu-1drop"],"tbfbkm_featured_media":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118209,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118208\/revisions\/118209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trottbaileyfamily.com\/1drop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}