We don't have a TV that works. Well, we have a TV that works but it has no functioning antennae and we don't buy cable. That means we can watch videos but not live broadcasting. That works for me, I am very fond of my fast forward button. It means that I don't have to watch things that are graphic.
I have no internal filters that protect me from the violence I watch on TV. It effects me... deeply. I have found that my lack of filters isn't anything to be proud of. It simply is where I am in my walk right now. I suppose many would suggest I push myself through so that I could "toughen up", but is tough better? There is a difference between building walls -- being "tough" so that you don't feel pain and having filters that clearly define the difference between your stuff and stuff that is not your stuff. :) When I watch TV, it's all my stuff... I'm not sure how better to explain.
But... are created to watch violence as entertainment? What is the difference between watching it on TV and watching it in a Colosseum? Have we become the very thing we hate? Who are we? What are we created for? Ephesians2:10 boldly answers that question. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them." We are His workmanship! We are a product of God's artistic expression... His art. As art we are a reflection of His very being. And we are created with purpose... good works... What are those? What makes work good or not good? Does this mean we must work to be saved? (Listening)
I believe that we were created to work... to move our bodies for the purpose of accomplishing a purpose. We can not survive without working even picking up a spoon and feeding ourselves can be classified as work. But what makes a work "good"? We were created for good works... as apposed to evil works. The fact that we move our bodies simply means we are alive as apposed to dead. To some degree the more we move our bodies (that is the less we sit around and vege) the more alive we are. Did you know that they now have a name for sitting for long periods of time... it's called "sitting disease" and research says it increases your chances of dying... yup sitting can kill you. :) But the question is... what are we meant to do? What are "good works" (listening)
Hmmm the picture I have is of a frozen generation. So many teens to 30 somethings seem frozen and unable to move. I am peer to many moms who are confused as to why their children don't seem to have any motivation... they sit, they stare either at a screen or at the sky... what has bewitched them? And I see older people sitting, feeling bereft of purpose and just as frozen. The sense I have is of speaking over all of them... "move, just move". I'm thinking of that movie "Ever After" where Cinderella is standing between her past and her future and says to her self, "Breathe, just breathe." Proverbs 16:9 says, "The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." Does that mean we must first take steps so that the LORD has something to work with? I think I will spend more time pacing instead of sitting and see where my feet end up. :)
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Hooters
I have been praying as I am working on a presentation
for women who have been brutalized by their not-so-charming, Prince
Charmings. What sets women up anyway? On the other hand what sets a man
up to brutalize a woman? What happened to the
idea of preserving and protecting? What would happen on the Titanic
today if it were sinking and there were not enough life boats to go around? Would men give place on life boats
for women, for children? Would anyone give place? Or would it just be a panicked
free-for-all because no one values another's life above their own? I wonder.
So what is it that sets women up? I'm wondering if the question should be what doesn't set women up! There are so many twisted messages. You say, "I want to marry a gentleman" I know what you mean, you want to marry someone who is kind and honorable and who would never expose or overpower you. I'm thinking of John 8:1-11 where a woman is brought to Jesus that was caught in the very act of adultery. Can you imagine? How did they catch her exactly? I'm thinking she was set up. Notice they didn't bring the man who had to have also been caught in the very act did he not? How horrifying to be exposed before a crowd of people itching to stone you! I'm thinking she was completely buck before that crowd. I doubt if they stopped to dress her--maybe throw a sheet around her--maybe but Jesus does an amazing thing. He stoops down and starts to scribble in the sand. All of the sudden that horde of contemptuous eyes, dripping with self righteousness and cruelty, were turned from the frightened, exposed and embarrassed young woman and were now focused on deciphering the scribblings in the sand. Jesus was a gentleman to her... protecting and covering in a way that didn't add further injury.
Joseph was a gentleman to Mary in that when he found that she was pregnant by someone other than him, he didn't want to expose her but intended to send her away secretly (Matthew 1:19). Even in the face of such a dilemma, Joseph chose to be kind. The bible gives righteousness as the reason for his kindness. That's amazing... kindness to a woman who he thought was unfaithful to him is an act of righteousness!
So here's my question, "If that's our picture of a gentleman then why are places where naked women dancers are treated like slabs of meat at an auction called a gentleman's club?" and "Why do we pitch a bloody fit over a name like Beaner's Coffee because it is degrading and disrespectful, but no one says a word against a name like Hooters?"
So what is it that sets women up? I'm wondering if the question should be what doesn't set women up! There are so many twisted messages. You say, "I want to marry a gentleman" I know what you mean, you want to marry someone who is kind and honorable and who would never expose or overpower you. I'm thinking of John 8:1-11 where a woman is brought to Jesus that was caught in the very act of adultery. Can you imagine? How did they catch her exactly? I'm thinking she was set up. Notice they didn't bring the man who had to have also been caught in the very act did he not? How horrifying to be exposed before a crowd of people itching to stone you! I'm thinking she was completely buck before that crowd. I doubt if they stopped to dress her--maybe throw a sheet around her--maybe but Jesus does an amazing thing. He stoops down and starts to scribble in the sand. All of the sudden that horde of contemptuous eyes, dripping with self righteousness and cruelty, were turned from the frightened, exposed and embarrassed young woman and were now focused on deciphering the scribblings in the sand. Jesus was a gentleman to her... protecting and covering in a way that didn't add further injury.
Joseph was a gentleman to Mary in that when he found that she was pregnant by someone other than him, he didn't want to expose her but intended to send her away secretly (Matthew 1:19). Even in the face of such a dilemma, Joseph chose to be kind. The bible gives righteousness as the reason for his kindness. That's amazing... kindness to a woman who he thought was unfaithful to him is an act of righteousness!
So here's my question, "If that's our picture of a gentleman then why are places where naked women dancers are treated like slabs of meat at an auction called a gentleman's club?" and "Why do we pitch a bloody fit over a name like Beaner's Coffee because it is degrading and disrespectful, but no one says a word against a name like Hooters?"
Friday, February 21, 2014
Old spice
I'm have been doing some research into our culture and how we look at men and women. I want to ask why we call women "attractive". What does that mean really? What is an attractant and do you really want to be one? I am thinking of the raw meat they hang above leg traps in order to capture coyotes in the west. What is it that makes us long to be alluring? Is it some deep inner unmet need? Or is it something we have been groomed to do? Why do you wear makeup? Do you wear it because you like the art? Or do you wear it to attract the opposite sex? If you attract someone because of your makeup... will you have trapped something worth having?
I was reading the label on an Old Spice product which said: "PREPARE TO BE KISSED ON THE BEAK OF MAN POWER" Really? It continues by saying, "When your body flesh is covered with HAWKRIDGE body wash there is nothing a woman can do but smell the tingly freedom song of a rapture lullaby and accept that science can not explain the feeling in their hearts." Really? Do I want to be captured by a rapture? They rip the flesh off their victims you know! This scares me. I am angry! I am a human being with value and worth! I want to be seen, listened to... cherished. Tell the guys that! Not that I can be wooed out of my senses by the stench of their cologne.
If we want to be cherished, understand and appreciated for who we are, we need to rethink things starting with the motivation behind what we do... and what others do to attract.
I was reading the label on an Old Spice product which said: "PREPARE TO BE KISSED ON THE BEAK OF MAN POWER" Really? It continues by saying, "When your body flesh is covered with HAWKRIDGE body wash there is nothing a woman can do but smell the tingly freedom song of a rapture lullaby and accept that science can not explain the feeling in their hearts." Really? Do I want to be captured by a rapture? They rip the flesh off their victims you know! This scares me. I am angry! I am a human being with value and worth! I want to be seen, listened to... cherished. Tell the guys that! Not that I can be wooed out of my senses by the stench of their cologne.
If we want to be cherished, understand and appreciated for who we are, we need to rethink things starting with the motivation behind what we do... and what others do to attract.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Above all?
I have the coolest app on my tablet. It is called "audio books". It connects to a free public domain audio book website called Librivox.org. Librivox has a collection of wonderful classics that are read by volunteers all over the world, one of which is the bible. I am more of an audio learner than a visual one so listening to scripture can do me more good sometimes than reading it. It's awesome because you can download whole books and then listen to them while you travel.
So this morning I was listening to James and chapter 5 verse 2 caught my attention. "But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgement." I believe the Bible to be a very short book considering it is God's message to us. I believe that everything in it is important, even the most boring of parts. I believe that there are many passages and concepts that require great wrestling because they are "hard sayings". I believe that when it says, "above all" it must really be important. Here it is, wake up! Here is the most important thing I James am inspired to say to you. "Do not swear" really??? What makes that important?
I don't believe it means, "Do not say the current offensive words in our vocabulary." Though I don't believe vulgarity is gentle, kind or loving, swearing in this context is making an oath. which is way different that having a foul tongue.
So God why is this important? Hmmm The thing that comes to mind for me are all the oaths or promises we make to ourselves like, "I will never let that happen to me again!" or, "I will show him!" In working with women who struggle to get free from past abuses, I have seen that the vows that are made in response to pain can lead to debilitating lives. It's a trenching in and vying for control but it leads to becoming the very thing that we hate. If we run from pain, we are manipulated by our fear. Trenching in is a fear response. It may feel like standing up but it is really climbing upon the backs of another in order to get out of the muck.
Letting our yes be yes and our no, no in my mind is a form of being still and simply being. No pretense, no agenda for anyone else, just breathing and living outside of fear. That is much harder than it sounds sometimes. :)
So this morning I was listening to James and chapter 5 verse 2 caught my attention. "But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgement." I believe the Bible to be a very short book considering it is God's message to us. I believe that everything in it is important, even the most boring of parts. I believe that there are many passages and concepts that require great wrestling because they are "hard sayings". I believe that when it says, "above all" it must really be important. Here it is, wake up! Here is the most important thing I James am inspired to say to you. "Do not swear" really??? What makes that important?
I don't believe it means, "Do not say the current offensive words in our vocabulary." Though I don't believe vulgarity is gentle, kind or loving, swearing in this context is making an oath. which is way different that having a foul tongue.
So God why is this important? Hmmm The thing that comes to mind for me are all the oaths or promises we make to ourselves like, "I will never let that happen to me again!" or, "I will show him!" In working with women who struggle to get free from past abuses, I have seen that the vows that are made in response to pain can lead to debilitating lives. It's a trenching in and vying for control but it leads to becoming the very thing that we hate. If we run from pain, we are manipulated by our fear. Trenching in is a fear response. It may feel like standing up but it is really climbing upon the backs of another in order to get out of the muck.
Letting our yes be yes and our no, no in my mind is a form of being still and simply being. No pretense, no agenda for anyone else, just breathing and living outside of fear. That is much harder than it sounds sometimes. :)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
God's provision
I'm thinking of Jesus as He prayed "Give us each day our daily bread Luke 11:3"... Funny, I am hoping for at least a weeks worth of bread not a days worth. As I age, it feels much more uncomfortable to be living day to day instead of having a nest egg or retirement fund of some kind. We are way better off than most people in the world. We have way more than today's bread in the cupboard. Shoot, we have a cupboard to put food in for heaven's sake!
So what comes first, our provision from the LORD or our trust for that provision? There are lots of passages in scripture where God explains His actions as being motivated by the trust that was put in Him. Like 1 Chronicles 5:20 " He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him." So what can we trust Him to do? I don't believe that God is the candy man...He is not there to feed our selfish ends. I believe there is an intimacy inferred in this passage... I'm thinking the trust these people had was not the kind of trust you give a bridge that you drive over but more the kind a child gives when He reaches his arms out to be carried across the street. One trust is relational and deep, the other is a form of using.
A child's trust in their daily bread has nothing to do with the next day. They only receive what is on the table today. I've never heard my children ask me what tomorrow's dinner will be. They only ask, "what's for dinner?" They fully trust dinner will be there when it's dinner time.
God, Help me find that kind of trust today.
So what comes first, our provision from the LORD or our trust for that provision? There are lots of passages in scripture where God explains His actions as being motivated by the trust that was put in Him. Like 1 Chronicles 5:20 " He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him." So what can we trust Him to do? I don't believe that God is the candy man...He is not there to feed our selfish ends. I believe there is an intimacy inferred in this passage... I'm thinking the trust these people had was not the kind of trust you give a bridge that you drive over but more the kind a child gives when He reaches his arms out to be carried across the street. One trust is relational and deep, the other is a form of using.
A child's trust in their daily bread has nothing to do with the next day. They only receive what is on the table today. I've never heard my children ask me what tomorrow's dinner will be. They only ask, "what's for dinner?" They fully trust dinner will be there when it's dinner time.
God, Help me find that kind of trust today.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Remember
I know it is important to remember things. You have to be able to find your way home, what your name is, what your allergic to. But beyond that why do we have a memory? What is it for? I think memorials are important to God. When the Hebrew people crossed the Jordan River into their promised land. God instructed them to take 12 stones from the river as they were crossing it and make an alter by the banks of the river as a memorial (Joshua 4:7). He wanted them to remember what happened there. He wanted them to teach their children. He wanted them to remember who He was and what He did for them. When Jesus took the cup at His last passover feast he said, "Do this, in rememberance of me" (Luke 22:19). And so we do... or do we?
I have a box full of sweet things that remind me of my children. Pretty little dresses and shoes. Blankets that their grandmother made and priceless handmade trinkets, little expressions of their admiration and love. As they start to have children of their own I have started to give up at least the clothes and the blankets. They are of no use in a box! But many of the things that meant so much to me as I packed them away, here a pair of overalls, there a pretty dress that looked so precious on but all too soon was grown out of. I realize that those little people grew and became something you can't really encase in a dress or blanket. These things mark a time in history but they tell nothing of the people they once clothed.
Raising children was so much fun! I loved watching as they developed their own personalities and sense of humors. They are sweet individuals with great hearts and amazing minds. The things I really want to remember you can't capture with a picture or a hand print or a dress. You had to live with them day in and day out to really get the whole picture of who they are...and even then there is more every day to discover! They are way more than anything I could put in a box to remember them by. And now these trinkets seem empty in comparison.
I'm thinking the same goes with God and Jesus. I'm thinking that God wasn't really into a pile of rocks. I don't think He wanted us to spend our days staring at them. I think they are to remind us of Him... really Him. Not that He did something as much as why He did something. The Hebrew people spend years, day in and day out with God as their guide and their provider. What exactly are they meant to remember? I'm thinking that Jesus meant more when He said, "Do this in remembrance of me" than that we should eat what He ate that day...Jesus too spent years with His disciples, day in and day out, teaching and modeling a nature that they took years and then some to comprehend. He wants us to know Him... to get to know Him... to really know Him. To remember who He is, that He will return... and why.
Sometimes it good simply to remember.
I have a box full of sweet things that remind me of my children. Pretty little dresses and shoes. Blankets that their grandmother made and priceless handmade trinkets, little expressions of their admiration and love. As they start to have children of their own I have started to give up at least the clothes and the blankets. They are of no use in a box! But many of the things that meant so much to me as I packed them away, here a pair of overalls, there a pretty dress that looked so precious on but all too soon was grown out of. I realize that those little people grew and became something you can't really encase in a dress or blanket. These things mark a time in history but they tell nothing of the people they once clothed.
Raising children was so much fun! I loved watching as they developed their own personalities and sense of humors. They are sweet individuals with great hearts and amazing minds. The things I really want to remember you can't capture with a picture or a hand print or a dress. You had to live with them day in and day out to really get the whole picture of who they are...and even then there is more every day to discover! They are way more than anything I could put in a box to remember them by. And now these trinkets seem empty in comparison.
I'm thinking the same goes with God and Jesus. I'm thinking that God wasn't really into a pile of rocks. I don't think He wanted us to spend our days staring at them. I think they are to remind us of Him... really Him. Not that He did something as much as why He did something. The Hebrew people spend years, day in and day out with God as their guide and their provider. What exactly are they meant to remember? I'm thinking that Jesus meant more when He said, "Do this in remembrance of me" than that we should eat what He ate that day...Jesus too spent years with His disciples, day in and day out, teaching and modeling a nature that they took years and then some to comprehend. He wants us to know Him... to get to know Him... to really know Him. To remember who He is, that He will return... and why.
Sometimes it good simply to remember.
Monday, January 6, 2014
More on Chaos
It's been a while since I have posted anything. It has been a year like no other for me. It is still my continuing battle to fight chaos but it feels like chaos is a huge adversary. We started about a year ago to pack up our big house. Our plan is to fix it up and sell it so that we could cut our expenses and thus our financial chaos. It seemed like a simple goal. But it has taken us a year and we are still working at it. Oh well, one day at a time.
We are recovering empty nesters. I am not sure God ever intended us to be in this faze in life but here we are and I'm not sure what to do with myself. I had been a homeschool mom for almost thirty years. That's a long and wonderful time but perhaps it feels more quiet on account of the fact that my kids were always here before.. It's been over a year since my last one got married. Now they all have babies of their own (one on the way!). Grand babies are awesome but I don't like the part where you give them back. I know most people do.. but I LOVE kids. I love my kids. I love their kids... That's part of why we are working so hard to conquer the chaos.
Through all the years we raised our kids. One thing always followed another and chaos was brushed aside as something we would address... someday. There wasn't time for that. I didn't have energy to face it... I was too busy. Now that I have time I realize that it's time to face it. I look at friends that I have that are older than me... they are too old and too tired to face the chaos. Their kids know that they are going to be left to deal with it when my friends die. I don't want to do that to my kids. I want to deal with it now, while I can. I want to trim down before it is really too much for me. I want to gift my children with order. Think I can? One thing's for sure... I have the time to try.
The house is on the market, I pray for God's timing for a sale. I have to keep remembering the value of timing. It feels like I can just taste the day when I don't have to figure out how to make that house payment. But I live in the north. It is freaking cold outside right now. I remember the first time I heard a radio announcer say it was going to warm up to freezing. I thought it was a funny concept but if it warmed up to freezing today it would be almost forty degrees warmer than it is right now. Brrrr! I am grateful that we didn't sell our house last month or we would be facing trying to move stuff in this weather. God's timing is always the best!
In the mean time, it is a good time to sit down, have a cup of tea, ponder and write, don't you think?
We are recovering empty nesters. I am not sure God ever intended us to be in this faze in life but here we are and I'm not sure what to do with myself. I had been a homeschool mom for almost thirty years. That's a long and wonderful time but perhaps it feels more quiet on account of the fact that my kids were always here before.. It's been over a year since my last one got married. Now they all have babies of their own (one on the way!). Grand babies are awesome but I don't like the part where you give them back. I know most people do.. but I LOVE kids. I love my kids. I love their kids... That's part of why we are working so hard to conquer the chaos.
Through all the years we raised our kids. One thing always followed another and chaos was brushed aside as something we would address... someday. There wasn't time for that. I didn't have energy to face it... I was too busy. Now that I have time I realize that it's time to face it. I look at friends that I have that are older than me... they are too old and too tired to face the chaos. Their kids know that they are going to be left to deal with it when my friends die. I don't want to do that to my kids. I want to deal with it now, while I can. I want to trim down before it is really too much for me. I want to gift my children with order. Think I can? One thing's for sure... I have the time to try.
The house is on the market, I pray for God's timing for a sale. I have to keep remembering the value of timing. It feels like I can just taste the day when I don't have to figure out how to make that house payment. But I live in the north. It is freaking cold outside right now. I remember the first time I heard a radio announcer say it was going to warm up to freezing. I thought it was a funny concept but if it warmed up to freezing today it would be almost forty degrees warmer than it is right now. Brrrr! I am grateful that we didn't sell our house last month or we would be facing trying to move stuff in this weather. God's timing is always the best!
In the mean time, it is a good time to sit down, have a cup of tea, ponder and write, don't you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)