Pictures can be pretty powerful. There are certain images that just intrigue me. A picture of a hand or a group of hands. Pictures of flowers and their ethereal charm. Historic photographs of people and their mode of transportation, especially airplanes. Photographs of ancestors, and other people's families. Oceanography.
I have seen a few images, within the past week, that have taken me aback. Certain people's smiles. I am unaware of what the connection could be, but those smiles just lift my spirit, almost like hearing the sound of a child's laughter. My cousin, whom I thought was mysteriously gone forever, has ventured back into a realm where I can enjoy him as an adult. Previous to this, I had only seen him maybe once a year as a child. But to know now that he is still walking this Earth, is an amazing phenomenon to me. His smile causes me to contentedly pause.
"Mad Men" somehow got on my request list from the library. Went through all three seasons. Capitalism! Don't get me started! There were some scenes that caused me to gasp, and then realize, oh yeah, that was a different time. Family picnic, and leaving the trash on the ground. Mom telling her children to go watch T.V., not really monitoring the content, nor discussing what may have been viewed and the not-so-logical conclusions a child would draw from what was seen, yada yada yada.
Another image struck me like a foreign sensation, where I wondered what could be behind the intensity. Kind of like how I refilled my wand lighter today, and some of the contents of the can got on my fingers. That caused them to feel cold, like dry ice, and I just stood there and looked at my hand for a lingering moment. What does it mean when we encounter someone and we feel an immediate connection and kinship? Is it just plain attraction? What if it happens every time you are in that person's presence? Doesn't attraction fade, at least superficial attraction, based on appearance or the initial encounter, not based on knowing a person at all? I searched that picture for clues as to who the person is?
During some research, I came across a video clip which ripped a piece of me out. The same thing happened when I was watching a clip of "The Cove." I adore dolphins and the mystery behind such an intelligent, free, wild creature, which makes me feel protective of them. Even though I know that no matter what men do on this planet, God's will will be done, I still feel like it is so wrong, what the Japanese do to these animals.
That childhood song, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see, oh be careful little eyes what you see, For the Father up above, is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see".... keeps coming to mind. Anything we consume through all of our sensory receptors, is ingested and becomes part of us. Sometimes, what we take into our bodies has to be digested in some way. It's been my thinking that everything we take in, has to come out somehow.
This week, I was wondering if there is a way to turn things around? Is it possible for folks to take a step back and say, "This is not right. We have been making the mistake of doing this, when it should not be done. Let's turn this bus around!" Is it possible for a nation to take a step back and say, there is no way we are giving up the principles on which our country was founded, minus the racism/slavery and the way Native Americans were treated? Can pornography be destroyed, to be no more? Can we throw out NAFTA?
There's a family I once knew, and admired. They were so conscientious about what they ate, and what their young children ate. Me, I was raised on Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Wheaties, Coke Cola and Ding Dongs. And now I find myself trying to teach my children that eating is part of fueling our bodies, and not for us to put things in that do not necessarily contribute well to our health. Complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, natural ingredients, nothing fried, nothing with ingredients we cannot pronounce or know what it is, etc....yeah right!! The big challenge is teaching kids to stop eating when they are full so they don't become over-eaters, when I was taught to eat everything on my plate. Another challenge for a girl who tried every candy or food that was new on the shelves of the super market, is to "refocus" while shopping. For example, looking for new vegetables or fruits I've never tried, rather than going to the candy aisle to see what's new.
Good stewardship. It seems that this concept is not a popular one these days. But it has been my desire lately to try and take care of what I have. To get back to basics and remember that everything I have is God's, including this body, a temple...a broken down one at that. Time to renovate! Only, I have no clue where to get new parts!!
Thursday
Wednesday
No place like home!
One day we were out, and it seemed as though we kept bumping into people we knew at every turn. It is fun to be able to fellowship while running errands. On the way home, feeling content and loved, one child blurted out, "See Mom, you have lots of friends. Forget about the stuck-up people."
They have witnessed the pain I have felt in being rejected by certain folks. I found it funny that I needed this reminder. Especially since I keep telling them basically the same thing. You are so loved. Sometimes, we want so much to be liked, and feel awful when certain folks reject us. A friend of mine was telling me this same message several weeks ago, but I had not let it sink in as much as I did the message from my child.
This also got me thinking about where I call "home." I have settled in, in places where that rejection dwells. Then I think of people who do not attend "church" because of flaws like this. To us, I say, that no "church" is perfect, because it is made up of imperfect folks, just like us. Those places are not truly a "home." Thank God, people who have accepted Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior, have an eternal home to which we look forward. All the pains of this worldly existence will end, when we go home.
Psalm 84:3 & 4 "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah"
John 14:23 "Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.'"
They have witnessed the pain I have felt in being rejected by certain folks. I found it funny that I needed this reminder. Especially since I keep telling them basically the same thing. You are so loved. Sometimes, we want so much to be liked, and feel awful when certain folks reject us. A friend of mine was telling me this same message several weeks ago, but I had not let it sink in as much as I did the message from my child.
This also got me thinking about where I call "home." I have settled in, in places where that rejection dwells. Then I think of people who do not attend "church" because of flaws like this. To us, I say, that no "church" is perfect, because it is made up of imperfect folks, just like us. Those places are not truly a "home." Thank God, people who have accepted Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior, have an eternal home to which we look forward. All the pains of this worldly existence will end, when we go home.
Psalm 84:3 & 4 "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah"
John 14:23 "Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.'"
Thursday
Should I Get Tatted?
Leviticus 19:28 says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."
Call me old fashioned, but whenever I see a baby with her ears pierced, I wonder about the individual child having their choice taken away in altering her body that way. A few days ago, a child, barely able to walk, approached me with both ears pierced. I asked the older child who chased after her how old the baby was. Then I felt the need to back pedal a little, since there was hesitation on the older child's face. Surely the baby was a "she?" But no, she corrected me and said it was a "he." If you are confused, I was also confused by the encounter. That question is climbing the charts, almost right up there with the one that goes like, "When are you due?" And the man's not pregnant.
Shouldn't a child have the choice to pierce their own ear(s)? I have encountered this same type of matter about my own children and whether to chemically treat their hair, etc. It's their body, I feel, and they should make a responsible decision in altering it. I feel it is my duty to help them accept their natural selves as beautiful - beauty coming from the inside out. I wonder, if I had a son, how would this apply to circumcision? What a complicated matter. Or if they had been born with some abnormal condition where I needed to make a choice of how to make the child's body and life more adaptable to our world, what would I do? What a challenge some parents face. Then there are the decisions in getting a child vaccinated. That too, to me, fits in this category in question.
I have considered getting a tattoo for many years, off and on (no, not the rub on kind). A design I considered a LONG LONG time ago, was a Hershey's Kiss on the derrierre with the white flag reading "kiss my...." I still think of having one of my scars incorporated into a beautiful butterfly. One of my favorite reality shows lately has been "L.A. Ink" - not only seeing the artists at work and the reasoning behind some of the choices people make in getting tatted up, but also the cool artwork. One of my chosen subjects in college Speech, was body art, including piercings, etc. I appreciate this form of self expression.
A beautiful friend pointed to the above verse. That verse adds another thing to consider. Though I know we are not under law, but under grace, as Christians, I wonder what place the "law" takes in our everyday lives. For example, the subject of Christmas trees in relation to Jeremiah, chapter ten. Knowing that something offended our God in past dispensations causes me to wonder if we should heed the law out of love of God, and wanting the best that life has to offer us? After all the mistakes I have made as an adult, I have come to realize that the "law" is not the kind of thing that is like an adult authority over an adolescent, where we feel the need to rebel against that authority. Instead, it is more the loving suggestion on how to live on this planet and receive the blessings God has for us.
God judges the heart; the acceptance, or rejection of Him, and the motives that aren't seen with the naked eye. So then how do we know for ourselves that we have what needs to be in our heart when making choices, and know that we are honoring God? Is this a WWJD (what would Jesus do) question?
Psalm chapter 119 verse nine says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." Then verse 11 says,"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee." Ephesians chapter six verse 17 says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Oh, and then Paul goes on to say in verses 18 through 20, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." That's a lot of praying!! Okay, so then there is prayer. Reading His word is "hearing" His side of conversation with us, and then having the discipline of prayer is our side of conversation with Him.
Is that it? What are your thoughts?
Call me old fashioned, but whenever I see a baby with her ears pierced, I wonder about the individual child having their choice taken away in altering her body that way. A few days ago, a child, barely able to walk, approached me with both ears pierced. I asked the older child who chased after her how old the baby was. Then I felt the need to back pedal a little, since there was hesitation on the older child's face. Surely the baby was a "she?" But no, she corrected me and said it was a "he." If you are confused, I was also confused by the encounter. That question is climbing the charts, almost right up there with the one that goes like, "When are you due?" And the man's not pregnant.
Shouldn't a child have the choice to pierce their own ear(s)? I have encountered this same type of matter about my own children and whether to chemically treat their hair, etc. It's their body, I feel, and they should make a responsible decision in altering it. I feel it is my duty to help them accept their natural selves as beautiful - beauty coming from the inside out. I wonder, if I had a son, how would this apply to circumcision? What a complicated matter. Or if they had been born with some abnormal condition where I needed to make a choice of how to make the child's body and life more adaptable to our world, what would I do? What a challenge some parents face. Then there are the decisions in getting a child vaccinated. That too, to me, fits in this category in question.
I have considered getting a tattoo for many years, off and on (no, not the rub on kind). A design I considered a LONG LONG time ago, was a Hershey's Kiss on the derrierre with the white flag reading "kiss my...." I still think of having one of my scars incorporated into a beautiful butterfly. One of my favorite reality shows lately has been "L.A. Ink" - not only seeing the artists at work and the reasoning behind some of the choices people make in getting tatted up, but also the cool artwork. One of my chosen subjects in college Speech, was body art, including piercings, etc. I appreciate this form of self expression.
A beautiful friend pointed to the above verse. That verse adds another thing to consider. Though I know we are not under law, but under grace, as Christians, I wonder what place the "law" takes in our everyday lives. For example, the subject of Christmas trees in relation to Jeremiah, chapter ten. Knowing that something offended our God in past dispensations causes me to wonder if we should heed the law out of love of God, and wanting the best that life has to offer us? After all the mistakes I have made as an adult, I have come to realize that the "law" is not the kind of thing that is like an adult authority over an adolescent, where we feel the need to rebel against that authority. Instead, it is more the loving suggestion on how to live on this planet and receive the blessings God has for us.
God judges the heart; the acceptance, or rejection of Him, and the motives that aren't seen with the naked eye. So then how do we know for ourselves that we have what needs to be in our heart when making choices, and know that we are honoring God? Is this a WWJD (what would Jesus do) question?
Psalm chapter 119 verse nine says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." Then verse 11 says,"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee." Ephesians chapter six verse 17 says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Oh, and then Paul goes on to say in verses 18 through 20, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." That's a lot of praying!! Okay, so then there is prayer. Reading His word is "hearing" His side of conversation with us, and then having the discipline of prayer is our side of conversation with Him.
Is that it? What are your thoughts?
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