Lately I have been working really hard at finding the blessings in things, working to be content in all situations. Its easy when things go well, not so easy when things fail.
Like my again broken washer... Same problem as last time, the motor has fried. It makes me wonder if there is a different issue that caused the motor to fry, and I wonder if the service guy last time should have been more thorough. But its all too late, as the warranty on the parts was only for 90 days. How do I find the blessing in that? Okay, on one hand, I don't have to do laundry, because I can't. That frees up time to do other things, like write this blog entry... However, its only a matter of time before I will need to do laundry... I guess a trip to the neighbor's will be in order until we find the means to repair or replace the machine.
But other things are going good. Hubby and I are getting along very well. We have both re-focused our attention on each other, and do much better at treating each other with respect and honor. That is a wonderful blessing.
We had 3 house showings last week, that is cool. One person in particular has shown a lot of interest, and perhaps an offer is coming, now *that* would be a HUGE blessing!
I start a new part-time job this week, that pays more than either of our current jobs. In fact, in order to maximize our time and what we get paid, hubby will also work his current job only part-time. The two of us will then share my current job... Seems strange on the surface, but the benefits outweigh any confusion and annoyance. First, we don't have to put the other car back on the road, as the days I need the car, hubby works next door, and vice-versa. Second, because we will be working a total of 11 days out of the week (combined) and my additional wages, we should be able to take home almost $200 more per week! Another blessing.
Our relationship with our neighbors is very strong, such they aren't just neighbors, or a boss, they are friends. This has proven to be beneficial for both families, as we are able to share, and help each other out when in need. Blessing.
Due to necessity our spending and consumption of resources has diminished. This could be seen as a bad thing, little money... However, I think that once we are in a better financial position it won't make any difference to our consumption, as we both recognize that we were somewhat wasteful in the past. Saving money, saving resources and consuming less is only a win-win for us and the environment. Yep, you guessed it, Blessing!
Okay, keeping tabs? That's 5 things I can easily find the blessings in, and 1, well not so much... I'd have to say that 5 out of 6 is good. Better than good. I'll take it.
some things are good, other(s) not so much
"un"wisdom for the ignorant
I have thought about this post all day, but I am still not sure I will be able to keep my thoughts as coherant as I would like. Bear with me...
The idea started a few weeks ago when I became a more "regular" attendee of LifeChurch.tv. There was this 4-part series called True[ish]. You can watch them via their archives! The pastor was talking about things in this world, in this day and age, that we (even us Christians) hold as true, but in fact they aren't really true at all. Over the few weeks I began to reflect on things that I held as virtues, and I began comparing them to who Jesus was and what He held as virtues. I would like to be able to report that I am "right on track" but I am a sinful human, and I am not anywhere near close to Jesus in those regards. (Nor is anyone else I suspect. And no, that is not a judgement, just a fair comparison of where we ALL stand next to Jesus' examples. Unfortunately we all come up short.)
This pastor of LifeChurch.tv is not what I would refer to as a typical pastor, at least not typical for the denomination I grew up in. Honestly, I don't really think his preaching style would be overly appreciated by most. However, I appreciate how he was able to highlight the absolute truths found in the Bible. He pointed out his own, and all of our flaws, and while doing so, he never once made me feel berated. He did however, remind me how much we fail on a day-to-day basis to act as Jesus' example showed us. How much we fail at "doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our Lord." Micah 6:8.
I don't really want to get into too much detail on the specifics of his sermons, I really encourage you to watch for youself. What I wanted to focus on is the outstanding question I have, the same question I almost always have when I leave church.
How?
We hear sermons that reflect on Bible passages. We hear what the scriptures mean in layman's terms. We hear how we don't measure up. But to me something is still missing. How do we do it? Where is our tangible check list of things to do or try, our guideline?
Yes, we have the Bible itself, however, it doesn't have these nifty little lists. If you start a new job, or go to learn a new subject in school, you have a trainer/instructor. Then you run through examples to explain the theory. The next step is running through some of those examples on your own, to see how you do, and where you need to make adjustments. One would never try to solve the square root of a number without knowing (or at least have written down) the quadratic equation.
Where is our equation, our list, our instruction manual on the HOW? I get the why. I understand the theory. How do you put it in practice?
has anything changed... for the better?
Recently I watched this video on YouTube. It is a speech by Severn Suzuki at the 1992 UN Earth Summit. I would highly recommend taking 6 and a half minutes from your busy schedule to listen to this (at that time) young girl, barely a teenager, who says things we should all be saying. It amazes me that this speech is from 1992. The issues she talks about are still very much present today. I asked in the title of this post - has anything changed? Not for the better if you ask me. Things have really only gotten worse. All of the issue she talks about still exist today, and there are even more issues on top of that!
She is a well-spoken, bold young lady. The things she says really made me pause and think of what I can do about things, now. I do some things already to help the environment. I recycle, big time. I conserve, big time. I re-use things. And with all of that, I try to educate people. However, it is never going to be enough, even if every household in the world conserved as much as possible, there are still all those industrial factories consuming more than I ever thought possible.
I have shared before the website called StoryOfStuff. There is another great video there too, but you will need to set aside about 20 minutes. Educating ourselves and each other is one way that we can hopefully stand united against the governments and businesses of this world that are consuming at such an alarming rate, its scary!
I think that especially as a North American society, we need to stop consumerism. We need to stop planned and perceived obsolescence. What we need to do is go back to perhaps the days of our grandparents, when throwing out a used milk bag was unheard of, because didn't you know that you can wash it and then use it for a storage bag?
I will stop now, before I aimlessly go on and on. Preserving and repairing our Earth is something that we must all do together. But ultimately its a personal choice. Only you can decide if you will think twice about tossing something that really can be re-used. Only you can decide to go green.
we've been that time for awhile now
I have been reflecting on this passage from the Holy Bible. Its from Timothy, the author of many of the instructions to the "church."
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." 2 Timothy 4:3 (New International Version)
As this blog entry title may indicate, I feel that we (all humans) have been in this time already, and probably have since Timothy first wrote this. Maybe even before he wrote it! I think its human nature to surround ourselves with those who are like us, but more than that, I think that people generally like hearing what they *want* to hear.
I heard someone in a church leadership position use this quote: "if you aren't getting the answers you seek, you are either asking the wrong questions or asking the wrong people." It never occurred to this person that maybe they were seeking the wrong answers in the first place! It never dawned on them that the answers they got were in fact 'sound doctrine.'
The "church" has changed its beliefs many, many times since Timothy wrote this. The "church" has altered its rules in order to adapt to the changes in the world. As more and more things become acceptable in society, they become acceptable in the church. Fundamentally this is wrong. We are to be in the world but not OF the world. Meaning, we are to live here, but not to become what is considered worldly as opposed to what is Biblical. We are NOT to change our beliefs every time society changes it's.
Where would we draw the line? We already allow women in office (as deacons, elders and even pastors). We already allow gays and lesbians in office. We already run our churches like businesses as opposed to the 'movement' it is supposed to be. The church is a communion of saints, not a building full of expenses to be managed like widgets on an inventory line. But society accepts women being equal to men, the entire women's liberation movement achieved that for us (didn't do ME any favors!). Society says that its okay, so now the church does too. I ask, if society ever ends up saying that if someone murders your child you will have the right to shoot them, will the church then think that murder is acceptable? Right now that seems ludicrous, but as recent as 10 years ago the church felt that women in office was ludicrous.
If you ask me, its only a matter of time before the church becomes the world. We are called by God to be disciples. We are called by God to teach His word, and to instruct in the ways of God. We are NOT called by God to set aside our fundamental beliefs simply because it might be deemed offensive to society as a whole. If you read the gospels on how Jesus himself behaved as a child and an adult you will find that He was not afraid or intimidated by the world. Jesus broke all kinds of worldly rules and even some church rules - all in the name of what is Biblically appropriate. He showed us HOW to live, and how to be a Christian. He lead by example, so why aren't we following that example?
I have been accused of hating the church. Well, hate is a very strong word. Even the Bible has something to say about HATE. "He who hates his brother is a murderer and no murderer has eternal life." (1 John 3:15). No, I don't hate the church. I do, however, have some issues with the "church" - which is likely apparent to anyone reading this blog entry, or other blog entries I have written. No, I don't hate the church, but I don't like what organized religion has done to the "church." I am a Christian. I believe in God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Its organized religion that I have a problem with, and how man (humans) have taken what God has commanded and made it something other than what God had intended it to be.
I am in no way trying to imply that I am perfect, far from it. I am a sinner just like all the other billions of people in this world. I am not even trying to imply that I feel I am better than anyone else. I just feel that the "church" has steered off course somewhere along the way. I could go into all kinds of examples, but this blog entry is long enough already. Bottom line, I feel that everything we need to know is in the Bible, and I feel its pretty explicit. Sure, we are all different and therefore there is a lot of interpretation, however, when some things are written very clearly, I just have a lot of trouble when human beings spin it to be what they want it to be at the time they want it to be that. I have heard the same person use the same passage to either support or negate the exact same cause, the only difference was how that person *felt* at the time. That kinda summarizes my entire point - we read the Bible and take from it, the only thing that changed was us, not the Bible.
In summary, Timothy was very enlightened (of course he would be, seeing as the entire Bible was written with the inspiration and guidance of God through the Holy Spirit). And who would know better what God intended for the world than God himself??? I think we should stop playing God, and stop pretending that we know better than He. To me, that is the greatest sin of all, changing His Word, because His Word is our cornerstone, our instruction manual, our guide of right vs wrong. The more we change it, the scarier this world becomes. Inevitably we will change His Word so much that it will be our words, then we are truly of the world. That's a problem.
hiding... no, just re-prioritizing
So I haven't been on assbook, sorry facebook, so much lately, and hardly ever on MSN... Someone suggested to me that maybe I am hiding...
No, not hiding. I made a conscious decision to re-prioritize who and what gets my attention. This is the age of information overload. In fact, the average 16 year old makes more decisions in ONE DAY then say my grandfather did in an ENTIRE YEAR. There are so many things that can distract me from what is most important in life.
So, what are my priorities?
- God - He has commanded us to obey, and that is what I am trying to do. Ironic though that in order to obey Him, I need His help to do it! And I ask for that, all the time.
- Husband - Ultimately he is the one I will (and WANT) to spend the rest of my life with, but if I don't put my focus on him, I am sending the message that he is not important to me. Nothing could be further from the truth.
- The rest of our family - Bottom line, family is meant to be there for each other. We might not always get along, but its important to keep those connections. No one said you have to be "best friends" with all your family, but if you can't count on them, who can you count on?
- Friends - Hopefully none of our friends take offense that they are not #1 in my life, but keep in mind that #4 is only a close #4, and often some friends end up being closer than some family. Such is life. I am grateful for the friends (and family) that I can always count on.
- Play - This would include watching TV or movies. And cause I am such a dork, computer geek stuff, and shoveling the driveway! (I like being outside, and the exercise is great).
- Work - Even though for many it consumes more than 1/3 of the day, work is NOT the end all and be all of life. Work can be fun, work can be horrible, but providing for the necessities of life is well, necessary. (I am grateful that I LOVE MY JOB!)
- Everything else - pretty much self-explanatory.
year in review
I am doing this same meme (questionnaire thingy) that 'Rain did on her blog. Fun stuff. (jessica smirks)
- What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? put our house for sale
- Did anyone close to you give birth? no
- Did anyone close to you die? not really (close, not someone close, that is...)
- What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? sell our house
- What was your biggest failure of the year? realized too late that some (big and important) things were not as i thought they were
- Where did most of your money go? house renos
- Are you happier or sadder? happier
- Thinner or fatter? thinner, thanks to manual labor!
- Richer or poorer? poorer
- What do you wish you’d done more of? communicating with loved ones
- What do you wish you’d done less of? stupid assbook, ahem, i mean facebook
- What was the best book you read? (still in progress) but Dune, by Frank Herbert (its also a movie, maybe i will watch it sometime)
- What was your favorite film of this year? can honestly say that i wouldn't be able to tell you the name of a new movie from this year
- What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? selling our house and moving
- Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. you can't trust very many people to be true to their word. a phrase like "my word is my bond" is indeed a rarity these days.
a different christmas
It is a weird Christmas this year. Its the first year in many that we didn't send Christmas cards. The first year in many that we haven't gotten gifts for the people we always buy gifts for. The first year that we have no real Christmas festivities to attend.
But that's not what Christmas really is anyway. Yes, one aspect of Christmas is spending time with family and loved ones. However, just because you aren't physically in the same place doesn't mean you are not together in a sense, in each others' hearts and minds. And Christmas isn't really about gifts and cards...
Its obvious to me what Christmas is about, remembering Jesus' birth. Sometimes though, the obvious is still a struggle to see, to accept as real. What I am trying to get at is this: somehow I am feeling that its not really Christmas because I'm not doing any of the traditional Christmas things. But how much of those traditions are not really Jesus-loving practices anyway?
I won't go far down the whole consumerism path, but not buying useless junk for people isn't such a bad thing. I do have lots of baked goods in my freezer, so those who I see over the holidays will get that from me. Something I made, something that can be enjoyed, but something that doesn't add clutter or work to someone's life. (okay, maybe some work in terms of working off the calories!)
I am accepting that Christmas can be exactly what this year is for me, a quiet holiday alone with the ONE person who I would share Christmas with no matter what, by choice! Hubby and I will start our own family traditions!
Posts
