k(no)w God

No God.

Why do we examine the ant? 

Why do we study the blue whale?

Why do we snorkel in the coral reef? 

Why does the starry sky fill us with awe?

Why can a memory bring with it tears & smiles?

Why does listening to a composition by Mozart feel like an escape?

Why does the heart soar at the sound of Andrea Bocelli’s voice?

Why do we dedicate buildings for the purpose of viewing art?

Why is the heart capable of containing so many secrets?

Why are worldly sites attributed the word “Wonder”?

Why do we coo at newborn babies?

Why do we cuddle puppies?

Why do we grow flowers?

Why do we plant lilacs?

Why do we let lies lie?

Know God.

standing in solidarity

I stand in solidarity with all the great teachers I have had through out my schooling, in Illinois and especially in Wisconsin. I stand with those who are part of unions because though I myself have never been in a union I understand that their OVERALL greater meaning and function is a good one. So to these protesters exercising their constitutional right to assemble, I stand with you.

Here are some good links about the greater implications of this issue:
Unions aren't to blame for Wisconsin's budget
Union Changes In Wisconsin Spark Protests
Burning Down Wisconsin: Worse Than Budget Busting

 Update 2/24/11:
I recently read an article by Bill O'Reilly of all people. He, even He! had a few positive things to say about unions. OMG

virtual rule #8

Virtual rule #8: Stop and think (Part 2)

"There is a simple rule by which...one...can at least refrain from being a pest or a bore. And the rule is merely to stop and think."-page 48, Etiquette In Society, In Business, In Politics and At Home, Emily Post

This above quote is from a chapter entitled "Conversation" in which I found convicting and enormously valuable communication advice. We have already addressed the importance of the internal check of stop and think when it comes to honoring others and respecting privacy. (For more info please refer to Virtual Rule #7) The virtual world gives us numerous ways of "speaking" without having to listen and that is one of its greatest downfalls. Let's look at some additional ways "stop and think" is an invaluable tool:

• Conveniences inconvenience - There was a time when communication was not as accessible. There was no telephone or email or instant texting; if you wanted to communicate something you would have to write a letter (the art of which is dying) and send it snail mail - through the post office. Or you would have to have a trusted associate relay the information for you. This inaccessibility caused communication to be more thoughtful, more shall we say, pondered. There is something about the handwritten note that conveys intimacy and fellowship in a way an email never will or can. (The tangibility of something to hold, the stationary paper, the stamped envelope, the personal penmanship - all these things are irreplaceable and something an email can't replicate.) The convenience of instant communication is at times its greatest inconvenience. Because we can communicate so vastly and quickly the window of pause to stop and think has dissolved. Remember in your virtual communications to slow down, ponder the words, meaning and motive in your communications. Perhaps step away for an hour from the "SEND" button; ponder the communicated information contained inside the email, text message, blog post... treat "SEND" as you would a stamp on a handwritten letter, for in our virtual world that is exactly what it is.
• Play to your audience -  "Would a young mother describe twenty or thirty cunning tricks and sayings of the baby to a bachelor who has been helplessly put beside her at dinner if she thought? She would know very well, alas! that not even a very dear friend would really care for more than a hors d'oeuvre of the subject, at the board of general conversation." (page 49, ibid.) This is a vital plus in the call of stop and think. Who has not at some point been bombarded with too much information and prattle from someone regarding their children, family, pets, career or education? Eh-ugh! there is no one at times more thoughtless than the new parent, the newly married (even the newly dating) or the highly educated. Talk of your fortunes, delights, even your troubles, whatever it may be, in moderation and with consideration, with that in mind you can never go wrong. Everyone, not even the closest of friends, need hear through Facebook or over coffee, of the twenty cute and adorable things your little bundle of joy did or about how every single thing in your life is perfect. Care and at times therefore spare your audience.

I remember in grade school learning the phrase "Stop, Drop & Roll" regarding what to do if you happen to catch fire. In communication remember the phrase "Stop and think" for then you never need roll to put out flames caused by thoughtlessness.

knit knot finished

I started knitting something... a couple years ago. It's a scarf and it's still unfinished. I don't remember how to begin again (knit terminology is casting on) so I can't start over and I don't know how to finish it up (knit term casting off); so I keep knitting what I know. It's a really long scarf now. I feel like this scarf is a pretty good metaphor for a period in my life called middling twenties. You can't go back and you can't go forward - it's limbo.

I hate limbo. When all plans are for naught, all good intentions remain just that and efforts produced lessons not sought but nonetheless real. Middling twenties. Learning to knit was a goal I made for myself and in the loosest sense it is accomplished. However I am stuck on the same piece I started, one color, one width, endless length. (In life I feel like I am stuck at the same place I started, same job, one pay grade and endless days of time clock punching.) I need to surrender the knitting needles to someone with more skill than I; I have long ago surrendered the ball of knotted yarn called "my life" and after much much patience, prayer and some shaming moments of self-pity, recent developments are giving me great hope.

No one knits alone, no one knits a scarf never to be seen or blanket never to give warmth, no one should. There is something intimate about knitting. It's an amazing process, the loose becoming the gathered. These middling twenties have been part of that process. I will finish what I started knitting but more importantly than that is the future hope that I will no longer be knotted up in life. It has been thus far the unplanned for events of life which have been the most meaningful and most heartbreaking. I wanted a straight and easy path, filled with light and lithe; instead the path has been steep and winding, filled with long periods of shadow. I don't know how much of what happens to us is in our own hands. I don't think I ever will understand how God's sovereignty and our free will meet; seriously, do I have real choice when God has full omnipotence? Sigh... alas... somethings are too much to grapple or grasp.

My Gran takes a craft class on Tuesdays. She came home today with good word; five minutes later I had a finished scarf. One never knows how or when a knot in life will be undone. xo

virtual rule #7

Virtual Rule #7: Stop and think (Part 1)

"Nearly all the faults or mistakes in conversation are caused by not thinking."

Emily Post

MARK
"I was drunk and angry and stupid."
MARYLIN
"And blogging."
MARK
"And blogging."

from The Social Network

When does a conversation end? Do we let the conversations we participate in end when we leave them or do we at times replay them over and over, keeping them alive and current? In the virtual word we live in, we can say things about people and even to people themselves in very indirect ways. Maybe we recall something we wish we had said during the conversation or maybe we were to chicken to say what we were really thinking so we "converse" virtually - indirectly - publicizing the private all behind the mask of the web. We get to say what we want to say but don't have to necessarily care about the response. This is dangerous. 

Does there need to be two participating parties for there to be a conversation? At one time, yes I think there did but no longer is that the case. I blog. I blog to the entire world, in a way conversing with the world. The world does not respond, the world does not take whole notice but yet here I am jabbering (typing) along. I am conversing and though I am not CNN, Oprah, or Katie Couric - the reach of my words is not on that scale - nonetheless my blog of words is out there to be heard, to be read, to be commented on. If I go postal and type a bunch of ranting, raving, thoughtless, nonsensical drivel - I am not only being a poor writer, I am being a poor conversationalist. Using the web as a tool to aim words at a target who has no ability to participate is cowardly. This blog is part of my dialogue not with one specific individual but all. If I take private dialogue and post it publicly, I degrade the value of that dialogue and dilute away an intimate relationship.

Stop and think Emily tells us and that is true in all facets of life. We communicate in ways unthought of 50 years ago, even as little as 10 years ago. When we leave another with whom we have been speaking we must not take that private conversation and publicize it. If there is more to say, we save it for whom it needs to be said or we let it go all together. Integrity once damaged is an impossibility to completely restore; stop and think before throwing yours away.

versatile / marching 2 my own verse

I love jazz. I love opera. Looking at my iTunes collection I also apparently love alternative, punk, alternative-punk, rock, singer songwriter, r&b, classical, and country. My music selection is versatile: does that make me versatile? Are there other areas of my life in which this versatility comes through?

I feel like there are times when "versatile" is a dirty word; it's given a bad rap. Sometimes when someone calls you "versatile" what they really mean is you are flaky, flighty, ungrounded. Is liking a lot of things equivalent to liking nothing? There is a difference between a pianist and a master pianist, there is a difference between a student of art and an artist; one who dedicates their life to one thing is different from the occasional dabbler. I like music but I also like literature; I like literature but I also like film; I like film but I also like shopping (I don't know). Out of all the subjects in life, what we like out of them and why says something about us according to the world, but is that true? Does my driving a Chevy or forgetting to bring my Eco-bags to Walmart say something about who I am? If I use plastic and not paper is that worthy of hanging? If I buy foreign and far instead of local and near am I less in some way?

Our musical likes define us like scent markers but should they? The movie Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - is dedicated to how a persons choice in music correlates not only to how "cool" they are as an individual but they're ability to find an equally "cool" mate. Characterization based upon a song selection is nonsense, isn't it? TV shows like Criminal Minds and Lie to Me, in which they profile an entire person based upon the way they appear in a photograph or the way the fold their hands in their lap, are giving me a complex. Who among us doesn't make premature, erroneous judgments based upon little things? And because we do it to others, we know they do it to us. Who doesn't start thinking that little trivial things like hair color, haircut, clothing choice, car brand define them? We need to examine what we are defined by.

volatile violet valentine

"You cannot save people, you can only love them." - The Diary Of Anais Nin, Volume Two (1934-1939)

I don't know the context from which the above quote was taken which makes it easy to attribute to it my own context. Yet maybe this is the type of quote that needs no context for the statement itself is its context. "You cannot save people, you can only love them." All alone the sentence implies so much; timely experience, wisdom gained from error, knowledge coming from pain, heartbreak perhaps, a resigning acceptance to an uncomfortable truth which once accepted bringing a type of peace, like a release from a weighing burden. All this I see in these nine words.

Is the statement true? Is saving people not something we're capable of? Doesn't loving someone imply by default a desire if not a willingness to save them? Can you really love someone and not desire to save them; save them from danger, save them from hurt, save them from regret, even at times save them from themselves? Are desires for saving necessary even if ultimate saving itself isn't up to us? The questions could go on and on with many answers or with none.

Upon thought it occurred to me that the word save can have two meanings: save as in rescue or save as in store up. It gives new meaning to the first half of the sentence, "You cannot save people"; you cannot store up people, hold people in reserve for personal use, no matter what the reason. Unlike an organism suspended in formaldehyde for preservation, people aren't meant to be stored/saved up. Unlike a shirt or a pen bought at a half price sale, people aren't meant to be reduced and bargained. People are meant to be actively, presently, continually loved; love existing in past memory but not current reality is an impossibility perhaps. Maybe that is the meaning...I don't know.

The statement "You cannot save people, you can only love them" takes on new meaning when applied to Christ; for loving is all tied into the saving. In the end I hold that though I myself can save no one, I can help them; because I love them I can help them and anything less is not love it's hypocrisy. Help them eternally and presently, spiritually and physically, individually and relationally. Without care, concern, and active affection, theere is no love.

Where red meets blue there's violet; where love meets care there's Christ. Can you see that? God tell me you see it.

MINE rap

Mine & self

I see something in “mine”

Not at all am I fine

Self has been stealth

Counting on its own wealth

I can deflect, minimize

Just guilt, de-legitimized

An all-encompassing gloom

From which there in no room  

Yet there is a Light so bright

Self receives it like a bite

He's preexisting, no use resisting

Won’t be able to survive

Don’t see it - won’t become alive

Love of a new toy

Love of an old boy 

Pride in my selections

Pride in my reflections

It's all one big misapprehension

Self’s met its doom

It’s finding there’s no room

The Light grows bright

An end to this long selfish night

too feisty? too calm? too...something?

I am going to be honest and vulnerable...ok here I go...breathe...

I worry about what people think of me. That may be a really lame confession but nevertheless it's a hard one for me. I don't know if being an only child raised by a single mother adds difficulty to that confession. I feel like I am supposed to be tough, scrappy, independent and confident; I shouldn't give a darn what other people think of me, with a proud fist in the air. But that is far from being the truth. I fear what people think of me; actually, now that I really think about it, I really fear what men think of me more than anything else. I fear that men perceive me as being too feisty, too "liberal" (politically democratic), too outspoken, some kind of impenetrable "tower of strength" or I fear the complete opposite perception is believed one in which I am too "vanilla", too plain, so uninteresting I should be nonexistent. I don't really see myself very clearly from a male perspective. It's a drawback to not having one steady male influence throughout all my life.

I remember the different men I have known growing up some of them teachers, some of them bosses, some of them relatives. I have learned a lot of good from them. For example, I remember a guy I worked with a couple years ago who gave me encouragement regarding my modest clothing. He said a good guy/boyfriend/husband whatever wants his girl to be "dressed." I think that is simple and true. Objectification of the human body is as common as breathing in our society. A part of me greatly respects the facet of the Muslim religion regarding women covering their hair. The idea of holding something back from the whole world and only sharing it with close family is beautiful. I feel like American culture is leaving less and less sacred; privacy and intimacy are shrinking away.

I really hate that I fear what anyone thinks, male or female; it's not wrong to care what other people think but it is wrong to fear what others thinks. Looking at things from another person's perspective is a humility check against pride; caring that we are being perceived well because we are behaving well, isn't wrong. It's just, I am a woman of the twenty-first century for gosh sakes! It's supposed to be about me liking who I am as a person without worrying about what others think of me (or so Oprah tells us). Also add the Christian component thing into the mix and fearing what other people think really goes out the window. "Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell...what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul...Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him." (Matthew 10:28, Deuteronomy 10:12; 13:14)

I guess I am just going to keep on keeping on...
Turn up Neon Trees and dance soley for God...inside and out.

it was the time we shared together

The big game is over. The Packers have won. Aaron Rodgers and team are triumphant champions. The crowds will go home. The jumbo-trons will be turned off. The locker room will clear out. The trophy will go in a glass case.

This game means nothing to me but this time means everything. This time I spent with my mom, with my Grandma - it wasn't hyped but it was the only thing of worth. Cheering out loud, at the same moments sighing in frustration, rising to our feet in exhilarating glee - this we did together, that is why it mattered.

Thank you Super Bowl Sunday. xox

a fixed target: finding the center

Target the store has an ad catchphrase they have been using for a while now, "Life's a Moving Target." I grant you that Target's commercials are not as annoying as some and I concede that Target is a very clean and organized store versus its competitors, however, that doesn't make me like its slogan. It's my "Christian self" that takes the most disliking to the phrase. I do that a lot with media and entertainment, which makes it a nightmare for girlfriends who want to go see silly, promiscuous, "romantic comedy" chick-flicks. I always notice the unlikelihood, superficiality, and flawed mindsets of the characters in the film. Do I sound like a fun movie companion or what? This is not to say I dismiss every romantic comedy ever made; I like "Sleepless in Seattle", I find "When Harry Met Sally" to be a classic, I think "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" is an adorable film. I however loathe "Knocked Up", "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "There's Something About Mary" which I have never been able to sit through all the way. Nothing is more irksome to me than wasting $10 bucks and two hours of my life on cinematic garbage.

Who moved the bullseye?

Anyway back to my issue with the slogan, "Life's A Moving Target." It's the impermanence the phrase suggests that bothers me the most. It suggests that life is always just out of reach, the goal of it ever changing and moving. I hate that idea; it sounds exhausting to me. Shopping may be a moving target, "Today I need toilet paper tomorrow a frying pan" but life's not. The center of our life shouldn't shift depending on what material goods we need to buy though that certainly sounds like something stores and advertisers would want us to believe.

Here is another slogan, "Our mission is to courageously lead people toward full devotion to Jesus Christ." This could totally be me being facetious but I don't like that slogan very much either. For now I will leave alone the possible self-aggrandizing involved with the words "Our" and "courageously." The word toward is what really sticks out most in my mind; Toward: "moving in the direction of (but not necessarily arriving at); in relation to (someone or something); for the purpose of attaining (an aim); located close to." (exact definition found on Wiktionary) 

I don't want to be in the vicinity of Jesus - I want to be with Jesus. I don't want to wander close to Him only to find in the end I didn't know Him. Becoming devoted to Him is not my aim, I am devoted to Him (all glory be to God!). The question now is "What do I do with my already existing devotion to Him?" or to phrase it a different way, "What does my existing devotion to Jesus look like lived?" Leading others perpetually towards devotion to Christ is not my aim either. I am just not sure you should want to lead someone toward being devoted to Jesus Christ; either they are going to be devoted or they aren't. This is a frighting sobering reality. The biggest question every man and woman will face is: Do I accept Jesus Christ literally as my Lord and Savior? It is a question every human being needs to wrestle with and resolve upon a concluding answer. Faith and its opposite unbelief are the two things all actions spring from. Transformation comes not so much out of what we do but what we believe. If you were an abolitionist who was unsure that slavery was really wrong, your resolve to see slavery's end, wouldn't be very strong. If you aren't actively/currently/already devoted to Christ than your resolve in living for Christ won't be very firm (too well do I personally know this is true!). How can you live out the principles of someone you don't currently trust? How can you hope in promises you don't really think are true?

Encouraging adherence to the moral, practical teachings of Christ is pointless unless the more difficult life-altering, supernatural Spiritual teachings are taught as well. He talks about needing not just a new way of behaving but a completely new birth / new being. He is a radical in speech and deed. NO ONE is like Jesus Christ in identity, claim, teaching and existence. Like C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

When someone resolves something they resolve it; when you make your mind up, you make your mind up. I can't put a chicken in the oven and when the timer dings expect beef wellington to come out just as I can't plant carrots seeds and expect tomatoes to grow. The joy of making a decision is that now a conclusion has been reached; even if it is a hard choice at least there is peace knowing a choice has been made. Lukewarm, fence sitting really isn't an option when it comes to being a follower of Christ, again this is a sobering, humbling thing. If you leave open the option to change your mind, abstain from deciding until you have more evidence or believe only up to certain limits than you aren't resolved, your roots aren't fixed, your confidence is shaky. How are you going to live and die for something you don't believe in? The following is an example that came to mind. When you want to breakup with someone you shouldn't work towards breaking up with them, you should breakup with them.

Resolution to the question of "Who is Christ and what does that mean to me?" needs to come and it can't come unless The Gospel is heard and The Gospel can't be heard unless it is preached thus I admire and approve of the heart seeking out the non-devoted, unbelieving; that is a good and loving thing to want, necessary and vital are evangelism and missionary work. I guess what I am saying is I want the center target of Jesus Christ to be fixed, clear and ultimately obtained by those who are His children. I want the heart quickened to faith in Jesus Christ to be a confident heart in Jesus Christ; confident not because they have paid their $19.99 for spiritual assessment or because they have attended the most recent teaching series but because they know that they know Jesus Christ, ya know?

May the words of Peter be our own:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:3-9

todays post yesterday

Pigeon with Green Peas - Pablo Picasso

You know what I have come to love about blogging? It's the edit button. I hate finding mistakes in my writing but I love that I can fix them. The whole world is a freaking mess-grammatically and otherwise-but I have it in my power to fix these errors right hear, I mean here. I suppose you could chalk it all up to my having a perfectionist streak; this streak is a double edged sword. There is nothing wrong with wanting to put out the best material you can but when perfectionism comes into play, the wellspring of creativity dries up pretty quickly. Another thing I love about blogging, is that it affords me control over time. I can create something today and give it a date of the past. This is a role we really get no where else for our real lives don't allow such time revisions. Where we were, we were, and what happened to us at a specific point in time happened at that specific point in time, but here on Blogger I can say I thought of all this and finished writing about it before the stroke of midnight. Time is mine to manipulate and falsify.

Composition IV - Wassily Kandinsky

I am intimidated by "The Greats"-the great writers, painters, composers, and sculptors-all the artists who have gone before and that exist around me. They have contributed so much to the story of humanity. What they chiseled in words and marble, what they painted in watercolor and the musical notes the record outlived them and will outlive all of us. I remember going to the art museum and after a couple hours of seeing great works of art, it all started blurring together. I became anesthetized to the beauty and skill of the works I was seeing. I feel kind of bad for art that is shown towards the exit; does it get the appreciation it deserves?

The Blue Window - Henri Matisse

To all out there: keep doing whatever you are doing. If its writing, keep writing. If its painting, keep painting. If its playing the accordion, keep playing the accordion. Don't worry that you aren't good enough. Don't worry that you aren't one of "The Greats." Don't worry when you type the wrong letter, use the wrong brushstroke or hit a flat note - keep going and keep looking at the art of others. Art isn't effortless but it can't be forced. Let your art appreciation be ever expanding. Art in its many mediums enhances all our lives. There is truth in this quote of G.K. Chesterton, "Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."

All the art on this posting is from 100 years ago, 1911.

Kandinsky: the chicken not the artist

My senior year of high school I took an anatomy class. One of the projects was watching baby chickens hatch and then hop around. I am not really sure what the lesson of this was supposed to be. Nevertheless, it was a fun project and an experience I remember well. Of course I named my chick and I didn't pick a common name but a profound and ostentatious one - Wassily Kandinsky after the famous abstract artist. Instead of having a study hall, I was a TA for the librarian which was also the school computer lab. Wassily, the chicken, went with me to the library. My chick was the best of all the chicks. Yes all chicks chirped but mine chirped in the must intellectual way. I wanted great things for my little chick. I didn't want to think of it being fattened up in some dark small cage just to be eaten. My Kandinsky was destined for greater things than that. I feared for him (now to think of it I am not even sure if it was a him). When his soft yellow fuzz gave way to a few feathers I knew the time was coming when he and all the others would have to go.

My anatomy teacher, Mrs. Vogt, was a kind soul. She knew someone who would take the chicks. I think she let me believe that this "farm" Wassily was going to was a good place; filled with open fields and running streams, where feed was plenty and all were friendly. At 17 years old I was still allowed a little naivety. Now I know that when someone older tells you that a beloved pet has gone to "live on a farm" what they really mean is that they've been "hit by a car".

Why am I thinking of this today? Because I know the truth about myself. If the only way I would be able to enjoy eating chicken again was if I killed it myself, I would probably never eat a chicken again. I'm pretty sure about that, 99% sure. I am not 100% sure because one never knows what will happen. I know that farmers slaughter the animals on their farm; it's the cycle of life, this years cow is next years pot roast and so on and so on. I begrudge farmers nothing; animal torturing slaughterhouses are another story. I remember watching an HBO movie about an autistic genius, Temple Grandin, who developed a humane way of treating cattle. It really made me think. We should not only care how we prepare meat for cooking but also care how that "meat" (animal) was treated while it was alive. After all this animal gave up its life so that our life could go on, we should respect that.

Gravitation - Wassily Kandinsky

I have no current plans to become a vegan or a vegetarian but I say to those who are "More power to you!" I respect what you are doing and the reasons why you do it. It must take great dedication, expense and sacrifice to live the vegan life. I admire it, I just have no desire to emulate it. I'm still on the fence about whether that makes me a hypocrite or not.... I read this a few months ago and it has stuck with me ever since. It is from the book of Jonah: "the LORD said,...should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” Funny huh? God could have left it at mentioning the people who need saving but he mentions the animals too... God's concerned with the small sparrow and chickens named Kandinsky.

virtual rule #6

Virtual Rule #6: Don't Kid Yourself About Kidding

“More objectionable than the garden-variety criticizer/gossip is the bigot-someone who makes joking or derogatory remarks about a religious, ethnic, or cultural group... Every time anyone participates in hateful ethnic, racial or other personal conversation-whether the comments are blatantly derogatory or couched in a joke-he’s practicing a form of intolerance. Taking part is not just uncivil; it also implies that he is willing to accept bigotry and prejudice.” (Page 288, Emily Post’s Etiquette by Peggy Post) 

People who shrug off deliberate deceptions, saying, "I didn't mean it, I was only joking," Are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires. (Proverbs 26:18-19, The Message)

Hiding what you really feel behind behind a guise of "I was just kidding" isn't at all funny. It is at best careless speech and at worst tantamount to verbal bullying. Also, if you find yourself repeatedly saying and thinking "other people are too sensitive" you need to stop examining them and take at look at yourself. If you feel always on the defensive by others commenting that your words are too biting for fun maybe you need to work on how you use your words and tone of voice. This is something we all need to be personally aware of.

Obviously this does not mean that ALL joking is mean spirited or filled with malicious intent. Laughter is necessary to our overall well-being and the ability to laugh at oneself a valuable characteristic. The nature of the humor correlates with the motive of the humorist; examine the motives behind your joking. Are you joking others from a place of pridefulness? Are you joking others from a place of fear? Do you use humor hoping with your words to "bring down" others because you find them somehow threatening your self-image?

A side note on satire - satire is defined as the use of humor, irony or exaggeration in order to show how foolish or wicked some people's behavior or ideas are. It is a genre that uses mockery of society to shock that society into an honest look at itself. Sometimes I find satire like the The Daily Show funny and sometimes I find it uncouth, ill guided and pointless. People will not always agree on what is humorous, I accept that; but even in the world of satire one must be cautious with their method and ultimate aim. Something I find precarious is when one makes a joke about their own race or gender but is then offended when someone not of that race or gender makes a similar joke. Why is it OK for me to disparage the characteristics of my own race/gender or whatever it may be but for someone else not to? It doesn't make any sense. In our discourse let us not bring ourselves or others down.

Be cautious with the "kidding" you give others; the only joke in the end may be you.

a day of rest

Today was a snow day. Work was closed. It was wonderful.

Last night something happened that propelled distant dreams into possible tangible hopes for me. A minute can change your life; I'd forgot that can be true for good not just for bad."Out of the blue" a miracle can happen. Where you think not to look for hope, it is from there hope comes. The basket in the reeds, the youngest son out in the field, the manger of farm animals- God's miracles come from unexpected places.

This is a short post but I don't want to forget this day, this answer of my Father to my long internal cry. He heard me and answered; even my impatient doubts could not keep His goodness away. May I never doubt His everlasting love for me again.

"She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13

blizzards are still beautiful

There is a big snow coming in Midwest America. It is February 1. Prior to December 25 we are trained and encouraged to think of the joys of winter; winter wear and being snowbound are pleasures to be sung about not things to lament over. The white stuff falling puts a twinkle in our eye and gets us thinking of sleigh bells and baking cookies. Once December 25 has passed we lose our zeal for snow and winter but winter has only just begun.

Today we take winter back from commercial Christmas. If you are suffering from a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) I encourage you to look anew for the beauties of winter. Ponder the way the freshly fallen snow collects on bare tree branches, marvel at the blanket of white as far as the eye can see, search out the snow prints of rabbits and puppies, look at a well built snowman and if there are none available build one yourself, make a snow angel and grab a cup of coco. Listen to the sounds of winter, don't rush it by; it has so much to tell us. Beneath the freezing cold there is the whisper of the coming spring...

 "You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen." A Movable Feast, Ernest Hemingway