Take Two
October 16, 2008
Since my lovely embedded Brandon Heath videos suddenly are now only available for viewing on You tube or Brandon’s website, I’ve changed out the original videos for new. Thanks to Namas Daisy’s comment about being a visual learner, I found a couple videos that include the lyrics for the songs. Sorry for the malfunction. Enjoy!
http://blueduckcopy.com/2008/10/15/skinny-souls-blog-action-day/
http://blueduckcopy.com/2008/10/15/bad-summary-get-the-good-stuff/
http://blueduckcopy.com/2008/10/16/morning-tunes/
Morning Tunes
October 16, 2008
Are you living your life without regrets, yet?
This week’s assignment was to write a letter to someone you would like to express your heart to before it’s too late. Ask them to forgive you for the ways in which you might have hurt them. Extend your forgiveness to them for any pain they may have caused you. Most importantly, communicate your love to them and share with them how much they mean to you. Mail the letter and pray that God will use it to heal your relationship.
Just because I felt like having a little morning music, I thought I’d share. 
This one is in the spirit of living a no regrets life. Brandon wrote his letter, have you done yours?
(In case no one’s noticed, Brandon Heath is my new favorite artist this month.) Turn it up!
BAD Summary: Get the Good Stuff
October 15, 2008
This is one of my favorite songs. The lyrics seemed appropriate for Blog Action Day.
I have been stunned by the amount of terrific content gong out today on Poverty for Blog Action Day. For a quick Yellow Pages of the best I’ve found today, read on.
- Amy encourages us to get off our kiesters.
- Sean talks about Daddy Destitution.
- Matthew Dryden will rock your world with a tale of true poverty.
- Namas Daisy speaks from her heart about the tragic silent famine.
- James talks about how recession is good for entrepreneurs.
- Oktober Five blogs about his personal form of poverty.
- Mary blogs about affirmations and poverty.
- Dave Navarro hits us where it hurts with “The Poverty Snowball What is Your Life Worth?”
- Wendi Kelly inspires to get involved with Do It Anyway.
If you have a Blog Action Day post, please leave a link below. I’d love to stop by and give it a read.
Thanks to everyone above for participating and contributing to such a worthwhile cause.
Skinny Souls: Blog Action Day
October 15, 2008
Miriam Webster defines Poverty as:
1. a : the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions b : renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property
2 : SCARCITY, DEARTH
3 a : debility due to malnutrition b : lack of fertility
The most heart wrenching picture of poverty is an Ethiopian child with a swollen belly and flies rimming his eyes, or the sobbing mother holding her listless, starving infant. Perhaps when you think of poverty, you picture a homeless man, dirty and ragged, petting a mangy dog on a cold and lonely street corner.
These are all vivid pictures of poverty, but are not the type of poverty I’d like to discuss today for Blog Action Day. The poverty I have in mind falls under the definition of dearth in the above entry~ spiritual poverty.
Why Spiritual Poverty Matters
As a society, we tend to focus on the physical needs of our bodies. Don’t believe me? Try fasting for a week or go without fluids for a single day. That physical need becomes all-consuming. We toil to relieve the physical discomfort of our bodies above all else. However, the Bible repeatedly warns us against dangers of spiritual poverty, saying that poverty that affects the body is insignificant when compared to poverty of the soul. The body lasts only for a few years, the soul is eternal.
Spiritual Poverty in Action
We get so caught up in the business of our lives, and our own six feet of personal space that we neglect the needs of others, even when they cry out for help. Our neighbor suffers in silence through overwhelming depression, our children feel alone and lost, our spouses long for intimacy and affection- grieving silently for a relationship that is dying. Yet we continue on each day, wrapped up in the headache that will not go away, the mortgage payment that’s past due, the dirty dishes in the sink, the new boat the guy across the street just brought home… how tired we are.
This behavior conditions us to look past the needs of others, look out for number one. It dulls the pain of seeing a four hundred pound man in the grocery store eying the fresh produce and feeling torn between healthy foods and the baked goods just opposite the carrots. We no longer see his excessive weight as a symptom of his pain. His layers of flesh have lost the ability to portray his effort to escape the unrelenting emotional pain he suffers day after day. We only see the fat man indulging his gluttony, and mutter, “He should get off that scooter and walk. Someone should take those cookies away from him. Hey Fatso, how about a salad?”
It’s easier to poke fun and build up calluses around our hearts than it is to share in someone else’s pain. We don’t want to identify; relating to other’s faults is admitting that we ourselves are flawed.
The Solution
Ending spiritual poverty begins with admitting that the world is bigger than you and me. The Earth does not revolve around our needs and wants. There is a bigger plan~ and a Master Designer. Giving yourself to the needs of others ensures that your own needs are met, but the funny thing is that after you establish a pattern of putting others first, your needs are no longer a priority.
We each have the potential to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. The same amount of energy that it takes to meet our own needs can be combined with the energy of others to sustain thousands of souls. Add to that the blessing and power of God, and the possibilities are staggering.
Seek God.
Learn to love yourself by loving others.
Soften your hearts and don’t be afraid to feel the pain of those around you. Pain reminds you that you truly are still alive. Growth does not happen without pain.
The best blessings in life require tremendous struggle and pain. Childbirth, death, marriage.. change.
For Sale: Ran Great Yesterday
October 13, 2008
“I’m at school. The car won’t start.”
Silence.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yep.”
Silence.
I wait, breathe deeply, squash my irritation and panic, and try to remember all the things I love about my husband.
All I can think about is where I need to be in an hour, and how am I going to get the boy to school in the morning if the car is dead?
After an eternity, He speaks, “What’s it sound like?”
I roll my eyes, look around to see who’s in the parking lot and attempt to imitate the car noise, “plah, plah, plah, plah, plah.”
I can hear him smiling.
“What’s it doing?”
“It’s not doing anything, that’s the point.”
“Does it have gas?”
“YES IT HAS GAS! I DYE MY HAIR THIS COLOR!”
Now, he’s really grinning.
“You’re getting a kick out of this aren’t you? Listen…” I hold the phone out, hit the speaker button, and crank the key.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s my point! Can you come get us?”
“Yep” Click.
My husband can fix anything. He was born that way~ with wrench in hand, looking for a nut to turn. He built a heavy duty trailer from scratch. Then he built a heavy duty truck from scratch to pull that trailer. Now he’s building a flat bed to go on the truck. Handy that, especially on days like this.
He pulls into the parking lot, takes the keys, and starts the car. Just like that~ and grins.
“I hate you. That car loves me, it never leaves me sitting. Please check it over, I thought I smelled antifreeze.”
The car pulls forward, revealing a large wet spot. “That’s oil. And antifreeze. You still have that gallon in the trunk? What about that oil I put back there?”
I grit my teeth. “This article said you should remove all unnecessary weight from the trunk to help improve gas mileage and… I took it out.”
He clenches his jaw and stares at the ground, probably to keep from strangling me.
“Let’s get it home.”
“You following me?”
“That depends. Are you driving like an old woman?”
“Aren’t we full of quips and sarcasm today?”
The car makes it half way up the hill before the temperature skyrockets and the oil light comes on. I freak out, whip the car off the road into a shallow ditch, turn off the engine, and pull the kids out of the backseat in seconds. Steam billows from the hissing engine.
“I tried to get off the road as fast as I could. I was afraid it would catch on fire. I didn’t mean to pull into the ditch. Did I blow up the engine or did I shut it off it time? I hope the whole thing didn’t just crap out. That ditch looks deeper from out here. I have eggs in the trunk. Are you mad?”
Silence.
More silence.
Agonizing silence.
“How much money do you have in the checking account? This is going to cost you.”
“Now I have to PAY you to fix my car!”
“Nope. I was thinking about leaving it here with a For Sale sign. Maybe someone will steal it. Then we can go buy a Jeep~ with ground clearance.”
For Sale:
One dark green Chrysler Concorde LXI. Black leather, automatic everything, moon roof, killer Infinity stereo. New tires. 3/4 tank Marathon gas, fully charged air conditioner. Ran great YESTERDAY. Mud on undercarriage~ free of charge. Last seen on Watson Creek Rd. Motivated seller. Hurry, won’t last long. It’s a vandal’s dream.
No Regrets: Looking Ahead
October 13, 2008
Your last sunset?
I’m a firm believer that God orchestrates our days. He sends hummingbirds to flit past our window, gives us red lights to slow us down, and places people in our paths to accomplish His plan for us. That’s what has me nervous. You see, this week in my 30 days journey, the prevailing theme seems to be untimely death.
Let me explain.
- My final psychology paper was based on “My 5 Wishes” a form that expresses your wishes about your health care, dying process, and funeral in the event you are stricken with a terminal disease or are unable to communicate. (It was difficult to write, and I cried through most of it.)
- My activity for 30 Days this week is to write a letter to someone from my past in order to heal old hurts. Except I’ve already done that, so I wrote letters to each of my loved ones, to be read upon my death. I included letters to each of my boys for the day they graduate from school, are baptized into the church, get married, and have their first child. I wrote a heart-wrenching letter to my husband encouraging him to seek love again and raise our children well. I wrote to my mother and brother, telling them how much I love them. I wrote to my aunt, expressing my never-ending gratitude for her love, guidance, and selfless sacrifices.
- This Sunday’s sermon touched on the brevity of life. Any of us could be living our last day, and not even know it.
- The video lesson for my small group shared stories about the untimely deaths of a college student and a five-year old girl.
- The final chapter in my Developmental Psychology textbook was on death and dying.
Now all this talk of death has really gotten to me. I’m not saying I have a morbid fascination with my own demise, I just cant help but wonder if God is preparing me to deal with an untimely death. Maybe mine, maybe the death of someone close to me. Perhaps someday soon these words will prove to be prophetic.
I blogged last month on Lori Hall Steele. The words she wrote about her son became prophetic after she was rendered paralyzed from Lyme Disease.
“Will you look after me when I’m a grown-up?”
I tell him I’ll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don’t let him down, not on this.
The lesson I learned from One Month to Live this week is to get your affairs in order. Tell your kids you love them. Take time to watch the sunset, it may be your last.
Ironically, once again this week Lance has scooped my blog topic a day in advance with this quote:
“The bitterest tear shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe
