Touchy Topic Tuesday: Holiday Craze.

I once had a Sunday school teacher tell me to never write X-mas because it crosses Christ out of Christmas.  Later on in life, I found out that X also was a symbol for the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter for the name of Christ in Greek so I haven't had a problem with writing X-mas since then.

I do find it strange that over the years, each "Christian" holiday has somehow evolved into something where Christ (or a Christian) is barely a factor in the celebration.  Think about it:  St. Valentine's Day, to honor the martyred patron saint, is now marked by cupids, candy, and cards.  St. Patrick's Day is to honor the missionary who went to Ireland as his calling, and is now celebrated with green beer and lucky charms.  Easter.  Halloween...etc.  It would be interesting to take an in-depth look at this change, but for lack of time, you'll have to settle for my superficial analysis. 

By no means am I a Christian who is gung-ho for 'taking back' these holidays to make them what they once were.  That would be because there are many people who celebrate these holidays who do not share the same faith as me.  Society has changed and I recognize it is very different from what it used to be.  I don't think it would be beneficial to force them to celebrate the holiday how I do, because they don't believe the same things I do.  I'm perfectly fine with saying 'Happy Holidays!' and 'Merry Christmas!' at the same time.  God knows that my heart is worshiping Him during the holidays, and ultimately, that is all that matters.

That said, I do believe my fellow Christians need to make a marked difference in the way we celebrate the holidays (that is, not buying into the consumerism aspect, particularly Christmas), and I love that my church participates in Advent Conspiracy because it gives meaning again to the Christmas that I love to celebrate.  I feel like I am worshiping in full and following Jesus' command to love your neighbor when I am giving to others in real, tangible ways.

What was your most meaningful holiday?

Funny Friday: Black Friday

(disclaimer:  this was written LATE at night.  It seemed funny to me.  At the time.)

Hello Black Friday.  You never cease to exhaust me.  I didn't even go shopping in the wee hours, but yet I'm still tired from hearing about you.  All week long you and your ad cronies have been trying to entice me with your 'deals,' but I'm glad I stayed in because I hear I would have been pepper sprayed.  So technically, by avoiding the deals, I am paying to not be pepper sprayed.  I'd say that's a pretty good deal.

Apparently no one got the memo about the great deals all the time at the Dollar Tree, because that store was empty today.  Oh well, more for me.  Why yes, I'd love to have your window stickies and fiddle faddle, but I will stay the heck away from your baby products (note to self:  write letter to China about lead in the paint).

My bit of advice would be to avoid the morning rush and go at night like I did tonight.  Walmart=superawesomefungoodtimes!  Not only was there no crowd, but all the checkout folk were soooo crabby from the long day that they didn't even look me in the eye. What's that all about?  Don't you know I like to stare longingly into my checkout person's eyes?  If anything, I should be avoiding eye contact with you, you weirdo.  Just kidding...bless your heart.

Doesn't anyone find the juxtaposition of Thanksgiving and Black Friday to be one of America's greatest ironies?  One minute we are so thankful and content, it's so peaceful and we're so full from all that food and all we want to do is unbutton our pants, kick back and enjoy a little Arlo Guthrie.  Okay, that's done, now grab your baseball bat and head out because Papa needs a Kindle!  C'mon, Ammmuuuurica!  Didn't anyone get the message in 'Jingle All The Way'? (note to self: watch 'Jingle All The Way')  You should be ashamed of yourselves!


Oh well.  I'm just a drop in the ocean, hoping to one day see this ridiculous trend end before Black Friday gobble gobbles Thanksgiving all up, and we're all sending each other Black Friday greeting cards with pictures of us camping outside Best Buy while eating turkey and green bean casserole made over an oil drum fire. But to spin that positively, perhaps this experience will only prepare us for that zombie apocalypse that's such a hot topic nowadays.  Or for us all to become part of the Occupy movement.


What's your crazy Black Friday experience?







 

Touchy Topic Tuesday: The Father Factor

My husband has been working like crazy lately.  It just so happens it is the busy season at his work, and his week turns quickly into nearly 80 hours.  Yes, that is just one week.  Needless to say, the kids (and moi) have not been able to see him that often.  The trend is that Saturday nights and all day Sundays are strictly family time.  He misses them so much, and I miss him. 

Thankfully this trend is supposed to stop mid-December.

It got me thinking about all the single moms out there.  Sometimes being single means that the dad is just not around, but it could also mean the dad just isn't fully present even when he is around.  

I have been getting up with the kids, making breakfast, lunch, dinner, bottles, spoon-feeding, changing diapers on two, putting down for naps, cleaning, shopping, laundry, bathing, and putting all the kids to bed, by myself, most days of the week.  

But the role of a father is not to be helper with all these things, although that is usually an added bonus.  The role of a father is to be a mentor, a haven, a disciplinarian, and a teddy bear all rolled into one.  I believe it is one of the hardest jobs on the planet, that is, to do it well.  I think that is why so many dads bail.  Perhaps it's fear of failure or fear of how kids will change them.  I don't know.

I once read in a book that God revealed Himself to us as a Father because He knew this would be a role severely lacking in our world.  I thought that was interesting.  There are plenty of verses in the Bible that refer to God as being 'Dad' (see Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).

Good dads are hard to find; everything is coming against them to be there for their family.  I believe that is why author Donald Miller started an organization to help rectify this problem through The Mentoring Project.  

Just thought you should know that if you are a single mom, or a mom who feels lonely and isolated, I am praying for you.  You can reach out to me if you need to and I can try to find ways to help.  If you are a dad, I would encourage you to embrace this unique role that you are in, throw yourself wholeheartedly into it, and see how blessed you will be.  It will not be easy, but you will be richer in spirit than most men.

Funny Friday: Creepy Elmo

It's been about two hours since my kids went to bed and I'm sitting here on the couch, watching my shows, when I notice somebody is watching me.  And that somebody is Elmo.

Sure, he looks all innocent in his plastic body, holding a microphone and a fake 'boombox,' but he is watching me.  And I'm watching him....just waiting for his mouth to start moving.  We've been having a staring contest.  Too bad he doesn't have eyelids.  Okay, this is lame, why am I freaking out about a toy staring at me?

Then I hear a voice.  Is it my girls?  Shouldn't they be asleep?  I go up to their room, and they are both passed out.  But I still here it:  a faint cry, almost sounds like they are saying 'Mommy!'  Being the brave mother that I am, I sat on the couch as stiff as a board and prayed I wasn't hearing voices.  But I was...and that voice was coming from a toy downstairs!  I got played!  By a toy!

But I still won't go downstairs to shut it off because, man, that's just creepy.  Why are you talking toy?!  No one is around you.  Except your toy friends. Perhaps this is exactly how the makers of Toy Story got their ideas.


Anywho, this post is a good example why I should write posts during the day instead of waiting until 10 at night.


Do you ever get creeped out by kids toys? 

Touchy Topic Tuesday: This Too Shall Be Made Right

I'm such a dork, I'm probably one of 100 people who like that new show Once Upon A Time.  Sure, the acting is terrible and the storyline is a little flaky, but I love the concept behind the show: fairytale characters who are bound by a curse and don't know their true identity until "The One" comes who can set them free and remind them of who they really are?  Hmm...sounds like another story I know...

I absolutely love stories that offer the hope of redemption.  I've read my fair share of existential literature and appreciated the honesty brought forth by these authors' explorations, but I longed for something more.  I have a feeling that everyone does, but this world trains us to be cynical, hopeless, and suspicious. 

But I believe that is why stories that offer a redemptive quality are so popular (well, maybe not Once Upon A Time...look, they can't all be winners).  They offer us hope in a harsh world.  So many people are drawn into a story where the outcome does not look good unless there is an intervention, even a supernatural phenomenon, that can save people from harm.  Usually it comes at a great price.

We as a people have a longing for things to be set right.  

I believe that longing is God-given.  (Ecclesiastes 3:11.  Look it up.)

One of my favorite songs is by Derek Webb talking about this very thing, check it out here.  That all the wrongs of this world will be righted.  And that is a very, very happy ending.

Funny Friday: Freedom

All right, I tricked you.  Today is not really funny.  I thought I'd take a break from today's funny post to write on something a little more timely.  Considering it is Veterans Day and I live in the United States, I am writing a post about freedom.  But maybe not in the way you think...

Last night I was watching an episode of the HBO acclaimed miniseries, Band of Brothers.  The third episode, titled 'Caratan' follows a young man named Albert Blithe who is crippled by fear amidst the battle, and suffers from a temporary bout of hysterical blindness.  After he recovers and goes back to the battlefield, he finds himself crouching in a foxhole dodging German crossfire, and again is unable to face the battle while succumbing to his fear.

Along comes Lt. Winters, who comes up to his foxhole and starts shouting, "Come on Blithe, you can give it to them!  You can do this!" and other encouraging support.  Blithe eventually stands up and begins firing at the enemy with gusto.  When I watched this, I sensed God was saying to me, "It's like Me and you..."

God is always rooting for our freedom.  He is like Lt. Winters in this metaphor, and I find myself like Blithe, often handicapped by my own fears.

The Bible says, "He has come to proclaim freedom for the captives." (Isaiah 61:1, and which Jesus later clarifies is talking about himself).  Often we become slaves to our own fears, we need to be set free if we are expected to fight.  He is waiting and so willing to proclaim this over us to give us power over our enemy of fear, and is inspiring us and believing in us that we have the gusto to overcome it!

That, my friends, is freedom.  Let it ring!

Touchy Topic Tuesday (on Wed): Better late than never.

Can I be totally candid with you?

I missed writing the blog yesterday, when I normally write on Tuesdays, because I was in a bit of a funk.

It didn't come about by any particular reason, but I certainly felt discouraged, defeated, and isolated, which led to crying, overthinking, and indifference to life around me.

I felt like I was in a mental battle all day, trying to resist an army from invading my sanity.

Today I felt a bit more victorious, but I have a few weapons I use when I get down like this:

1)  Surround myself with truth.
This can come in form of reading things or people speaking things to me that I know to be true.  I usually will turn to the Bible or to friends that can encourage me and speak life into me again.  Sometimes we feel depressed because our identities and worth are being maligned, and we need to be reminded who we really are as opposed to how we feel.

2)  Pray
This time of seeking God usually comes in the form of desperate, short prayers.  "God, help me."  "Please take this away."  My heart feels broken for some reason, or I am overwhelmed by feelings, so I turn to the Maker to ask for his strength to resolve these issues in and around me.  Most of it is out of my control anyway.

3)  Humor
You know what they say...laughter is the best medicine.  It certainly has a way of helping us open our minds and hearts to positivity.  Last night I watched an episode of Raising Hope just to help me take my mind off things and lighten the mood.

What do you do to help you on those 'off' days?

 

Funny Friday: Sweet tweet.

I follow someecards on twitter and they will typically compile a list of funny tweets from that day.  This is my choice for funny tweets I read today.  Yes, I am basically stealing funny fodder because I am too lazy and tired to think of my own.  Enjoy!

jonacuff Jon Acuff

Someday in the future, I will tell my kids we used to drive to stores to rent movies. And they will laugh at me

DepressedDarth Darth Vader

The worst sound in the world is Chewbacca singing along to Nickelback.

 

clarkekant Clarke Kant

I only wish it was the alcohol talking. It was my stupid brain.

 

meganamram Megan Amram

I try to buy American, but I just can't find a good domestic finger trap.

 

JimGaffigan Jim Gaffigan

Is it too early to start complaining about Christmas?

 

StephenAtHome Stephen Colbert

A doctor in CA claims he can use a laser to turn brown eyes blue in 20 seconds. And after 20 more, he can turn blue eyes melty.

 

thejoelstein Joel Stein

It's like America is in college: no money, going to protests, telling pizza guy he should totally be President.

 

 

That's all I got today.  Have a good weekend!

 

 

 

Touchy Topic Tuesday: What's Your Poison?

As some of you know, I've dealt with irrational fears all my life.

Here is an example of one.


When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I became obsessed with poison.  My mother would use this rust-remover on our hard water stains in our bathtub, and I can still remember the brass-colored bottle bearing the skull and crossbones sitting among the detergents in the laundry room.  When no one was around, I would go open the cabinet and stare at the bottle and marvel that there was poison in it that could end a life, and then I would worry that somehow staring at that poison would harm me, like it was transmittable through vision, and I unknowingly took a large sip.

As I reflected on this memory this week, I realized a lot of my worries sound as silly as that:  me staring at the poison, with no real threat of ingesting it ever coming to pass.  The hard thing for me is to stop staring at the bottle, wondering.  Like I have some sort of affinity or obsession with these irrational fears that will never come to be, but circle round and round them anyway in my mind.  I beat the dead horse, and then continue to beat it.  I literally have to retrain my brain to get off the hamster wheel, and get back on track with the things around me.  This sort of worry is the toxic thing; to my health, to my life, and to my children who are eying everything I do and mimicking everything I say.  That's the real stuff that I end up ingesting.  And the actual worry accomplishes nothing; it is as good as me staring at a bottle of poison, wondering if somehow I accidentally swallowed it.

My guess is that in life, many people have their 'poison,' that source of worry that is destructive at best, lethal at worst.  

But I don't believe that we were designed as humans for this.  It is part of our fallen nature.  That's why when we do ingest the 'poison,' our body does everything it can to get rid of it.  It's a foreign substance that is harmful and can disrupt the basic things of life.  
 We need to 'throw it up' in a sense, and running along with this metaphor, taking the ipecac that forces us to do just that.



Here are some of my practical antibodies:
-Audibly speaking these irrational fears out loud can help us realize that they are ridiculous.  In order to get rid of it, sometimes we just need to call it for what it is, and make it lose its power.
-Reminding ourselves of certain truths we believe in...i.e., I often am telling myself that ultimately I am not in control.




What other things can you do to counteract the effects of unhealthy worry?