My Thick Skull

Posted on July 22, 2012 by kimberly

Have you ever felt like a sermon was directed just to you? Like somehow the preacher knew exactly what you needed to hear and wrote it just for you? Today was one of those days…but first some background:

As many of my readers may know, I’ve been quite busy during the last month because I’ve taken on a summer school teaching position. I’ve loved doing it…but it’s left me feeling a bit out of sorts. The house is often messy….as Nathan put it last Thursday, our meals have been in a “mild state of dysfunction”…..I haven’t gone over the finances in weeks….and I am forgetful. I have so much on my mind that I can’t remember little things. This week alone I’ve racked up $5.25 in library fines because I forgot the books I checked out to use in my summer school classroom were due. This morning we arrived at church late. We walked in during the first reading, and I suddenly realized that I was scheduled to read today! Luckily I was scheduled for the second reading, but I feel bad for the stress I probably caused our verger. I had read through the reading a few times when I first received it, but usually I like to read it aloud to myself many times on the morning of…well that didn’t happen! Luckily it went ok.

This week is going to be even worse. I’ve been working four days a week. And the days are 5-6 hours each. This week I’ll be working six days…three of which are full days, and the other three will be 5-6 hours. One of the days I’ll be leading eighty fifth and sixth graders and a field trip/service learning project where their writing will be offered to the public in the form of a story time. I’ve got report card comments to write. Post tests to grade and analyze…the list could go on…and that’s just at work. What about being a mom and a wife and just me? It’s going to be a busy week.

Now back to the sermon….

This morning the sermon was about time. About how we all always feel that there is not enough of it. And about how it is counter-cultural for us to actually take time for ourselves. To rest. To listen for God. To take care of ourselves. “God did not make a mistake when he created time,” the preacher said. “There is plenty of time. It is up to us to choose how to spend it.” Even Jesus took time away from his healing and his good works of service to pray and to rest. We should follow his example. Being busy does not necessarily mean that important works are being done.

And do you know what I said to myself as I was listening to this? It more or less went like this: “Oh she is right on. It is right and good to take time for rest. I should do that more often. I’m going to take more time to rest and listen to God and pray…starting next week.”

Her wise and pointed words could not pierce my thick skull. I realized her words were right, but I could not apply them to my life at a time when I needed them most. After the sermon ended, there was a period of silence. Nathan leaned over to me and whispered, “Tough sermon for you this week, huh.”

And that’s when it finally hit me. This week more than any other I need to take her words to heart. This week more than any other I need to take time for rest and for God. It cannot wait. It should never wait.

 

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A Gift That Goes A Long Way

Posted on July 16, 2012 by kimberly

I’ve written many times before about why sponsoring children is a good thing. I sponsor three children through World Vision, but no matter what organization you go through, child sponsorship truly makes a difference in the life of that child. You can read my 10 reasons for sponsoring a child here if you are interested.

I have received so many blessings from sponsoring my three children. I was pregnant at the same time as one of my sponsored children’s mothers. I’ve gotten to exchange letters and pictures/drawings and encouragement. I’ve “seen” them grow for a few years and learned about their lives. My eyes have been opened to some of what is going on in other parts of the world.

But I’ve just received my most exciting letter yet! I’m so happy that I just have to share it. Through World Vision, the sponsorship funds are pooled so that bigger items can be purchased for the community such as building schools, health centers, community leadership development programs, AIDS education, and more. These things could not be done without pooling the funds. But World Vision also provides a way for sponsors to give gifts specifically to their child on top of the sponsorship commitment if they wish.

In honor of Easter 2011, Nathan and I decided to give a gift of US$100 to one of our sponsored children in Zimbabwe. It’s been over a year and I had never heard what had come of it. However, today I received a thank you letter with a picture and everything. With $100 my sponsored child’s family was able to purchase 2 goats, school shoes, a new school uniform, school trousers and shoes for her younger brother, and some school supplies. I was amazed that $100 went so far for their family! I received a picture of my sponsored child with her mother and two of her brothers in their new clothes and shoes along with the goats.

From her mother, I received a thank you note in which this is the opening:

Firstly I would like to give thanks to the almighty Lord for inspiring you to do such great deeds to my child

I am so blessed to be a part of this woman’s life as well as the lives of her children. I am so happy that our meager gift was able to bring them so much happiness. But at the same time, it saddens me that it is necessary. It saddens me that we spend so much money on “wants” when so many in the world have real needs. It saddens me that our government spends so much money on death and destruction rather than helping those in most need. It saddens me that our society is so focused on entertainment and entitlement when others in the world are so happy and thankful for so little. My sponsored family truly feels blessed. They thank the Lord every day for their lives and their blessings. We could all take a lesson from them.

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Simple Joys

Posted on July 15, 2012 by kimberly

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I’ve been doing the 1000 gifts challenge. I’ve been writing down things I’m thankful for in a journal…hoping to reach 1000. I’ve slowed down a lot since I started a few months ago. Some days I forget to write any. But I’ve reached over 600 now, and even if I don’t write them in my notebook, I try to acknowledge all the small blessings and simple joys in life.

Here are two more:

1. Nathan was laying on the floor in our home a few days ago, and Elias went right up to his Daddy, and proudly lay down right next to him. In the picture Elias looks a bit serious, but he was as happy and proud as a little boy could be while he was acting just like his Daddy.

the boys relaxing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Birds! For my birthday, my mother-in-law got me a bird feeder and some seed. I had been wanting one for awhile because we live right near a wetlands and the birds occasionally come on our deck even without the seed. I put it up today, and waited for the birds to come. I didn’t have to wait long. Just a few hours later, two small birds came and took turns exploring the feeder. They perched in four or five different places, and eventually took seed in their mouths and flew back into the trees. I got to watch them for a good 10 or 15 minutes coming and going. I tried to capture a picture of the birds on the bird house, but it never worked out. For now, here is just a picture of the bird house. I was overjoyed to see the little birds come and go. They are amazing creatures.

Bird Feeder!

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How Much Is A Life Worth?

Posted on July 13, 2012 by kimberly

I’ve become increasingly worried about the food situation in West Africa as the months have past. Just last year there was a famine in the horn of Africa. Most of the world did not respond until thousands upon thousands had already been affected…or died. The media only covered the famine once it had actually reached “famine” rather than when all the warning signs were present, and when it could have made a real difference.

And now we have West Africa. In the same situation. Food shortages are reaching critical levels. Children are suffering (along with adults). And it seems that the world just does not care. Again. Richard Stearns on the World Vision blog sums up the problem:

In the news business, there’s a saying that goes, “One dead fireman in Brooklyn is worth five English bobbies, who are worth fifty Arabs, who are worth five hundred Africans.” I quoted this in my first book, The Hole in Our Gospel.

It’s understandable that we identify and sympathize with the people closest to us. We have a harder time empathizing with people who are somehow removed — whether geographically, culturally, religiously, or nationally. It’s normal.

But it’s not okay.

Eliza Naquinda and her severely malnourished son, Filipe, at the World Vision feeding center in Angola.Eliza Naquinda and her severely malnourished son, Filipe, at the World Vision feeding center in Angola. (Photo: Jonathan White/World Vision).

God cares as much for the mother in Angola as for the fireman in Brooklyn. Some 1.8 million people have been affected by a drought in the southern African country of Angola, but you won’t see news coverage of it.

Sometimes when I think about it, I feel like my heart is broken. Not just cracked, but open wide. Deep chasms of grief nestled in there with the rest of my cares and passions.

Because it’s not true….one dead fireman in Brooklyn is not worth 500 Africans. We are all equal in God’s eyes. But most of us live as if it were true. How can this be so? How can we sit back and let this happen? Again?

You can help by spreading the word. Spread the word about the drought in Africa since the media will not. Pray for those affected. And if you can, please give. Here is one possible place to give. World Vision is a very trustworthy organization, and has proven to use donations well. They are well established around the world, and have already started work in Niger, Mauritania, and Mali, three of the countries affected by this drought.

How much is a life worth? Let’s send a message to these people that they are worth just as much as any other. They are God’s precious children.

 

 

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Respecting Poverty

Posted on July 10, 2012 by kimberly

I’m reading All is Grace: A Biography of Dorothy Day by Jim Forest. The book was recommended to me by my husband. He thought that learning more about Dorothy Day would be right up my alley. He was right. Social justice and the plight of the poor have become….interests/passions/concerns of mine more and more since my own first child was born. Although in her youth she lived a bit more wild than my taste, she is an excellent example for all of us.

I came across one quote in my reading, though, that just won’t go away. It has been floating around in my brain all day, and I feel I may never be rid of it…(but that could be a good thing I guess). I’ve been struggling with having material attachments for awhile now. A new acquaintance and I were just talking about this at church on Sunday. It’s hard having to choose between spending time taking care of your child and having more money for your family. It’s hard to choose between hard work as a stay-at-home mom….and say, a bigger house with more space and a yard for my son to run around in.

So with this in the back of my mind, I read the following quote from page 71 of the book:

Sitting on the beach one day, Dorothy was reading The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James when, in a chapter on “The Value of Saintliness,” she came upon his proposal that the only way to undo the damage done by the ideal of wealth-getting was to respect poverty: “The praises of poverty need once more to be boldly sung. We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. We have lost the power even of imagining what the ancient realization of poverty could have meant; the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul.”

After all, who was it who lived with no material attachments whatsoever? Oh yeah. Jesus. Because he knew what was really important. He knew that when the filth of all our material possessions is washed away, it is easier to see God.

So anyway, that’s what has been on my mind today. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, or how it will change me. For now I am content to let it percolate for awhile.

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This Is My Song

Posted on July 1, 2012 by kimberly

As the 4th of July approaches, I am seeing more and more patriotically themed things floating around. Fireworks stands with little kids hopping around in Uncle Sam suits. Flags and shiny banners in windows. Lots of red, white, and blue.

And church. Oh how I wish we didn’t have to sing a song glorifying “America” in a place where only God should be glorified. How I wish that we wouldn’t lift ourselves up above other nations or peoples. How I wish that we could put aside our own hubris and self-importance and actually see the need in our world along with the good that comes from its peoples.

The United States is a good place. We do some good things. But we do many many bad things as well, and to glorify that in church is not good, I think.

We did have to sing a few patriotic songs today at church. I like the songs…I just don’t think they belong in church. So I sang them with just as much gusto as any hymn and just tried to block out the fact that I was in a sanctuary at that moment.

But we did sing one song today that I think is an especially good reminder for Americans at 4th of July. Here you go:

This Is My Song (Finlandia)

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
and hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
myself I give thee; let thy will be done.

I decided today that I really do love this song.

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America…The Capitol?

Posted on June 5, 2012 by kimberly

I recently completed another read through of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. It’s the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy. I was a bit saddened as I read through the novel because I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the people who live in the capitol in the story and Americans.

If you haven’t read the story, the people in the capitol are portrayed in somewhat of a less than favorable light. The capitol is full of people who live in luxury. Who indulge in strange fashions. Who drink a substance that will make them puke so that they can eat more and more and more. Who are dependent on good entertainment no matter what the cost to others. They are totally self absorbed.

Yet at times in the story I felt pity for the capitol people. They were just so pathetic. So ignorant. Many truly didn’t every think about how their actions and their luxury affected others in their world. They were truly bewildered that things could possible be any different.

I am so sad to have to compare Americans with these people. I know there is poverty here. Not everyone lives a life of luxury. America has good people too. People who care and help others. But for the most part, I feel that we are just like the capitol. We worry about such frivolous things. Our high gas prices and our spotty cell phone coverage. We indulge in weird fashions. And the worst…I think there are some Americans who honestly believe that we should rightfully rule the world.

But the saddest comparison…the people in the capitol had the capacity to help the starving people…the starving and dieing children in the districts. They had the resources the help. But they didn’t. They sat back and let it happen. Watched it happen. Even somehow convinced themselves that it was ok and “just the way things were.”

America is no different. We have so many resources. Yet we sit back and let children die of starvation. (Did you know it’s happening right now in West Africa?) We instead worry about our own self-absorbed selves. We worry about our own horrible politics and budgets. We worry about keeping “immigrants” out and worry about what constitutes a marriage. We worry about things that may seem important, but do not really matter in comparison.

America is like “the capitol.” It is not a proud comparison.

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Readings for May 2012

Posted on June 1, 2012 by kimberly

I read some interesting books in May. I read a bit less than average again because we were traveling. Traveling used to mean that I’d read way more than average…that was back when vacations were relaxing. Now that I have a child, vacations are more about having fun with him. How times change. (It’s all worth it of course). Anyway, here is what I read:

Isaac’s Storm  by Erik Larson

This is another book that I borrowed from my father-in-law, and I wanted to finish it before we went to visit Indiana. It was based on the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and the life of the main meteorologist in that town (Isaac). I learned a lot about hurricane science…how they form, how they grow, etc. The hurricane was the deadliest in U.S. history, and the second costliest hurricane (adjusted for inflation…and calculated in 2005) The hurricane killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people (compared with 1,800 for hurricane Katrina). The town was totally unprepared. It’s another story to remind us that human pride can cause us a lot of pain and suffering. Definitely a good book.

We Band of Angels by Elizabeth M. Norman

This is the final book that I borrowed from my father-in-law. I was able to finish it while we were Indiana! It is about a group of army nurses who served on Bataan during World War II, and were taken prisoner by the Japanese when they captured the Philippines. In school, we always learned about what was going on in Europe during World War II…as well as what was going on at home, and a bit about the Russian front. The war in the Pacific was largely ignored so I knew next to nothing. This story was heartbreaking in that it is difficult to read the hardships and the sacrifices that the nurses went through. It is also inspirational, though, because it details the lives of very extraordinary women. A good read.

March by Geraldine Brooks

I’ve read a couple of books by this author before, and they are always very good. This book was no different. It is a historical fiction novel set during the civil war. The main character is Mr. March from Little Women. The author imagines what his life was like while he was away at war. The book raises some very good questions about whether or not war is ever justifiable…even to free slaves. Mr. March follows his code of honor, which will not allow him to kill any person. However, when he refuses to take a gun to kill confederate soldiers, some of his deepest friends are killed, and a great number of previously liberated slaves are sold back into captivity. March is haunted by his inaction, and has to wrestle with what he thinks is right versus taking a life to save a life. This book is worth reading more than once.

Images of America: Portland Fire and Rescue by Brain K Johnson and Don Porth

I checked this book out from the library because my great grandfather used to work for Portland Fire and Rescue. I was interested to learn about its history, and I was also curious to see if there were any pictures of him in the book. (There weren’t). We have some family pictures of my great grandfather on the Portland Fire and Rescue float in the grand floral parade.

Sojourners Magazine: May 2012

Another excellent issue of Sojourners. This issue’s main focus was food. There were some very disturbing charts about obesity rising in the last 30-50 years in the U.S., as well as some interesting articles about food inequity. There are not a lot of healthy food stores or options in the poorest neighborhoods. A very sad fact indeed.

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Courage

Posted on May 31, 2012 by kimberly

What is courage? I’ve been reading the book March by Geraldine Brooks. It is set during the civil war, and is about Mr. March (from Little Women) when he is involved in the war. Although it is historical fiction, the author provides some interesting insights as to what life must have been like for liberated slaves during and just after the war (basically…not good)

Anyway, I came across a quote in this story that really made me think…not only about the civil war, but about our country’s involvement (and really…our instigating) of the current wars in the middle east. We frame our position and our justification for war around “freedom”….but is this really true? Is it worth it?

Here is the quote (The quote speaks only of men for obvious reasons, but I think it can be applied to both men and women):

Who is the brave man – he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination. The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads. And yet I do not think it heroic to march into fields of fire, whipped on one’s way only by fear of being called craven. Sometimes, true courage requires inaction; that one sit at home while war rages, if by doing so one satisfies the quiet voice of honorable conscience.

In Concord, because of our work in the Underground Railroad, we had come to know many who fit the latter description. Mostly they were Quakers, whose abolitionism and pacifism sprang from the selfsame core belief: there is that of God in every person, and therefore you may not enslave any man, and neither may you kill him, even to liberate the enslaved.

(emphasis added)

Like I said, it made me think both about wars of the past, and the wars of today. Let us not forget that God loves every human. What does that mean for us?

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Finally Finished!

Posted on May 14, 2012 by kimberly

The whole quilt...finally finished!

Well, it has been years in the making, but I finally finished my 3rd quilt! I’m very proud. I don’t actually remember exactly when I started working on it…I finished the top awhile ago and then put it away for a long time. The pattern is a variation on the “Amish Star.” The quilt is quite large. Each block is 12 inches x 12 inches. It’s funny…as I look at the quilt now I think I would have placed some of the blocks differently than I did when I actually sewed it together a couple years ago. But overall, I think I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I cut and pieced the top myself using a machine. The quilting is also done by machine, but I did not do that part myself. I want to learn some day, but as of right now, I don’t have a machine with those capabilities. As always, the binding was the most difficult for me because it takes so much patience…especially the back which is done by hand!

A close up of one of the blocks. A variation on the "amish star"

I finished the final stitches of the binding on Friday evening. (Just in time!) I gave this quilt to my mother-in-law as a Mother’s Day Gift. Hopefully it will get lots of use. It feels good to finish a project that has been so long in the making. It’s one I’ve loved working on. It also feels good to know it went to a loving home.

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