Advent Devotional Assignment 2011

Somehow, I always seem to draw the depressing ones. Hmmm . . .
************************************************************************************

Psalm 80:5-7
“You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have given them bowls of tears to drink. You have made us the derision of our neighbors, and our enemies laugh us to scorn. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved.”

The verse leaves many questions unanswered: who has been fed with the bread and bowl of tears? Who is the derision of their neighbors? Who is being laughed to scorn? Who wants to be restored? Oh dear – this one will need some context, known as “pick up the Bible and read the whole verse” or go on-line and find -- as Paul Harvey would say – the “rest of the story.” A few clicks later and voila: http://www.easyenglish.info/psalms/psalm080-taw.htm

Shepherd of Israel, listen to us!
You are the one that leads Joseph like a flock.

You sit like a king between the Cherubim.

Shine on Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Get up and show how strong you are.
Come and make us safe.

God, make us return (to you).
Make your face shine (on us) and make us safe.

LORD God (of) Sabaoth,

how long will you be angry when your people pray?

You have fed them tears for food
and buckets of tears for drink.

You have made the people that live near us fight (us)
and our enemies laugh among themselves (at us).

God (of) Sabaoth, make us return (to you).

Make your face shine (on us) and make us safe.

So, the composer of this Psalm is entreating God to remember who He is to His people: shepherd, leader, king. Somehow, God’s people have erred. They are experiencing the unpleasant consequences of their choices: God’s strength is absent, His face does not shine upon them, and they no longer feel protected or safe. Their neighbors scorn them, fight them (and win, apparently), laugh at them. The people believe that God does not hear their prayers, and that they are fed tears for food and drink. They are in the depths of despair. The Psalmist pleads on behalf of the people that God return to his role as the shepherd, leader, king, and make the people safe. The Psalmist also knows that God’s people are not able to make that change alone. They need something. I suspect that something is grace.

God’s grace is desperately needed in the present day. For all of God’s people -- whether the 99% crying out for justice or the 1% seen as a barrier to achieving justice. It is not for us to separate the sheep from goats or the wheat from chaff . . . that is God’s work. Our work is to open ourselves up to God’s healing grace and leadership, roll up our shirt sleeves and apply some elbow grease, trusting in God’s strength, as we work together to ensure all people have the opportunity to live lives that are just and fair. God’s grace is always there for us, if we but ask Him for it and trust that He will lead us into that place where His face shines on all of us and makes all of us safe.

"I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’" Lamentations 3:55-57

Kids and Guns

From Feb. 10, 2011 Note

First, here's the link so you can read the short article: http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/aggression05.html The bold item is my short-hand for the article's suggestion. The italicized sections are my additions to what they said -- so really -- you'll want to read the article first. It's a 3-minute read.

*****************************************************************************

1. Talk with your child. Yes! Better still -- listen. And then model through action what activities you value -- which may not include the ability to shoot anything that moves. Or it may. The parent is the first and most important teacher. Go for it! What do you want to teach?

2. Limit Media. Because it's so packed with violent imagry . . . well, here's another thought. UNPLUG the TV. Turn off the electronic games. Just turn the stuff off. If you don't like what it pumps into your home -- which is your family's sacred space, after all -- then don't let it in.

3. Monitor Play. Wow. Really? I spent my childhood playing with remarkable little adult supervision in forest, field, mountains. While the "playground" may change, I think adults really need to back off just a bit and let kids be kids. If the games or game equipment requires that level of adult supervision, I suspect it's actualy a game that the adults are not comfortable with -- see #1.

4. Make sure the gun looks like a toy. Well, see, that's just it -- guns are NOT toys. Try this. Rather than look for some expensive model of "toy gun" that looks real enough to satiate the commercial-driven appetite of a young child, and empties the parental pocketbook into the corporate bank account, insist on the child using his or her imagination. Remember when we used to point our and finger and thumb, and say "Bang, bang?"

5. Practice on targets. Well, sure -- this is also good for hand-eye coordination, etc. But again -- is this valued as an activity by the family? Or something the child is actually interested in learning as a skill? Or is this like enforcing piano lessons because it's good for the child? If all the child wants to do is indulge in imaginative play -- which is how kids make sense of their world and their place in it -- then why get in the way of the process by imposing an unwelcome discipline?

6. Teach gun safety. Again, yes -- if you and your family value the activity of hunting, target practice, etc., gun safety is a must. If you keep guns in your home, teaching gun safety is a must. Because you send kids out into the world, and you don't know what they will encounter, teaching them to be wary and alert and not to mess with other people's guns EVER is a must. But, if this activity doesn't jive with your family's values and you and your family aren't into target practice or hunting activities, then don't go there.

Remember: What we focus on as parents, and give lots of attention to, is usually what grows in our families. SO, I ask -- what do you value? What do you want to grow in your family?

Sumertime Blues

I always look forward to spending time out in the woods and mountains in the middle of "God's country" as my dad would call it. The time spent breathing in the smell of sun-baked pine needles, or the whiff of snow off the glaciers, the sound of the distant river, the quiet and peace -- they all call to me. I need that space and time to connect with the world, with Nature and her Creator . . .to breathe deeply.

However, I don't seem to get to do these things much anymore. Perhaps it's middle age sneaking up on me, but this year I screwed my knee up in early June playing softball. It's now mid-July and I have just set aside the cane, except for longer, very slow (read ~2 miles) walks on flat ground.

Last summer, I screwed up my hip and back doing tai chi which limited my hiking to summer's end and short trips. Then there was the late spring recovery from double pnuemonia a couple years earlier. Or the summer time foot recovering from an infected animal bite (a few weeks with foot elevated above heart level to stop the spread of infection) the summer after the pnuemonia.

Are we getting the picture here? I am tired of this BS.

A wise woman told me to specifically pray for and welcome only healing, wholesome events in my life. Done so, been doing so, will keep doing so -- but at this point I am just plain fed up. I am over 40, slightly overweight, and although I try to stay physically active with lots of things when the body permits, I just seem to be getting older and slower, and dare I say it? Yes, cranky! About this shift in life. C'mon!!! It's ridiculous!!!

I have things to do, adventures to seek, places to visit and stuff to see. Like the picture above. A beautiful day hike to Heart Lake outside of Holden Village at summer's end last year. My body made it (barely) and I was really looking forward to revisiting it and a variety of other hikes this summer. No such luck.

Why does this keep happening? I really am tired of it . . . *sigh* . . .

Okay -- I'll quit whining, and keep doing my PT and re-buidling knee and leg muscle strength like a good girl. Maybe I'll get a personal trainer through the YMCA. Something's gotta give. Yoga, jazzercise, walking, biking (when the body permits) clearly aren't enough . . .

Wish me luck, folks. By this time next year, I am going to be 20 pounds lighter and a helluva lot stronger -- and I am absolutely, positively sure to be out on the hiking trails -- no exceptions permitted!!!

Cowboys with Attitude

Cowboys with Attitude

Okay, Folks -- Looking for the unexpected? Try Spinal Tap with a country twist! If you are anywhere near the greater Olympia area the end of April, this is a must see!

CWA has lots of laughs, and Traditions offers great food.

See you there!

PLEASE TAKE NOTE

Chores, limits, and clear expectations for behavior give children the chance to practice valuable skills and grow into competent, responsible adults who know that they are worthwhile and valuable.

Children that do not get these chances build internal messages of worthlessness and uselessness.

When parents stand firm on chores, limits, and behaviors, there can be conflict. All parents and children experience conflict to some degree – it’s natural.

What it means is that the parent loves the child enough to sit with the short-term discomfort of conflict for the positive long-term result:
a child growing into a competent, responsible, happy adult.


Some Things That Are Valued and Adhered To In This Home

Chores
Doing chores teaches life skills, work ethics, and time-management. It gives people a sense of usefulness, belonging, and importance.

Honesty
Being truthful about what you think, feel, do, or plan to do is critical to happy, healthy relationships.

Reliability
Doing what you say you will do – following through – helps people trust each other and succeed in meeting goals and reaching dreams.

School
Learning is life-long. Graduating from high school and continuing on to the Peace Corps, trade school, college, or military is also key in meeting goals.

Church
Being a part of a faith community gives lots of chances to practice skills, build relationships, and form internal beliefs about how we fit in this world.

Community Service
Caring for the people and places that form the community we live in help us feel connected and follow through on what is important to us by making a difference.

Advent Meditation Assignment for Church

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 4:4-7

I am not easy with the word gentleness. Gentle people are often run over by those less gentle. However, I delight in gently nurturing babies. They have simple needs and wants. Gently nurturing babies is safe. Gently nurturing adults is frequently tricky, sticky, messy, and can feel rather unsafe. Babies reflect back only what they see in the eyes of the nurturer. As adults, we have learned to hide our inner core. We tend to show only what will get our needs or wants met with the least resistance.

In looking at other biblical translations of gentleness, I found many words: moderation, reasonableness, kindness, forbearance, and in the Greek, leniency. Interestingly, the Greek translation also uses the word garrisoning rather than guard in the final sentence of the verse. Those two words grabbed hold, saying, “Pay attention!” They challenged me to rethink the verse’s possible meanings.

I don’t think I am so very different from my Christ-siblings. I think we all tend to protect our inner cores out of fear of the unknown or from past experience. When we do that, we often hold at arm’s length with words or actions our equally frightened sisters and brothers. We stay separate from each other. While we defend our tender places, we focus inward. We are not gently attentive to each other in ways that are forbearing or kind. And we have little understanding that the sister or brother across from us is working just as hard as we are to care for her or his tender place as well.

Perhaps, this passage calls us to be a bit more “lenient” with each other’s fears and evasions, as we learn to live in community – with our families, our friends, our coworkers, and our church family. Perhaps it also reminds us to rely more on God to “garrison” those parts of us that really do need protecting. Perhaps practicing these two ideas -- leniency and God-garrisoning – could move us worriers and fear-filled Christ-siblings more firmly into that peace which passes all understanding.

So, I think I’ll sit with the idea that God will garrison whatever tender part I believe I need protected, if I just ask with thankfulness -- and try to give my brothers and sisters in Christ a bit more leeway to be fully human, too.


******************************


Mother-God, you hold us close to your breast and wrap your angel wings tight around us no matter how old we grow. Help us to honestly share the peace and love you so freely give to us with each other, through a kind word, a gentle touch, a listening ear, a helping hand or a hug. Amen.

Capture the Rainbow

Do you suppose he's looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Or thinking about something much more esoteric? At 15 1/2, he's a constant wonder to me. On the one hand, a mystery. On the other, he shares more about what he's thinking and feeling than he has in a long time. I imagine him standing in his life rather like he is in this picture: poised on the brink of launching into his adult world. There's still some room in his pack for a few more tools, words of love and advice from mom and dad -- but he's filling his pack on his own merits more and more now. Words can't describe how proud I am of his growth, of the person he is now, and the person he is growing into -- still a miracle, still a blessing, still a rascal, still a challenge, still my baby -- no matter how grown.