Oh hello….

22 Jan posted by

It’s been a while. Twelve days to be exact. I’ve been struggling with words and work, with life and sleep. At the start of the year our little guy decided it would be amazing to wake up before everyone and let us all know. I was supposed to have a couple of weeks off after Christmas and unfortunately that didn’t happen and all of that mayhem on top of my Christmas illness and you have one Momma who’s just been pooped. It was all a little too much.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks just getting stuff done. Doing what needed to get done and what I could do. Focusing on what was present, immediate and here. My son and I played with trains and he spoke to me about important things, ‘Cat in the Hat’ things. My husband and I watched TV together and he patiently sat with me while I struggled through sermons and prayers. I went to a movie with a friend which was so much fun. Playing in the background was the emotionally manipulative stylings of Brad Paisley who never ceases to make me cry and as always my love affair with John Mayer continues. It’s been a never ending stream of busy.

The busyness needs to stop. I need to do more of the fun things. I need margins in my life and room to breathe and move. I’m looking forward to a couple weeks of freedom with far less to do with regards to meetings and errands and work. I have piles of books that are calling out for me to read. Maybe I’ll see another movie. I would like to focus on my reflections and personal spiritual journey. I need to rest. To be still. To sit with God and embrace peace.

It’s hard to let go, to give in and say enough. It’s easy to think that we are the only ones who can do something but we’re not, I’m not. I need to remember that. I love writing and blogging and connecting. I love to be in community and I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t been able to do that. This week I am being intentional about margins. I’m not taking on too much and in fact I’ve already said ‘no’ once. It was quite liberating.

This week is the week of enough and as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” so I think as long as I leave space for the Spirit I’ll find some freedom as well. Maybe even a little time to write…
 

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Filed Under: Musings, Random Blog Stuff, So much rambling

Sabbath

16 Sep posted by

It is Sunday. There is a family dinner to be prepared. There is a healthy pumpkin bread recipe I’d like to try and I really want to make it at some point. I have great plans, wonderful plans. But instead of making dinner, pumpkin bread or doing anything really you can find me at this moment drinking coffee with Monkey Monkey and about to dive into the latest Food Network magazine after a nice after lunch beach visit with my boys.  It’s been a wonderful, lazy day.

That wonderful, lazy day is Sabbath, my Sabbath. I have not done what needs to be done but I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.  I’ve rested.  I’ve stopped working.  I have been still.

I pray that you allow yourself to be still today. That you have moments where you understand what it means to sit, to be silent, to relax. We are a people of God and we are called into Sabbath, called into rest. It’s often in these quiet moments that we feel God is near. Be silent today. Let God in.  Practice Sabbath and enjoy the rest that God gives.

I’ll see you tomorrow when my Sabbath is over…

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Filed Under: Reflections, So much rambling, Things I love, Worship

Dinosaur vs. the potty

3 Sep posted by

I am a mom but I am not a mommy blogger.  I want to be but things in my life that are seemingly funny or entertaining to those around me get pushed to the side when my passion for the Church and Jesus and all that stuff get swept to the forefront.  One of the greatest things of this time off for me has been the ability to let go and let God regarding the church.  In the last few months I have worried a little and ranted some but generally let go of the trials and tribulations our church has felt.  It’s been a much needed break for me and I had to admit when I realized this morning that less than a month from now I’d be writing sermons and thinking about the church at large again I got a little sad.  I love vacation!

I do of course love my work and will definitely enjoy it when I go back but I still have a month to go of course and I will be embracing every moment of freedom from responsibility and thinking.  Enter: Dinosaur vs. the potty.  One of the things that I have truly enjoyed over this break has been reading absolute garbage.  I love light, fluffy novels and magazines.  I look at pictures of food, read happy love stories and have embraced those things with absolute abandon when given the time.  This has meant a lot of time spent at places where books are sold and one of those places introduced me to Dinosaur.  I love Dinosaur, my son does not.  It is a book for 2-6 year olds and I love it.  I love it because my son is Dinosaur.  He is currently waging war against potty and I’m sad to say right now potty is not winning. This book makes me laugh and helps me to see the lighter moments of potty warfare.

What does this have to do with the price of fish?  Nothing really.  The thing is I’ve been doing some experimenting.  I’m trying to figure out what to write about, what to discuss.  I wrote a post yesterday I wasn’t overly thrilled with but my husband made me post {as a loving husband would} as I was trying something different and he said different isn’t necessarily bad.  I have written other things that never even make it through the draft.  What should I write?  What is most interesting to think about?  Would everyone just rather read about food?

Ultimately this blog is about me, my journeys in faith and in food {with some family thrown in}.  I’ll likely toss this experimentation phase and just go back to the way things were with rants, dreams and delicious food.  Whatever happens I hope you enjoy what this fall has to bring.  I know I’m looking forward to seeing where this journey called life takes me next.

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Filed Under: Random Blog Stuff, So much rambling

How not to make cupcakes in 5 easy steps

18 Jul posted by

One:

Don’t attempt to make cupcakes on the hottest day of the year.   The day you cannot breathe when you leave the house.  The day the flowers wilt even though they’re have been watered and cared for. That day is not the day for you to attempt making cupcakes.

Two:

Don’t throw together a new recipe when you cannot move due to the extreme heat using your beloved dried cherries and lovely dark chocolate chips.  This will make you really, really want the cupcakes to work out.

Three:

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can regulate the temperature on your gas BBQ.  This won’t work as it’s so hot even the lowest setting will be hotter then what you might like

Four:

Don’t try to put a lunch together for a toddler while you’re trying to watch said cupcakes on the BBQ. It’s not a wise move.

Five:

Don’t make your favorite icing, doctor it up with cherries and then stare longingly at the bowl after your attempts to ice the cupcakes fail as a lovely sugary crust has formed around the cupcakes you’ve made in the BBQ which prevents any icing from sticking to the cupcake in any way.

If you should attempt to make cupcakes in this way you will have delicious crusty muffins with soft insides. It’s not the worst thing in the world but there are better methods that one could explore. An oven would likely be my number one choice…

 

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Filed Under: Baking, Food, Musings, Random Blog Stuff, So much rambling

Beaky

29 May posted by

I have to admit that when it began I found it a little cute.  He wasn’t saying much but he would try to say my name and it made me happy to see him try to say something.  I would encourage him to call me Momma of course but when he slipped up and called me ‘Becky’ I didn’t worry too much as he was doing it very rarely.

From very rare to every other minute, oh how quickly things change.  For the last week or so my son has almost exclusively been calling me Becky.  In fairness it’s actually ‘Beaky’ but still, it’s my name and he will not call me Momma.

It’s just me.  My husband gets the ridiculously cute ‘Daddy’ and the Grandparents get either Grandmamama or Grandpop.  I get ‘Beaky’.   Apparently when he slept over at my parents last weekend he asked for ‘Beaky’.  This is an interesting conundrum.   On one hand I’m pleased he’s speaking but I really would like to be called Momma {or some other form of Mom}.  I’m trying not to make a big deal out of it as it will just reinforce how fantastic it is to say ‘Beaky’ but he seems to really like calling me ‘Beaky’.

I guess for now I’ll be ‘Beaky’ until I can convince him otherwise.  Do any of you have any suggestions?  I’d really love some new strategies right about now!

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Filed Under: Random Blog Stuff, So much rambling

I’m getting a little tired of 1 Timothy…

23 May posted by

Women have always been a part of things.  From the very beginning Women have played an important role in the life and times of the people of God.  The moment that Eve plucked that apple {or some might say pomegranate} from the tree, women have definitely impacted the faith in good ways and in bad, much like the men.  As you travel through the Bible one encounters judges who were women, mothers who made choices, prophetesses who spoke the word of God, and countless others who impacted a people and helped shape their faith.

Lately it seems that the focus of much of the Christian blogging community has been placed on keeping women in their place.  On preventing women from taking positions of authority.  I wonder why so much emphasis and energy is placed on preventing ministry from being done?  Is this a good use of our resources?

There are so many blogs and so much passion surrounding this topic.  I’m pleased that people are invested in their faith but I have to say I’m getting a little tired of reading the same argument over and over again stating that 1 Timothy clearly indicates that I should not be an ordained pastor and women have no place in the church.  It’s interesting to me that things are so cut and dry for some people.  Life is rarely black and white.  Things are never that easy, at least not in the world I live in.  Jesus rarely spoke directly about anything.  His parables were told in such a way that not everyone would understand.  I just don’t think it’s as easy as picking one passage from the Bible to determine who’s in and who’s out as far as leadership goes.

When we look at 1 Timothy 2, there’s so much more than just the verse regarding leadership.  Shortly thereafter we see that the author of this letter declares women to be saved by childbearing after he forbids them from teaching. Do we honestly still believe that? What about women who don’t have children? Do we think a woman is only good with God once she bears a child?  I always thought that it was Jesus’ redemptive actions that saved us.

Understanding and interpretation changes over the years thanks to the infinite, complex and mysterious creator who continues to engage and enlighten us.  When we read the Bible we need to understand the context and the culture of the time it was written.  Reading the Bible through our own lens instead of that of a 1st century person risks skewing the meaning and the message behind it.  We must remember that 1 Timothy is first and foremost a letter written from one colleague to another addressing specific concerns relating to the Church in Ephesus.

These letters weren’t written as scripture or as a history for us.  They were written for a community, in this case it was from one colleague to another.  The author wasn’t thinking about the future, he was thinking about Timothy’s ministry in his present.  I think this is why we as a church tend to get in trouble with the Epistles.  The authors weren’t actually writing for us, they were writing for their communities.  They were writing the present, not the future.

I do accept the Epistles as scripture and see merit in reading them but I feel we must learn as much as we can about the context of the time and place we are reading about.  They are a large part of our history, a great part of our story and when we read them we must remember their original purpose.  None of the Bible can be read in isolation.  Everything comes from something. Everything has a story around it and all of that impacts the words we read on the page.

God has blessed us with a faith that is filled with mystery and wonder.  Our story has fear and hope, desire and passion.  We long to connect with God and that’s one thing that never changes.  Our history tells tales of men and women who’ve fought bravely for the faith, who’ve done what God asks and never gave up.  Women do play a part in this story.  We read stories of Rahab, Ruth, Deborah, Esther, Mary, Martha and so many more who’ve made lasting imprints on the fabric of our faith.  Each woman played a role.  Each one was called by God into service.  Each one played a part in bringing us to this point in our journey as a people of God.

We all have a part to play, a story of our own.  My story was challenged and affirmed by the church as I wrestled with discovering what it was God wanted from my life.  I was called by God to minister to his people.  That’s my story.  I am called by God to do his work and I happen to be a woman.  Women have always played a part in the workings of the people of God, I don’t think God wants to change that now.

 

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Filed Under: Bible, Christianity, Church, Church Stuff, Faith, Musings, Random Blog Stuff, random church things most of you probably don't care about, Reflections, So much rambling

Do I need a label maker?

21 May posted by

Everyone has a label nowadays.  You have to be an ‘emerging liberal conservative with evangelical tendencies’ to feel like you fit in in the Christian community.   It seems as though people believe that if you haven’t labeled your beliefs and put them in a category you’re not thinking enough about what it is you believe.

I don’t really understand the need for all this labeling.  Labels don’t really move us ahead and usually lead to division.  Then once you’ve divided yourself into categories you often find conflict comes next as each division thinks they’re right. After all the conflict you’ll find a lot of wounded people crying out in pain and I’m fairly certain this is not what Jesus wanted for us.

I cannot find one place in the Bible where Jesus said ‘you must label yourself according to beliefs and theological interpretation’.  Jesus is all about relationship and God’s love.

We all have labels that get put on us.  To some I’m a preacher.  To others I’m a teacher.  Some might call me pastor while others call me friend.  I’m also a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister and if I’m honest a pretty decent singer.  I can embrace a label for each part of my life and separate out sections of me or embrace the uniqueness that is me.   God created me to be all of these things.  Each part is important to the whole.

God created us all to be a part of the people of God.  Each part is important to the whole and we need to look at our differences as things that enhance the faith rather than detract from it.  We need to co-exist and embrace our diversity as it helps to create a rich, full faith that is constantly revealing truth to us.  When we focus on our differences as a negative thing and bring judgement into the mix we’ve lost perspective and purpose.

I don’t want a label.  I just want to follow Jesus.
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Do you think labels are important or do they hurt us?  I’d love to know what you think.

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Filed Under: Church, Church Stuff, Faith, Hope, Musings, Random Blog Stuff, random church things most of you probably don't care about, Reflections, reforming, So much rambling

You’d think I was in Seminary…

3 May posted by

My Bible is permanently cracked open to the page that I last left off.  I cannot stop reading.  Not because it’s always interesting {it’s not} it’s because of the one random detail I never noticed before.  A small fact that had previously slipped my notice or was long ago forgotten.

There’s a book that rests beside my Bible filled with notes on random things.  If you peeked inside you might find a comment on how old Aaron was when he died, how crazy the Israelites are to constantly complain over and over again when God is sure to hear them and how not much has really changed as it still happens.  There are quotes and scripture references to go back to in the future.  It’s probably something I’ll never read again but at the time I felt like I had to remember whatever it was I wrote down.  So it’s written.  It is written.

I have no idea why I’m doing this.  I’ve read large chunks of what I’m reading before.  I am a little crazy I think.

I’m not getting anything accomplished really.  When I’m not doing this I’m reading Andy Stanley’s book Next Generation Leader and talking about it with my optometrist who then encouraged me to abandon everything and go to the Drive Conference in Atlanta.  It was tempting.  I’d love to be filled spiritually and find some new direction.

This might seem like rambling and I believe that it is but that’s truly where I sit right now.  I’m feel like we’re weaving through the desert heading into the promised land and I’m surrounded by people who don’t believe it, cannot fathom it, would push it away.  There are others who stand with me.  Others who stand apart and believe that things are possible but I wonder where our Moses is.  Who will lead us and push us and say the tough things?

I guess I should mosey on over to the New Testament and see what Jesus has to say for this week but my heart still hangs back with the Israelites as they threaten to enter the promised land.  Will they do it?  Will it actually happen for them?
Of course we know the answer.  We would know the answer for ourselves too if only we would trust.  The question is when will we do that?  When will we trust?

I probably should stop reading.  I probably should stop worrying about others and think about where I’m going to go next.  It’s just not likely to happen.  It’s not really my style.

So here I sit.  Reading and thinking.  Praying and reflecting.  Coming up with more questions instead of the answers I seek.  God is funny sometimes and I look forward to seeing where this all leads.

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Filed Under: Christianity, Faith, Hope, Musings, Random Blog Stuff, random church things most of you probably don't care about, So much rambling
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