A moment for eternity

I had a lovely moment today. My DD, age 6, is homeschooled and we had a few minutes to chat before leaving on an errand. When she was younger, between ages 2 and 4 or so, we often laid down together to rest in the afternoons on my bed. It was a quiet time for the entire household. Today we rested on my bed for a few moments, something we haven’t done in a long time. As she lay there she said fondly, “I remember lying here when I was three and staring at those pictures (on DH’s nightstand) while you were over there (next to her).” I was pleased she had a comforting memory from such a tender age to hold onto through the years. I stretched out next to her and as she chatted, I stroked her cheek and stared at her. I felt immense peace and satisfaction in my spirit. I felt the Lord was reassuring me that if something should happen to me from this point on, she would take with her into life an unforgettable sense of my love for her.

Debt and Rest, disconnected and yet not

Two topics on my mind tonight: Debt and Rest

Debt
I feel I may have come across heavy-handed in yesterday’s post about the mall. Just for the record, I want to say I have much sympathy for folks in debt. I have walked the long road of debt reduction as I helped a friend replace shopping addiction with better financial wisdom and habits as she simultaneously went through a major career “downsizing.” What I was feeling at the mall yesterday is irritation towards our consumer-oriented culture. There is no easy target in that but instead a dynamic, gigantic, invasive, seemingly untetherable organism involving individuals, creditors, marketing firms, supply-and-demand economics, free trade, and no doubt a host of things I’ve never considered. I consider myself pro-capitalism, but something is most definitely out-of-whack. Ultimately, I think the individual must be responsible at the end of the day and must acknowledge their own reckless financial habits. They also must discover what is at the root, what is lacking in their soul. It wouldn't hurt to have a few more prophets in the land decrying the state of things and articulating solutions, either. For now, I just ask people to consider why they are shopping. I ask them to look to replace a habit of over-spending with personal goals that can bring deep satisfaction, such as developing a hobby (preferably a cheap hobby!). Writing blogs comes to mind….

Rest
Sundays have evolved over the years into a day I savor. It has taken many years to slowly appreciate the purpose that the Lord had in assigning a day of rest. That no doubt has much to do with matter of aging! Responsibilities for DH and I have increased to the point that we really feel it when we don’t slow down once each week. If only our young children did, too! (I think there must be creative, joyful ways to instill a discipline of rest in our children, something I will be meditating on in months to come.)

The life of our church has absorbed the discipline of keeping the Sabbath rest to perhaps its greatest degree yet, and that fills me with thanksgiving. There is less running off to restaurants and more assembling in potluck dinners after service and in homes. We still have a ways to go, and it will never match my idea of “perfect.” I for one often cannot share that day with any others except my family as my introverted nature needs time alone (and that’s a rare commodity in a family of six.) We also are making progress through a delightful family devotional to which my children are responding positively. There’s also usually some important thing for Monday that gets neglected if I’m out visiting Sunday evenings.

Another reason I see for keeping things simple on the Sabbath is this, and I expect it will seem very weird to most everyone: I believe in building a life around my ideals, and that includes eating from local farmers and cooking food from scratch. In my ideal society, almost all of our food would come from local farmers who farmed in an organic, sustainable way. If that were true then there would have to be a lot of small farms. And if there were a lot of farms, then there would be a lot of animals that need regular care several times a day, and a much larger percentage of households would be involved in food production. I make decisions today based on where I want to be in the future. I want to be involved somehow, hands-on, in sustainable agriculture down the road and to include my children and grandchildren. So today I take pleasure in baby steps, which include patronizing farmer’s markets, and caring for our dog, cat and two aquariums (and hopefully livestock in future). It also means paying close attention to my garden six months a year (still working on the early and late months in that spectrum). I will do this regardless of how the rest of society behaves.

So, I love a day of rest, and I love that I have a church family to share it with, even though it is often “in spirit” only. That there are many others in the world doing the same is a source of peace to me tonight.

Hmmm, it occurs to me there are many connections between the topics of Debt and Rest. I hope to explore that in future!

God be with ye.

Not a Mall Person

I'm testing my second post in one day to see what happens...

This day was one big sidetrack. To start with, I wasn't in the mood for pancakes--probably because I ate Cheerios at 4 in the morning. And even though DH made them and they smelled good, he had to put them in the oven to "warm" (grow crusty) and go somewhere with our son; just not the same as fresh off the skillet with a kiss and some conversation. I'm not even sure I had breakfast.

Then I barely watched that football game. It was on, I caught the replayed highlights, but unlike last year's game, we didn't have any guests over and we DID have a toddler. Yes, baby is toddling, ever since the latter half of October. Jennifer, SHE's my pistol, I think!

Okay, so then it gets worse. I surmounted my dread of malls to take my DD9 to a Build-a-Bear Workshop birthday party. I felt it was a good opportunity to buy some winter things for my other children while waiting for her. Even my 12yo son wanted to pick out his own sweater...(WTH?!?!)

Well, taking a pre-teen boy shopping for clothes is not the best way to improve the parental-child relationship. He thought "sweater" meant "hoody" and was not helpful in the dress clothes department. at. all.

I physically can't leave a mall fast enough. Who else feels like I do? All I see is stuff that will shortly be in a land-fill. And rivers of people, some of whom have debt collectors breathing down their necks. I was sure one of us were going to be run over by the stroller trains in the food court. I'm positively grinchy about this, people!

But at least the Buckeyes won.

It's Saturday and that means Special Syrup! Oh, and that football game, too

This is partly a test post. I'm up at 4 AM on the rare occasion that my 10-month-old woke up in the night. I want to see how it works to add to a post later in the same day....

And as I prepare to go back to bed, I am anticipating morning pancakes with real maple syrup. Ever since we saw how much of that pricey stuff the children poured all over their plates we limited it to Saturdays only. For something I didn't used to like all that well I sure do enjoy it once a week now....

Be back later...to post more about OSU v. Mich. football. GO BUCKS!!

Confessions of a Reformed Blogger Snob

This is my first blog, my first post. I've barely even looked at other blogs. I always felt too snoopy. I knew I could use my time better. I didn't like the randomness and it all seemed very self-centered. But I caved. And I think I'm going to like this!

How can I resist this challenge? I'm a conscientous person who strives to be authentic, especially in my writing, yet I feel pulled down by my own simplistic thinking (I am a mother to four young children!) and automatic, cliched responses (sorry, I don't know how to put accent marks above letters--yet). This blogging business will force me to think more clearly about what I believe before leaving the keyboard, something I don't have to do when I simply journal in private.

Okay, time to go tweak this thing.