it's Christmas time in the city

I love the way the city looks right now... whole streets lit up with twinkly lights. Even better than the beautiful, tasteful displays downtown, I love the lights on my street.

Colorful, unexpected, and hard to capture

especially with a camera that barely focuses held by shivering hands... but the option of taking advantage of those conditions always remains...

before I head into my warm abode...

As usual, this Christmas, I'm praying for the coming of the Prince of Peace to the hearts of the people I know and love... and to the hearts of the people I don't know and too often overlook.

If there is to be peace in the world,

There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,

There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,

There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,

There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,

There must be peace in the heart.

Lao Tzu

Thanksgiving in retrospect

I spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Kelsey woke me by talking through the door and shoving little gift offerings under it. After getting a grunted invitation to enter, she and Lori piled in with me. Dinner was great. Candied yams, turkey, Mom's homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, and everything. My dear dad asked for my keys to "move my car", and returned later informing me he'd washed it. Carol, Lori, Kelsey, and I sprawled out on the living room floor and played Sorry and Candyland.

I love the holidays. The festivities, the traditions.

Holidays also gross me out. In the global scope, our festive meals look like gluttonous orgies. Is bingeing a celebration of thankfulness? In retelling the story of the Pilgrims' arrival, I fear we've made the story into little more than a first triumph of the white man in subjecting this continent and its inhabitants to his greed. Because America was meant to be, was given by God for the purpose of Progress, you understand. (Progress toward what, I've never learned.) Alright, please forgive the sarcasm.

So, what to do?

Could we learn to drop the commercialized facade enough to reclaim the meaning of the holidays? I do believe God wants us to enjoy His creation, but can we do that in moderation, with a focus on helping those less fortunate?

Maybe we also need to learn to tell the right stories, stories that open our children's eyes to the humanity of the people around them... and in history. Stories are shaping to the heart, especially the hearts of children. You might need to dig around a bit until you find flip side stories from those taught in curriculums that extol selfishness to heights of glory, but,

"Remember that history isn't what happened; it is what is remembered... by the victors." -Unknown

I love to see holidays celebrated in ways that bring families truly closer and leave, not the emptiness that follows self-indulgence, but hearts enlarged to contain all of humanity... and the Kingdom brought, the Kingdom of One who looks at the earth and doesn't see boundaries.

With that, I bid you adeiu and proceed to enjoy a long winter's nap... but not before leaving you with the greatest comic I ever did see:

more sistas

Oh, mercy. I finally have these pictures edited, two months after I took them. I introduced my four youngest sisters in an earlier post and posted Eldon & Rosey's engagement pictures, but I don't think most of you have ever met my only older sister, Abby.

Rosey, Candace, and Abby

A Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

formation of a dream

lucid in her granite robe
which sinks into
prismatic train
Moon

cherishing the vital roots
of manifold life
unaware in slumber
Earth

sterling lips to
face of soil
both warmed at
their meeting

my heart pulsated
it understood
and dared dream
the untenable

Excuse me, have we met?

While filling shipping orders, I habitually buzz around the store in high gear. None of the aisle intersections are equipped with traffic lights or mirrors. You're left to your own devices (or lack thereof).

At the intersection of Little Barn Noodles and Sugarfree Candies, I came face-to-face with a grizzled man who was moving just as fast as I was.

"Excuse me!" was said simultaneously.

I said it because I had nearly collided with him.

He said it because he had just given utterance to an extended guttural belch.

[i like my friends]

 

The girls in my youth group are mad awesome. Goopy herbal hair masks, french pedicures, lots of laughter, reading Tolkien aloud, just being together, figuring out how to spell "awkward" (it's ok, Andrea... any word looks misspelled at 4 a.m.), last weekend was blissful.

The less-than-blissful part was realizing that I hadn't yet recovered from alleged swine flu. So, while I moaned and muttered incoherently, they brought me juice, made me drink water, and rubbed feverish me with a relaxing lotion that felt ah-MA-zing. Like I said, those girls are mad awesome.

Yesterday, a self-proclaimed "odd card" arrived from this thweetie

who never fails to make me laugh, encourage, and challenge me... usually all at once. :)

And, tonight, after IMing with both of these lovelies

I said to myself, said I, "I like my friends."

"God does care for us and watch over us, but it's usually through other people that He meets our needs." -Unknown

American Jesus

I saw a picture that made me shudder. Jesus, coming through the clouds, returning to earth. The skirt of His robe was an American flag.

To the precious few of us already sitting pretty enough to gripe about taxes, gas prices, and the economy, this image might make our blood run red, white, and blue. We're convinced that the reign of Jesus will mean abundant riches, final annihilation of terrorists, and great reward for all those who have killed and died for the holy cause of democracy.

To the rest of the world's populace, this image might make their blood turn hot and cold with terror and hatred. To them, the American flag (and the Jesus so closely associated with it) either precedes or follows a wake of tanks, snipers, death, and hunger. The return of Jesus could only mean a final triumph of power, ready to starve the hungry, kill the bleeding, and reward the rich.

I marvel at a God who condescends to be so grossly misrepresented by the ones He loved until death. Don't "normal" gods strike in anger when mere mortals tout lies in their names?

Matthew 5

The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes

 ¹When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.  ²He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
 ³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 ⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
 ⁵"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
 ⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
 ⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
 ⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 ⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
 ¹⁰"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 ¹¹"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
 ¹²"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.