I am obsessed with consignment stores lately. A little more trendy and put together than thrift stores, no dirty spots or stained pits on the clothes. And let's face it, I look for name brands at the thrift store, where they have gotten really good at marking jeans up to $15, so why not go to the consignment store, where it's name brand AND in really good shape? And the beauty is, they always have items that are 50-75% off- so it's cheaper than the thrift store at that point. Amazing.
It's recycling at it's finest. I would say that it's very "green", but I can't stand that little buzz-word right now- it's so over-used.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Goodness gracious!
Goodness:
–noun
1.the state or quality of being good.
2.moral excellence; virtue.
3.kindly feeling; kindness; generosity.
4.excellence of quality: goodness of workmanship.
5.the best part of anything; essence; strength.
6.a euphemism for God: Thank goodness! –interjection
7.(used in expressions of surprise, alarm, etc.): Goodness, you gave me a start! Goodness gracious!
I've been pondering the word "goodness" lately and trying to figure out what that means in relation to God. When we say "God is good" or talk about God's goodness, what does that mean? What I've started to realize is that the culture around us will always influence our view of God- therefore, when I think of God's goodness or when He is good to me, I associate that with Him giving me what I have asked for or something that I need but haven't even asked for yet. So, since I am American and we associate gifts and good things with material wealth, I assume that's what God's goodness is. In conversations I've had with some wise people in my life, we've talked about feeling "entitled" to things- again, this comes out of our culture. If we work hard, we are entitled to vacation time, to a paycheck, to retirement. If I study hard, I am entitled to scholarships, good grades, a good job. When those things don't happen, we get enraged and say that we deserved it, that it's our right. I think I often treat God like the American system- if I have served Him, if I have done what He's asked, if I ask Him enough times for something, then I am entitled to what I am asking for and He, in His goodness, should grant it to me. When the things I am asking for don't arrive as such, I become angry with Him and tell Him that I deserve these things and I proceed to remind Him of the things I have done for Him. It sounds so child-ish written down like this- yikes.
Now when I come across verses that talk about God being good to those who serve Him, to those who seek Him, etc, I don't know how to disassociate "good" from "material or gifts". Some of my favorite verses are in Lamentations 3- I was reading verse 25 that says "the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him". I love that verse, but the problem I have is that I use that verse to maintain hope when I really want something. Maybe it really does mean that He's good and therefore, He'll grant me my wishes. But that kind of makes him out to be a genie in a bottle in my mind. I'm trying to figure out what it means to say that God is good to us, despite the crap that is going on in my life or in the world. I need to know what it means to talk about God's goodness and be able to separate that from the things that I am so desperately asking for. This isn't to say that His goodness couldn't be displayed in giving us what we're asking for- I just want to know how to continue to say that He is good during those times when those things aren't being given and to be able to define some of the other ways in which He is good to me.
–noun
1.the state or quality of being good.
2.moral excellence; virtue.
3.kindly feeling; kindness; generosity.
4.excellence of quality: goodness of workmanship.
5.the best part of anything; essence; strength.
6.a euphemism for God: Thank goodness! –interjection
7.(used in expressions of surprise, alarm, etc.): Goodness, you gave me a start! Goodness gracious!
I've been pondering the word "goodness" lately and trying to figure out what that means in relation to God. When we say "God is good" or talk about God's goodness, what does that mean? What I've started to realize is that the culture around us will always influence our view of God- therefore, when I think of God's goodness or when He is good to me, I associate that with Him giving me what I have asked for or something that I need but haven't even asked for yet. So, since I am American and we associate gifts and good things with material wealth, I assume that's what God's goodness is. In conversations I've had with some wise people in my life, we've talked about feeling "entitled" to things- again, this comes out of our culture. If we work hard, we are entitled to vacation time, to a paycheck, to retirement. If I study hard, I am entitled to scholarships, good grades, a good job. When those things don't happen, we get enraged and say that we deserved it, that it's our right. I think I often treat God like the American system- if I have served Him, if I have done what He's asked, if I ask Him enough times for something, then I am entitled to what I am asking for and He, in His goodness, should grant it to me. When the things I am asking for don't arrive as such, I become angry with Him and tell Him that I deserve these things and I proceed to remind Him of the things I have done for Him. It sounds so child-ish written down like this- yikes.
Now when I come across verses that talk about God being good to those who serve Him, to those who seek Him, etc, I don't know how to disassociate "good" from "material or gifts". Some of my favorite verses are in Lamentations 3- I was reading verse 25 that says "the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him". I love that verse, but the problem I have is that I use that verse to maintain hope when I really want something. Maybe it really does mean that He's good and therefore, He'll grant me my wishes. But that kind of makes him out to be a genie in a bottle in my mind. I'm trying to figure out what it means to say that God is good to us, despite the crap that is going on in my life or in the world. I need to know what it means to talk about God's goodness and be able to separate that from the things that I am so desperately asking for. This isn't to say that His goodness couldn't be displayed in giving us what we're asking for- I just want to know how to continue to say that He is good during those times when those things aren't being given and to be able to define some of the other ways in which He is good to me.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
What does that even mean?
I was driving from my parents' house this morning and saw this bumper sticker:
"God will bless America when America turns back to God"
Really?!?
Let's break this one down...
So this person is assuming that God isn't blessing America currently. We are the richest nation in the world, we are the richest generation that has EVER LIVED right now, we spend and spend and spend and use more of the world's resources per capita than any other nation, we retire at the age of 60 and spend 20-30 years of our lives just playing and traveling. And this isn't blessed?!? I mean, we have so much land and grow so much food that, instead of sharing with those nations who are starving, we use food to fuel our cars now. Blessed. We are highly educated, live in houses with rooms dedicated to crafts or to computers, have access to health care that costs way more than we could ever afford (but we are blessed with insurance), can go anywhere in the world and people will make way for us because we're Americans. Again, how are we not blessed? Perhaps someone sees us as not being blessed because of 9/11 or the war or because of the bizarre and violent weather that we see more of or because of the detioration of the family structure. But I guess all of that begs the question, what does it mean to be blessed?
And let's move on to the "when America turns back to God." In the words of Greg Boyd, at what point in history was American ever fully on board WITH God? I mean, it's a country built on religious freedom, but that was never totally defined by Christianity alone. And in what point in history were we totally for God? Was that before or after we slaughtered thousands of Native Americans, took their land, moved them onto reservations and cheated them out of land time after time after time? Or was it before or after we ripped apart their families and tribes and took their children away to put them in Catholic schools, in order to strip them of their cultural heritage and their native religious beliefs? (Talk about religious freedom there). Was it before or after we took hundreds of thousands of Africans, sold them, and then made them work as slaves in our fields? Was it before or after we doomed blacks in America to poverty by denying them the same rights as whites, by treating them as a lesser class and a lesser people? (So much for liberty.) Was it before or after we allowed the rich to get richer in America and the poor to simply stay as such by keeping higher education just out of their price range and forcing them to work for minimum wage that keeps them below the poverty line at all times? I truly don't believe the nation has turned away from God. True, there may be less and less people going to church and claiming a belief in God, but that's the fault of the church, culture, people who do awful things in the name of Gpd/Christianity- not the fault of the gov't.
If this person was implying on their bumper sticker that it's the gov't's fault that America hasn't "turned back to God", then they are pointing fingers at the wrong entity. It's up to the people (of America) to be fully devoted to God, not the gov't of America to be fully devoted to God.
I really think that it's unreasonable to assume that because we have a large number of Christians in America and because we have religious freedom, it means that the entire gov't ought to be making decisions about our country based on Christian principles. For those of us who are Christians, I think that our faith will always shape the way we make decisions and how we view others, but it's unreasonable to assume that those who don't share our religious views will make laws, decisions, etc based on Christian moral virtues that they don't even claim as their own. If there are laws that are passed that don't uphold the beliefs of Christians, it's understandable- the gov't is a political system, not a church. I'm not saying that I always agree with laws that are passed- but what I believe is that my faith as a Christian needs to supercede what the gov't is choosing to do. All over the world, for thousands of years, gov'ts have passed laws that have offended Christians or have persecuted Christians, yet it doesn't stop people from being blessed nor does it stop people from knowing God's love. God's love cannot be contained within a political system and whatever laws we pass or freedoms we try to protect cannot possibly "win" people over for Him- He's already triumphed over all things through the resurrection of Christ and He doesn't need our political system to show His strength or power.
How's that for a light Sunday afternoon conversation piece?
"God will bless America when America turns back to God"
Really?!?
Let's break this one down...
So this person is assuming that God isn't blessing America currently. We are the richest nation in the world, we are the richest generation that has EVER LIVED right now, we spend and spend and spend and use more of the world's resources per capita than any other nation, we retire at the age of 60 and spend 20-30 years of our lives just playing and traveling. And this isn't blessed?!? I mean, we have so much land and grow so much food that, instead of sharing with those nations who are starving, we use food to fuel our cars now. Blessed. We are highly educated, live in houses with rooms dedicated to crafts or to computers, have access to health care that costs way more than we could ever afford (but we are blessed with insurance), can go anywhere in the world and people will make way for us because we're Americans. Again, how are we not blessed? Perhaps someone sees us as not being blessed because of 9/11 or the war or because of the bizarre and violent weather that we see more of or because of the detioration of the family structure. But I guess all of that begs the question, what does it mean to be blessed?
And let's move on to the "when America turns back to God." In the words of Greg Boyd, at what point in history was American ever fully on board WITH God? I mean, it's a country built on religious freedom, but that was never totally defined by Christianity alone. And in what point in history were we totally for God? Was that before or after we slaughtered thousands of Native Americans, took their land, moved them onto reservations and cheated them out of land time after time after time? Or was it before or after we ripped apart their families and tribes and took their children away to put them in Catholic schools, in order to strip them of their cultural heritage and their native religious beliefs? (Talk about religious freedom there). Was it before or after we took hundreds of thousands of Africans, sold them, and then made them work as slaves in our fields? Was it before or after we doomed blacks in America to poverty by denying them the same rights as whites, by treating them as a lesser class and a lesser people? (So much for liberty.) Was it before or after we allowed the rich to get richer in America and the poor to simply stay as such by keeping higher education just out of their price range and forcing them to work for minimum wage that keeps them below the poverty line at all times? I truly don't believe the nation has turned away from God. True, there may be less and less people going to church and claiming a belief in God, but that's the fault of the church, culture, people who do awful things in the name of Gpd/Christianity- not the fault of the gov't.
If this person was implying on their bumper sticker that it's the gov't's fault that America hasn't "turned back to God", then they are pointing fingers at the wrong entity. It's up to the people (of America) to be fully devoted to God, not the gov't of America to be fully devoted to God.
I really think that it's unreasonable to assume that because we have a large number of Christians in America and because we have religious freedom, it means that the entire gov't ought to be making decisions about our country based on Christian principles. For those of us who are Christians, I think that our faith will always shape the way we make decisions and how we view others, but it's unreasonable to assume that those who don't share our religious views will make laws, decisions, etc based on Christian moral virtues that they don't even claim as their own. If there are laws that are passed that don't uphold the beliefs of Christians, it's understandable- the gov't is a political system, not a church. I'm not saying that I always agree with laws that are passed- but what I believe is that my faith as a Christian needs to supercede what the gov't is choosing to do. All over the world, for thousands of years, gov'ts have passed laws that have offended Christians or have persecuted Christians, yet it doesn't stop people from being blessed nor does it stop people from knowing God's love. God's love cannot be contained within a political system and whatever laws we pass or freedoms we try to protect cannot possibly "win" people over for Him- He's already triumphed over all things through the resurrection of Christ and He doesn't need our political system to show His strength or power.
How's that for a light Sunday afternoon conversation piece?
Friday, June 20, 2008
Classic.
At the grocery store in Wichita. The young guy working in the produce section offers my mom and I some samples of strawberries. We comment on the price and how they're cheaper in KS.
The guy: "So, you're not from around here?"
Me: "No, we're from Minneapolis"
Then I add: "Minnesota"
The guy: "Is that all the way down in Texas?"
Yes.
Exactly.
The guy: "So, you're not from around here?"
Me: "No, we're from Minneapolis"
Then I add: "Minnesota"
The guy: "Is that all the way down in Texas?"
Yes.
Exactly.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Right on target?
Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, driving through Derby, KS with GCNP (my husband), my sister, and her husband.
Me: "Wow, you know Derby has really moved up from small town to suburb when Target is here now"
10 seconds later, the two cars pull over on the side of the road and I hop out, wondering why we're stopping.
My parents get out of their car.
My mom: "Do you recognize that corner?"
Me (dumbly): "Nope, never seen Target here before"
Mom: "That's the family homestead."
Amazing. Target is on the homestead. This is the future, apparently.
And I wonder, how long before the new home developments and Target stores that sit on the homestead land move a mile down the road and encroach on the farm house land?
It's all progressing along, right on target, I guess. The suburbanization of American.
Me: "Wow, you know Derby has really moved up from small town to suburb when Target is here now"
10 seconds later, the two cars pull over on the side of the road and I hop out, wondering why we're stopping.
My parents get out of their car.
My mom: "Do you recognize that corner?"
Me (dumbly): "Nope, never seen Target here before"
Mom: "That's the family homestead."
Amazing. Target is on the homestead. This is the future, apparently.
And I wonder, how long before the new home developments and Target stores that sit on the homestead land move a mile down the road and encroach on the farm house land?
It's all progressing along, right on target, I guess. The suburbanization of American.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
More on the farm
My grandparents in KS died 20 years ago. It's a long time ago, yet it's something I've never completely gotten over. They had this incredible farm in the small town of Derby, KS, just outside of Wichita. I LOVED going there as a kid- we got to have our free run of the place (and there were hundreds of things to explore that I'd never get to see growing up in the 'burbs!), helped out with chores, ran around the hundred-year old house, rode the tractors and 3-wheeler to the pasture with Grandpa, went rabbit-hunting with my dad and Grandpa, etc It was like heaven to us kids. One of my favorite times of being there was during wheat harvest, when the combines would fill the wheat trucks up with grain and before my dad or uncles took the trucks in to the co-op to drop off the wheat, they'd let us crawl around in the piles of grain. Sounds weird, considering people consume that grain that we'd just crawled through. It was such a funny tactile experience- the feeling of grain surrounding your legs and torso and letting it run through your fingers. And there were always curious bugs crawling through the grain- things I'd never seen in the 'burbs. 
When my grandparents died suddenly within months of each other, my mom and her siblings made the tough decision to auction off the farm and land. It was extremely hard on the family, and a piece of our heritage that no one really wanted to let go of, considering that a large part of the family still wanted to go visit the old farm 2 weeks ago. I know that I'm not alone in these sentiments of the farm.
When my grandparents died suddenly within months of each other, my mom and her siblings made the tough decision to auction off the farm and land. It was extremely hard on the family, and a piece of our heritage that no one really wanted to let go of, considering that a large part of the family still wanted to go visit the old farm 2 weeks ago. I know that I'm not alone in these sentiments of the farm.One of the pieces of land that my mom and her sisters kept for years (and finally had to sell off- long story) was 80 acres of homestead land. I guess this land was given to my great-great-grandfather by the gov't after he fought in the Civil War- the deed for the land still exists somewhere in our family. So this piece of land had been in the family and farmed since the 1870s. When I think about the hours of labor that went into making that land workable, making a living off of it, that our family was essentially built on the farming way of life, it makes me proud. It also makes me wish that I had been old enough to buy the farm at the time of the auction or that I could get it back now and turn it back into something that all of my mom's family could enjoy again.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Waiting...
Is the hardest part! Finally got to be in the garden today after a rainy stint last week. The hail while we were gone shredded (!!!!) my hostas and other wee plants. But other things are looking well. I think that the hardest part of gardening is waiting to see if the plants that you started last year or two years ago or 4 weeks ago are going to turn into anything. It's hard for me to accept that I have to wait 1-2 years to see if my perennials really took and are going to bloom.
But seeing things like last year's Climatis at 3 feet already this year and huge buds on it...that is exciting! And makes the wait worthwhile. And the peonies are about to bloom. Ah the glory. Who knew I could be so excited about gardening?
Will get back to The Farm thoughts another day...have to go to work now.
But seeing things like last year's Climatis at 3 feet already this year and huge buds on it...that is exciting! And makes the wait worthwhile. And the peonies are about to bloom. Ah the glory. Who knew I could be so excited about gardening?
Will get back to The Farm thoughts another day...have to go to work now.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Nostalgia
I saw the farm and it won't leave me alone. I spent the 10 hour drive home trying to run away from it and yet it keeps finding me. I keep trying to reason with it and say that I am a city girl, raised in the 'burbs and now live in an urban refuge. I know nothing about farming, only the tidbits I picked up as a kid. But it keeps reminding me of what it was and the state that it's in now.
I think I am a prisoner to nostalgia.
I decided that I need a place to throw out these thoughts and many of the others that go through my head as I am running, gardening, traveling. Maybe I need affirmation, maybe I need someone to disagree with me, maybe I just need to see it written down in order to decide if my musings are completely absurd.
I think I am a prisoner to nostalgia.
I decided that I need a place to throw out these thoughts and many of the others that go through my head as I am running, gardening, traveling. Maybe I need affirmation, maybe I need someone to disagree with me, maybe I just need to see it written down in order to decide if my musings are completely absurd.
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