Happy Summer!
Well, we're finally settled into our new home. We've got a treehouse in the backyard, a couple of gardens started, and we just recently had to turn on our central air--I'd say we're "home" :) Hope you are all enjoying your summer.
My post today is titled Unconditional love: Part 1...I may not have an immediate follow-up post to this one, but it's a subject about which I've been thinking a great deal and I feel as though I could write an entire book on the subject. Actually, there IS a great book on the subject. Anyone know the title? That's right--THE BIBLE!!! Unconditional love is the one and only thing God expects from us. It's what Jesus was sent here for. But it's simultaneously the simplest task we'll ever be given and the hardest thing we'll ever have to do.
Let's think for a second about what unconditional love really is. Ultimately, it's forgiveness. It's loving someone so much that no matter what or how many terrible things they do, we still love them. The more we offer them true unconditional love, the more they become less likely to do or say those terrible things. And it's so rare. Most of us think that we're offering it on a regular basis--to our children, to our neighbors, to our friends, to God--when in fact we're really practicing love with conditions. "I love you, but...", "That's true, but...", "He's a nice guy, but...", "Thanks for giving me what I need, God. Now it's time to ignore you for months on end..." And many of us do love unconditionally some of the time. But often we're offering conditions and even more frequently, we're not used to receiving love unconditionally, leaving it a very difficult task for us to share with others.
And that's why this is such a tough subject. Are we just supposed to let those we love treat us or others badly? Are we supposed to let those we love do wrong? No, of course not. But even in our assumption that someone is doing something wrong, we impose a certain type of judgement upon them that is just not ours to give. This is probably why Jesus spoke in parables and rhetoric. When you tell someone a relevant story or ask them a question that they themselves are to answer, they are forced to look deep inside their hearts and see what is right and true. It's my belief that the best way to love someone unconditionally is to love them and model for them the way we believe is right and true. We can talk until we're blue in the face on this subject, but it doesn't mean a darn thing if we don't practice what we preach. As the saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words."
With our children, we are given opportunities to practice this every day. If they do something naughty, we're supposed to punish them, right? What if instead, we level with them and show them true understanding, "You were feeling angry, so you pushed your sister...I'm sorry you were feeling so hurt...is there a way we can fix this and make your sister feel better?...(and after they repent) Pushing hurts and even though you're angry, you can't push...how about next time you come find me and we'll figure it out together." With our neighbors and co-workers/subordinates, we don't receive as many opportunities to practice this, so it does get a little trickier. People really just want to feel understood; this often gets mistaken for acceptance or approval, so sometimes they're looking for a pat on the back, but what they really need is an open heart to hear their hurts. "It can be really hard to make it places on time when you're having struggles at home and not getting enough sleep. We really need 100% from all our employees...is there a way you could call me before you end up being late and we can figure out a time when you can make this up when you're less distracted?" With God, this should be easy. He ALWAYS loves us unconditionally; the least we could do is return the favor. "God, I'm feeling so frustrated that things aren't going my way right now, but I trust that just as you have in the past, you have some plan for me and will help me find my purpose..."
The single most difficult person to love unconditionally, however, has to be ourselves. It can be hard to know how to love ourselves unconditionally because we often don't receive it from others. Or perhaps it's because we know ourselves to be sinners within our hearts. Whatever the case, the task to love without conditions becomes impossible when it comes to "I." "I was not supposed to do that. There's something wrong with me..." "She said I am a jerk. There's something wrong with me..." But what gets really dangerous about this is not just our self-diminishing thoughts, but our need to self-justify. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but I'm a good person, so maybe that wasn't really all that bad..." "She thinks I'm a jerk, but I have friends who like me the way that I am, so maybe being a jerk isn't a bad thing..." These thoughts, of course, are not those of unconditional love, but thoughts of tolerance, acceptance, and approval (which are judgements, which we do not need).
When we stop loving ourselves unconditionally or when someone important in our lives stops loving us unconditionally, we run astray. We start to sin because it momentarily makes us feel a little better. It makes us feel justified or like we are able to get vengeance on those who hurt us. It makes us seek acceptance and approval elsewhere because those are the things we mistake for unconditional love. And very often, when we're very hurt, we find unconditional love in non-traditional places, in the wrong places, and even sometimes in rather unsavory places. When you are not used to receiving unconditional love in sources from which you should be, why wouldn't you be thrilled when you experience that feeling elsewhere? Your mom doesn't play with you enough when you're little, so you play with the neighbor kids who are happy to play with you and teach you bad things (probably because they're also not receiving the kind of love they need). Your spouse doesn't give him/herself to you in mind, body, and spirit any longer, so you turn to a co-worker who's happy to fulfill you in whatever way you need (they, too, are probably feeling unloved). Your parents are unhappy in their marriage so you find love in the arms of your best friend (who probably also feels hurt and not unconditionally loved).
The worst thing about all of those examples is that these are people who need unconditional love more than anyone else and yet become the most harshly judged by their loved ones or by society. Perhaps if we offer our unconditional love to those who need it the most during the times when it's the hardest to give, the people we have a tendency to judge the most harshly will realize their hurts, see their errors, and start returning the favor. The truth is, if we truly love unconditionally it is impossible to sin. If we always look into our hearts for the truth and act with unconditional love, there is no possible outcome that would end with sin. Of course, it will be a long time before our world experiences this--possibly never??--but we will never get there if we don't try.
Remember, I'm not talking about tolerance. I'm not talking about acceptance or approval. I'm talking about honesty, understanding, and unconditional love. I'm talking about recognizing that our own sins are still sins, whether they're "bigger" or "smaller" than our neighbors, sisters, friends, or enemies. If you are looking into your own heart and acting out what others are telling us by their acceptance, approval, and tolerance, you are acting with hurt, spite, anger, fear, and hate. If you are looking into your own heart and recognizing what it is that
God is trying to tell you and acting that out, you are acting with
unconditional love. What Jesus was desperately trying to teach us is that if we cannot treat others and if we cannot treat ourselves with true unconditional love, we will never be able to know God's unconditional love and will not be able to be accepted into his kingdom. This is not a sense of elitism or judgement, but a sense of truth and of love. It is possible to come to understand God's love even when our heart is completely hardened by hate, but it's going to take someone--often the very someone who was creating that hate--offering their love and asking for forgiveness for their judgements before the "offended" can begin to soften theirs.
I'd like to see people back off of their pride a little. I know that I can't even begin to count the number of times when I became fed up with someone and gave up on them (even though they were hurting me). We see these people as being unteachable and so often unlovable. The heart-breaking truth, though, is that when someone sees him/herself as being unlovable, they will often give up on themselves and instead of seeking unconditional love they leave to go seek the humanly next best thing/s--tolerance, acceptance, and approval. Take a moment to think about your own life and the people you've given up on. Those unteachable, unlovable people that were frustrating you and beginning to harden your heart. Think of how many souls you may have saved by not giving up on them, by giving them understanding, compassion, empathy, and unconditional love when it was just so excruciatingly difficult!
Jesus died doing just that. Loving the impossibly hard to love. So many people missed that message back in his day and even more people horribly misconstrue that message today. People think that by giving others "help," we are doing our job in loving one another, but truly that job isn't done unless that help is offered with utter and complete unconditional love. Often when we "help" people, we end up taking the easy way out. It's much easier to throw money at someone in need than to provide them with the skills they need to regain their lives or with emotional support and spiritual guidance.
Can you all do something for me? Take a day, or week, or however long you need to recognize this, and stop and think before you react to another person. Are you treating them with absolute love? Or are you being short with them? Are you being spiteful? Are you tolerating them? If it's not absolute love that you are affording them, stop and think about how you can approach the situation with unconditional love. Now try it. How did they respond? Are they angry? Then it probably wasn't absolute love. Are they relieved and looking understood? Do they seem as though the problem was truly solved (not to say that they "got their way"). Then you probably did something right. Now keep doing it!
Is this hard? Terribly!!! Impossible? Not at all. Will you ever be perfect at it? Or even an expert for that matter? Of course not. But you will quickly notice more peace and harmony in your homes. And when you see that working, it's much easier to spread that to your workplaces, your neighborhoods, schools, churches, hospitals, jails, etc.
All God wants from us is to treat each others, ourselves, and Him with utter and complete unconditional love. Can we not give him that?
May you all give and receive unconditional love today!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit...
Wow! It's been awhile! Mike and I moved to a new house a while back and from the time of our last post until about now, we've been pretty swamped with all things new house. But here we are again, hoping you're still out there anxiously awaiting our next blog post :) Here's a "Sunday" Fresh Take for you:
The Father. The Son. The Holy Spirit. What does this mean? So many of us have spoken these words a million times and never really thought about what it meant. And while it's still a bit beyond my full comprehension at this point, I was recently going through some "inner struggles" that lead me to the explanation I'd like to share today. It probably won't be what you were taught in church/school!
Man was created in God's likeness. Hmm. Well, which likeness of God? The Father? The Son? The Holy Spirit? How about ALL THREE!? As human beings, most of us are able to acknowledge that our being is made up of more than just our physical body. We are a mind, a body, and a spirit (also thoughts, actions, and emotions/condition). Our mind is our decision maker. It drives us to do the things that we do. Our body is the physical vessel that carries out the actions driven by our mind. Our spirit is our essence, the aspect of us that is the most greatly affected by our thoughts and actions.
How does this make us like our Maker? Let's start with the Father. This would be comparable to our mind. This is what we think of as our Creator--he "thought" us into existence and here we are. Onto the Son. This is comparable to our body. The Christ is the physical version sent to us to better understand this. And finally the Holy Spirit. Well, in our likeness, that'd be our spirit, or that part of us that best reflects our condition.
We often forget to look beyond our physical selves. We'll blame our ailments on genetics, diet, and lifestyles; while these are factors, I believe it's only a blip on the map. In order to be whole, we have to examine our whole being. It was our thoughts that drove us to live the lives that we've lived. Our bodies carried out those thoughts. And now our spirits reflect those actions that once started as a thought.
Most of us have been lead to believe that we're not enough. We need to behave better for our parents. We need to do better in school. We need to make more money. We need to be better parents. We need to eat better, exercise better, pray better, present ourselves better...the list goes on. And while we know deep down that none of this has anything to do with how "good" we are and most of us can admit that (of course) this is all nonsense and doesn't matter in the long run, we allow these thoughts--stemming from our minds--to drive our bodies to act out what becomes the condition of our spirits. We become ill, hurt, depressed, lazy, obese, angry...we become broken.
Jesus (the person many acknowledge as God's physical form) lived for what, 30-some years? That's a blip on the map. But what we read about him now should teach us that what he wanted us to know is that this physical aspect of our beings IS nothing but a blip on the map. Our body is nothing but a physical vessel upon which to place blame for/carry out our condition. Our mind and spirit are so powerful and tightly connected that if we truly BELIEVE that we can be healed, we become whole.
The next time you want to place blame for something wrong in your life, stop. Stop yourself and ask, "Am I whole? Have I been having dark thoughts? Did those thoughts drive me to do something less-than-healthy? Did those unhealthy actions leave a mark on my spirit?" You will very quickly find an answer, and it probably isn't what you initially thought.
Let God's will be your driving force. Let God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit lead you through life. Become whole. God resides within us all!
The Father. The Son. The Holy Spirit. What does this mean? So many of us have spoken these words a million times and never really thought about what it meant. And while it's still a bit beyond my full comprehension at this point, I was recently going through some "inner struggles" that lead me to the explanation I'd like to share today. It probably won't be what you were taught in church/school!
Man was created in God's likeness. Hmm. Well, which likeness of God? The Father? The Son? The Holy Spirit? How about ALL THREE!? As human beings, most of us are able to acknowledge that our being is made up of more than just our physical body. We are a mind, a body, and a spirit (also thoughts, actions, and emotions/condition). Our mind is our decision maker. It drives us to do the things that we do. Our body is the physical vessel that carries out the actions driven by our mind. Our spirit is our essence, the aspect of us that is the most greatly affected by our thoughts and actions.
How does this make us like our Maker? Let's start with the Father. This would be comparable to our mind. This is what we think of as our Creator--he "thought" us into existence and here we are. Onto the Son. This is comparable to our body. The Christ is the physical version sent to us to better understand this. And finally the Holy Spirit. Well, in our likeness, that'd be our spirit, or that part of us that best reflects our condition.
We often forget to look beyond our physical selves. We'll blame our ailments on genetics, diet, and lifestyles; while these are factors, I believe it's only a blip on the map. In order to be whole, we have to examine our whole being. It was our thoughts that drove us to live the lives that we've lived. Our bodies carried out those thoughts. And now our spirits reflect those actions that once started as a thought.
Most of us have been lead to believe that we're not enough. We need to behave better for our parents. We need to do better in school. We need to make more money. We need to be better parents. We need to eat better, exercise better, pray better, present ourselves better...the list goes on. And while we know deep down that none of this has anything to do with how "good" we are and most of us can admit that (of course) this is all nonsense and doesn't matter in the long run, we allow these thoughts--stemming from our minds--to drive our bodies to act out what becomes the condition of our spirits. We become ill, hurt, depressed, lazy, obese, angry...we become broken.
Jesus (the person many acknowledge as God's physical form) lived for what, 30-some years? That's a blip on the map. But what we read about him now should teach us that what he wanted us to know is that this physical aspect of our beings IS nothing but a blip on the map. Our body is nothing but a physical vessel upon which to place blame for/carry out our condition. Our mind and spirit are so powerful and tightly connected that if we truly BELIEVE that we can be healed, we become whole.
The next time you want to place blame for something wrong in your life, stop. Stop yourself and ask, "Am I whole? Have I been having dark thoughts? Did those thoughts drive me to do something less-than-healthy? Did those unhealthy actions leave a mark on my spirit?" You will very quickly find an answer, and it probably isn't what you initially thought.
Let God's will be your driving force. Let God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit lead you through life. Become whole. God resides within us all!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Genesis 22-23; Isaac as an offering, Sarah dies
Well, the title of our post tonight pretty much sums up what happens in these chapters, but if you'd like a little more detail, we'll synopsize for you.
God decides to tempt Abraham. He's like, "Hmmm....what's the thing that Abraham loves the most? Ah! His son! I'll ask him to give me his son as a burnt offering to see if he's REALLY my guy!" So God instructs Abraham on what to do and where to go. Abraham and his men get to the mountain and he says, "Hey guys, why don't you just sit this one out. I'm going to take Isaac here and we'll do this burnt offering father-son style." So they get up there and Isaac's like, "Um, Dad? I see wood for fire...but where's the animal for an offering?" And Abraham proceeds to tie up his son to this pile of wood, picks up a knife and finally, the angel of the Lord calls out and says, "Stop! I was just messing with you! Man, you're dedicated!" And as a result of Abraham's God-fearing, God says yet again that he will multiply Abraham as the stars and make him a great nation.
Who among us today would be this faithful? I would like to say or think that we all would, but a sacrifice like he was willing to make is a BIG one, and I bet that many/most of us wouldn't be so noble. But it's something to chew on. We see stories in the bible again and again of people who are willing to choose death over disobeying God--and they're always rewarded for doing so. Just remember this the next time you are faced with a tough moral dilemma; so long as we choose God (even over the people we love the most!), God will take care of us (and ultimately the people we love the most).
Chapter 22 ends by outlining the family of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Haran was his other brother, Lot's father). This is setting the stage for meeting Isaac's future wife, Rebekkah...yup, you guessed it, more inbreeding (evidently this was not frowned upon at the time).
In Chapter 23, Sarah dies. She lived to be 127 years. Abraham asks the sons of Heth (I'm not sure who Heth is) if he can bum some land for a burying place off of them. They're like, "Yeah, take whatever you want." So Abraham says, "I want that land...how much do I owe you, Ephron?" To which Ephron replies, "No, take it, it's yours. You owe us nothing." This goes back and forth a couple of times until finally Abraham says that he insists and they accept. So now Sarah is buried in (as described in the book) "Machpelah before Mamre; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan." So I'm not sure exactly what that means...is Machpelah before Mamre just another way of saying Hebron in Canaan?
Anyway, big stories. Lots of information. If you haven't read the book, do it. It's never too late to start!
God decides to tempt Abraham. He's like, "Hmmm....what's the thing that Abraham loves the most? Ah! His son! I'll ask him to give me his son as a burnt offering to see if he's REALLY my guy!" So God instructs Abraham on what to do and where to go. Abraham and his men get to the mountain and he says, "Hey guys, why don't you just sit this one out. I'm going to take Isaac here and we'll do this burnt offering father-son style." So they get up there and Isaac's like, "Um, Dad? I see wood for fire...but where's the animal for an offering?" And Abraham proceeds to tie up his son to this pile of wood, picks up a knife and finally, the angel of the Lord calls out and says, "Stop! I was just messing with you! Man, you're dedicated!" And as a result of Abraham's God-fearing, God says yet again that he will multiply Abraham as the stars and make him a great nation.
Who among us today would be this faithful? I would like to say or think that we all would, but a sacrifice like he was willing to make is a BIG one, and I bet that many/most of us wouldn't be so noble. But it's something to chew on. We see stories in the bible again and again of people who are willing to choose death over disobeying God--and they're always rewarded for doing so. Just remember this the next time you are faced with a tough moral dilemma; so long as we choose God (even over the people we love the most!), God will take care of us (and ultimately the people we love the most).
Chapter 22 ends by outlining the family of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Haran was his other brother, Lot's father). This is setting the stage for meeting Isaac's future wife, Rebekkah...yup, you guessed it, more inbreeding (evidently this was not frowned upon at the time).
In Chapter 23, Sarah dies. She lived to be 127 years. Abraham asks the sons of Heth (I'm not sure who Heth is) if he can bum some land for a burying place off of them. They're like, "Yeah, take whatever you want." So Abraham says, "I want that land...how much do I owe you, Ephron?" To which Ephron replies, "No, take it, it's yours. You owe us nothing." This goes back and forth a couple of times until finally Abraham says that he insists and they accept. So now Sarah is buried in (as described in the book) "Machpelah before Mamre; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan." So I'm not sure exactly what that means...is Machpelah before Mamre just another way of saying Hebron in Canaan?
Anyway, big stories. Lots of information. If you haven't read the book, do it. It's never too late to start!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Genesis 20-21: She's my sister...um, wife...
Chapter 20: We've seen this before, but in Egypt. Abraham tells the people in a new place that Sarah is is sister and the ruler takes her...and then finds out it was really his wife and now he is in trouble with God. This time, Abraham and Sarah are traveling and end up in Gerar. Again, Abraham tells them that Sarah is his sister and Sarah says that Abraham is her brother. An unclear amount of time passes and then God comes to Abimelech (the local ruler who took Sarah) in a dream and tells him that he has taken Abraham's wife. Abimelech replies with a "Woah, she said she was his sister and I haven't touched her...how was I supposed to know?" God says, "OK, I'll let you off the hook this time because you haven't touched her, but give her back to Abraham." So, Abimelech pays off Abraham in a very similar fashion as the Pharaoh (animals, silver, servants, etc.) and God lifts the curse he placed on Abimelech's women (he shut their wombs).
Abimilech asks why Abraham lied to him and he responds that it was neither a lie nor truth. He is actually a half brother to Sarah, so she is both his wife and sister. Therefore it was not a lie. Abraham continues that he did not want someone to kill him for his wife.
Now this all seems a little strange to me, and it seems that Abraham and Sarah have a pretty good con going on. Go into a new town, have say Sarah is his sister, have her get taken, have God get mad and curse the people, get Sarah back, and finally get lots of stuff as a pay off for the misunderstanding. Whatever the case, Abimelech then tells Abraham and Sarah to pick a place in his lands and take it.
Chapter 21: Sarah has Isaac as promised. He is circumcised, grows, and is weaned. Abraham throws a feast for Isaac and Hagar's (remember, she had Abraham's kid earlier?) son started mocking Issac. Sarah is torqued off by this and tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael packing so that Issac will be the sole heir. Woefully, Abraham sends the two off into the wilderness with just a loaf of bread and a jug of water. God tells him not to worry as Ishmael will be a father of his own nation as well.
Naturally, things do not go well for Hagar with a son and only some bread and water in the wilderness. When the water is gone, she gives up on life, and throws her son under some shrubs to cry and die where she doesn't have to see it. She prays to God and then is answered by finding a well with which to give him water. This is all very confusing, because as best we can tell from prior evidence, Ishmael would have been in his mid-late teens at this point. Was he really that old when Hagar left him under a shrub? Or are the stories somewhat out of order? Anyway, the well was in a place called Beersheba...although it may not have been called that when this story actually takes place because we would hear about the well at Beersheba being named later in the chapter.
Back to Abraham...Now Abimelech comes up to Abraham and basically tells him, "I know you are a man of God, I know you will be of great power, so let's make a deal....I've always been good to you, so you should promise that you will never turn on me or my sons or my son's sons." Abraham proceeds to say that he hasn't always been good to him as his men had taken a well away from Abraham. Abimelech denies knowing anything about it and claims innocence of the incident. So Abraham gets 7 ewes and tells Abimelech that they will be witness to the fact that the well in question was in fact dug by Abraham and that it is his well. Abimelech says OK and all is fine and dandy. They name the place Beersheba (is this the same well that Hagar was saved at?), Abraham plants a grove of trees and decides to go traveling with his family some more....hopefully not to tell more people she is his sister (which will be kind of hard now that they have a kid together).
...more to come....
Abimilech asks why Abraham lied to him and he responds that it was neither a lie nor truth. He is actually a half brother to Sarah, so she is both his wife and sister. Therefore it was not a lie. Abraham continues that he did not want someone to kill him for his wife.
Now this all seems a little strange to me, and it seems that Abraham and Sarah have a pretty good con going on. Go into a new town, have say Sarah is his sister, have her get taken, have God get mad and curse the people, get Sarah back, and finally get lots of stuff as a pay off for the misunderstanding. Whatever the case, Abimelech then tells Abraham and Sarah to pick a place in his lands and take it.
Chapter 21: Sarah has Isaac as promised. He is circumcised, grows, and is weaned. Abraham throws a feast for Isaac and Hagar's (remember, she had Abraham's kid earlier?) son started mocking Issac. Sarah is torqued off by this and tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael packing so that Issac will be the sole heir. Woefully, Abraham sends the two off into the wilderness with just a loaf of bread and a jug of water. God tells him not to worry as Ishmael will be a father of his own nation as well.
Naturally, things do not go well for Hagar with a son and only some bread and water in the wilderness. When the water is gone, she gives up on life, and throws her son under some shrubs to cry and die where she doesn't have to see it. She prays to God and then is answered by finding a well with which to give him water. This is all very confusing, because as best we can tell from prior evidence, Ishmael would have been in his mid-late teens at this point. Was he really that old when Hagar left him under a shrub? Or are the stories somewhat out of order? Anyway, the well was in a place called Beersheba...although it may not have been called that when this story actually takes place because we would hear about the well at Beersheba being named later in the chapter.
Back to Abraham...Now Abimelech comes up to Abraham and basically tells him, "I know you are a man of God, I know you will be of great power, so let's make a deal....I've always been good to you, so you should promise that you will never turn on me or my sons or my son's sons." Abraham proceeds to say that he hasn't always been good to him as his men had taken a well away from Abraham. Abimelech denies knowing anything about it and claims innocence of the incident. So Abraham gets 7 ewes and tells Abimelech that they will be witness to the fact that the well in question was in fact dug by Abraham and that it is his well. Abimelech says OK and all is fine and dandy. They name the place Beersheba (is this the same well that Hagar was saved at?), Abraham plants a grove of trees and decides to go traveling with his family some more....hopefully not to tell more people she is his sister (which will be kind of hard now that they have a kid together).
...more to come....
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Genesis 15-19; Wowza!
Chapters 15-19 cover a whole lot of story!
Chapter 15:
God reminds Abram that he will become the father of a great nation. Abram has a nightmare that God explains to mean that Abram's seed will spend 400 years serving a foreign land. His land would be "from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates."
Chapter 16:
Sarai is barren and is a little concerned that she will not be able to give Abram this so-called "seed" about whom God keeps reminding him. Sooooo....she sends Abram over to her maid, Hagar, so that she would conceive and have a child for Abram. But when Hagar gets pregnant, she comes to despise Sarai for this and flees into the wilderness. An angel comes to Hagar and told her she should go back to Sarai, bare a son and call him Ishmael, and he'll be a wild dude (sounds like a bit of a rogue, maybe).
Chapter 17:
This is the covenant (promise/agreement) between God and Abram. God changes his name to Abraham. God says he will make Abraham a great nation and he will be given the land of Canaan (remember Canann? Ham's son...cursed to serve the families of Shem and Japheth? Abraham came out of Shem's lineage.) God asks Abraham to circumcise all of the men among him, family and servants alike, as a token of this covenant. Any man who is uncircumcised will be cut off from his people, as he will have broken God's covenant. Sarai's name is now changed to Sarah. And God says he will bless her with a son and she will be the mother of a great nation. This son's name will be Isaac. God also says that he will make Ishmael fruitful--twelve princes shall he beget--and make him a great nation. Then Abraham goes and circumcises all of the men of his house that very day.
Chapter 18:
Now three "men" show up at Abraham's tent door one day. It would seem that these "men" are two angels and God (or three angels and God was also there?). Abraham has Sarah prepare a big meal for them. As she's preparing it, she hears them telling Abraham that she will bare him a son. She laughs at this and God's like, "Why is Sarah laughing? Am I not God? Can I not do anything?" Sarah denied that she laughed, but God said, "Naw...pretty sure you laughed!"
Then the men/angels looked out toward Sodom (where Lot is currently residing with his families). God says, "Sodom and Gommorah are pure evil. I'm going to destroy them." Abraham feels a little uneasy about this because Lot is there. He says, "Are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Then Abraham proceeds to pester God in groups of 10..."if there are 50 righteous men, will you destroy it?" "No. Not for 50." "If there are 40 righteous men will you destroy it?" "No. Not for 40." And so on down the line all the way to 10. God says he will not destroy Sodom if there are 10 good men there.
Chapter 19:
The two angels that had visited Abraham went to go fetch Lot. Lot tells them to spend the night at his place for safety's sake. The say that they'll just spend the night in the street, but Lot insists that they stay with him, so they come into his home. Before they go to bed, the men of Sodom start calling for Lot, "Where are the men that came to visit you? Send them out that we may "know" them." I suppose I can't be certain what this actually means, but typically in the bible when someone wants to "know" someone else, it is implying a sexual relationship. So Lot goes out to the men and says, "I have a couple of virgin daughters you can have for your purpose (?!), but please leave these men (angels) alone." The men get upset that this foreigner is judging them, so now they go after Lot. The angels grab Lot and pull him inside and "smite" the men outside with blindness so that they cannot find the door.
The angels tell Lot that he'd better take his family and leave and not look back. Lot warns his sons-in-laws and married daughters, but is only ignored. So he leaves with his two virgin daughters and his wife, but uh-oh! His wife looks back right as God is sending down fire and brimstone upon the cities! The angels said not to look back! Now she turns into a pillar of salt. So Lot and his two daughters are safe and in hiding out in the mountains in a cave. His daughters commune; they are concerned that their father is old and there are no men around to...uh, "know" them. They then devise a plan to get Lot pass-out drunk, sleep with him!!!!, and bare children so that he might have a seed. Aaaand that's exactly what they do. Their children will become the Moabites and then Ammonites (we've read about these peoples before).
Really. Why people insist on not reading the bible is beside me! These stories are chock full of more television drama material that even the best writers in Hollywood could come up with! Albeit, it's a little unsettling, and as you're reading it you may just do a double take or let out a "WHAT?!" But really, interesting stuff.
More next week.
Chapter 15:
God reminds Abram that he will become the father of a great nation. Abram has a nightmare that God explains to mean that Abram's seed will spend 400 years serving a foreign land. His land would be "from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates."
Chapter 16:
Sarai is barren and is a little concerned that she will not be able to give Abram this so-called "seed" about whom God keeps reminding him. Sooooo....she sends Abram over to her maid, Hagar, so that she would conceive and have a child for Abram. But when Hagar gets pregnant, she comes to despise Sarai for this and flees into the wilderness. An angel comes to Hagar and told her she should go back to Sarai, bare a son and call him Ishmael, and he'll be a wild dude (sounds like a bit of a rogue, maybe).
Chapter 17:
This is the covenant (promise/agreement) between God and Abram. God changes his name to Abraham. God says he will make Abraham a great nation and he will be given the land of Canaan (remember Canann? Ham's son...cursed to serve the families of Shem and Japheth? Abraham came out of Shem's lineage.) God asks Abraham to circumcise all of the men among him, family and servants alike, as a token of this covenant. Any man who is uncircumcised will be cut off from his people, as he will have broken God's covenant. Sarai's name is now changed to Sarah. And God says he will bless her with a son and she will be the mother of a great nation. This son's name will be Isaac. God also says that he will make Ishmael fruitful--twelve princes shall he beget--and make him a great nation. Then Abraham goes and circumcises all of the men of his house that very day.
Chapter 18:
Now three "men" show up at Abraham's tent door one day. It would seem that these "men" are two angels and God (or three angels and God was also there?). Abraham has Sarah prepare a big meal for them. As she's preparing it, she hears them telling Abraham that she will bare him a son. She laughs at this and God's like, "Why is Sarah laughing? Am I not God? Can I not do anything?" Sarah denied that she laughed, but God said, "Naw...pretty sure you laughed!"
Then the men/angels looked out toward Sodom (where Lot is currently residing with his families). God says, "Sodom and Gommorah are pure evil. I'm going to destroy them." Abraham feels a little uneasy about this because Lot is there. He says, "Are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Then Abraham proceeds to pester God in groups of 10..."if there are 50 righteous men, will you destroy it?" "No. Not for 50." "If there are 40 righteous men will you destroy it?" "No. Not for 40." And so on down the line all the way to 10. God says he will not destroy Sodom if there are 10 good men there.
Chapter 19:
The two angels that had visited Abraham went to go fetch Lot. Lot tells them to spend the night at his place for safety's sake. The say that they'll just spend the night in the street, but Lot insists that they stay with him, so they come into his home. Before they go to bed, the men of Sodom start calling for Lot, "Where are the men that came to visit you? Send them out that we may "know" them." I suppose I can't be certain what this actually means, but typically in the bible when someone wants to "know" someone else, it is implying a sexual relationship. So Lot goes out to the men and says, "I have a couple of virgin daughters you can have for your purpose (?!), but please leave these men (angels) alone." The men get upset that this foreigner is judging them, so now they go after Lot. The angels grab Lot and pull him inside and "smite" the men outside with blindness so that they cannot find the door.
The angels tell Lot that he'd better take his family and leave and not look back. Lot warns his sons-in-laws and married daughters, but is only ignored. So he leaves with his two virgin daughters and his wife, but uh-oh! His wife looks back right as God is sending down fire and brimstone upon the cities! The angels said not to look back! Now she turns into a pillar of salt. So Lot and his two daughters are safe and in hiding out in the mountains in a cave. His daughters commune; they are concerned that their father is old and there are no men around to...uh, "know" them. They then devise a plan to get Lot pass-out drunk, sleep with him!!!!, and bare children so that he might have a seed. Aaaand that's exactly what they do. Their children will become the Moabites and then Ammonites (we've read about these peoples before).
Really. Why people insist on not reading the bible is beside me! These stories are chock full of more television drama material that even the best writers in Hollywood could come up with! Albeit, it's a little unsettling, and as you're reading it you may just do a double take or let out a "WHAT?!" But really, interesting stuff.
More next week.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Genesis 13-14: Lot leaves, gets saved
Abram, after departing Egypt, goes back to where the altar had been set up. At this point, he is very wealthy. As is his nephew Lot... Therefore, they weren't able to peacefully co-exist in the same land because there weren't enough resources for them and their people to sustain themselves. A feud occurs between the herdsmen of the two men and then Abram says, "We can't both stay here. You go your way, I'll go the other way." So Lot decides that the land by the river Jordan was pretty fertile looking and moves that way...which happens to be in Sodom (a place of exceedingly sinful men). It is now that God tells Abram to look around and see all that surrounds him, for it shall all be his. Then Abram builds another altar in Hebron.
Now, while this is happening a war is breaking out between an alliance of 4 area kings and an alliance of 5 area kings (the king of Sodom was among these). Why does this matter? because Lot is in Sodom and Sodom is overrun...therefore Lot is taken. Abram is notably upset by this and gathers his men to go and save Lot. They run down Lot's captors and smite them by nightfall, getting back Lot and all of his goods (and his women, by the way). Upon returning Lot, the king of Sodom rushes out to meet Abram, thanking him for helping his kingdom. He offers to give Abram all of the goods he has gotten back for the kingdom of Sodom, but Abram will have none of it. Clearly, Abram does not want to be considered a champion of Sodom's cause. Helping Sodom was only a by-product of helping Lot.
More to come....the destruction of Sodom was foreshadowed in chapter 13 10: "...the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah..." Sodom and Gomorrah hasn't been smitten yet, but we are told about it so I'm guessing it will be happening pretty soon.
Now, while this is happening a war is breaking out between an alliance of 4 area kings and an alliance of 5 area kings (the king of Sodom was among these). Why does this matter? because Lot is in Sodom and Sodom is overrun...therefore Lot is taken. Abram is notably upset by this and gathers his men to go and save Lot. They run down Lot's captors and smite them by nightfall, getting back Lot and all of his goods (and his women, by the way). Upon returning Lot, the king of Sodom rushes out to meet Abram, thanking him for helping his kingdom. He offers to give Abram all of the goods he has gotten back for the kingdom of Sodom, but Abram will have none of it. Clearly, Abram does not want to be considered a champion of Sodom's cause. Helping Sodom was only a by-product of helping Lot.
More to come....the destruction of Sodom was foreshadowed in chapter 13 10: "...the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah..." Sodom and Gomorrah hasn't been smitten yet, but we are told about it so I'm guessing it will be happening pretty soon.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Genesis 11-12: Post flood world and the appearance of Abram
Brief synopsis tonight as the story is pretty straightforward setting up back story for what is to come:
Chapter 11:
We are told of a post flood world where all of the people speak one language. The people realize that with their one language, all can communicate to build and do great things. What do they decide to do with this revelation? Build a tower to reach to God. God sees that man will be capable of anything he puts his mind to and then decides to mix their languages and scatter them about, presumably in an attempt to keep them from trying to be like God. The place was therefore named Babel as it was where the people's languages were mixed up. This story has modern connotations all over it. With our never ending and always improving technology, society is not only beginning to try to reach past God, but is also trying to get through life without God through very unnatural means. Perhaps this story can serve as a warning. as we work toward a global society, capable of achieving anything, where everything is electronic in one wireless "cloud," aren't we just a major crash away from once again becoming babbling idiots?
I digress....the rest of this chapter is a lot of begetting ultimately leading us to Abram. *noteworthy point: people are living shorter and shorter lifespans through these generations*
Now Abram had two brothers. One brother, Haran died, leaving his son Lot without a father. After Haran's death in the city of Ur, Tehrah (Abram's father) took Abram, Lot and Abram's barren wife Sarai and left Ur to move to Caanan. On the way to Caanan, they stopped in the city of Haran where Terah died.
Chapter 12:
God tells Abram to leave and to go to a land God would show him and make him the start of a great nation. Abram says OK and takes Sarai, Lot, all of their stuff and all of the "souls" they gathered and went into Canaan. Abram went through Canaan and continued on until God said STOP!....This is the place. Abram pitched a tent and then built an altar unto the Lord. Then Abram started going further South and a famine started. Abram took his crew and decided to go to Egypt...which is when things get quite interesting.
Abram tells Sarai, "you are quite hot, and they will kill me to take you if they know you are my wife....let's just say you are my sister." This works and all of the Pharaoh's princes hoot and holler at the hotness of Sarai and take her to Pharaoh. Pharaoh decides that he like's her and takes her into his house and gives Abram lots of animals and servants in return....until bad things start happening to Pharaoh and he realizes it is punishment for taking another man's wife. he gets mad at Abram for lying to him and then kicks his butt to the curb.
More to come....
Chapter 11:
We are told of a post flood world where all of the people speak one language. The people realize that with their one language, all can communicate to build and do great things. What do they decide to do with this revelation? Build a tower to reach to God. God sees that man will be capable of anything he puts his mind to and then decides to mix their languages and scatter them about, presumably in an attempt to keep them from trying to be like God. The place was therefore named Babel as it was where the people's languages were mixed up. This story has modern connotations all over it. With our never ending and always improving technology, society is not only beginning to try to reach past God, but is also trying to get through life without God through very unnatural means. Perhaps this story can serve as a warning. as we work toward a global society, capable of achieving anything, where everything is electronic in one wireless "cloud," aren't we just a major crash away from once again becoming babbling idiots?
I digress....the rest of this chapter is a lot of begetting ultimately leading us to Abram. *noteworthy point: people are living shorter and shorter lifespans through these generations*
Now Abram had two brothers. One brother, Haran died, leaving his son Lot without a father. After Haran's death in the city of Ur, Tehrah (Abram's father) took Abram, Lot and Abram's barren wife Sarai and left Ur to move to Caanan. On the way to Caanan, they stopped in the city of Haran where Terah died.
Chapter 12:
God tells Abram to leave and to go to a land God would show him and make him the start of a great nation. Abram says OK and takes Sarai, Lot, all of their stuff and all of the "souls" they gathered and went into Canaan. Abram went through Canaan and continued on until God said STOP!....This is the place. Abram pitched a tent and then built an altar unto the Lord. Then Abram started going further South and a famine started. Abram took his crew and decided to go to Egypt...which is when things get quite interesting.
Abram tells Sarai, "you are quite hot, and they will kill me to take you if they know you are my wife....let's just say you are my sister." This works and all of the Pharaoh's princes hoot and holler at the hotness of Sarai and take her to Pharaoh. Pharaoh decides that he like's her and takes her into his house and gives Abram lots of animals and servants in return....until bad things start happening to Pharaoh and he realizes it is punishment for taking another man's wife. he gets mad at Abram for lying to him and then kicks his butt to the curb.
More to come....
Saturday, August 4, 2012
SFT: Complaints
A big part of our purpose in this blog is to improve ourselves. We like to work to improve our minds, bodies, and spirits and then share our trials and tribulations with you all. We try to be uplifting and inspiring. We often hear back that our comments are helpful to people. But today, I want to ask you all for help. Today, I need to complain. Today, the SFT turns into the WTF.
I want to ask you all a question today. What do you HATE? What is it that makes you complain no matter how often you're exposed to it, no matter how much you've accepted it as a part of your life? What is the one thing you deal with in your life that you would trade for something even slightly better in a heart beat? Think about it...I bet you've got one or two things on your mind!
I have a couple things that drive me nuts, but the one thing that makes me a Crabby Christine above all else is...THE HUMIDITY!!!! Summers in Wisconsin can get pretty hot and humid at times, but this year seems to be one of the worst I can recall experiencing. We live near the lakeshore (Lake Michigan, that is) and it's typically pretty cool here in the summer. As a kid, I can remember driving "to town" and as we'd cross the city and drive toward the lake, you could stick your arm out the window and feel the temperature dropping, 5, 10, 15, 20 degrees. The first year we moved back to the area, I wore jeans all but maybe a week of the entire summer--seriously! But this year...YUCK! We have a little window AC unit that does little to nothing to keep us cool. Okay, so it helps take the edge off, but when all is said and done, even with the AC on, it's still 82 degrees in here and I stick to the couch. We also have only one car, which typically goes with my husband to work unless I need it for the day, thus getaways to the AC'd Wal-Mart for the kids and me are scarce. To make matters worse, I'm nursing our 7-month-old, so I've got a little space-heater strapped to me all day long.
The heat, coupled with the humidity, just makes my mood sour. I don't feel like eating, I don't feel like cleaning, and I don't feel like taking care of our three kids (who are also crabby because of the weather). Even when it's a little cooler outside, if it's humid, I'm just not myself. By the way, as I type this, my two-year-old is crying and yelling at me for NO APPARENT REASON.
I love winter. I love fall. Especially fall. Fall is just so refreshing. It's crisp and dry outside, the sun is often shining, the leaves are gorgeous, the bored children go back to school, everyone gets pumped up for football and the like, you can wear pretty much whatever you'd like because the weather allows for so much versatility...but hot, humid summers? Pass.
So what drives you bananas? And further more, how do you deal with it? Are there things that make it easier to cope? Do you imagine you're somewhere else? Do you physically remove yourself from the situation? Help! Please! Right now my best defense has been to be "lazy" (i.e. conserve energy) and to pray. I pray for sanity a lot. The one good thing to come out of this summer? I have REALLY been keeping on top of our photo albums and our Shutterfly account :)
This has been this Sunday's WTF.
~Molly
I want to ask you all a question today. What do you HATE? What is it that makes you complain no matter how often you're exposed to it, no matter how much you've accepted it as a part of your life? What is the one thing you deal with in your life that you would trade for something even slightly better in a heart beat? Think about it...I bet you've got one or two things on your mind!
I have a couple things that drive me nuts, but the one thing that makes me a Crabby Christine above all else is...THE HUMIDITY!!!! Summers in Wisconsin can get pretty hot and humid at times, but this year seems to be one of the worst I can recall experiencing. We live near the lakeshore (Lake Michigan, that is) and it's typically pretty cool here in the summer. As a kid, I can remember driving "to town" and as we'd cross the city and drive toward the lake, you could stick your arm out the window and feel the temperature dropping, 5, 10, 15, 20 degrees. The first year we moved back to the area, I wore jeans all but maybe a week of the entire summer--seriously! But this year...YUCK! We have a little window AC unit that does little to nothing to keep us cool. Okay, so it helps take the edge off, but when all is said and done, even with the AC on, it's still 82 degrees in here and I stick to the couch. We also have only one car, which typically goes with my husband to work unless I need it for the day, thus getaways to the AC'd Wal-Mart for the kids and me are scarce. To make matters worse, I'm nursing our 7-month-old, so I've got a little space-heater strapped to me all day long.
The heat, coupled with the humidity, just makes my mood sour. I don't feel like eating, I don't feel like cleaning, and I don't feel like taking care of our three kids (who are also crabby because of the weather). Even when it's a little cooler outside, if it's humid, I'm just not myself. By the way, as I type this, my two-year-old is crying and yelling at me for NO APPARENT REASON.
I love winter. I love fall. Especially fall. Fall is just so refreshing. It's crisp and dry outside, the sun is often shining, the leaves are gorgeous, the bored children go back to school, everyone gets pumped up for football and the like, you can wear pretty much whatever you'd like because the weather allows for so much versatility...but hot, humid summers? Pass.
So what drives you bananas? And further more, how do you deal with it? Are there things that make it easier to cope? Do you imagine you're somewhere else? Do you physically remove yourself from the situation? Help! Please! Right now my best defense has been to be "lazy" (i.e. conserve energy) and to pray. I pray for sanity a lot. The one good thing to come out of this summer? I have REALLY been keeping on top of our photo albums and our Shutterfly account :)
This has been this Sunday's WTF.
~Molly
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Genesis: 6-10 Noah
Well, we all know the story of Noah. People on the earth were being violent and corrupt. God says, "Something will have to be done." Noah's a righteous guy. God asks Noah to build an ark out of gopherwood. Noah brings his wife, sons and sons' wives unto the ark. Noah brings "sevens" of the clean animals onto the ark and "twos" of the unclean animals onto the ark. The earth gets rained upon for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters stay for 150 days. They hang out in the ark for a few more months until the tops of the mountains can be seen. Noah sends out a dove and the dove comes back. Noah sends out a dove and the dove brings back on olive branch. Noah sends out a dove and the dove doesn't return. The waters recede. God sends a rainbow and promises never to destroy the earth again. Woot.
Chapter 9 shares a little more information about the Noah story.
First, we learn that this is the point when man is told it is okay to eat meat. Up until then, they were likely all munching on leaves and fruit and seeds. But now God says, "Every living thing that moveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof , shall ye not eat." (So, they're not supposed to eat live animals, I gather? Possibly not uncooked?)
Then we learn that Noah began to farm and planted a vineyard. Noah gets drunk from his own wine and evidently gets naked and passes out. His son, Ham (who is dubbed "the father of Canaan"), sees his father laying there in the nude and tells his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Now at this point in time, it must have been hugely embarrassing to be seen naked (remember Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit?) because Shem and Japheth "took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." Then Noah wakes up and "knew what his younger son had done unto him." Then Noah says that because of this, Canaan shall be a servant to Shem and Japheth. We're not really clear as to why Canaan is being punished for something that Ham saw...are we missing something here?
And in Chapter 10 we get a catalog of the generations of the sons of Noah...a little boring, but it does have an occasional tidbit the eludes to what we will be reading about in the future. Read it for yourself to see what we mean. The one thing we didn't understand, though, was any part that made mention of Shem's, Ham's, or Japheth's families, it states "every one after his tongue" or "after their tongues." That makes it seem as though they were speaking different languages. Is this just vague, referencing the future generations, post-Babel (that is the next chapter, after all)? Or were there different languages prior to this, too?
More next week!
Chapter 9 shares a little more information about the Noah story.
First, we learn that this is the point when man is told it is okay to eat meat. Up until then, they were likely all munching on leaves and fruit and seeds. But now God says, "Every living thing that moveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof , shall ye not eat." (So, they're not supposed to eat live animals, I gather? Possibly not uncooked?)
Then we learn that Noah began to farm and planted a vineyard. Noah gets drunk from his own wine and evidently gets naked and passes out. His son, Ham (who is dubbed "the father of Canaan"), sees his father laying there in the nude and tells his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Now at this point in time, it must have been hugely embarrassing to be seen naked (remember Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit?) because Shem and Japheth "took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." Then Noah wakes up and "knew what his younger son had done unto him." Then Noah says that because of this, Canaan shall be a servant to Shem and Japheth. We're not really clear as to why Canaan is being punished for something that Ham saw...are we missing something here?
And in Chapter 10 we get a catalog of the generations of the sons of Noah...a little boring, but it does have an occasional tidbit the eludes to what we will be reading about in the future. Read it for yourself to see what we mean. The one thing we didn't understand, though, was any part that made mention of Shem's, Ham's, or Japheth's families, it states "every one after his tongue" or "after their tongues." That makes it seem as though they were speaking different languages. Is this just vague, referencing the future generations, post-Babel (that is the next chapter, after all)? Or were there different languages prior to this, too?
More next week!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Genesis 3-5: Adam and Eve...begat, begat, begat...
And now to some more stories that we thought we knew, but leads to more questions. This book seems to actually be more of a book of questions rather than a book of answers. So, the brief synopsis:
Chapter 3: Serpent gets Eve to give apple to Adam, God finds out, and they get kicked out of the garden.
Chapter 4: Cain kills his brother Abel.
Chapter 5: A lot of begatting and a lot of people living a long time leading up to Noah.
OK...so now on to some questions and thoughts
First off, how historical is this all? Is there symbolic content intermixed with historical context? Everyone seems to stand on one side or another. Why does it have to be all or nothing? Couldn't it be a mix? Again, we are providing no revelations of our own as we are only asking the questions at this point, but in order to start the conversations, the questions must be asked.
Some interesting parallels relating to world history and the development of civilization come out of this story though. Man had an easy time finding food before eating the forbidden fruit. After getting kicked out of the garden, Man was told that he would have to till at the soil the rest of his life and have a difficult time doing so. Is this the point in which mankind switched from a gathering society to an Agrarian society? After all, it is agriculture that begat cities to form and it was in the lineage of Adam (the first farmer) that we see cities being built.
Genesis 3: 16 provides another parallel to World history: "Unto woman he said, i will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." After giving Adam the fruit, Eve was commanded by God to have to obey Adam. Woman was put in the dominion of man. Following this, we are given a lineage of patriarchs in chapter 5. Now to put a different context on this. There are many other references from early recorded cultures that some of the first societies were actually matriarchal (If my memory serves me, Egypt for instance was primarily a matriarchal society prior to the Pharaohs). At some point, the men took over and started warring. Other early societies held woman at the forefront because of the power to create life. Perhaps the men were jealous of this and this is why they took over and took power. In patriarchal societies a woman was often seen as unclean during her menstrual cycle. Interestingly enough, one of the punishments brought by God upon woman for giving Adam the fruit here seems to be children. Is this the same negative spin on the ability to give life that further gives Man power over women?
More questions:
So Adam and Eve had two sons initially. Cain and Abel. We know the story. Cain kills Abel and won't tell God what happened to him (Am I my brothers keeper?). Then, we find out that Cain took a wife and moved to Nod? A wife? where did said wife come from? If taken at a literal definition, Cain was only the 3rd person to exist in the world. So where did his wife come from? And where did this land of Nod come from if there aren't any other people in existence? He then has a son Enoch with his wife and builds a city....Who would live in such a city if there aren't other people around?
We dig further. Within the lineage of Cain, we start to see different classes of people show up. One's kids would become the people who live in tents and keep cattle. Another's would become the people who play organs and harps. Still another would develop a class of people who work in brass and iron. Here is where another parallel comes in. The process of civilization is this: Man develops agriculture which allows man to grow in population eventually forming cities. Once cities are formed you get a specialization of labor. Isn't that exactly what is going on in the lineage of Cain? He started a city and it is in his lineage that we see specialists of different jobs showing up.
Now this was all going on east of Eden in Nod. The story then jumps back to Adam and Eve having Seth who was essentially a replacement for Abel. Chapter 5: 26: "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." What follows in chapter 5 is the lineage of men from Seth to Noah. These are the men to call upon the name of the Lord. I pose a possible interpretation of what is going on here in the form of a question: Are we to understand that Cain represents the rest of the world developing while the lineage of Seth will give us the chosen people who will believe in the one true God?
Are the things written above the answers? Maybe, but maybe not. They are simply questions that lead us to dig deeper into understanding the importance of this unbelievable book. Back to the original question: Is it historical or symbolic? Again I offer the possibility that despite what most believe, it CAN BE BOTH. Ultimately though, does it actually matter? The point isn't about a literal interpretation or a symbolic interpretation. People get too caught up in what the Bible means rather than its purpose: To get us to understand and respect ourselves, each other, our world and our creator .
Chapter 3: Serpent gets Eve to give apple to Adam, God finds out, and they get kicked out of the garden.
Chapter 4: Cain kills his brother Abel.
Chapter 5: A lot of begatting and a lot of people living a long time leading up to Noah.
OK...so now on to some questions and thoughts
First off, how historical is this all? Is there symbolic content intermixed with historical context? Everyone seems to stand on one side or another. Why does it have to be all or nothing? Couldn't it be a mix? Again, we are providing no revelations of our own as we are only asking the questions at this point, but in order to start the conversations, the questions must be asked.
Some interesting parallels relating to world history and the development of civilization come out of this story though. Man had an easy time finding food before eating the forbidden fruit. After getting kicked out of the garden, Man was told that he would have to till at the soil the rest of his life and have a difficult time doing so. Is this the point in which mankind switched from a gathering society to an Agrarian society? After all, it is agriculture that begat cities to form and it was in the lineage of Adam (the first farmer) that we see cities being built.
Genesis 3: 16 provides another parallel to World history: "Unto woman he said, i will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." After giving Adam the fruit, Eve was commanded by God to have to obey Adam. Woman was put in the dominion of man. Following this, we are given a lineage of patriarchs in chapter 5. Now to put a different context on this. There are many other references from early recorded cultures that some of the first societies were actually matriarchal (If my memory serves me, Egypt for instance was primarily a matriarchal society prior to the Pharaohs). At some point, the men took over and started warring. Other early societies held woman at the forefront because of the power to create life. Perhaps the men were jealous of this and this is why they took over and took power. In patriarchal societies a woman was often seen as unclean during her menstrual cycle. Interestingly enough, one of the punishments brought by God upon woman for giving Adam the fruit here seems to be children. Is this the same negative spin on the ability to give life that further gives Man power over women?
More questions:
So Adam and Eve had two sons initially. Cain and Abel. We know the story. Cain kills Abel and won't tell God what happened to him (Am I my brothers keeper?). Then, we find out that Cain took a wife and moved to Nod? A wife? where did said wife come from? If taken at a literal definition, Cain was only the 3rd person to exist in the world. So where did his wife come from? And where did this land of Nod come from if there aren't any other people in existence? He then has a son Enoch with his wife and builds a city....Who would live in such a city if there aren't other people around?
We dig further. Within the lineage of Cain, we start to see different classes of people show up. One's kids would become the people who live in tents and keep cattle. Another's would become the people who play organs and harps. Still another would develop a class of people who work in brass and iron. Here is where another parallel comes in. The process of civilization is this: Man develops agriculture which allows man to grow in population eventually forming cities. Once cities are formed you get a specialization of labor. Isn't that exactly what is going on in the lineage of Cain? He started a city and it is in his lineage that we see specialists of different jobs showing up.
Now this was all going on east of Eden in Nod. The story then jumps back to Adam and Eve having Seth who was essentially a replacement for Abel. Chapter 5: 26: "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." What follows in chapter 5 is the lineage of men from Seth to Noah. These are the men to call upon the name of the Lord. I pose a possible interpretation of what is going on here in the form of a question: Are we to understand that Cain represents the rest of the world developing while the lineage of Seth will give us the chosen people who will believe in the one true God?
Are the things written above the answers? Maybe, but maybe not. They are simply questions that lead us to dig deeper into understanding the importance of this unbelievable book. Back to the original question: Is it historical or symbolic? Again I offer the possibility that despite what most believe, it CAN BE BOTH. Ultimately though, does it actually matter? The point isn't about a literal interpretation or a symbolic interpretation. People get too caught up in what the Bible means rather than its purpose: To get us to understand and respect ourselves, each other, our world and our creator .
Monday, July 30, 2012
Genesis 1-2: "In the beginning..."
So we are getting back into the bible to continue what we started upon seemingly so long ago. We decided though to hit the book of the bible that most people start with and most people think they know. The goal here is almost to find as many things to question about these books as possible. I have always taken for granted that I know what is in Genesis, but then again we both took for granted that we knew much of the story of David and boy were we informed of a lot that we didn't know about.
The first thing that got us was the title of this book: The first book of Moses called Genesis. Yep...The first book of Moses. Moses doesn't show up in this book and it is his book. Then again, The books of Samuel are more about David than Samuel. Does this mean that Moses put these books together? Or did he write them? Or did he compile stories that were already part of oral tradition.
Goal Accomplished, we haven't even begun this book and we already have a significant question.
OK...more things to question. As we discovered in the David stories, there is some timeline discrepancies. In the first chapter we see God create everything. including man and woman in his own image. Upon finishing this chapter, Molly and I asked a significant question, "What about the whole taking Adam's rib thing?" Ahh, but this gets answered in the 2nd chapter. Although in the 1st chapter, God had already made the animals and had made man and woman at the same time, God creates the beasts again in the 2nd chapter so Adam has some company. He then lets Adam name them all and then only once a suitable mate is not found, God makes woman for Adam out of his rib.
Now, in the 1st chapter, God made the beasts first and then Adam. In the 2nd chapter it is the other way around. How could this be? Is the 2nd chapter a re-telling in more detail of the 1st? It doesn't seem so because the 2nd chapter picks up where the first ends. The 7th day happens in the 2nd chapter, not the first. So, in the 2nd chapter, God made animals and woman after the seventh day, whereas they were created in the 6th day in the 1st chapter. Is it possible that the writer of Genesis (Moses or not) was combining a number of creationist stories from the oral tradition of the Hebrews into one book? We see this sort of thing in Catholicism quite a bit in the early days of the church. Stories of previous faiths and peoples get combined into one new dogma to unify people behind one belief. Is this the answer to the question? not necessarily, but at least it has gotten us thinking quite deeply about something we thought we already knew about.
Enough on that though...There are loads of other questions that we can ask about these first chapters (and have between ourselves). We suggest you read or re-read them for yourselves and start questioning what you have taken for granted that you already "know."
The first thing that got us was the title of this book: The first book of Moses called Genesis. Yep...The first book of Moses. Moses doesn't show up in this book and it is his book. Then again, The books of Samuel are more about David than Samuel. Does this mean that Moses put these books together? Or did he write them? Or did he compile stories that were already part of oral tradition.
Goal Accomplished, we haven't even begun this book and we already have a significant question.
OK...more things to question. As we discovered in the David stories, there is some timeline discrepancies. In the first chapter we see God create everything. including man and woman in his own image. Upon finishing this chapter, Molly and I asked a significant question, "What about the whole taking Adam's rib thing?" Ahh, but this gets answered in the 2nd chapter. Although in the 1st chapter, God had already made the animals and had made man and woman at the same time, God creates the beasts again in the 2nd chapter so Adam has some company. He then lets Adam name them all and then only once a suitable mate is not found, God makes woman for Adam out of his rib.
Now, in the 1st chapter, God made the beasts first and then Adam. In the 2nd chapter it is the other way around. How could this be? Is the 2nd chapter a re-telling in more detail of the 1st? It doesn't seem so because the 2nd chapter picks up where the first ends. The 7th day happens in the 2nd chapter, not the first. So, in the 2nd chapter, God made animals and woman after the seventh day, whereas they were created in the 6th day in the 1st chapter. Is it possible that the writer of Genesis (Moses or not) was combining a number of creationist stories from the oral tradition of the Hebrews into one book? We see this sort of thing in Catholicism quite a bit in the early days of the church. Stories of previous faiths and peoples get combined into one new dogma to unify people behind one belief. Is this the answer to the question? not necessarily, but at least it has gotten us thinking quite deeply about something we thought we already knew about.
Enough on that though...There are loads of other questions that we can ask about these first chapters (and have between ourselves). We suggest you read or re-read them for yourselves and start questioning what you have taken for granted that you already "know."
Sunday, July 29, 2012
SFT: Challenge follow-up and CHANGE!
Hello! It's been a while...a little less than a month, I guess. No, we didn't intentionally take such a long break from reading/blogging, but life caught up with us and before we knew it, a month had passed. This is actually a good talking point for tonight...change!
A few months back we had extended a challenge to our readers--change 3 things for 3 months. The changes were to be small, feasible, and something that you really needed to work on. Mike and I chose to change the following: 1) go to bed by 10:00 every night, 2) no junk food and no eating out except for special occasions, and 3) read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. How did we do? Horribly! But did we have success? YES!
So often we think that just because we didn't "lick" a bad habit or "nail" our goals, we've failed. But the truth is, just because we haven't succeeded 100% doesn't mean that we haven't succeeded at all! What do I mean? Well, let's look at the goals that Mike and I set. 1) Go to bed by 10:00 every night. Well, we had been going to bed between 11:00 and 11:30. After setting our goal, we ended up getting to bed by 10:30 on average. So did we go to bed by 10:00 every night? Nope. But we got halfway there. And we may not have gotten that far if we hadn't tried to make a change. 2) No junk food and no eating out except for special occasions. The bad news? We still eat treats nearly daily. The good news? We now eat only treats that we truly want and our portion sizes have gotten MUCH smaller, not to mention that we rarely eat daytime treats. 3) Read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. Well, as our blog readers you obviously knew that we weren't fully adhering to this. But you know what? If we hadn't set that goal we probably would have opened the bible at the beginning, started reading and gotten bored after the Creation. So I'd say once or twice a week on average isn't so bad! Of course, we've beat ourselves up a bit along the way for not always striving to reach these goals, but when we reminded ourselves that we were part of the way there (and I'd say that's something to hang your hat on!), it became easier to jump back on course when we strayed.
This might sound a little like complacency. If you just stop at "halfway is good enough," then yes, you've become complacent. But sometimes it's really important to look back at the last few years of your life and think, "Have I changed?" because you will remind yourself just how far you've come and when you can see the progress that you've made, it does make it a lot easier to stay on track. As long as you don't just give up after you've partially reached your goal, you'll get there!
I suggest doing as we've done and set a time frame for when you'd like to reach your goal. After that time has passed, make an assessment of your progress and change your goals based on that assessment. Maybe going to bed at 10:00 every night just isn't realistic. Can you get everything done that need be done before then? Will you still have time to relax and unwind before bed? If you find yourself saying, "No, my original goal just isn't feasible," then consider tweaking your goal a little. If changing your goal to a 10:30 bed time gives you that extra time that you need to feel "on top," then perhaps that's a better plan for you. As for our junk food goal, I remembered back to a time when I was counting calories. At that time, I allowed myself a little treat (not necessarily full-sized) every day and it REALLY helped me to curb my sweets cravings and prevented me from going overboard, even during special occasions. So for now, a little something sweet to keep myself from over-indulging is not only helpful, but possibly necessary. And as for our reading M-Th goal, we'd still like to keep this one up, knowing that we may not always achieve this goal (or be able to, depending on what life hands us...children, heat, schedules, etc).
What did we learn/gain from our challenge? Well, obviously we got a little more sleep from the bed time goal. But I would say that this was the goal that let us see that we needed to be able to be flexible. Flexible, not lazy. That doesn't mean we let ourselves veg out in front of the tv every night, but it means that we knew that if we didn't get certain household tasks done before bed, it would cause more problems the next day, so if that meant going to bed a little bit later, then so be it. From our junk food goal...well, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do here. BUT we both did lose some weight and are now holding steady at weights we feel are ideal for us. We also noticed less garbage output and (as long as we were being diligent) we noticed a little more financial breathing room in our grocery budget. From our reading goal, we learned A LOT! Clearly reading the bible provides much insight, so the goal itself didn't necessarily need to have another purpose, but I would say that we now barely watch any tv/movies (it feels very empty to me now). We also became a little better about keeping on top of housework...I find that it's not unreasonable to fold a basket of laundry while Mike reads or blogs. And as we prepared to wind down for the night, it helped us better wind down our children for the night, leaving bedtime a much less stressful routine.
Please, please, please, keep setting goals. They don't have to be big. They don't have to be excruciating. They don't have to be impressive. But they do have to be there. When we just stop and think, "I'll get to it later," rarely do we actually get around to it. Life doesn't have to be approached with an "all-or-nothing" attitude, but should rather be approached with a "do something" attitude. Just get up and do something! Move! Try! Change! It will come to you eventually as long as you do something. You just need to have realistic expectations of yourself. And when you make a mistake, own it and learn from it. Remember, you are not your neighbor, your mother, your grandmother, your boss, or that celebrity. You are YOU and your goals should reflect the person that you are and that you hope to become.
We'd love to hear from you all about the changes you've made in your lives over the last few months. What did you learn about yourselves and your goals? Did you gain anything? If so, what...and was it beyond what you expected? If not, how could you alter your goal to make it more attainable? Please share your stories, as I'm sure every one of our readers would love to hear the inspiration that it provides.
Back to the bible tomorrow. This has been the past month's Sunday Fresh Take!
A few months back we had extended a challenge to our readers--change 3 things for 3 months. The changes were to be small, feasible, and something that you really needed to work on. Mike and I chose to change the following: 1) go to bed by 10:00 every night, 2) no junk food and no eating out except for special occasions, and 3) read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. How did we do? Horribly! But did we have success? YES!
So often we think that just because we didn't "lick" a bad habit or "nail" our goals, we've failed. But the truth is, just because we haven't succeeded 100% doesn't mean that we haven't succeeded at all! What do I mean? Well, let's look at the goals that Mike and I set. 1) Go to bed by 10:00 every night. Well, we had been going to bed between 11:00 and 11:30. After setting our goal, we ended up getting to bed by 10:30 on average. So did we go to bed by 10:00 every night? Nope. But we got halfway there. And we may not have gotten that far if we hadn't tried to make a change. 2) No junk food and no eating out except for special occasions. The bad news? We still eat treats nearly daily. The good news? We now eat only treats that we truly want and our portion sizes have gotten MUCH smaller, not to mention that we rarely eat daytime treats. 3) Read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. Well, as our blog readers you obviously knew that we weren't fully adhering to this. But you know what? If we hadn't set that goal we probably would have opened the bible at the beginning, started reading and gotten bored after the Creation. So I'd say once or twice a week on average isn't so bad! Of course, we've beat ourselves up a bit along the way for not always striving to reach these goals, but when we reminded ourselves that we were part of the way there (and I'd say that's something to hang your hat on!), it became easier to jump back on course when we strayed.
This might sound a little like complacency. If you just stop at "halfway is good enough," then yes, you've become complacent. But sometimes it's really important to look back at the last few years of your life and think, "Have I changed?" because you will remind yourself just how far you've come and when you can see the progress that you've made, it does make it a lot easier to stay on track. As long as you don't just give up after you've partially reached your goal, you'll get there!
I suggest doing as we've done and set a time frame for when you'd like to reach your goal. After that time has passed, make an assessment of your progress and change your goals based on that assessment. Maybe going to bed at 10:00 every night just isn't realistic. Can you get everything done that need be done before then? Will you still have time to relax and unwind before bed? If you find yourself saying, "No, my original goal just isn't feasible," then consider tweaking your goal a little. If changing your goal to a 10:30 bed time gives you that extra time that you need to feel "on top," then perhaps that's a better plan for you. As for our junk food goal, I remembered back to a time when I was counting calories. At that time, I allowed myself a little treat (not necessarily full-sized) every day and it REALLY helped me to curb my sweets cravings and prevented me from going overboard, even during special occasions. So for now, a little something sweet to keep myself from over-indulging is not only helpful, but possibly necessary. And as for our reading M-Th goal, we'd still like to keep this one up, knowing that we may not always achieve this goal (or be able to, depending on what life hands us...children, heat, schedules, etc).
What did we learn/gain from our challenge? Well, obviously we got a little more sleep from the bed time goal. But I would say that this was the goal that let us see that we needed to be able to be flexible. Flexible, not lazy. That doesn't mean we let ourselves veg out in front of the tv every night, but it means that we knew that if we didn't get certain household tasks done before bed, it would cause more problems the next day, so if that meant going to bed a little bit later, then so be it. From our junk food goal...well, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do here. BUT we both did lose some weight and are now holding steady at weights we feel are ideal for us. We also noticed less garbage output and (as long as we were being diligent) we noticed a little more financial breathing room in our grocery budget. From our reading goal, we learned A LOT! Clearly reading the bible provides much insight, so the goal itself didn't necessarily need to have another purpose, but I would say that we now barely watch any tv/movies (it feels very empty to me now). We also became a little better about keeping on top of housework...I find that it's not unreasonable to fold a basket of laundry while Mike reads or blogs. And as we prepared to wind down for the night, it helped us better wind down our children for the night, leaving bedtime a much less stressful routine.
Please, please, please, keep setting goals. They don't have to be big. They don't have to be excruciating. They don't have to be impressive. But they do have to be there. When we just stop and think, "I'll get to it later," rarely do we actually get around to it. Life doesn't have to be approached with an "all-or-nothing" attitude, but should rather be approached with a "do something" attitude. Just get up and do something! Move! Try! Change! It will come to you eventually as long as you do something. You just need to have realistic expectations of yourself. And when you make a mistake, own it and learn from it. Remember, you are not your neighbor, your mother, your grandmother, your boss, or that celebrity. You are YOU and your goals should reflect the person that you are and that you hope to become.
We'd love to hear from you all about the changes you've made in your lives over the last few months. What did you learn about yourselves and your goals? Did you gain anything? If so, what...and was it beyond what you expected? If not, how could you alter your goal to make it more attainable? Please share your stories, as I'm sure every one of our readers would love to hear the inspiration that it provides.
Back to the bible tomorrow. This has been the past month's Sunday Fresh Take!
Monday, July 2, 2012
II. Samuel 20-24: wrapping it all up
After a weeks delay, we've gotten back on track and finished up II. Samuel. The major events in David's life have taken place and it seems that these last few stories pale in comparison to previous ones, but continue with the same themes: someone tries to undermine David, God punishes Israel, David's men smite Philistine giants in battle, David thanks God for everything, David sins.
Chapter 20: One of the old followers (Sheba) of Saul decides that he should rise up against David. In the process of chasing him down, Joab "accidentally?" kills one of David's men that had failed in one of his tasks for David. When they show up at a city to come in and take Sheba, the people of the city throw Sheba's head over the wall so that Joab and his men won't kill anyone in the city.
Chapter 21: The people are stuck in four years famine as a hangover of one of Saul's unrighteous wars against the Gibeonites. To make things right, David turns over 7 men from the line of Saul (at the Gibeonites request) to be hanged...which of course gets rid of the famine. Meanwhile, more Philistine giants are leading the charge against Israel, after a close call where David almost dies, his men tell him he has to stay home now and they proceed to smite some Philistine giants for David.
Chapter 22: David produces a long psalm of thanksgiving unto the Lord.
Chapter 23: David's last words on earth, talking of how God has been good to him and is against the naughty people of the world. This chapter then goes on to list the great men of David's army and their accomplishments, almost as if it is a list of Hall of fame inductees in Israel.
Chapter 24: In a sign of arrogance, David tells Joab to go and count how many subjects he has. Begrudgingly, Joab does so. For his sin, God has Gad, David's seer, give David a choice between famine, fleeing from enemies, or pestilence. David cannot make a choice so God sends disease to wipe out 70,000 of David's subjects. David then goes to make an altar and give burnt offerings to the Lord, which ends the pestilence.
Thus ends Samuel.
Chapter 20: One of the old followers (Sheba) of Saul decides that he should rise up against David. In the process of chasing him down, Joab "accidentally?" kills one of David's men that had failed in one of his tasks for David. When they show up at a city to come in and take Sheba, the people of the city throw Sheba's head over the wall so that Joab and his men won't kill anyone in the city.
Chapter 21: The people are stuck in four years famine as a hangover of one of Saul's unrighteous wars against the Gibeonites. To make things right, David turns over 7 men from the line of Saul (at the Gibeonites request) to be hanged...which of course gets rid of the famine. Meanwhile, more Philistine giants are leading the charge against Israel, after a close call where David almost dies, his men tell him he has to stay home now and they proceed to smite some Philistine giants for David.
Chapter 22: David produces a long psalm of thanksgiving unto the Lord.
Chapter 23: David's last words on earth, talking of how God has been good to him and is against the naughty people of the world. This chapter then goes on to list the great men of David's army and their accomplishments, almost as if it is a list of Hall of fame inductees in Israel.
Chapter 24: In a sign of arrogance, David tells Joab to go and count how many subjects he has. Begrudgingly, Joab does so. For his sin, God has Gad, David's seer, give David a choice between famine, fleeing from enemies, or pestilence. David cannot make a choice so God sends disease to wipe out 70,000 of David's subjects. David then goes to make an altar and give burnt offerings to the Lord, which ends the pestilence.
Thus ends Samuel.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Special Edition Fresh-Take: 1 bag of garbage
I'm going to interrupt our normal blog process and the shenanigans of David to point out something that was quite a great accomplishment for Molly and me. As many of you know, Molly and I have been making strides in recent years to improve our lifestyle (this blog is an example). It all came together and made sense for me tonight in a very unusual way as I was taking the garbage to the curb. We only produced 1 bag of garbage in our main kitchen garbage this week. Yes that's right, a family of 5 produced 1 bag of garbage over the course of the week. A seemingly insignificant finding, but we found it actually to be quite profound in a number of ways as it signified a lot of change in our life together and with the kids.
Let's step back a little while and take a look at some of the changes we've made that some of you may know about and some may not. We built momentum and learned from mistakes to get to this point and we will be the first to tell you we have a long way to go. It all started with finances actually. When we first moved back closer to family, money was very tight. I was starting a commission based job selling cars at a time when the economy was terrible. As we struggled with the idea of how to make ends meet, we had a financial planning discussion about what can be cut out. If we didn't need it, it went. Cable TV? Don't need it. Cell phone? Don't need it. Eating out? Don't need it (we do still occasionally eat out, though). 2nd Car? Don't need it. This took some financial burden off of us, but we became more aware of our electrical, water and gas usage as well. We put ourselves on a tight budget (gas, groceries, miscellaneous) and stuck to it because it was all the money we had. As things improved and I started making more money at work, we began getting lax about things and thus began a pendulum of getting lazy and kicking ourselves in the butt to get back on track over and over again.
While finances were one aspect we were trying to improve, another was diet. This started about the time our first son started eating solids. Molly became very aware of the fact that we didn't want our son consuming the same things we had made a habit of putting into our bodies (wings, pizza, etc.). So, we started making meal plans to make life easier so it wasn't always a struggle to come up with things to eat (otherwise you end up going out or getting convenience foods).
Fast-forward a little bit and our second son was born. Anyone with more than one kid in diapers knows that disposables are EXPENSIVE. As much as we forced it, our oldest wouldn't potty train just to make our budgeting for diapers easier, so Molly pushed us into the next step: Cloth diapers. It took a while to get a system down (actually we didn't have one down pat until our daughter was born and we had 2 kids in cloth). Cloth diapers carry an expensive up front cost and seemed like a difficult decision at a time when we didn't have a lot of extra cash to throw around. The initial investment has paid off though and if I did the math, I'm sure I would be astounded at what we have now saved. By the way, our daughter is still using the diapers we initially bought for our second child.
Kid #2 provided another example of how to manage our diets. Our oldest as a baby got a lot of Gerber and some homemade baby foods intermixed. Our second son ate what we ate after it got passed through a grinder. I could probably count on one hand the number of times his dinner was bought in the baby food aisle. I know we saved some money there. Still though, we were ping-ponging back and forth with improving our diets and then falling into bad habits again. However, some health issues post pregnancy for Molly with our first and our second (which she has previously blogged about) pushed her to push me to change even more towards a better lifestyle.
Fast-forward again to the birth of our daughter (and third child). Having just gotten life on track after our middle child, we began life again with 3 children. Things started out simple but then got crazy. Weeks would go by where we (and particularly Molly) was frustrated with the contradictions of life. I'd try to find escapes for her, but they would not fix the underlying problems. This pushed us further to try and better our lives. Sunday Mass, which had fallen by the wayside a couple of times in the preceding years became a no excuses, we go every week matter. We went to Christmas Mass with a 3 yr old, 1 yr old and a 1 week old and survived. In the Spring, Molly pushed me to join her in reading the Bible in its entirety which in turn led to the creation of this blog. Through the blog we came up with a blog challenge that would force us into a better diet for 3 months. I hate to say it, but after a month going strong, we failed miserably.
Finally, last week Tuesday, we began an experiment after being inspired by some biblical reasons as well as some movies we watched to attempt a whole-foods, plant based diet. Minimal pre-packaged and processed foods, if any, would be allowed. In a week we have learned more about ourselves than in just about any other experiment we've done. We were strict with the diet until Sunday when we took a break (omelets for breakfast, McDonald's for dinner with ice cream for dessert). Monday we got back on track after feeling terrible Sunday night and today we did what our ultimate goal was, a mixed and balanced diet. We never intended to become vegans, but rather experience the pros and cons of a plant based diet to better incorporate it into a balanced lifestyle.
From our plant based diet experiment we learned a number of things. Despite being very sleep deprived, we both maintained energy and focus until bed time. It was only at the end of the week when we completely crashed. We learned a lot about cooking and timing through preparing a lot of meals that start with dry beans and whole grains as a base. We weaned ourselves off of severe coffee addictions in a matter of days with very little withdrawal symptoms. Molly became much closer with the kids during the past week despite being home with them everyday for the past 4 years. We got a number of awesome recipes that we otherwise never would have discovered (black bean tacos, baked sweet potatoes for breakfast, bean soup without meat that is delicious, a number of bean and grain combinations, multiple ways to prepare steal cut outs, mixing cherry juice with granola and fruit rather than yogurt or milk, etc.). We also learned that quinoa is an awesome grain to cook with and is incredibly adaptable. Most recently, we learned just how efficient we now are at preparing great meals. Tonight, we got home from the beach with about an hour before I had to teach a horn lesson. In that hour we managed to get the boys (and myself) showered and dressed and prepared and ate a meal that consisted of hand-formed burgers (w/ lettuce, tomato, onion, and an improvised avocado sauce on a grilled bun), seasoned wild rice (not instant), corn on the cob, watermelon and grilled pineapple. I can guarantee that a couple of years ago that meal in that short time frame would have been either A) McDonald's or B) pre-formed burgers from the Piggly-Wiggly with ketchup, potato chips and pre-cut watermelon (also from the Piggly Wiggly).
As I cleaned and took out the 1 bag of trash as the kids got ready for bed, I began to reflect on all of the above and realized just how far we have come in the past couple of years. That one bag of trash (cut down from 3-4 a couple of years ago with 1 child) represents all of the work we have done to improve our lives. We are healthier (both physically and financially) because of all of our efforts. We are by no means experts on anything, but I hope that our experience helps demonstrates the positive impact that making change can have in your life. You will not fix everything in one change and change will not happen overnight. There are ups and downs with change, but it is what you learn about yourself and your family during those ups and downs that will propel you to push through the difficulties and to always strive to be a better person, both for yourself and those around you.
Let's step back a little while and take a look at some of the changes we've made that some of you may know about and some may not. We built momentum and learned from mistakes to get to this point and we will be the first to tell you we have a long way to go. It all started with finances actually. When we first moved back closer to family, money was very tight. I was starting a commission based job selling cars at a time when the economy was terrible. As we struggled with the idea of how to make ends meet, we had a financial planning discussion about what can be cut out. If we didn't need it, it went. Cable TV? Don't need it. Cell phone? Don't need it. Eating out? Don't need it (we do still occasionally eat out, though). 2nd Car? Don't need it. This took some financial burden off of us, but we became more aware of our electrical, water and gas usage as well. We put ourselves on a tight budget (gas, groceries, miscellaneous) and stuck to it because it was all the money we had. As things improved and I started making more money at work, we began getting lax about things and thus began a pendulum of getting lazy and kicking ourselves in the butt to get back on track over and over again.
While finances were one aspect we were trying to improve, another was diet. This started about the time our first son started eating solids. Molly became very aware of the fact that we didn't want our son consuming the same things we had made a habit of putting into our bodies (wings, pizza, etc.). So, we started making meal plans to make life easier so it wasn't always a struggle to come up with things to eat (otherwise you end up going out or getting convenience foods).
Fast-forward a little bit and our second son was born. Anyone with more than one kid in diapers knows that disposables are EXPENSIVE. As much as we forced it, our oldest wouldn't potty train just to make our budgeting for diapers easier, so Molly pushed us into the next step: Cloth diapers. It took a while to get a system down (actually we didn't have one down pat until our daughter was born and we had 2 kids in cloth). Cloth diapers carry an expensive up front cost and seemed like a difficult decision at a time when we didn't have a lot of extra cash to throw around. The initial investment has paid off though and if I did the math, I'm sure I would be astounded at what we have now saved. By the way, our daughter is still using the diapers we initially bought for our second child.
Kid #2 provided another example of how to manage our diets. Our oldest as a baby got a lot of Gerber and some homemade baby foods intermixed. Our second son ate what we ate after it got passed through a grinder. I could probably count on one hand the number of times his dinner was bought in the baby food aisle. I know we saved some money there. Still though, we were ping-ponging back and forth with improving our diets and then falling into bad habits again. However, some health issues post pregnancy for Molly with our first and our second (which she has previously blogged about) pushed her to push me to change even more towards a better lifestyle.
Fast-forward again to the birth of our daughter (and third child). Having just gotten life on track after our middle child, we began life again with 3 children. Things started out simple but then got crazy. Weeks would go by where we (and particularly Molly) was frustrated with the contradictions of life. I'd try to find escapes for her, but they would not fix the underlying problems. This pushed us further to try and better our lives. Sunday Mass, which had fallen by the wayside a couple of times in the preceding years became a no excuses, we go every week matter. We went to Christmas Mass with a 3 yr old, 1 yr old and a 1 week old and survived. In the Spring, Molly pushed me to join her in reading the Bible in its entirety which in turn led to the creation of this blog. Through the blog we came up with a blog challenge that would force us into a better diet for 3 months. I hate to say it, but after a month going strong, we failed miserably.
Finally, last week Tuesday, we began an experiment after being inspired by some biblical reasons as well as some movies we watched to attempt a whole-foods, plant based diet. Minimal pre-packaged and processed foods, if any, would be allowed. In a week we have learned more about ourselves than in just about any other experiment we've done. We were strict with the diet until Sunday when we took a break (omelets for breakfast, McDonald's for dinner with ice cream for dessert). Monday we got back on track after feeling terrible Sunday night and today we did what our ultimate goal was, a mixed and balanced diet. We never intended to become vegans, but rather experience the pros and cons of a plant based diet to better incorporate it into a balanced lifestyle.
From our plant based diet experiment we learned a number of things. Despite being very sleep deprived, we both maintained energy and focus until bed time. It was only at the end of the week when we completely crashed. We learned a lot about cooking and timing through preparing a lot of meals that start with dry beans and whole grains as a base. We weaned ourselves off of severe coffee addictions in a matter of days with very little withdrawal symptoms. Molly became much closer with the kids during the past week despite being home with them everyday for the past 4 years. We got a number of awesome recipes that we otherwise never would have discovered (black bean tacos, baked sweet potatoes for breakfast, bean soup without meat that is delicious, a number of bean and grain combinations, multiple ways to prepare steal cut outs, mixing cherry juice with granola and fruit rather than yogurt or milk, etc.). We also learned that quinoa is an awesome grain to cook with and is incredibly adaptable. Most recently, we learned just how efficient we now are at preparing great meals. Tonight, we got home from the beach with about an hour before I had to teach a horn lesson. In that hour we managed to get the boys (and myself) showered and dressed and prepared and ate a meal that consisted of hand-formed burgers (w/ lettuce, tomato, onion, and an improvised avocado sauce on a grilled bun), seasoned wild rice (not instant), corn on the cob, watermelon and grilled pineapple. I can guarantee that a couple of years ago that meal in that short time frame would have been either A) McDonald's or B) pre-formed burgers from the Piggly-Wiggly with ketchup, potato chips and pre-cut watermelon (also from the Piggly Wiggly).
As I cleaned and took out the 1 bag of trash as the kids got ready for bed, I began to reflect on all of the above and realized just how far we have come in the past couple of years. That one bag of trash (cut down from 3-4 a couple of years ago with 1 child) represents all of the work we have done to improve our lives. We are healthier (both physically and financially) because of all of our efforts. We are by no means experts on anything, but I hope that our experience helps demonstrates the positive impact that making change can have in your life. You will not fix everything in one change and change will not happen overnight. There are ups and downs with change, but it is what you learn about yourself and your family during those ups and downs that will propel you to push through the difficulties and to always strive to be a better person, both for yourself and those around you.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
SFT: Don't put all your free-range eggs in one basket
With all of this recent talk about a balanced diet, I thought I'd take this opportunity to discuss faith. Not "let's talk about what faith means," but rather "in whom/what should we put our faith."
With promises to cure cancer and heart disease, to cure your fatigue, your pain, and your brittle bones, it can be easy to want to jump on the healthy eating band-wagon. It makes sense--put bad things in your body and you'll have bad health, put good things in your body and have good health. And in a perfect world, it would probably be that simple. But we don't live in a perfect world (we live on Earth, by the way, not in Heaven), so it's really not that simple. If it were this simple, then people who eat healthfully would have perfect health and live forever and people who smoke, drink, and eat "junk" would be stricken dead immediately. That's not to say that bad habits don't have long-term effects (they typically do!), but when you put your faith into the idea that being good is all it takes to have good things in life, then you set yourself up for a lot of problems in the future.
Why is believing this a problem? Imagine someone very "healthy" is given a cancer diagnosis. This "healthy" person eats mostly or only plant-based foods, exercises plenty, gets lots of rest, doesn't smoke, has the perfect "American dream," and has an all-around good life. This healthy person put their entire heart and soul into the idea that taking care of his/herself physically would keep him/her healthy and alive for a long, long time. But perhaps this healthy person forgot to consider some of the many, many other factors that contribute to good health and a good life. Perhaps s/he had a stressful job, stressful family life, or stressful relationships (or all of the above). Perhaps this person was so rigid about their healthful ways that they forgot to let go and have fun from time to time. Maybe s/he had a haunted past that was being deeply, deeply suppressed. Maybe this person forgot to consider that s/he can only take control of her/his life, and not others surrounding this person. This person definitely forgot to consider that there are several billion individuals on earth who all need individual health plans, most of whom are going to live to be the same age regardless of diet and lifestyle. Or maybe this person--in spite of having many blessings--lost touch with God and forgot to give Him thanks each and every day. Whatever the problem, this person had put their whole faith into a healthy lifestyle as a cure and this idea failed him/her.
The trouble is, when you rely on a single approach--such as healthy eating--as a means to a better life, you are "putting all your eggs in one basket," so to speak. You are left with nothing upon which to fall back. If and when you're given that cancer diagnosis, you may be at a loss for what to do and where to turn. But if you put your faith in God, then when the bad news comes, you can just turn to Him and ask, "What now?" And he might just tell you to clean up your diet. However, as long as you're taking matters into your own hands, you might be flat-out ignoring God's will...until, of course, you're ready to listen.
It's always best to give yourself the best odds for your best possible life. Eat balanced, get lots of rest, exercise, work hard, socialize, and spend time with your loved ones, but never EVER forget to thank God for your blessings and for his counsel! Try to let God's will be done and not your own. Sometimes He may just want you to let go and have a candy bar. Try to enjoy your many blessings each and every day. After all, if you can't enjoy life, what's it all for?
With promises to cure cancer and heart disease, to cure your fatigue, your pain, and your brittle bones, it can be easy to want to jump on the healthy eating band-wagon. It makes sense--put bad things in your body and you'll have bad health, put good things in your body and have good health. And in a perfect world, it would probably be that simple. But we don't live in a perfect world (we live on Earth, by the way, not in Heaven), so it's really not that simple. If it were this simple, then people who eat healthfully would have perfect health and live forever and people who smoke, drink, and eat "junk" would be stricken dead immediately. That's not to say that bad habits don't have long-term effects (they typically do!), but when you put your faith into the idea that being good is all it takes to have good things in life, then you set yourself up for a lot of problems in the future.
Why is believing this a problem? Imagine someone very "healthy" is given a cancer diagnosis. This "healthy" person eats mostly or only plant-based foods, exercises plenty, gets lots of rest, doesn't smoke, has the perfect "American dream," and has an all-around good life. This healthy person put their entire heart and soul into the idea that taking care of his/herself physically would keep him/her healthy and alive for a long, long time. But perhaps this healthy person forgot to consider some of the many, many other factors that contribute to good health and a good life. Perhaps s/he had a stressful job, stressful family life, or stressful relationships (or all of the above). Perhaps this person was so rigid about their healthful ways that they forgot to let go and have fun from time to time. Maybe s/he had a haunted past that was being deeply, deeply suppressed. Maybe this person forgot to consider that s/he can only take control of her/his life, and not others surrounding this person. This person definitely forgot to consider that there are several billion individuals on earth who all need individual health plans, most of whom are going to live to be the same age regardless of diet and lifestyle. Or maybe this person--in spite of having many blessings--lost touch with God and forgot to give Him thanks each and every day. Whatever the problem, this person had put their whole faith into a healthy lifestyle as a cure and this idea failed him/her.
The trouble is, when you rely on a single approach--such as healthy eating--as a means to a better life, you are "putting all your eggs in one basket," so to speak. You are left with nothing upon which to fall back. If and when you're given that cancer diagnosis, you may be at a loss for what to do and where to turn. But if you put your faith in God, then when the bad news comes, you can just turn to Him and ask, "What now?" And he might just tell you to clean up your diet. However, as long as you're taking matters into your own hands, you might be flat-out ignoring God's will...until, of course, you're ready to listen.
It's always best to give yourself the best odds for your best possible life. Eat balanced, get lots of rest, exercise, work hard, socialize, and spend time with your loved ones, but never EVER forget to thank God for your blessings and for his counsel! Try to let God's will be done and not your own. Sometimes He may just want you to let go and have a candy bar. Try to enjoy your many blessings each and every day. After all, if you can't enjoy life, what's it all for?
Thursday, June 21, 2012
II. Samuel 19: The aftermath of civil unrest
So we haven't been getting a lot of sleep the last couple of nights and these chapters are getting more and more confusing with new names popping up and small side stories being told while David rules.
The big story tonight is that David is the king again. A familiar theme though is that the people are petty and are fighting to get in the good graces of whoever is in power. Fair weather fans so to speak.
Now that the battle has been won, David can only focus on the death of Absalom, turning a happy day of victory into a day of mourning. Joab (always the bad-arse) calls David out and tells him that he is making a horse's arse of himself and the people won't want to follow a crybaby who weeps for the enemy (in different words of course). David straightens himself out and sets to work reclaiming his kingdom.
Meanwhile in Israel, the people aren't looking for the return of David, despite all of the good things he did for them. This makes you wonder, had David not been the great king he is always made out to be? After all, the people did turn on him pretty quickly and it wasn't until David sent his priests to Jerusalem and Judah that the elders decided they wanted David back. Why was there such seeming disdain for David? The fair-weather fans eventually did come around to take him back, with the men of Judah and Israel fighting over who "liked" David more...too bad they didn't have Facebook back then or we'd have proof.
During this story we also see some side stories making David out to be the good guy we always heard about. First he pardoned the former servant of Saul who had thrown rocks at him and cursed him as he was fleeing Jerusalem. Then, Jonathan's son that David had taken in spoke his unending devotion to David for taking him in and making him a part of his family. David also then made a promise to take care of the wishes of an elderly man who had stood by him during the whole Absalom debacle.
It seems that the stories about David are becoming shorter and less significant than the major ones we had previously read. There were some major events that were depicted in David's life previously and now we are getting the spark notes version of what else was notable in David's reign.
The big story tonight is that David is the king again. A familiar theme though is that the people are petty and are fighting to get in the good graces of whoever is in power. Fair weather fans so to speak.
Now that the battle has been won, David can only focus on the death of Absalom, turning a happy day of victory into a day of mourning. Joab (always the bad-arse) calls David out and tells him that he is making a horse's arse of himself and the people won't want to follow a crybaby who weeps for the enemy (in different words of course). David straightens himself out and sets to work reclaiming his kingdom.
Meanwhile in Israel, the people aren't looking for the return of David, despite all of the good things he did for them. This makes you wonder, had David not been the great king he is always made out to be? After all, the people did turn on him pretty quickly and it wasn't until David sent his priests to Jerusalem and Judah that the elders decided they wanted David back. Why was there such seeming disdain for David? The fair-weather fans eventually did come around to take him back, with the men of Judah and Israel fighting over who "liked" David more...too bad they didn't have Facebook back then or we'd have proof.
During this story we also see some side stories making David out to be the good guy we always heard about. First he pardoned the former servant of Saul who had thrown rocks at him and cursed him as he was fleeing Jerusalem. Then, Jonathan's son that David had taken in spoke his unending devotion to David for taking him in and making him a part of his family. David also then made a promise to take care of the wishes of an elderly man who had stood by him during the whole Absalom debacle.
It seems that the stories about David are becoming shorter and less significant than the major ones we had previously read. There were some major events that were depicted in David's life previously and now we are getting the spark notes version of what else was notable in David's reign.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
II. Samuel 18: civil war and the death of the kings son
Quick synopsis of this chapter:
David raised his people up to go into battle against Israel and the followers of Absalom. He put his commanders in charge of different sections of men, but when he wanted to go into battle with his men, they refused and told him to stay out of harm's way. David though left explicit orders that his son should not be killed.
So the battle is waged in the woods and the dangers of the forest prove to take the lives of many of the Israelites more so than the swords of David's men...similar to Robin Hood where the woodsmen use the forest as a tactical advantage. Absalom even rode his Mule into an Oak tree and got his head stuck so that he was just hanging there. One of David's men went to tell Joab this to which Joab asked, "Why didn't you kill him?" The man replied that he would not go against the orders of the king.
So...Joab took matters into his own hands and killed Absalom.
After the battle 2 messengers were sent to David. The first was not to tell David of Absalom's whereabouts while the 2nd messenger did. Perhaps this was done to lesson the blow to David at hearing the death of his son (a good news, bad news situation) or perhaps this was Joab scheming to not get in trouble for killing Absalom. In essence, by sending two messengers, Joab made it seem like they discovered Absalom dead after the battle was over, not that someone had purposely killed him in battle.
David then began weeping at the death of his son.
David raised his people up to go into battle against Israel and the followers of Absalom. He put his commanders in charge of different sections of men, but when he wanted to go into battle with his men, they refused and told him to stay out of harm's way. David though left explicit orders that his son should not be killed.
So the battle is waged in the woods and the dangers of the forest prove to take the lives of many of the Israelites more so than the swords of David's men...similar to Robin Hood where the woodsmen use the forest as a tactical advantage. Absalom even rode his Mule into an Oak tree and got his head stuck so that he was just hanging there. One of David's men went to tell Joab this to which Joab asked, "Why didn't you kill him?" The man replied that he would not go against the orders of the king.
So...Joab took matters into his own hands and killed Absalom.
After the battle 2 messengers were sent to David. The first was not to tell David of Absalom's whereabouts while the 2nd messenger did. Perhaps this was done to lesson the blow to David at hearing the death of his son (a good news, bad news situation) or perhaps this was Joab scheming to not get in trouble for killing Absalom. In essence, by sending two messengers, Joab made it seem like they discovered Absalom dead after the battle was over, not that someone had purposely killed him in battle.
David then began weeping at the death of his son.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
II. Samuel 14-17: Secret Agents and Back Door Deals
Apparently no one in Israel was capable of telling anyone else what they were really thinking. Everything seemingly had to be done secretly or deceitfully (at least in the court of David). Was David (and his subjects) just that distrusting of people? Or was this just a soap opera to entertain future generations of Jews? I mean, we joke about Kennedy and his mistresses, why wouldn't the Jewish people tell tales of their leaders in a similar fashion.
Anyway, on to tonight's reading....
I'm going to skip over names and some of the associations and give a brief synopsis of this ludicrousness. For more detail, you can read it yourself.
Where last we left our characters, Absalom had run off after killing his half-brother and David was sad about it. Now, Joab saw that David was sad and wanted to get Absalom back to make him happy again. Rather than just saying, "Sire, you should really get your son back," he decided to have a woman fake an elaborate story about one of her sons killing the other and running off, asking David to pass judgement. Catching the woman in a lie and seeing that Joab was behind the scheme, David decided to have Joab go get Absalom, but Absalom would not be allowed to see David (as punishment for what he had done?).
So Absalom came home, had a wife and some kids and didn't see David for 2 years. He decided enough was enough and kept asking Joab to bring him to David. When Joab continually ignored him, Absalom decided to send a message mafia style by burning down Joab's fields. After this show of aggression, he got an audience with the king and came back into David's graces.
Next though, Absalom went behind Davis's back and began passing judgement over people in Israel (David's job as king). The men of Israel began to respect and follow Absalom which allowed him to place spies all over the city. Once David realized that his son was trying to set an overthrow into action, David took his loyal servants and fled to the wilderness.
The next actions that would have more layers of espionage than a Tom Clancy novel. One of David's old advisers turned on him and began advising Absalom (there really wasn't much loyalty as we've seen). David sent spies back to Jerusalem to let him know when the coast was clear. He then also sent one of his most trusted advisers back to Absalom to act like he was defecting. This advisers primary purpose was to make the other turn coat adviser look like an idiot. His mission is accomplished and Absalom no longer trusts this initial adviser, which leads him to go home and hang himself. now that David has his own spy in place as one of Absolom's advisers, messengers leave Jerusalem to let David know what is going on. Their escape out of Jerusalem is quite entertaining in itself, including both a wench ratting them out and hiding in a well to avoid capture.
Surely this story will continue in our readings tomorrow night, but again I have to ask the question, "why these stories?" Why is it that these stories about David are the one's that made it into the Bible. Was it for entertainment purposes? Or was it so that future generations could see just how screwed up life was in that time?
Anyway, on to tonight's reading....
I'm going to skip over names and some of the associations and give a brief synopsis of this ludicrousness. For more detail, you can read it yourself.
Where last we left our characters, Absalom had run off after killing his half-brother and David was sad about it. Now, Joab saw that David was sad and wanted to get Absalom back to make him happy again. Rather than just saying, "Sire, you should really get your son back," he decided to have a woman fake an elaborate story about one of her sons killing the other and running off, asking David to pass judgement. Catching the woman in a lie and seeing that Joab was behind the scheme, David decided to have Joab go get Absalom, but Absalom would not be allowed to see David (as punishment for what he had done?).
So Absalom came home, had a wife and some kids and didn't see David for 2 years. He decided enough was enough and kept asking Joab to bring him to David. When Joab continually ignored him, Absalom decided to send a message mafia style by burning down Joab's fields. After this show of aggression, he got an audience with the king and came back into David's graces.
Next though, Absalom went behind Davis's back and began passing judgement over people in Israel (David's job as king). The men of Israel began to respect and follow Absalom which allowed him to place spies all over the city. Once David realized that his son was trying to set an overthrow into action, David took his loyal servants and fled to the wilderness.
The next actions that would have more layers of espionage than a Tom Clancy novel. One of David's old advisers turned on him and began advising Absalom (there really wasn't much loyalty as we've seen). David sent spies back to Jerusalem to let him know when the coast was clear. He then also sent one of his most trusted advisers back to Absalom to act like he was defecting. This advisers primary purpose was to make the other turn coat adviser look like an idiot. His mission is accomplished and Absalom no longer trusts this initial adviser, which leads him to go home and hang himself. now that David has his own spy in place as one of Absolom's advisers, messengers leave Jerusalem to let David know what is going on. Their escape out of Jerusalem is quite entertaining in itself, including both a wench ratting them out and hiding in a well to avoid capture.
Surely this story will continue in our readings tomorrow night, but again I have to ask the question, "why these stories?" Why is it that these stories about David are the one's that made it into the Bible. Was it for entertainment purposes? Or was it so that future generations could see just how screwed up life was in that time?
Monday, June 18, 2012
II. Samuel 13: These stories sure are gruesome!
We have definitely been learning a lot from reading the ENTIRE Bible. Like, there are a lot of terribly gruesome stories. The last chapters we read about David involved him sleeping with Uriah's wife, trying to get Uriah drunk to sleep with his wife to cover up the fact that she was pregnant, and then having Uriah killed.
Now, we see the dysfunction that was occurring between David's children, many of them half-siblings of each other.
Warning flag number one: this chapter begins with Amnon, one of David's son's having feelings for Tamar, his virgin half sister. If this isn't creepy enough, it gets worse.
Distraught about the fact that he can't sleep with her (because she's still a virgin, not because she's related by blood mind you), Amnon turns to his cousin, Jonadab for advice. Jonadab tells him just to fake being sick and tell David that he wants Tamar to come and make him dinner.
Amnon takes this advice and everything is going according to plan, except that when he tells her to lay with him, she refuses, reminding him that it is a big no no in Israel. Telling her that she is a fool, he then forces her into bed with him. He then gets angry with her and throws her out. She then tears her clothes (which were virgin specific) and runs to tell her full brother Absalom about this. Naturally, he is rather angry. David, meanwhile, seems to be taking everything in stride.
A couple of years later, while hanging out with some sheep shearers, Absalom requests of David that all of David's sons go for a "hike" together, when David says no, Absalom requests that only Amnon goes. After getting the OK, they go off in the wilderness and Absalom has his men kill Amnon. All of David's other son's flip out and run away.
Word gets back to David that all of his son's are dead except for one and David is naturally distraught. Turning to his nephew Jonadab (yep, the same one who told Amnon how to sleep with his half-sister), David is told that he shouldn't be upset because really there is only one body that has been found. After this, all of David's sons come home. Except for Absalom who has fled after having his half-brother slain. David continues to mourn daily for Absalom because he doesn't know where he is, but is fine with the death of Amnon.
This is twice now that we have seen David more concerned about a son in danger than a son who is dead. Remember back to the Uriah incident. When David's son by Bathsheeba was dying, David would not eat he was so stricken with grief. Once the baby was dead, he simply went on with his life as if nothing had happened.
Is this something specific to David? Or was this a custom of the time? Was death such a regular part of life back then that people just went on with their lives as if the person never existed? Either way, Molly and I have come to question, why include these stories out of David's life? Will they go to shed light on future actions? Perhaps we'll know more once reading some more. Again though, I must point out that Hollywood could not come up with more intense and dramatic story lines.
SFT: Feeding children
Hi all,
Well, once again my SFT isn't coming on Sunday...but it's just easier to keep calling it the Sunday Fresh Take! I want to keep this segment up because I've been getting a lot of positive response on this section in particular.
Today I want to talk--yet again!--about diet. As a stay-at-home-mom with three very healthy, beautiful kids, it is quite common that I get asked, "Molly, what do you feed your kids?" Sometimes they ask because they notice how spunky and healthy my kids are and sometimes they ask because I think that is just a hard topic for a lot of parents, especially new parents. This should come as no surprise to my followers, but my answer is usually, "I just feed them a balanced diet! Lots of variety, I try to incorporate new meals regularly, and much of our diet is based on healthy 'snacking.'" And that is ALL that I do!
Yes, our kids eat meat--not a lot, not every day, but some days and in an appropriate-sized portion (and it's an unspoken rule that when we eat it, we only have it once during the day). And I do try to avoid processed meats as much as possible (I personally have never really liked these that much so this was an easy one for me) . Yes, our kids eat dairy--I typically only give them a couple of ounces of milk at meal times, and if they are thirsty otherwise, they can have water. Yes, our kids eat eggs--but more and more I am trying to use the eggs as the vehicle for getting more veggies into their mouths! (Pepper, mushroom, tomato, and onion omelet anyone?) Mostly, however, our kids eat quite a bit of plant-based foods. I try to feed them whole grains; not whole grain crackers, etc, but THE WHOLE GRAIN. Rice, oatmeal (these are common), and sometimes others...we are working on adding a little variety in that department. The thing I like about grains is that you can swap grains out for new, different grains and keep seasoning them the way that you would the old grain! As for veggies, since we still have developing teeth/jaws in our household, we do serve a lot of cooked veggies versus raw. My kids actually love salad, and if I am eating one and don't offer it to them, they usually ask me for some of mine. Salad is a great way to get kids to eat more veggies...most kids like it, and if you don't smother it in an overdose of dressing, they are of course quite good for your children (and you). Fruits are easy. I haven't met a kid who doesn't like fruit. They're sweet, they're colorful, and are often a lot easier for them to chew than raw veggies. Use fruit as a bribe to get them to finish the rest of their food--fruit is dessert! I also like to give my kids nuts. For little mouths, stay away from these, but once they get enough teeth to handle them, give them nuts one at a time and monitor them closely. There's no reason to wait too long to give them these. We're currently working on adding more beans into our diet. The number one place we add them in is soup--luckily for us, I make quite a bit of soup, so that helps to up our intake. I find that my kids and I eat them a lot more readily if they aren't cooked within an inch of their life. So when your recipe tells you to cook them for 3 or 4 hours, try cooking them only 2-and-a-half...they're more "al dente" this way. Maybe that will help you, too!
I have never been one to cook with only low-fat methods; we use butter, oil, etc, but the key is, don't use too much. A little goes a long way. One way to make an animal fat swap is by using avocado! Now, it doesn't work to use it in place of cooking oil, but I have used it in place of certain condiments. Put it on something that you would normally spread with butter, place a slice of cheese on, or smear with mayo/cream cheese. The texture is similar, it has a very mild flavor (I'd call it mildly tangy, at best), and since it is a fruit, it has a lot of fiber and nutrients. If you find it too bland, just sprinkle a little salt on it. If you are eating the type of diet that we typically do in our household, a little self-added salt shouldn't hurt in any way.
How do I get my kids to eat this way? Now it's not a challenge at all. Some days it may still take a little poking and prodding, but once it's instilled in them, they will pretty openly eat anything I put in front of them. We have a policy at mealtime: You get "blank" amount of time to eat (a reasonable amount), if you haven't finished by the time the timer beeps, you get this at your next meal and can't rejoin us for the next meal until you've finished. It feels a little cruel at first, but as your pediatrician will probably tell you, your children will not starve themselves! I have never had to have this go beyond one meal...and as most parents of young'uns can probably relate, even the best of eaters will protest a meal or two in a day from time to time!
Also, if you think getting them to try new things and eat more fruits and veggies will be tough, you may be right BUT if you are willing to make any necessary changes in your own diet, this will come along a lot quicker. You can't really force your kid to eat broccoli if you won't eat it, too! Rarely I will have to tell a temporary small white lie to get them to abide--"Look! Your potatoes are orange! Isn't that COOL?!" Or "Mmm, yup, buddy, that's cheese on your crackers" (instead of avocado). And of course, after they devoured it, I let them in on what they've really just eaten, but I act really excited and proud of them for eating something new.
We do have treats, but they have to be well-earned. A day of really good behavior, good eating, and a little sunshine certainly warrants a family walk to the ice cream place down the street! This probably equates to a once-a-week occurrence when you factor in special occasions (which happen a lot when you have as many cousins as they do!)
One thing I do NOT let them get away with is telling me that they don't like a food. Okay, so you try something and you're not nuts about it the first time, but when you are eating something that's very foreign to you, that is an expected response. Have them try again. And again. And again. At least have them try a handful of times. They may not still love it, but this way you can typically get them to eat it when you serve it and not have to worry about avoiding cooking certain meals or becoming a short-order cook for a picky family. And if you persist and they still tell you they don't like it, then you can tell them to "pick it out" themselves! This doesn't mean that I push a food or force it down their throats, but that I just keep presenting it to them and insisting that they try it. (See three paragraphs above.)
The awesome thing about all of this is that you do not have to be a gourmet chef to get them a balanced diet. Raw, whole fruits and veggies are just about the easiest thing to "prepare." Grains are no harder to cook than pasta. Veggies are no harder to cut up than meat. You will not wind up with more dishes (unless you were previously eating all pre-packaged meals) and it's actually easier to vary what you eat this way than when you serve meat-heavy dishes. Fruits and veggies, nuts, grains, and beans all have their own unique flavor and when you accept that fact, your meals never have to be boring.
The most important point to remember? Balance. And yes, that means having your lazy, screw-up days, too. There are plenty of days where I feel like a bad parent because half of what the kids ate that day came out of a box. There are lots of times that I could kick myself for giving them sweets right before bed. But you know what? That's part of balance. If you didn't have your failures to set you straight, you might not come back to what's good, right, and balanced.
Feeding kids can be a lot of fun. It has to start with you--you have to take the initiative to give them what's good, but you also have to lead by example. Make sure they're also getting adequate rest and adequate play-time/exercise. I can't prove this yet, but I believe that some day your kids will thank you for your consistency and persistence. And for the days that you feel like a flop as a parent? Give them hugs so tight that they giggle!
Have a great, healthy, balanced week everyone!
Molly
Well, once again my SFT isn't coming on Sunday...but it's just easier to keep calling it the Sunday Fresh Take! I want to keep this segment up because I've been getting a lot of positive response on this section in particular.
Today I want to talk--yet again!--about diet. As a stay-at-home-mom with three very healthy, beautiful kids, it is quite common that I get asked, "Molly, what do you feed your kids?" Sometimes they ask because they notice how spunky and healthy my kids are and sometimes they ask because I think that is just a hard topic for a lot of parents, especially new parents. This should come as no surprise to my followers, but my answer is usually, "I just feed them a balanced diet! Lots of variety, I try to incorporate new meals regularly, and much of our diet is based on healthy 'snacking.'" And that is ALL that I do!
Yes, our kids eat meat--not a lot, not every day, but some days and in an appropriate-sized portion (and it's an unspoken rule that when we eat it, we only have it once during the day). And I do try to avoid processed meats as much as possible (I personally have never really liked these that much so this was an easy one for me) . Yes, our kids eat dairy--I typically only give them a couple of ounces of milk at meal times, and if they are thirsty otherwise, they can have water. Yes, our kids eat eggs--but more and more I am trying to use the eggs as the vehicle for getting more veggies into their mouths! (Pepper, mushroom, tomato, and onion omelet anyone?) Mostly, however, our kids eat quite a bit of plant-based foods. I try to feed them whole grains; not whole grain crackers, etc, but THE WHOLE GRAIN. Rice, oatmeal (these are common), and sometimes others...we are working on adding a little variety in that department. The thing I like about grains is that you can swap grains out for new, different grains and keep seasoning them the way that you would the old grain! As for veggies, since we still have developing teeth/jaws in our household, we do serve a lot of cooked veggies versus raw. My kids actually love salad, and if I am eating one and don't offer it to them, they usually ask me for some of mine. Salad is a great way to get kids to eat more veggies...most kids like it, and if you don't smother it in an overdose of dressing, they are of course quite good for your children (and you). Fruits are easy. I haven't met a kid who doesn't like fruit. They're sweet, they're colorful, and are often a lot easier for them to chew than raw veggies. Use fruit as a bribe to get them to finish the rest of their food--fruit is dessert! I also like to give my kids nuts. For little mouths, stay away from these, but once they get enough teeth to handle them, give them nuts one at a time and monitor them closely. There's no reason to wait too long to give them these. We're currently working on adding more beans into our diet. The number one place we add them in is soup--luckily for us, I make quite a bit of soup, so that helps to up our intake. I find that my kids and I eat them a lot more readily if they aren't cooked within an inch of their life. So when your recipe tells you to cook them for 3 or 4 hours, try cooking them only 2-and-a-half...they're more "al dente" this way. Maybe that will help you, too!
I have never been one to cook with only low-fat methods; we use butter, oil, etc, but the key is, don't use too much. A little goes a long way. One way to make an animal fat swap is by using avocado! Now, it doesn't work to use it in place of cooking oil, but I have used it in place of certain condiments. Put it on something that you would normally spread with butter, place a slice of cheese on, or smear with mayo/cream cheese. The texture is similar, it has a very mild flavor (I'd call it mildly tangy, at best), and since it is a fruit, it has a lot of fiber and nutrients. If you find it too bland, just sprinkle a little salt on it. If you are eating the type of diet that we typically do in our household, a little self-added salt shouldn't hurt in any way.
How do I get my kids to eat this way? Now it's not a challenge at all. Some days it may still take a little poking and prodding, but once it's instilled in them, they will pretty openly eat anything I put in front of them. We have a policy at mealtime: You get "blank" amount of time to eat (a reasonable amount), if you haven't finished by the time the timer beeps, you get this at your next meal and can't rejoin us for the next meal until you've finished. It feels a little cruel at first, but as your pediatrician will probably tell you, your children will not starve themselves! I have never had to have this go beyond one meal...and as most parents of young'uns can probably relate, even the best of eaters will protest a meal or two in a day from time to time!
Also, if you think getting them to try new things and eat more fruits and veggies will be tough, you may be right BUT if you are willing to make any necessary changes in your own diet, this will come along a lot quicker. You can't really force your kid to eat broccoli if you won't eat it, too! Rarely I will have to tell a temporary small white lie to get them to abide--"Look! Your potatoes are orange! Isn't that COOL?!" Or "Mmm, yup, buddy, that's cheese on your crackers" (instead of avocado). And of course, after they devoured it, I let them in on what they've really just eaten, but I act really excited and proud of them for eating something new.
We do have treats, but they have to be well-earned. A day of really good behavior, good eating, and a little sunshine certainly warrants a family walk to the ice cream place down the street! This probably equates to a once-a-week occurrence when you factor in special occasions (which happen a lot when you have as many cousins as they do!)
One thing I do NOT let them get away with is telling me that they don't like a food. Okay, so you try something and you're not nuts about it the first time, but when you are eating something that's very foreign to you, that is an expected response. Have them try again. And again. And again. At least have them try a handful of times. They may not still love it, but this way you can typically get them to eat it when you serve it and not have to worry about avoiding cooking certain meals or becoming a short-order cook for a picky family. And if you persist and they still tell you they don't like it, then you can tell them to "pick it out" themselves! This doesn't mean that I push a food or force it down their throats, but that I just keep presenting it to them and insisting that they try it. (See three paragraphs above.)
The awesome thing about all of this is that you do not have to be a gourmet chef to get them a balanced diet. Raw, whole fruits and veggies are just about the easiest thing to "prepare." Grains are no harder to cook than pasta. Veggies are no harder to cut up than meat. You will not wind up with more dishes (unless you were previously eating all pre-packaged meals) and it's actually easier to vary what you eat this way than when you serve meat-heavy dishes. Fruits and veggies, nuts, grains, and beans all have their own unique flavor and when you accept that fact, your meals never have to be boring.
The most important point to remember? Balance. And yes, that means having your lazy, screw-up days, too. There are plenty of days where I feel like a bad parent because half of what the kids ate that day came out of a box. There are lots of times that I could kick myself for giving them sweets right before bed. But you know what? That's part of balance. If you didn't have your failures to set you straight, you might not come back to what's good, right, and balanced.
Feeding kids can be a lot of fun. It has to start with you--you have to take the initiative to give them what's good, but you also have to lead by example. Make sure they're also getting adequate rest and adequate play-time/exercise. I can't prove this yet, but I believe that some day your kids will thank you for your consistency and persistence. And for the days that you feel like a flop as a parent? Give them hugs so tight that they giggle!
Have a great, healthy, balanced week everyone!
Molly
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