April 18, 2007
Coincidental? Nope.
Verses from my devotions yesterday:
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
--Hosea 14:9 (in context)
Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother,
for every brother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity.
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.
--Jeremiah 9:4-6 (in context)
Did you notice? In this passage, the grossness of the sin mounts and mounts, and what's the worst of the sins listed in this passage? What's the absolute peak of sin you can commit? "...they refuse to know me." Come on, folks. Let's press on to know him!
Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."
--Jeremiah 9:23-24 (in context again)
And here's that very point underlined for us again. Just a few verses later, Jeremiah again calls us to understand and know him. He is the one (the only one) who practices love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, after all. Come to know him, and come to know him better.
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January 22, 2007
47,282,923.
(I was going to blog a whole post full of stuff, like a whole bunch of post-its scattered all over a desk, but instead I will blog about today's anniversary.)
January 22, 1973. Our Supreme Court voted to legalize abortions. (More specifically, they voted that it was illegal for a state to forbid abortions.)
There's a lot of rhetoric around about prolifers and prochoicers. I'm not going there, not into all that NOW stuff. For me, this post is about the sadness of all that lost life.
National Right to Life has this page. 47,282,923 people have lost their lives since 1973. Just stop and think about that. I'm 27. This statistic means that there are 47,282,923 people who should be here -- around -- from ages 34 and younger. How many classmates, schoolmates, colleagues, church friends, students, little buddies, and kindred spirits should be here who aren't?
We look across the pond (not that one...the other one to the West) at China and marvel at a whole generation of only children, most of whom are boys, because of their strict population-control policy. We fail to look here and think that we could have a whole nother 50 million people here in our country.
I don't know them. I don't know any of them. But I've wondered who I've missed out on knowing and loving and caring for and laughing with and looking after.
I've never had an abortion. I don't know anyone who has. I've read plenty about it and wonder how someone could do that, but I've never been in that sort of situation. I haven't walked a mile in your shoes, friend, and I don't understand. I ache for you if you have suffered from abortion. Have you had an abortion? Did your girlfriend have an abortion? Sister? Mom? Friend? I'm sorry. I wish I could reach across this monitor and give you a hug and grieve with you over your loss, but I can't.
Please go here and read about how you can find someone who will give you a hug, some counseling, some help, and the best news of all (coupled with the worst news ever):
It's wrong to take a life. It's sin. (That's the bad part.) But Jesus gave his life up willingly to make way for forgiveness for those of us who have taken lives. (That's the good part!) Sin causes consequences--there are penalties we have to pay when we commit sins. (Bad part again.) But with Jesus there is healing, redemption, and restoration. (Good part!) Jesus died, so he knows the deal with consequences. He experienced them. But then he came out of the grave, un-did that most horrible of consequences, and showed us that when we are united with him, deadly consequences can be un-made.
If you're suffering from consequences, please, please ask for help. These people can help. So can these. And so can I. Drop me an email: mrs.janedoe [at]yahoo[dot]com.
47,282,923.
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January 30, 2006
Why I Can't be a Wedding Planner...
Although I could do the event planning and work with someone to do the decorating and other stuff, I'd go mad dealing with the Bridezillas and/or their mothers and/or their sisters and/or their Best Friends and/or them all combined.
I was watching some Bridezillas today on WE (Women's Entertainment) and could not believe the fussiness and pickiness of these women. One woman couldn't decide between a navy dress or a gray dress for her rehearsal. The gray was $400 ($400!) and was more classic, more traditional, very pretty, and had a boat-neck neckline. The navy was $600 ($600!!) and was longer, more elegant, very pretty, but with the plunging neckline. She tried to get the boutique owner to modify the neckline of the gray and make it plunge too, but she (sensibly) declined, saying that the gray would look stupid with a plunging neckline. She was right, by the way, and the poor bride had to decide! She decided on the navy--she liked the neckline, and it was very pretty, but $600 ($600!!)? I wore a dress I'd bought a few years before to my rehearsal. I graduated in that dress and got engaged in that dress and then rehearsed in that dress.
Meanwhile, another bride's sisters and bridesmaids were home in the Hamptons getting ready for a bridal shower, and they didn't like the way the party planner set up the outdoor tables' umbrellas. The umbrellas were green, and the women liked the white umbrellas better. The women discussed this for about 10 minutes while they got the gumption to go talk to the party planner about it. It was like they were afraid to go talk to her. (Ladies, here's a secret...she's your employee. You are paying her a large fee to do things your way, and it's her job to do things your way. Are you afraid of hurting her feelings? Sheesh. Be professional, go over there, and say, "Do you mind changing the umbrellas back to the white? We like it better that way. Yes, thank you for changing it. Yes, the green does provide more shade from the sun. But we like the white." They were all scared of just talking to her and telling her...and then the planner was acting offended that they DARED question her. Sheesh.
I'm such a Westerner, such a Coloradan. I would have just marched over there and changed the umbrellas and made small talk about how nice the flower arrangements and the custom-printed napkins and the special solid-silver silverware looked and how cute the pink ice cubes looked while I changed the #^$% green umbrellas.
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January 28, 2006
Manor House
There's a great reality show on PBS called Manor House. Unlike Big Brother, Survivor, and those types of reality shows, this one really is reality. It's an experiment: taking about 14 modern-day folks and setting them in an Edwardian Manor House and causing them to live the life of 1910 England.
The Cast:
Upstairs: the Master, Lord John Oliff-Cooper; his wife, Lady Oliff-Cooper; their sons, Mister Jonty (about 16) and Master Guy (about 10) Oliff-Cooper; and Miss Avril Anson, Lady Oliff-Cooper's unmarried sister.
Downstairs: Mr. Edgar, the butler; Charlie, the First Footman; Tristan, the Groom; Rob, the Second Footman, and Kenny, the Hall Boy. Mrs. Davies, the housekeeper; Rebecca, the First Housemaid; Jessica, the Second Housemaid, and Erika, the Third Housemaid. M. Dubiard, the Chef de Cuisine; Antonia, the Kitchen Maid; and Ellen, the Scullery Maid.
Upstairs/Downstairs: Morrison, the Lady's Maid; and Mr. Raj Singh, Master Guy's Tutor.
Several things of note just for this entry: Edwardian life is very strictly stratified. The residents of this house strictly feel the upstairs/downstairs division and live it. They don't mix--except Morrison has become Lady Oliff-Cooper's confidante (she spends all her time dressing Lady Oliff-Cooper, caring for her clothes, and fixing her hair), replacing Miss Anson as Lady Oliff-Cooper's confidante, and Mr. Edgar is Lord Oliff-Cooper's buddy now, caring for his needs and doing the dirty work of overseeing and disciplining the staff.
The hypocrisy of the Family is astonishing, especially Lord John's hypocrisy. In last night's episode (which we of course recorded), Lord John gave the servants the instruction (via Mr. Edgar) that they were to strictly adhere to Edwardian rules. If they were caught in romantic liaisons, the male was to be horsewhipped and the female was to be dismissed without a reference. They were not to sneak more than one bath a week. They were to work hard and not expect their days off.
Meanwhile, Miss Anson is feeling depressed and out-of-sorts. She's lost her friendship with her sister, who's getting chummy with Morrison, her ladies' maid; she has lost her career, she's lost her status because she doens't have a man (so very important in this era). She is seriously struggling with depression, and Lord John goes and says that he surely understands her situation, but there's no point in having the experiment if they're not going to do it fully.
So he has no problem making others pay for his vanity in 'the experiment.' Mr. Edgar pays by having to enforce Sir John's edicts to the rest of the staff; Miss Anson pays by being lonely and reduced to being nothing but a hanger-on to her sister's husband's largess. BUT when Sir John needs to pay by eating period food (animal fat compote for breakfast, for example; lots of potatoes, rice, and other starches, and no fruit or vegetables that aren't stewed), he puts his foot down. He refuses to eat the types of foods that period Edwardians ate and complains to his dinner companions in front of his butler and footmen. When the manor hosts a Saturday-to-Monday hunting party, Sir John complains about the food and the servants to his guests in front of the staff--what an insult to all of them, but especially to Mr. Edgar.
I've got an interesting analogy coming here, but I've got to get to ironing and laundry, so I'll finish/update this later, so you all can get to readin' it.
In conclusion, Manor House is fascinating. It's on PBS, 11pm on Friday nights. Set your VCR if that's too late, but this show is simply fascinating. I highly recommend it--and all of PBS's "House" series.
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