Monday, February 25, 2013

Burdens and Sabbath




Today I'm blogging over at the Summit Home website, reflecting on two passages of scripture:
“And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.”   
                 --Jeremiah 17:22

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”   
                  --Mark 2:27-28

 You can click here to check out the full post.



For this Lenten season I am giving up perfectionism and posting a blog each day, Monday through Friday, from Ash Wednesday on February 13th through Easter, on March 31st.  For more information, read “What Are You Giving Up?”  Jesus died for me and loves me, and this is an exercise in remembering that.  Thanks for joining me!


photo credit: Michael Foley Photography via photopin cc

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Inertia and Birds


Geeky fun ahead!  This post has physics and geometry in it.  And WALL-E.  And baby birds.  Just to give you a heads up.



An object at rest tends to stay at rest.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion.

This is the law of inertia.  Both states—rest and motion—are a type of rest.  It takes work to shift an object out of rest and it takes work to stop an object in motion.  Work is the application of force.  Work resists or opposes the natural tendency of an object.  Friction, air resistance, and gravity are all forces in abundance on earth and so the law of inertia isn’t as obvious here.  It is impossible to build a perpetual motion machine because of friction, even though perpetual or continual motion seems to be necessary to the law of inertia. 

In space, however, inertia is more easily observed.  Just watch the scene in WALL-E where WALL-E and EVE are dancing outside the Axiom.  WALL-E uses the fire extinguisher to move himself.  Without the force of the goop leaving the extinguisher, he can’t move.  And without applying an opposite force of the goop, he can’t stop. 

Also, when the space shuttle went on a mission, it was the changing from rest on the surface of the earth that took the most work.  The space shuttle had to expend energy to leave the earth.  Resting on the earth did not take energy.  And orbiting the earth did not take energy.  Even though the space shuttle was traveling at 17,580 miles an hour, it was simply in a controlled perpetual fall.  Even though one state involves motion, both are a type of rest. 

Now for the birds.  When birds are born, the mother bird has made a nest and lined it with what she could find to make it as soft and comfortable as possible.  The chicks need to stay in the nest as they grow.  They need to stay at rest.  And they tend do, since leaving the nest at this stage involves falling to their death—either on impact or as a meal for another animal.  When the birds have grown and it comes time for them to learn to fly, the mother bird takes out the comfortable lining and makes the nest pokey.  She gives the grown chicks incentive to take the leap and learn to fly.  If necessary, she applies force to change them from their tendency to rest and to shift them into motion. 

From the chick’s point of view, what is going on?  The nest is all they’ve ever known.  They’ve never used their wings.  How do they come to trust them?  Before, jumping out of the nest meant death, how do they switch?  Do they even realize that they have wings before they jump?  What they need to do is just jump and stick out their wings.  The wind does the rest.  It’s a controlled falling.  It’s easy, once you’re doing it.  But how do you start?

Leap to what you think is your death.  Spread out your wings, or arms.  And the wind, or Spirit, does the rest. 

That seems like how a lot of things in this life of faith work.  Submit to what you don’t understand, can’t explain, can’t control, can’t do on your own.  Just yield.  Take your leap, then ride the wind.  It’s not a matter of trusting my wings, but of asking if I even have them. 

Specifically, in life right now, I don’t know what I’m doing.  I’m standing on the edge, and I’m not really sure if it’s time to jump.  Does the jumping involve a job change?  Which side of the nest should I jump out of?  When should I jump?  I don’t know.  But it’s getting increasingly uncomfortable, so it’ll probably be soon! 


      And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.  For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
      Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give to the needy.  Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 
                  Luke 12:29-34


And I think, “Where is my heart—in the nest or in the wind?”

And the Spirit says, “Do not worry.  Seek your Father’s kingdom—it is His good and joyous pleasure to give it to you!” 

We are a little flock of grown baby birds.  He knows what we need, and that we should stick together, and seek our Father’s kingdom together.  And we should bring tangible good news and food and clothing to the poor, freedom to those bound up.  We, little flock, should break oppression.  It is still the year of our Father’s favor!  There is no hesitancy or reluctance in Him—He knows what we need and joyously provides abundance.  Little flock, let us together give out the abundance of our Father’s house, not worry about our needs, and rest in our Father’s great love for us.  


 Special thanks to my friend Vinnie for the inspiration for this post.  

For this Lenten season I am giving up perfectionism and posting a blog each day, Monday through Friday, from Ash Wednesday on February 13th, through Easter, on March 31st.  For more information, read “What Are You Giving Up?  Jesus died for me and loves me, and this is an exercise in remembering that.  Thanks for joining me!

photo credit: Leo Laporte via photopin cc

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

3yoBFFs





I’m not sure if there could possibly be anything more delightful then having a two-year-old BFF.  Except maybe when that BFF turns into your three-year-old BFF.  And I am blessed with having two! 

Tonight I got home from work and was halfway through making dinner (I say “making” in a very loose sense—I made bullion and dumped rice and corn in it) when a friend calls to invite me to hang out. 

“Um, tonight?”

“Yeah, it’s Wednesday.  My husband is working late.”

“Uh, ok,” I say, my brain switching gears.  “I just finished making dinner.  I guess it can be tomorrow’s lunch.”  It takes me a bit to move from about-to-eat mode into not-about-to-eat mode.

“I’ve got some acorn squash soup we can have.”

About-to-eat mode back on!  “Ok, see you soon.” 

I arrive at my friend’s house and am inside the door taking off my shoes when my three-year-old BFF (3yoBFF hence forth) turns the corner and notices me.  She stops, then points excitedly, jumps up and down, and says, “LOOT Mama!  Loot!  It’s Sawah!  Sawah’s here!!”  She runs over and gives me a great big bear hug.  And I nearly explode from the cuteness. 

What’s awesome about my 3yoBFF’s greeting is her uninhibited enthusiasm.  She is excited to see me and lets everyone know.  In fact, she thinks that everyone should be as excited as she is to see me.  Because I am Sawah and I am awesome!  At least in my 3yoBFF’s eyes.  Which isn’t really the “least”, but very important indeed. 

What is also amazing—and slightly frightening—is that I have done nothing to be this awesome.  One day I was just a person hanging out with her parents, the next I was Sawah the Awesome!  (For a little while there I was inexplicably Wheedjah the Awesome.  I had visions of my 3yoBFF coming back home on break from college and hanging out with Wheedjah, I thought the nick name was so great.  But she had other ideas, and went back to calling me some version of Sarah three months later.) 

And to take a cheesy post to a whole new level of cheesy—tonight was probably one of the best pictures of grace I’ve ever seen.  Want to know what unmerited favor is?  It’s my 3yoBFF’s excitement and joy at my presence.  I did nothing and could do nothing to earn that.  She just bestows it upon me.  And in the process fills my heart to near bursting.  If I can drop propriety and dignity I can almost imagine Jesus saying with as much excitement, “LOOK Abba!  Look!  It’s Sarah!  Sarah’s here!!”




For this Lenten season I am giving up perfectionism and posting a blog each day, Monday through Friday, from Ash Wednesday on February 13th, through Easter, on March 31st.  For more information, read “What Are You Giving Up?  Jesus died for me and loves me, and this is an exercise in remembering that.  Thanks for joining me!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Liquefied





After a night of uneasy dreams, I woke up praying, “I need You, God, I need You.”  (Which is always true, but that kind of prayer springs up more readily when I’m out of sorts.)  I was uneasy about work mostly, since it has been a pretty stressful year.  So I shared the stressors with God, then turned to Psalms.  In my perpetual cycling through Psalms, I read 103, 104, and 105 this morning.  These are three lengthy Psalms recounting the works of the Lord, from details about His provision for each aspect of creation then to recounting His history of faithfulness to Israel.  It provided great perspective.

Psalm 105 talks about Joseph in verse 16-19.  Verse 19 says, “until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.”  Tested, tried—or refined.  The story of Joseph is a favorite of Christians when they are trying to encourage someone who is facing difficult situations.  I have been on the receiving end of this attempt at encouragement, and I’ve never found comfort in someone comparing my situation even remotely to Joseph’s.  I’d think, “I don’t want to be a Joseph!”  Joseph was the eleventh son in a dysfunctional family, who was spoiled and therefore either arrogantly prideful or completely clueless.  (Why else would you tell your older, not spoiled and therefore resentful brothers, that they would bow down to you one day?  And why would you tell them this not once but twice?!)  His brothers then sell him into slavery, as a concession for not killing him.  In slavery, he is faithful and promoted to head slave—but still a slave.  He resists the immoral requests of his master’s wife, and gets falsely accused of initiating the very immoral act that he refused.  Because of his moral stance, he ends up getting thrown in jail.  He is now worse than a slave. 

Betrayed, beaten, falsely accused, imprisoned—not encouraging.  Yeah, Joseph rises to second in command over Egypt and saves the known world from the biggest famine it’s ever seen.  But—and this is my American culture showing itself—was it worth it?  On a personal level, was it worth it to Joseph?  I mean, he names his first kid because “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house,” and the second “for God has made me fruitful in the land of my afflictions.”  (Genesis 41:51-52)  Bitter much?  Is he forgetting his hardship or remembering it every time his says his kids’ names? 

Interestingly, though, when Joseph asks his father Jacob to bless his sons, Jacob gives the greater blessing to the younger—over Joseph’s protests.  It is like, “No Joseph, don’t dwell on forgetting.  Dwell on the fruitfulness.” 

Back to Psalm 105:19, “until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.”  “Tested” sounds really negative.  It’s also translated “tried”, which isn’t much better.  The word means “refined”, as in refining metal.  This is both good and bad.  Refining is way more intense sounding then just testing/trying.  It’s a process of intense head—literally liquefying metal—to remove impurities.  Saying that the word of the Lord liquefied Joseph like metal strikes me as way more painful than mere testing.

And the goals of refining are more intense, too.  The goal of a test is to pass.  “Yay, I got a B+.  I passed.”  Sounds kind of arbitrary of God.  But the goal of refining is a stronger, purer metal.  That sounds much more purposeful—and more worth it.  If I’m going to be compared to one liquefied by the word of God, if the goal is more than a passing grade, but instead a truer strength and purity, an enduring purpose—well, to be honest, that’s still crazy.  But crazy difficult and crazy worth it go together. 

We’re suppose to judge things by their fruit.  In the end, what was the fruit of the word of the Lord refining Joseph?  Yes, the known world was saved.  Yes, God cares about creation collectively.  But God also cares about His creation individually (just check out the Psalm prior, 104).  What was the fruit for Joseph personally?  Instead of forgetting his father’s house, he has to confront them.  And I think they were reconciled, though still pretty dysfunctional.   In blessing Joseph’s younger son—the one named after fruitfulness—I think Joseph was being reminded to remember the fruit of his refining.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
   who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
   who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 
                                      Psalm 103:2-5

The liquefying is no less crazy painful.  But the benefits of being liquefied are crazy fruitful, too.  Remind me of that when I'm saying ouch.




For this Lenten season I am giving up perfectionism and posting a blog each day, Monday through Friday, from Ash Wednesday on February 13th, through Easter, on March 31st.  For more information, read “What Are You Giving Up?  Jesus died for me and loves me, and this is an exercise in remembering that.  Thanks for joining me!

photo credit: Christian Toennesen via photopin cc