Reckless Praise

Just two nights ago, Baileigh was praising around the house by herself to one of her new favs. ------->
She got so into it that she ended up smashing her face on the edge of the coffee table. She busted open her lip, cut up her gums, and has a wiggly tooth or two. There was a ton of blood and if Doug wasn't home to talk me out of it, I would have gone straight to the ER. It was pretty scary, and I assumed she would be cautious around that table from now on.


But I put on some praise music this morning and she immediately starts skipping around the table saying, "Come on, Mom!" 


"Be careful!!!" I nervously yelled back. But she just smiled with her still swollen mouth and kept moving and wiggling. 

Regardless of the pain, the fear, the embarrassment.. she was right back to praising. I thought, "I want that reckless, right back at it, kinda praise!" Careless of consequence when it comes to giving my God the glory. But maybe we should put some padding around that coffee table in the meantime! 

"I will celebrate before the LORD.  I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."  

(2 Samuel 6:21b-22a)

Extremes

I once got a C+ on a speech a wrote in college because I got so fired up about the topic that the Professor said it was more like a rant than a speech (it also may have had something to do with her being a bumper-sticker supporter of the person I was ranting against Ooops!) Anyway, I came across a seriously disturbing article in the NY Times this week and I will try my best to just share and avoid ranting, but I can't promise anything.

The article is titled Bridal Hunger Games: Losing Weight in Time for the Wedding. It's worth the click. You will be amazed at how this Style Section article seems to glorify, or at least normalize, these extreme wedding weight loss trends. The highlighted method is receiving a 10-day feeding tube through your nose which pumps you a mere 800-calories a day while you go about your everyday business (minus eating food). Is it really more of an inconvenience to go to the gym a few times a week than to walk around with a tube in your nose explaining to the sympathetic onlookers that you are not dying of cancer, but instead trying to drop a few pounds for your wedding? This isn't an obese woman looking to be mobile again; these are slightly overweight women looking to be immediately skinny. I don't understand how this is legal, really.

Leading up to my wedding, I definitely had some weight to I wanted to shed. I started teaching two classes a day, running in the mornings, and popping avocados like candy. Sure, it took more like 3 months than 10-days to get there, but I felt pretty awesome on my wedding day. I can't imagine how sickly someone would feel walking down the aisle like they just voluntarily spent a week in the hospital. Eating a little smarter and staying active may be the old-fashioned way nowadays, but it's always going to be the healthy way.

Even still, I can't help but to disagree with the saying, "Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels" because I can think of at least a dozen things that taste better than anything feels and I plan on eating them occasionally :)  But as extreme as the mentioned fad procedures are, I definitely need the basic, basic reminder that there is no substitute for healthy living. No doubt this insanity is going to grow in popularity and feeding tube centers could put Weight Watchers out of business one day, but I'd rather just eat me some salad please.

There has to be a balance, a middle-ground out there somewhere. The Word says we should neither treat our bodies like crap nor obsess over them.    “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)  While our bodies may just be earthly, temporary things, my Creator gifted me with a body, and I want to honor Him simply by choosing to respect it. I really do.

Biblical Backtalk

Earlier today Baileigh decided to take her dozens of books off of the self and pile them all over her room, which was fine. But when I told her she couldn't watch a show until they were all put back, she looked at the huge mess surrounding her and said she couldn't do it by herself. I said, "You took them all out by yourself, so you can clean em all up by yourself," and I walked out of the room.



My 3-year-old calmly replied under her breath.. "But you're still supposed to treat people how you want to be treated. You need to help people like Jesus helped people. And I just need a little help." 

Touché little one. Not sure if she was manipulating her momma or I just got handed some truth from a preschooler. LOL  Thanks a lot Grace Lutheran Preschool  ;)

Thank You for the Cross

I love the crazy range of emotions that this week brings. This past Sunday brought excitement and anticipation as we remembered Jesus triumphantly entering Jerusalem, then Thursday comes with reverence as we reflect on the Last Meal and His final hours. Friday is a somber day, focusing on the cross and His death. But isn't it awesome that we only have to wait until Sunday to rejoice and celebrate!!

It's easy to want to skip right to the fun and joy of Easter and not think about the hard and deep emotions of what happened just days before. But how much more can we celebrate Sunday morning when we remember what was actually done for us! While the cross brings about intense emotion, it still all comes down to love. Believing that I'm someone worth dying for needs to come hand-in-hand with believing that He is risen. I can rejoice for my life being resurrected this Sunday also because it's finished. It's already been accomplished. For me and for you. 

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." says 1 John 2:2.

On Good Friday in 2004, my whole family went out to dinner and then went to the movies to see The Passion of the Christ. When we left, I was sobbing so hard I could barely stand up. With every gruesome strike and blow to Jesus, I said to myself, "That was for me." 

1 Timothy 1:15 summarizes my personal reminder, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst."

While the visual depiction of the type of torture that Jesus endured is painful to watch, sometimes a tangible reminder is needed. I made a tradition of watching the film every Good Friday, as an annual visual for me to keep in mind. I often laugh remembering my mom's response to the film and my tradition. "That is the most depressing movie I've ever seen," she said. "I don't know how you watch that." And while it may be graphic, intense, brutal, saddening, and overwhelming, the overall message is the very opposite of depressing. It is the joy, freedom, love, redemption, and life that came out of it all. 

A Jewish couple from our church back in NJ shared that they actually walked into the the film for a casual movie night and came out believers. For the first time, they felt the tug in their heart that this was Truth and it happened for them. I try to remember that tug in my own heart every year. As a visual person, a depiction of the crucifixion can give that to me. My husband - not so much. We went to see a Christian-themed ballet a few weeks ago, and at one point they actually displayed a dancer up on a cross. As they raised him, Doug said under his breath to me, "Oook. They're really gonna do this, huh?" While I can appreciate the depiction, he'd just rather not see a human performance of His Savior. 

But whatever your preference might be, we need to take time this week to reflect on what was done for us through the cross. Only then will we be able to fully celebrate the Good News this Easter morning. Through reading, prayer, art, quiet time, films, music, dancing, church services, not eating meat, or whatever - remember the cross this week. Experience the range of emotion that it comes with. And rejoice with all your heart this Sunday.

 Happy Easter!