Minor Celebrity

So, it finally feels like a real southern winter here... over 60 degrees in February... a MUCH welcome change from the cold, dreary weather we've had for the past few months.  The goose & I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather & headed to the "fountain park" (a local garden with lots of trails & fun fountains... you might remember our last trip/fall there...)

Anyway, while waiting on our friends, a kind man from the paper asked if he could take our picture... I looked at the goose... bow in tact, dressed respectably and agreed.  Little did I know it would become front-page news.  Baby & milk carton in hand, the goose made the front page of the paper... even above the fold!  Pretty impressive for a three year old... practically a local celebrity ;)

I Just Don't Get It...

Not to harp on the same subject, but check out this week's "Faith & Values" section cartoon, from the funnies, not the articles, but it could go along with last week's theme... I'm not sure, because I just don't get it... maybe you can help???  Seriously, I am at a loss. 

Funnies, Values & No Faith

Saturday. Paper Reading Day. One thing I look forward to in the Saturday paper is the “Faith & Values” section. Call me crazy, but I enjoy reading inspirational accounts of people’s unique faith journeys. I even find the articles regarding divisions, developments & decisions within the church interesting. But lately, I find less interesting and more disheartening in this section.

Now, in a section with FAITH first in its title, there is but ONE article on faith of any kind. The “Values” portion of this section consist of various “Dear Abby” type questions & responses. And then, there’s the real meat of the section… the FUNNIES. That’s right, you find the comics in the “Faith & Values” section (along with the horoscopes, of course). And not only that… but the FUNNIES compose TWICE as much print-space as the ONE faith-related article.

If that trend weren’t bad enough, today’s article left me saddened, and… I don’t exactly know what else… You see, today’s “FAITH” article is about atheists who wrote a book about ministers who have lost their faith…. Making it a double no-faith article no less. And if you aren’t sad yet, get this… these “faithless” ministers still preach & haven’t admitted their drastic faith-loss even to their spouses. I find that very sad, in and of itself, but what left me really disturbed by the article is that the self-proclaimed atheists argue that churches looking for pastors do not really care about the faith of their pastoral candidates.

Well, let me just say… I CARE… about the faith of my minister… my congregation… my spouse… my child… my family & friends… & even that of strangers. I, being the crazy person I am, would want to know if my minister was having doubts, NOT to interrogate that person as to their fitness to be leading BUT to be able to pray for them. And I would like think that more Christians would want to see their pastor seek spiritual help & guidance to RESTORE their faith, rather than turn a blind eye to a problem far deeper than any social embarrassment or financial difficulty that could arise as a result of their honesty.

I CARE about the faith of others… because the faith of others I know & others I’ve never even met affects my faith. I believe in Christ because someone showed me their belief & His Love. I follow because they taught me how to follow. I own my faith because others owned theirs. And I, crazy person that I am, want to read about FAITH in the FAITH & VALUES section.

I can’t think of a week that passes that I don’t encounter some real-life account of great faith AND the power that faith has in the lives of so many… stories of endurance, healing, restoration... in spite of pain & suffering, death & grief. I hear the stories. I see the faith. I see the awesome God at work in EVERYTHING that we open our eyes to. Can’t you? Can’t they? Those are the stories I want to read. Those stories… could fill volumes… not just one forth of a page. Maybe they won’t put the faith back in front of the funnies, but I think we can…. Guess we’ll just have to show them how to fill a page with real FAITH. Faith like a child… Teeny, Tiny mustard seed faith… that moves mountains… and doubters… and even atheists. Move over Charlie Brown! We’re taking this page back!

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
   ~ Hebrews 11:1

Radical Homemaking…

Saturday is newspaper reading day. Yes, it would be nice to read it more than once a week, but… one is better than none, right? Anyway, there was one especially interesting article describing a trend toward “Radical Homemaking”…

“radical homemakers, women and men who are reclaiming the traditional role of the homemaker as part of their desire for a less materialistic life. It's a social movement that's drawing a small but growing number of people - many in their 20s and 30s - who measure their lives not in terms of money, but in such aspects as relationships, ecological sustainability and happiness.”


Finally, a job description I love! From now on, when someone inquires as to my “profession,” my answer will enthusiastically be, “I am a radical homemaker.” You see, for the past few years, I have had a hard time finding an appropriate label for my occupation… When unable to avoid the “what do you do?” question, I reluctantly ramble about being a mom, and my “side business” making children’s clothes, and then there’s my part time hobby of seminary… so… I… kind of… do a lot of stuff… but don’t really “do” anything.


For some crazy reason, I seem to have trouble admitting that I am, above all, a homemaker. Maybe that’s because I feel like an inferior homemaker… My floors seem to be dirty more than they are clean, the laundry piles up in the chairs (but at least its clean!), dinner often consists of the oh-so-delicious (and easy) frozen pizza, and the play room looks like a small herd of very playful animals passed through.


But now, I feel I have a renewed sense of purpose. I feel somehow validated by this radical trend… this crazy idea that being “employed” is overrated… that living a happy and fulfilling life does not depend on the title I have or the amount of money I make. But is it really even radical? Didn’t our grandmothers and great-grandmothers understand this… They weren’t radical. They were just doing their job.


Of course it’s not like I didn’t already know that jobs, money and things aren’t at all what matter in life, but let’s be honest… in our society, it takes a bit of humility and a lot of courage to break the norm and be a radical… HOMEMAKER. That’s right… I’m a radical. Maybe this will be the push I needed to get that (clean) laundry out of the chair & into the closet… maybe