It's a Beautiful Day!

We've had gorgeous weather this weekend in Georgia. Highs in the upper 60s. Slight breezes. Sunshine. This spring like weather has been good for the soul. It just makes me feel like good things are coming. Springtime (I realize it's only January, but it feels like April right now) always does this to me. I love it. Feels like I'm waking up again. Let's pray for more days during which I can drive with my windows rolled down and the music turned up.

My Broken Bookish Heart

I am ostensibly part of a Jane Austen book club. I was unable to attend our first meeting because . . . well, I honestly can't remember why, but I was so super excited for our second meeting. We would be discussing Northanger Abbey which I had not read before. We were to discuss the book, nosh on some goodies, and watch the latest BBC adaptation of the film.

I have been so pumped about it all day. I, in fact, turned down spending more time with my friend, Anna E, which I never do, in order to go. I kept checking the Facebook invite on my phone all day. We were to begin at 9 and end at 12. I thought this strange, but it fit in the with pseudo-gothic theme of the book. I did my deeds for the day and came home to make cheesey bread bites, perhaps, the most delicious treat in the whole world. Then, I waited.

At approximately 8:20 I tricked the dog into going into her crate. (We got a dog or Roomie did, I should say, but that is another post.) I put my cheesey bread bites which had cooled into a tupperware container, and sat down at my computer to look up my friend, Dana's, address. When I pulled up the event on my computer, you will imagine my shock and surprise when it says the event starts at 6 and ends at 9!

I was heart broken. The cheesey bread bites were heart broken. I'm pretty sure Jane is heart broken. The only one who is happy is Daisy, the dog, because she got to come out of her crate. What a sucky turn of events, for an otherwise delightful day. I'm going to go eat bread bites now.

Confessions

1) I cannot think of that word (confessions) without thinking about the Usher song.

2) I keep library books for an inordinate amount of time. I rack up all kinds of late fees. There are two sitting on the table right now, that I checked out in June. If you've been waiting to read A Man Called Peter or Run With the Horsemen, I'm very sorry.

3) I label the parts of speech in my head while I write and read sentences. It's an occupational hazard.

4) I am deathly afraid of clowns. In fact a co-worker of mine put a clip art picture of a clown on a slide show about adjectives, and I skipped over it in every class.

5) I've had really good responses from my last few blogs which is pretty exciting. However, I now feel I have to bring the profound every time. So, I'm confessing right now, this is not going to happen. I have very few profound thoughts. I do promise that all the profound thoughts I do have will make it here.

6) I really want to start an educational publishing company.

7) I've been jonesing to live in London for a while. I mean the London that exists in my head where I meet Richard Armitage, he falls madly in love with me, we get married, and have lots of babies who call me mum.

8) Just to go along with the song, there might be a Confessions, Part II!

For your enjoyment! You can listen to Usher's Confessions here.

Love's Divine

So, a couple of administrative things to get out of the way. We have some winners from last post's game. I've decided to honor the first blog commenter and the first Facebook commenter who had the right answer. Last weeks title - Dogmatic for the People - was, of course, a play on REM's Automatic for the People. This means that Sally Anne, you'll have something crafty delivered to your class room later this week, and TheResearcher, such a mysterious handle by the way, you'll need to email me (you can do this by clicking on my profile and an email option will be there) your name and address, so you can get your awesome crafty gift in the mail! Yay, wieners!

This brings us back to my previous angst regarding 1 Corinthians 13. Remember I was convinced it was dogma due to the unenthusiastic response of a former VBS teacher. Apart from the derision of others, the only other thing I heard (and remembered) about this passage was rather defeating. The pastor suggested that you take out the word love and replace it with your name, ya know, just to see how you measure up. Let's play the game right now, shall we? (Just as a heads up, I'm using The Message translation because it fits in nicely with this activity.)

Sarah never gives up. (only when it's easy)
Sarah cares more for others than for self. (I'd say 50/50)

Sarah doesn't want what it doesn't have. (um . . . macbook, iphone, dslr, Colin Firth or Richard Armitage depending . . . )
Sarah doesn't strut, (only because I'm clumsy)
Sarah doesn't have a swelled head, (usually)
Sarah doesn't force herself on others, (not usually)
Sarah isn't always "me first," (I LOVE being first)

Sarah doesn't fly off the handle, (hahahahahahaha, I teach middle school)
Sarah doesn't keep score of the sins of others, (then how will you know when you're even?)
Sarah doesn't revel when others grovel, (depends on what their score is)
Sarah takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, (for the most part)
Sarah puts up with anything, (again, I teach small children things)
Sarah trusts God always, (I would love to say this is true)
Sarah always looks for the best, (when I like the person)
Sarah never looks back (unless I'm afraid of the future)
But keeps going to the end. (only when the finish line is nearby)

You see where I got defeated? This is unattainable. I cannot measure up to love! I mean God is love, right? How can I be as good as He is? And the other night, this was where I stopped. God is all these things, so I did the exercise again, but instead of my name I put in God's.

God never gives up. (Not even when we want Him to)
God cares more for others than for self. (Amazing!)
God doesn't want what it doesn't have. (Because everything is His)
God doesn't strut, (He is doesn't need to show off His authority)
God doesn't have a swelled head, (Though no one deserves one more)
God doesn't force itself on others, (Even when He sees what we need most, but we won't take it because we don't think we need Him)
God isn't always "me first," (He did not come to be served but to serve)
God doesn't fly off the handle, (Even when He should, even when I push Him to it)
God doesn't keep score of the sins of others, (Not even mine)
God doesn't revel when others grovel, (He is mercy, and grace, and redemption)
God takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, (Always, He is always revealing it to us . . . to me)
God puts up with anything, (All the stupid, all the selfish, all the just plain wrong)
God trusts God always, (It's simple, He knows his own mind)
God always looks for the best, (In all of us, in me, in you, in my enemy)
God never looks back, (It cannot be changed and it is already full of His mark)
God keeps going to the end. (There is none for Him. He will go on forever, and so will we if we are in Him)

Totally changed everything. It became less a list that I would never live up to, but instead, a list of the magnificence of my Creator. A God who is all these things, a God who can put into me all these things because He dwells in me. I can have these attributes not out of effort but out of aligning myself with the Spirit. God is all these things, and because He is in me, everyday, I am becoming more of this.

Amazing! Beautiful! Astonishing! True! And all this from verses I believed, so long ago, were unworthy of my attention. All this from dogma. Turned out the dogma wasn't in the truth but in my thinking.

Dogmatic for the People

Weird fact. I learned the word dogma in the 3rd grade. I remember when it happened. My sister was talking about how in her Sunday School class, they talked about how John 3:16 had become dogma. I think here I should insert that my sister is 9 years older than me, so it wasn't like this was the discussion in 5th grade Sunday School. My sister argued vehemently against this, but in this she had to explain to me what dogma was.

Simply put, she said it was when something had become useless just because people asserted it all the time. Her argument was that assertions based on truth could never be dogmatic. I agree with her totally, but it's true that we let truth become trite to us.

I experienced this first hand when I was really young. I was chosen to pick a bible verse for our VBS group to study in about the 4th grade. I searched and searched. Then, I found it. 1 Corinthians 13. It was all about love. How could I go wrong? I remember sharing it with my group, and my teacher looking at me and saying, "You've never read that before?" She said it with such disdain, too. In that moment, I stopped thinking about that chapter with any sense of wonder. It was dogma, and everyone else had already been there.

I read back through 1 Corinthian 13 the other day. It is beautiful and wise, and it is TRUTH. I had ignored it for so long because I thought, "Oh, how cliche. Love! Everyone reads about that." But love is the thing on which we've built our entire foundation. It is God in His very essence. So, this is post one about the chapter of love. There will be more soon to come because I'm taking back truth from the realm of the trite. And I'm not going to let anyone make me feel bad for finding meaning in the simple. Not that any of you would. It's the others I'm worried about.

Added bonus!If you can guess the album title I spoofed for my title, you get a special prize. No, really you do, so start guessing.

More blog!

So one of my thoughts for the new year (note I didn't not say resolution as I am adamantly opposed to the concept), is to blog more. I know you're all thrilled.

For the past several days, I've had all these thoughts about blogs. They were going to be profound, thoughtful, down right philosophical in nature, but I find I am too tired for any of that. What I can tell you is a I went to the grocery store, made salsa, at a turkey wrap, and am now watching a re-run of the Golden Globes. I have discovered that I may be meaner than Ricky Gervais as I think Tilda Swinton is freakish, Helen Bonham's dress is hideous, and apparently shoulder pads are back in.

Steve Carrell is funny. I think Claire Danes could be my new best friend. And Jim Parsons wins!

I promise there will be more and better coming in the future. For now, goodnight and good luck!

The Real World

I ventured out into the real world for the first time in 4 days. It was pretty dang amazing. I went out to eat with my Sis, The Munchkin, Molly, and Zoe. We ate mexican food and all the adults delighted in the fact that it was food that had been made by someone else in a place other than our own kitchen. We underestimate it, but that really is a beautiful thing.

Our trip out also included a trip to the Sam's Club at which point we stopped to watch tv. The same thing we had been doing for the past four days.

In truth, that tv is a lot nicer than any of ours, and we were together which always makes things better.

We also went to TWO, count it, two Walmarts. Rounded it off with a trip to Best Buy, and then I came home.

Home. A place of warmth and relaxation. WRONG! It is currently 50 degrees in my house. The heat is out. Poor thing, I suppose it held on as long as it could. At least we're going out of town for the weekend. The forecast for St. Mary's is sunny and warm. Anna E will bring her perfectly adorable centerpieces (hopefully, I'll have pics soon) for the shower. And Ashley will be there in all of her baby bump glory. It's going to be perfect!

Day Three of Confinement

I'm starting to feel like those kids in The Cat in the Hat. I'm just waiting for a giant feline to come prancing up to make my day super interesting. It hasn't happened yet, but fortunately, Cheryl didn't have to work today which meant I had someone to talk to. Sadly, tomorrow I'm on my own again.

In all of this boredom, I've discovered a blog I love (annieblogs.com). I largely love it because my friend, Jenna, met her (Annie), and she (Jenna) said we were a lot a like. I read her blog and we are. We both love organization, Colin Firth, The Sing Off, and most importantly, Jesus. Even Cheryl thought the similarities were uncanny! I was so overwhelmed by this revelation that I emailed her to tell her of this awesome discovery. That was yesterday, and I'm starting to doubt the sanity of sending that email.

I know myself, and I know that I'm not a weird psycho killer but my new internet BFF does not. Now, I'm like, "Oh crap, I sent her the link to my blog. What if she reads it and this is the newest post?" Will she think I'm creepy or endearing? Funny, I never would have put those at opposite ends of the same continuum, but those are pretty much the two adjectives we're dealing with right now. Can you all do me a favor and assure her that I'm not totally batty? I'm just bored beyond conceivable measure. And I'm a cotton-headed-ninny muggins.

I also need some points of clarification on personal book keeping. I was cleaning out the office today (it only took me 3 snow days to get to it), and I found bills from 2006. I started sorting and purging, but I'm not certain how long you're supposed to keep these kinds of things? I have all of my tax stuff from the past however many years I've been doing taxes, but is it really important for me to keep AT&T bills from 6 months ago? I mean all they do is remind me that we pay WAY too much for internet, satellite, and a phone line we do not use. Seriously, we don't even have a phone plugged into our landline. Any wisdom on this topic?

Tomorrow's tasks include washing sheets and towels, wrapping the last of my Christmas presents (don't judge), finishing Exodus (I'm struggling with this book more than I thought I would), and perhaps some sort of crafty endeavor.

Little House in the Big Snow

I'm feeling a little Laura Ingals Wilder these days with all the snow that's around my house. It's sort of ridiculous. There's a good six inches of snow in any direction, and it's not going anywhere. I do love an ill gotten day of leisure, but the truth is I'm getting restless, and my kids and I have way too much to cover before March.

It's sad that I can feel restless after two days. I have an endless amount of entertainment. I have the whole of the internet to explore. I have like a million channels on my TV - plus lots of episodes of Glee, The Sing Off, and The Big Bang Theory dvr'd. I have tons of DVDs. With my Nook, I have an endless supply of books at my disposal. My house could totally use a once over. All this to say, I'm still a little bored.

Yesterday was better because Cheryl was home, and there was someone to play with. Sadly, sickness never takes a snow day, and as a nurse, she had to go into to work despite Snowmagedon 2011. We took down the Christmas decorations yesterday(do not judge me). We watched movies. We trudged in the snow. Today, however, I am alone which makes it so much worse.

Instead of being productive, I've chosen to perseverate on the seemingly endless line of changes that stretch before me. I don't like change. In the great words of Sheldon Cooper, "Change is never fine. They say it is, but it's not." The funny thing is that they're not really my own changes. My life is pretty much staying the same, but because people around me are making changes I'm feeling it.

It's like the Leaning Tower Pisa, and I'm the person standing there saying "Guys, this just doesn't seem right. Maybe we should scoot it a little to the left." While everyone else replies, "Oh, it's fine. You're not the one who has to live in it." Which is totally true. I don't have to live with the actual change. I just have to look at the tower a lot.

The changes aren't bad. In fact, on a whole they are absolutely fantastic steps into the future, but for someone who is kind of afraid of the future, they seem beyond momentous. It's scary. It will probably be exciting. And in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

Now, on to things that I intend to do this afternoon.

1) Clean my room. I feel 11 when I say this, but it's true. It totally needs a good cleaning.

2) Clean up the kitchen. One of Cheryl's work friends might spend a few days at my house because his house is so far away, and he still has to get to work. I'd like to at least given the appearance that I don't live in filth.

3) Organize the office. Although, the ironic thing is that I bought cute little file holders in order accomplish this task. They are, however, in the trunk of my car which is outside, in the cold, and covered with snow. I may or may not venture out to get them. I really DON'T like being cold. I may dislike it more than change. ; )

4) Finish reading Exodus. I thought Exodus was going to be easy, but it hasn't. Just goes to show you that God is a marvelous mystery, and I am foolish to think that I can understand Him. I like that about Him. He's always the same, but then they're always something new. It's like when you go back and watch a favorite movie, and you've forgotten a scene. It was always there, but it's somehow surprising.

5) Figure out what the future holds for me. Will I have to move into the leaning tower or continue to stand around asking people to nudge it back into place for me? We'll see.