Land of the free, home of the offended?!?

Offend…offended…offensive…have you noticed just how often you here these words these days?  Just yesterday I saw a Facebook post that said “if this flag comes down because you’re offended... then pull these up, because it offends me ”.  First of all, the notion that saggy pants are even remotely equivalent to a symbol that represents a “heritage whose reason for existence was the exploitation and debasement of a sizeable segment of its population^1” is offensive in and of itself (see what I did there…).  Second, I’ll bet there are some people who will be offended by my use of the word butt (and those people I say get a life…a better life…where you actually try to do some good in this world).  And third, if you’re stuck on being offended by something that is offending others, then you have to ask yourself if you’re really offended at the action or just your inability to reason and mature over time. 

I mean, come on…if you’re going to get offended  by something to the point that you feel the need to make a call to action, make it be about something good.  Be offended that millions of babies are killed each year in the name of women’s rights.  Or that those “in charge” in Washington are and have been overstepping their boundaries for years.  And we continue to allow it.

And I have an even better idea; don’t even get offended at all.  Far too often we think of only ourselves instead of others.  Doesn’t the bible say in Galatians 5:13-14:”Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  If we all took that to heart, then perhaps we would start to listen to each other, see the good in everyone, and maybe even start to all get along.  Heck, maybe we might even start to apologize for offending someone simply because they are our friend.

Just yesterday I heard one of my kids say they did something wrong because their brother and sister were doing it.  What if…and I know this is a stretch…what if we did something good simply because we saw others doing it?  Why do we continue to make excuses for ourselves and blame it on others?  It starts here.  It starts now.  And it starts with me.

Credits:

¹Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote circa 2011

 

 

It is well

Last night my area went to bed thinking we were going to get 6-8" (maybe more) of snow.  It would be the first (and likely only) "snowfall" of our year.  And for days leading up to this, I have heard and seen many people express their dislike of snow, cold weather, and winter in general.  I get it.  Who likes to be cold...stuck at home...stuck inside.  No, actually, I don't get it.  I don't get it all.  You see, I view snow as one of God's blessings.  One of his very special blessings.  The mere fact that it only happens once or twice a year around here adds to its beauty.  

Last night my kids, my parents, and I sat around a dark living room and just simply looked out the sliding door.  Perhaps for hours.  We saw snowflakes the size of half dollars.  We saw snowflakes the size of sand.  We saw rain and sleet.  We saw snowflakes hit the flood light and burst into dozens of smaller pieces.  We saw statues get white hats and gloves.  We saw patterns and geometry in shapes and shadows.  We saw neighbors sneak a peek outside.  We saw trees in a way you can only see them when they have a coat of snow.  We saw our world, at night, aglow.  And we saw God...in everything...and it was good.

When we awoke this morning, there was only 2-3" of snow.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  But even though I didn't get as much snow as I wanted, I am thankful for what I did get: I got to spend time alone with my family and our God.  And It is well with my soul.

I heart being a geek!

Perhaps I'm not as geeky as some, but to most in my family and friend's circle…I'm a geek.  I love Google.  I love my iPhone.  I love apps.  I love Excel.  I love weather maps.  Yep…you read that correctly.  I love weather maps.  I LOVE WEATHER MAPS!  Specifically I love the SREF Plume viewer (Google it…scroll down to the map, choose the closest dot to your town, then look at the different graphs (buttons at the top of the page).  Pretty sweet, heh?!?  I don't know the definition of a cumulous cloud but I can Google it.  Then I can see one, email it to a local weatherman, and see it on the interwebs (thats mother-in-law speak for Facebook).  And I couldn't tell you what NAM stands for but if WxSouth says the NAM can predict upper lows the best, then I believe it will snow on Wednesday.

Anyhoo, I may not know a lot but I know enough to be dangerous.  Seriously…I have a blog for Pete's sake (sorry again, Pete).  Often coworkers and family ask me about how to do something in Word or Excel.  I may have an idea but when in doubt…Google it.  Seriously.  You can Google anything these days.  (You can also Bing but I'm a Google girl).   No lie, when I first explained the Internet to my parents, I asked them to search for any subject.  My Mom (sorry Mom), said "boogers".  So I entered "boogers" in my, ahem, Prodigy search bar and lo' and behold, somebody had a website dedicated to boogers.  My Mom about died!  I about puked.  But I digress.

Where was I, oh yeah, I'm a geek.  And I dare say there's a little bit of geek in all of us.  If you consider the definition of geek as eccentric or non-mainstream people, then yes, I believe we're all geeks.  Not everyone likes to read, or cook, or play the tuba, etc.  So come on, embrace you're inner geek.  Tell me what you do that makes you a geek?

Planting seeds

Monday night my 3 year old and I were in the kitchen/dining room cleaning off the table.  He had squished and dropped some peas on the floor and I was going to ask him to clean them up.  So I said to him, "C, will you come over here and pick up these peas off the floor please."  And as my precious, darling 3 year old walked over to the mess I heard him say "I'ma jack you up".  What!?!  Excuse me!?!  What did you just say?!?  "I'ma jack those peas up".  I asked him where he learned that and he said his friends at school taught him.  So I informed him that we don't talk like that in our house and I better not ever hear him say that again.

Of course, he has no idea why it wasn't appropriate language and neither do his friends.  But it made me stop and think about how much kids pick up from their parents, TV, or just being out in public.  It's no wonder this world is not-so-slowly deteriorating morally.  Just recently someone innocently told my daughter to "drop it like it's hot" as she danced around the living room.

I find myself constantly having moral debates with myself about whether something is innocently harmless or subliminally wicked.  I think a lot of folks have those same thoughts.  And if we could see into the future, we'd know that the seeds that are getting planted now are being reaped in the future.  So we should ask ourselves just what is it we want our children to become in the future and then we should spend every waking moment planting seeds that will grow our children into that shape.  Because if we don't, the world will certainly plant for us.

I'm just sayin'.