Homemaking, purses and cake

So, I go tonight and discover two very important things at the meeting tonight.

Number one, my purse contains WAY TOO MUCH JUNK and number two, cake is more of a weakness that I would like to admit.

We had a fun night tonight but I sometimes go home feeling disconnected from the reality that the other women face on a daily basis. Has it really become so easy to be cocooned in MY world that I have forgotten that there are other people and other needs?

I used to be more involved but I have come to realize that part of my so called involvement was propping up people who didn't really want to participate at all.

Talk about junk in your purse!

Where do we draw the line between helping someone along and nurturing them through a hard time and simply dragging them around like dead weight in our purse because we don't want to hurt their feelings when it's time to say goodbye? Is is possible that some of that is more than an act of simple self preservation and is instead the kindest thing we can do for someone else to cut them loose? I read somewhere "Sometimes the best helping hand we can give is a firm push."

I truly believe that, otherwise I'd probably still be living at home and letting my parents take care of me forever.

Let's just postulate a thought here: could it be possible that when we carry people along in a sympathetic vein we are simply preventing the growth that SHOULD happen because we are worried about hurting them and ironically enough, they ARE hurt by the fact that they are crippled by our 'care'.

It's a hard decision to make.

We can't just stand by and hope for the best without being active participants and players in our own lives! It just doesn't work that way. For better or worse, we have to make choices and skin our knees and do unpleasant stuff to get to all of the goodies that are truly wonderful.

Sort of a right of passage gig.

But back to the purses. If I carry all of someone elses collected junk for them in MY purse, how can I find MY stuff when I need it? The same is true of our lives. If we carry around someone else's life for them, we have little strength left for our own.

I don't believe in 'tough love'. But I do believe that sometimes if you truly love someone, you have to tell them the truth and say, "I have carried you as far along the path as I am willing to do. Now, you either have to walk on your own, or wait for someone else to pick you up."

I know it works because a woman whom I used to visit teach and give rides to all over creation is now coming to church. I have to believe part of it is because I finally told the people who 'assigned me' to take care of her that I was DONE.

Now, they come because they want to.

They are finally carrying their OWN purse.

Maybe that is the reason that we should carry a purse. They are all different because they reflect who we are, but they hold our collective junk for whenever we need it. They need to be large enough to serve, but small enough to prevent voluntary slavery to someone who won't carry their own load.

Just ramblings of an almighty disturbed mind . . .

Password Protected

While sitting here dripping sweat after my workout (don't laugh, it's beginning to show), I realized that much of what we do in our lives becomes, for better or worse, an open book.

I remember reading on the Yahoo Answers last night the question of a sincere young girl who wanted to know how to avoid sin.

As I answered her question with the answers I have learned over the years, I felt like I was going through the process myself.

How much simpler would it be if our lives could be password protected against sin?

It dawned on me this morning as the early light streamed through the window that we CAN and ARE password protected.

Just by calling upon our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ during our moments of weakness and temptation, sorrow and distress, we CAN be password protected from the evil influences of the world we are compelled to live in.

I know that may sound simplistic, but sometimes getting all complicated and full of the technicalities of daily life is what puts us on the edge anyway. So why not back away from what we know caused our problems and instead do what we did when we were little and scared and just say a prayer?

Last night, I was having some issues trouble me. Some things had happened through the course of Sunday that just set me on edge and gave me not only pause to think but some serious reflection over my own past. I can't change what has already transpired! I don't know why that became a sleep preventing understanding, but it did.

And with my heart pounding as if I was about to die, I began to pray. Nothing fancy, no ornate words or phrases that would impress, just talking to My Father. Asking for what to do to make the scary feelings of inadequacy and shame of where I have failed go away for at least a while.

As if I was listening to a radio with an unseen hand adjusting the tuning towards various stations, music flooded my soul and as the different pieces came through my head, the thought came again and again "No, this is not the right one."

Finally, the overture to Handel's Messiah began to play. It was an instant calm in the storm of my emotions. Then another beautiful piece was brought to my mind and the new installment of peace was added on the previous layer of peace until sleep came.

I wish now that I could go back and tell that young girl that we can all learn to password protect ourselves from the influences of the world around us. That we can insulate ourselves from the cold and harsh treatment that is the worldly show of power and strength. And that we have the ability to rise above mere circumstance to find another place of spirit that cannot be touched by the stain of mortality.

Perhaps the Spirit will tell her these things from what I wrote to her from the beginning.

I don't know. But I do hope so.

We all need to feel like we are safe from the onslaught of the world. And only through our Father and His Son can that safety be brought to pass. Though we are not guaranteed safety of the body, we are offered a guarantee of safety of the spirit if we will just follow in Their Footsteps.

I hope that you find a place within your life that you can indeed come to a protection that defies the hackers who would destroy and that offers a level of encryption far surpassing the 126 bit rate that can be overcome.

Jesus Christ can heal the breaches, restore the lives and reclaim that which is lost in a way that makes beautiful that which had become darkened and corroded through the effects of sin.

How wonderful to know that I am protected and safe from the world that is evil by the security and safety offered by the Good Shepherd.

Friday Night at home

Back in the day, it was considered the height of sorrow if you got to Friday night without a date.

Today it seems more like a relief.

I know who I will be spending my time with and whether we are home watching a movie or just spending time hanging out reading or playing computer games, we can have fun without going somewhere to do it.

I remember the days when it was unfashionable to sit at home on the weekend. It was like being branded as some sort of social pariah to have an empty date book and no man to pick you up for so much as an ice cream.

While I miss some of the excitement of the dating scene, I definitely do not miss the agony of hoping someone, anyone would ask you out. Thankfully, when we decide to leave our cocoon for an actual evening out, I am happy to be on the arm of my husband. Sometimes we go to dinner and a movie and sometimes we just walk around window shopping in the mall while eating jelly beans.

One time, after a particularly trying week, our family opted to bankrupt our budget and actually go to the movies during the evening hours to see a new release of some fantasy/sci-fi/epic. Though I am appreciative of the opportunity to go out with my husband and family, there are times that other concerns outweigh the entertainment being offered.


My husband is still incredulous that I could fall asleep during the battle scenes and have no remembrance of the movie that he was so excited to see. I was there in body if not in spirit. Surely that checks off at least one little box on the to do list?

Just so no misconceptions develop, when I drag my husband to some 'chick movie' and anticipate a wonderful evening, I am generally rewarded with a deer in the headlights expression that gradually fades into a dull, glazed, slack-jawed appearance that solidifies into a totally blank slate before the snoring begins. And the snoring can be while his eyes are still open.

For the record, that is somewhat disconcerting.

To be fair, since I snore myself, I can't say much about the snoring, but I draw the line at doing so with my eyes open. That is just not decent.

So here we sit watching one of the war movies we own on DVD and recalling how much we need to do tomorrow providing that we are not snowed in by the predicted Alabama blizzard.

It's not likely.

When they scream about the snow too much, it simply goes somewhere else.

I'm just glad I am stocked up on bread, eggs and milk - just in case. It could make for a very interesting Saturday should we truly be snowed or iced in.

American Idol Redux

Well, the girls made all of the guys but one look historically bad.

Rocker chick totally ruled tonight on a Joan Jett cover that just happens to be one of my favorites: I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVIN' YOU.

Those in your face songs are always good.

And the take on Pat Benatar's LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD for Brooke was a great change on a great tune.

Tomorrow's votes show should be an eye opener.

If there was a way for FOUR BOYS to leave, it would be best. They brought nothing to the table last night. The girls served a 7 course banquet. And tomorrow, someone will be eating crow.