Forgive me, oh Lord...

You said,
"Give her your gloves; her hands are cold."
I replied,
"Ah, Lord, what about mine?"

You said,
"Offer to help push his chair; his legs tire."
I replied,
"Ah, Lord, but it's late, and I'm alone."

You said,
"Stop and wipe her tears, sit with her."
I replied,
"But Lord, what about my plans?"

You said,
"Pray in my name, that Satan might flee."
I replied,
"But Jesus, what if she's offended?"

You said,
"Do not give in to fear."
And I quickly replied,
"Lord have you not read these lines?"

I saw your people,
poor, lame, mourning, captive--
And like the religious leaders before my day,
I crossed the road,
and kept walking by...

Have mercy on me; I am a sinful woman,
preferring my own comfort to your calling.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill, and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." (Matthew 23:23)

What you can build...

Today marks a big day in history (Even beyond Rick Warren publicly praying Jesus' name).

I don't think that anyone would doubt that.

And in the same way that we of various different ages remember where we were during 9/11, where we were when Kennedy was shot, and the moment that we knew that we had truly fallen in love, I think most of us will remember where we were when President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.

And despite some cliche and flinching moments in his speech (I'm sorry, the phrase "We will harness of the Sun" made me laugh and have freakish flashbacks to Spiderman movies and "We will not apologize for our way of life" made me grimace and flinch), I have to say, his speech was decently solid. Remember the past. Be realistic of the present. Look toward the future. I appreciated the balanced approach of realism and optimism, remembering the past and looking toward the future, grounding in fact and acknowledgement of feeling, recognition of difference yet call to unity.

If you want more of my thoughts on President Obama look back to my post "Hail to the Lord."

Beyond that, however, I thought the most interesting line of the speech was in regard to the Muslim world, but applicable to all of us as well: "Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

It's profound.

As a people, we are so caught up in destroying. In tearing down. Playing the blame game. In trumping an argument with our own exceptional reason and knowledge. In besting someone else. In coming out as top dog (the presumption being, over someone else).

In an era in which dissatisfaction is far more readily accepted than forgiving faults and upholding praise of accomplishments; in an era of sarcasm, cynicism, intellectual criticism, pundits and politics, it is profound to suggest that rather than blaming someone else, tearing something else down, our highest achievement should be noted as what is built up rather than what is torn down.

And next week (or sooner), when President Obama makes his first mistake of many in office, maybe we should remember that statement. Heck, maybe it would even be helpful as we define the Bush legacy. Or maybe just maybe, it could come in handy in our own lives as well.

"What you can build, not what you destroy."

It is for Freedom...

This morning, I fell on the snow and slush once again. This time, not in the privacy of my street, but mere steps from the Central Square T stop. The witness list easily doubled or tripled in magnitude. But, don't worry; in the words of George Bailey (It's a Wonderful Life), "I am oooookay. I am okay."

There are a good 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and still falling fast.

I have struggled to blog as of late; not for lack of thoughts, but for too many thoughts and not enough time. Life has been busy. And I have hesitated to write without completely formed thoughts. But here it is anyhow...

I think my life-verse for this year is Galatians 5:1...

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

There are many things which can hold me captive, including but not limited to:

A tendency to compare myself to others, extremely high expectations (both my own and those of others), a skewed understanding of myself and lies that I've been told about myself, my history/past, feelings of failure, shame, and guilt, the "protective" walls that I have build to guard myself from hurt.... and many others.

Those chains are tight. They are hard to break. And I will fight against some of them until the day that I die. Some of them are so deeply wound that it will take years to even find their source. But here's the deal: I was not redeemed so as to continue as a slave to the things of old.

The Gospel, in Jesus' words (quoted from Isaiah):

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

What does that mean for me? I'm still trying to figure that out. What does it look like to leave behind the chains that bind me? To throw off everything that hinders? What does it mean to live as a child of freedom, a new creation? I'm not quite sure. But that's my life goal for this season... Lofty, yes. But, hopefully, one of freedom and deeper understanding of identity, the Gospel, and God's ceaseless, boundless well of grace for me and for you.

And, that's all for now. :-)

Wroooonng Leverrrrrrrr....

Stepped off my front porch this morning onto a solid sheet of black ice.

Not realizing that it was in fact black ice until my feet were no longer in contact with the stairs, I did a very graceful pirouette and gently landed tail-end first on the side walk.

And by that I mean, both of my feet flew out from under me simultaneously and I extremely ungracefully surrendered myself to the forces of gravity (9.8 m/s^2 in the negative direction) and landed frumpishly on the sidewalk, which I am henceforth renaming the "slidewalk." Ouch. Oh yes, and there were witnesses. An old man, a young woman, and a dog, to be precise.

Good morning, Monday.

Yzma: Pull the lever, Kronk!
[Kronk pulls a lever, and Yzma falls into a pit]
Yzma: [as she is falling] Wrong lever!

(credits, Emperor's New Groove)

New Year, Old Gal...

Guilty confession: I love comments on my blog. And I am often tempted (hopefully only tempted) to rate the success of a blog post based on the number of comments.

But moving on. In terms of the New Year, my goals are as follows:

1) Remember people's birthdays more often. e.g. not just facebook style.
2) Pray deeply and more often.
3) Be more generous with money and time. Perhaps even losing the sense of "my" which usually precedes either one of those words.
4) Figure out whether I'm still allergic to seafood.
5) Laugh deeply a lot more often.

And, speaking of laughing deeply, you should check out my sister's blog post on New Year's Resolutions. She's quite hilarious and wicked smart.