We will be back to this place in July.
In the meantime, there will be postings and pictures and thoughts on China posted here.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
how to be good
“Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”
― G.K. Chesterton
I almost cried the other day. Felt like I'd tried to swallow an inflated ballon and it got lodged in my throat. Magdalena was asleep. The leaves were blowing outside my window. I'd just returned home from our first venture to "Story time" at the public library.
One of my favorite things about being a mom is being able to show the world to someone so new. Limes. Mashed potatoes. Tulips and dandelions. Cool sunny mornings and cracks in the sidewalk.
We followed the stream of strollers and babies on hips into a side room at the back of the library. One thousand babies and their moms. Or so it seemed. Moms dressed in impeccably matched clothing, moms chat chat chatting away in loud voices, moms pushing their way to the front. I stood to the side, next to the door. We were both fascinated, Magdalena and I, by the room we were in and all it's contents.
After a few minutes, we retreated back into the actual library and sat reading books in the quiet until it was time to go home.
I thought about what it means to be a good mom. Or just good. And I thought about how many ways there are to live a good life. I am not the same as everyone else. Nor are they. There is so much below and within. There is just so much life.
In that moment it all felt too much.
I can never hope to really understand all the lives going on around me, however badly I want to or however zealously I try. And I cannot handle the strain of that attempt or of believing it is necessary or possible. How can any of us ever think about labeling or critiquing another human being with such limited understanding. We all know we shouldn't judge others if only because we all know and itch at the thought of others judging us.
I am so grateful to my parents for introducing me to so many many unique personalities and lifestyles from the time I was born. I was taught all these people are valuable. All of them have reasons. I was taught that living well, being Christlike, was not just going to church, though that was important. I saw both my parents in situations where they were the only light, with people many would judge. And I continue to see how lives are blessed for their efforts and willingness to look outward, be involved with the world, withhold judgement.
I want to live this way.
I believe this is what Jesus Christ taught.
Through music, we have been blessed to interact with and share experience with such a wide variety of people. I could not have imagined for myself the places we'd go. But we are here and God is in it and I will try my best to be a light, to accept my lack of understanding in all things but this:
We all deserve and need each other's love. God gave us both the ability and a command to do this. On the other hand, we are completely unable and incompetent judges. Logically, he has given us the command not to judge.
Thus it is.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton
― G.K. Chesterton
I almost cried the other day. Felt like I'd tried to swallow an inflated ballon and it got lodged in my throat. Magdalena was asleep. The leaves were blowing outside my window. I'd just returned home from our first venture to "Story time" at the public library.
One of my favorite things about being a mom is being able to show the world to someone so new. Limes. Mashed potatoes. Tulips and dandelions. Cool sunny mornings and cracks in the sidewalk.
We followed the stream of strollers and babies on hips into a side room at the back of the library. One thousand babies and their moms. Or so it seemed. Moms dressed in impeccably matched clothing, moms chat chat chatting away in loud voices, moms pushing their way to the front. I stood to the side, next to the door. We were both fascinated, Magdalena and I, by the room we were in and all it's contents.
After a few minutes, we retreated back into the actual library and sat reading books in the quiet until it was time to go home.
I thought about what it means to be a good mom. Or just good. And I thought about how many ways there are to live a good life. I am not the same as everyone else. Nor are they. There is so much below and within. There is just so much life.
In that moment it all felt too much.
I can never hope to really understand all the lives going on around me, however badly I want to or however zealously I try. And I cannot handle the strain of that attempt or of believing it is necessary or possible. How can any of us ever think about labeling or critiquing another human being with such limited understanding. We all know we shouldn't judge others if only because we all know and itch at the thought of others judging us.
I am so grateful to my parents for introducing me to so many many unique personalities and lifestyles from the time I was born. I was taught all these people are valuable. All of them have reasons. I was taught that living well, being Christlike, was not just going to church, though that was important. I saw both my parents in situations where they were the only light, with people many would judge. And I continue to see how lives are blessed for their efforts and willingness to look outward, be involved with the world, withhold judgement.
I want to live this way.
I believe this is what Jesus Christ taught.
Through music, we have been blessed to interact with and share experience with such a wide variety of people. I could not have imagined for myself the places we'd go. But we are here and God is in it and I will try my best to be a light, to accept my lack of understanding in all things but this:
We all deserve and need each other's love. God gave us both the ability and a command to do this. On the other hand, we are completely unable and incompetent judges. Logically, he has given us the command not to judge.
Thus it is.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton
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