February 29

Tonight I 


--Smooshed four of my favorite Trader Joe's products together to create a gourmet wheat crust, peach salsa, chevre goat cheese, and mint leaf pizza. Choosing your own food--a superlative perk of being a grownup. No one of a preceding generation to assemble the food for you--rather a grownup drawback.


--Imported the original cast recording of "The Phantom of the Opera" into my iTunes. I procured it from the thrift store 'cause I'm cool like that. Yes, it is "the" thrift store; Goodwill, authentic Mexican food, and orange groves are Fillmore's best features.


--Redeemed my rewards from online survey completion for Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine subscription and ten Blockbuster Express freebies. Oh, my weeknights are undeniably spicy middle-aged. (Disclaimer: I own neither cat pajamas nor an ankle-length bathrobe.)


On this day occurring once every four years, celebrate what makes you unique.

Why?

This is far from an original thought, but tonight it occurred to me that if I'm not getting good answers, perhaps I'm not asking the right questions. How embarrassing that it took so long to realize that the perceived silence of the cosmos and the inadequacies of my fellow man might actually be my own limitations. In psychology we call these shifts of mindsets "reframing"--modifying the preconceived notions and chosen contexts with which you view situations and concepts. 


I have just written one of those needlessly bombastic sentences from which it is exceptionally difficult to extricate myself...and I am doing it again. Am hitting "publish" now to prevent a thirty-minute editing session tomorrow.

Source: vi.sualize.us via Mary Kay on Pinterest

Remember the Important Things

If you do not live what you say you believe, then you don't believe it.

Bad things for Good

November

“You are right.” He says.

I look up into the shy smile I have grown to love so much. Day 178 of bandaging this wound, and it is almost gone.

Makerere is not one to strike up conversation usually, so I probe. “Right about what?”

“That thing you say. You know. About even bad things being used for our good and all of it working for God’s glory even when we can’t see it. You are right. If I hadn’t been burnt we might not be friends, you know. And If I hadn’t come to live here, I would still be drinking and mostly, I wouldn’t know about that Jesus,” he laughs, “Jesus.”

I focus my gaze back on the bandage to hide the happy tears. I am right, but sometimes, I need reminding.

Read more of this beautiful story here.

Excellence

"Excellence means being careful with the truth."


This phrase captured one of the many aspects of excellence as described in a leadership book. I love all that it implies:

• Guarding the integrity of your word
• Repeating information accurately
• Being circumspect in what you choose to share and with whom
• Balancing truth with kindness

Yip Yip

Because foxy isn't just for Valentine's Day.
(Courtesy of National Geographic)

Happy V-Day

 

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
¹⁴ From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
¹⁵ He fashions their hearts individually;
He considers all their works.

¹⁶ No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
¹⁹ To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
²¹ For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
²² Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.

Psalm 33

Preferring the Poor

“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:12-14

“One would almost think that Luke 14:12-14 was not considered part of God’s word, nor has any part of Jesus’s teaching been more neglected by his own people. I do not think it is unlawful to entertain our friends; but if these words do not teach us that it is in some respects our duty to give a preference to the poor, I am at a loss to understand them.”—John Newton, former slave ship captain turned pastor, composer of “Amazing Grace”

This quote was a timely read for me as I have been pondering this topic. Those of you with whom I frequently converse may point out that I am always pondering this topic. True, but lately I have been focusing especially on the question of generosity to my friends versus generosity to those in need. I have rearrived* at this conclusion: it is absolutely commendable to be generous to one’s friends, but one's generosity should not be at the expense of those in need. Now, we could become legalistic here and scold, “Cut out all coffee dates. That $6.50 a month needs to go to Namibian orphanages! And forget birthday presents from here on out. Only handmade gifts scavenged from Michael's holiday clearance will do.” No, no, the Bible encourages hospitality and kindness. The point is that I need to be aware of my proportions in giving. So friends, let's eat out less, picnic more**, and donate to IJM!

*I come to this conclusion about once a year, but this time it's floating in Roman characters in cyberspace. Maybe that will help?

**Yes, I'm always looking for an excuse to picnic. Have you accomplished your recommended intake of Vitamin D this week?

Setting the Bar

Today two friends and I tromped along a long-neglected creekside trail on the southern edge of the Sespe wilderness. After hoisting myself up a four and a half foot bank, I recounted one of my many battles with physical exertion:

Me: "Last month when I had that gym membership that switched the workouts every day, there was one day that required sets of pull-ups. Of course, I had never done pull-ups, so it was terribly difficult, but the coach said that I should jump."

A: Rightfully laughed.

Me: "Well, he said that my chin needed to clear the bar, and if I couldn't do it then I could stop and rest so that my chin cleared the bar for each pull-up. It just about killed me, but I did all of them. Afterwards I asked the coach what short people did because all of the bars were pretty much the same height. He laughed and told me, 'Yeah, they either have to jump high or pull hard! It's pretty difficult.'"

A: "Yeah Katie, haven't you learned by now--short people have to work harder." 

Me: "Well, it just seems unfair. I mean, I couldn't pull myself up that high if I was short. But I definitely took advantage of it; I wasn't about to ask for a higher bar."

K: "Always seeking justice."

--General laughter--

K: "But did you notice that your version of justice was you getting a higher bar, not lower bars for the short people?"

A: "Yeah, Katie. Why do we have to work harder? Why can't we just get lower bars and make life easier for everyone?"

Me: "You're right. I didn't even catch that. Maybe this is a problem I need to examine. This might even be my next blog post."

From this simple conversation, much can be extrapolated about disability, equality, and justice--all topics much on my mind. The simple synopsis is that God has created each individual with different abilities. Thus, the goal of equality is not uniformity. Rather, it is to extend the same value and opportunity to every individual. Equality will give everyone a bar proportionate to their height, not set a standard bar height. Justice extends beyond equality to ensure that people have the opportunity to thrive. Justice cannot provide the determination to pull your chin over the bar, but it will buy you orthopedic shoes for bad feet or maybe position a stool under the bar for a pregnant woman. Our friend justice will also demand ten more pull-ups if you cheat on your count and will certainly throw you out of the gym if you push another athlete off his bar. Short or tall, equality and justice for all!

Just Ducky

After I "scoffed" at an overly optimistic evaluation of our Spanish skills, co-worker #26 told me, "I am immune to your disdain."


Hmm, has he had ample practice with warding off disdain or is my disdain lacking in potency? 


Later that day, co-worker #14 told me, "I miss you already, Katie. No one told me that I'm not wearing make-up today. I've been like this all day."


Confusingly, I thought I made it a point never to comment on people's make-up or lack thereof. 


Am I unwittingly becoming the Disdainful Umpire of Cosmetics Katie? Soon they'll be crying DUCK in the halls.

Like v. Love?

This brief movie centers on two points that are personal priorities. First is the importance of choosing words accurately. Truth is essential, and our language should be intentional to best convey the meanings of our messages. A varied vocabulary also brings richness into our communication. Synonyms allow us to deepen and expand our messages without having to constantly resort to degrees of "more" or "less." Imagine coming home from the "best" concert you have ever attended and only being able to describe it as "nice." Would it not be more satisfying to describe it as "intense", "memorable", "epic", or "amazing"? For a more visually centered example, surely "blue" is different from "turquoise" and "aqua" and "cobalt." 


Researching adjectives is not the point here, but rather cultivating the ability to describe your life experience. Indeed, I would argue that the extent of our language can shape how we frame our life experiences. This brings me to the second personal priority captured in this video; I am striving to sort through my "loves." Everyone agrees that love is complicated, but perhaps that is partially because we need more words to describe this aspect of the human experience. Unfortunately, English has only one word that must account for a vast array of emotions, relationships, actions, addictions, and proclivities. 


The Greeks had four words for love: eros, philos, storge, and agape. The "love is a verb" phrase comes from the word agape, which describes an unconditional, sacrificial, active state of being demonstrated by the early Christians. The word was created to describe the type of behavior that came about from practicing the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In English our new verbs come from brand names: Xerox, Google, Facebook, etc. What a difference it would make if I  had a way to describe the affection I feel towards my friend and the action I take to help her through a hard week!


Now, I am going to continue bestowing effusive "I love you's" on my cat and weirding people out by mentioning that I have crushes on Trader Joe's and on the Post Office. I confess this as I have no wish to be the "love" Nazi, especially preceding Valentine's Day. Still, I think it's important that we determine in our own minds what it means to love people. Perhaps we will discover that we respect, appreciate, value, admire, adore, desire, and enjoy the people, places, and things in our lives and that love is something different altogether.

London, Paris, and Rome--oh my!

Asiago Plateau, Italy

Europe always seemed a bit like the Promised Land to me. Three and a half months was too brief to grow familiar. Even from the beauty of coastal California, I hear the call...

Miminus is maximus.

Let's skip the paragraph in which I persuade you of the emotional and spiritual benefits of reducing one's belongings and head straight to the nail-biting personal update in which I inform you that I have doubled the number of items unceremoniously discarded daily. Stunned? Impressed? Well, I've only upped the number from one to two, but I am admittedly stunned and impressed with how easy it remains to trash or give away two pieces of matter every day without ever feeling a sense of loss. Rather, I feel liberated!   In fact, I'm feeling so light-hearted that I sense an alliteration attack ahead! 


Doubling daily dispersal and discard of duds and do-dads is defeating one of the destructive difficulties of dinero! Delightful!