What Ever Happened to Thanksgiving?

The other day I was flipping through the channels and I came across ABC family and stopped for a moment and in that brief moment I saw that they were advertising the "Countdown to the Countdown to Christmas." And I shook my head. Every year it seems Christmas decorations go up earlier, Christmas music starts playing sooner and everyone starts looking forward to Holiday sales. Now, do not get me wrong, I love Christmas and it truly is one of my favorite times of the year, but what frustrates me is that the more we get all pumped up for Christmas and the sooner we start to do so, the more we push aside and ignore Thanksgiving. I believe that Thanksgiving has truly become the holiday that we just try to get through so that it can be more "appropriate" for us to play Christmas music only. For us to get our Christmas shopping done and for us to get into the "holiday mood." However that is not what Thanksgiving is about. This holiday shouldn't be brushed aside and passed over just because we are excited about Christmas. Instead, it should be a time that we gather around with those we love, sit around a table for once to share a meal and simply pause and give thanks. I mean, is it really too much to ask that we pause and give thanks for just one day out of the year? Is it really too much to ask that you pause and slow down for one day and put your Christmas shopping to do list on hold just long enough to give thanks to the One who gave you everything you have to begin with? And on a personal note, Thanksgiving for many of us is one of the few times during the year that we see some of our family, so maybe we should just pause and enjoy that time especially since we are not guaranteed another Thanksgiving with them. That is something that has really been on my heart as this Thanksgiving approaches. Because just tonight as I thought about Thanksgiving pasts and remembered the fond times I had as a child going out playing football with my family, I was hit suddenly by fact that my uncle Mark, who used to be an important part of this tradition sadly won't be with us this Thanksgiving and I am reminded that what is important this Thanksgiving, is that I truly do pause and spend time with the my family and stop and give thanks for the thousands of blessings I have because I'm not guaranteed the next one. So, let us all pause and give Thanks this year and let us not rush past Thanksgiving in order to get to Christmas.

"Check Engine:" Pay Attention to the Small Problem Before It Becomes a Big One

It has been WAY too long since my last blog, I have done a worse job at keeping up with this than I thought I would, which is saying much because my expectations weren't that high...And I have some earlier blogs that I started a while back that I would love to go back and finish one of these days, but for right now, I would like to share some reflections on recent events, so here it goes...
Tonight, in my Spiritual Formations class, we watched this video on attention, and as I was watching this, I began to truly ponder the concept of paying attention and along with that, I pondered all the things that we miss by not paying attention. In this video, they mentioned a quote that I believe was from Ghandi that says that God is always speaking, we just don't know how to listen and as I pondered this in conjunction with recent events, I realized that our lack of attention causes us to miss out on a lot and can cause a small problem to become a bigger one...
For example, for months, the "Check Engine" light on my car had been randomly been popping on and off, and since there really didn't seem to be anything wrong with my car and the appearance of the light seemed to be completely random, I chose to temporarily ignore the problem and tuck it away in my mind as something to have checked out later. As the light continued to come on and off with no real consistency, it was decided that some random sensor might be off on my car and I should get it looked at, but that there was no immediate concern, and so I went on, not paying much attention to this check engine light, then this past Thursday happened...
I was driving to work and I stopped at an intersection and when the light turned green, I hit the gas, expecting my car to move forward, and well, it didn't.... I turned it off and restarted the engine, and still nothing. In complete panic about the fact that my car had chosen not to move, and I was smack dab in the middle of an intersection, I did what any Daddy's girl would do, I called my Dad, who wisely told me to call the police. After getting on the phone with the 911 operator and continual efforts to get my car running (and after a few honks and several angry looks from other drivers) I was able to get my car running enough for me to get it pulled into an shopping center.
To make an incredibly long story short, what ended up being wrong with my car? Well, the crank sensor had gone bad. So, my initial assumption that a sensor was off in my engine was correct, but my decision to ignore or not pay attention to the "check engine" light caused the unneeded stress of having my car die on me in the middle of an intersection, followed by the stress of finding a ride to work and what not and the overall inconvenience of being without a car for a short period of time. Now, God in his infinite grace, did provide for me throughout this situation: first, in the help of friends who came to lend me a car, next in the form of my Dad coming to look at my car and then to get it to the car dealership to get it checked out, and lastly in the form of the car dealership that fit my car into their jammed schedule and got it back to me the next day. However, one important lesson I take from all of this, and one that I hope anyone reading this takes from it, is the importance of paying attention....Had I paid attention to the "check engine" light, I could have avoided this whole mess and stress... So. may I always give due attention to the small problems before they become big ones, but more importantly, may I live everyday paying careful attention to everything happening around me, for we never know when God will speak to us in his still, quiet voice, and if we do not listen and pay attention, he may just need to shout it out at us later....So, let us all take notice of the small, quiet voice of God speaking to us on a regular basis and hopefully avoid the stress of having him shout at us later...
Well, that's all for now, more later and hopefully there won't be as long as a gap between this one and my next one....

PDA...What's Acceptable? What's Not?

So my experiences over the past two nights have prompted me to write this blog about what I consider to be appropriate public displays of affection (PDA) and what crosses the line. Now, before you gather your pitchforks and attack me for being a single person who is just jealous of all those of you who are in relationships, please understand that this is not an attack on all forms of PDA, this is just a request that couples not cross the line of acceptable forms of PDA, so please put your pitchforks away and bare with me...
So two nights in a row, I have been walking across campus and have had my eyes scarred by couples who have gotten a little carried away, so here are my rules of what is acceptable and what is not:
Acceptable: Holding hands, placing your arm around your significant other and the like
NOT Acceptable: Placing your hands underneath your significant other's clothing...basic rule: if you're in public, the public should be able to see your hands
Acceptable: a kiss goodnight
NOT Acceptable: a make-out session...now, I know that when you are saying goodbye to your significant other, that you would like to kiss him or her goodnight or goodbye, whatever it be but unless your significant other is going off to war and you will not see him or her for an extended period of time then please just keep it at a nice tasteful kiss, and if you feel the need to make it last longer because you won't see each other for what seems like an enternity, then please go behind closed doors
Acceptable: sitting on the couch next to your significant other (and by couch, i mean any place for sitting in public)
NOT Acceptable: laying on top of your significant other on the couch...
Okay, this is really all I've got for now, I'm sure more will hit me later as I encounter them, but I'll just post these for now... Before you go on to say that my not acceptable behaviors are obvious and no one would do them in public, please know that I was prompted to write these b/c I have in fact witnessed these acts in public....so, it does indeed happen...I am by no means trying to accuse anyone, this has hopefully just been a friendly request from those of us who would like to be able to walk around without encountering these things, this is not an attack on all forms of affection, for I am a fan of affection, I just think there is a time and place for it and that time and place is not always in public. And for those of you who read this and say that it I and others like me should just look away and avoid watching these individuals, I say, believe me, I have tried, and unfortunately at times its just like a train wreck, you want to look away but can't. Also, let me relay to you what happened to me on Sunday night: I was walking back to my room and a affectionate couple was walking in front of me, so I changed my path so I wouldn't have to be subjected to it any longer and next thing I come across another affectionate couple...yeah...so, I do realize this is an extreme example, but hopefully illustrates my point: sometimes, try as we may, we can not just avoid the overly affectionate couples...One last thought in response to those who say I should just look away, well, anyone who knows me knows that this is dangerous, for instance, last night I decided to send a text message to avoid further subjection of my eyes to the affectionate couple, and well I almost plowed right into a tree because I wasn't watching where I was going....alright, I'm done for now :)

Would You Rather...

This past year, it has been somewhat of a tradition for my small group to start off with a "would you rather?" question. Typically, we picked a random question from a collection that I had pulled off of the internet, but one particular week, I had forgotten to bring the questions so I decided to create one of my own...after much thought and debate (and the input of others), I decided to go with the following question: Would you rather spend two weeks completely paralyzed from the neck down or be confined to bed rest for two months? It was certainly a more serious question than usual, but was certain to incite discussion, which is part of the purpose of the questions. I had not really given the question much thought when I came up with it, but the discussion it inspired and the repercussions of that discussion have caused me to ponder the question more, and so I share my musings with you now...
Overwhelmingly (and by overwhelmingly, I mean everyone minus me and my co-leader) opted for the two months of bed rest over the two weeks of being completely paralyzed, and naturally with such overwhelming results, we decided to discuss the reasoning behind this. My co-leader and I fully admitted that we chose the paralyzed option simply because it was a smaller amount of time, two weeks and you're done, while the bed rest was for a whole two months! It seemed pretty clear to me that two weeks of paralysis would be the less painful option, but then we got into the rather nasty details of why everyone else chose the two months of bed rest, I began to question my decision... COMPLETE paralysis, that means you have absolutely no function of your body from the neck down...just ponder that for a moment....this means that you are completely and fully dependent on someone else for all your needs...You are incapable of feeding yourself, bathing yourself, relieving yourself, shoot, you can't even sit up without the help of someone else...imagine that for a moment, complete and utter dependence on someone else...And then I understood why everyone else was rather firm in their decision to choose bed rest over paralysis...
Complete dependency is a concept foreign to most people and especially so for Americans. The very thought of being dependent bothers us. After all we are a nation that thrives on our independence so why would we ever choose to be dependent on someone else? Yet, this is exactly what God commands on us, the very goal of the Christian life is to relinquish control of our lives to God. As we grow in our Christian walk, we are to grow in our dependence on God, which is totally opposed to everything our human nature and society teaches us. Society teaches us to be independent, to work hard so you don't have to depend on others. Those who are dependent on others are seen as weak and incapable of fending for themselves. So what does this all mean? Well, let's return to the would you rather question, it means that we basically decide to prolong our suffering for six more weeks rather than be dependent on someone else for our needs...this is pretty messed up if you ask me, yet we're all guilty of it, myself included.