A New Kind of Christmas

I enter this season each year and have to wonder what it is all about. The fast rush to the early morning sales of "Black Friday". Fighting in the aisles to be the first to get the "best gift". The marketing that has created the monsters that we have become.

What is it that we are fighting over...Playstation 3's, iPods, barbie dolls and board games. All of course necessities to the everyday life we live. REALLY?? Is this how selfish we have become?

Last night I was blessed with endless conversation with a man I greatly admire (my dad). At one point in the conversation he expressed feeling guilty for considering spending money this year by helping a family in need, rather than giving gifts to those he would usually spend his money on. He was afraid that this type of giving would devalue his relationships to those he loves most. Selah

Have we become so dissillusioned that our relationships depend upon the material things that we purchase for one another? Have we become so selfish that our material WANTS would drive a wedge in our relationships when another wants to provided a greater NEED for someone else? You've seen the comedies depicting the ungrateful recipients of a Christmas card baring the words "A gift of $50 was made in your name to Thus and Such Organization". I am not without guilt here, but wow...REALLY? Is this how we live? Have we devalues relationships to the point that material matters? Selah

This grieves me. It grieves me that I have been a partaker in it. It grieves me that we have minimalized relationships to what we can receive from others, rather than what we can give. It grieves me that we have become so hardened towards the NEEDS of others.

I say we, because I am a part of it...but I want something better. I want relationships dependent upon care demonstrated and love shown in ways we have been afraid of before. I want underpriviledged to see that they are not undervalued. I want love to be demonstrated in a profound way.

So this year, I propose a different kind of Christmas. With headlines of War and Poverty, AIDS and Desperation, rethink this Christmas season and make a difference. A difference that could stimulate a world of change. The kind that would put a smile on Jesus' face (this is his birthday and all). This year, take time to evaluate your usual Christmas spending, take time to evaluate those you value most. Take time to celebrate a different kind of Christmas.

"Then the King [Jesus] will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

~ Matthew 25:34-40 ~














Organizations to look into:
National

Local list and specific sites:
Harvesters
KC Rescue Mission
City Union Mission
Camp Barnabas
Hope House
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Habitat for Humanity

The one addiction we should all have

Last night, my fathers long time friend revealed his addiction on local television. Check it out. There is a full length story in the KC Star as well. I hope someday we all will of lived lives as inspiring as this. (His offical link is here)

Please be praying for Larry as he fights his battle with cancer.


More links to more great stories of this man
usatoday
review journal

Great places in KC...I love this city!!

Wide awake...to restless to read so I thought I would post some of my favorite photos around KC. The first few are in honor of the Stem Cell victory. Stowers will be proud.
















Stowers Institute for Medical Research

















Gift of Life Statue on Volker side of Stowers.



My Church (Jacob's Well) and one of the coolest people's (Phil Lesniewski -director of social justice minstry at JW) old school VW Bug





Loose Park, the rose graden is beautiful



Fountain at Mill Creek Park



Diversity. . . Homeless man kickin' it at the fountain



I think she might be an art student, same fountain

I LOVE THIS CITY

All in a days work (or two)

There is something liberating about knowing you are taking care of the environment. This week I worked hard and enjoyed the AMAZING 80 degree weather. Part of the work was to construct a compost pile (seen here - its also liberating to build things, not sure why...it just feels good). Today the work was complete and was well utilized after I cleared my yard of the piles of leaves that appeared to of snowed from heaven.

As I was working with the pile of waste, I was having all kinds of profound thoughts about how we see the “trashy” people of the world and just discard them. And how we could learn from the compost and the beauty of how waste can become something so nutritious and beneficial. Then I told myself to stop being so serious all the time. So I just enjoyed the day and its labors. But I will return to these thoughts. I will ponder how the weak and (thought to be) worthless are trampled under foot only to be discarded in the landfill of life. I will ponder the parallels of this compost and the beauty of that which can be created from those "trashy" lives. But for now, I enjoy the day...I enjoy my labors and the liberation of these works.

Work completed

Thought it was appropriate to include the completed version of the work in progress. Stacy is finished!! Heres the work
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Work in Progress

Thanks to a friend, who challenged me to use my talents, I am working on a portrait for Face.Africa. Above are a few of my interpretations of Stacy a young orphan girl from Kenya. What a lofty idea...that I (a girl from Missouri) am going to creat an image of Stacy from a simple photo. This image, that she will eventually receive as her own, will first be her face here in the United States as this project grows/tours to educate and inspire American thoughts towards Africa. My work is to give a face to an orphan millions of miles away. I can't and won't do it justice, but will try my hardest.

As I have taken on this challenge I have realized a lot about myself and how I, too, am a work in progress. My insecurities are what would of held me back from taking on this task without the prompting of a friend. My fear that I am not good enough, not talented enough, not creative enough. Fears that others would be better, that I'm not an artist, that I haven't been trained. It's all nonsense, I know...but real. I was thinking yesterday about all the things that I want to do, all my lofty ideas and wondered what was holding me back. It boiled down to one main thing...fear of criticism/rejection/failure.

Today as I worked on my project at Broadway Cafe I was approached by my new friend Bill, a partially toothed man in threadbare, tattered clothes. He said to me "are you an artist?" I hestitated and responded with some sort of "I'm a nurse by profession, but enjoy art." Unable to claim myself as an artist for fear that I didn't live up to the name, I asked Bill if he did art. He responded proudly, "I am an artist." Claiming boldly the name that I hestitated to place on myself out of insecurity, was the man with nothing earthly to show for it. The irony struck me hard.

The whole of this reminded of a passage I read yesterday while relaxing with my new friend Anne Lamott and her book Traveling Mercies (see my last blog for the links) her raw honesty sums it up well:

We totally bombed. No wait, this is not actually the truth: I bombed. Grace was fine. Everyone agreed later that Grace was fine...If you are what you do - and I think my parents may have accidentally given me this idea - and you do poorly, what then? It's over; you're wiped out. All those prophecies you heard in the dark have come true, and people can see the real you, see what a schmendrick you are, what a fraud. Alone in my hotel room later that night, I felt stricken and lurky and dark...Out of nowhere I remembered something one of my priest friends had said once, that grace is having a commitment to - or at least an acceptance of - being ineffective and foolish. That our bottled charm is the main roadblock to drinking that clear cool glass of love.

Ahhh! So let the work continue...I AM an artist...drink up!

some great quotes

I have been reading Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott and been loving it. Thought I would share some of my favorite quotes so far....

It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox, full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty - and said, Do the best you can with these, they will have to do. And mostly, against all odds, they're enough. (pg. 103)

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. (pg. 143)

To Ally, E and Andy (my music lovin' friends...two of which are so appropriately sportin' iPods in their profile pics) you will appreciate this one most:
I can't imagine anything but music that could have brought about this alchemy. Maybe it's because music is about as physical as it gets: your essential rhythm is your heartbeat; your essential sound, the breath. We're walking temples of noise, and when you add tender hearts to this mix, it somehow lets us meet in places we couldn't get to any other way. (pg. 65)