You are Beautiful

There was another piece of art in the Nature Unframed exhibit at the Morton Arboretum that really struck me.

Most of the pieces of art were in a centrally located area, so I walked around to see all of them.  This piece of art was, I think, the biggest.  You probably could have seen it from an airplane.

This is a wonderful message.  There are so many people out there who need to hear this message.  But I wasn’t terribly impressed by this piece of art.  It was just some really big letters- although still a good message.

I moved on to look at other art pieces.  And then later I rode my bike past this piece of art from a different route than I had walked past it.  At first I thought it might be a different piece of art because it was so different and striking.

From the other direction the letters were yellow- a beautiful bright, brilliant yellow. The first time I looked at this piece of art, I hadn’t given it enough of a chance- I dismissed the white letters as “nothing special” and hadn’t taken the time to look at it more deeply, to look at it from another perspective.

Sometimes we need to look at something from a different angle (figuratively or literally).  Sometimes we don’t see the beauty in something because we are looking at it the wrong way.  Or sometimes we don’t look at it long enough.  Or maybe we don’t look at it deeply enough.  Sometimes we dismiss people outright because we don’t take the time to look for the good in them or we just let any small fault override any potential good.  Sometimes a situation frustrates us because it seems all bad when we don’t take the time to look for the good.  Perhaps this is about thinking about the glass as being half full rather than half empty.  But in the end I think we all have to give everyone and everything in our lives a chance before we judge, a chance to see the good, a chance to see the beautiful.

Christmas List

Every kid loves making a Christmas list.  Kids love looking through catalogs and store flyers and picking out all the coolest toys.  Maybe they send the list to Santa or maybe they just put the list in their parents' trusted hands.  A Christmas list allows a child to dream, to dream about what he or she might receive and all the fun that will be had with those toys.  But perhaps the most exciting part about the whole Christmas list making extravaganza is waiting for Christmas morning to find out what wishes have been fulfilled.

I'm no longer a kid, but I still make a Christmas list.  The past few years I have struggled to write a Christmas list like I did when I was a child.  I have been blessed with everything I need and most of what I want.  I don't need more "stuff" to clutter my bedroom or my life.  And so I have started writing what we might call an alternative Christmas list.  My Christmas wish list consists of things I want for other people and for the world.

Here's my Christmas List:

1.  A world without hunger, a world where not a single child dies because he or she didn't have anything to eat
2.  Sustainable sources of income and access to credit for people living in poverty
3.  A world where all children have access to education and all people are literate
4.  Clean water for the more than 1 billion people who don't have access to clean water
5.  Meaningful work and dignity for people who are considered "unemployable" by many
6.  A world where people don't die from preventable and treatable diseases like malaria

Yes, I know my list is a little ambitious.  I'm not even sure Santa could pull off a list like this.  I know none of these things will be delivered under my Christmas tree this year, and I'm pretty sure that none of you reading have the resources to make my Christmas wishes come true.  But here's a more concrete list, which includes some possibilities on how to make my list a reality.

1.  A world without hunger: Donate to Feed My Starving Children or to Heifer International (Ducks, bees, or chicks would be nice)
2.  Income and access to credit: Purchase an animal through Heifer International (I really really want a llama) or purchase a gift card through Kiva that will allow me to give a loan to an entrepreneur in need of a microloan
3.  Education and literacy: Support the work Lutheran World Relief is doing to provide education or buy me a gift certificate for Better World Books
4.  Clean water: A gift card for Living Water International 
5.  Meaningful work and dignity: Purchase me a gift card for Goodwill
6.  An end of malaria deaths: Donate to the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.  This initiative is working to educate people about malaria while treating and preventing malaria in Africa.

So, that's my Christmas list.

I encourage you all to make your own alternative Christmas list.  It's a fun and meaningful experience- it will give you a chance to dream about what a wonderful place the world could be and you will have the opportunity to do some research and see if you can figure out some ways to start making your alternative Christmas list a reality.  If you do make an alternative Christmas list, let me know... I'll probably get you something off your list.

Applesauce

A month ago I got together with my grandma and we made and canned a whole bunch of applesauce.  My little cousin helped a little when he got home from school.

This was a 6-hour-applesauce-making extravaganza. 

Ingredients to make applesauce: apples, a little bit of sugar, and lots of work.

We had 2 bushels of apples.  

This is a HALF bushel

The apples all had to be washed.  Then we quartered the apples, cut out the core/stem area/seeds, cut the apple into smaller slices.  

All the "reject" pieces

These slices went into a pot with a little bit of water and then onto the stove where they cooked until they were mushy.  

Then the apples had to go through a food mill.  This is where the applesauce gets its pinkish color- the red peels of the apples don’t go through the food mill but the red gets ground out enough to give the applesauce a hint of pink.  

Then we added a little bit of sugar (about ¾ of a cup to 1 cup).  Then the hot applesauce went into the jars.  And then the jars went into the canner to be processed.  Then the jars came out to cool.  This whole process was repeated countless times and often multiple parts of this process were going on at once.

I think we ended up with 63 pints of applesauce. Here's just SOME of what we made.

Vision

A friend of mine posted a quote from Russell Simmons on Facebook some time ago.  It really struck me and so I put it into a document of the many things I come across that I want to remember or refer back to later.

Here’s what Russell Simmons said:

 “Now, that you have frozen your vision and are clear about it, tell the world what you are going to do. Once you share your vision with the world, you are stuck with it. Have the courage to let people expect you to make it happen. This is a good thing. Focus on that one vision and go to work to make it a reality. Then set the right goal for you. In the end, the overriding factor is whether or not you realize your dreams FOR you. Not the world. You.”

I agree with about 90 percent of what Russell Simmons says here.  Everyone should take the time to think about and formulate what vision each of us has for ourselves and the world.  And then we should tell the world about that vision.  That’s why I shared my dreams with all of you (and the whole world-wide-web), because I wanted to be “stuck” with my vision and my dreams, because I wanted to have the courage to make you all expect that I am going to make my dreams a reality (or at least some of my dreams).   I and all of us need to have that vision out in front of us and we need to focus on that and work to make it a reality.  In all this I concur with Russell Simmons.

Here’s where I disagree with Russell Simmons:

Yes, my vision and my dreams are for me.  My dreams are ways that I can fulfill my purpose here on earth.  I will find purpose, fulfillment, and happiness through striving for and reaching my goals and dreams.  BUT, in the end, the overriding factor is whether I realize my dreams for the world (not simply for myself).

Ashes

I went to the Morton Arboretum a couple of months ago.  I had a very lovely day.  I rode my bike around, went for a little hike to Big Rock (yes, that's quite the creative name but it is indeed pretty big), and enjoyed the beauty of all the trees.

"Big Rock"

The Morton Arboretum has an art exhibit, Nature Unframed, that “promises to be unlike any other exhibition you’ve seen before.”  And it’s true.  There are 11 pieces of contemporary art around the arboretum created on and around the trees.  Sometimes I enjoy a little contemporary art- I like trying to figure out what the artist was thinking when he or she created the piece.  I like the challenge of thinking about the deeper meaning of the art.  I’d say it’s worth going to see.  The exhibit runs through November 27^th in case you are interested in going to see it. 

There was this tree with its trunk and some branches covered with crocheted “lichen” patches to remind us of the interdependent relationships and the ties that bind us all together.

A tree wrapped in yellow cloth- the yellow draws our attention to this tree that recently died, reminding us not to take trees for granted.

And then there was this piece:

Charred dead trees in a place that is supposed to be preserving and protecting trees.  My immediate response was “Well, that’s ugly, really morbid, and completely un-optimistic.”  I was just about ready to stomp off in protest, but then I read the little sign about the piece of art.

And then I almost immediately liked the piece of art.  Yes, this charred wood does make us think about death, but it also reminds us of the cycle of life and death.  There are so many times when life has and will come from death.  Many times life is not possible without death. 

It made me think about Harry Potter and the phoenix, the phoenix that is reborn from ashes. 

And it made me think of a song that is one of my favorite songs right now.  The song is Rise by Shawn McDonald.  You can listen to it here:

Ashes signify something that has been destroyed, the end of something that no longer exists, the memory of what was.  Ashes remind us of our mortality (ashes to ashes, dust to dust…) and are often associated with mourning and grief. 

And yet ashes are signs of hope.  We must get rid of the old before the new can come. 

I think we all have experienced times when we might have felt a little like Job who sat in a pile of ashes after Satan took away Job’s wealth, children, and health in order to tempt Job to curse God.  Job suffered extreme grief and physical, emotion, and spiritual pain.  But, Job does rise from the ashes and he goes on to live a long and blessed life thanks to God’s blessing.  He didn’t get his children back, but he was blessed with 10 more children and plenty of grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He didn’t get his original wealth back but he was blessed with even more wealth.  The time of suffering Job endured was not erased, but he enjoyed many years of joy after he rose from the ashes.   

And likewise, each and every one of us can rise from any “ashes” in our own lives.  We won’t be able to get back whatever it was those ashes were before they were ashes, but we can live with confidence “cause he who is in me, is greater than I will ever be, and I will rise.”  We will rise as individuals, and perhaps more importantly, our world will rise out of the ashes.  Our world finds itself in some great trouble, but one day, we will rise out of these ashes.  One day there will be no more trouble, no more pain and suffering, no more injustice.   

100 Posts!

This is my 100th post on this blog!

My blog has existed for about a year and a half and I consider it a pretty good accomplishment to have 100 posts now.  That comes out to about one post every 5.5 days.  The topic, length, and quality of the posts have varied and so have my readers.  Thanks to Blogger statistics I can tell you my blog has been viewed more than 3,200 times.  My blog has been viewed across the US and all over the world: El Salvador, Canada, Germany, Russia, India, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Denmark, Singapore, Russia, Kuwait, and Guatemala.  Makes me feel pretty special and important that people that I don't even know are finding and reading my blog.  But mostly I like knowing that people I do know are reading my blog.

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers.  Without you, there wouldn't be much point for my blog to exist.  I love writing, but I love writing even more when I have readers.  Knowing I have readers motivates me to write and helps me write better than I would if I were just writing for myself.  And I love having readers who engage with what I write and then tell me how my words and thoughts have affected them.

I'd especially like to thank my most loyal readers: those of you who immediately "like" links to my blog on Facebook, those who have sent me responses to my blog posts, those who have forwarded or shared my posts, and those who have eagerly (and sometimes impatiently) awaited my blog posts.  You know who you are and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And now... prepare yourselves for the next 100 posts.

Same Kind of Different As Me

I just read this excellent book- Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  There aren’t sufficient words to tell you just how wonderful this book is.  This is an inspiring story about the difference one person can make in the life of another person.  It’s a story of “regular” people who are brought together, and what results is a story that only God could have written.

I don’t want to spoil the book, so I’m not going to tell you much about it.  But I will tell you this: This book is the true story of the meeting and friendship of a former sharecropper who was homeless and an upscale art dealer.  One of the best parts about this book is we hear the story from both the homeless man and the art deal.  These two men were brought together by the art dealer’s wife, an incredible woman.  This is the story of the lives of the two men, how they became friends, and how they became family.

Reading this book will:

• Change the way you look at and think about seemingly scary homeless people
• Teach you about compassion and show you what it means to love deeply
• Make you wonder how our society can continue to treat some people with such a lack of dignity
• Let you enjoy some incredible story telling
• Make you cry. There are some parts of this book that you should definitely not read in public because you might make a fool of yourself crying hysterically.  You will need to have a box of tissues handy (and perhaps something to comfort you- like a bottle of wine or a carton of ice cream). 
• Restore your hope in humanity
• Make you believe that even the greatest tragedy and grief can be overcome
• Challenge your faith
• Strengthen your faith
• Show you what it means to live as a Christian
• Help you to stop judging people who don’t express their faith in the same way you do
• Make you wonder how you could possibly ever be a part of a story as great as this one
• Inspire you to want to start living today in a way that you could be a part of a story as great as this one   

Really, you just need to get this book and read it as soon as you can.