Raindrops and Whiskers
Here are a few of my favorite things from the interwebs this week:
On blogging as a spiritual discipline: In Which Sarah Bessey Writes a Guest Post for Introverted Church.
"Writing has given me permission to contemplate my life in a daily rhythm, looking for the touches and movement of God across the day."
"And sometimes the sharing of my life, especially the tender and still bruised parts of it, the parts without answers or neat bows of seven steps to whatever-it-is, is as much an offering to God as I can imagine, it’s sometimes the only way I know how to pray and worship."
On the Green Commission: Confessions of a Tree Hugger on Reject Apathy.
"God doesn’t want us to carelessly trash the planet in the name of progress, even if we think Jesus is coming back soon. He wants us to use it responsibly and to care for it."
"I for one hope my generation will do better at setting an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity -- beginning with myself. And I pray we'll humbly, eagerly and intentionally seek to learn from those Christians who have been at it longer than we have -- even if they drive a gas-guzzling Buick instead of a Prius."
"And then I am chiding myself, “You’ve not dwelt in the heart of worship for a couple of weeks. You could have repented and surrendered and returned to live in Christ so much sooner!” And I am sort of thinking, “I don’t really deserve God’s help and blessing….”
And then I realize, “When was it ever about my deserving?”
You barely listen to my statements of failure. Instead you clothe me in your best robes. You put a ring on my finger, and sandals on my feet. You have a feast and celebrate, serving the best steak. There is music and dancing."
On What to Get Pops for Father's Day: Careers, Yard Work, Grilling, and Porcelain Thrones…We Have the Perfect Father’s Day Gifts! at Plant With Purpose.
"Every family has a joke about dad’s “throne,” so why not help another father build a better and healthier future for his family by providing an ecological latrine."
Why not, indeed?
"The problem is that you, the grieving person, don’t know what you need and your loved ones don’t know how to help. This disparity often leads to a lot of conflict and unmet expectations, on both sides."
"My encouragement to anyone who is grieving is that when you are hurt by words, action, or inaction, to discuss your hurt as soon as you can with the person who hurt you."
"O God, since Thou art with me, and it is Thy will that I must now apply myself to these outward duties, I beseech Thee, assist me with Thy grace that I may continue in Thy presence. To this end, O Lord, be with me in this my work, accept the labor of my hands, and dwell within my heart all Thy fullness." Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
And of course my favorite photos from my brother and my Flag Day Celebration:
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| And then our decorating took a turn for the politically incorrect: A People's History of Flag Day. |
Happy Flag Day!
I bet you didn't know it, but today is a holiday. Today, in the United States of America, we commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States.
I admittedly have a shaky history with the American flag, but I do not have shaky history with my younger brother. And for me and my younger brother, Flag Day is one of the best days of the year.
We first began celebrating Flag Day seven(-ish?) years ago. My brother and I had just come home from an afternoon at the river. The skin on our cheeks and shoulders was taut and freckled with sun. My calves and hamstrings burned from the perilous hike up the steep rock cliffs that led to our own private oasis on the sun-baked river bank. We drove home in my shaky 1988 Honda Prelude, windows down blasting DC Talk and dancing carelessly, free. (Even now I'm not ashamed of my love for DC Talk)
At home we ravaged the kitchen for ice cold sodas—Cherry Pepsi for him, Diet Pepsi for me—still in our bathing suits.
“Aly, let’s make a cake,” Cameron declared as he flashed me his dimpled smile that gets him out of chores and punishment, even when he’s as guilty as a child caught sneaking cookies before dinner.
“Okay,” I conceded, not that it took much convincing.
“We don’t have cake mix,” he looked at me with the eyes of a wounded animal, but I already knew how to save the day.
“We could go to Mike’s,” I suggested. Mike’s was the convenience store right down the hill from us. We used to ride our bikes down to purchase candy bars for ourselves and milk for our mom. It hadn’t been called Mike’s for a couple of years since an Arab couple took over the store, but it would always be Mike’s to us.
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| Flag Day 2010 |
“We should bake the cake for Mom. When does she get home?” Cameron asked me. I was surprised at his spontaneous selflessness and felt a little guilty that I hadn’t thought of it first.
“That way she’ll give us money for it.” No need for guilt; there’s the Cameron I knew.
“We could say it’s a birthday cake, or maybe her half-birthday!” His excitement was growing as he schemed. Meanwhile I made my way over to the calendar, checking if there was some kind of holiday that was close enough to justify baking a cake.
June 14th. It was Flag Day.
I rushed to my room to throw on some clothes, yelling to Cameron to do the same.
“We’re going to Mike’s, Cameron! It’s Flag Day! Everyone needs a Flag Day cake!”
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| Flag Day 2011 |
Five minutes later clad in cut off shorts and old gymnastics t-shirts, my brother and I stood in front of the cake mixes preparing to make the most difficult decision of the summer thus far: what kind of cake is appropriate for a Flag Day celebration?
Our eyes greedily studied the sumptuous labels of rich, moist, luscious cakes, and then stopped scanning at exactly the same time. I turned to Cameron and met his brilliant blue eyes as we both broke into a smile.
“Yellow cake, chocolate frosting,” we said in unison.
With those fateful words and that first delicious Flag Day cake, we've been celebrating Flag Day ever since. My mouth is watering just thinking about the tasty cake we will (hopefully) bake tonight. What's more, Flag Day is an excuse to spend time with one of my favorite people on earth, my brother.
Happy Flag Day, everyone! Do you have any fun family traditions/excuses to spend time with each other?
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To read more about my incredibly talented little brother, click here, or to listen to the delightful and soulful and just downright impressive beats he creates, click here. And keep an eye out for our obligatory Flag Day 2012 picture later this week.