Jesus is called our Wonderful Counselor. Do you go to him first with your concerns, or is prayer your last resort?
Musings
My writings & reflections
Prayer prompt for Sunday, Dec. 4
Let’s use Isaiah 9 as a prayer guide this week to give thanks to God for sending us the gift of his son. What does Jesus mean to you?
A miraculous sign (Prayer devotional for the week of Dec. 4)
When we think of the Christmas story, don’t we tend to flip pages over to the New Testament? There’s the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, followed by the shocking story of how Joseph heard that his fiancé was pregnant. There’s a recap of Mary’s surreal conversation with the angel Gabriel and the heart-warming family reunion between Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1, not to mention John the Baptist’s leap for joy – in utero. There’s also the disciple John’s poetic reminder in chapter 1 of his book about Jesus’ stature as the Word of God. The New Testament is chockfull of wondrous stories about Jesus.
The story of Jesus’ birth began much earlier, however. Back in the 730s BC, the prophet Isaiah had a conversation with King Ahaz of Judah. (This is the same Ahaz listed in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1.) Ahaz was shaking in his boots because the kings of Aram and Israel were plotting against him. The Lord spoke through Isaiah and offered Ahaz a miraculous sign, which he declined. (I don’t know about you, but I think I would have said, “Yes, please!”)
Isaiah lost patience with Ahaz and told him that God already had a miraculous sign in mind that he would show, anyway. Then, right before he delved into a lengthy explanation of the wars and sieges that were about to plague Judah for the peoples’ disobedience, Isaiah prophesized about the birth of Christ: “The Lord himself will give you a miraculous sign. The virgin is going to have a baby. She will give birth to a son. And he will be called Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NIV). We often see the verse isolated by itself, but it’s actually tucked into a much longer conversation between God (through Isaiah) and Ahaz.
I’m not a theologian, but this fascinates me. How cool is it that God chose a time of war to have his prophet foretell the coming of Christ? This Jesus, who rescued us from the darkness of sin and from the wars that wage battle within our own hearts, is Immanuel – “God with us” – who was and is and is to come!
Writing Wednesday: The Golden Rule & the Golden Path
I’m *this* close to being finished with my last term paper of the semester. It has been one of (if not the) most difficult papers I’ve ever written, largely because of my level of comfort/familiarity with the subject matter.
My prof is a big sci-fi fan, which is not a criticism in and of itself, but he also apparently expects his students to be mind-readers and know what he wants, even when he doesn’t specify it in the assignment instructions. It has been very frustrating and is something that I will certainly note in the end-of-semester survey.
I’ve mentioned before (a few times, in fact) that one of our required readings for the semester was Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic, Dune. I didn’t loathe the book, but sci-fi isn’t my go-to genre. Furthermore, Dune is a series — and a rather lengthy one, at that — so trying to encapsulate the organizational structure of the society (which is the whole premise of the class) really involves more than just the first book. Much happens in later books (which I have not read, but I will be making a donation to Wikipedia when this class is over) that changes the scope of the storyline.
So, given a list of topics from which to choose, I set out to write about “universal political truths” in Dune. Easy enough, right? Um, sure, except for the fact that no one agrees on anything universal when it comes to politics. I decided to look at the Golden Rule, because it transcends numerous cultural, religious and political boundaries and could, arguably, be described as “universal.” In fact, one article I found said that at least 10 world religions have some variation of the Golden Rule in their texts.
I looked at the standard rendition (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), the negative interpretation (Don’t do unto others as you wouldn’t want them to do unto you) and the economic version (He who has the gold, rules), with examples of how each rule is demonstrated in Dune. Then, I listed a fourth variation that I linked to the Dune saga beyond the first book: Do unto others so that they will not do unto themselves. This final scenario has to do with Leto II’s tyrannical but messianic rule that he set into motion in order to save humankind, aka, the Golden Path.
Since this blasted paper had to be 20-30 pages (rather than the typical 12), I had to write about more than just variations of the Golden Rule, so I pulled in some philosophy by Immanuel Kant and John Rawls, both of whom fall under the category of “social contract” philosophers, which I tied in with the Golden Rule and compared to Leto II. I’m neither a Kant nor Rawls scholar, so I’ve been grasping at straws trying to wrap my head around their perspectives well enough to write coherently about them.
It’s a twisted, convoluted effort, but I think I’ve made it work. I’m still about three pages shy of being finished, but the boys have kids’ church tonight, so I hope to finish TODAY. Then, I can study for my other class’ final exam that begins later this week!
Monday Musings: Refrigerator surprise
Turkey pot pie or
the classic sandwich. My fave?
Pie for breakfast: Yum!
I’ve never been very good about eating leftovers (I blame high school science classes for my bacteria aversion), but turkey is so versatile. The boys love pot pie, so that’s a must-have in the days following Thanksgiving. It’s super easy (canned mixed veggies & cream of chicken soup in a refrigerated crust!), and it’s one dish where no one quibbles over the vegetables. (Actually, everyone but the eldest really likes vegetables, so he’s odd-man-out.)
I made a variation of my low-carb buttermilk pie again this year. I used almond meal for the filling this time, and it was good, but I didn’t like it quite as much as the original recipe. It makes a yummy breakfast treat, though. 🙂
Writing Wednesday: Languages & technology
I had the chance to eat lunch with a couple of the boys at a Chinese restaurant not far from my office yesterday. The decor is very traditional and features Chinese art on the walls and under glass on the tables. The table is what drew my 7yo’s attention. He was admiring the artist’s signature, then he looked up and asked if I would scan it with my smartphone.
I was confused until I realized that he was pointing at the red square name seal that looked similar to this:
(Source: Flickr)
I suppose it does resemble a QR code, now that I think about it from his perspective! 😉
When I lived in China in the mid- to late-90s, I was blessed to receive a name seal (also called a “chop” or “stamp”) as a gift embossed with my Chinese name: Chun Yu 春雨, which means “spring rain.” If you are curious about the process to make a name seal, there are some how-to videos on YouTube that I found interesting. I will always cherish mine.
Monday Musings: At the dinner table
I can hear you chew;
Can’t I eat my meal in peace?
It turns my stomach.
I’m fully aware that everyone has their own pet peeves when it comes to mealtime. For example, I happen to love buffalo wings, but I realize they aren’t the daintiest food to eat. I try not to make a spectacle of myself and try to be conscientious of what other people see when I am eating, but there are probably some folks who are grossed out by seeing someone eat a plate of chicken wings.
Dinnertime at our house is not a somber affair; I don’t mind the boys talking and sharing about their day, as long as they don’t get rowdy or gross. We have an unconventional setup where the boys eat at the curved bar (perfect seating space for five), and the grown-ups have a small, round table in the breakfast nook. (We do have a table big enough for eight, but the “formal dining room” is our “study,” for all intents and purposes, so that table is a homework table more so than an eating table.)
There are two things, though, that really grate on my nerves: smacking and loud eating. Few things can make me lose my appetite as quickly as being able to hear someone else eat. I don’t know what it is, but there are times when I would just as soon leave the table than try to eat when I can hear someone else chewing or smacking.
Prayer prompt for Friday, Nov. 18
Sometimes what needs to be done isn’t what we especially love to do. Be open today for ways to serve outside your comfort zone.
Writing Wednesday: Mad Libs
One of the best roadtrip games of all time has to be Mad Libs. The boys have several Mad Libs flipbooks, and although they like to crank the gross factor off the charts as often as possible, I put up with it because I love the fact that my 1st graders are figuring out the difference between adjectives and adverbs!
They sometimes need help reading the finished story, but they love to fill in the blanks and take turns asking their brothers for words. Here are some of the most common:
- Adjective: smelly, stinky, gross
- Body part: intestines
- Noun: feet, skunk
- Verb: farting, burping
You get the drift. They know that I don’t like gross humor, but I overheard this conversation recently in the car:
No. 3: “Give me an adjective.”
No. 5, whispering: “p-o-o-p”
No. 3: “That’s not an adjective! That’s a noun!”
No. 2: “Or, it could be a verb.”
Omigoodness, it’s hard not to laugh with/at them sometimes.
Monday Musings: Interwoven
Twisting branches weave,
Overlapping, entangled –
With lives as with trees.
This lovely tree caught my attention as I waited for the campus trolley and inspired today’s haiku.
Doesn’t it beg to be climbed?
faith, sweat & tears 