spiritual stuff

This post was written yesterday morning and as a follow-up to this post.

This morning I woke up with a renewed sense of hope.  Even as I stared at another pile of dirty dishes in the sink, knew I needed to empty the dishwasher and reboot the laundry.  Again.

I’ll help you if you just let me.

OK, let me get this laundry switched out.  It’ll only be a minute.

Empty the dishwasher first.

But it’ll only be a minute.

Do the dishwasher first.

Gosh, your bossy.  But fine.  And I hope you tell me why.  This seems silly.

So I empty the dishwasher.  I’m starting to cut it close with time before I take Lexi to camp but I know it will feel good to have an empty dishwasher through the day instead of the dishes continuing to stack in the sink.

OK, maybe this is a good thing.  It’ll be easier to hide the laundry than more dirty dishes.

I finish the dishes.  One minute left and just enough time to reboot the laundry.

See.  If you would have done the laundry first, you would have figured you didn’t have enough time for the dishes.  You hate them anyway and would have put it off.

So I left to take Lexi to camp with both chores done and when I got home, laundry was ready to be rebooted again,leaving me with just one pile left.  I felt accomplished and proud.  In control.  Capable.  And the ironic thing is it was through giving UP control and listening to someone else.

It’s the little things.  It’s the little things that make us stressed and it’s the little things He’ll help us with if we just listen AND obey.  It’s all fine and good if you are able to hear God but means nothing if you don’t take the action.  God is a personal God and cares about the little things.  Sometimes what He asks us to do makes no sense in the moment, but He doesn’t just see.  He KNOWS.

Isaiah 55
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This is The Mayflower Compact. If you’re like me, you haven’t read it in years, if ever.

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.

I know our Independence is about so much more than religion, just read the Declaration of Independence one more time.   I get that there is a First Amendment and separation of Church and State.  And I know this can start lots of arguments.  I don’t really want to go there.  There was just something about reading The Mayflower Compact that got my attention.  It’s sad to think if any politician or political group tried to put “for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith” in any speech or document, they’d be blasted for it.  I don’t know if I have a point to this except to say…Remember.

Patrick Henry
Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” 
_{–The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.}

John Jay
1st Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and President of the American Bible Society

“In forming and settling my belief relative to the doctrines of Christianity, I adopted no articles from creeds but such only as, on careful examination, I found to be confirmed by the Bible.” 
_{–American Statesman Series, p. 360.}

John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” 
_{–Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.}

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.“ 
_{–Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.}

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.”
_{–Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.}

Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.” 
_{–The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.}

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.” 
_{–Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.}

James Monroe
5th U.S. President

“When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgements for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.” 
_{–Monroe made this statement in his 2nd Annual Message to Congress, November 16, 1818.}

More here

News of Mark Sanford has barely left my mind since yesterday.  My first reaction was shock.  I didn’t see it coming.  And then I was just sad.  I knew the hate would come for him as a conservative man who has fought for marriage and has now in all likelihood ruined one with his own infidelity.  It seems so hypocritical.  But I can tell you with every fiber of my being you can believe in marriage, your marriage even, and yet still find yourself where he is.  I was hesitant to read their published emails but was drawn to see the details of what kind of relationship they had.  And then his story got personal.  So much of what he is feeling is all too familiar.  A few lines stand out to me.

How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes (and yes this is true even if you did occasionally tantalize me with sexual details over the years!) — but it was all safe. Where we are is not.

In all my life I have lived by a code of honor and at a variety of levels know I have crossed lines I would have never imagined.

The rarest of all commodities in this world is love. It is that thing that we all yearn for at some level — to be simply loved unconditionally for nothing more than who we are — not what we can get, give or become.

As I mentioned in our last visit, while I did not need love fifteen years ago — as the battle scars of life and aging and politics have worn on this has become a real need of mine.

He has it right.  We all need and want love.  And it’s not just a pat on the back at the end of the day, a card, a kiss.  It’s that feeling that the other person treats you like a King or Queen.  That no matter what you did or what you said they’d stand by you.  It’s knowing that they are just WAITING for an excuse to tell you something good about yourself.  It’s that quality of a relationship that left untended dies.  And really?  It’s not so much fun having to work to get back.

And when that part dies, years down the road you find your emotional bank at an all-time low.  You’re looking, searching for that love, that feeling that we all crave.  And then someone comes along out of nowhere and makes a small deposit and you take it and cherish it.  And then it happens again and again if allowed, each time crawling closer to some imaginary line you had drawn in the sand.  A line that suddenly without realizing it you cross and make a new one.  And that happens over and over and over.  Some lines are crossed as fast as lightning and then others it takes time.

And suddenly your deposits are just secrets ready to ruin every single part of your life.  And when they come out, you find yourself crying for five days in Argentina.  And you’re not JUST crying because you’re ashamed or sorry that you’re hurting so many people.  You’re crying because you know the deposits will be gone.  That a person you trust and love so much will never be there like they have been.  And you cry because you feel sorry for yourself.

And as saddened as I am for Jenny and their sons, I’m saddened for Mark.  Because I know he’s hurting.  No matter how or why he got there, no matter how much he wants to put the genie back in the bottle, no matter how much he loves his wife, he’s come to depend on the other person.  And now?  He has a choice to make and a hard road ahead of him.  None of it is pretty.  None of it is fun.  And the worse part is he’s doing it for the public.

If you think you’re marriage is above this happening, think again.  Go figure out how to love your spouse and love them well.  Tell them how they can love you.   For some, that’s easy.  But for others, it’s a struggle.  And I’m sorry for that.  I truly am.  But I think I can speak for Mark and say it’s better than the alternative.

I’ve blogged about Compassion a few times.  You may have noticed the badge I have on my right sidebar.  That’s not just  random advertising.  Compassion is an organization that helps children all over the world in poverty.  You sponsor a child for $32/month.  Lord knows we spend that much in Starbucks…in a week sometimes.

This week there are a group of bloggers visiting India on behalf of Compassion.  They’re seeing how Compassion works first hand.  One of the bloggers Pete mentioned in an email that I should go on one of their trips.  My first response?  My heart couldn’t take it.  I’d have so many tears I wouldn’t be able to see straight.  After reading their posts for today I’m realizing I can hardly take  just reading about it.  And maybe Pete’s right…maybe that’s exactly why I should go if I ever get the chance.

Two things I have to share that particularly hit me today.  I twittered on Sunday about having the song This is the Day stuck in my head.  Then the only video that Pete posted today was of an Indian boy singing that same song.  What a WOW moment.

The second is  Melissa told how 4 year olds are left home alone all day while their parents work.  FOUR.  The same age as Lexi.  My heart just broke thinking of all those children by themselves.  What could they possibly be thinking?  Who helps them when they’re hungry?  Who hugs them when they hurt themselves?  It’s unfathomable to me.

I highly recommend you following them on Twitter using #compassionindia, reading all their posts this week (blogs listed below) and most importantly, sponsor a child.  We CAN do something about this.

• Angie
• Anne
• Keely
• Melissa
• Patricia
• Pete
• Shaun
• Spence

*Update*

The picture above is our newest Compassion child Jayapriya.  I had the girls sit with me and told them what we were doing.  Lexi sweetly said, I’ll give her some of my church money.  I told her I had the money I just needed help picking which one we’d help.  All three of us pointed at Jayapriya when we saw her.  She’s so precious!