Gleanings from the Table

These are some of the things that crossed my mind at dinner tonight.
No one told you before being a parent that:
1) It would be easier to feed the 7 month Sophia in a straight jacket. We don't have a straight jacket-- instead my husband Kevin used one arm to hold an arm down and I did the same while filling her with baby food peas. It's fun to watch her take the spoon and for peas to fling everywhere...but when you have meetings to run to after and a sermon to write-- it is less fun.

2)Dinner time music used to be some hip new band or cool background music Kevin found, then with Baby #1- now our Toddler Grace it became NPR (our only time to really get some good news). Now we listen to the Sesame Street Platinum favorites! My favorites are "Doing the Pigeon" by Bert and "Monster in the Mirror." The latter is quite theological....

3)Themed Bibs: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter will not just be used on those special occasions. You have a clean bib? You use it. Tonight we dined with Grace wearing a Halloween bib and Sophia happened to get an Easter bib. Hmmm... Death and Resurrection?

4)Prayer without Ceasing: Grace loves to bless the meal and say AMEN with a head nod always. We pray several times throughout dinner. We all hold hands. Sophia is sitting on the table in the Bumbo seat, "BABY! BABY!" We must MUST have her hand. But that's not all-- "DOG!!DOG!" We call the dog. We need the dog' paw too. Then we pray. Everyone holding hands. Everyone connected. Every five minutes.

5)And speaking of the dog-- Wonderful Built in Hoover! We never realize how much until we actually go out and do our best to pick up always wondering, "Did we tip the waitress enough for all that?"

The Simple Life

What is the simple life? No, I’m not talking about another reality show or a quick read magazine that assumes to tell us how to keep life “real simple.” When a lot of people hear simplicity, they think in extremes, often hearing instead “forced poverty.” Theologian Richard Foster, wrote “Asceticism and simplicity are mutually incompatible…Asceticism renounces possessions. Simplicity sets possessions in proper perspective.” The goal of simplicity is to be able to say with Paul, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want”(Philippians 4:12). To experience the peace of simplicity and the joy of contentment God calls us to release addictions and tear down burdens so we may live in the freedom Christ offers.

Prayer for Simplicity and Contentment

Almighty and all powerful God,
We fill our lives with work, projects, and pleasures and we have become weighted
down. Lord, we confess that we too often align contentment with mediocrity.
We have allowed our lives to be anchored to a debt of materialism rather than
Christ. Let us unclutter our lives, unbind our hearts, and seek you first.
Liberate us, let nothing separate us; let nothing come between our soul and our Savior Jesus Christ, In whose name we gather and in whose name we pray. Amen.

John Wesley?

Kevin Watson at deeplycommitted.com has started an experiment to see how much social capital Methodist bloggers have. This experiment was prompted by the feeling among some Methodist bloggers that United Methodism does not always do as good of a job as it could at getting the Wesleyan message out there, particularly on-line. So, he wants to see how many views a YouTube video can get if Methodist bloggers work together to promote it. The experiment is to see how many hits the video will receive in two weeks.

If you want to participate you can: First, watch the video below. Second, copy and paste this entire post into a new post on your blog and post it. Third, remind people about this experiment in one week.

Based on the results of the experiment, Kevin will get in touch with the folks at Discipleship Resources and let them know the ways in which Methodist bloggers are often an underused resource.

Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISKTrScpzQ