Self image - His image

"Mom, can a person really hate themselves?"

I looked up in great surprise.  "What?  Why?"  (See how articulate I was in this crucial teaching moment?!)

"Oh this guy in a book," (Whew!) My older daughter proceeded to tell me the plot of a novel she had been reading where the main character had been abused, believed that everyone he cared about died (therefore people shouldn't love him), and had come over time to truly hate himself.

Honor in Exile

I voted. 

It was the first time in more than a decade.  I'm not lazy, honest.  For most of those years I was abroad, and for all of them I was deeply conflicted about the candidates, finding them all so distasteful that I couldn't bring myself to endorse any of them.

I'm trying again.

The Devotional Method: Not a Soft Option

I was really excited to take a class about 12 methods of Bible study.  My nerdly heart was imagining stacks of references, scads of highlighters, and a whole new world of knowledge.  So when we started the class with the Devotional Method of Bible study, I felt a little deflated.  What, no Greek lexicon?  Not even a sniff of highlighter?  I blew it off as a soft option.  What I didn't understand is that this most introspective method is what you make it, and if done properly, can be life-changing.

Hungry, Please Help!

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"For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat" (Matthew 25:35). That's what Jesus said.  Here's what he did not say:

For I was hungry, and you ignored me.
For I was hungry, and you decided I was not really hungry.
For I was hungry, and you tried to decide if I was worthy of something to eat.

A Terrible Guest

I've had wonderful guests.  People who come to my house, love everyone and everything there, have nothing but good to say and are as hilarious as they are kind (You know who you are!!!). I've had less enjoyable as well.  You know the kind I mean.  But I always thought Jesus would be a fun guy to have for dinner.

The Finest People in the World

"But I love her, and I want to not just spend my life with her but my death too!" My freshman in high school wailed.

She went on, "It would be easier if they were bad.  But they're not, Mom.  They're good people.  How do you tell good people how wrong they are?"

Thanksgiving Reimagined

Take a moment and imagine what your Thanksgiving table might look like 3 weeks from now, if you took Jesus's words literally.