Complex Carbs

      (sigh of relief) I've missed this.

      Today, as I was on my way to my pseudo-second job, I passed by the church I attend here at home. There were a lot of cars there ("a lot" meaning 4 or 5, but that's a lot for a small-town church in the afternoon on a Wednesday). As you do in a small town in which everyone knows everything that's happening all the time, I wondered "what on Earth am I missing at the church?"

      Then I remembered!

      IT'S BLOOD DRIVE DAY!!!!

      I love giving blood! Which, apparently is a weird thing to love... but whatever.

      Anywho! After I had given blood, I went over to the snack area where my pastor, Joe, was sitting. A few minutes later, a friend came over after he had finished.

      So, conversation commenced.

      Sooner or later, we'd gotten on the brief, but memorable, subject of "Seasons." That is to say
nothing is permanent and everything is temporary.

      Which struck me.

      I guess I'd never really stopped to think about it, but it's true. Nothing is permanent.

      And yet.

      Did you know that we are actually still breathing in the same air Julius Caesar breathed? A little more polluted, I'm sure, but still! As in, the air he exhaled as he uttered his last breath before he died, remnants of that breath are still in the air. Crazy, right? It's like the really broken-down-into-weird-science-stuff that proves words can be permanent.

      More about that in another post, though.

      My point is that while nothing is permanent and everything is temporary, every breath we take and give out is permanently in the air. Whether through spoken word, or the snoring we do catchin' those Zzz's, or that laugh you let out when something is laugh-out-loud--this-is-what-good-times-are-made-of kind of funny.

      Complex, right?

      At school, a big huge thing with the acting faculty is finding the equilibrium and then stepping out of it. Finding balance and then knocking yourself out of it, finding a new balance. A give and take, if you will.

      Complex, right?

      The world is chalk full of dualities and complexities.

      Another pretty big one I heard from a super old Billy Graham sermon: God is seeing the big picture of, you know, Humanity. Yet He still takes the time to count every hair on my head. ....I mean as a metaphor... I'm sure He's not actually taking inventory each night. Unless that's His thing, in which case, You do You. Anywho!

      Talk about complex.

      God cares so much for the Earth and is constantly working big stuff around the Earth.

And Yet.

      He knows every single thing about me. He is paving my path. And then when I mes up from human error, He takes the time to take up all of that pavement and lay it down somewhere later down the path. And then He and I repeat that about 40 different times before I get that was the path He wanted me to take.

      But I digress.

      God works huge shifts in the World every day. Yet He cares so deeply for you that He walks with you through your personal journey. And knows you to personally.

      Isn't that beautiful.

      We are a complex people brought to Earth by a complex God. We are loved deeply. All of us.

      Nothing is permanent, yet that love seems to stick around. Always finding its way in.



Woo!
Mary Taylor

Just 'cause it's Hump Day!

I Never Thought of it That Way

      It's Holy Week! A week full of reflection, anticipation, immense sorrow, and profound joy and hope. All in a matter of 7 days! How can so much fit into a single week!

      The other day, I was listening to my Daily Audio Bible app, and I heard a story out of Mark that was so intriguing to me.

"25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And right away she came and knelt down at his feet. 26 The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn’t right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”[a]

28 The woman replied, “Lord, even dogs eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”

29 Jesus answered, “That’s true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone."  --Mark 7:25-30

      I love this translation because it adds the "that's true" part. 

     My mom babysits. So, whenever I'm home, I am surrounded by children. Most of the time, I just laugh at what they say because they're so cute and say the cutest things. However, every once in a while, a kid will say something that stops me dead in my tracks. Or do something that is so profoundly awesome. 

      Many teachers have similar moments. Even my brother, who student taught some classes, has moments that made him realize why he was there doing what he was doing. 

      This woman was not afraid to speak to Jesus and ask for help, at all costs. Even if that means, after already telling her that she must wait, telling Him that she needs the goodness He brings. 

      It's that moment in which He is sure in His ways, and not wrong. However, still has His mind open more when she retorts back. 

      What's so amazing about this is that we are constantly being proven that Jesus was God, yes. But also human. And that no one is above a statement that shifts the way of thinking. Everyone is susceptible to an idea that totally changes how to look at an issue. It's what we do in that moment that makes the difference. 

      Jesus was willing and able to shift His plans and His thoughts to accommodate this smart woman. Are we able to do the same when what we believe is challenged?  Sure, not every challenge to our beliefs means a total change in what we believe. But a challenge may bring up new questions to answer. Or a new way to look at something. 

      So, are we able to take those and morph them into something that helps us and helps others? Are we able to take those who retort back (and are probably right) and shift? It's tough. But I think it might actually be possible. 

Woo!

Mary Taylor

         

Another SB 101 Post...

      Romans 2:11: For God shows no partiality.

       I cannot stop thinking of the Religious Freedom bill signed by Mike Pence here in Indiana today. I've restarted this blog post trying to use words to describe what I'm feeling in this philosophical, theological way, but the words were not there.

      A friend texted my today in a rage over the bill. Frustrated and confused about the next step, this person said "I will pray for Indiana today because it all goes downhill from here."

      For a moment, I agreed. How can this be justice in a free world? Why is this happening? How can this happen in 2015?

      Then I remembered the outcome of the slaves in Egypt. The slaves here in America. The multitude of signs reading "Whites Only," or "No Irish Need Apply."

      We have fought this battle time and time again. And we have always ended up on top, receiving what we know as full equality at that time. Does it come easy? No. However, fighting with peace and love will always prevail.

      All of these actions against a certain sect of humans never have God in mind, though. Never. Not truly. The leaders of them might think it is for the best, however, you cannot read any of The Bible without stumbling across yet another passage about acting with love and how we are all equal. Especially in The New Testament when Jesus treats all people like people.

      I do not believe God made this bill happen. I believe this is wholly an act of free will, not hearing God's voice in the deliberation of this bill.

      I cannot say I am totally innocent of not hearing God's voice and it affecting others around me negatively. So, I am not sure I can pass judgement on Mike Pence. What I can do, however, is pray. Pray for Indiana. Pray for businesses. Pray for the businesses that act on this bill. Pray for businesses struggling for lack of tourism. Pray for the leaders of this state. Pray for Mike Pence. And pray for the inevitable fight and backlash that is to come now until this is reversed.

      We are all equal in every single way. When all will realize that is beyond me. But there will come a day when that happens. I have full and total faith. Equality will be won and love will be restored.

Mary Taylor

My Indiana Home

      Normally, I hear all sorts of stuff from my peers about how much Indiana is awful. Generally speaking, I've come to find Indiana beautiful in many ways, though. I mean, the scenery is gorgeous, the people are great, and my hometown is awesome! And we have some pretty awesome things! Like Connor Prairie, Indiana State Museum, all sorts of cool things. I guess it's the constant angst against Indiana and its people I have a problem with. In a lot of ways, it's people not taking into consideration other peoples' love for their surroundings. Lately, though, it's been really hard to like Indiana.

      Yesterday, a bill passed in Indiana that allows business owners to deny service to anyone who they deem "against their religion."

      If you remember from the history lessons from 5th grade, that is bad. Why? Because it discriminates. Period.

      (To read more about the bill, read here)

      There are so many things wrong with this. Like, countless. But, what really hurts my heart is that this bill was conceived, agreed upon, and signed by Christians. By people who are my brothers and sisters of Christ.

      Maya Angelou said this amazing thing about humanity.

                  She says "I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me."

      Anything any other human being does is not foreign to me. I am capable of that act. No matter how awful. I have it in me to do that thing.

      However, reversely, any one act that is so grand and huge and awesome that another person does, I am capable of.

      Every time we are hit with this issue of hate in the name of religion, or of fear, or of simple ignorance, has been fought and won.

      The slaves being freed from Pharaoh in the Old Testament. Jesus saving the sick and the lame. Discrimination against any followers of Christ. The heinous act of attempting to kill off a whole race and religion of humans. Treating humans like property. Separating colors with separate but "equal" treatment. Not allowing humans to fully express who they are. Stopping people from voting because they are darker than white. The list goes on.

      But of every villain, we have a hero.

      Moses. Jesus. Churchill.  Tubman. Martin Luther King Jr. From political leaders to the religious. From artists to business people. There are always heroes to the villain. And the way history has gone so far is that we fight. We fight we fight we fight. We do not quit. Until we win. Until equality is realized and love is restored.

      I am not proud of the choices made by the leaders of this great state. In fact, I am embarrassed and ashamed. However, I am not giving up on my home. I will fight with the best of them. I will make my voice heard.

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." --Isaiah 41:10 

Love as He loved.

If you, also, want your voice heard and want to speak up against this bill, no matter where you're from, email Mike Pence here.

If you want your actual physical voice heard, call him to urge him to veto here.


Woo!
Mary Taylor

Winners Never Quit

      There are some phrases we all know that I absolutely despise.

      Examples: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Hate it! First, teachers DO know how, that's why they teach. Also, that's a whole group of amazing human beings who spend their whole career caring for not themselves at all! I just hate that phrase.

      Another: "Winners never quit, Quitters never win."

      Until recently, I absolutely believed that and loved that phrase. I mean, not-quitting builds character! You have to teach your child to give something a try before quitting. Like baseball, or dance, or that community theater play. So, yes, to a point, that phrase is super useful.

      Over-committing myself is a thing I do a lot. I never think I do, because I see all of my friends do, like, a bajillion things at once and I'm like "wow, what am I even doing with my life?" Not to mention that I'm kind of bad at saying "no" when someone needs something. A lot of situations, I work best when I'm going-going-going. However, when is it too much? And how do I fix it without being a quitter?

      Recently, I dealt with this issue that was simply proving too much for me to handle. I didn't know how to deal with the situation, though. I didn't want to quit one of the things I'd started because then I'd be a quitter, and they never win. Plus, "if God brings me to it, He'll bring me through it," right? So, clearly, I just have to see this thing through. Even though I hate my time doing it. And I'm not invested. And I'm not enjoying myself. I just gotta see it through?

      Well, after homework assignment on top of homework assignment piled up, group work became intense, my job became demanding, and this extra thing I was doing was continuing to go quickly, my life seemed to crumble a little. I couldn't deal with the pressure of everything.

      But it's only two more weeks. God doesn't want quitters. I can do this. He'll bring me through it.

      But also, what if I just quit the other thing? That extra thing that was taking up a lot of my time and I wasn't really super invested in anyway?

      No, no, of course not. That would be unfair. Plus, God doesn't want quitters. He will see me through.

      So, I prayed.

      After two (what seemed like) mental breakdowns, it was clear what needed to happen.

      I met with the friend in charge of the extra thing I was involved in to tell him that I needed to quit for my sanity's sake. Having played his reaction in my head countless times leading up to this moment, he shocked me when he was actually totally and completely calm in saying "I understand. You do you." After a hug from the friend, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.

      God saw me through it.

      There are times when quitters never win. However, winners sometimes just have to quit for their sake. We have this baggage on the word "quit" that makes it sound dirty and awful. But, really, in many ways, it can be freeing and great.

      And sometimes God doesn't agree with those weird phrases we give ourselves. Sometimes God "seeing us through it," is different than seeing us through to the absolute end of it. I mean to say that God will always see YOU through YOUR end of it, but it's not always the same as someone else' end to it. And that's what's great about us and God. We are on different paths, and God knows that. He knows our path and our way because He has seen our journey. He's guided the way the entire time.

 Isn't that glorious!

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." --Matthew 11:28

Woo!
Mary Taylor

Awkward Family Photos

      A few years ago, I asked one of my pastors and mentors how to read the Bible. Like why does it say not to wear two different fabrics and different stuff like that. She referenced something like this to help me better understand how to take the Bible. It pretty much says (and you should click the link to read the whole post, because it's awesome! I'll give you another link to it here) that The Bible is looked at as this rule book or this supernatural being-of-a-book, etc. But really, what it is is more like your "great grandmother's family scrapbook."

      When my pastor first said that, I was confused. I mean, normally scrapbooks don't have rules and regulations and probably doesn't have near as much blood and gore...

      Today, I was listening to The Daily Audio Bible app. I'm a little behind (February 18th.... a lot behind), but he read a passage out of Leviticus. One of the passages with just lists and lists of rules. Then it hit me.

      Jesus died for our sins. So that we don't have to buy all of those sacrifices and waste tons of money and so that we can be cleaned and forgiven. So, why do we still have tons of lists of rules?

      How it hit me today: we have those lists and all of that info surrounding the Gospels to give us information on what exactly it means to really, truly, be forgiven. So we can look at what it took to be forgiven, flip it on its head (with Christ), and understand that we are forgiven now. To see the world Jesus lived in, and know the world He died in. To see the milestones we as a Christian people have taken to get to where we are today.

      It's pretty cool when you think about it.

      But, trust me, you're gonna wanna take a look at this link because it explains it SO awesomely!

      So, we're forgiven. Yeah. But do you know what it took for us to get here? It'll blow your mind.

Woo!

Mary Taylor

Fixer Upper

      Last night, I was giving my brother some advice. We were talking and after the conversation, I gave a very satisfied nod, then went to bed. It wasn't until I was lying in bed, reviewing the day's events, that I had realized.      Oh my goodness. I just told my brother how to live his life.    Wait, what!? No. That's what my mom does. That's what my dad does. That is NOT what I do!

      But I did. In the tone that, to me sounded helpful and inviting, I had told my OLDER brother how to live his life. Without malice, I told my brother what to change about him.

      I panicked. I emailed a mentor of mine immediately. She said something enlightening, yet simple because I had heard it before.

      So, I'm going to share. Because, through my huge mistake, I take away greater understanding.

      We're all on a journey. All of us. We're all in different parts in our life and all are seeking different things in life. Some people are okay where they are right now and are just living life. Some people are looking for the next step. Some people are trying to get used to the new step they just took. And that's only covering PART of it. Not to mention some people are working on being more happy. Some are working on being more responsible. Some are working on giving up a vice. I mean, we're all working on ourselves constantly! Which is great and wonderful because we never actually stop growing.

      So! When people ask advice, it's best to actually share my experience with the thing their bringing up, and see what they take from it. The whole telling them what to do thing, apparently, doesn't actually work. I know because when people tell me how to live my life, I get kind of angry and ignore the. So, why would I expect my brother to act differently (though he did take it very well)?

      She also pointed out that a lot of the time, the advice we give is actually what we are highlighting for ourselves to work on. Like where our heart is in most. Like finding happiness. Loving self. Better eating habits. The list goes on. And I cringe with each mention of something because I realize the amount of "advice" I've given to so many people.

      Face-palm.

      But it's good! Because now I understand.


      Now I just have to, like realize when I'm doing it and stop. And, instead of giving advice, I share my experience instead of working on fixing the person.

      Gotta take the log out of my eye before I can take the speck of sawdust out of the other guy's eye, right?

Woo!
Mary Taylor