Naptime Reflections - T. Swift

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the part of the show where I micro-blog about topics on which I'm thinking, probably mostly during the time when Ellie and Kate are napping. Thus the title. I'm so clever, I know. 

I don't listen to Taylor Swift's latest album, "1989," anymore. 

I'm a big fan of Taylor Swift's album-before-last, "Red." So naturally, I was excited when her new album arrived, and listened to it voraciously. 

That is, until I began singing it around the house...and my little mini-me started joining in the fun. 

"Boys only want love if it's torture/don't say I didn't say I didn't warn ya," I belted out in my best pop voice, until a little echo issued from my oldest daughter, Ellie, who is less than three years old. "Boys...!" she sang, and suddenly, I really heard the lyrics that were coming out of my mouth. I reviewed the rest of the album, and found myself appalled with the messages I had been pouring into my brain - and my child's brain - as I crooned Taylor's tunes. 

This is my disclaimer that the content of T. Swift's latest album is not appropriate for children. There are many instances where the lyrics are nakedly sexual at worst, and worldly at best. I am a firm believer in discernment in media. We imbibe messages from what we read, watch and listen to whether we are conscious of it or not, and so do our children.  

Lost

Loud music plays, punchy and proud
And I sit, nervous and cowed
Left in a world that doesn’t need me.

One wants to be seen, to be adored
Rather be hated than to be ignored
This is how I live when I’m losing.

Say, what is my true goal, if I have one?
For loves and priorities die with the sun
Sin and solace descend with the darkness.

The music plays, fervent and free
And I sit, and contemplate me, for
Thought is a world that will always take me.

Naptime Reflections - Facebook is Bad for Me

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the part of the show where I micro-blog about topics on which I'm thinking, probably mostly during the time when Ellie and Kate are napping. Thus the title. I'm so clever, I know. 

Facebook is bad for me. It's not bad in and of itself, but my actions concerning it just tend to be bad. Every time I get on for an extended period of time, I have ample opportunity to see how great everyone's lives look compared to mine, how pretty everyone looks compared to me, how much fun everyone is having while I'm at home. I bet that I've been the recipient of these comparisons, too, which makes me either want to laugh or cry, depending on my mood (today is a laugh-while-crying sort-of day). 

The truth is, I don't need to scroll through my newsfeed and be all up in other people's business anyway. It has no meaningful, positive impact on my life. Sure, I might know which college acquaintance is having the next baby, but I also think I'd probably survive without such information. I already have software that kicks me off Facebook after 10 minutes, but I might have to change it to 5. It has not proven to be something that encourages me to godliness - not that I believe everything has to have a direct "spiritual" value (watching Cutthroat Kitchen, for example...heh) - but my spending time on Facebook has been a temptation for me to indulge in discontent, idolatry and materialism. Yuck.

Naptime Reflections - Fatigue

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the part of the show where I micro-blog about topics on which I'm thinking, probably mostly during the time when Ellie and Kate are napping. Thus the title. I'm so clever, I know. 

This is a stage of life in which I am constantly very tired. For one, Kate (10 1/2 months) still wakes up 2 or 3 times per night (don't ask me why, because I don't know). Add this to the general tiredness that comes with parenting littles, and you can bet there are days, such as today, where it's all I can do to interact with my children with an iota of patience or good humor.

Days like today it helps me to remember the Incarnation; specifically, that Jesus Christ, who became fully human, was certainly pushed to his limits of fatigue at times. He knows what it feels like to have fraying emotions, or the temptation to snap or just throw the towel in. He knows the will-breaking power of sleeplessness. He knows the unpleasant throbbing of a headache. All of that, he experienced, and yet was without sin. And now he sits at the right hand of God interceding for us. I'm so thankful that Christ, as he prays for us, is no stranger to the mundane things with which we can struggle so profoundly. 

Naptime Reflections - Death

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the part of the show where I micro-blog about topics on which I'm thinking, probably mostly during the time when Ellie and Kate are napping. Thus the title. I'm so clever, I know. 

We're going to open this new blog series with a nice, easy topic. #sarcasm

Death

While we were driving to church last week, Chris caught me gazing out the window distractedly.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

I had, in fact, been looking at the gravestones in a nearby cemetery. "Oh, ashes to ashes; dust to dust," I answered, feeling embarassed. I blushed and tried to justify myself. "Not to be morbid or anything."

Chris quickly stopped me, pointing out that culture likes to call anything to do with death "morbid," when in fact death is a regular part of, well, life. Plus, thinking about it can be good in a number of ways. Not least of which is that it can temper our tendency to idolize things such as youth, beauty, and material wealth. Particularly as Christians, our theology of death is pretty clear-cut, and is fraught with hope, given our belief in salvation and the sovereignty of God among other things. Of all people, we should perhaps be least afraid of the topic.

That's all for now. Peace.

When I'm Alone

Another haiku, because my brain is tired. 

Hopefully I’ll be
As sturdy as a pine tree
Dropping this large load