Why Discuss Jesus in the Loop

Sagrada Família - Barcelona, Spain

Photo Credit: Me, standing at the base of one of the most spectacular

 churches I have ever visited in my life; it remains unfinished to this day. 

In this exact moment I am sitting five feet away from a small group of people sitting at one of the family sized tables at the Loop Panera Bread.  They are - without shame or hesitation - discussing Jesus, relationships, and newness in Christ.  This conversation has been going on for a better part of an hour now, and I've been listening in with fairly creepy curiosity.  Although there have been moments I have wanted to jump in a say, "Oh, I have a video that is insanely relevant to this conversation." I decided it more effective to hold my tongue and simply observe.

This group of people is, more than anything, inspiring me.  Why?  Because I am not the only person in the restaurant and if I can hear so can others.  They aren't shoving Jesus anywhere He shouldn't be; they are openly and with tremendous effort discussing ways to that Jesus has changed them.  They aren't stomping around with hateful signs to get a point across; they are passionately talking about scripture and the life-changing power of the gospel.  "You were saved that day, and YOU are new now."  "Because of who God is, He can use anybody." It is a real conversation about Jesus in a part of the city many people have rejected Him.  UCity is unique in demographics, socioeconomic levels, and religious belief systems.  We have strong holdings of Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism.  And here they are - talking about God as a living God.  How cool.

What is the point of this?  For me, I want to do this.  I want to hold a bible study or a coffee date or even a beer discussing how much God has done for me.  It normalizes God and us as Christians (if you yourself have made that decision).  If you haven't made that decision; if you haven't called upon Jesus' name as your Lord and savior - I encourage you to explore that.  Looking for a light serving or a taste?  Join me on Sept. 13th at a new location for Jubilee Church - Kirkwood, MO at 10:00am. 

God is a good God.  I want to share that with others - and these people are without even really knowing it.

Until next time, friends.
-R :)

  

Why Books Make for Good Metaphors :)

Have you ever picked up a book at the library and brought it home simply because the cover looked good?  I have.  I used to be a constant book cover judger.  What tended to happen was I would find myself several chapters into the book and bored; not always, but it happened often enough that I had to put this habit of mine in the past.  Now, I tend to read the description and a page or two to decide if I like the style of the author's writing. 

Books and people are prime pickings for metaphors, friends. :) 

I have had countless conversations with friends (men and women) concerning outward appearances.  Media and society seems to have a new craze of pressures each week; ever so politely informing us of the next "Best Seller" in book covers for our bodies.  Recent titles include: The Tanner, The Better! or Don't Eat THAT - Actually, Just Don't Eat! or The Flat-Tummy Trials.  I sit there during these conversations encouraging my friends (and myself) that we needn't worry so much, but I often walk away feeling discouraged myself.  This is especially the case when I have this type of conversation with a person I consider to be incredibly good looking, physically fit, or well-put together.  I can never quite understand it.

That's where the pages matter so much. 

Our covers can tell one story and our pages another story entirely.  Imagine a woman who has given so much of herself to be appealing in the world's view.  She's incredibly fit and startling beautiful, but when she looks in the mirror she can't stand the way she looks.  Her cover - perfected and award-winning - isn't actually telling the reader anything worth knowing about the story contained.  Yet, that story is still worth reading; there is so much more going on than just a pretty face.  I just wish we could recognize that.  Each of our stories are so important - far more important than the covers we show off for the world to see (e.g. Facebook...).   

I wish there was a magic button I could press to help us stop judging ourselves and others with such harshness.  It's easy to say, "Don't judge others."  It's not as easy to 1. Do that and 2. Refrain from judging yourself with a fun-house mirror.  Although fitness and health have their place (I firmly believe I operate better when I workout routinely and eat moderately healthy foods...along with ice cream), our covers...our bodies can only have so much meaning to them.  The image on a book cover reveals a sliver of the content within.  Our pages are much more interesting.

Living in the freedom of acceptance is substantially more enjoyable than the chains of judgment media offers to us.
 
Until next time, friends. :)

-R

It's my last week as a nanny for the family I've been with for 3 years, so this post is dedicated to these kids.  For N, I hope she grows to be a woman who believes in herself and remembers that she can change the world.  For C, I hope he continues to spread love through his goofy sense of humor and bring smiles to all those who have the pleasure of meeting him.

 

Why I Can Relate with Princess Mia...

Some of you may have noticed I haven't posted a blog in a several weeks.  The problem isn't lack of inspiration but quite the contrary.  Our society is seeing shifts in so many different realms and patterns of thinking from political ideologies to love to body image that it is almost over-stimulating.  There are so many different #hashtag movements happening that it's hard to focus on one because I am interested and passionate about several.*  But today, as I sat in the Mid-County Public Library, I felt compelled to write about something that I personally struggled during my adolescent years. 

EYEBROWS

I think my favorite example is from the ever-popular movie The Princess Diaries.

 

Paolo: "If Brooke Shields married Groucho Marx, their child would have your eyebrows! "

 

Thick, bushy, and full are solid adjectives to describe my own eyebrows.  I grew up more on the tom-boy side of things so many make-up products and definitely the concept of waxing my eyebrows was so foreign it was laughable.  In fact, to this day I choose not to wax my eyebrows.  But that doesn't mean I haven't considered it. 

 

When I took the time to research more on this topic, I  ran across an interesting Today News article that asked nearly 700 parents "When is appropriate to let your child..." style questions.  One of those questions asked about the age girls could start waxing or tweezing.  According to the article, of the parents questioned "32 percent said it was OK for 16-year-olds to wax or tweeze, 30 percent said age 14 and 19 percent said age 12."  I loved the author's final note on this topic; she made it personal and related it to her own experiences with her 12 year old daughter who's brow is full due to heritage, ethnicity,  and genetics.  She made a valid point: who is anyone to judge?  Bushy or thin or anywhere in between, it's you who gets to decide.

 

I can't say one way or the other if there's a right age for waxing or tweezing, but I do want to combat is this idea that it's a necessity.  Children are not aware of the term uni-brow until we teach them; they don't know that bushy eyebrows are less desirable than well-groomed ones unless we inform them of that truth.  Beauty standards set by media infiltrate even the most miniscule of concepts and we have the power to pass them along to future generations of women. 

 

I'm not here to tell you to stop waxing your brows or #tossthetweezers (hah, what a hashtag that fad that would be).  I want to encourage you to do you.  If you like a well-maintained brow line, then by all means call your waxer up.  If you prefer to be more free then be sparse in your tweezing.  Even more important, let young women decide for themselves.  There are so many awkward conversations that a growing girl has to deal with, but eyebrows shouldn't be one of them.  Discuss the pressure and the influences, and most importantly listen to what she's feeling.  Come to mutual ground.

 

Remember that our bodies are ours and no one else's.  We may face judgment, but we do not have to subscribe to it! We ourselves get to recognize our own beauty however we see fit.  Media holds little stake in the perception I have of myself - especially in regards to my eyebrows.

 

Until next time, friends. :)

-R

 

*Some movements that have captured my attention and ones that I'm still trying to decide my own opinions include: #rockthecroptop  #fatkini  #losehatenotweight  #bodypositive  #droptheplus #bellybuttonchallenge  <-- There is a massive movement occurring on social media which involves a lot of body-shaming and body-positive components.  In the future I want to examine some of  these and more and their effects on me a woman.  Just one thing: It's not a competition!