1st Feline Battalion

“The 1st Feline Batallion”

love it!

still rescuing kitties from the plates of diners in china?

With my girls at their dad’s for eleven days, I’ve had time to think. The first few days were spent resting and just catching up with time – the first few weeks of December were crazy. Then came the very sad days of missing my babies. The last couple of days I’ve had much time and opportunity to think.

Yesterday my Husband and I spent the afternoon and evening with our new neighbors across the street. I doubt they are believers, but they welcomed us into their home, and we had a lot of fun talking and laughing together.

Last night we went to my Husband’s ex-wife’s home to pick up their son, my Step Son. In attendance were Ex-Wife, their son (my Step Son), Step Son’s older Half-Sister, Ex-Wife’s Boyfriend, Boyfriend’s 16 year old son, Ex-Wife’s Mother, Ex-Wife’s Brother, SIL, and their two, young daughters (about 1st and 3rd grade), Ex-Wife’s late sister’s Oldest son by her first marriage, and Ex-Wife’s late sister’s Youngest son by her second marriage. Then come in my Husband and myself. You kinda need a map to get all of that!

It was very hard not to have my girls with me, and I about lost it a few times. It was also hard watching these two little girls, about the same age difference as my two girls, because I don’t often see what it would look like if my Youngest did not have special needs. Last night I had a long time to see what that would look like. Much emotion stirred in this Momma’s heart.

But what surprised me the most was the unexpected reality that this melting pot of people accepted me into their “group,” and when I was divorced as a single mom, not one “church family” accepted me into their group. Not one family, intact or not, invited my girls and me to spend any holiday with them. Not one offered to invite us into their home for a shared meal. At that time about the only people I knew were intact, Christian, church families. Not once did any of those families invite my girls and me to spend a holiday or a meal with them, even though they all knew me, knew my girls, and knew our situation. Even though they all knew we were alone.

I went to sleep with a very heavy heart last night, unable to digest all of this. As I have thought some today, I wonder that Christians are not Hoarders of their faith and culture. We do not want our children becoming friends with kids from broken homes – truly, I totally get this. I struggled with this before my divorce. We have our family traditions. We have family to share with whom we haven’t seen in a long time. We don’t want to alter that.

When I, as a deep-faith-believer, look at intact, Christian, church-active families, as a now-rejected outsider, how do non-believers look at us? What do we offer that makes non-believers want what we have? that makes non-believers want to warm their hands and hearts in the warmth of our homes?

Sometimes I feel as though I can argue both sides of this. I have dear friends whose families are like this. One Thanksgiving my girls and I shared the holiday with a friend’s family, but I invited us. They were kind and gracious, and there were no young children, only older children.

We want to reach a dying world for Jesus Christ, we want to touch the hearts of those whose hearts are void of love and joy and full of sorrow … but what are we willing to give up to do so? What should we not be willing to give up? We need to protect the strength of our own families.

Do we, as believers, Hoard our faith in such a way no one else wants what we have?

Merry Christmas!

I know this day isn’t perfect for many … is depressing for some … discouraging. I’m sincerely sorry.

May there be some place in your day where God gives you a glimpse of His love for you.

Today my Husband and I are walking across the street and sharing a Mexican-food Christmas meal with our new neighbors who moved here from out-of-state this past year due to a job. We’ll eat and play some games and get to know each other a bit better. My girls are with their dad. We’ll see my step-son later tonight.

Our day certainly is not “traditional,” but I pray it will be beautiful. May your day be beautiful, too.

Oh, and my Dear Husband, on a tweaking budget, got me a heated, neck-roll massager …. awwwwwww! Gotta love that man!

I don’t know anything about Matt Rossano, but his article, Sacred Brands: Consumerism as a Modern Religion, was brought to my attention. Some interesting quotes from his writing:

In a 2001 Financial Times article, the global advertising firm Young & Rubicam declared that “Brands are the new religion. People turn to them for meaning.” They went on to argue that the ad man is the equivalent of a modern missionary. 

Researchers have documented how Macintosh users bear an eerie resemblance to a religious cult: a tight-knit network of emotionally committed adherents, faith in a “savior” figure (Steve Jobs), and a generalized hostility toward an external “evil” (Microsoft, IBM, etc.).

I’m sympathetic to the view that humans will, either by design or default, end up worshipping some god, if by god we mean “that to which we willing offer service and sacrifice in exchange for a sense of meaning and purpose.”

I remain to be convinced that the world is a better place if increasing numbers of people bow at the altar of Gucci, Gap and Lexus rather than Jesus, Allah and Vishnu.

Thoughts?