Living-Deliberately.com

Refreshing imagery on Father Stephen’s blog today along the lines of “do unto others”. The language of “emptying one’s self” as Christ emptied himself takes it to a new level though, and I think, attatches more signifigance. There is a difference between being nice to someone and pouring yourself out for them.

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Along the lines of the idea I shared yesterday…..if you have made a deliberate food change, lifestyle change, physical move, money decision, declaration of how to spend the holidays, counter-culture family choice….send me your testimony on it! I know lots of us are out there making these choices; Dave Ramsey calls it “living or spending *on purpose*”, and we all gain encouragement by hearing how others have done it. So let’s hear it! tia AT sixredheads dot com.

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Our oldest has an adventure tonight; it’s been billed as a “rite of passage” but I”m not so sure….he’s going COON HUNTING with his dad and a buddy from work. Now, if you ask me (they didn’t) there are plenty of dead coons all along highway 62 and we see them every week. I heartily admit I don’t understand the attraction of being able to chase a coon up a tree and then…..do what they do to it, but the guys are excited and Andrew probably is going to get lots of wood chopped, leaves raked, and other work done lest we even consider calling it off for bad behavior. He’s um, highly motivated, you could say. From the looks of my wood pile, I can’t say that’s all a bad thing.

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Advent is coming. This is a season we’ve tried to observe for several years now, with mixed success. Usually the mish-mash of church, cultural, and familial holiday obligations and celebrations, all building up for the BIG DAY, pick away at a quiet contemplation of the anticipation of His coming, and of a season (rather than a climatic day alone) celebrating the incarnation.

November 15 is the beginning of the Advent Fast on the liturgical calendar and as I made my meal plan for the next few weeks I kept it on the forefront of consideration. The advent fast, I’ve learned, is not as extensive as the lenten fast, and as beginners (with a household of growing children), we will not be participating quite as fully as some others.

I found the insertion of Thanksgiving within the midst of it, as well as the simple challenge of planning sans meat to be very thought provoking. We haven’t even started yet and I find I’m already giddy with anticipation of advent. I’m not sure “giddy” is the “right” thing to feel right now but I’m provoked with the deliberateness of such a choice and the hopeful affect it will have on how we approach the whole of our lives; it seems to purge the compartmentalization of life that I’ve so loathed for too long. Surely it’s become evident how something like fasting can propel the “self-emptying” of one and their approach to the sacred, not holding any aspect of their lives back in selfishness.

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