Hard Sayings and Safe Spaces -- I tried to listen to this devotional the day it was given, but I didn't have byuTV on my phone, so that didn't work. Then I tried to listen to it one morning, but Jacob decided that I didn't really want to listen to it. So I decided to wait until I could just read it. And then I did.
I know that when I've grappled with really hard theological problems, what's helped most is having people to talk to about it openly and safely and just hear things like, "Yeah, that is a really good question." or "That's a hard thing I wonder about too."
And yet . . . even with that firsthand experience under my belt, I still want to swoop in and throw explanations at people. I don't, but I sure want to sometimes! What do you think? When do you think it's actually helpful to go in and correct someone? And here's an unrelated question . . . If someone is behaving unkindly or in an emotionally abusive way and justifying it because they're in pain (and feel rightfully angry and betrayed), I think that they should be called out . . . but how? And by whom? Just stuff I wonder sometimes whenever I peek at the garbage fire called social media.
And speaking of social media, it's just not great.
I still miss the comments and validation I get from Facebook, but I think it's better to just plain not expect them anymore, which is why I'm posting here.
Becoming an Intentional Community -- I thought there were lots of interesting points here.
Marriage Laboratory -- another good post from Marriage Laboratory. Thinking about it, it actually ties in with my previous link. Becoming an intentional community means becoming close to other people despite differences. And, as this post states,
" . . . We are able to get close to each other only to the degree that we are able to not react to each other. The more people can regulate themselves, the closer they are able to get to others. Otherwise, uncontrolled and unbridled reactivity act as a roadblock to intimacy."
Sin -- I haven't read all of Adam Miller's Letters to a Young Mormon, but this one was available online so I read it. I thought there were lots of great insights in it.
Honestly, since I am a storyteller at heart I sometimes catch myself making up stories and narratives about myself (especially since moving back to Cache Valley). And I've discovered that when I become dissatisfied in my life, it's because I'm expecting my life to match a story or expecting others to be who I want them to be in the story. So I was struck by this quote:
When you sin, you sin not because you’ve failed to measure up to your story but because you’ve privileged your story in the first place. Privileging your story, you don’t treat others or yourself with the care life requires. By freeing you from your story, Christ frees you from your guilt. He saves you by revealing that even your own life was never about you. Bought-back and story-poor, Christ frees space in your head to pay attention to someone other than yourself. You don’t need rigid rules and expectations, you need Spirit. You need to be sensitive and responsive. Rather than filtering other people’s voices through the shame-making screen of your story, you must learn to be responsible for the work of caring for what you share with them.
Sensitive, responsive, and responsible. I think we could all work on that!
In terms of books I've read lately, I have started about 12 and finished 1 -- the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, aka the most perfect description of air travel. Most of the books I've tried are YA fiction that's just boring me to tears or LDS books that aren't interesting to me right now. I also tried reading a little bit of Charles Lamb since my dad checked his essays out after we watched Guernsey Potato Peel Pie on Netflix. He said that he was the E. B. White of his time, but so far I like E. B. White about 60 times better. I'll let you know if I find any essays of his that I like.
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