Too Much of Thinking!

“If you don’t have a culture, you are not a people”

~ God Grew Tired of Us ~

I am still thinking about this statement from my last post.

1. Why is culture so important?
2. What defines the culture of my country? Does it reflect me?
3. Does having more than one culture in a nation affect it?
4. Does the world as a whole have a 'culture' - Does it change? If so, why?
5. What I am considering most is, if we are Christ followers, what is it that defines our culture as his people?

We are told to be in the world but not of it,

can our physical and spiritual ‘cultures’ co-exist?

Just thinking….
Peace.

Embracing Life in 2011

Every year, almost without fail, there is a website I visit www.flylady.net.

It’s sort of been my 'right of passage' to enter into a New Year.

By a simple click of the mouse I manage to articulate one of my hearts desires

without even opening my mouth.

Oh! To be organised, for everything to have its place...to be aproned up and humming while tasty food merrily simmers away ...*sigh* ... It’s all a fantasy because I could never be that person … every year I have to make peace with the fact that I just am not.

So this year, I have broken with my ‘right of passage’.

In the spirit of this, I was openly rebellious and bought myself a notebook which embraces who I really am.

Instead of wishing I could be some way else this year, I am going to embrace all the good stuff about being disorganised, like:

• I am always finding things I thought I had lost ~ it’s like Christmas every day!
• I can be spontaneous ~ I don’t have to say I can’t do something because I need to hang washing.
• I don’t need to follow any schedule of chores: Washing Day doesn’t have to be Monday – who made that rule anyway? Tsk. :o)
• I don’t have to feel guilty if I leave my coffee cup on the lounge table alllllllll day (and even overnight) – *I heard some of you gasp* :o) … SO WHAT! Tomorrow is another day.

Today I am thankful for who I am!

I have high hopes for my disorganised self that don’t involve domestic goddessness:

like making every day count,
like living in the moment I am in, whether it’s good or bad,
like learning to listen better and think more, especially before I speak,
like making fewer assumptions based on hearsay,
like extending kindness expecting nothing in return,
like laughing with friends and crying with friends,
like extending grace in the same way that I have received it.

Roll on 2011.. it's going to be a goodie!
Peace be the journey.

Puppy Blues.....

What to do?

I don’t want this puppy.
I don’t want this puppy.
I don’t want this puppy.

Yes, you’re thinking ….that face, so cute, how can you not want it?

We have had 21 years (and counting) of looking after our own child which is what parents do and we love it.

“I promise I will do everything.”How naïve I am.
How stupid.

• The minute I let her in, she pees in 5 different places.
• We end up feeding her and cleaning all the mess.
• She ‘scratches’ in the kitchen water bowl and ends up with a pool all over the place that I have to clean up.
• She chews my carpets and my furniture and terrorises the older dog to such a degree that he cowers and runs away if he even sees her, and we struggle to even get him into the garden for fear of her.
• We never had white couches with a child – but have them now and they are in worse shape than they would have been with a kid, because the puppy insists on jumping on them, usually with wet paws after scratching in the water.

In short… she really has just ruined a small part of my life.

Granted, a small part, but it’s a part that we have earned.
The part that felt we are grown up now, as is our child, and finally we can just chill at home. We can put away ‘cleaning up after people and dogs’… but the truth is, it’s more work than a child of the equivalent age and I don’t have the grace for it that I would have with a child.




To top it all off – I just bought a lovely giant muffin from the Spar as a reward for cleaning up this morning and the blasted thing is RAW and SLOPPY in the middle.


Ah well, on the up-side..... One can still have coffee! :)

Take care,

Peace.

Cool Runnings

There is nothing quite like the pressure of finding a name.

A child's name ....
.....A pet's name
And now, good heavens, a blog name!

After many failed and cheesy attempts to come up with something fun and catchy, you can obviously see I settled on "Cool Runnings".

"Why? WHY?"
Have you not seen the movie (I ask with tears in my navy blue eyes?)
It means 'Peace be the journey' and since this life is a journey, both physically and spiritually, and because I love to travel - it seemed like an appropriate name.

I'm not going to attempt to make an impact by being wildly funny or philosophical this first time. I will save that epic fail for another time ~ basically when I know what I am doing.

I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Till next time
Peace be your journey ...