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Fumbling Toward Grace

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7 Quick Takes Friday

7 Quick Takes Friday

Last updated on: July 25, 2009 at 4:24 am by Sarah Babbs

7 Quick Takes Friday 2009-07-25T04:24:16-04:00 Sarah Babbs

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Love Edition — because there can never be enough love in the world.

Tonight husband and I went to a local pizza place near downtown (not the famous Jockamo’s of previous entries), then did some walking and browsing in local shops. We found a fair trade store. When something is sold as “fair trade”, what that means is that the person or people who created it were compensated with a just or living wage appropriate to the area of the world where they live. It often means, if it is a natural product like coffee or chocolate, that the earth was also treated fairly, meaning without the use of chemicals or other practices that exploit it.

This shop contained a variety of items made by people in countries ranging from Bangladesh, to Vietnam, to various parts of Africa, Asia, and South America. I mention this because I found the most beautiful and symbolic item for sale there.

It is a cross fashioned from a bullet casing spent during Liberia’s long and bloody 14 year civil war.

Very cool, very symbolic. The first thing I though of was from the prophet: “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares…neither shall they study war any longer.” Baby steps.

We also purchased “Simply In Season”, a cookbook guide to healthy recipes, broken down by the season, and featuring fruits and vegetables which grow during each season. I am very excited to try many of the summer recipes, especially since we should have a small crop of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash waiting for us when we return from our visit with my folks next week.

As our family is learning through reading a lot of different things, it is so vitally important to our health (and for me especially, with diabetes) to have, as far as possible, a plant-based diet, supplemented with whole grains, meats, and dairy, rather than the other way around.

Also, the importance for care and stewardship of the earth, which comes in many forms. One thing we can all do is to become more aware of where our food comes from. Who are the people growing it, the animals producing it, and how long and far does it travel to reach our tables? These are all very important questions. A piece of produce in a typical American grocery store travels about 1,300 miles from field to store. It takes a toll on the environment.

So, in order to try our hand at being good stewards of Creation, and to increase our own health benefits, we’ve planted a small garden, and enrolled in something called Farm Fresh Delivery. Every week we’ll receive a box filled with fruits and vegetables that have been grown locally and organically. We’ll also receive locally produced yogurt, cottage cheese, grass-fed beef, and pastured chicken. Yes, we are paying more for these foods than we would at a supermarket, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch (excuse the pun) and what we save in buying cheap processed foods, we will later pay for in rising healthcare costs.

Simply In Season will help us know what exactly to do with that bunch of Kale, or Beets, or Swiss Chard, when it arrives at our door. Bring it on, we’re ready!

The Fumbles family (for lack of a better, or at least, less insulting nickname) recently travelled to Yellowstone National Park. Since this is the love edition of 7 quick takes, here are a few things that I loved from this trip:

Yes, that middle photo is a real, live grizzly bear, which we saw by the roadside from the safety of our car. 🙂

CS Lewis — I doubt I need to convince anyone who is reading this page of his importance and genius. But, in the spirit of love, I will include some of his finer words on the subject.

“We were made for God. Only by being in some respect like Him, has any earthly Beloved excited our love. It is not that we have loved them too much, but that we did not quite understand what we were loving. It is not that we shall be asked to turn from them, to a Stranger. When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been party to, has made and sustained all our earthly experiences of innocent love. All that was true love in them was, even on earth, far more His than ours, and ours only because His. In Heaven there will be no anguish and no duty of turning away from our earthly Beloveds. First, because we shall have turned already; from the portraits to the original. But secondly, because we shall find them all in Him. By loving God more than we love them we shall love them more than we do now.” -The Four Loves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcZoNBngAnM

The above video is the newest song by Martina McBride. Obviously the song is intended in this video to be about the love a couple has for each other, and it is very beautiful in that way. However, when I first heard it, I thought to myself, this song could be one that anyone who knows God, or who has sought to experience God, could sing. What do you think?

Here’s the lyrics:

I pinch myself sometimes to make sure im not in a dream

thats how it seems, I close my eyes and breathe in the sweetest moments

I’ve ever known; it feels like home

and here I am I want to be your everything

there you are turning winter into springChorus: everyone that sees you always wants to know you and everyone that knows you always has a smile

you’re a standing ovation after years of waiting for a chance to finally shine everyone calls you amazing I just call you mineI fall apart, just a word from you

somehow seems to fix whatever is wrong

you reach into the sweets moments and

remind me that im strong

you gotta know, I’d be a fool to not see you

even worse to forget that you’re more than I deserveChorus: cus everyone that sees you always wants to know you and everyone that knows you always has a smile your standing ovation after years of waiting for a chance to finally shine everyone calls amazing i just call you mine

nothing makes sense when you’re

not here as if my whole world

disappears whithout you whats the

point of it.

since this is the love edition:

I’ll end with an image of love Himself. God Bless you!

Visit Jen at www.conversiondiary.com to thank her for being a great hostess!

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