yard work

I've done a lot of yard work in the last couple of weeks.  Christie and I are renting the house that my parents lived in when they were here in Columbia from them.  They are extremely gracious in charging is only what they have to pay towards the mortgage each month.  They could easily be making money off it by renting it to some one else.  We are paying the same per month that we did for the two bedroom apartment that we started out it in.  It has been a huge help to us.  One way that we are trying to show our gratitude is by working hard to fix up the house where it needs a little work.  This month we have worked hard on making the yard look really good.  

I used to really hate doing yard work.  Thankfully, I had two brothers growing up so I only had to mow the lawn every third week.  Listening to music always made it a little less difficult.  I started out with tapes, then eventually graduated to a disc-man, and now use an Ipod.  At some point, I can't remember when, I was going through a tough time in life.  I was listening to some gospel music (Fred Hammond, I think) and found myself really worshiping God during that mowing session.  From then on, I have tried to listen to uplifting music when doing yard work.  If I had to be mowing and weeding, I might as well multi-task and spend some time with God as well.

This month though, the yard work has started to mean something much more to me.  God has been teaching me a lot lately about the Biblical theme of re-creation and making something beautiful out the brokenness in the world.  As I've tried to do that with our front yard, it has become a great spiritual discipline for me.  I've found myself really looking forward to working on the yard.  There is something about combining being outside, being physically active, listening to music that encourages and challenges my mind (it's mostly been the new U2 CD this month), and turning one small corner of God's creation from something ugly to something beautiful.  

God is all around us in every aspect of life, include the mundane things like yard work.  If God can use me to help change a yard from something ugly to something beautiful, can he not use me in the same way to introduce my neighbors around that yard to the possibility of broken lives made beautiful?  I'm sure there are a million other ways that God can speak to us through the things we have to do day-to-day.  If anybody else has a story of finding God themes in the midst of everyday life, I'd love to hear it.  It's a great way to keep perspective and a focus on God throughout the day.

Am I selfish?

Over the last few months I have discovered that I really like blogs. I like reading about what other people are up to in life, and what they are thinking about. Every couple of weeks I make my blog rounds and read up on the people that I know keep up with blogs. Then I got to thinking: if I enjoy reading other peoples thoughts, am I selfish for not sharing mine? I think I've always been this way. It's funny how our personalities spill out into different areas in life. I have always enjoyed discussion style learning. That probably sounds funny to any one who has been in class with me because they would notice that I rarely say anything during classes. Once a group gets larger than about four or five people, I tend to simply sit back and listen. Unless I hear something that I believe is completely false but its being accepted by the group as true or I have a strong feeling that I am having a unique perspective that no one else seems to be thinking about, I usually just sit and listen to all sides of an argument without saying a word. I guess I just figure that if I wait long enough, some one else will say what I was thinking anyway. If that doesn't happen, then I usually speak up as the group is wrapping up that topic. Anyways, I noticed recently that I am acting the same way with blogs. I read quite a few blogs and online discussions but never take part in any of them. Some I agree with, others not so much. Over the last year I have thought about a lot of different aspects of my faith. I have questions things that I have never questioned before and gained a new perspective on life and spirituality. This was a pretty scary experience at first, but I have gained some comfort through reading blogs and discussions written by others who have had similar thoughts. That led to the question in my title. What if some one else out there is dealing with the same questions and my blog would be helpful to them? I have always loved listening, reading, and learning. I don't think it is fair to others if I don't force myself to step out of my quiet comfortable self and speak up sometimes. Throughout my life I have been told over and over again that one of my greatest strengths is wisdom, but that my greatest weakest and keeping it to myself. I figured that starting a blog would be a good step in the right direction. So here it goes....