Earth life

Street children play on the roadside in the northern Indian city of Allahabad.

Sometimes I see pictures that haunt me and put everything in perspective.


This is one of them...

Nothing?

Yup, I've got nothing.

Please stand-by...

Can you say STRESSED?

I'm having a bad week.

I'm stressed at work.

I'm stressed about my life/career choice.

I'm stressed about an upcoming church calling that I cannot disclose at this time.

I'm stressed all over the place.

So much so, that I can't form words for anything witty, funny, or mildly amusing in a blog post (even though I have some stories to tell), nor can I think about anything deeply enough to pontificate.

I'm pretty much in funk city right now (and not the good kind of funk, but the bad kind.)

Do you Get the joke?

Don't you just love how we can make fun of ourselves?

Yup, me too!

Let's just be grateful that this is a joke. Because, as you all know, we Mormons do know how to merchandise to our fellow saints!



Shot glass, anyone...

Conversations

I know, I’ve posted a lot recently about my office mate. But I have too! I can’t keep suffering in silence.*

Conversation with my office mate this morning…

Her: Thanks for telling me how your interview went. Now when I have mine, I’ll be prepared. I can’t come up with things on the spare of the moment.

Me: You mean spur, spur of the moment.

Her: What? It isn’t spare?

Me: Nope, it’s spur, as in “with haste.” (Seeing her confusion), in other words, spur as “in a hurry.”

Her: Oh. Man, I get so fustrated when I say something wrong.

Me: You mean, frustrated.

Her: That’s what I said, fustrated.

Me: No, frrrru, frustrated.

Her: Oh.


* If it makes you feel better, yesterday I sacrificed my entire lunch hour (which I had been saving for a great new book I’m reading) to talk with her about the gospel. See! I’m not totally snarky!

Addendum: You see now how not good I am! Here I've been, thinking and praying about my lack of pure goodness for days, and the first thing that came to my mind after I had this conversation was "I can't wait to post this on my blog!" Would Corrie Ten Boom do this? No! Would Jesus? No! Would Liz? Yes, in a heartbeat. This is my problem.

Good or Good for Nothing?

So, over the weekend I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

When I was finished, I was struck, once again, by the goodness in the Ten Boom family. Such true Christ-like goodness that, at times, I was brought to tears by its sheer beauty. And I’ve been pondering on this goodness these last few days. (What Liz? You? Pondering? I know, shocker, huh?)

What made Corrie, Betsie, and their family so good?
What made them so good to others?

The obvious answer is, of course, their belief in Christ. But, the more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I feel that there’s something more.

After all, I believe in Christ, too. But currently, I’m not able to live so selflessly in my everyday life as they did in theirs (and under such extreme circumstances, no less). And as I was thinking about the “why” of this, I realized that the Ten Booms had absorbed some part of the Savior and his teachings that I haven’t. They saw the world, its people, and our purpose here more accurately than I do.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know I’m not a horrible person. I’m kind and courteous. I’m respectful and honest. I’m helpful and yada yada yada. But, something is missing. I’m good, but not Good.

What makes their goodness different from mine?

I have the fullness of the gospel, after all. I know where we came from, why we’re here, and where we’re going. But, I’m still so far off the mark! What the Ten Boom's knew, they lived. What I know, I take for granted, or ignore, or forget, or say "tomorrow I will," etc.

This is why I’m so grateful for people like the Ten Booms. They show us how to live the principles and not just believe in them.

And this is what I’m still working on.

An annoyance put to music...

Warm up your voices and sing with me...

(Sung to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club song.)

Who’s the loudest cruncher,
Open mouth for all to see.

O-F-F-I-C-E M-A-T-E (E)*

She doesn’t close her mouth, no,
She’s as loud as loud can be.
O-F-F-I-C-E M-A-T-E (E)

Office Mate!
Office Mate!

Forever with her mouth so open
Wide! Wide! Wide! Wide!

Come along and sing this song,

And shoot me in the knee!
O-F-F-I-C-E M-A-T-E (E) **




*I had to put this extra E in to make it flow. It was bothering me.

** Sorry to gripe. It's just been a bad day of non-stop crunching.