Good Friday and a Call for Resurrection

 Spire of the Seaboard Baptist Church 

On this darkest day of the Christian calendar, it is hard not to reflect on the darkness I see in the world today. I am especially disheartened by the lack of compassion I see. People I care about seem to have tossed out the tenets of our faith like a used glove in a supermarket parking lot. I invite you to inventory your behavior as we move toward Easter and...

RESURRECT your faith in the Risen Christ...
RESURRECT your adherence to His teachings...
RESURRECT your compassion for your fellow man, including those sick and ailing, those vulnerable and afraid, those manning our hospitals, grocery stores, postal trucks, garbage trucks,delivery services, transfer trucks...
RESURRECT your aspiration to be part of the good in the world...
RESURRECT your care for the hungry, the sick, the incarcerated...
RESURRECT the desire to speak words of encouragement and truth...
RESURRECT fairness, not hoarding...
RESURRECT caring for your neighbor, whether next door or in New York, the hotspot of the world...
RESURRECT behaviors that put the health of others, including vulnerable persons, first...
RESURRECT respect for those who do not share your personal faith or political belief, seeing them as individuals worthy of it...
RESURRECT your generosity, whether that means sharing toilet paper or giving financially...
RESURRECT your desire to strengthen your faith and thereby those around you by striving to be more like Christ.
RESURRECT LOVE.

John 18::30 

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Father, 

We recognize again today the great sacrifice you made for our sins. Still, we yet fall far short of what and who we can be in your earthly kingdom. Please, once again, forgive our sins, and wash us clean. This time of fear and the unknown may be the greatest challenge of our lives. Help us to use this season for self-reflection and study, to see our shortfalls and inadequacies, to soften our hearts, and to nurture the presence of the Holy Spirit who, when invited, can live in and through us daily. Amen 

Going Full Circle

Nat squandering his future inheritance. 

I have often remarked that I was raised by "Children of the Depression." In my Mom's own quaint turn of phrase, she and Dad were "tight as Dick's hatband." Fiscally conservative. Very.

But that was okay. We had what we needed. We never wanted for anything. We may have been slower to adopt expensive new things like color TV or air conditioning because we used what we had. The black and white TV and attic fan were fine, really.

"Using what we had" was a certain way to live and I find that in this time of sheltering in place, I am using lessons I previously ignored.

1. Conserve paper towels. I learned from my mom to use Bounty Select-a-Size, because why use a whole paper towel when a half paper towel will do? And then, tear the half paper towel in half again. Don't use more than you need.

2. Save empty milk jugs. At home, this came in handy as my Dad taught me how to "jug-fish". (By which you hang a fishing line and hook off of an empty capped milk jug. Drop several in a pond and chill in the boat while you wait for one to bob. Then row fast and pull in supper. ) I'm not really sure why I'm saving milk jugs. I do admit I have several of them filled with water and languishing in my empty bathtub. I mean, I don't think corona virus will affect our water supply, but hey,everybody was buying water and well, GRANDCHILD OF THE DEPRESSION.

3. Don't throw away plastic bread bags. On autopilot, I found myself shaking the crumbs out of a plastic bread bag, folding it  nicely and securing with its twist tie. WHY?

4. Hoard unused medicine. When I helped Mom clean out her kitchen some years ago I found prescription medicine older than I was. This week, a Duke Wellness chick called to step me through safety concerns for a 94 year old, i.e. "Do you have a walker, do you have a wheelchair?" Then  she asked "Do you have EXPIRED prescription medicine." "OF COURSE I HAVE EXPIRED PRESCRIPTION MEDICINE!" I mean, really, I've read my share of post-apocalyptic fiction. Medicine is always hard to come by. I mean even  in Outlander, HELLO!  CLAIRE HAS TO GROWN BREAD MOLD TO TRY TO MAKE PENICILLIN. , I don't have the skills to do that, but I can hang onto  unused doxycycline from 2017.

5. Eat every bit of prepared food. Mom was always two meals behind the rest of us, eating leftovers while everyone had a freshly cooked entree. Last week when I found myself having two week old vegetable soup, stale corn chips, and a dried out mandarin for lunch I saw the light.  I'll never scoff at leftovers again.

I am sure I will realize I have adopted other habits as the weeks of our shelter-in-place order roll by. Maybe I will take up ironing wrapping paper or saving paper towel rolls and pie tins. In the meantime, I'm glad I gave up my hair color the end of last year and I seem to have given up snacking to conserve food, so there are definitely some good Jack/Mary Frances behaviors I'm adopting.

In the meantime, are you really throwing that away?

PS - bonus content - if you don't know Mike Cross's Granny's Milk Cartons, please give it a listen. Really.