Billboard Tells Half The Story, Momma Tells The Rest
Riding down the street with Momma:
“I find that billboard to be ironic:‘Premature birth kills. Give all babies nine months.’
Premature birth does kill. It’s called abortion.”
Tell it, Momma.
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“Where Are All The Men?”
My sisters, Katharine and Denine, ask: “Where are all the men?”
I second that emotion.
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Feast for the Senses
Laurie’s blog amazes me. She takes sensuous photos of food. She writes mouthwatering prose. Her blog makes me want to garden, cook, eat and hug. Barefoot. 
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Greensboro Graffiti CleanUp
A WFMY video shows volunteers doing an annual graffiti cleanup in Greensboro. Cameo appearance by GPD’s Tim Tepedino, friend of local homeless advocates and foe of graffiti artists everywhere.
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To Live At Peace
Sometimes the hardest place to live in peace is around your own family. A friend and I were talking about that recently. We love our families (both immediate and extended) more than anything other than Christ, and they inspire our deepest and fiercest loyalties. But they can also make us madder and more frustrated than just about anybody else on the planet. (And this is all vice versa, because we know they always love us but are completely exasperated with us sometimes, too.)
The safety and security of our families free us up to be ourselves in ways we can’t be with “outsiders.” But sometimes we can get a little too real, and we find ourselves saying things and behaving in ways we wouldn’t dare in front of others. I love my family more than any other people in this world. But I don’t always show them that when we’re having a disagreement. (Or, you know, a full-on drama.) So I’m praying that God will help me to demonstrate my love to all of my family with my actions and my words, no matter what. Always. Period. (And I’m praying that for my friend, too. And for you.)
I’ve also struggled to live at peace elsewhere this week. Don’t get me wrong. I can be difficult myself sometimes. Let’s face it. We all can. But do you ever have those times when you’re stuck in a situation with someone who’s being all kinds of difficult, and you’re working yourself weary trying to appease them, and you can’t for the life of you figure out what the problem is or why in the world they’ve traded their normal cheery personality for the monster in front of you? Well, yeah, I know. (And trust me, I’ve been the monster before myself.)
Well, I was listening to Joyce Meyer tonight and she said something that really caught my attention: “God doesn’t want us to run and hide. He wants us to handle it and deal with it. It’s bringing something out of us that we need to see. Some hidden attitude, some buried fear. He wants us to get to the point where we can deal with things in the power of God.” So tonight, I’m looking at ME, to see what in my behavior or my attitude or my words might have contributed to the making of “the monster.” I can’t change other people, but I can change myself. I can’t change what others do or say, but I can change how I respond. And I’m not responsible for anyone else’s behavior. But I’m absolutely responsible for my own.
My prayer tonight is that if it is possible, and as far as it depends on me, that I would live at peace with everyone. 
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Treasures in the Sand
“They shall call the peoples to the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall partake of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hidden in the sand.” Deut. 33:19
See some “treasures in the sand” at Brenda’s place.
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Empathy v. Sympathy: Affordable Housing Woes
Poor people have long struggled to pay the rent. Now in some places, middle class people can’t find affordable housing, either. Moving the problem up a social class has also turned up the media attention, as well as efforts to find solutions.
Now this got me thinking about the difference between empathy and sympathy:
empathy: the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelingsIn other words: Being able to feel someone else’s pain without having to be smacked yourself.
sympathy: a person’s feelings reflect or are like those of another
In other words: Feeling the same pain as someone else because you both got smacked.
And then there’s apathy:
apathy: lack of interest, concern, or emotion
In other words: “Yeah, it’s not our problem that you got smacked. We got smacked, too, but we’ve got our own people working on it. You need to handle your own business.”
It’ll be interesting to track the emerging affordable housing crisis and see who gets empathy, who gets sympathy, and who gets stuck with apathy.
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