7QT: On Writing, Lullabies, Being 28 and More

1. On Writing

Have you come across Zen Pencils? This guys takes inspirational quotes and makes them into comic strips. They're really well done even though I don't agree with the philosophy of all the quotes. Just because something sounds wise, doesn't mean it is. Anyway, I found one that I loved:

Advice For Beginners (click to see the whole thing)

I remember writing stories (The Adventures of Alicia, Cecelia and Shantel, my three favourite (mis-spelled) names at the age of 10)).  I would read them a few weeks or months later and be EXCRUCIATINGLY EMBARRASSED at how bad they were (and often destroy them). The same thing happened when I re-read my first blog that I started about six years ago. Ugh. Such bad writing. I often read other people's writing, and I think "Yes! This! This is good writing!" It's easy to identify good writing, but not as easy to create it. But of course you have to get through plenty of bad writing before you can produce even a little good writing.

I'm still at the in-between phase where the stuff I create is often (not always) kind of a disappointment to me. But I have learned something... Write anyway. My mom used to say, "You want to be good at sketching? Sketch!" Seems obvious, huh? But as a struggling perfectionist, I want to do it right the first time or not do it at all. The recipe for failure. Anyway, one good thing about this blog is that I actually do write every now and again, instead of just telling people I love writing, and I hope to write a book someday.

2. On Oral Traditions

Jen talked about songs that have passed down for generations in her family, as bedtime lullabies. My family has a lot of songs which we sing at family gatherings, only as a 'not very Indian' Indian, the songs that have passed down seem to have come from sources other than India. They have passed down several generations, but I have a feeling they must have come through the different foreign priests and nuns, missionaries and friends that my family met through the British, Portuguese and other colonial powers in India, as well as American music and movies that were popular here in certain circles generations ago.

It's pretty funny when I break into a super-familiar lullaby in front of American friends, and they say, "How do YOU know THAT?"

Here are some of the songs I remember from my childhood:

Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep)- Created in 1947, and popularized by Perry Como, an American singer.

Shortnin' Bread- Known as a traditional Negro plantation song, it was originally written by American poet, James Whitcomb Riley in 1900.

Morningtown Ride- a lullaby, written and performed by Malvina Reynolds in 1957

3. On Unexpected Glimpses of Beauty

As Carlos Whittaker, a musician, was filming God of Second Chances in Atlanta, a homeless man named Danny randomly walked up and knelt down... and joined in the song, with some awesome impromptu vocals. This is one of the times when I think the word 'awesome' is actually appropriate. (Found this in Steve Gershom/Joseph Prever's 7QT... one of the advantages of posting so late is that you can steal quick takes from other people :-))

4. On being 28 (which I'm not yet)

From: Each Year of Your Twenties Ranked from Worst to Best

Whew — 28 is the best year of your twenties. Not because of the spectacular partying (see: 22) or because you’ll magically have everything figured out (see: never), but because 28 is the year when you’re finally able to accept that no one actually “feels” like a grown-up and it’s OK that you don’t either. And it’s also OK that you never want another Jägermeister shot and that crowded shows make you want to crawl under a blanket forever. Just enjoy that blanket, 28-year-old you.

Not like I really need buzzfeed to tell me anything about my life, and not like most of the article was relevant for non-Americans who don't really party or drink, but still, reading this made me happy. I WILL enjoy that blanket, thank you very much.

5. On Fiction Becoming Fact

Does it strike anyone else as cool that the moving photos of Harry Potter fame are not just a cool piece of imagination? They're real! Technology IS pretty crazy! (I know, I know, of all the crazy technology I choose to be excited about, I choose gifs. Whatever, I'm easy.)

This is still my favourite gif:

6. On Not Letting Possessions Possess You (or Me)

I used to think I didn't care much about 'stuff'. The choices I've made in my life mean that I HAVE to live simply, and I'm mostly happy about that. One of my favourite quotes by a holy friend was, "Never own anything you can't give away" and I tried to live by that. But greed creeps up on you. You think you're immune, and suddenly you're obsessing about EVERYTHING-  that cute pink dress on limeroad, bookshelves, Balderdash, and then you're scheming and planning and wondering how to make them yours.. Christmas? Birthday? Praying for a friend to get married so she can choose the SAME dress for her bridesmaids? I need to remember to step back, and say, "No. I don't need that. No matter how much I think it will, that bookshelf will NOT complete my life."

7. On Begging for Christmas Cards

Hey, anyone else loves receiving REAL Christmas cards? I have a plan to decorate one wall of my new apartment with Christmas cards, but I have to receive some for that. (Second hands ones are not as exciting.) This is my plan: if you promise to mail me a card, I will mail you one back... yes, this applies to non-Indians too (provided there aren't too many, which is unlikely). Leave your email id in the comments if you want to join, and we can exchange postal addresses.

Here's a picture of the last time I made Christmas cards (2009):

More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary... oh I forgot to post HOW excited I am that Jennifer's book is finally done! That is one book I'm SURE I'm going to want a bunch of copies of... to give away.

Christians! Blend In or Stand Out?

I’m here to address one of the questions that Christians who take their faith seriously have all thought at one time or another: Are Christians called to stand out, be different, be counter-cultural, be radical? Or are they called to blend in, be one with the world, stand with the ‘others’, be more identifiable as loving humans than outspoken Christians? Most Christians have strong opinions on this, one way or another.

Camp 1: Stand-Outers 

These guys have read Romans 12:2, and are convinced that they need to be counter-cultural. Like someone I knew once said, “If Christians watch all the same movies and listen to the same music as the rest of the world, they’re not really living as Christians.” The basic premise is that if Jesus has changed you, your values and priorities have shifted, and your choices of how you spend your time, how you dress, and what you talk about (among MANY other things) will reflect that. Such Christians see the harmful patterns of behaviour that have become acceptable to much of the secular world, and they want to take a stand against it. They WANT to stand out, and are willing to be mocked for being ‘different’ (which they often are). There are so many possible pitfalls to an unadulterated stand-outer attitude.

The big danger of Stand-Outers is spiritual pride. Much like the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like that sinful tax-collector, it’s easy to categorize oneself and others according to the outward choices and behaviour, without realizing that no one can judge the heart of another human being. Sometimes Stand-Outers don’t seem happy unless there is something to rebel against. In some ways, it probably gives them a feeling of security- which an us vs. them mentality often provides.

 But the worst danger is that Christianity has stopped being relatable to the rest of the world. If you ONLY watch movies that are explicitly Christian, or only listen to ‘Christian’ music, if you automatically assume that everything in the world is evil if it doesn't have a Christian label, if you only talk about ‘ministry’ and your scriptural reflection of that day, only hang out with friends at Christian events, then you've cut yourself off from the world that everyone else is living in. How can you love people that you can’t have a conversation with? How can you build relationships, when you have NOTHING in common?

There is much that is good and beautiful in the world, and Christians don’t need to be scared of that. If it’s really good and really beautiful, it has originated from God, whether or not it has been labelled ‘Christian’. There is also much that is ‘morally neutral’- it isn't good, or bad. Like multiple ear piercings. Or watching White Collar. Or dancing. (Yes, I know, that depends on the kind of dancing.) Or sports. Or eating ice-cream. Or flash mobs.

Camp 2: Blenders-In

Now these guys' favourite bible verse is ‘Jesus ate with sinners!’ Okay, just kidding, that’s not really a bible verse... but it’s in the bible- Jesus really did eat with sinners. Also, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ Blenders-in don’t want people to think that they are judging them.

Quite likely, if you say “I’m not a fan of Twilight”, it sounds like you've just condemned all Twilight-readers to hell. So they read all the books, watch all the movies, laugh at all the jokes, download all the pirated music, and if they are making any ‘different’ choices, try to make them as secretly as possible so as not to offend anyone. These guys won’t mention their personal prayer time in public, and will avoid all controversial topics like the plague. (I don’t mean that the plague is a controversial topic... okay whatever, you get it.) You’ll rarely if ever see them post a religious FB status. They will also be supportive of their friends’ decisions no matter whether they agree with them or not.

SO many downfalls in unadulterated ‘blending-in’. Witness the spread of Nazism. There must have been plenty of people who were a little worried at the beginning, but didn't want to rock the boat, and then it was too late. Sometimes the world needs a few prophets, to say things that people don’t necessarily want to hear.

I've needed a few prophets in my own life, who've shaken me up, and caused me to re-examine my priorities. Disagreeing with your friends can be done in a gentle and loving way. A friend of a drug-addict isn't being much of a friend if his addiction never comes up in their conversation, or worse, if he knows he can come borrow money to feed his addiction. When the desire to blend in comes from a fear of being rejected, or a fear of confrontation, it is not a positive thing. It was people who were not afraid to be different who were able to be agents of change in the world.

Even worse, if blending in is your highest priority, it is very easy to allow the world to change you, instead of allowing God to use you to change it. If you believe in everything, you most probably don’t believe in anything. Christians, we are called to place our minds and hearts in the hands of the Potter, who will form them and change them according to His ways, which sorry to tell you, often looks like foolishness to the world.

So what’s the solution?

Blend in, or stand out?

Well, here’s another famous line referring to another bible verse (what, three bible verses in one blog post?? You, Christian, you!) We are called to be in the world but not of the world. (referring to John 17:14-15)

We are called to do BOTH. We must live our lives IN the world, not in a little Christian bubble cut off from the world. But also we cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by the world. We are NOT ‘of the world’. The world, with its fashions and philosophies is not our god, or our final destination.

Practically speaking, how does a Christian do both? How do I wear my ‘I’m a fool for Christ, whose fool are you?’ t shirt* and my Mumford and Sons t shirt* at the same time**? Do I go out with friends for a movie, or a go out with other friends for Adoration? Do I post FB statuses about how God answered my prayer, or about how ManU won the match?***

Well, to a certain extent I can do both. But here a few tips to help figure it out:

God knows. I think every Christian has to bring their life before God, and ask HIM. Most of us need a kick in one direction or the other. Most people who know me in real life know that I have definitely been a stand-outer, to the point that I either argued with or avoided anyone who didn't believe what I believed. So God had to remind me that I needed to chill out a bit, open my heart to people, and work on the love part of speaking the truth in love.

On the other hand, plenty of Christians I know could afford to stop being undercover. Some people need to be reminded to love, and some need to be reminded to be more outspoken with the truth. Some need a push to go have a beer with their friends****, and some need to explain to their friends why they're Christian. Some people need to start using Whatsapp, and some people need to sell their fancy phones, buy cheap ones, and give the money to the poor.

Examine your motives. Are you standing out because you feel good about being different from those sinners? Are you keeping quiet about your faith because you’re afraid of being mocked? Are you a people-pleaser, or a compulsive debater? Whatever we do should be done out of love for God, and love for neighbour.

Allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you. (Yes, that’s one of those weird Christian things.) Different situations require different responses. Sometimes you need to say something, and sometimes you need to shut up. Sometimes you need to offer to pray with someone, and sometimes you need to nod sympathetically and change the topic.

So here's your spiritual nudge for the day- go forth, and either blend in, or stand out! Whatever the Top Man says. You're very welcome for the clarity.

*I actually don’t have either, but Christmas is coming, right? 
**Actually I could wear both, because it’s a frigid 9.9˚C! Brr! 
***Both those statuses might be combined. (Also, this is me pretending to know anything about football.)
****Or a coffee, because some of us don’t like beer. Sue me. (Pun intended!)

7QT Friday: Happy Home Things

Did I tell you I recently moved out of my parents' place and into an apartment with my roommate and coworker, R?

Well, here are a few of the things around my home that make me happy...

---1---

Now, am I talking about my quirky friend, M, or my awesome camel embroidery wall hanging from Kolkata? Is she the foreground, or is it the background? You guess.

---2---

Pink roses on our dining table! I was walking along the street yesterday, when I heard someone call out my name. My friend S was in a rickshaw, but she stopped long enough to hand me a bunch of pink roses! If only I had just asked St. Thérèse for a sign...

---3---

Our Lady of Guadalupe appears on a wall in Pune, India! Alert the press!

---4---

Beautiful, soft and warm quilt-bedspreads donated by my two thoughtful sisters, L and J. Even more exciting, because the India winter is creeping up on us- there's a chill in the air, and I've already pulled out my sweaters. (Fine, cold in my city is summer in other places, laugh all you want, but a minimum of 17 degrees Celsius gets us all excited.)

---5---

Bathroom rug woven by friends in the Philippines. (This is beginning to feel like a home shopping catalogue or something.)

---6--- and ---7--- (and even ---8---)

Go.. Jen's...

Cruisin' The Streets... For Jesus

You know those high-pitched screeches you sometimes hear late at night as drunk young people (I'm trying to be inclusive here, but I'm pretty sure they're usually male people) cruise the streets looking for trouble?

Well last night I and a bunch of friends did the same thing.

Except exactly the opposite. Our Catholic singles group was doing a little outreach, trying to encounter Christ in the poor, just like Papa Francis asked us to do.

"Please do not withdraw into yourselves! This is a danger: we shut ourselves up in the parish, with our friends, within the movement, with the like-minded... but do you know what happens? When the Church becomes closed, she becomes an ailing Church, she falls ill! The Church must step outside herself. To go where? To the outskirts of existence, whatever they may be, but she must step out. Jesus tells us: “Go into all the world! Go! Preach! Bear witness to the Gospel! ... Go out, go out! In this “stepping out” it is important to be ready for encounter. For me this word is very important. Encounter with others. There is another important point: encountering the poor. If we step outside ourselves we find poverty."
Pope Francis at the Vigil of Pentecost

We knew that there are many homeless people on the streets of our city, so we bought a bunch of packed biriyani meals, piled into a small car, and took to the streets at about 8 pm. The smell of the hot biriyani wafted through the car, and tantalized our empty stomachs. But we were on a mission. We were going to find 'the poor'.

Unfortunately.

The poor were nowhere to be found.

We drove to a small railway station, knowing that that is where homeless people are often stranded, but no, it was mostly deserted. We scanned people sitting on a bench on the streets with eagle eyes: "Homeless? Or breathing in some fresh polluted air after dinner?"

My clue was whether they had some sort of scrappy belonging with them or not. Mostly they didn't.

"Where'd all the poor people go-o-o?" I sang. (Yes, I AM talking about Jack Johnson.) It was slightly incongruous to be so disappointed that there were apparently no poor people in my city. But the thing is, we knew they existed... we just didn't know where. Maybe the city authorities had gotten better at hiding them. We got drove halfway across the city, and on an unfamiliar street we saw them. About six figures lying parallel wrapped up in some sheets... on the pavement. A young man and woman with a baby were the only ones awake eating a plate of rice. We stopped the car, and two of us approached them. We didn't want to scare them with all six.

We looked them in the eye. We smiled. We struck up a conversation. We asked them their names. (Yeah, my limited Hindi is good for something.)

"When I used to go to hear confessions in my previous diocese, people would come to me and I would always ask them: “Do you give alms?” — “Yes, Father!” “Very good.” And I would ask them two further questions: “Tell me, when you give alms, do you look the person in the eye?” “Oh I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it”. The second question: “And when you give alms, do you touch the hand of the person you are giving them to or do you toss the coin at him or her?”

Pope Francis

They were knife-sharpeners from a neighbouring state, who had come looking for work a few weeks before. They were very grateful for the food. We prayed with them. Okay, I didn't, but one of the guys from our group uneasily said he would try to pray in Hindi. I don't think I have ever heard him pray aloud in English. But as the best Hindi speaker from our group, he was nominated as the pray-er. And the most beautiful prayer flowed from his lips.

When we told them we were Christians, the knife-sharpeners told us they knew who Jesus was, and in their village they would go the church. "In our religion we have many gods, but we pray to Jesus."

Huh. Things I didn't expect to hear. We told them where the closest church was, in case they wanted to go.

We bid them farewell, and they waved as our car drove away. We continued our search, and were rewarded. We met one drunk, or possibly mentally ill man who grabbed the food, but chased us away. We met one old garbage picker, with a wrinkled face, and suffering eyes. The stench of the garbage was disturbing for the few minutes we spent talking to him. I imagined spending all my time rooting through stinking garbage.

We saw real smiles. We met real people. One man blessed us. And then we went home. It was 10.30 pm, and we hadn't had dinner.

You know what, it wasn't much. But it was a start. We took a little foray out of our comfortable well-fed world, where the only time we've felt hunger is when we've either fasted or had to do without... for a few hours. We don't REALLY know what it's like to be them. But we took the first step to finding out.

And plus,

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one," says Mother Teresa.

So we did.

Small Family = Happy Family... Really?

Implied: Big Family =Unhappy family... Really?

A few days ago at our after school tuition (tutoring) class in the slum, I was ‘taking up’ one girl’s Hindi answers. All the kids had Hindi or Marathi exams the next day, so I was roped into helping them prepare for their exams. And as all Indians know, the way to prepare for an exam is to memorize a bunch of answers given by your teacher. But that’s a rant for another day.

My Hindi isn’t awesome, but I can read and write (even if I don’t always know what I’m reading or writing... I used to fake it when I had to read passages in class). My students know that I’m not comfortable in Hindi or Marathi, so they were fascinated to hear me read Hindi aloud. (They still haven’t decided whether I’m really Indian or not.)

So I was taking up an answer based on a story in their Hindi textbook. I was mindlessly following the words to make sure she said the right ones, when my attention was caught by the last line: ‘Chota parivar sukhi parivar.’

Or ‘A small family is a happy family.’

My eyebrows shot up. “What? What is this lesson about?” My thirteen year old student explained. It was a conversation between a man who had three daughters in the quest for the elusive son, and a man who had just one daughter. The man with one daughter was explaining to the man with three that a daughter was as good as a son, and he didn't have to have a son in order to be happy. He was addressing a very common problem in India: gender inequality. It is not unusual for people to keep having children... until they get their boy. In fact, someone who heard my dad had five kids, assumed that the four oldest were girls. Because of course, boys are the ones who bring in the dowry, are likely to get jobs and financially support the parents when they are old. Whereas girls, those useless creatures, are nothing but trouble- parents have to PAY to get rid of them, and once they are married, their allegiance is to their new family.

I have heard of these attitudes, but never experienced them personally because I grew up in a family that doesn't do dowry, and values both sons and daughters equally. But my student looked at me and said, “Boys are bad. But everyone think girls are bad. In my place it is like that.” Girls occupying an inferior place to boys in their families is still a reality.

Well, it’s good that the text book was trying to attack this unhealthy and unfair and very prevalent attitude through the story. But the next line mixed a very different moral into the lesson – a lesson that has been permeating all of Indian education for many decades: A small family is a happy family. Or the root of all India’s problems is TOO MANY CHILDREN. Or the population. Overpopulation, population control, population problems, we never heard the end of it. To the point that, any family that had more than two kids is considered unpatriotic, anti-progress, and probably kinda uneducated.

Now, I do realize that there are legitimate reasons to limit the number of children in one’s family. If you really can’t feed or care for the children you do have, or you are struggling with sickness, or mental health issues, or any of a number of difficult situations, then it would be responsible to attempt to limit your family size. But that isn't the situation of most people I know in middle-class India, nor is it what the government is suggesting. The government says ‘Hum Do, Hamare Do”- “We two, our two.” Have only two children, get yourself sterilized (or we might forcibly do it to you*) and never commit the sin of having a third child... let alone a fourth or fifth. “You can improve your quality of life with less children” is another not even subtly selfish reason. And with a better 'quality of life' (a TV? a car? going on holidays? a bigger house?), of course, your family will be happier.

I’m one of five. And my parents received a certain amount of flack for that, and so did we. A Catholic teacher in my Catholic school publicly mocked my sister (a fourth child) for coming from a large family and asked if her parents were uneducated.

People around us had been brainwashed into thinking that another baby is a CURSE, not a BLESSING... to their family, to their country. Especially for those of us who are Christians, we should recognize that as a lie. The bible tells us that children are a blessing from God. All children, not just the first two. Every child is precious, valuable. Whether they are the fifth, the tenth, or the only child. Whether they are physically or mentally challenged. Whether their parents are struggling to make ends meet, or have just upgraded their Maruti 800 to a Scorpio**. The child isn't the problem.

And you know what else, having a bunch of kids in our family didn't make my family an unhappy family. I never wistfully imagined how much happier my family would be if only they had stopped having kids after me. I may have had more of a choice about which movie to watch (Rose and the Slipper over the A team, but I had to compromise many, many times), and more pocket money. I may not have had to wear as many (ugly) second hand clothes. But I definitely can’t say I would have been happier without my three younger siblings.

Family time circa 1998 :Early attempts at photography

Humans are not just resources, or burdens, or things. You can’t reduce them to ways to help or hinder a country. A country is after all not just a piece of land, but is made up of every citizen... even if he or she happens to be a fifth child. Instead of saying ‘Have less children, and all our problems will go away’, let’s look for ways to use the resources we do have better.

If you can afford to, have another baby. If you can’t afford to, and another baby comes anyway, welcome him or her with joy. Because the happiness of your family doesn't depend on how many or how few children you have, or even how much or how little money you have, but on how you value each unique, lovable, irreplaceable person that God gifts you.

Good (Related) Reading

Why My Big Family is Not Overpopulating the Earth by Jennifer Fulwiler

"More people means more ideas, more workers, more love, and more hope. And so, I don’t see my children as adding to the problem; I see them as contributors to the solutions of the future."

Snappy Answers for Stupid Questions About Your Big Family by Simcha Fisher

"Q: Don’t you have a TV? A: If you think TV is better than sex, then you are doing it wrong."

The Earth is a Nursery by Simcha Fisher

But the only reason it's here -- the only reason it's in the Goldilocks Zone, which makes it possible for a planet to support life, is so that it can support life. It wants to support life. Why else would a planet exist? It's here so that people can live on it.

*It happened in 1976 and it's happening still-coercive female sterilisation practices.
**Yeah, I know nothing about cars.

God Chooses Uncomfortable but Effective Ways to Change Me

Change begins with me! That’s what they say, but you know, it’s really OTHER people who need to change. It’s because they’re so annoying. And most of the time, they don’t even know it!

Right? You with me?

Actually, God knows what a self-centred, full of myself brat I am, so He tried to get me to change, using that most useful and blunt instrument (pun intended): my family.

“Sue,” my mother told me, “You need to talk less and listen more. Sometime you come across too strong.”

“What!” I replied, offended. “I can’t help it if I’m passionate about some things.”

“Yes, but you can overwhelm people with TOO MUCH. You have a lot going on in your head, but you need to give other people a chance to talk.”

“Hmmph!” I replied and stalked off.

My sister would throw me annoyed stares sometimes when I started off. Once she told me, “It feels like you’re always preaching at me.” I was really hurt. “I’m just thinking aloud. I thought I could share what I was thinking with you at least. So what if I’m always thinking about finer points of theology?”

Once we were talking about someone who talks too much, and who people feel like backing away from, and my mum told me, “Maybe that’s how people feel around you sometimes.”

Ouch. That might have made me cry.

Still, mostly my family was just insensitive and hurtful. It wasn't really my problem. Maybe I talked a lot, but at least I talked about things worth talking about. And anyway my personality type includes ‘iNtuition’ which means I live in my head a lot, so technically it’s not really my fault.

God apparently needed a more heavy-duty instrument.

I once met someone to whom I wanted to say ALL THE SAME THINGS. She was insensitive. She was overpowering. She would dominate conversations. She would grab a conversation and turn it into a monologue or a diatribe. People really did want to run away from her. (And did, quite often.) There was no communication at all. It would just be her DRIVING home some point or the other. She was so caught up in her own thoughts, and trying to prove that she was right, that it was like she was almost unaware of anyone else around her, except as an audience. She would look for the smallest excuse for a controversy, and then JUMP in and take over the conversation. I was SO annoyed and frustrated and upset. I might have even said some direct and perhaps too pointed words of correction.

But guess what? It made me take a good look at myself... and promise I would NEVER do that to anyone ever again. I almost promised that I would never talk theology again, and stick with conversations about how the monsoons have been so unpredictable, how Gravity freaked everyone out including Sandra Bullock, and how much oil bais use when they cook. (I hear that’s what other people talk about.)

Actually, I didn't go that far. But I did decide that my mum had a point, and that I was going to (try anyway to) be a LOT more sensitive to other people in a conversation. You know, by taking a pause, and saying “What do YOU think?” every now and again, and then really listening to the answer.

 Yeah, painful, but effective.

Seven Quick Takes # 16

---1---

I seemed to have gone into overblogging mode in the past week and a half... I mean, five blogs in ten days? That's a lot. Of course, I could say I was making up for the previous three weeks of blogging just once. But really, it was because I got so much feedback, interest and shares from my Marriage post (including a job offer and two offers to be set up with single men), that I began to feel like a Blogging Goddess, who needed to start a Facebook page for the blog, and then churn out blog posts for my adoring audience. You did know that INTJ's tend to arrogance, right? In case I forget, I have my sister to remind me.

---2---

Anyway, I realize that a blog is just a blog. You know, a place for someone with an internet connection and an opinion to spout off. It's okay, life will return to normal this week, because I have so many things going in real life, that blogging will have to take a back seat. But i can't promise I won't blog about them once they're over.

---3---

Blogging a lot is not really difficult for me, because my mind ALWAYS has something to blog about, but I don't always make time to sort out my thoughts and make them pretty and presentable and funny. But when I do, oh, the joy. Jennifer recently wrote about it as a way of de-cluttering her mind. Unfortunately, once I get into hyper-blogging mode, I can't seem to stop. A few nights ago I couldn't sleep because my mind would take every thought and try to turn it into a blog post. I would firmly tell it to shut up, but the next moment I would be at it again.

---4---

I've also been dreaming a lot about my blog posts, including marriage, being set up by my friends, and meeting the love of my life (who turned out to be my first crush). Interspersed with those dreams were other very significant dream themes like the night I sat bolt upright in my bed, freaking out, because the DAMN RHINOCEROS WAS RIPPING THROUGH ALL THE BOOKS IN THE BOOKSHELF. At least I wasn't dreaming about mice, like one of my commenters.

---5---

I've also been obsessing about personality types. Along with my sister, and my room mate. In the middle of a conversation about someone, suddenly I stop, and go, "I..... S..... T or F, do you think? It's hard to know... But definitely J!" I've also started seeing connections between myself and different people. People who I used to think were extremely similar to me tun out be INTJs too. Some people are very similar to me, except for one ofe the four letters, and it's interesting to see how that plays out in our attitudes and personalities.

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I've been refreshed and impressed by the way many of the Catholic bloggers have been responding to Pope Francis' words. They are not just rushing to interpret it according to their own inclination, nor are they dismissing his words as his personal (and not very enlightened) opinion. Plenty of people have taken his words the wrong way- the media and the uber-traditionalists getting together for a change and acting like he just dismissed Catholic moral teaching, and dissed Pope Benedict.

(via catholicmemes.com )

“I remember, when I used go to Germany in the 1980s and ’90s, that I was asked to give interviews and I always knew the questions in advance. They concerned the ordination of women, contraception, abortion and other such constantly recurring problems. If we let ourselves be drawn into these discussions, the Church is then identified with certain commandments or prohibitions; we give the impression that we are moralists with a few somewhat antiquated convictions, and not even a hint of the true greatness of the faith appears. I therefore consider it essential always to highlight the greatness of our faith – a commitment from which we must not allow such situations to divert us. ” – Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI – Thursday, 9 November 2006 #HermeneuticOfContinuity

But many bloggers are humbly listening to what he's really saying, and what he's calling for- a change of focus and a change in our methods. The love and mercy of Jesus first, which open the hearts of people to see that His moral laws are expressions of His love and mercy too.

Here are a few of the articles I liked:
The Mission of Pope Francis S.J. by Michelle Arnold, Catholic Answers
Pope Francis Has Unsettled Me by Matthew Archbold
A Tale of Two Popes by Calah Alexander

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I love how Simcha Fisher pushes the limits. The title of one of her recent blog posts in the National Catholic Register was 'Can We Spell "Evangelization" without an "f" and a "u"?' She's definitely taught me a lot about chilling out and being less uptight. (I still try to watch my language though.) And the article itself is quite the thought-provoker.

Over and out. Drop by Jen's, because you know, she's the hostess.