5 Things

 5. During the height of the pandemic, Shadrach called me, "Mom, I am listening to a podcast and you HAVE to give it a try." Shad doesn't recommend things to me very often, plus I had countless hours of home projects and no particular place to go... Shad's recommendation turned into a life-changing introduction, to a man I now refer to as... My boyfriend Darryl Cooper. 

If you love long-form podcasts, crave unbiased history, and really just generally want your worldview to be rocked entirely may I suggest the Martyr Made Podcast. 

Start with episode #11...  Write me a thank you note later. 

4. Does anyone still read around here? Another thing that has recently fallen out of fashion. As a society we have all developed a bit of ADHD ( I am not saying this to diminish the diagnosis) It's hard to sit down on concentrate on anything that is not in Tikky Tok form... I encourage you to take some time to work on that part of your brain again. Some fantastic reads I have been working on recently.

Everything sad is untrue- Nonfiction story of a young refugee moving to Oklahoma... oh the tangled webs we Christians and well-meaning folk weave.

The Case Against the Sexual Revolution- Not Christian, not stuffy, might make you blush TRUTH about sexual setbacks, for women in particular, from the sexual revolution. The author is a former rape victim advocate. Smartly written with the stats to back the claims. 

3. How are you feeling?? I do not know of one household that has not been hit with one of the 3-4 nasty bugs that are going around. It's brutal, if you have the privilege of doing your job from home, I would imagine you have spent a good amount of your fall zooming from home.. if you are one of the many Americans that work but live below the poverty line and DO not have that option... God's speed and buckle up, it's gonna be a heck of winter. Hilarious but horrific article from WAPO 

Listen to Lost Mary 

2. Year - End recaps... They started a few weeks ago with the Instagram-worthy Spotify Wrapped. What a genius marketing concept that is... Next up a green-shirted, well-funded Zelensky and the Time cover. Soon we will be subjected to the fun little video highlights of friends who are more beautiful than you, young parents' perfect child highlights, and posts about my "word for the year" (mine is "survive").

1. I have been thinking a lot about the word humility. 

So I put it in an AI image generator... I really wondered if something that does not have a soul can even fathom the word... as it seems any and all of the online world and the humans that clamor for a platform and influencing do not know the definition... (or at times seem to have a soul)

Here are a few of the images that came up...

The first few were, "I'm small in a big world" sort of images... When you stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon (not too close please) you do feel smallish, and humble, there is a scripture about how all of creation points to a Creator. Have you ever felt the sheer wonder of creation? What beautiful world we so freely roam, the marvel of it all. 

Next was Jesus of course... and at first I wondered why the AI included the hooded antifa looking dude, but after some time it struck me... the daily battle of the flesh... the C.S. Lewis quote: Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. I feel like the blacked-out hoodie guy does not need the platform, does not need the monetization, the retweets or the likes. No hot takes or tik toks... He gets up and sets himself to the business he is called to do regardless of what or where it might get him, but rather what it will get others... you know... sorta like the Christ pictured. 

Maybe the AI knows what humility is after all.