by Lisa Delay
I decided to do something new this year and randomly give fun and interesting things away all month to celebrate my birthday. The first item is a leather bound journal, for prayers, or whatever you enjoy journaling. To join in the fun, you can follow me on Twitter, or go to my website which will post details on that day.
It might help beat the winter blues too.
Life is a gift.
Best wishes.
-Lisa
From Gender Analyzer (ht – Andrew Jones) -
Results
We have strong indicators that http://emergingwomen.blogspot.com is written by a man (91%).
okay… apparently we are all men. what????
Hello,
I’ve been thinking about this and I wanted to get input. You gals have great insights. Will you share your ideas/stories/thoughts.
Do you have many experiences with it or are they rare? What is the nature of your experiences? What do you personally think deja vu is? Does it have a spiritual dimension? Has it served a spiritual purpose for you?
Happy (nearly-belated 
) New Year, everyone.
So, what will be changing for you in 2008?
So, I just finished reading a review of J.M. Adovasio, Olga Soffer and Jake Page’s “The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory”.
In the book, the authors argue that anthropologists have been reading far too much of our culture into what little we know of prehistoric ones, especially as it relates to the role(s) of women in each culture. It’s fascinating stuff….or at least it is to this social science geek.
While reading the article, I started to wonder what anthropologists of the future might infer about the world we live in today.
For the purpose of this exercise, assume that the majority of their primary, written sources (that is, sources that were written now, not sources that will be written about us in a thousand years) on the fabric of our lives come from the church: some of the more modern translations of the bible, books that were written for and about Christians, etc etc. The ruins of secular buildings are accessible in this scenario, but for some reason they have very limited access to anything written outside of Christianity.
I have two questions for you:
1) What do you think the anthropologists will completely misunderstand about women living in our time?
2) What things do you think they’ll get right?
Since this has been a really difficult time for me, my step-mom sent this to me in an e-mail. We had just had a long discussion about “the times you want to just give up”. She got home and a friend had sent this to her. She thought it ironic in that we have been talking the last few days about hard times. It’s the typical e-mail “thing”, but I thought it was a great little story.
Quilt of Holes
As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt before the Lord along with all the other souls. Before each of us laid our lives like the squares of a quilt in many piles; an angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life. But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in every day life. I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all. I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.
My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air. Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of truth. The others rose; each in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been. My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise. My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn’t had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness, and wealth, I had to start over many times. I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again. I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life. I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully, each time offering it up to God in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me.
And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light. An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around at the others who stared at me with wide eyes. Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light flooded the many holes, creating an image, the face of Christ. Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes. He said, “Every time you gave over your life to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My struggles. Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you.”
May all our quilts be threadbare and worn, allowing Christ to shine through!
I recently found the game Ayiti: The Cost of Life. It was created by UNICEF to illustrate how poverty can greatly interfere with a family’s ability to educate their children.
If you figure out how to win, let me know. I haven’t been able to beat the system yet.
Edited to add:
I found another game with a similar message: 3rd World Farmer.
3rd World Farmer was more interactive and interesting in my opinion, although I’d suggest trying both games if you have the time and patience to do so.
