Loving America

 Most people would nod their head and agree with me if I said to them, “If they hear it enough, most people believe what they constantly hear about and tell themselves, don’t they?”. Self-talk has gotten me through some very difficult times in my life, and while it is not a permanent fix, it can be a great tool for setting your thinking in the right direction. It was not until I was 24 years old that I realized that people will always be flawed, and that in order to put my faith into something rock-solid and true, I would have to start believing what God said about me more than what my peers, parents, co-workers and even my self said about me. That was such a liberating epiphany, and to this day it provides confidence and gratitude beyond what I could conjure up on my own.

I have been wondering a lot lately if that same principle can be applied to things other than human beings. After all, if I am truly to believe that God loves all creation, then I have to believe what He says about it all, not just people. I often feel very alone and frustrated in my love for my country. The 4^th of July is my second favorite holiday after Christmas, and I am one of those who gets goose bumps during every national anthem I hear and tend to cry when I watch fireworks. Red, White and Blue make me warm and fuzzy inside and seeing a bald eagle is still awe-inspiring. I buy a new flag every year for my house (stupid Oklahoma wind always tears them up) and know that while Ryan rolls his eyes at me for it, he secretly enjoys putting it out for me every summer.

Have you ever noticed (and hated yourself for it) that we tend to treat those we love the most the worst sometimes? Why is that? I think one of the reasons is that we love too hard. We love to control things and we put a lot of effort and energy into molding our lives into what we think it should be. When we love something so much and they don’t respond the way we think they should, or return our love as fiercely, or even turn their backs on us, that is when we snap the hardest, don’t you think? I can totally see myself down the road when Aubrey is a teenager reacting this way to her (although I will try not to and hope you all hold me accountable to that). My biggest disappointments will come when she doesn’t behave as a lady should (I really, really, really don’t want her to be who I was as a teenager), or when I realize that I failed to teach her something vital, or when she chooses a path that is different than the one I would have chosen. And how could I not? She is a part of me. Someone once said that motherhood is so scary because you constantly have your heart walking around outside of you. 

It is for this very reason that I think people love to hate America. She has not turned out to be quite what she was created to be, and for this reason, her people are disappointed, disillusioned and, at least from what I see in my circles, ready to give up on her. I am not one of those Christians who believe that America is blessed of God more than any other nation. I cannot explain to you why we have so many “blessings” (conveniences) while a country full of people that God has to love just as much as us, like Darfur, is plagued by civil war, rape, murder and starvation. But I do believe that I can have purpose and opportunity to help people in a country like Darfur precisely because I live in America. 

My only relief to the guilt that can rise up every time I read the news is that while I do feel blessed to live here, I in no way deserve it more than anyone else. I have an added responsibility to care for my neighbor. Decisions I make every day that can seem so small, like where my coffee comes from, can ultimately affect people in other countries who don’t have the options that I do. I also have the hope that in the end, God will set all of the injustices of the world right, and true heaven on earth will come not from mansions in the sky and eternal praise and worship, but from a truly perfect earth with a truly Just ruler. 

So, who is wrong? The person who loves too hard or the person who hates too hard? If they both have the same outcome, does it really matter? Our country turns 233 years old this weekend. As the people responsible for shaping and molding her, do we criticize her so much because she is not what we think she should be? At some level, we are all at fault for the state of her existence today. But instead of getting mad or constantly berating her, shouldn’t we take a look at ourselves? After all, that is something that is great about this country- the ability to change our circumstances. The American Dream shouldn’t be about getting a big house, car, or having a bunch of “stuff”. The American Dream is something that we can all live out- the fact that if you work hard and live nobly, you can create a good life for yourself and your family, and hopefully have some sort of positive eternal impact on this earth and your neighbor. My own family is a living example of this. Next time you want to put down your homeland, why don’t you take a look at yourself first? You might just see that your problem is not the country you live in, but the people and decisions you surround yourself with. 

I love poetry. I see poetry in things I read or in songs I hear. Take a moment to read this song as a poem, and to realize that while she has her faults, America is still a beautiful place. She is a result of the wonderful creativity of our God, a pursuit of pilgrims who would give their lives for the freedom to proclaim the good news and a dream of many for a better life.

America the Beautiful / Words by Katharine Lee Bates, Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

My favorite line is “Till selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free”. It is irresponsible to neglect the opportunities this land has given us. It is self-destructive to merely sit there and pick apart all that is wrong with this country we belong to. There is a way to embrace America while promoting and portraying the bigger picture of what we are to become as Christians. Being a Christian in America may be more convenient, but it is not easier and we still face the challenge of living in this world while not being of it. 

I’d like to ask you to quit whining about this country. Like a beaten woman who starts to believe the lies she’s told every day, America is slowly becoming what we say about her. One day she will wake up and realize how far she is from her roots and her purpose, and the blame will rest squarely on our abusive heads. Build her up and love her while correcting the waywardness of her path. No one has ever blossomed into what their true purpose is from constant nagging, beating and misplaced appreciation. Think what she might become if we sang the words above to her and she actually started to believe them!

Whale Wars

I get off work at 1 on Fridays, which I love because it gives me time to run errands, do chores, have lunch with friends or maybe even take a nap before I pick Aubrey up from daycare. This past Friday, however, I decided to turn the TV on while I folded some laundry. While flipping through the channels, I stopped on Animal Planet, who was having an all day marathon of their last season of “Whale Wars” to lead up to the new season’s premiere later that evening. I got sucked in and ended up DVRing the whole thing because of that whole “having a kid who wants to eat and play” thing.

 I don’t know what it is with my fascination with shows about people on ships in arctic conditions, but I am also hooked on Deadliest Catch, a show on Discovery about crab fishermen. I guess the idea that people can stay on a boat for two months at a time and not go insane fascinates me, not to mention the fact that what they are doing is very risky and, to a certain extent, solitary. At any rate, I finished up the first season of Whale Wars later that night after Aubrey had gone to bed.

 This show documents the crusade of a man named Paul Watson to stop the slaughter of minke and fin whales by the Japanese in a whale sanctuary located in the Antarctic waters between Australia and Antarctica. Paul Watson was one of the founding members of Greenpeace, a protest organization formed in the 1970s. He was voted out of the organization due to his radical tactics and unwillingness to simply protest- this was a man who wanted to actually STOP the things being protested. He calls his organization, “Sea Shepherd”, an intervention group, not a protest group. You can learn more about him and Sea Shepherd here.

 I think the thing that really made my jaw drop was how this group of people really does “intervene” on behalf of the whales. They do everything from taking inflatable Zodiac boats out to the harpoon ships and driving in front of them to try and stop them by putting a big rope into the propeller, to actually jumping onto the harpoon ships in order to create international incidents in which the Japanese and Australian government must face this issue. They are non-violent in their intervention, but do throw some sort of chemical to the other ships that is, in essence, a stink bomb and taints the whale meat on board. They say they never aim at people, they only wish to deter the hunters.

 It seems to me that there are laws in place banning commercial whaling, but no one is enforcing them. The Japanese say they are killing the whales for scientific research, and they are allowed to kill a certain number of whales every year. The Sea Shepherds, however, see every life as one worth saving and intervene on behalf of every whale they can. Until this new season, they had never seen a whale killed. Last season they saved over 500 whales.

 I am not quite sure of my opinion on this effort. On the one hand, I love what they are doing. I mean, who doesn’t love whales, am I right? I think as Christians we are to value every kind of life, from the largest creature on earth (blue whale) to the smallest (the plankton it eats). On the other hand, I believe there is a balance to living in this world while still caring for it.

I have blogged before about my efforts to “green” my life, and how I have made it work for our family. While I think taking all cars off the road would solve a ton of problems (no car accidents, no pollution, etc.), it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t find it to be a huge inconvenience or accomplish a lot less without that mode of transportation. In this same light, I can’t fully jump on board with the whole Greenpeace movement or become a vegetarian even though I know God loves chickens. A lot of the people on the Steve Irwin (a ship in the Sea Shepherd fleet) are of the mindset that the whales are equal with humans (because they can feel pain like we can). One girl even told the camera that “when it comes to our ecosystem, whales are more important than humans”. This would prove why these people are willing to risk their lives to save these creatures. I would compare their passion to those of us who might do the same to save people, whether it be unborn children or the refugees of Darfur.

I don’t know what possible reason the Japanese have for “researching” on whale carcasses. It all seems so barbaric and these animals do not die peaceful deaths. The saddest thing is that the whales they hunt are some of the most curious, so they go right up to the boat to see what it is, only to be harpooned, thrash around, shot and dragged along the side of the boat. Surely there is a better way for the Japanese to do research. And surely by now they have killed enough to get the information they need. I find myself rooting for these renegades on the Steve Irwin, as radical as they may seem. But is what they are doing any better than the Japanese? Jumping onto someone else’s ship is, in essence, pirate activity. Sinking ships in harbor and ruining propellers is surely illegal, not to mention dangerous.

 I suppose the biggest point that Sea Shepherd makes that gets me on their side is that just because something is legal doesn’t mean you should do it. Just because the Japanese can kill 500 minke whales a year doesn’t mean they should. Our society is driven by money, yet these people volunteer their time and risk their lives for a cause they believe in.

 It may be crazy, and it may not be worthwhile, but you can bet I will be following the adventures of Paul Watson and the crew of the Steve Irwin this season on Whale Wars.

What about you? What do you think? As Christians should we support or agree with Sea Shepherd’s efforts, even though it breaks the law? What do you think God would have to say about killing whales for profit?

Update

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

Ryan is on summer break. While this has always made me jealous, this year it is amplified by the fact that Aubrey is only in daycare two days a week to a) save money and b) allow Ryan to spend time with her. So three days a week, I leave for work while they snooze away and get a call around 10 am so that Aubrey can tell me what she ate for breakfast. I love this age, now that she can communicate we can actually talk on the phone. I miss her a lot during the day, but I am glad that Ryan has this time with her. So far none of the home improvement projects on his list have gotten done, but that is because the wrath of Satan has fallen on us in the form of allergies. Which brings me to  my next update…

The chiropractor. I have been going for a month now, and it has changed my life! It is amazing how you can fix your body to heal itself without any medicine at all! I went because I had a nonstop two-week headache and it was a last resort. Man, I wish I had started going years ago! My neck was curved in the exact opposite way that it was supposed to be, mainly because I [was] a stomach sleeper. After one adjustment my headache was gone and my allergies started to improve. Over Memorial Day, Ryan got a terrible eye infection caused by allergies and this week he finally went in to the chiropractor. The minute she applied her accupressure machine to his face, his eyes cleared up and he hasn’t had to take allergy medicine. We have about 1-2 months left of treatment before we are good to go. I am so glad we are no longer subject to our allergies, so I guess it’s time to get to working on the backyard!

Speaking of the backyard, I have planted a garden with the help of my friend Nicole. I am really excited about all my veggies and last night I made spagetti sauce with basil from the garden, and it was SO GOOD! Horray! I am watching everyday for the first fruits of my jalapenos, banana peppers, tomoatoes, cucumbers, green beans, squash and watermelon. There is something about watching green sprouts shoot up when just two weeks ago you were covered in dirt and putting ugly brown seeds into the ground, wondering if this was REALLY going to turn into food you can eat. It’s great exercise (read: I sweat. A LOT.) and actually very calming to garden.

Ryan and I are taking a vacation in a few weeks. We are headed to Vegas with our good friends Gavin and Heather and we can’t wait! I’ll miss Aubrey while we are gone, but its good for Mommy and Daddy to get away every now and then, and since her time will be split between the grandparents, she probably won’t even notice we are gone! The day after we get back, my baby girl turns TWO! I can’t believe it. Time flies. She’s excited for her Nemo party (read: obsessed with that stupid fish) and its actually been fun coming up with “ocean”-themed snacks. We are just doing a small get-together with family, but it will be a great celebration of her sweet life and what an awesome gift she is!

I have become certified to teach Spanish, Psychology and Social Studies. I have even talked to my boss and applied/interviewed for several teaching positions. This is something I have always felt like I was supposed to do, and was on the path before SCU screwed up my degree program and I had to change my major. However, I don’t know what the deal is. There are tons of openings for teachers, all of which I have applied for and it just isn’t happening. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my job here and don’t mind staying, but I really thought it was my time to start this new career. I am doing what I can in applying and interviewing, but I have decided to accept that this might not be something I am supposed to do. Maybe I heard God wrong on that one. Who knows? I am content to stay where I am, but if you think about it, pray for wisdom for me in this situation.

What else? It’s SUMMERTIME! Horray for shorts, picnics and the zoo! Even when nothing else works out like I plan for it to, it’s nice to know that when I go home, Ryan and Aubrey will be there to put a smile on my face and I’ll always have something to do when I get there, be it blowing bubbles with Aubrey or weeding the garden.

‘Til next time…