On Judgement

One of my favorite blogs, ragamuffinsoul.com, had a post with this picture on it last week.  I was stunned, frightened, flabbergasted, etc, etc. (you get my point).  It has bothered me so much that I have found myself obsessing about it!  I admit, I think there should be one more group mentioned - A**H****s.  Well, I found myself in radical judgement of this group.  Oops.  I just HATE it when I come face to face with my ideals.  

I began thinking about what it means to be a Christian.  I was judging this group for being "Un-Christlike."  What do I do that deserves judgement?  Do I see a man standing on a street corner and turn away?  Do I hear that 1 in 10 children are being trafficked/exploited in the Dominican Republic, say "tsk, tsk," and run out to volleyball practice?  What does it say about my humanness and Christianity when I hear that it costs .06c/day to feed a person in Haiti, write my check for $20/month and think "Whew.  I've done my part."  

I want to live a radical life, pursuing peace and justice.  How does that fit into my consumer lifestyle?  Do I have the time?  If I go down that path, will my life ever be the same?  Will I write this blog post, think "Whew, glad I got that off my chest," and turn away any different than I was yesterday?  I feel like the man who looks in the mirror, and turns away, forgetting what he looks like.   I think that one who does not have a realistic expectation of the darkness in her own heart is one tiny step away from being the one holding up the sign.

What are you radically passionate about?  What will you do TODAY to pursue it?

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/06/the-church-and-lost-innocence.html

Thoughts on Contentment

I dream of moving.  Florida, in all of it's balmy beauty, is not home.  I have always said that home is where my husband and kids are, and that is still true to some extent, by my soul calls out for the mountains of the West.  Like deep calling deep.  I pine for the jutting mesa-scapes of New Mexico, for the aspens of southern Colorado, for the gasping awe every time I looked out the window and saw a mountain.  I also miss the wild west attitude - the whole "tie myself to a bulldozer b/c we don't want your stinkin Walmart screwing up our landscape" mentality.  Oh, and "Don't tell me how to school my children.  I don't even need to inform you of my plans to teach them at home, much less let you look at their work and judge them."  Not to mention, the radical idea that minorities can govern.  And women are equal.  And same sex marriage is not the end of life as we know it.  And a giant pick-up truck painted front to back with an American flag does not make you more American than me.  But I digress....

Is a person's home just where they choose to make it?  Could I *choose* contentment and beauty in FL?  Am I not content because I don't want to be?  I think the ocean is beautiful (although the beach is covered with red tide b/c of all kinds of man-made selfishness, but that's another post), but not awe inspiring.  I want to wake up in the morning and have my soul rumbled by my environment.  I don't want to be comfortable - mountains make me extremely uncomfortable and thoughtful.  

What do you think?  Should I choose contentment?  Or allow the drive in me to push me back to the Rockies?