I LOVED this post:
Today during President Obama's speech he called on Americans to personally sacrifice so that change can come. The idea of sacrifice for the greater good is something that historically Americans have done but that's not history from my life time. Sacrificing so that someone else can break even is something our country is no longer known for.
I wonder if Obama will be able to lead our country into that change. I hope he can. But Obama will have to be a very smart, strong, and persuasive leader to bring about this change. A large part of his success as a President will be reflected in whether or not he can do this, on whether or not we are willing to change... (post in its entirety here.)
Me
I'm Kristin. Christ-Follower. Wife. Mommy. Friend. Beautiful disaster. I love coffee, a good book, laughter, and authenticity. I hope you'll find me seeking sacred in the ordinary, justice for the oppressed, and life to the full.
My Love
Our Beautiful
Our Little Man
Our Barefoot Tomorrows
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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I Believe
That what is most important to me must be spoken
Made verbal and shared
Even at the risk of having it abused
Or misunderstood.
-Audre Lorde
Made verbal and shared
Even at the risk of having it abused
Or misunderstood.
-Audre Lorde
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6 comments:
Thanks for the love about the love of my life! :-) I can't wait to come home again to see him. Feb 14th weekend is the next trip home. Tell Selah I say HI!!!
I went to the Orrange site today to read what she wrote and I was IN LOVE with the look of her blog. I was getting so frustrated with the blah blog layouts from blogger and I really wanted to know HOW they got such cute ones. AND THEN, up in the corner of Cortney's blog was an ad for the cutest blog on the block-soc I checked it out.
YOU NEED TO GO THERE!!! You will fall in love with all of the amazing choices they have there!
http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/
worth noting:
"Americans give more to charity, per capita and as a percentage of gross domestic product, than the citizens of other nations."
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/24/america-philanthropy-income-oped-cx_ee_1226eaves.html
Americans are generous, it's true, and I am glad for it.
Still, considering the relative wealth in America (average household income in 2007 was $50,233) we are still better off financially, after we give our 2.5 % to charity, than the majority of people in developing nations.
still you're point is valid. I would just love to see more.
thanks for your comments, anonymous and courtney.
i enjoyed learning from the stats provided.
hopefully we can be known for this generosity - both individually and collectively.
i tried to continue the discussion on courtney orrange's blog but for some reason my comment disappeared after a few hours.
one of my main points was as follows:
i think that if you feel uncomfortable or feel that its wrong to criticize your neighbor for not sacrificing enough than it should also be wrong to criticize a group of neighbors for not sacrificing enough. i would not feel right saying that someone isn't giving enough because (a) i should concern myself with how much i am giving first and foremost and (b) i don't know their situation and i don't know their heart. just because that person gets lumped into an abstraction known as society doesn't make me feel better about assessing their level of sacrifice.
Yeah, I understand what you're saying. You've articulated your points well.
However, I took her post to be more of a challenge and less of a judgement call.
In my estimation, she has earned the right to be heard on this topic due to her family's history of resource management (time, money, gifts, whatever.)
Their level of generosity has always been independent of their own financial status at the time. Some of the things they have done have floored me.
When I read her post, I took it simply as a challenge to sacrifice, from someone who knows sacrifice.
Francis Chan once said, "We have gotten to a point when we are more concerned about our standard of living than we are about others actually living."
This could be deemed a scathing judgement call, but I would be the first to say that he's speaking about me. And for that I am sorely ashamed...
Which is why I still really love her post.
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