Sarah Joy Albrecht » Word and Deed

Sin Isn’t That Big of a Deal

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:31:06 +0000

The Bitter End by ·Insomnia· (via Flickr)

Next time you think what you’re doing isn’t a that big of a deal, consider that Adam and Eve’s sin was eating fruit.

It hit me pretty hard today that, what I thought was being gracious by overlooking small offenses, was seriously enabling sinful behavior in our home. In fact, because I’ve let the little things slide, I now have quite a mess on my hands.

It’s easy to rationalize that some sins are just little boo–boos, but the reality is that sneaking video games when you’ve been told not to play them during school time is just as damning in God’s eyes as murdering someone. The earthly consequences are drastically different, but the eternal consequences are morbidly the same. My habit of overlooking has been misleading my children to think otherwise.

The more I thought about it, I realized that the sin of all sins, the one that cursed us humans, was, by our standards, seemingly benign and easily rationalized. God didn’t mandate, “Whatever you do, don’t build a spaceship!” Instead, He made a rule that was easy to break. Adam and Eve were told not to eat fruit! (Genesis 2:15-17)

Therefore, it is pretty much impossible for us to say, “It’s not fair! My my sin wasn’t as bad as Adam’s and Eve’s!” By the smallest of sins being the worst of sins, no one can ever say that they are without sin. (Romans 5:12-20 ; 1 John 1:5-10)

I am humbled, thankful, and, regarding my tiny little parenting boo–boo, stand quite corrected.

Sin Isn’t That Big of a Deal

Can’t Be Tamed : Truth for Parents About Miley Cyrus’ New Video

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:31:29 +0000

Danger: Raven by Giant Ginkgo (via Flickr)

Mommy-blogosphere is a twitter today with the release of Miley Cyrus’ new music video, “Can’t Be Tamed”.

In it, Cyrus looks like a raven who forgot to get dressed for the day. (Do ravens even wear pants?) She sings about her intentions while dancing on the poles of her birdcage.

Many parents have daughters who have grown up with Cyrus’ alter-ego, Hannah Montana. Perplexed over how to explain this change to their daughters, they are afraid they may have to tell them that they are no longer permitted to listen to their beloved singer because she is not who she used to be.

In the words of Soraya Roberts of the NYDailyNews,

“Writhing in a large nest within a giant birdcage, the 17-year-old pop star, wearing S&M-style gear, looks provocatively at the camera complaining that she feels like a specimen.

She proceeds to engage in some raunchy pole dancing, her plunging body-hugging black bodice, complete with expansive bird wings (the curator in the video says she is a member of the extinct species Avian Cyrus), leaving little to the imagination.”

The article is accompanied by this poll:

“Do you think Miley Cyrus’ new video is too saucy for a 17-year-old?

Yes, where are her parents?!
No, she’s almost an adult.
Who’s Hannah Montana?

The emphasized concern, of course, is that feathered Cyrus is not legally an adult.

As a millionaire who makes her own decisions about most of her life, however, she is essentially living as an adult, proving that Americans still hold age as a standard for maturity vs. self-reliance or life experience.

It is an especially interesting double standard, given that many Americans are at peace with sending 18 year old men off to war. Teens shooting “bad guys” in the head is okay, but it is shocking when Cyrus wears a black corset that provides more coverage than most women wear at the beach.

Frankly, Cyrus’ video portrays exactly the kind of behavior I’d expect from a woman struggling to handle the massive amount of attention from strange men in her life. She is trying express her own sexuality, but is attempting (poorly) to tell them they can’t touch her unless it is on her terms.

It’s easy to do our part by clicking on,”Where are her parents?” to vote our outrage. How often, though, with our own children do we discuss sex? This video is just one more example of why we must discuss it with our daughters, while they are still young. Should we allow just any man to touch us? How does Cyrus’ message mesh with her actions? Are her words consistent with her suggestive behavior? Why do we wear modest swimsuits, anyway?

When we think that people under 21 (yes, even Christians) do not have sexual desires, we kid ourselves. Realistically, it is parents who are embarrassed to talk to anyone younger than 21 about sex. Kids talk about sex all the time, at the level that they understand. Even young children know something’s going on between their parents, which is why they get flustered when their parents are kissing or holding hands in public. They have a feeling that it is somehow connected to things private.

The truth is, “Should a 17 year old express sexual feelings?” is the wrong question to be asking. Instead, we need to broaden our perspective and ask, “What should people, including adults and teens, do with sexual feelings?”

For starters, sex is a good thing; a gift from God.

However, it is for people who are married.

Instead of pretending sexuality and birdcages don’t exist, parents who have seen Cyrus’ new video have an opportunity to talk to their children about it in the context of thinking critically about everything they do.

From the food we eat to the entertainment we buy, we need to constantly be challenging ourselves and our children to check our hearts and actions against the true standard, God’s Holy Word.

Can’t Be Tamed : Truth for Parents About Miley Cyrus’ New Video

The Anti-Supermom Trend : Healthy or Dangerous?

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Tue, 04 May 2010 23:46:20 +0000

In this YouTube clip, I discuss both the positive and negative aspects of the anti-supermom trend and what it means for women. While the focus in recent years has been on becoming a domestic diva, some moms are proudly headed in the opposite direction. Here, I offer some analysis as well as a few thoughts to help women find their identity and maintain their voice in the crowd.

The Anti-Supermom Trend : Healthy or Dangerous?

Why Are Christians So …?

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:26:26 +0000

Love Tattoo by Denise Wells (via Flickr)

It amazes me how people get miffed about religious passion yet will do anything for love.

If you can’t shut up about how much you love your significant other, imagine what it’s like trying to shut up about someone who loved you so much that they gave their life for yours?!

Why are Christians so passionate? (Or, negatively stated, “zealous” or “pushy” ?)

Because they are motivated by and responding to Christ’s love:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” – 1 John 4:9

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” Psalm 48:9

“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” – Ephesians 2:4

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35-39

“Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 1:5-7

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” – Titus 3:3-5

Why Are Christians So …?

Just Another Rainy Day in April

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:05:53 +0000

Rice Fields on Fire : View from Today's Trip to Misawa

I’ve just returned home from a two hour trip to Misawa today, a drive over woodsy mountain roads, snow still lingering under the cover of the deep conifer forests lining the roads, to pay yearly Japanese transportation taxes. We were the last customer to slip in before they closed their doors.

We brought with us, this time, the offending library book – an orange board book called “Opposites” – that had prevented us from borrowing the stack of books we’d chosen last time from the library’s shelves. It’s hard to find good books there, sometimes, amidst the Best Sellers and Neocon Captain-America titles. So, having had put the effort into finding the carefully selected books, only to be rejected at the front desk by the meticulous male Japanese librarian whose fingernails are glossier than mine, because patrons are forbidden to borrow more books if a borrowed book has yet to be returned, to be able to borrow again felt like we’d been vindicated. In the true fashion of someone who has just been allowed to do something once forbidden, we borrowed about 30 books. Hopefully, every book will remain in the library books adjacent to the couch this time — and not find its way underneath the couch this lending period.

I had selected a few books today, but placed them back upon the shelf. They were books that merely affirmed my thoughts instead of presenting a challenge to them. I kept a book on herb gardening, something I’m attempting to do in containers in my concrete yard that is mockingly situated on acres of untouchable rice fields and greenhouses, and an updated AP Stylebook in hopes my herbs will be hearty and my punctuation improved.

In the children’s section, Tom found an audiobook version of Inkheart, a self-contained listening device that we hooked into our stereo, and we listened to six chapters during the winding drive home in the dark. Aiden said it frightened him, although nothing particularly scary has yet happened in the story. The description of the character Dustfinger was a bit menacing, however. To admit he was afraid was to admit that Aiden was listening, a backhanded confession that made me laugh given the protests that had come from the same child’s lips moments before.

Green cloth grocery bags are scattered all over the kitchen floor. It is midnight. My children are still awake. I will put away the perishables, and call it a night. Tomorrow, well, when the sun is up at least, because it is tomorrow already, hopefully before my Saturday completely escapes me, I’ll sort out the items that go into our upstairs make-shift industrial metal shelves pantry and those that will go in the limited space of the Japanese kitchen cupboards. I’m thankful for the inexpensive meats, pasta, canned tomatoes, broths, and baking supplies that can be purchased on the base, but the two hour distance means that we must stock up on such things if we want to have a supply on hand in between infrequent trips.

Tonight, as the children spent their energy on the indoor playground, I talked to an atheist friend for a while. She had many questions for me — mostly about the inconsistency of Christians and about why God does what He does.

Quite simply, there are many confused, inconsistent Christians out there and God can do whatever He pleases, no matter how arbitrary it may seem to us. And, no, I do not think every naturally occurring disaster is because God is trying to punish someone or because He is judging people. Rather, we live in a fallen world, and it’s a wonder any of us are still alive and breathing given the circumstances. God isn’t any less God just because His actions make us uncomfortable.

Before I left, she said, “I hope that you’ll still speak to me and be my friend even though you now know I’m an atheist.” I assured her I would and thanked her for the conversation.

Just Another Rainy Day in April

Confessions of a Not-So-Super Mom

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:37:50 +0000

Confetti Sunrise by Gale Phenicie (My Mom!)

Confession : I was really angry this week because someone called me a supermom.

I hate that word.

It does not represent me.

For example, I should be packing right now. You know where I am — here.

Then, I realized that the image that I show to others, especially those who only know me through my writing, where I tend to focus on positive things, only scratches the surface. Therefore, I have no right to be upset if people are only responding to that projected image. It’s my fault, not theirs. While I don’t revel in the darker side of me, nor do I complain often, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that I do not get angry, sad, or annoyed. I do hope people consider this when they think of me.

For the most part, yes, I am one of those obnoxious people who always looks for the silver lining. My slip-on shoes, for example, are completely falling apart and I can hardly hold them on — but when I put them on, I smile and think while I scuff around in them, “it’s better than stepping on a sticky floor!” Perhaps this optimism comes from knowing how bad things can be, and just being thankful for the smallest things, as if victories over the crap life can dish out sometimes.

Truly, though, there are times when I can’t find the silver lining anywhere and I get really really angry. Because I can hardly see straight in my anger, I rant in tangents and everything pretty much crashes around me. My husband is beyond patient with me to even entertain such arguments. I frustrate him probably more than he frustrates me — and yet, he is still married to me.

In the end, I usually realize the anger is with myself. Deep down, no matter how much they frustrate me, I love my family very much. They are not the root cause of my annoyance. Rather it is my own procrastination, lack of motivation, need for attention, or frustration with meal planning that I turn into Electromelon. I paint myself into a corner more than I admit, even to myself. Basically, I get caught up in self-righteous pride where I think it’s everyone’s fault but my own… and that’s a kind euphemism for my behavior.

“Bad days and moments don’t define you,” my mom reminded me this morning. “The way you love defines you.” Thanks, mom. I needed that hug this morning!

If you are curious about what my heart looks like when I’m not being gracious, you’ll find it in a single post under the pen name Sabira O. Talbot. Yep, that’s me. Tired of hiding from myself. Might want to put on some earmuffs first.

“There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.” – Betsie ten Boom

Confessions of a Not-So-Super Mom

Death Was Not Part of God’s Plan : A Quote That Gives Me Hope

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:18:23 +0000

Michele from our home church lost her son Hezekiah a few months back to anencephaly. In her blog, she wrote about her pregnancy, her baby’s short, yet precious, time on this earth, and now is blogging about her grief. (Will you please pray for her and her family?)

To lose someone you love, especially a when it’s a child, is so jarring.

I keep a basket of little booklets and tracts in my bathroom for anyone who wants to read them. One of them is called Grief: Finding Hope Again by Paul David Tripp.

Today, I was that person who picked up the minibook. When I read these two paragraphs, I thought, “Thanks, God. I knew this, but I needed to hear it again.”

Death Was Not Part of God’s Original Plan

We all feel death’s wrenching finality. Death is so wrong, so completely out of step with life as God planned it. The apostle Paul could think of no better word for it than “enemy” (I Corinthians 15:25-26). Death is the enemy of everything good and beautiful about life. Death should make you morally sad and righteously angry. It is a cruel indicator that the world is broken; it is not functioning according to God’s original design, where life was to give way to life, on into eternity.

It is biblical to treat death as the sad, unnatural thing that it actually is. God encourages you to mourn. Death was simply not meant to be. When you recognize this, you will hunger for the complete restoration of all things. You will long to live with the Lord in a place where the last enemy – death – has been defeated.“

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ties in well with Tripp’s thoughts:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Photo Credit: Westpark via Flickr

Death Was Not Part of God’s Plan : A Quote That Gives Me Hope

Exhausted? Worn Out? It May Be for the Best

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:00:30 +0000

Loved the post, “A Necessary Death” by Elizabeth Esther.

Amen! Wish I could give her the biggest hug ever. I know how she feels. I’m there often. Just when I think things are going well, I’m reminded that they aren’t and that ‘well’ is an illusion I see through my pride-goggles.

Elizabeth writes:

For the first time since the twins were born, I just let myself feel the need, the brokenness, the absolute inability to be The Mother I Used To Be. Or the Mother I Want To Be. Or The Mother I Think My Kids Need.

I let all that go.

We went down to the beach and I stood underneath the pier, watching the waves crash around the pilings. It was cold and cloudy with a brisk onshore breeze. The waves were high and I felt a thrill of terror as the waves pounded up the pier corridor.

That’s when it came to me. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

I’m standing at the edge of risk. The vast immensity of responsibility was never my burden to bear alone. And also, I was never supposed to be The Mother I Want to Be. That figment of my imagination was not within my control anyway.

My children don’t need that mother. They just need me, broken, vulnerable, utterly incapable me.

My children don’t love me because I do a great job of propping up my put-together life. Maybe they love me unconditionally. Maybe they love me in my messiness, my disappointments, my weakness.

And what if (scandalous thought), God wants me in my failures and brokenness? Because only when I’m in this place am I willing to surrender, to admit I can’t do it all.

As I read this, I was reminded that Christ came to the end of Himself for our sake. He did so we can live at peace with the Father — free, without guilt, without worry — our souls face to face with His, as naked as the day we were born (Heb 4:12).

Thank God we don’t have to (and can’t even if we tried) hide ourselves from Him. Christ died for us so that when we are right there on death’s door, our souls ready to just give up, He’s right there with us. Best part is, He beat death and rose again… so that we can take His hand and rise with Him.

Philippians 2:1-11 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Exhausted? Worn Out? It May Be for the Best

Two Modern Worship Songs That Feel Like Hugs

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:30:34 +0000

Say what you will about modern worship music, but these two songs always get to my heart.

They describe how Jesus satisfies our needs, and how there is nothing else to our existence except for clinging to and trusting in Him.

These principles are foundational, simple, and yet easy to forget when when life hurts.

In the words of Katherine von Bora Luther, “I will cling to Christ like a bur to cloth.”

All I Once Held Dear (Knowing You)
by Graham Kendrick

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Chorus:
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord

Now my heart’s desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die

. . . . . .

As The Deer Panteth for the Water
by A. Martin Nystrom

As the deer panteth for the water,
So my soul longs after you
You alone are my hearts desire,
And I long to worship You.

Chorus:
You alone are my strength, my shield;
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my hearts desire,
And I long to worship You.

I want you more than gold or silver,
Only You can satisfy
You alone are the real joy giver
And the apple of my eye.

You’re my friend and You’re my brother,
Even though you are a King
I love You more than any other
So much more than anything.

What are your favorite modern worship songs?

Two Modern Worship Songs That Feel Like Hugs

How to Stop Complaining

Sarah Joy Albrecht — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:53:43 +0000

The secret to not complaining is to realize you’re always better than you deserve.

Photo Credit: Thiago Maximo via Flickr

How to Stop Complaining

Sarah Joy Albrecht » Word and Deed

Sin Isn’t That Big of a Deal

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