In Pursuit of Health

If you were hoping to find a dramatic weight loss story, or how I went from the couch to running marathons, this is not it. Maybe those kind of awe inspiring transformations happen to some people, but more often I find those stories tend to discourage me rather than motivate me, because my own life never seems to have that exponential improvement factor to it.

Rather, I want to share some of the slow, back and forth but gradually increasing journey of health and fitness that I've both fought for and been given over these past couple of years, as well as some of the things that have made all the difference along the way. My hope is that you will be encouraged and perhaps even better equipped along your own journey.

As a kid, I was active all the time, ate mostly healthy food and had no problems with any of it... By the end of high school, although I didn't appear unfit or overweight, I struggled to run a ten minute loop around my neighborhood, I couldn't tell you what the inside of a gym looked like and I considered a deep fried jam donut a sufficient meal.
I am somewhat of an idealist bordering on perfectionist sometimes, so I really struggled to see health as a lifewide concept whose future depended on today's choices. So I would go for a run for 15 mins and feel like I had conquered the world but be confused as to why I didn't have a 6 pack by morning and be able to run 10 km the next day. Or I would start the day well then eat cookies for lunch and throw away the whole next week because who can rescue the week after that?

Fast forward nearly 7 years, now I am confident to walk into a gym and carry out the workout I designed myself, even though I'm usually the only woman there. I am currently training for a 10 km trail race next month and consistently am able to choose foods that fuel my body, as well as having the freedom to eat treat foods and enjoy them. I am a healthy weight, I am confident, strong and aware of how what I do and eat affects all aspects of my life. But honestly most of this change has happened in the past year, with the other 6 years being a series of rules, restarts, frustrations and lack of knowledge about how to care properly for myself.

I want to share some of the things that helped and hindered my health journey, but I want to make a disclaimer also that everyone's journey looks different. So if there are things that didn't help me, it doesn't make them a useless or bad thing at all, it may be something that is incredibly helpful for you, in the same way that those things which encouraged me along my journey might not do the same for someone else. So this is not a prescription.


What didn't work for me...

Making rules for myself about what I can and cannot eat.       
I seriously tried this one for close to ten years before finally accepting that it doesn't work. As soon as I remove freedom from the equation, I leave myself in a position of succeeding or failing. And failing seems to take up ten times as much memory space than succeeding. Food cannot be labelled as "good" or "bad", it just is. It's like a table, like a leaf, like a truck... it doesn't contain either inherently good or evil properties. It does however have different effects on my body, and when I stopped making rules about what can and can't be eaten, I was able to see with more clarity what effect a food would have on me and choose based on that.

Having treat days.
I realise this is a tricky one, and actually may work really well for some people. For me, this looked like "binge Friday", a day where I would set aside all guilt about what I was eating and whatever looked good would go in my mouth. This is kind of embarrassing to write about now because of how terrible that logic was, but nevertheless, it happened for several years. The problem with this is that I would have these great intentions about Saturday morning being a new healthy start to the next week... but because of my poor food choices the night before, I would feel grumpy, low on energy, hungry and had usually the same cravings again for sugar and fatty foods. It's like an addictive food hangover that makes a good start the next morning nearly impossible. This mindset also removes all responsibility for one day and places a greater expectation for it on other days, also something that I couldn't live up to. 

Starting Fresh.
I'll be honest, this is still a mindset I have to confront regularly and still struggle with... but I'll write about it anyway. A new week, a new month, new years, birthdays, graduation, new job.... All these significant or not so significant milestones that in my mind seemed to mark a point that I could pick out and say "from that day onward I will be healthy". Again, embarrassingly terrible logic... As if all the habits, miseducation, cravings and lack of will would be wiped away overnight as the end of December became the start of January. The thing is, these starting fresh dates actually do work... for maybe 3 days or so depending on how determined I was at the time... but it would be ruined because of my all or nothing attitude, so as soon as I made a poor decision, was lazy or simply did something I've done for years and the calendar date couldn't change it, I would spiral down into failure and almost subconsciously be looking to what the next significant date or milestone could be. 

Having level 10 goals when I'm still on level 2. 
In my first year of university I signed up for a marathon. Had I run more than 2 km all year....? Hm, nope. Did I actually really want to do a marathon? Nope. But I signed up because of a mix of wanting to please the person who asked me if I wanted to and because I thought maybe it would be my fitness salvation. And I gave it a decent go... for maybe a month when I trained too hard too fast and caused a relapse of my shin splints from a few years back. Again I was icing my legs, hobbling around and feeling like a failure. I believe in the power of goals 100%, I think they are important in any kind of personal growth. But they need to be realistic goals for where you're at right now. For someone who rarely exercises, going for a walk 4 times a week is a perfectly worthy goal. But for someone else, training for a marathon might be the drive they need to push through to their next level. 

What did work for me

Allowing other people to be a part of the journey. 
For a long time I was scared to tell people what I was aiming for, what I was hoping to be able to achieve... Because if I failed (which I inevitably thought I would), it would be less exposing if I could quietly release my goal out the back door and not have to admit I couldn't do it. But as I've learned to trust people and share with them my goals and struggles, I've found that friends are a surprising source of strength, motivation and accountability. So if you're reading this... Asia, thank you for basically reteaching me everything and changing my life. Amber thank you for running with me, Tegan thank you for organising hiking trips, Sarah thank you for sharing your own journey with me. Raisa thank you for being a strong outdoors champion who I am secretly way more inspired by than you know, Lauren thank you for late night gym trips at uni and frosty morning runs. Jacqueline thank you for biking at 6 30 in the morning consistently with me, dad thank you for being someone who doesn't let age or winter stop you from having big goals and actually doing them... And many many other people who have allowed me to lean on them to get stronger. 

Revamping my Facebook Newsfeed. 
This sounds like a small thing, but actually makes a big difference. I used to have all sorts of food pages, movie suggestions, dumb pointless ads and people whose lifestyles I wasn't aiming to follow but would post regularly about what they were doing. Over a period of a few months I slowly unfollowed people whose posts didn't help me and began liking pages such as Outdoor Womens Alliance, Canadian Running Magazine, Vegan Community and other such topics. This means that when I scroll through Facebook I am bombarded with messages of motivation, health and the stories of other people who inspire me to be more active, healthy and intentional. 

I stopped assuming exercise and good nutrition would just happen. 
Prior to the last year, I never considered exercise or food to be something I had to plan. It would somehow naturally happen in all that spare time I didn't have with all of the extra motivation and energy I also didn't have.... right?  No. If I don't plan and prioritize being active, there is no way it will happen. So now every Friday I go through my next weeks calendar and schedule in runs, gym times, swimming, biking with a friend...   I sit down and design gym workouts that will target different muscle groups and make the most of the time I have there. I also find healthy recipes and schedule time each week to cook some big meals to freeze in portion sizes, because I no longer consider toast a decent lunch, even if I don't have much time. 

I started pursuing consistency over perfection
Yes there are days where I stay home and watch a movie with my friends rather than go on the 5km run I planned for the evening. And yes there are days when I eat cheese and choose fries over salad. But I no longer consider those things to be a failure, and therefore I no longer feel like my whole week has gone to waste. Now rather than looking at one meal or one day as a marker for success or failure, I try to look at the whole week or month and see the themes and patterns that are happening... As long as I am still moving in the right direction overall, then the little things can be embraced as part of the whole journey of becoming a person who is more gracious, accepting, happy and whole. 

There is so so much more I could write on this topic, but if you read this and are also struggling to make progress in your health journey I would love to talk with you about it, because going it alone is definitely the hardest route there is!

There is a long way that I have come, but I still consider myself hiking through the foothills of this mountain I'm planning on climbing... I have lots more goals, different sports I want to try, people I want to learn from and areas that my confidence still has lots of room to grow in. But I'm also content, who I am and where I am right now with health and fitness is a win, I'm thankful to God and to my people for doing this with me!

Sending love to the frontlines

"I think I'll create this person to live a relatively safe and boring life, attending a job everyday that they feel no purpose or enjoyment for, whilst having mostly average relationships with a small amount of peole who happen to be very similar to them".... Said God about nobody ever in the history of the human race.

I feel like I'm at a significant tipping point in my life that everyone experiences at some point, often in their mid to late twenties. When you're young,everybody wants to change the world. Everybody has big dreams. Kids will naturally believe their life is for something important,  from curing cancer to exploring Mars to being batman for real. As we get older these dreams are often refined slightly, but the adrenaline, naivety and feeling of invincibility that youth possess keeps them in the zone of passionate dreaming.

And then you graduate high school,  maybe get a degree, find a job... and suddenly you stumble onto this vulnerable tipping zone between changing the world and settling down. [Disclaimer] By settling down I don't mean getting married, buying a house and having kids.
No, I mean a settling down of the soul.
When it's too much effort to get fired up about something enough to ask questions and do research. When you thought about being a part of something but it was easier to stay home and watch Netflix. When the things you used to want are now often dismissed as unrealistic or idealistic.

Friend, I beg you, don't waste your life! We are made to invest, create, fight for something, feel deeply about injustice... There is something that you, with your unique combination of personality,  skills, resources and perspectives are able to offer to the world. Nobody else can sub in for you on that one. God doesn't make back up humans in case the first ones would rather take it easy!

I understand the hesitation people have, feeling like they don't really know what they are passionate about, or feel like it's too big of a dream to know how to start... so here are some small steps that can help ignite something in you that will start burning.

• Write a list of the things that you see in the world that make you feel uneasy, sad, frustrated or want to throw and break things. For me, a few of those were Fair trade injustices, human trafficking,  the foster care system, urban poverty,  christian apathy, youth suicide and non sustainable use of resources.... this is just a tiny example though, there are so so many things worth going after out there! 
• Research and get educated about one of the things you wrote down. For some that might look like watching a documentary and reading stuff online, for others it might mean basing a whole degree around that.
• Spend time with people who are passionate... it doesn't have to neccesarily be about the same thing you have in mind,  but I've found that being around people who have vision, drive and action causes those same things to rise up in me
• And finally,  do SOMETHING. Anything that is even vaguely related to something you're passionate about.You can reshape and refine the direction of it later, but you can't steer something until it's moving. For me, my dream is to help tear down and recontruct the complex global systems that allow poverty and injustice to persist.  Now I can't wake up one morning and get cracking on that without being paralyzed by how overwhelmingly huge that mission is. So I'm starting somewhere. I'm moving into the "ghetto" of the inner city in Vancouver for a year to listen to the stories of those who have been oppressed and marginalized and to better understand the layers and systems that contribute to generational western poverty.  You don't have to move across the world, you can join a local action group, start conversations to raise awareness, sponsor a child, talk to people affected by a certain issue, volunteer,  learn.... the opportunities are endless! 

"There are those who will say yes, and there are those who prefer to say no. Those who say yes, are rewarded by the adventures they have and those who say no are rewarded with the safety they attain" - Keith Johnson

Soul Oxidants

"The Lord is my shepherd,  I have everything I need. He leads me beside still waters and let's me rest in green meadows. He restores my soul."
Psalm 23

During my time here in the States I have been living and spending time with people who have an amazing understanding of health, nutrition,  exercise and how to make your body function at its best... they have taught me about a phenomenon called oxidation that occurs in the body (hang in with me, it's a little science for you but it's worth it)

Everyday the things we do such as exercise, talking, breathing dirty air, eating certain foods, even breathing and simply being alive.... causes free radicals to be released in your body. It sounds like a wild hippy, but is actually atoms with unbonded electrons that are produced through chemical reactions with oxygen in your cells. These free radicals are constantly bombarding your tissues like tiny bullets tens of thousands of times a day, and begin to cause damage. This process is what causes DNA  damage, early aging, and can lead to diseases such as arthritis, heart disease and cancer.

Thankfully we have a wonderfully designed protection system in the form of antioxidants! For those of you who think you can only find these in homemade green tea, think again, all fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants!  An antioxidant is a molecule that is able to bind to those nasty free radical electrons so it doesn't cause damage to your tissues. Think of the spinach as taking the bullet for your heart cells!
You can't avoid free radicals,  but you can ensure that your diet is rich in foods full of antioxidants and prevent as much damage as possible... shameless plug for the superheroes of the food pyramid, fruits and veggies!

Anyway, it got me thinking about how being alive brings you face to face with what I've called soul oxidants, the free radicals of the heart. For sure there are big things that launch an attack on our heart, tragedy and unexpected loss, wars and poverty and losing that which is important to you...
But there are also the small things that you may not notice always that are causing damage to the deep parts of you, your soul. The pressure to perform and produce at work, the effort it takes to be happy when you don't feel it. Angry drivers, delayed test results, disconnection with those you love most. Finances that seem to always be a little under, having friends who are hurting,  when you actually care about climate change but think you're the only one, winter days that never let the sun through.... Just being alive in a broken and hurting world exposes your soul to these damaging oxidants.

And parallel to the physical, we need an antioxidant of the soul.  While I've been here, almost everyday I've been for a walk to pray. No music, no cellphone, no distractions... I just walk and invite Jesus to walk with me, and we talk through the day, about people that are important to me. We talk about politics and wars and how I want to get better at push ups... about my friends who don't have a relationship with Him yet, about money and work and community. And I listen, this is something I'm trying to get better at since I have a tendency to talk too much and not give Him a chance to speak!  
But this time has been the richest source of soul oxidant, a healing,  daily balm that means all those other things don't damage my soul. Yes they're still there and I cannot avoid them, but when I spend time with my Father, He already absorbed all of that brokenness and damage when He died on the cross, so I am able to replace the weariness of the world with the lightness of His Spirit! Like the words of King David in Psalm 23, He restores my soul!

What's really happening in Syria??!

Every day we are being bombarded with headlines and heartbreaking images of the conflict in Syria...and media information about the crisis is often so confusing or biased that it's easy to give up trying to understand. 

When the Rwandan Genocide finally came to an end, the world asked 'How did we not know this was happening? '... and I fear that the same will be true for Syria. 

So, based on a number of sources, I have compiled a brief history of Syria,  the events leading to this civil war and how it has unfolded over the past 6 years. And I finish with some ways that you can engage with these events as a global citizen and make a difference for those affected by the conflict. 
This will be a slightly longer post than usual,  but I encourage you to hang in there with me, this is important stuff, and we absolutely need to be aware of what's really happening.



The original Syrian civilisation is one of the worlds most ancient, situated on the Fertile Crescent,  it was home to some of the first agriculture practices. In fact, Ebla, a city excavated in Syria is thought to be as old as 3000 BC and contained one of the oldest written languages in the world.

Over time it was conquered by many ancient empires,  and gained it's name Syria from Alexander the Great, derived from its older name Assyria  (yes, this is the Assyrians spoken of in the bible ). It was later captured by the Romans and several hundred years after the decline of the Roman Empire,  Syria was conquered by Muslim Arabs,  bringing it's power under the Islamic Empire.

The land was in constant turmoil and chaos for hundreds of years, thrown between several people power groups until the Ottoman Empire conquered the land in 1516 and it experienced a relatively peaceful period until 1918.

At the end of WW1 secret empire divisions led to Syria being under French control in 1920, leading to revolts,  protests and unsuccessful treaties. By 1946 Syria was oficially independent but had a very unstable government. The power of the country was mostly in its military rather than in its presidency.

During the 1940s  Syria became involved in the Arab-Israeli  war, sparking 3 coup d'etats. In 1970 a bloodless coup ushered a new era for the Syrian people with president Hafez al-Assad taking power, later to be succeeded in 2000 by his brother Bashar al-Assad. This family was to be in power during the current civil war and played a big part in the deep division within the country.

Still with me? This brings us up to speed with the last 5000 years or so, from here it will be about this most recent civil war, but it is important to see the current conflict against its ancient context of power struggle, conquests and division. 

In 2011, Syria, inspired by peaceful protests that brought about governmental change in Egypt, began similar protests against the dictatorship of Assad. The war is thought to have started in March 2011 when teenagers who had painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall were arrested and allegedly tortured. This sparked demonstrations during which government security opened fire, killing several demonstrators. This triggered national uprisings demanding the resignation of President Assad, and the government unfortunately responded with violence, hardening the protestors resolve.

As violence escalated, the country descended into civil war, rebel brigades battling government forces for the control of cities,reaching capital Damascus and large city Aleppo in 2012. By August 2015 the death toll is thought to be around 250,000 people.

However the conflict has become more than those for or against Mr Assad as religious sects have become a significant aspect. The Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alawite sect and then further complicated by the rise of ISIS.

It is important to understand that there is no good or bad side to this war. All parties have evidence against them for  murder, rape, dissappearances,  torture and using civilian suffering as a war tool (eg, blocking access to food, water and health care).
Since the start of the war 4.5 million refugees have fled, rowing across oceans, walking hundreds of miles or risking their lives with corrupt people smugglers. Friends, that is the entire population of New Zealand needing to leave and most having nowhere to go and no one to help. This is the largest refugee exodus in recent history.... not even taking into account the further 6.5 million internally displaced people within the country.

The picture seems very bleak for the Syrians, but we cannot afford to become overwhelmed and drop the issue. We are a global world now and living in a different country does not give us the luxury of being uninvolved. 
I've compiled a list of 6 things that almost everyone can do to be a part of the solution...

1)  PRAY. Yes, sometimes it's hard to know what to pray when the problem seems so big but remember that God is still bigger and He has promised that when His people would humble themselves and pray He would hear our prayers and heal our land...

2)  Welcome refugees in the cities and countries you live in. I know Dunedin, where I am based has received 40 refugees last year, kids who ae now going to school, parents needing to learn English.... become involved in their lives if you have the opportunity,  make them feel like they have a home here.

3)  Donate money to one of the many organizations that have people on the ground in Syria directly affecting the lives of citizens and refugees there. Some of these for New Zealand include World Vision, Amnesty International and UNICEF. Even $5 makes a difference when someone is hungry, sick or needing to escape.

4 )  Read beyond the headlines. This has been a frustrating thing for me to see a headline saying words like "Hundreds being massacred in Eastern Aleppo" tucked between a photo of a friends Hawaii holiday and an advertisement for car insurance on Facebook.  Headlines are like pickup lines, you can't base your relationship on them... take the time to look a little deeper.

5)  Start conversations about the civil war. I realise it's not exactly fun dinner conversation but it's incredibly important. I've realised most people are under the impression the war started last year and that everyone is bombing everyone else.... if you know a little more than that, start conversation to raise awareness about the events.

6)  And finally, support your Middle Eastern friends. Even though they may not be personally affected by the war, many will be experiencing a deep sense of unrest and grief about what is happening in Syria. Ask questions about their thoughts on it all, be aware that Westerners can make ignorant and hurtful comments about events such as this without thinking who is in the room.... look out for your friends

Breaking News?

How do I keep up with the news without losing my mind?



That was my question today as I tried without much success to understand what is actually happening in Syria and what the political debates in the US are about beyond the insults, slander and dragging up old ghosts.
And it led me to start thinking about the whole system of news and media that we have found ourselves navigating without a lot of guidance.

Let me start with a disclaimer: I believe it is of huge importance to have an up to date understanding of significant world events happening in our nation and around the world. As a human, I cannot separate my existence from things such as civil war, climate change and poverty. And as a christian, I don't think I am walking in the way of love if I am unaware or apathetic about the suffering of people around the world. All this to say that I am in no way suggesting people shouldn't try to stay up to date with global news. Rather, I am questioning the nature, delivery and receiving of media.

When I get to work in the morning and open my internet browser, the system is set so that a news website is the homepage and before I even have a chance to start doing some work, I have to either ignore or navigate a dozen headlines all claiming to be 'Breaking News' that is worthy of being read Right Now.
I'm not concerned about having a news website as my homepage, there is definitely worse things that could come up. But what I am concerned about is that on this particular site, all the headlines get the same priority and significance. The brutal, incessant and accelerating civil war in Syria was given the same space and priority as "12 child celebrities you would never believe look so good as adults". There are certain things that I simply should not know about. For example, I have never met Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, we're certainly not friends and I should not be able to read their divorce file. But I can.
In the words of Rob Bell, celebrity media is a "multi billion dollar industry designed to recreate the high school experience". There are cool kids and popular groups and bullies and all of the craziness that we're supposedly leaving behind at graduation but I'm still, in my mid twenties, trying to avoid it.

The other aspect of news that I'm struggling with right now is the timing (or lack thereof) and rhythm of it all.
In the natural world, everything has a rhythm, a cycle, a pattern to it. The seasons are predictably beautiful every year, the water gets from alpine springs to ocean to sky in the same way again and again. Birds, bison and bull sharks migrate in the same direction every year, and even our human bodies have sleep cycles, menstrual cycles and digestive cycles. I cannot think of a single natural system that does not operate in a rhythmic way of being. My conclusion from this is that there must be some wisdom in it. It works.

News on the other hand, no longer has any rhythm or cycle or predictable pattern to it. Gone are the days of the morning paper and evening news, now there is breaking news every 15 minutes, you can know about Taylor Swifts breakup before her boyfriend does and it just NEVER STOPS.
Which is fine if you don't access it, but now push notifications mean that I can go for a run along the harbor at sunset and not miss out on the drunken antics of the All Blacks after their latest game.

There is so much coming in, all the time. It's complicated, unrelated, loud and for the most part entirely irrelevant to our lives and what we consider to be important. There is no rhythm, rest or pattern. Is it any wonder that we have ever increasing rates of anxiety, attention deficit disorders and stress related illnesses?

This post doesn't even touch on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and similar social tools, but the same principles apply for all of those and it's effects are magnified, the more points of access into this world someone has.

The overall message of this is hopeful, because even though there is endless noise and chaos you can access at any time (not even the toilet is safe from this stuff anymore)... You don't have to let it in.
You are the curator of your own mind. You choose what comes into your brain and you choose what is important, relevant and significant for the kind of life you want to lead.
If you would rather not have your family time interrupted by the breaking news that Auckland got ten minutes of hail, that's up to you.

Friends, be aware of what is coming into your mind. There is limited capacity for concentration, ideas, creativity and connection... Use it on the things that are important to you.

Relationships 101: Welcome to the School of the Top 40

Relationship 101: School of the Top 40

Recently I have been doing some work with a community youth support service and met some incredible young people who are charging into adulthood where they will take their place as the parents, teachers, counsellors and leaders of the next generation.

But something I’ve noticed is how much these young people listen to music… all day every day they are listening to, singing out loud, reading and absorbing the lyrics in the popular singles that are topping the charts.

As youth navigating in an adult world, they are learning how to relate to other people, how to communicate needs and desires, how to treat a woman and what it looks like to be in a relationship… And for many of these kids, none of the adults in their personal life are having these conversations with them. So naturally, they will learn these skills from the other adults in their world who are willing to share their wisdom… namely, Rihanna, Drake, Ariana Grande and Pink.

Based on a brief scan of the current Top 40, here’s some of the lyrics that are a part of shaping the relational understanding of our youth.

Warning: Some of this content is disturbing, racist and violent

 

“I torture you
Take my hand through the flames
I torture you
I'm a slave to your games
I'm just a sucker for pain
I wanna chain you up
I wanna tie you down
I'm just a sucker for pain”

 

“She from Africa but she fucks me like she Haitian
Ass black, but them eyes looking Asian
I gave her the can in Kansas
I got it on tape, she on candid camera
OKC I forgot we met in Oklahoma
I use to smoke Regina, she from Arizona
Then I met a girl in Cali I never disowned her
She got that high grade
Her weave come with diplomas, I want her”

“I don't need eyes to see
I felt you touchin' me
High like amphetamine
Maybe you're just a dream
That's what it means to crush
Now that I'm wakin' up
I still feel the blow
But at least now I know

It wasn't love, it wasn't love
It was a perfect illusion
Mistaken for love, it wasn't love
It was a perfect illusion”

“We go fast with the game we play
Who knows why it's gotta be this way?
We say nothing more than we need
I say "your place" when we leave”

“I go on and on
Can't understand how I last so long
I must have the superpowers
Last 223 thousand hours
It's cause I'm off of CC
And I'm off the Hennessy
And like your boy from Compton said
You know this dick ain't free!
I got girls that I shoulda made pay for it
Got girls that I shoulda made wait for it
Got girls that'll cancel a flight back home
Stay another day for it”

“I'm talkin' to ya
See you standing over there with your body
Feeling like I wanna rock with your body
And we don't gotta think 'bout nothin'
I'm comin' at ya
'Cause I know you got a bad reputation
Doesn't matter, 'cause you give me temptation
And we don't gotta think 'bout nothin'”

 

“Something don't feel right
Because it ain't right
Especially comin' up after midnight
I smell your secret, and I'm not too perfect
To ever feel this worthless
How did it come down to this?
Scrolling through your call list
I don't wanna lose my pride, but I'm a fuck me up a bitch
Know that I kept it sexy, and know I kept it fun
There's something that I'm missing, maybe my head for one

What's worse, lookin' jealous or crazy, jealous or crazy?
Or like being walked all over lately, walked all over lately
I'd rather be crazy”

 

Thanks to our Top 40, now you can get an education in relationships for free. The message coming through loud and clear is that relationships are about sex primarily and that jealousy and insecurity are attractive. They are learning about how the mind and emotions don’t matter as long as your body is available and that nothing is meant to last very long, as soon as a relationship requires work then walk away and find the next thrill.

If you are an adult with young people in your world, youth that you care about, that you want to see in healthy respectful relationships where they are empowered and shown they have worth…

Then please have the courage to start conversations about boundaries and respect and love. Don’t allow Drake and Ariana to be your teenagers teacher when it comes to the important stuff.

#Blessed?

Many times it's been explained to me that I'm blessed to be born in a free country, to have a job, to always have enough food.
Tag lines like Blessed to be a Blessing, Be thankful for how blessed you are to grow up like this occasionally resurface like old records.
I agree with this, but there is something missing.

If I was born into a war torn nation, or grew up not eating three meals a day... am I no longer blessed?
Why is the blessing of God measured suspiciously similar to GDP and the decile system sometimes?

When I was thinking about all this, I did a Facebook search for #blessed....   Without fail, everything that came up related to having healthy and loving families, holidays to beautiful places, getting promoted, being sickness and injury free and celebrating good times...

But then, I can't help noticing that Jesus' version of #blessed from Matthew 5 has a slightly different flavour of the month.
Blessed are the poor
Blessed are those who mourn
Blessed are the humble
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are the pure of heart
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are those who are persecuted for their righteousness

Jesus has always been radically counter cultural to the ways of the empire. If His people can look beyond happiness, opportunity and wealth as proof of living a blessed life, we might encounter the deep mysterious wonder of the gospel in a way that we never could living in the fast lane of #blessed.