Hiccups
I have had the hiccups for about thirty days now and needless to say I am tired of having them.
The thing about hiccups is that there is little I can do to remedy the situation other than follow some wife's tales which generally involve me choked on water or consuming large amounts of peanut butter. Neither of options are really helpful to help with the hiccups that interrupt life.
Perhaps you too have had the hiccups for an extended period of time? Perhaps you too have felt like there are a number of things that are going on that keep you from breathing as you normally do.
The thing about hiccups is that there is little I can do to remedy the situation other than follow some wife's tales which generally involve me choked on water or consuming large amounts of peanut butter. Neither of options are really helpful to help with the hiccups that interrupt life.
Hiccups keep me from writing. When I am not writing then I get distracted. When I am distracted I feel stressed. When I am stressed my chest is restricted and when that happens I get the hiccups.
All I can do it wait and hope for the breath to come again to restore the rhythm I so desperately seek after.
UPDATE* - I received a number of comments about actually having the chest spasms we call the hiccups. Just to be a bit clear, I never had these hiccups. I was too coy with my metaphor I suppose and it lead to believing that I have been plagued with a month worths of spasms. I am talking about feeling like distractions and interruptions are a regular thing the past month and I am ready for this phase to pass.
To those who gave me a good word on my medical condition, thank you. I know in the future I will be well taken care of in the event of chronic chest spams.
UPDATE* - I received a number of comments about actually having the chest spasms we call the hiccups. Just to be a bit clear, I never had these hiccups. I was too coy with my metaphor I suppose and it lead to believing that I have been plagued with a month worths of spasms. I am talking about feeling like distractions and interruptions are a regular thing the past month and I am ready for this phase to pass.
To those who gave me a good word on my medical condition, thank you. I know in the future I will be well taken care of in the event of chronic chest spams.
Christianity as a journey - not for me
There is this interesting paradox in the way many of us understand the Christian tradition. We have been taught that to be Christian is to have a set of responses to questions. So to be Christian means to believe a set of criteria and if you do not believe these criteria then you are not Christian.
When though of this way, religion is nothing more than a contract one takes with a immature understanding of God. If we assent or believe in X, Y and/or Z then we will get A, B, and/or C. It is a forward way to live life but it is not a life that I find worthwhile.
Some people talk about religion as a journey. This seems to be a little better and far more common way to talk about religion. I have always had a difficult time with this image as a primary understanding to discuss religion because journeys are generally spoken of as having a destination. Few go on a journey without being prepared or having a destination in mind. Like the contact image above, the journey image works for people but it is an image that I find lacking in too many ways to make it my primary image for understanding Christianity.
Rather, I tend to think of religion as a search. To take a quote from John Caputo on this podcast, "When you are searching for something that you are at a loss for what you are looking for the search more earnest and radical."
We say we know what God is and what God is like. We say we know what we are looking for as if we would know it once/if we saw it. Frankly, I just am not sure if I could spot God as easily as I can spot my car keys tucked in the couch.
I continue to search and search, hoping to one day discover what I have been searching for. But until that day, of if that day never comes, I delight in the search.
When though of this way, religion is nothing more than a contract one takes with a immature understanding of God. If we assent or believe in X, Y and/or Z then we will get A, B, and/or C. It is a forward way to live life but it is not a life that I find worthwhile.
Some people talk about religion as a journey. This seems to be a little better and far more common way to talk about religion. I have always had a difficult time with this image as a primary understanding to discuss religion because journeys are generally spoken of as having a destination. Few go on a journey without being prepared or having a destination in mind. Like the contact image above, the journey image works for people but it is an image that I find lacking in too many ways to make it my primary image for understanding Christianity.
Rather, I tend to think of religion as a search. To take a quote from John Caputo on this podcast, "When you are searching for something that you are at a loss for what you are looking for the search more earnest and radical."
We say we know what God is and what God is like. We say we know what we are looking for as if we would know it once/if we saw it. Frankly, I just am not sure if I could spot God as easily as I can spot my car keys tucked in the couch.I continue to search and search, hoping to one day discover what I have been searching for. But until that day, of if that day never comes, I delight in the search.
Fetal cells, the Church and Christ
Recently I listened to a podcast from RadioLabs that
addressed the fact that a mother will carry in her body cells of the children
she bore for several decades. That is to say that a mother will carry within
her body foreign cells in which her antibodies do not attack.
And the thing is, we are not sure why these cells remain in
the mother’s body at all.
RadioLabs goes on to speak with researchers in this area and
the complexity of why these cells are there and what they actually do to the
mother’s body I will leave for you to hear from the source.
What came into my head was a question – If you give birth to
an idea or a cause, then will there always be your “cells” roaming around the
idea/cause even after you have jettison? And if so, then how long can your “cells”
remain in that idea/cause?
How long are the “cells” of the church able to move through
the body of Christ?
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.