Hello again.

I haven't posted in a while because honestly, since the earthquake in Haiti, I haven't felt like there was much in my life that merited any of your time. I've been mentally absorbed with this tragedy probably more than I would have been, sadly, if something our pastor said a few weeks ago hadn't been repeating itself in my head.

He was, I think, on some sort of rabbit trail talking about slavery and he said that everyone nowadays thinks that if we had lived in the early 19th century, we would have all been abolitionists. But--and this was the kicker--he said that if we don't care about the slavery that's still taking place in the world today, we probably wouldn't have cared about it then.

Ouch. OUCH! I seriously have thought about that every single day since then. How do I even care for the poor and the needy right next door, much less the literal slave that still in bondage who lives as close to America as Haiti? And then the earthquake hit. And then I started thinking how easily I feel a moment of detached sadness for the suffering Haitian people on the news, and then go back to caring about the most trivial, worthless things, like making sure Tony got some me chocolate when he went on a diaper run.

This struggle to care has been going on since the Tuesday of the earthquake. I just started Twitter (Twittering? Tweeting? Twittererering?) about two weeks ago, and every day I have to force myself not to skim over the posts about Haiti in order to get onto the funny stuff. It sickens me that there's still such a big part of me that wants to be entertained instead of convicted.

So this is a post with a new label: confession. It's been nagging at my spirit for a while now that I never take the time to write about the things the Lord is teaching me, the stuff He's refining in me, the adventure to which He's calling me. Instead I have concerned myself with entertaining. Don't misunderstand me: there will still be kid pictures (see above) and funny stories (because my daughter facilitates them soooo easily), enough hyphenation to cross your eyes and mayhap a boring no-picture recipe or two, but there's more to my life than that, and I want to honor the God who's doing the good stuff in me.

Here's one thing I want to leave you with that hit me between the eyes today, and definitely prompted this little Rachel-revelation that's been stewing for a bit:

"A man has no right to be called faithful,
if his faith is a bare word and if he has not
in him a faith made active by love or the Spirit." - St. Gregory

I'm still a little knocked out by it, and, honestly, I hope to be for a while to come.