Matthew, Milk, Luck, and John
Today's Gospel reading was from the sixth chapter of Matthew verses 25-34, and once again Father Aidan gave an amazing homily. I know I've often gotten warm fuzzies from the passage, what with it's lovely talk about the lilies of the field and birds of the air. Yet, tucked away between those images, the command to not worry often gets neglected. Father Aidan began by saying things I'd heard before. Worry is a sin. Other sins like lust, gluttony, pride, or avarice require little trickery on the devil's part to get us to fall into them. After all, they're pleasurable sins (in a certain sense of the word). Yet, worry brings nothing but headaches and ulcers. There's nothing really appealing about it in and of itself. So, the devil's got his hands full convincing us that worry is the "responsible" thing to do, the "loving" thing to do, or the just plain "normal" thing to do. Yet, then he threw out his typical curve ball and caught me unaware. It seems that anxious thoughts just sort of well up within us, and these thoughts themselves aren't sinful. It's what you do with these thoughts that matters. You can chew them over, imagine every conceivable outcome, and stay awake at night because of them -- in other words, worry. Or, you can turn them into an opportunity for prayer. I had always thought the anxious thoughts themselves were sinful. But Father Aidan says, "not so." According to the Fathers, this is what watchfulness is all about. It's an attitude of being where we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. In a sense, we're not responsible for our thoughts, only what we do with them. Do we keep mulling them over, entertaining them, giving them room in our imaginations and fears? Or, do we let the ungodly ones pass, roll off our backs like tiny drops of water, and disappear from our consciousness through offering them to God? I've safely tucked away the new tidbit of understanding I received this morning about the passage, and I hope I remember to use anxious thoughts as an opportunity for prayer in the future.
This morning, Gayla told me about a local dairy farmer who serves up organic raw milk, butter, cream, and cheeses. For a mere $5/gallon (what I already pay for pasteurized, organic milk from a farm about 100 miles east of here), he delivers to a hostess every two weeks in Cedar Park. I pay the hostess the cost of the dairy products plus $1 for taking my order and delivery, and I get whatever raw milk, butter, cream, and cheeses I want. I'm so psyched! Until now, the closest dairy farm I'd found that served up raw cow's milk was in Brenham at Sand Creek Farms. And, although I have friends who value raw milk enough to make the weekly 4 hour round-trip drive to Brenham and are willing to pay $7/gallon for the milk, I could never justify spending the money or gas when I can pick up really good, sweet, local, organic milk from the nearest Whole Foods for $5/gallon. Although I agree that raw milk is a thousand times healthier for you, more easily digested, etc., I just couldn't bring myself to shoulder the extra cost. Now, I apparently don't have to. For the same drive, cost, and time that I currently invest in getting decent milk, I will get the very best quality raw milk available. The next milk delivery is this Wednesday, but I don't know if I'm too late yet to place an order for this Wednesday's delivery. I'll find out tomorrow. I'd love it if I could get my hands on this stuff Wednesday, but I guess if I've waited my whole life, an extra two weeks of waiting won't hurt anything.
I was also invited to begin attending a group for Orthodox homeschooling mommas that meets the first Friday of every month. I hope to go this Friday, but may not be able to depending on Gayla (my ride) and Steve's commitments at PPD. Isaac's almost two, and although homeschooling him will be a few years away, I'm eager to see how other moms do it so I can get a clearer picture of the ins and outs of how it's done. Right now, it's just a romantic notion in my mind. But, I think that spending time with these mothers (some of whom have been successfully homeschooling for decades), I'll get a more realistic idea of what's involved. And, in the meantime, it's an opportunity to be social with other Orthodox mothers, and Isaac will have a ready-made playmate in Andrew, Caryn MacDonald's second youngest little one.
So, while I don't know that I'd call these two discoveries "luck," they're certainly a happy hand of providence and I'm glad they both arrived in my life this morning at church.
I only have thirty more minutes left to celebrate my Nameday, a day which has become more dear to me than my own Birthday. Forty years ago today, St. John Maximovitch the Wonderworker of San Francisco and Shanghai reposed in the Lord. To celebrate the day, I allowed us to spend a whopping $10 on lunch at church as opposed to dining for free at home, offered a special prayer to him, and re-read the first (and briefest) account of his life I've ever read. If I had more money, I would have bought a bundle of icon cards of him to pass out to folks at church. Perhaps next year will be the year for that.
O Happy Day.
This morning, Gayla told me about a local dairy farmer who serves up organic raw milk, butter, cream, and cheeses. For a mere $5/gallon (what I already pay for pasteurized, organic milk from a farm about 100 miles east of here), he delivers to a hostess every two weeks in Cedar Park. I pay the hostess the cost of the dairy products plus $1 for taking my order and delivery, and I get whatever raw milk, butter, cream, and cheeses I want. I'm so psyched! Until now, the closest dairy farm I'd found that served up raw cow's milk was in Brenham at Sand Creek Farms. And, although I have friends who value raw milk enough to make the weekly 4 hour round-trip drive to Brenham and are willing to pay $7/gallon for the milk, I could never justify spending the money or gas when I can pick up really good, sweet, local, organic milk from the nearest Whole Foods for $5/gallon. Although I agree that raw milk is a thousand times healthier for you, more easily digested, etc., I just couldn't bring myself to shoulder the extra cost. Now, I apparently don't have to. For the same drive, cost, and time that I currently invest in getting decent milk, I will get the very best quality raw milk available. The next milk delivery is this Wednesday, but I don't know if I'm too late yet to place an order for this Wednesday's delivery. I'll find out tomorrow. I'd love it if I could get my hands on this stuff Wednesday, but I guess if I've waited my whole life, an extra two weeks of waiting won't hurt anything.
I was also invited to begin attending a group for Orthodox homeschooling mommas that meets the first Friday of every month. I hope to go this Friday, but may not be able to depending on Gayla (my ride) and Steve's commitments at PPD. Isaac's almost two, and although homeschooling him will be a few years away, I'm eager to see how other moms do it so I can get a clearer picture of the ins and outs of how it's done. Right now, it's just a romantic notion in my mind. But, I think that spending time with these mothers (some of whom have been successfully homeschooling for decades), I'll get a more realistic idea of what's involved. And, in the meantime, it's an opportunity to be social with other Orthodox mothers, and Isaac will have a ready-made playmate in Andrew, Caryn MacDonald's second youngest little one.
So, while I don't know that I'd call these two discoveries "luck," they're certainly a happy hand of providence and I'm glad they both arrived in my life this morning at church.
I only have thirty more minutes left to celebrate my Nameday, a day which has become more dear to me than my own Birthday. Forty years ago today, St. John Maximovitch the Wonderworker of San Francisco and Shanghai reposed in the Lord. To celebrate the day, I allowed us to spend a whopping $10 on lunch at church as opposed to dining for free at home, offered a special prayer to him, and re-read the first (and briefest) account of his life I've ever read. If I had more money, I would have bought a bundle of icon cards of him to pass out to folks at church. Perhaps next year will be the year for that.
O Happy Day.