Tonight was Arti Gras at the middle school. L had several pieces entered in the art show. She won Best in Show for her ceramic owl (note - there were a number of Best in Show for each grade, but it didn't seem like they gave one for each project. Anyway, she was one of several 6th graders to win a Best in Show). Her owl wasn't a usual owl, though. The project was to make a ceramic bird with wire legs. Not only did they have to sculpt the bird part, but they had to make it stand up on the wire legs and then paint it. L's was lovely. She had several other very nice pieces shown - an Egyptian pharoah relief (it was supposed to be copper, but they actually used aluminum), a stamped piece with the stamp made from corrugated cardboard, and several others that are hard to describe. They had Mardi Gras masks that the kids could decorate. Some high school students were making plaster masks of the kids faces (they put aluminum foil on their face first) and the kids painted them after they dried. There was a table with circles that the kids could draw on and then have it made into a button. Overall, it was a really fun evening. Then, P and the kids (L has a friend over) walked to Subway to pick up dinner.

Here's a funny (in a political sense) retelling of an old fable (I got this off another forum):
CLASSIC VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summerlong, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate are cold and starving. CBS, NBC and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit, the Frog, appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house,where the news stations film the group singing "We shall overcome."Al Gore exclaims in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share".

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity andAnti-Grasshopper Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to payhis retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken overby a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

Book Review: The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.

This is a short little book consisting of the letters and other writings of a monk in the Middle Ages. This monk was actually a cook. I am glad I read it, but it certainly isn't on my list of books that everyone should read. I have two positive comments and one negative comment about the book.

1. Brother Lawrence stresses the need for contentment. He was a kitchen worker in a medieval monastery - not exactly an aristocrat - but this did not bother him. He makes a compelling case for putting all your effort into the position in life where God places you. He was certainly not from the "name it and claim it" theological camp!

2. Brother Lawrence encourages his readers to commit themselves to holiness. That is, he tells his readers to be aware of sin creeping into their lives. Once a person has realized their sin, the person must confess to God immediately and accept his forgiveness. Brother Lawrence does not, though, encourage wallowing in our sinfulness or use this as an excuse to give up our pursuit of godliness. Instead, he tells us to accept God's forgiveness and move on. It is a very emotionally and spiritually appropriate way to deal with sin.

3. My main concern with this book is that Brother Lawrence's practicing the presence of God is rather mystical and seems to almost involve emotional manipulation (of his own emotions). He suggests things that we can do to feel God more closely in our lives. While I believe that God created us with emotions and works through them at time, we have to remember that our emotions cannot be used as a spiritual barometer. Whether or not I feel that God is with me, the fact remains that God is right with me. Scripture is very clear about this. Many of Brother Lawrence's suggestions are realistic and make sense to help us keep our minds on things of God, but we have to avoid getting caught up in "feeling" more spiritual or godly.


On the Sonlight forums, I came across this really funny video. You should check it out. If you aren't rolling on the floor laughing, you need to loosen up. This is hysterical.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfrqAqShfQ

I will end my missive tonight with one of my favorite verses (which came out of my reading from this morning): 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.