Cultural Divide

Today, I visited the Anglican church in our town. It's a small church with dwindling numbers, mostly older folks who attend regularly. There are a couple of other families there, and I've made friends with the mom of one of them (I'll call her Sara). I finally saw her this week after a couple of months of no contact, and we were catching up with each other's lives after church. And the end of our conversation, she whispered to me that she had a job at a hotel nearby, and not to tell anyone at church. Only her mom and I know, Sara said. When I asked her why, she said it was a serving job (presumably cleaning rooms) and it was only part time, but her family needed the money. I told her that there is no dishonor in caring for your family, and sometimes you have to take the jobs that are not beautiful to do so. She smiled and told me to come visit her later this week when she's off, which I will.

This is a cultural divide that I don't think I'll ever get accustomed to. Here, things on the outside are SO important. Way more than in the USA. Women go out dressed to the nines, even if they're just walking down the main street to do grocery shopping. Hair is always styled, make up is a must. You never talk about the bad stuff going on in your life, especially marital strife, lest word gets around town. Gossip is rampant. And for someone in our church (which is composed mostly of middle upper class locals), taking a job as a maid in a hotel is shameful. It makes me sad, that this woman who is struggling so hard to keep her family afloat needs to feel shamed that her job is not a "prestigious" one. So, say a prayer for Sara and her family, that God will provide for their needs in the upcoming months. Her husband is on disability, but it's barely enough to pay the rent, let alone feed the family.

Clear the Cedars, Please

I was over at The Pioneer Woman (mostly because I adore her cooking!) when an article written by her husband caught my eye. Normally, Ree does the blogging, but this time her husband was the one writing "Why We Chop Down Cedar Trees." Really interesting article, and it got me thinking about what a parallel it is to the sin that can creep into our behaviour. Left unchecked, it can grow quickly and stifle relationships and all of the good things growing in our hearts and in our lives. It seems pretty harmless at first, a lie here, a loss of temper there, but it KILLS. Sometimes, our sin even looks nice on the outside, even as it's devastating the soil of our hearts. If we want to have our lives focused on the Lord 100%, the cedars have to go.

Recently my childhood church did a restoration service for a former member who had entrenched himself in sin so deeply that he left. It destroyed his marriage, his relationships with the people at the church, the bonds of trust that had formed over the decades he had attended there. I have no doubt his kids were hurt in the process, too. While it's great to celebrate the return of one who had turned his back on his sin and returned to the Lord (and the fellowship of other Christians), the CEDARS MUST BE CLEARED. My prayer for him is that, through the wise counsel of fellow believers, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and through self-discipline, the roots of the sin will be torn out so the ground can be planted with good things that will bear much fruit in his life and the lives of others.