Street showing church, San Miguel, New Mexico
Photographer: Jesse Nusbaum
Date: 1911?
Negative Number: 013944
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So, I've noticed a few things about Sir Pentious' blimp and how it's built.
Its main window is all circular, and if you look at how it's structured, it resembles a flower. Specifically, a window like this is often seen in churches, and they're called "rose windows"
Then, the windows on the side: it's like they're made of stained glass. And, what do you know? They're also found in churches!
And finally, the ship has a pointy extreme on its frontal area. It actually looks like a spire, aka the highest architectural element in a church.
So basically, this blimp contains elements that evoke the place where everyday people come to confess their sins and become better people and be able to eventually ascend to Heaven.
Sounds familiar?
Notably, a certain Sinner, who happens to resemble the Biblical representation of sin and evil (the snake), became a martyr and ascended to Heaven by using this machine of destruction to save his friends with no guarantee he'd be able to survive such an action.
Such an act of self sacrifice to help beloved ones is seen as the ultimate form of love and virtue, and it fully explains the brilliance and plot reasons behind his blimp's sacral architecture.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John, 15:13)
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Take care of the family God has given you.
Part of me waited to feel like I had a "family" because it wouldn't feel official until my husband and I had a child of our own. I'm learning to feel blessed with the family God has given me in this season of my life, and take care of them how I would take care of my familial ideal.
My husband and I recently moved into a new home, and my sister in law and her husband are renting the spare room from us. Since we've all moved in together I've learned how much I enjoy taking care of everyone, from cooking, to cleaning, to encouraging their ambitions. I never expected this to be the case, but God has truly opened my eyes to how a Christian woman can be a homemaker even when she has no children.
This might look different for you. Perhaps you an adult daughter still living with her parents and siblings. Take care of them. Perhaps you are a college student with roommates. Take care of them. Perhaps you live alone in an apartment complex, but have many elderly neighbors on your floor. Invite them to dinner, and take care of them.
God is faithful to lead us to a community, but sometimes we get distracted by the fact that it isn't the ideal we see for ourselves, and overlook our ability to serve and love them nonetheless. I've been thinking a lot about how I would feel if I found out we would never be able to have kids — and whether I could be happy homemaking for a family that didn't consist of my children.
I think I could, but this realization has come only through God opening my eyes to the fact that we are all His children, brothers and sisters in Christ — family by default, and all responsible to serve one another.
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What are you holding onto?
What we hold onto matters. Because you and I can only carry so much.
Even though we often act like there’s no limit to what we can carry.
The truth is that everything we pick up, everything we hold onto reduces our capacity to carry other things.
When I would carry my cat (who would randomly decide that he was incapable of movement and was now a limp noodle), I couldn’t also pick up my dog (who had no idea that he weighed 75 pounds) just because he saw the cat and decided that he wanted to be carried as well.
Sorry. I can only carry so much.
That’s not just true for goofy house pets. It’s true for life in general.
Whether we’re talking about pets or groceries, worries or cares, you and I can only carry so much.
And if our hands are full of worries and cares, problems and anxieties, you and I won’t have the capacity to carry other things.
Including things we might actually want (as opposed to worries and cares). Including the good stuff. Like God’s best for our lives.
What works against you and me is habit. We get in a habit of picking stuff up and carrying it around. Just because it wants us to pick it up and carry it around.
Like my limp noodle cat. Who wanted to be carried.
But who would also make a miraculous recovery and start doing unnecessary parkour off the top of the couch. If I didn’t pick him up.
What you and I need to remember is that we have a choice. Just because something wants you to pick it up and carry it around doesn’t mean you have to.
I’m not saying don’t deal with your worries and cares, your problems and anxieties.
But there’s a big difference between dealing with your worries and cares - and picking them up and carrying them around like a beloved pet.
So, how do you do that?
First, know that you have a choice. Then know that you have help.
You don’t have to deal with your worries and cares (or even carry them around) by yourself.
In fact, you shouldn’t. Because holding onto your worries and cares, your problems and anxieties is one of the subtlest forms of the dreary old sin of pride.
And there is nothing so effective at separating you and me from the ones who love us best (including God) like pride. It does that by making sure that our hands are full, that we have no room for the good that anyone would do for us (including God).
Instead, take the help offered by the One who loves you best.
No matter what it is. No matter what wants you to pick it up and carry it around.
God isn’t just waiting to help you. God wants to help you.
Not someday, when you’ve got it all figured out. But right now, when you don’t.
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.”
Today’s Readings
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