It's getting worse. Have you noticed? The way Christians are portrayed on television and in the media? We're always the intolerant, the rash, and the stupid. This drives me nuts. Christians are not one type of people. We're everyone, so for television to portray us as ignorant fools makes me a little insane. (okay, MORE insane)

Last night I was watching our equivalent of Shakespeare -- "The Real Housewives of the OC" and they have this really ignorant woman who is a Christian. God love her. He made the Gospel simple for everyone, but this girl does not exemplify a lot about Christianity -- though she really tries. She's just so lost in her own world she can't see beyond the fake extensions and the rest.

Last night, she said over and over again, "You threw me under the table." BUS. BUS! She threw you under the bus. Say it with me...IDIOM.

I know this shouldn't bug me, but the fact is, she'd never be a part of the Real Housewives if she were an intelligent Christian woman. They have her character there for the bumbling comic relief and it makes me so angry when she lives up to it! It could just be the editing, but I know that casting had a lot to do with it. You mean with Saddleback down there, they couldn't find a smart Christian?

Then you have ABC airing GCBs, which is a terrible show about fake Christians written by those who hate them. Christians are out saving the world every day with their ministries and it's not okay to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you want to be truthful in fiction, you have to show both sides. Show both sides Hollywood!

Labels: American Christian Fiction Writers, Christians, fake Christianity, GCBs, Hollywood, Real Housewives, reality

I don't know about you, but my life is impossible to schedule. Every day I try. I look at my little calendar, and I check my to-do list and I feel so excited about the day's accomplishments ahead of me. Then, reality happens.

I'm a go with the flow kind of person, so it doesn't necessarily bother me that my day gets changed. UNLESS, I really NEED to fulfill a responsibility. I was that child who took on the worries of the world, so I like to have things done. The more responsibilities on my plate, the more I envy my grandparents -- who used to say things like, "We can't do it Thursday. Arnold has a doctor's appointment."

Wouldn't that be heavenly? To plan your whole week around a little event and then, the world is your oyster? I long for that kind of predictability. Alas, with four kids, someone always has something going on except for Mom. Your life is relegated to the car. When DH told me that it was a waste to have Sirius radio in my car, I about had a conniption. "Listen, the only thing keeping me sane is Doctor radio and the rest, so you get your hands off my sanity."

I may be able to change the day at a moment's notice, but I am not good about sharing my desk. I honestly wish I had a little explosive power that when someone laid something on MY desk -- the only place that's truly mine -- it would sort of blow up in a puff of smoke. Wouldn't that be good? Maybe not. But am I alone? How do you feel about your schedule? Do you keep a schedule? Do you freak if you have to veer from it? How do you like to keep your lists?

Labels: changes, organization, reality, Scheduling

SELF IMAGE
Last night Dave's mom called us down around 10 because Dad wouldn't settle down. He wanted to go to the hospital. We got up, got dressed and hurried down to their house. They were both by the front door. Dad pulled me aside and whispered, "Who is that little old lady? I can't do anything to satisfy her." Through the next few minutes we realized:
a. He thought he was very young--just out of school
b. He wanted to go to the hospital because his wife was there.
c. He actually recognized me and Dave--and introduced us to the "little old lady."

Now we had to laugh even though it's heartbreaking and not at all funny in reality but sometimes you have to find the humor in a situation to be able to deal with it. A few minutes later he knew Mom and wondered where the "little old lady" had gone. But it made me think about self-perception. In my head I'm still 19. I'm always shocked when I see a picture or look in the mirror. In my head I'm never as old or as fat as I really am. LOL It also made me wonder what else we deceive ourselves about. Our character? Our personality? Our prowess--or lack thereof of things like cooking,etc? LOL

It's enough to make me long for heaven! This old woman will be 57 in a few weeks. The almost forty years since I've actually been 19 have passed in what seems a blink of the eye. It makes me realize all over again that inner beauty is what it's all about, and I need to be cultivating that more.

How about you? What's your self-image? Any self deception going on with you?

Labels: Alzheimers, reality, self-deception