Five on Friday
Hi friends! Man. For years now, I’ve never wanted to be the person who, when someone says “how are you guys?” responds with “busy!” But goodness this week was a doozy! This is the first time we’ve ever done some kind of team sport really, especially school related, and the amount of time that’s involved has been a lot. There was either a game or a practice every day this week, plus both boys had their back to school open houses this week—on two different nights, our church had an important meeting for a crucial vote to take place, and Asher started karate for the first time. Needless to say our 3:30-7:30 pm hours felt like a gauntlet of precisely timed maneuvers to get everyone to the finish line and that was with both Chuck and I with all hands on deck. There’s no way we could manage this if he was still working full time for another company without the flexibility of controlling his schedule. Next week only has 2 football games, both within 10 minutes of our home, and zero open houses or special church related activities so things should feel a little less bananas! And now onto this week’s 5 things…
**ONE**
Last week I shared about the life and legacy of my friend Susan. At her celebration of life, which I was so grateful to be able to watch online since getting to LA wasn’t in the cards, a friend of mine and pastor, Nick, shared a homily centered on the story of Mary and Martha. Growing up in the church I’ve heard numerous sermons on this story about Jesus visiting his friends and how frustrated Martha was because she was so busy preparing meals for Jesus and his followers and Mary is sitting there with the men listening to Jesus teach. Jesus commends Mary for “choosing what is best” and for decades now the message that Mary is good and being a Martha is bad has been ingrained in me. When Nick shared this passage of scripture, a passage I believe Susan herself actually chose for her own service, he put a spin on it that I’ve literally never heard, but that I cannot stop thinking about.
Nick spoke about how Susan had told him at the end of her life that she was done being a Martha and was ready to be a Mary now. As I wrote last week Susan was always serving others, she was constantly on the move demonstrating her love for people through acts of service. Nick’s response to her was to tell her there’s no way a woman who loved as deeply and as thoroughly as she did had not been transformed by her time with Jesus. In other words, Susan had lived her life as both a Mary and a Martha. She had been so captivated by the love and stories of Jesus, by his command to go love others with everything we have, that she spent her life serving. For the first time in my life Mary and Martha weren’t in competition or being juxtaposed with one another. For the first time in my life I realized it’s possible to be both. Not only is it possible to be both Mary and Martha, there is value in what each of them brings to this one story. At some point someone needs to get up and serve a meal, provide water for washing and drinking, provide a place to lay a head at night. If one tries to serve in these ways with a heart that hasn’t spent any time learning from our Master, we will only serve out of bitterness and resentfulness, which isn’t necessarily beneficial to anyone. If we do nothing but sit all day every day and learn from Jesus (so in today’s world the equivalent might be sitting and doing devotions all day long or spending all day in a worship service) and never get up to actually live out our faith by serving others, well that isn’t right either. Scripture tells us over and over our faith requires action.
Nick was absolutely right when he told Susan she had been both a Mary and a Martha in her life. Only someone so transformed by the story and love of Jesus could have served in the way she did for as long as she did. Her serving wasn’t just to be busy, it was so purposeful. She wanted teenagers to know the love of God and she worked busily to do what she could to facilitate that encounter. I know I can tend to be more like Martha at times as well. But I hope that in my desire to serve, to do things to help others, to meet people’s practical needs however I can, I hope I do so because the love of Jesus, and my time with Jesus has compelled me to act. As we go into our week, may we look for ways we can embody both Mary and Martha. May we seek out time with Jesus in scripture and prayer. And then, once filled with stories of His grace and love, may we be like Martha and go serve those God has placed in our paths.
**TWO**
I have shared this before on social media, but in case anyone didn’t catch that or needs the reminder, if you need the world’s easiest, fastest, cheapest, most portable dinner ever for this busy season, Jimmy Johns will sell you one of their long baguettes for $2. Of course you can grab sandwiches there, but if you’re like us, trying to cut back on some of the eating out budget that creeps out of control easily, this has been a game changer for us. I’ll grab one earlier in the day when I know we have one of those evenings where we all have to be headed different directions at different times. I’ll microwave some bacon, assemble some sandwiches earlier in the day and either pack them to go with us to whatever event we’re headed to or put them in the fridge for when we come home. They sell their side cups of their Kickin Ranch dressing which all 4 of us adore so I’ll grab a couple of those as well and before you know it you have the easiest meal for a busy night. This time I grabbed two baguettes and 4 little containers of their ranch and fed all 4 of us for $7 with leftovers. Definitely cheaper than hitting up a drive through on the way home from a practice or game!
**THREE**
Football season is officially back! I won’t blather on about how much I love this time of year, I did that last week. But I wanted to share a fascinating documentary on Netflix I watched that I think has something to say to all of us. As part of their “Untold” series, Netflix did a documentary on Johnny Manziel called Johnny Football. I have heard the name Johnny Manziel before, but as I shared last week I didn’t grow up in the football world, and in 2012 when he was a freshman at Texas A&M, I was having my first baby and living in Los Angeles, so far from the world of the SEC and college sports I didn’t even know he existed. So I wasn’t familiar with his story, other than hearing his name in passing over the years. His story both disgusted me and broke my heart at the same time. Johnny was an astronomically talented quarterback who played for A&M and transformed their whole football program. I listen to a weekly podcast with a woman who is a huge A&M fan/alum and hearing her talk about what he did for their football program, the energy, excitement, donations and ultimately new stadium they built can all be traced back to the gifts Manziel brought to their school. He ended up being drafted by the Cleveland Browns and played for 2 seasons in the NFL before his life ended up fairly trainwrecked by addiction and horrific decision making. Yet there is no denying the talent he once had on the field.
What I found so compelling about his story, as painful as it was to watch the downward spiral of destruction in his young life, was this one line he said in the film. He said “there I was, at the top of my game. A freshman having won the Heisman trophy for the first time in history. I was more famous than anyone in the college game, had everything I ever wanted in life. And I’ve never been more empty inside.” I have thought about that line over and over again in the past few weeks since watching this film. It’s the reason I’ll probably have Aidan watch this one with me at some point. He had everything. Except the things that truly mattered. So many people today are chasing these dreams, and yet when they finally “arrive” at wherever it is they were trying to go they found it wasn’t what they thought. I can’t help but wonder how different his life could have turned out if he had had his level of talent combined with a solid community of adults to guide him in wisdom. Or a solid group of friends who cared more for him as a person rather than him as a famous person. I believe Jesus longs to fill the hole that lives in each one of us, and I cannot help but wonder how this kid’s life could have been so drastically different with some folks around him who cared more for him than for a football program. I don’t know that I can wholeheartedly recommend this particular film, it’s tough to watch at times, but this one statement hasn’t left me alone. In a world where we are always chasing something, trying to keep up with someone or convincing ourselves that if I just had this one more thing I’d be happy, well I think his words have something for us all to consider.
**FOUR**
I am way late to this bandwagon, but if anyone is in need of absolutely fabulous background music for reading, studying, or just to have on while enjoying family time, I am newly obsessed with The Piano Guys. Y’all this music is the soundtrack of my LIFE right now. I have it on all the time and it is the best for helping me focus on writing/reading or studying and it’s also fabulous when I need something in the background to help create a more mellow vibe in the house when the boys and their noise are everywhere. Next time you need something without words to enjoy, just say “Alexa, play The Piano Guys” and enjoy!
**FIVE**
I have shared so many cookbooks over the years, but I have another one to share. And it’s not a “regular” cookbook, which is why I’m bringing it to your attention. Bri McKoy’s new cookbook The Cook’s Book would be the absolute BEST gift for anyone newly out on their own, graduating from college, getting married, or well…anyone really! It isn’t just a recipe book, although there are a ton of recipes in here. It’s a book that holds your hand and actually teaches you HOW to cook. There’s a whole section on salt in there that absolutely blew my mind (and had me tasting the salts in my kitchen). Did you know some brands are saltier than others and dissolve differently in food than others? Did you know that ought to impact how much you use depending on your brand no matter what the recipe says?? I had NO IDEA, but I’ve now ordered a new kind of salt from Amazon because Bri told me to. She walks through SO many basic kitchen skills so many of us never learned. She has an amazing section on food and wine pairings, different flavor profiles, how to do basic skills like knife skills, sauteing, searing, roasting, braising etc. It truly is a book I wish I’d had 15 years ago when I was trying to figure out this kitchen scene. I’ve tried two of her recipes so far—the creamy lemon chicken potato soup which is to die for, and her sheet pan nachos which my entire family loved. I’m already planning on gifting this to a few folks for Christmas this year, but I wanted to mention it here because it really is a beautiful resource for anyone in the kitchen.
