Okay … well … I’m going to use yesterday’s prompt because I think today’s prompt is boring and I blogged yesterday anyway.  Confused yet?  I’m not.  So … here’s the question:

What’s one thing you think it’s worth spending money on? What’s one thing you always cheap out on?

I actually looked at this yesterday and considered (gasp) blogging twice in one day.  Of course, if I’d done that my answer would have been different off the cuff than when given time to ponder.  My original thoughts wandered towards fabric, coffee and chocolate … because.  Well.  Because I can’t just choose one thing.  And I’m torn between being suspicious of and in awe of people who can choose one thing.

But.

I was sewing and that laid claim to me yesterday.  So I had the chance to let the whole thing percolate while I was fiddling with little pieces of beautiful fabric.  I was able to turn it around in my mind and look at it from many different perspectives.  And wonder about what I consider valuable and worth my money and what do I not.  Is there one thing that I consider worth spending money on?  Yes.  I decided.  There is.  It’s when I can use the gifts I’ve been given to encourage the potential in someone else.  That’s worth spending money on.  When I can buy their art, or help them walk a path they’ve chosen, or nudge them with a book or a magazine or _____, that’s all worth spending money on.

Stuff I cheap out on?  If I’ll have to dust it … then I won’t buy it.  Ever.  Stupid tchokes and useless crap … I usually look at it and think, “hmmm … will I have to dust that?” and if the answer is yes, then it stays in the store.

And a quick plug for my friend Julie Clawson’s book, Everyday Justice, … I do try (and fail most of the time) to live as justly as possible.  What does this have to do with what I consider worth money?  Well … how I spend my money has some tiny impact on the ripples and tides of how people are treated world wide.  If I purchase any old coffee (for example) that drives down the price that individual coffee growers can earn.  It also means that large conglomerates own coffee plantations.  If I purchase Fair Trade coffee which is coffee marketed through co-ops then I’m purchasing coffee which has been grown by individual coffee growers, it has been purchased at a living wage price for the growers, grown in a sustainable manner on the farm, etc.  It’s a way for my money to be used in more healthy fashion.  But it means that I walk humbly and live justly in the land as far as I am able each day.

How about you?  What do you think is worth spending money on?  Or not?

LightHusband just came to me, as I perched upon my sofa and asked, “Would it be too much to consider cleaning this space up sometime?”  I struggled to contain the laughter and said, “Well, of course it would be … where else would I put my stuff?”

Now “my” sofa is a green micro-fiber suede sofa with a chaise end.  I sit on the chaise part.  The rest of it is covered in books and papers, with the odd, empty popcorn bowl.  Upon one short stack of books, is a pile of unused paper that is a resting place for my coffee.  In front of the sofa is an old coffee table.  Upon the coffee table are more books and papers, a stack of candle holders, and my laptop case perched precariously on one end.  Underneath the coffeetable … more books.  And Rosetta Stone Arabic.  Because one day soon I really am going to start that.  Really.  I am.

LightHusband went on.  By now we were both laughing.  “You know what you need?”  “A bookshelf?” I replied.  That’s the standard answer in our house.  “No,” says he.  “You need an Uncle Paul room.  A room with a recliner in the middle surrounded by bookshelves with a light next to it.”  “Hah,” says me “I really do need a bookshelf.”  He ignored me and went on, “I can see you just like Uncle Paul, sitting there with all your books in your recliner … come to think of it, Opie was like that too.  Oh!  NO!  You’ve got it from both sides!!!”

So there it is friends.  My destiny, given to me by blood … a recliner surrounded by books.  I can only hope that someone will stop by with coffee and water occasionally.

I dunno if it’s a cycle of the moon.  Maybe I shouldn’t try to explain it.  But there just seems to be some stuff I need to share with you right now.  So here is some of it … in no particular order.

Rachel Barenblatt of Velveteen Rabbi is studying in Israel this summer.  Her descriptions of life in the Holy Land are not to be missed, but of particular note is this meditation with photos of a day trip to the West Bank and Bethlehem.  She has a remarkable ability to see the humanity in both sides of Israeli-Palestinian dispute that is touching and beautiful.  Here’s a little taste:

Walking around the camp [refugee camp in Bethlehem] was surreal. It didn’t feel like what I imagine when I hear “refugee camp;” it felt like a neighborhood in any one of the developing nations I’ve visited. (It’s easy to forget that once a refugee camp has existed for a few decades, the army-issue canvas tents are replaced with buildings, but it’s still a refugee camp.) We quickly acquired a cadre of small children who followed us shyly saying “hello, what’s your name? Hello, how are you?” I’ve had that exact experience in so many places, so that felt very familiar. The streets of the camp are tiny, and in every window people watched us with curiosity.

But Shadi’s remarks gave us a sense for what some people may be feeling behind the walls. “This is a ghetto,” my friend Tad said to me, sounding stricken. “Is this what our grandparents survived the ghettos of Europe for: to do the same thing to someone else?” I couldn’t answer him.

Doug Jones at Perigrinatio posted this video challenging us in the arena of forgiveness.  What do you think?  Could you forgive?

Kent Leslie is working at a summer camp this summer and has an interesting take on the usual tradition of the altar call.  I think he’s probably onto something.  If you don’t have Kent in your feed reader, I’d recommend him to you as an interesting and provocative read.  He takes his faith, both orthopraxy and orthodoxy very seriously … his writing?  Not as much.

“When you screw up, we’re going to forgive you. When you make mistakes, or break rules, or are mean or do anything wrong, we’re going to forgive you. We’re not gonna hold it against you—although if you plan to take advantage of that forgiveness and just be evil all week, we might have to send you home for our own safety and the safety of the other campers. But for those of you who are trying to do right, this camp is going to be a giant clean slate for you. No worries. No guilt. Just forgiveness.”

Then we invite them to follow Jesus, and get ’em saved from the very beginning, and spend the entire week walking in newness of life, instead of waiting till Sunday and having an altar call to “wrap up” the week.

Who knew you could find such great music at the Smithsonian?  They have blues, African, jazz, Native American … all available for electronic download (to purchase, of course).  And much, much  more.  It’s an amazing collection to prowl through.   You can hear samples of everything before you purchase, but it’s all pretty fabulous if you like folk music and music from our roots.  I highly recommend prowling around there for a while.

Pam Hogeweide is messing around again.  She challenged herself to a 10 day duel.  She’s winning, by the way.  She writing everyday for ten days and finding the supernaturally beautiful in the ordinary … things like a bologna sandwich.  Everyone said it couldn’t be done.  Read Pam and see the God-beauty in the everyday.

Updated, courtesy of BlisteringSh33p, to include (drumroll please) the 7 Hamburgers of the Apocalypse.  Do not, I repeat, do NOT read this post if you are at all queasy, or have the tiniest little bit of an upset tummy.   However, if you want to see the fattiest, gluttoniest ways to eat red meat on the planet … it’s an absolute howl.

Finally … watch this space for book reviews and an e-zine … coming soon.   I’ve got book reviews coming on the following books:  We The Purple, Feel, Hokey Pokey, The New Conspirators, Rapture Ready, The Tangible Kingdom and Oh Shit! It’s Jesus … oh, and one cd, Songs For a Revolution of Hope … oh, and coffee too … I ordered two pounds of Saints coffee.  We’re taking it to Vermont at the end of the week.  I’ll let you know if it’s a good buy.

Here’s a fun little game going around in blog-land.  For no reason … it was just fun.

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Some of the photos ended up a bit obtuse. I added notes below to make deciphering my choices a little easier.   I left 10 and 11 blank for you to fill in with your own imagination.  I’m sure you’ll have fun with them.

1.  Do I need to answer this?
2.  I have favorite foods for different restaurants or times of year … so I just picked whatever came into my head.
3.  U32 … don’t ask.
4.  I don’t have a favorite color … I just typed the color that came into my head.
5.  Heh … Mr. Big … gotta love him and have since he started wearing plaid ties on L&O in the 90’s.
6.  Coffee … the magic bean.
7.  Ireland and a Celtic monastery.
8.  Good apple pie.
9.  What else?
10.
11.
12.  Threadbare …

This is a fun way to see a lot of different photos.  If you decide to play along, leave a link to your version of the mosaic in my comments.

I know this will probably offend the 3.2 readers I have left.  Sobeit.  I hate standing in line at trendy coffee houses.  It is hell.  I wish there would be a line for those of us losers who just want plain, unadulterated …. coffee.  And fix it ourselves.

… from whence cometh my help (or is that hope) … I can never remember. But here are some more photos from our adventure yesterday.

Longs Peak

Church on the side of the road

Loveland Pass

Snowbanks on the side of the road driving down from Loveland Pass.

Hairpin curve in road … note the lack of guardrails.  We noted this lack on a plethora of occasions.

Overlooking this lake I was inspired to write:

Sitting on a mountainside overlooking Lake Dillon – listening to the wind rustling through the pines.  It’s both soothing and lonely.  I imagine how it might have sounded night and day; endless days, endless nights — no music, no television, no entertainment …

hard work, bitter words, sour tears, sick children, dead husbands and the endless wind for companionship whispering through the pines which stand stark against the spring snow as a three day growth of beard — spiky and jagged.

Ground Squirrel investigating my pen.

This morning began with coffee and sunshine … what could be better!!