Stained Not Dirty

I was washing dishes with my daughter after dinner tonight and she said, "This makes me sick".  I asked what she was referring to and she pointed out a Tupperware bowl that was stained.  "That is so dirty".  I said, "that isn't dirty, it is just stained" and instantly I started thinking that those words had meaning beyond the Tupperware piece we were looking at.

Possibly some people might have a response like my daughter's to people who are bearing the consequence of some personal trauma, or even some choices in their life that have harmed them in unexpected ways.  Maybe this could be a response to wounded war veterans for some of us.

J.R. Martinez--Iraq war

Frank Sandoval--Iraq War

Another example could be a person who has been sexually abused becoming angry or irritable when they see a father with his daughter on his lap.  

I am reminded of a client I had one time who would become highly angry if I would stretch out my legs in front of me while we were talking.  On close inspection and honest talking it turned out that her abusive father would often sit that way, and when I did that she would react toward me with the feelings she had toward her father at that time. 

Stained things can also be beautiful I might add.  For example stained glass and tie dyed shirts.

People can be stained by experience, by family dysfunction, or even by societal fads and pressures.  A family dealing with alcoholism can produce children and further generations that are secretive, don't share or feel emotions.  Families dealing with mental illness can produce similar results.

Social fads like tattoos or piercing can lead to poor choices that are mourned later in life.

But what these words "stained but not dirty" make me think of is the stains or consequences that can enter our life due to sin.  When we make choices that lead to sin, sometimes the results can be long lasting.  We may recognize our sin and repent and change but often the consequences of that sin will continue on even though we are a changed person. 

If sin makes us dirty so to speak, then repentance makes us clean by the grace of the Savior who suffered for all our sins that we might repent.  The consequences may continue but it would be just a stain but not dirty. 

As an example possibly a person who lived a life style that led to contracting aids might repent of and change that lifestyle but still suffer the consequences.  A person who smokes cigarettes to the point where the skin on their hand that carries the lit cigarette might be discolored.  They may repent, break that addiction and stop smoking but they will still have the discolored hand.  A person who gets involved in child pornography may be arrested and serve time in prison and then be on the Sex offender registry but could repent and change their actions and thoughts such that they could be clean of that sin although still necessarily be held to the consequences of the sin. 

So we see that being stained is not the same as being dirty.  It is very possible to have a very clean stained shirt or pair of pants.  Or even a very clean but stained body.  Surely we must be careful to not get stained mixed up with dirty. 

Loy Krathong--repentance and forgiveness



Loy Krathong in Chaing Mai Thailand

Seeing this National Geographic picture today reminded me of when I lived in Thailand many years ago.  I never saw what the above picture shows, however.  Loy Krathong is a national holiday celebrated in some unique ways to our western sensibilities.  Rather than seeing the "floating lanterns" rising into the sky as in the picture above--I saw it celebrated in Bangkok with floating lanterns on the river.  My understanding of it's symbolic meaning was that it was a time each year that Thais would look at their lives and determine what changes needed to be made to be better.  A cross between new years and baptism in our culture.  It wasn't just a determination to do things differently but was a religious seeking of forgiveness with the hope and promise of being better in the future.  I was invited to Loy Krathong celebrations which would include a riverside launching of small floating lanterns with little things on them including money or other items representing the sins or changes that people wanted to make for the new year. 

I heard that sometimes young boys would swim out down river to collect the things on the floating lanterns for themselves.  I don't know if this was true but seemed likely with mischievous children. 

Being there at the launch of the little floats was magical as they had candles on them and you could watch them go down the river.  It seemed appropriate to me to think about our sins floating away as we remained here forever different because we had sent them away-forsaken so that we could become a better person.  I suspect in the Thai culture that there are those that this holiday has a very serious and deep religious meaning for.  While there are others that it was just fun and did not lend itself to any changes in their lives.  Just like our celebrations for Christmas or Easter. 

I find it interesting and something that we as Americans have in common with Thai people that we both desire to be better peoples.  Though we may have different national religions we both desire to improve both individually and nationally.  In America we have lots of opportunities to change from a wrong or harmful path to a more positive one.  Whether it be new years resolutions or the making of sacred covenants in temples or other houses of worship or possibly visiting a therapist to try to break old self-defeating patterns of behavior.  Let us be inspired by other cultures attempts to do the same thing, though they may have different symbolic gestures. 

The floating lanterns in the top picture must be a variation of what I had seen when I was in Thailand.  Instead of sending the lighted floats down the river they send them into the air like a kite.  I noted that the picture I had seen was from Chaing Mai Thailand and so I asked my wife who had lived there for a while if she ever saw that but she had not.  So possibly that is a new variation of the old tradition.  The idea of sending away our sins so that we can be a better person is appealing whether it is done down the river or through the air.  We then are free to be the people we really want to be not weighed down by the past mistakes.  Free to change as well as free to choose!



What I've been reading #5

Elisha's Bones by Don Hoesel:

Elisha's bones is like reading a lost story of Indiana Jones.  Archeology is the path to some excitement and in this case into gaining some unexpected faith in God along the way.  A fun story to read and one that moves along at a fair clip to keep you engaged.  In Indiana Jones fashion it has you visiting several countries and going down several dank and dusty corridors before you find what you are looking for.  It is a fun entertaining book to read. 

Once again I am reading one of Orson Scott Cards Intergalactic Medicine Show on line magazines.  Not all of them are available on Kindle but this was the next one available.  Like I did last time i will write about each short story contained in the kindle addition. 

Vanishing by Peter S. Beagle

This is a story about a man who had a traumatic experience when he served in the military when the wall existed separating East and West Germany.  He inexplicably finds himself back there with only three other people, a Russian soldier, a German woman and her now adult son.  What ties them together is the woman and how all three had a part in her life.  Interesting healing story of men who carried around guilt and fear for most of their lives.  

The Sin Hypothesis by E.A. Lustig

This was an interesting story about a young woman who wonders what happens to the sins when a person is baptized.  She concludes that the sins are released into the water.  So she decides to test the hypothesis and how she tests that hypothesis is a unique story which could lead to some interesting thinking.  

Tekkai Exhales His Avatar by Tony Pi

In a world where people can connect to the web through avatars and live in it, a group of immortals have become the enemy of the government.  The government has one in prison and offers him release if he will help to catch another.  In the attempt the imprisoned immortal chooses 20 more years of imprisonment rather than to allow the government to kill AIs which have developed from the web.  

The Urn of Revalos by Rebecca Day

A young man was taken and is now a very low ranking sailor on a pirate ship.  When their ship is hired to transport the Urn and two mages his mage past becomes apparent and what results forces him to choose between being a sailor or a mage.  A fun little read that could make an interesting book.

The Man in the Tree by Orson Scott Card

A disappointing story about a family that goes for vacation to the same place under a tree that has bark on it in the shape of a man.  That night the oldest daughter and father see a man/boy come out of the tree.  Not too exciting and I seem to have missed the point but as usual it was well written by Orson Scott Card.  

Free Seas by David Lubar

A very short story about two teens who sneak on what they think is a cruise ship to find out they need to look twice before boarding. 

InterGalactic Interview with Tanith Lee

A so-so interview with a fantasy writer or many books.  I've never read anything by he,r although I've seen her books around, so I guess I wasn't too interested

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

This is an interesting book about a 13 year old boy that grows up in a society of Mages but is thought to be without any powers of his own.  This Mage society is in our world of the present time but they have minimal interactions with humans.  The boy learns that he does indeed have unique powers and as he learns to use them and matures as a person and begins to choose his behaviors instead of doing what he has seen around him he starts to develop into something great.  The book was enjoyable for the most part but does have the occasional swear word that OSC uses to delineate the character of the person or to show the immaturity of the person.  As usual OSC pulls you into the various characters life until you begin to care about them.  There are the occasional 13 year old bodily function humor as well.  This could easily have been a YA novel with a few minor changes. 

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

I really enjoyed the book and found it to be inspiring.  Honestly I enjoyed the movie better but found the book to be a great companion for the movie.  for one thing you can see which things actually happened and how they happened and which things were changed or put into the movie to make it more cinematically pleasing.  The story comes out even stronger about how her faith has helped her through a very difficult time in her life.  Her family is clearly a great support to her as well.  Finally surfing is really her preferred activity over almost everything else.  One part I enjoyed especially was a section at the end about how she wanted the movie to represent them very well and especially to represent her Christian beliefs well.  She expressed some concerns about modest in the movie as well as being as accurate as possible.  Bethany Hamilton comes across as a reluctant celebrity.  She is willing to do it to represent her Savior but not for herself.  I recommend this book. 

Reading is a great way to get relaxation and to learn and be inspired.  Movies and T.V. are more hit and miss, mostly miss so don't put all your eggs into the visual entertainment, let a book create a world in you mind so that you can see it more clearly. 

Thought provoking song by Sissel

Sissel singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

A year or two ago I purchased the Christmas DVD of Sissel singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra in their Christmas special.  It was beautiful!  I've listened to that DVD more times at Christmas than any of the other Christmas specials they've done.  I enjoyed her voice so much that I have purchased some of her songs.  One thing that really struck me about her singing besides its beauty was that she smiles while she sings.  Something we don't see often.  Even my wife commented, and she of course is a singer, that is a rare ability.



Sissel kyrkjebø

You can go to her website by clicking on the above picture.


Sissel is a singer from Norway who often sings in English.  I recently ran across this song by Sissel that got me thinking.  Listen to her song "Ready to go home"--the lyrics are below if you would like to read them while she sings. 

Lyrics to Ready To Go Home :

(Andrew Gold / Graham Gouldman)

On the streets below these walls
Where I used to walk
Now I can barely crawl
All this darkness rising tall
Lord, shine a light for me
I'm waiting to be called
I'm ready to go home
I'm ready to receive forgiveness for my sins
I'm ready to begin
Take this river to the sea
Where the delta flows
The tide is washing over me
Take this soul to heaven's door
Show me where tomorrow lies
I'm waiting to be born
I'm ready to lay down
I'm ready now to sleep
A promise I must keep
I'm ready to go home
So tired, I lay down with these memories
I breath shallow deep inside of me

[ These are Ready To Go Home Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

This song aside from being beautiful reminds me of a few people who I have met who were ready to die.  I differentiate that from wanting to be dead.  These folks were not suicidal or even wishing they were dead but rather had lived what they considered a great life and found that they were ready to move on to the 'hereafter'.  Some are old and feel worn out and not able to do what they would like and therefore hope for an opportunity to be productive again in the next life.  Others were just anxious and curious to see what was next.  

A line from the song that has had me thinking was "I'm ready to receive forgiveness for my sins".  That could have various shades of meaning for example: forgiveness comes as we repent and not all at once at the end so if you've repented you should have received it already.   Or maybe the whole idea of the song is that the person is ready to change and be a better person, maybe that is the 'Home' that is mentioned.    However, it strikes you it is a thought provoking song that brings up a question in my mind: is it ever okay to be ready to die and move from this world or should our every effort be to remain here at all costs?

Enjoy the song and if it creates some profound thoughts in you, please let me know.  As for me I'll go home when called but I am ready to stay just now.