Mama T's Kicking My Ass

So, I was reading an article about Dooce, the uber-famous mommy blogger (who makes $1 million a year, by the way), and she said that one of the first rules in building a following on your blog is to post every single day, no matter what it is.

Uh, whoops.

There goes my dream of being a professional blogger.

On the other side, if you're anyone besides my mom and still reading this, thank you. You have proven your love. (My mom proved her love when she birthed me and then put up with me being a messy, stubborn yeller throughout my youth.) Someday I'll get internet in my house and I'll be able to blog guilt-free because I won't have to do it at work.

Until then, sporadic blogging it is.

On a completely unrelated note, the Ladies of Lost Canyon and I have been reading the book Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and it has been seriously kicking my ass. Mainly because I think I'm pretty awesome at giving of all of my resources (money and time), but then I read about people like Mother Teresa who said:

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely, and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work

and

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

and

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Oh, Mother Teresa. She's really the one that's kicking my ass. Because when Shane Claiborne called Calcutta, she answered the phone and told him to come on over and get ready to work. Because she didn't check to see whether there was a bed for him or food, but just told him to come because there was work to be done. Because she cared for lepers and the sick and the poor, but she spoke eloquently about the fact that it was not just the poor in Calcutta or the monetarily poor that need us to love them.

And, like I said, I think I'm a giver. And I am. (This is not a post on how much I suck, I do try to give a lot.) But then I realized how much I waste. And I realize how disconnected I am from people outside of those I'm comfortable being connected with. And how can I touch poverty, physical or of the soul, without touching those who are afflicted with it?

So, I'll give more, even when I don't think I have it to give. I won't rely on the fact that sometimes I buy fair trade coffee to make me feel good about my consumerism. I won't use the excuse that I work for a non-profit and make so little when I am rich by the world's standards. (And, P.S., even though I "needed to go grocery shopping" a week ago, I'm still eating full meals out of things I've found in my fridge/pantry. I'm rich.)

I will give when I don't think I can, I'll make the harder choice just because it's the right one, and I'll be connected to people in need, not just for me and not just for them, but because connection with our fellow beings is what keeps us alive.

I will do all that. And I'll let you know what happens.

Much love.

P.S. If you want to learn more about Shane and his movement, here's their website. Don't read it if you don't want to know that you need to collect the water from your bathroom sink to flush your toilet with. Fair warning. Especially on the "Practical Stuff" page.

P.P.S. One of the women I'm reading this book with said when she read it before and talked to her dad about it, he called her a Communist. My roommate Katie was reading it yesterday and pointed out a quote in the book by a Brazilian Archbishop named Dom Helder Camara that said, "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." That made me laugh.

Song of the Day: Half Acre by Hem (please ignore the video, it's weird)