With another manic Monday before us, here are a couple of items some of you shared for the benefit of this motley crew of saints and sinners…

Fellow saint and sinner Michael responded to a recent post about Saturday Night Live’s irreverent send-up of Quentin Tarantino with the following insightful remarks:

Humor is often described as taking something that is known or common and standing it on it’s head. With that in mind, SNL succeeded. Is it offensive? Yes. But so are countless other acts. When my best friend of 30 years screams, “God Dam-it,” after hitting a poor golf shot, I am saddeneda. And, as a Christian, I am offended. I might be tempted to chasten him…

But then I am reminded of what Billy Graham said many years ago:

It’s God’s job to judge the world…
It’s Christ’s job to be the sacrifice for our sin…
It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to empower believers and to convict the world…
It’s our job, merely to love.

At times, I’m tempted to come to God’s defense or attempt to save someone or to point out some error in another. But then I realize such acts as these are not my job. Mine is to love. That’s a full-time job! There are countless ways to do that.

By way of example, Michael shared this clip from 60 Minutes.

Then, as if to give voice to my own struggles with perfectionism as a mother, Lara passed on this wonderful article by Francesca Kaplan Grossman on the mommy wars: it’s a helpful commentary on the jealousy and judgment that can arise when we moms allow ourselves to believe that we really can “have it all.” Feel free to share your reactions to the article below, which I’ll happily republish!

Finally, today’s musical feature comes from my long-standing crush, Bruce Springsteen, and his 2008 album, “Working on a Dream.”  It’s actually the cover song for the album, and  it goes out to the hard-working people I meet every week in warehouses and on factory floors, clocking in long, grueling hours to provide for their families.  One man in particular is on my mind today: for over thirty years he has put in his time at the same trucking company, working ten to twelve hours a day, five days a week, moving heavy boxes on the main warehouse floor; whenever I greet him, he always smiles with a kind of quiet stoicism that says he takes pride in his work.

This song is also dedicated to all of us anywhere who find ourselves on the hard path of following Jesus and stumbling, stubbing our toes and skinning our knees, usually over and over again.  It can be said that we’re working on a dream, too- albeit of a different kind.  Our hands may not be “rough” the way my friend’s on that factory floor are and as Bruce describes; but for us, also, “the trouble can feel like it’s here to stay.”

I’m thankful that God’s love one day really “will chase the trouble away.”