Friday Links n' Thinks

Here is my potpourri of Internet wanderings. Enjoy! (And what have YOU been reading this week?).

• My friend, Laura Ziesel gave me a huge "Ah-ha!" moment this week by asking: "Train up a child in whose way?" Laura points out that the English translation of Proverbs 22:6 is blatantly mistranslated. This one error has led to a plethora of pet doctrines and "child-training" practices based on a faulty premise.
• Weeping as a spiritual discipline: Jan Johnson describes the practice of "weeping with those who weep" as a way for us to join with God in mourning the brokenness of our world. Since returning from Bolivia, I have often been overwhelmed with tears and a deep sense of grief. Jan's article has helped me understand that my tears can be a form of training my heart to grieve with God and thus expand in empathy for the human condition. "As we assume the beneficent posture of weeping with those who weep, we move into weeping for those who ought to weep."
• Sarah hits another one out da park by writing a letter to Women's Ministry. "Please stop treating Womens' Ministry like a Safe Club for the Little Ladies to Play Church....we have more to offer the church than our mad decorating skills."
• My friend, Jennifer Fulwiler, talks about how regular, schedule prayer helps pull her out of fixating on unimportant things. "Contemplating the eternal instead of fixating on the temporal requires such a huge shift of mental gears that it breaks me out of whatever short-sighted rut I'd been in." This post has been sticking in my head all week. I think it's time I went to Adoration.
• My brave friend, Nish, wrote a post about choosing to listen to our Mormon friends and neighbors instead of judging them. I, too, have been guilty of Mormon judging. Sure, I don't agree with all their doctrines and I know they don't agree with all of mine but how can we understand each other if we don't listen to each other? I've been befriended by a group of Mormon women and they are some of the most sincerely kind people I've ever met. Christianity doesn't need more exclusion, it needs more inclusion. Do you hear me, my Mormon sisters? I love you!

Lastly, I wanted to share with you my latest obsession: The Civil Wars. I was introduced to this duo in Bolivia. After a particularly intense day, I asked my friend Nish to pick out some music for me to listen to. This song, Poison & Wine, entered my bloodstream and has stayed there, haunting me. The Civil Wars are coming to L.A. in November. I can't wait to see them live!