It's semantics really...

  Saw an interesting discussion this week on whining and complaining. Since things like that cause me to ponder incessantly, and sometimes needlessly, I know I gave it much more thought than most "normal" people would have. (More on that quote in a later post)
  In an attempt to sort it out in my head, I decided to add to my "blogdom" and spew a few thoughts about the pair.
  First let me say that I don't believe anyone over the age of 8 can functionally whine. I mean, I guess they CAN, but honestly, I think they know this is ineffective, so they really don't attempt it. I have seen (er, heard) these people do it, but I would venture to say that they are probably joking, reiterating an interaction with a child, or merely passing by on the way to an un-annoying tambour.
  Now, I believe that people can "perceive" that someone is whining, but since we all don't have the exact same diagnostic skills, labeling someone as a whiner is truly just an expression of your own opinion. How do you know that I would think they were whining? You don't. So don't tell me how I am to perceive them.
  Complaining is a really fine line as well, because there are thousands of interpretations of an "acceptable way to complain". I think most people will label others as having complaints or complainers if they don't agree with THEM. That's sad, because probably there is someone else that would point out the exact same issue, and they also would look at it as an observable feature that needs correcting. Since they agree with the "complainer" it would quickly become a topic, and not a complaint. They might be able to work together for the greater good, and a favorable outcome could be reached.
  I believe anyone that brings up "what some would perceive as a complaint but others would look at as an observable feature that needs correcting" has a right to be heard. I do not believe that they need to bring a solution because often times they aren't in a position to solve the problem, and are bringing their grievance to someone who can.
  I will always listen to someone who brings an issue to me. Sometimes I can fix it, sometimes I can't, but I can't make a determination that I am not going to listen or help based on their modality of expressing the thought. How pompous it would be of me to turn away someone that may only know how to whine or complain to express thought, frustration, or sensitivity. How do I know that wasn't a survival tactic for them all of their life? How can I shut out the opportunity to minister and help because I don't want to be "annoyed"? Argh!
  I can say with certainty that I have brought complaints to God on several occasions. And it's possible that at some point my cry for help resembled whining in some instances. I can also say for certain that I didn't have solutions to those issues. I am very happy that He still listens to me and wants to help. He calls me to trust when I don't understand the wilderness and when I want to cry and give up. I have to focus on the trust, and He can handle it if I lapse in my adeptness at conveying the thought, frustration, or sensitivity.
  It's really a matter of semantics, but mostly it's a matter of wanting to see people as God does. To remember that He loved them first, in the muck and mire in which they came, and He really, really wants me to do the same. Did He pull me out of my icky stuff for me to never help anyone with theirs? I don't think so. So people, complain away. I'm practicing listening in love and understanding why your heart is hurting. I think that's what Jesus would do!
 

The Last Few Hours of Summer

  A couple of days ago Sue said to me, "You're the ONLY person I know that bakes in the summer." I think that's a sad statement in a couple of ways. A. That means the only person that can supply her with baked yumminess in the dog days of summer is ME (that's a lot of pressure) and B. Really the only time I have to bake is IN the summer, since I get home from work, I make dinner, and am too tired to bake the other 3 seasons of the year.
  (This sidenote brings me to the whole Julia and Julia movie, where the heroine actually DOES seem to have a full time job, and comes home to a different FRENCH-ish recipe every night. Somehow that makes me feel really inferior.)
  As I sit here today in the last few hours of my perceived "freedom" wondering if I should make some oat and chocolate cookies or some butterscotch cupcakes, I feel like I'm being robbed of creating for another 10 months. I keep looking outside, knowing it's going to be 110 degrees, and I am thinking of heating the oven? Really? I am trapped between trying to squeeze in one last round of deliciousness and the busy preparations for another year of school.
  I don't know what I want to define me, really. I know that yesterday was weird cosmic cross-section of my teaching life. It was one of those days that made me realize that teaching has enabled me to relate to people I might not otherwise would have known. It has enabled me to share in their joys and their pains, in their futures and their ends, in their "dependences" and the "independences", their recreation times and their career times. I also don't know how it's possible to have so many present and former students I am proud of at all at once.
  I hope that I take seriously the charge of praying for them all as God directs. I probably couldn't make cookies and pies and cupcakes for each and every one. Feeding them physically would be a sign of caring, no doubt. Actually I have said that to many of the kids, "I will take you home, love you, and feed you cookies." But feeding them spiritually is a whole other round of ingredients. How do I go into another year and let my faith be evident enough to plant those seeds? How do I show another 120 kids the love of Christ?
  I suppose it does tie in really... the potential I see in those adorable faces to become everything that they are designed for is exactly the same as the chocolate chips in my cupboard. It's exciting to wonder what they will become. And while I have a bit of human control over the sugar and eggs, directing it to come together into something wonderful, I have to relinquish control of the kids to God. I need to merely be the shelf that they sit on for awhile, while God directs their outcome. So a sturdy shelf I shall be. God give me the ability to be a place of rest, coolness, and anticipation.
  I have avoided baking today. I am concentrating and praying and thinking about the year ahead. I guess, I am "preheating my oven".
  Gotta set the timer. T- 10 months.