Wednesday Hodgepodge

Linking up with Joyce for this week’s hodgepodge (isn’t that a great word?) questions

1. What impresses you? 

I am impressed with Christians who are faithful even when acting on Christian beliefs run afoul what the culture says is acceptable. For instance, when sellers of wedding services who believe that marriage is a sacred vow and adhere to the Biblical definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman and politely decline to provide services to same sex couples, they face more than just backlash from many on the left. They face lawsuits and costly fines. Yet, they stay firm, not out of hate towards the same sex couple, but out of love for the commands and precepts of God. 

It was not that long ago that politicians on the left and right publicly stated that marriage should be between a woman and man (eg Barack Obama as recent as 2010). 

The turnabout from it being politically expedite to state marriage should be between a woman and man to being intolerant to those who believe that marriage should be between a woman and man and object to participating in a same sex marriage has been swift to say the least. 

I do believe that as the West increasingly moves to a post Christian epoch, Christians should expect more persecution should they not renounce the dominant non Christian zeitgeist and the actions and morays of it. I hope that when I am faced with potentially losing my livelihood or life if I refuse to go along with a cultural set of beliefs that run contrary to God’s will as stated in the Bible, I will chose to follow God. 

On a more personal note, I am impressed with the faith of many whom I have known to have suffered greatly (not persecution but rather sickness and loss in other areas) and remain faithful to God and of his promises. 

On a lighter note, I am impressed with so many writers of fiction. To write a compelling book, an author need not just be a good writer. He or she also needs to develop a plot and almost always subplots, dream up multiple characters and write believable dialogue. I’m grateful that a number of people have writing talent and hone their talent to write good books.  

2.  Where are you in your family birth order? Do you fit the stereotype of that particular slot? In what way?

I am the fourth of five kids so obviously not a first born, exact middle or last born. I am between middle and last. But not the last so I guess I am a middle child, just not the middle middle. 

I think I fit the stereotype of middle in a few ways. When I was younger, I always mediated the fights/ disagreements that broke out among my siblings. I always wanted peace in the family, especially among my siblings. Two of my siblings often butted heads and I always tried to mediate (the five of us were born in six years so we were all close in age (except the first and last :)).

I am second to the left on the bottom

3. What motivates you more-a reward or a consequence? Elaborate. 

I think many decisions that we make have rewards and consequences. I guess it’s how you think of the outcomes and weigh what is most important to you. 

For example, I’m motivated to save and not spend all the money that I earn (well, what Donnie earns) and have a decent surplus of money. 

The rewards are that we have money saved for emergencies or to give away/ pass down to.

The consequences are that we don’t drive brand new cars, go on extravagant trips, own a lot of luxury label products, etc. 

4. May 14th is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. Who thinks biscuits deserve their own day? Do you like biscuits? Make your own? Grab one for breakfast at a drive-through now and then? Which drive-through makes the one you like best? What do you like to put on a biscuit? What's your favorite food or dish that calls for buttermilk? 

I could take or leave biscuits.  I mean, I enjoy eating a good and flaky biscuit but it’s not something that I crave or now go out of my way to obtain (I used to sometimes go through the McDonald’s drive thru to get a biscuit breakfast sammy but have not done that in ages). I don’t like sausage gravy at all. Actually, I probably would like it now. I tried it once as a child and didn’t like it so I haven’t tried it since. 

5. Are there any weddings on your summer calendar? What's your favorite part of a wedding/wedding reception? 

We don’t have any upcoming weddings to attend. I don’t think that I have a favorite part. I like everything about them.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

I wrote about the book Atomc Habits by James Clear when I read it last year so I won’t go into a huge number of details here. But thinking about what motivates us reminded me of the book. It is about habits and I enjoyed reading about the subject of habits and what motivates us to do the things we do. Most of what the book contained was common sense in many ways but having never devoted much thought to the subject, it was really interesting to read about habits, motivation, studies done about habits and lastly, suggestions for breaking bad habits and continuing or starting positive ones.