I Never

As my small group can attest, many of the thoughts I share begin with, "So I was listening to WGBH and ..." fill in the blank. Today is no different. Diane Ream's show this morning was on violence against women spurred from the 22-year-old woman shot in the back before an audience of men in Afghanistan last week. As most things are in our day, it was recorded with a camera phone which is why this particular incident (female executions are not uncommon around the world, especially in the Middle East) is getting a lot of attention. 

While Diane's guests talked about violence ending when women are empowered economically and otherwise and how ideas about masculinity need to be transformed to honor women, it made me so eager to do something. There are a lot of things to care about in the world, but this is the issue that lights a flame in me. I wish every woman could have a part of my freedom, respect and honor. 

I've never been raped.

I've never been illiterate.

I've never had to quit school because my education wasn't valued.

I've never been married as a child bride.

I've never been forced into an arranged marriage with my rapist.

I've never been forced into an arranged marriage at all for that matter.

I recently met a Middle Eastern girl who immigrated to the US with her family. She was not able to enroll in school like her younger sister, she must have just missed the cut off at 18-years-old. Her parents arranged for her to marry someone of the same nationality living in another part of the US and now she must go 1700 miles away from her family to be with her husband. Her English is sub-par and she is moving to the south. That is on a "new" on a scale I will never get close to. 

It's been fun to do all these new things (today I pickled), but this season of my life is about a transition to helping others have a new experience of value, respect, dignity, empowerment. That is the new thing I am most excited about right now. So while all these new things are great, the new thing I want most is to be a tool that helps set the captives free.

I started The Divine Hours today. It was only a partial fail. I started strong at 7am, but the hours are 4 services of prayer throughout the day. I only got to the first one. Oops. There is always tomorrow. If you have never heard of The Divine Hours (like me until a month ago) here is a brief introduction:

“Asking me why I keep the offices is like asking me why I go to church. One, granted, is a place of bricks and mortar, but the other is a chapel of the heart, as powerful a place, albeit one of the spirit. The Offices open to me four times a day and call me to remember who owns time and why it is, as a part of creation. All that means really is that four times a day the watchmaker and I have conversation about the clock and my place as a nano-second in it. All The Divine Hours does is fill the ancient and fixed order of that conversation with the vocabulary and rhythms that are natively and unpretentiously ours as 21st Century Christians. There is nothing new here except a newness of accessibility and a new ease of glory in the doing of it."
― Phyills Tickle

{ Spicy Pickled Carrots }

5 pounds of full-sized carrots, peeled and cut

4 jalapenos peppers, with seeds, halved lengthwise down the middle

14 whole cloves

2-1/3 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

7 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed slightly

5 cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1-2/3 cups granulated sugar

5 Tbsp. pickling salt

Directions are here and they are really long, so I'll just tell you what privileges I took with the recipe and let you click the link if you are so inclined. I actually followed the recipe for the most part. I did add fresh red onions cut into long slabs. I think that the Boston Food Swappers will appreciate that. I also minced the garlic instead of crushing just because I didn't read very closely. So I hope that minced doesn't turn out so garlicky that I ruin relationships. I actually have a tiny little date after the Boston Food Swap (not a blind one, so keep thinking about that!) so maybe I should pass on my own creation. 

The last office of the day is set before sleeping, so with that I will retire for the evening and practice the last divine hour.

Here's to a new ease of glory for us all,

t