Live Out Loud - Adventures of a mom

Last week was  Chin Ming  or Tomb Sweeping Day.  For years I'd wondered what a Christian response to this Chinese tradition ought to be.  When I was younger, this was not an issue. Growing up overseas, and being mostly among Christians, it seemed my parents had decided to completely bury this festival.  As a result, I grew up with mythological ideas of what it was, but with very few facts. As I grew up and met more friends of Chinese origin, I started learning about their traditions and the very real challenges they faced in venerating the dead and complying with family expectations versus church expectations.  I also started noticing a lack of conversation about the topic.  Instead, it felt more like an either or choice. In fact, what ended up happening was that every individual struggled through the decision and went through it behind closed doors.   I believe there was/is a stigma in our church culture - mentioning your struggle over this, or talking about DEATH, for tha

Everyone wants to feel they matter. Right? I've been feeling quite down in the last month.  Up and down, up and down. And I was getting tired of sharing with people.  I got tired of feeling like I'm the only one who struggles.  I know that is not true, and people even share with me how much they are encouraged when they hear people like me (cause I'm not the only one) share because it reminds us all that we are never alone. But after a while...it can very easily feel like you are always the one who "doesn't have it all together" And soon after, you begin to feel like people care out of sympathy rather than love.                    Would they care if you didn't say anything?                 Would they care even when you don't really have a crisis? So, I stopped sharing; or I tried to.  I stopped not because I had it together, but because I was tired of being the only one (or so it seemed to me).   I didn't want to feel like the weaker