How are you? "Can't Complain."

What's your battle?  One of my continuing, ongoing, life-long battles has to be criticizing/complaining/judging.  All three of those things are facets of the same sin.  Sigh.  It's one of those things that I can't seem to get a handle on once and for all.

Maybe I need to draw a public line in the sand.  That seems pretty scary to me.  This idea came to me after reading a book by Phil Callaway called To Be Perfectly Honest.  The subtitle is "One Man's Year of Almost Living Truthfully Could Change Your Life.  No Lie."

The cover doesn't look like something I'd normally read, but I like humor, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm so glad I did!  Phil's publisher asked him to write a book about what it's like to go for entire year telling the absolute truth all day, every day, for a whole year.  And he even told his friends and family what he was doing.  That meant they could ask him all kinds of questions and he'd have to answer truthfully.  The results are funny, touching and revealing.  As a comedian, Phil has a way of saying things that made me constantly say to whoever was in the room, "Ya gotta hear this!  It's so funny!"  But he also deals truthfully with life situations like his mom's dementia and the betrayal of a friend.    And yes, the whole book is written from a Christian perspective and he's not afraid to deal with difficult stuff like anger with God.  The book ends up with Phil deciding that he's not ready to back down after a year.  Truth-telling is a way of life he comes to appreciate.

This brings me back to the criticizing/complaining/judging:  could I maybe just stop it for a period of time?  Like Phil Callaway, I'm sure I would find a commitment like this extremely challenging and there would be times of failure, but what an opportunity to learn and grow.  (If you think you are already totally honest or totally uncomplaining, I wonder...)  And just like striving for honesty, it's not like it should be an option for a Christian to strive for victory over complaining and criticizing!  We act like we "can't help it", but if God commands something, we are supposed to do it.  Let's see, what are some commands with regard to criticizing, complaining and judging?

Remember what happened to the Israelites after they complained about the lack of variety in their miraculous food supply?  They ended up wandering around in a desert for 40 years and missing out on the Land of Milk and Honey entirely.  Then there's Philippians 2:14  "Do everything without grumbling or arguing."  And Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."  

Well, I'm not going to write a book right now... I'll just let you know how it goes.  And feel free to come right out and ask me how it's going.  Accountability is good.  I realize I haven't put a timeline on this, because I'm still concerned about a total crash and burn failure.  I'm a work in process-- a LOT of work!

Here goes... no more complaining about the weather, rising property taxes, hot flashes or stupid drivers. No criticizing people for not being up to my "standards" or judging them for having different opinions than mine.

Besides trying to develop a more Christ-like character, this should further my quest to be a sweet old lady someday.

The other day I asked a 5-year-old how old he thought I was.  He said "99."  (Then he asked when I was going to be 30 like his mom).  You see, the "old" part of sweet old lady is inevitable.  The "sweet" part is not a given.

By the way, the book review included in this post is in return for a free copy of the book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers, but the review is honest and not swayed by this fact.

Clothesline Bliss

Ah.  The sun is shining, the grass is green.  The butterflies are fluttering and crashing joyously into my picture window.  It's spring and time for me to start hanging my laundry outside again.

I'm a Mutant

Y'all probably didn't know that, did ya?  The problem is that I don't have special powers.  My mutation is of my MSH6 gene and is called Lynch Syndrome.  Who knew that all our genes are cataloged?  Here's how my daughter, Katie, describes our mutation (she's a mutant too and has a degree in biology so she knows what she's talking about):  


"Lynch Syndrome is a genetic mutation that is in every one of my cell’s DNA.  As DNA copies itself, a “spellchecker “goes behind it to ensure that the code was copied correctly.  If it is not correct, then it will initiate a process to fix the damaged code.  Lynch Syndrome causes that spellchecker to malfunction, so that if my DNA has a mistake during copying, that mistake will not be corrected in the new cell.  This change in the code increases my risk for certain types of cancers.  The specific spellchecker protein affected in my case is MsH6."


Yeah, we were pretty freaked out when we found out we had this a couple of years ago.  My aunt started the ball rolling when she tested positively for it.   My dad then tested positive too.  That meant my chances were 50/50 for having it, so I optimistically assumed I wouldn't. I debated getting tested, but figured I would rather know.  Do I need to have a colonoscopy every year or every 7-10 years like everybody else?  I preferred the option with the least frequency and being optimistic, I figured I probably didn't inherit the offensive gene.  Wrong!  Ugh.  The worst thing was knowing that I may have passed my mutation on to my kids.  And I did.  At least once anyway.


But we got over the freak-out stage, and now we're down to the business of just getting screenings done more frequently than the average population:  like getting a colonoscopy every year.  Not fun, but definitely not the worst thing in the world.  If you don't want to hear anything more about colons, you better stop reading now.   Katie and I like to do this as a Mother/Daughter event.  We prepare the appropriate solutions, tap our glasses together, say "Cheers", and it's down the hatch!  This year, just to make it all worthwhile, the doc even found two polyps for me (non-cancerous)-- and removed them of course.


Today's sermon at church was about having thankful hearts.  The main scripture passage used was the one from Luke about the 10 lepers that were healed and how only one turned around and ran back to thank Jesus... for healing him from the dreaded disease of leprosy!  Too often I forget to thank Him too, for all kinds of things.  But right now, right here, I will.    Thank You God for genetic tests so I know how to take care of myself.  Thank You that my dad is 88 even though he's a mutant too.  Thank You for doctors and nurses and anesthesiologists and technicians and volunteers.  Thank You for all they are able to see and do and treat.  Thank You that my daughter doesn't blame me for passing on a bad gene to her.  Thank You that the polyps I didn't even know I had are gone now.


I usually post pictures with my blogs, but I just can't think of any appropriate ones for this post other than this:

The Mutants

P.S.  If you have a huge family history of a particular disease, like my family has for cancer, talk to your doctor.  Maybe there's a genetic test you could get to know how best to take care of yourself.  Knowledge is power.


P.P.S.  I now have a tattoo!  The doctor tattooed the inside of my colon to mark where one of the polyps was.  Now I'm cool.