Know & Tell Friday

It's Friday y'all (at least, here in Korea it is), and you know what that means:


...from To Know Him





Here are today's questions:


1. On a normal day...You just pulled out a load of laundry from your dryer, what would be the next thing you do?

Well, I don't actually have a dryer. Here in Korea, very few people have dryers, and the ones that do have them only have small, "apartment dryers" that don't work very well anyways. So, I hang all my clothes here:



And here:



When the laundry dries - be it after two hours or two days, depending on the weather - what I do with it depends on what kind of day we're having in our house. If it's a low-key, easy day, I fold the laundry as I pull it off the line and put it in my favorite lime green laundry basket:



Then I take the basket to each room of the house and put the laundry away. However, on days when we're busy or when the girls need more attention than normal, I simply make room for the next load by removing the dry clothes from the rack and throwing them into the lime green basket unfolded. Usually, the basket of unfolded clothes sits in my living room a day or ten... sometimes longer...

2. Have you seen all three movies from the Kendrick Brothers? Fireproof, Facing the Giants, and Flywheel... If not, go out and rent them today. If so tell me what you thought of them.

I have never heard of Flywheel, but I'm definitely putting it on my "soon-to-be downloaded" list because, y'all, I LUH-HUV Facing the Giants and Fireproof. I like Facing the Giants mainly because it was filmed in my home state, using actors from the local churches and high schools. That just makes me happy. :) But Fireproof? Oh, my, how I love that movie!!! Even my husband, who normally scoffs at sappy Christian movies, recommended this one to his friends. So many movies in our culture show the "ugly spouse" in a failing marriage and then the "beautiful affair" that brings "real love" into the character's life. I love that this movie lays it all out there. Yes, sometimes marriage is hard - like, gut-wrenching, I-have-no-more-tears, how-did-we-get-here kind of hard. But I LOVE that we finally have a movie where the answer to that kind of marriage isn't found in a lustful affair, but rather in sacrificing to honor vows and to love relentlessly - "as Christ loves the church."

How did I get on that soap box again?


3. Currently is there something in your life that you feel God wants you to give up or surrender to Him?


Sheesh. Where do I begin? I guess my primary area right now is my reputation. You see, while there are wonderful advantages to living in a close-knit community like I do, there are also some drawbacks, especially with all the cultural differences. People know when you go to the store, when you take out the trash, when you dress in shorts, and when you don't wear makeup. Every step I take outside my apartment (and sometimes inside my apartment) is noticed by someone. This fact in and of itself doesn't really bother me that much. I absolutely love the sense of community we have here, even if it does mean losing a little bit of privacy.

But the problem is this: I have a very hard time balancing between wanting to be "culturally appropriate" and wanting to be "liked by everyone." There is a huge difference, for sure. Being "culturally appropriate" means I dress modestly and carefully attempt to adhere to the rules that dictate relationships here. Wanting them to "like me" (read: approve of me) leads me down an entirely different thought life. What are they wearing? Should I wear shorts or capris? sandals or flip flops? hair up or down? How do they dress their kids? Are Chloe's tennis shoes too gaudy? Is Maple dressed too warmly or too cold for their liking? Are their toddlers as dirty as mine by the end of the day? Do the bottom of their socks get dirty like mine? (Seriously, I actually started looking at the bottom of other moms' socks in the mommy-baby room.)

I find myself constantly analyzing and over-analyzing what they might think of me and my family.

This is a thought pattern that the Lord has exposed in my heart over the past week, and I feel He's calling me to give it up.

I mentioned earlier that I am really trying to connect with the Samonims in my building, and that connection is not possible (at least not to the degree that I would like) as long as my own insecurities about their opinion of me get in the way. I must remember that I am simply called to walk in love towards my neighbors. Sometimes that means adhering to culturally appropriate boundaries in what I wear and how I look. But my motive should be to love them and show them respect through my actions and appearance... not freak out over what they think of me.

So that's it. That's what I'm working on changing... and giving up.

Well, that, and chocolate pancakes. But that's just too painful to talk about right now...