Pertaining to Stuffed Salmon

In Valentine's Day this year, we went out to a fancier-than-usual restaurant and I got stuffed salmon.  It was really quite marvelous, despite the fact that I do not not normally go for salmon or goat cheese (the two primary ingredients).  It turned out very tasty!

Fast forward ten months.  I had frozen salmon fillets in the freezer (I'd had a coupon and they were on sale... Don't be fooled - I'm way too cheap to normally buy salmon) and goat cheese that someone had brought to a party and let us keep the leftovers.  As I pondered what to do with it, the dish I had for V-Day came to mind and I decided to try to recreate it.  Having been ten months ago, I really don't know if I did, but what I came up with wound up being a pretty sweet meal.  So here it is:

Stuffed Salmon

Salmon fillet (1/person)
Sea salt
Goat cheese (2 heaping T/person)
Dijon mustard (1 T/person)
Olive oil
Thyme (I used dried)
Pepper
Brown sugar

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.  If using frozen salmon, thaw and pat dry.  If not, pat dry.  Sprinkle salt on both sides and rub in gently.  Let it sit for a few minutes and then run the fillets under cold water, getting rid of any excess. Pat dry again.
2. Carefully put a slit in the center of each piece of fish that goes most of the way through to the other side.  Cover a baking sheet with foil.  Drizzle and rub around a little olive oil on the foil to disperse evenly.  Place the salmon on the sheet.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the mustard, a tiny bit if olive oil, a bit of thyme, pepper, and a pinch of brown sugar.  Separately, crumble the goat cheese and then fill the center of the pieces salmon with the cheese.  Sprinkle any remaining cheese on the tops, and then pour the mustard mixture on top of the salmon and slightly spread to even it out.
4. Cover with foil and bake for about 13 minutes, until they are done.  Enjoy!

Not Pertaining to Stuffed Salmon

Although I fear that with all of the writing and talking about what occurred last Friday this may just be white noise, I have felt compelled to write about this, even though I was originally planning on writing out the pretty banging recipe I made for stuffed salmon last night for dinner.  Fish can wait.

I would like to address the question of why God would allow what happened on Friday to happen. IF there is a God and IF He is loving, why do so many painful things happen in this world.  Why do innocent ones suffer?  What is the purpose?  Doesn't He care?

First, we need to be clear that MOST suffering is man-made.  Would it be right to assume, then, that God is to blame for these things that were not made by Him?  Our culture has completely cast God out- what right do we have to expect Him to jump in and rescue us from ourselves?  Given that we are a nation and world that has decidedly cut God out of nearly every aspect of our lives, how is it that we have the audacity to demand that He do something when we perpetuate crime against each other (and Him!)?

The fact is that God has given us some very clear instructions that, if we actually took Him up on them, would drastically reduce the suffering, pain, and evil on Earth.  If we actually put Him first, loved our neighbor, tell the truth, honor authority, not covet or steal, remain faithful in our marriages, not commit murder, etc. wouldn't our lives, on the whole, be so much better?  Is God to blame, then, because we choose to spit in the face of those instructions?  We suffer because we ignore those instructions.

Now, lets look at how God created us.  He had the power to "program" us for complete obedience and compliance, but He didn't because He isn't a drill sergeant.  He created a world where we are free to rebel and talk back and strike out and hate and abuse ever gift He has ever given us.  He allows us to do this without jumping in every time without immediately setting us straight-- because that is what love does.  It allows the loved me to disagree and to NOT love in return.  God could have created robots who comply, but He wanted persons who love instead!  He wants us to choose what we are going to love.  Forced love isn't love though.  So we live in a world of people who have chosen not to love God.

But why doesn't He stop it?  What exactly would "stopping it" involve?  It calls upon God to operate the world through constant interference... But would we actually want that?  If an invisible foot kicked us every time we were bout to do something wrong, we would soon stop doing wrong outwardly, but wouldn't we start to resent the Owner of that invisible foot inwardly?  We would be frustrated because we'd believe He was not letting us do what we want.  So God is sort of in a no-win position: we blame Him when he doesn't " do something " but we would resent Him if he were to interfere.

Now suppose He did prevent suffering as you're asking.  Perhaps he would jump in and wipe out the "big" causes of suffering- murderers and terrorism and abusers.  Things would be great for a while, but them the "medium" causes of suffering (perhaps kidnappers and drug dealers) would seem big.  So, He would get rid of those too.  Now we are left with the "littler" causes, like those who cut us off in an intersection or lash out in anger or are bad neighbors, which would become big deals to us.  So God wipes them out too.  Who is left??  Ultimately, the answer isn't that God wipe those people out, but that He uses bad to create good and to change hearts so that they create love, and not sufferings.

God DOES want to stop suffering because it hurts Him to see His children in pain!  But he wants to do so by restructuring the world... Not by wiping people out.  He knows that force doesn't change hearts.  Instead, He moves gently in people's lives who want to help Him recreate a world of love.

A couple of other thoughts.  Sometimes suffering comes into our lives because God wishes to disturb the world around us so as to shock and change our world.  Sometimes He will allow innocent, good people whose death will be so disturbing that its effect sends shock waves into our society to wake us up.  Jesus was the ultimate example of this.  Sometimes He allows these things because God can only teach certain lessons in dark places.  Other times it "forces" us to create solutions and changes that make the world a better place.  As humans, we are solution-oriented.  We want resolution, things to be fixed, effects reversed, etc. But God is evolution-oriented... his chief concern is not that situation is changed but that WE are changed.

I hope this was in some way helpful.  Most of what was here comes from a booklet that a pastor I had years ago wrote in a booklet called "If There's a God, Why Do We Suffer?"  If you are interested in borrowing it or chatting more about this let me know.

Keeping Up Appearances

Long ago, in the ancient days of infrequent blogging (not much changes...), I posted on a similar topic.  Needless to say, this topic doesn't go away.  As I was scurrying about yesterday getting ready to host a Christmas party the following thoughts plopped into my head, begging to be written down.  I am sure that someone out there on the ol' internets needs to hear them, but mostly I think I need to verbalize them for myself.  So if you want to hear a grown woman talk to herself in public, then please feel free to join me:

I knew that a bunch of women would be entering my home for a party.  Now.  These aren't just ordinary women who also happen to be in their 20-somethings like me.  Most of these women are seasoned wives and cooks and homemakers whose children are at least my age.  They are beautiful women with incredible wisdom, inspirational tender-heartedness, and soul-healing laughter.  They are amazing women to me and I was delighted to be able to have them over to encourage and bless them.

Which, of COURSE, meant that the floor they walked on had to be vacuumed thoroughly (and Swiffered, in the appropriate areas).  Naturally, being able to bless them was contingent upon having Christmas music playing at the perfect volume level of noticeable-without-being-intrusive in the other room.  It would be unthinkable to serve the Blueberry Granola Parfait with any yogurt on the rim of the bowl.  And, how could anyone have proper conversation if the two scented candles ("Christmas Pine" and "Winter Wonderland") remained unlit?  Unthinkable!

Yes.  I sound ridiculous.  I'm aware.  This is what trying to impress people looks like.  People who really (get this!!)... Do.  Not.  Care.

As I was scurrying about, God brought the story from 1 Samuel 16 to mind, when He sent Samuel to pick out a new king from Jesse's sons.  All of the men who were strong, handsome, undoubtedly ripped and toned-in-all-the-right-places were lined up as he went from one to the next, astonished, as God crossed each one off the list.  This is where the oft-quoted verse, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" arose from.  It occurred to me yesterday that this verse is applied entirely too quickly to physical appearance, but it shouldn't stop there.

Yes, we apply entirely too much stock in physical appearance, but what about social status?  Selectively posting certain things in public forums that allow us to look like we have all of our neatly-groomed ducks in a row?  What about appearance of wealth?  Name brands can afford to be so much more expensive because they know consumers are willing to pay more to LOOK like they paid more!  Now, I'm aware that not all credit card debt is a result of this, but leaving beyond your means is often rooted in this too (don't buy stuff you can't afford).  Let me go beyond this one step further even.  What about activities we choose to get involved with, and then go out of our way to bring up in conversation?  Or books we have read?  Or movies we have seen?  Or places we have visited?  Or experiences we have?  Or people we know?

I am convinced that we often (yes, often) are motivated in some of these ways because we want others to be impressed by us.  We KNOW that men look at our outward appearance/status/wealth/education/home/athleticism/gym membership/resume of travel/cultural awareness/music-hipness/etc.  We build our lives around this knowledge.  But it is all dust.  What God thinks (and knows) about us is what determines eternity.  Wouldn't our time, then, be a tad bit better spent on things that are actually of importance?

Tour Time!

Happy December!  As previously promised, I finally am getting around to posting some pictures from our newly acquired home.  We still have a considerable amount of painting (and have waited for most decorations until that point happens), and so most of the rooms aren't finished, but this will give you an idea of our happy little home at present.  Would you like to join me for a tour?

So the first picture you saw was the front of the house, followed by views of our street.  Aside from the occasional party next door, dogs next to us and across the street, and police-helicopters overhead every so often, it is pretty quiet.  It's amazing that we're so closed to the city, but distanced enough that we forget how close we actually are.

When you walk in the front door, we have a living room area that is home to our books and music, as well as a coat closet (not shown).  To the left is the master bedroom...

And then the guest bedroom...

And on the opposite side of the hall is a bathroom still in need of one more coat of paint and different tile (at some point before we die).

At the opposite end of the hall is another living room area that opens up into the kitchen, but we are still waiting on our couch to arrive.  Outside the doors pictured is the backyard, which I'll get to in a few minutes.

Of the many many many many things I love about this house, the kitchen has got to be one of my favorite parts.  Not shown is the laundry "room" (just a big closet) on the opposite side of the kitchen.

Between the entrance and kitchen is the dining room, also still in need of another coat of paint.  Now let's head downstairs to my husband's favorite part of the house...

The basement is in an L shape.  Part of it we plan to section off to an additional bedroom at some point in the future, but for now it's our music studio/office area.

The doors lead into the utility work room:

The other door you may have seen leads to a bathroom which we painted in "Billiard Green."  I'd say it's true to its name, eh?:

And finally, our backyard has a lovely garden, shed, patio, and some beautiful trees which I adore.  We're so blessed.

So now that you've seen it, it's time to hop in the car and come visit.  The structure itself has no value unless people are in it-- consider yourself invited.  :-)