Why I’m Here…
Throughout my life, many ‘considerations’ have been ruminated upon… Dropped into my heart’s mind through a casual conversation with an unbeknownst stranger or a more profound discussion with a sentient theorist. But honestly, most of these ‘considerations’ started as a simple question in my child-like mind.
And that, my friends, unravels why I am here hacking away at this keyboard to present my constant rumblings.
You see…despite my general detest for screens, it is this digital world that often took my teeny-tiny thought bubbles and turned them into real-life applications. An idea that started as a passing thought would be transformed into an unshakable value that dictated how I would walk out my daily life. Not in one fell swoop, but often through a process – much like rumination – otherwise known as ‘chewing the cud.’
If you’ve ever seen a cow laying in the field chowing down on what seems like nothing, they are probably chewing the cud. After taking a few mouthfuls of grass, a bovine chews it enough to get it down the hatch where it initially ferments in the rumen. It is partially digested there only to be regurgitated and chewed upon again. This second chewing session adds more saliva and further breaks down the food. It is eventually swallowed a final time, moving on to other chambers of the stomach in order to be fully digested.
This process seems to have many parallels to the digestion of a new idea. Coming in fresh, a new idea can often captivate us, bursting with fervor and intuitive perception, only to have it slip down into the rumen of our minds to sit almost untouched for a time during that initial fermentation. It lingers in the background of our consciousness, not ready to be fully digested but not dismissed either. Kind of a limbo between acknowledgement and embracement…until it is reintroduced yet again. A respected friend mentions it in conversation; a verse pops up that validates it; ‘jquigley45’ posts a persuasive argument for it in the comments section of a YouTube video; and just like that…!The idea is regurgitated to be chewed upon yet again. You chew on it a little more, really beginning to extract the deeper meaning of the idea to eventually be swallowed, digested and fully incorporated into your life.
It is my hope that these posts will cause mamas to really think about how their faith unravels practically in the every day. We often have intuition on many of these topics – only to silence them on account of the status quo, to keep the peace, or because it’s downright hard to swim upstream. I know this because I’ve lived it, and too many times, I’ve reverted to habits that weren’t ideal because the whispers of the world convinced me otherwise. I truly believe that will benefit the community of believers to be the salt and light of the world we are called to be.
As you join me in these considerations, please know that by no means do I think I have arrived on any of these topics! Some of these ideas are still in the rumen of my mind and others have been chewed upon for years. Much like rumination, this is a process. The point is not MY OPINION which is fallible and susceptible to change. The point is considering what life should look like as daughters of the Most High God – as recipients of his unmerited favor. Let us walk boldly in light of that grace. Let us lay down our pride and our will and our comfort just as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for us. Not out of obligation but out of an overflow of gratitude for the grace we have been given! Praise God!
