Vacation to Thailand

To celebrate this week's "World Day for Cultural Diversity," I decided to take a mental vacation to a place I didn't know much about - Thailand. I read all about the Thai culture, ate Thai food for lunch, and listened to a stream of traditional music from Thailand.

 

Also, I decided to write my Compassion kids to share with them the things I learned and made some suggestions of possible activities they could do to celebrate the cultural diversity around them any time of year. I mentioned that they could use me as an example too! :) Some of the things I learned about Thailand were:

*Thailand is roughly the equivalent in size to Texas. 

*They greet each other with their hands pressed together, fingertips pointing upwards, then they bow their head to touch their face to their hands and say hello.

*It's not polite to point with your feet.

*Thai food often blends five tastes: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and salty.
*Thailand is referred to as the "Land of Smiles." 

 

 

*They have an instrument there called a "wot" that is a circular pan flute. They blow into it and spin on their chin to play - they've played it for over 1000 years. It's sometimes played to pray for rain before the harvest.

 

A big thanks to my coworkers, Debbie & Heather, who joined me for our Thai lunch experience. What a great "mental" Thailand vacation! Here are some pictures below of lunch.  

 

 Do you need a mental vacation? If so, then I highly recommend this activity! :)

World Day for Cultural Diversity

Ten simple things YOU can do to celebrate the World Day for Cultural Diversity on May 21.

1. Find & visit an art exhibit or a museum highlighting other cultures
2. Learn to say hello in another langauge
3. Host a pot luck meal where participants bring in dishes that represent their ethnicity or their favorite ethnic foods.4. Listen to a musical tradition from a different culture
5. Play a sport related to a different culture (Karate, Criquet, Pétanque…) or learn a game.
6. Learn a different style of dance from another culture
7. Read a book by a well known author from another culture or country
8. Volunteer with an organization working for diversity and inclusion
9. Ask someone from a different culture their favorite family tradition from their childhood.
10. Talk to your children, family, friends about diversity and the beauty of different cultures.

 

Find out more! the "Do One Thing" project

 

“It is never too late to give up your prejudices”
― Henry David Thoreau

A Heart's Treasure

The heart is a treasure chest that we can fill with some valuable truths! Sometimes we have to reconfirm the truths we know about God from the scriptures then move this knowledge from our heads to our hearts again so they can flow out through our actions. So this weekend, I spent time setting back into my heart my trust in: God's faithfulness, in His deliverence through my hardest situations and in His mercy.

Are there any basic truths about God or the life He calls you to live that you need to reconfirm? Maybe ones that you "know" in your head but that you might not be still carrying in your heart and living out? Maybe about His faithfulness, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sacrificial love, unchanging character, trustworthiness or provisions for you? Or maybe about His call to love your enemy, confession and repentance, not people pleasing, God's call to stand out from the world or that your walk with God is more than what takes place at a Sunday service? May God help you to keep the truths connected in both your head & heart! :)

Reading the bible, it's clear that something God calls us to do is to personally care for those who are poor, needy, need a family and are alone. I am confident that one of the ways He wants me to live this out is through adoption but I've had fears come up that He won't see me through the challenges and that I could even lose my relationship with Him because I'll become too overwhelmed or consumed.

So besides the verses I've shared in previous posts, I read these verses below today to encourage my heart and to strengthen me. The verses in Isaiah have been a secret encouragement for several years now. My mind often recalls Isaiah 54:1-5 when I get discouraged that I do not yet have children or a husband. In context, these verses are referring to God's church in the future and is using a human analogy yet somewhere in my spirit I find great hope! 

Isaiah 54 The Future Glory of Zion

1 “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

² “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

⁴ “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

⁵ For your Maker is your husband - the Lord Almighty is his name - the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.

Today is the first time I've ever noticed verse 9 from Psalm 113.

Psalm 113

¹ Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord.

² Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.

³ to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

⁴ The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.

⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

⁶ who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

⁸ he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people.

⁹ He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.

We all have fears and at times we let fears loot and steal the treasures of our heart. I hope you get to spend some time this week reflecting and letting God strengthen you from his word. 

Proverbs 4:23, "Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life."