Blog Archives - trish hermanson

Need a Bail Out or a Crockpot?

12/28/2018

Did you ever want to bail out of something that seemed impossible? I have. Artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir must have felt that way, too, when he attempted what no other French Impressionist had accomplished: a massive painting combining still life with landscape and portraiture. Over a two-year period, he changed the landscape, changed the clothing, changed food on the table, and repositioned his fourteen models, even painting out a woman who exasperated him.
     “One must from time to time attempt things that are beyond one’s capacity,” Renoir wrote while working on it. He persevered, and his “Luncheon of the Boating Party” remains one of the best loved paintings in the world. It’s one of my favorites, too, because it reminds me of how hard some things can be. Sometimes it’s projects that are tough. Or relationships. Or a job that’s killing us. There are times we should bail out. But other situations are like Renoir’s painting, requiring perseverance.
  So for this new year, I’m asking myself what to let go of and what to keep persevering in until, in its own way, its a masterpiece.

The Scandal of Christmas

12/17/2018

The real Christmas story is even more scandalous than finding an “Eat More Chikin’” cow in my Nativity scene (compliments of my family). In the true story, Mary, a teenager, tells her fiancé she’s pregnant by the Holy Spirit. You expect him to believe that? No way. So being a good Jewish boy, Joseph plans to privately dump her. But in a dream that’s enough to rattle anyone, an angel tells him to marry her. Not an easy start for a couple.
     Then Mary goes into labor while they’re traveling to a census count. No vacancies, so it’s anguish and afterbirth in a barn, and their newborn lying in a feeding trough. Not the dream of first-time parents.
     In a field nearby, celestial warriors rip open the sky and practically scare the tunics off a bunch of shepherds. They hotfoot it over to worship this child who the angels proclaim will be a savior. Then foreign scholars follow a weird star and announce to the local overlord that a baby is destined to become king. Fearing for his position, the overlord goes postal and kills all infants under the age of two - bloody infanticide. But Joseph and Mary escape, so desperate to protect their child they seek refuge in a foreign country.
     No sweet, syrupy story here. Instead, it’s the Supernatural’s gritty entrance onto planet Earth. God sneaks in as a baby to identify with our frailness, then as an adult, he rolls up his sleeves to deal with our brokenness. But that’s another true story - Easter.
     To hear a realistic song about Jesus’ birth, click here.

Is It Naughty or Nice to "Out" Santa?

12/14/2018

Outing” Santa Claus is dangerous. That’s what my granddaughter learned when she told a classmate that Santa is just pretend. The child’s parents complained to the teacher, the teacher reported it to my daughter, and my daughter was left trying to explain to our granddaughter why parents teach their kids that Santa is real.
     So what’s the problem with believing that this jolly old man sees you when you’re sleeping, knows when you’re awake, and knows when you’ve been bad or good? It’s creepy, especially when used to manipulate behavior (“so be good for goodness sake”). Then, once the hoax is revealed, kids may experience a giant let down and wonder “what else have my parents lied about?”
     Some say Santa introduces kids to the concept of God. Not really. Santa is omniscient, but not in a benevolent way. He makes a list and checks it twice to see who’s naughty and nice. Then he turns off the generosity when we don’t measure up. That’s not like the true God. As author Philip Yancey says, “Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less.” Which is great because at times we all get on the naughty list. That’s why we celebrate Christmas, because Jesus came to take us off that list.
     So what to do if you’ve bought into the Santa story? When my kids were young, I found it helpful to talk about the historical St. Nicholas, who gave gifts because he loved Jesus. Then if you enter into the Santa Claus myth, make it clear he’s just pretend, as Moana, Mary Poppins, and Han Solo are.
That’ll keep you off Santa’s naughty list for lying.
***
     Historical information about St. Nick is here. Clipart is from Clipart Panda with text added.

Is There Beauty in Darkness?

12/7/2018

Ever find it hard to see anything beautiful during a dark time? I’ve struggled with that since the sudden, unexplained death of our six-year-old granddaughter this year - nothing but pain and sadness. So I’ve held onto a story I learned about Robert, a father scrambling to provide for his family early in the Twentieth Century. He’d attempted various jobs that produced nothing but poverty. At Christmas he tried earning money at a fair to buy presents, but failed. On his way home to his farmhouse late that night, he stopped his horse by the woods. With miles to go before he slept, he could freeze under a blanket of snow on this darkest night of the year.
     Seventeen years later. Robert Frost stepped outside his stone farmhouse into a radiant sunrise in the lightest time of the year. His mind traveled back to that bleak night. But now, Frost recalled the brush of easy wind and downy flake - beauty!
     He hurried inside to his dining room table, and in twenty minutes penned “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.” It’s perhaps the most famous poem of the Twentieth Century, calling us to search for loveliness in our darkness.
     We all face bitter-cold journeys in life. I’m thinking that, as Frost discovered, I won’t find beauty in my circumstances, but instead in my setting. It’s in the hug of a friend. Or a meal dropped off to sustain us. Or the quiet look from someone who understands. That’s beauty in darkness.
  Frost’s poem is here.