#FiveMinuteFriday

      I'm a contemplator.  I've never read 'Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti' but I get the visual.   If my brain were like a housefly, it would have taken off and landed 287 times, on different subjects, before I even brush my teeth in the morning.  I'm exhausted from being with myself by the end of the day.  And surprisingly, it's quite the challenge to narrow all those thoughts down to individual blog postings. 

One of the things I contemplate is the difference between these 2 types of knowledge:

1. Ginosko—to be aware of; to be informed; to become aquainted with.

2.  Oida—to fully perceive and understand through experience.


In simplier terms, #1 is head knowledge/book smarts.  #2 is experiential knowledge.  It's like, I don't want to be operated on by a surgeon who doesn't have a medical degree.  Furthermore, I don't want to be his first patient.  You know?  I want him to have gone to school AND had some real life practice. 

I have some thoughts about how this plays out in the faith community, and in particular homeschool families.  I honestly  believe we are quite at risk for raising excellent #1's but we run the risk of depriving ourselves and our kids of the opportunity to be #2's.  And despite our greatest intentions, I believe there will be a negative impact on the winsomeness of the gospel if that is the case.  I'm still contemplating for a later post.

In light of the contemplation I've done thus far, I made the decision a few years back to seek out OIDA for myself.  This is usually manifested in individual decisions to go outside my comfort zone and do something I wouldn't normally do.  These choices have usually exposed for me some fears, insecurities, unresolved resentments, etc. which I really think is a good thing.  And this post is an example.

In high school, I was an AP writing student with a solid 'B' grade for my entire high school career.  I was in class with some beautiful writers, some of which have gone on to careers in journalism and TV news.  As for me, I wrote a five paragraph essay every Friday and I'm fairly certain that I only received one 'A' my entire 3 years of high school.    So, this blog is already risky behavior.   But then I found Lisa-Jo Baker's blog, Tales from a Gypsy Mama.  

I like her and she has a weekly blog/Twitter challenge #FiveMinuteFriday:  
   http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/
She refers to it as a writing flash mob.  For my blogging friends (who also stay up late at night) take a peek and see what you think. 

I think all of us could benefit, to some degree, by getting into the habit of doing things outside our comfort zone.  I'm fairly certain that it might become easier over time to take these kind of risks and that it even has the potential to be a good habit.  Just think about the personal growth that can come by practicing surrender and just letting go and letting the chips fall where they may.  And learning not to care what someone thinks of our sloppy chips.  In fact, I'm gonna publish this without proof reading.