After working all day yesterday at the commodities office, My dream of being an actress was about to come true (Now, there’s something you didn’t know about me) HGTV film crew came to my studio at my house to film me making pottery for their “That’s Clever” show.
It was grueling……. smiling every two minutes for the 6 hours of filming, jumping in and out of the camera for action shots, by the end of the day (10:00 at night) I was reduced to a babbling idiot.
I did manage to embrace all the folly of the show, dancing for the camera, threatening jesters with my rolling pin. Swinging in the hammocks, the outdoor shots were fun; My dog was the real star of the show.
I did get the two pieces made a funky soap dish and a “Nagiere” vase, they both looked good.
Having four people and two cameras in your face at close range for that long of time was much more nerve racking than I could have ever anticipated. I consider myself an outgoing person, confident about my art but I just could not keep up the pace of stop and go filming. Switching between working and talking, my brain just could not adjust I either wanted to talk or work and I felt kind of like a ping-pong ball bouncing around my studio.
I laughed hysterically at the blundering blubbery words that were coming out of my mouth, You should have heard me try to say “Bone Dry” after 5 or six try’s we gave it up and I said “Green Ware” the term for clay that has not been fired yet. And if by some miracle I got the shot perfect, then just my luck the cameraman messed up on his end and we had to start over, too many times to count.
I tried my best to stay positive and perky to the end. And not to worry about the CRAZY LADY THEY JUST FILMED After about 4 hours I was ready to fall over, and I had not even started on the main project, my vase! I was amazed at how hard the crew and the producer had to work to keep on task, and I have a new respect for this type of work, it is so much more than one can imagine. I no longer wish to be an actress, my commodities job fits me perfectly, I Praise God for his wisdom…and I pray for GREAT Editors.
I am so looking forward to getting back to my solitude in my nice quite studio.

But, Lots’ wife looked back!
Genesis 18
(my disclaimer; assumes the reader knows this passage and is intelligent to look it up if they do not)

I really love it when God speaks to my heart to give me clear direction. My hope is to be able to convey this message loud and clear not only so you may hear it, but so that I will own it.

I never really understood this passage, why would such an awesome God who found favor with Lot allow him to get his family out of town before the destruction, then zap Lots’ wife into a pillar of salt. After all her only sin was looking back, come on who hasn’t looked back, it was her home, her way of life, her whole being.
Was there no room for error? Wouldn’t it count that Lot had an “in” with our savior?

How many times have I read this passage and just shook my head “it’s a metaphor silly I’d tell myself the message is clear go forward don’t look back, And today God showed me very clearly why the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah needed to be destroyed.

It is so easy for me to justify today, I very clearly hear my self talking to my husband as we watch prime time television wow, people should really watch what their children see, this is awful, every channel we flip through there is some deviant sexual behavior, women walking around half naked, sexual acts being actually acted out, some under covers and some just plain out right in your face. Sexuality talked about like it’s a crumpled paper bag ready for the trash not something to be treasured and revered. The idea of same sex partners being pounded into our brains day after day, wanting to make it seem normal when we all know in our hearts it is not normal, but we are so afraid to say “STOP” this is not normal for fear of hurting someone’s feelings or at the risk of being politically incorrect. Not to mention the violence shown unabashedly, where killing is an everyday event. When I think of television today it looks a lot like Sodom & Gomorrah of yesterday. All evil bad things in one place and all you have to do is walk away and not look back and yet why is it so hard to make that decision. Whom will you disappoint? What will your life be like with out the distraction? Is it really all that evil? Or, am I just on a moral high horse! Why do we watch television anyway?

One thing I believe is that television makes us look good. We can have a moral superiority as we watch and look back and proclaim “wow” at least that’s not me, my life is just fine. I go to church on Sunday, I pray for my friends and family, I love God, I love my family. That rotten television is just not me so I don’t have to worry about it so much is the rationalization we make.

Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? That is the question Abraham asked God, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe God is very seriously speaking to me through Lot’s story “yes Virginia there is a God” and there is justice and it will be Gods way. The way I see it, the entire moral paradigm in the world won’t make up for looking back, for when you look back you look away from God. So for me, today I take a stand on God’s word which is the only advice relevant and I will turn away from the past and look forward to no television to distract me from my walk with God and man on this wonderful earth, lest I become a pillar of salt at my own doing.

May your day be blessed with strength and dignity.
Love,
Rita