Love Learn Lead June 15, 2017

Though we have six more days before it is officially summer, I would say that we have made it. The schools are out here, and the weather is warming up, preparing us for all the good things that are in store. This month on the blog is all about making the most of our summer—while not forgetting about the bigger picture of our lives. Today, we continue along the same theme. Happy summer!

Love

It is strawberry season here in Pennsylvania, and as I shared Monday, my husband and I love going strawberry picking. But, making strawberry shortcake is a little difficult since trying to keep sugar and gluten out of my diet as much as I can. However, this year I think I might have come up with a recipe for a great “shortcake” (though I have to make it a few times before I share it), and I discovered something else—I can make whipped cream without processed sugar!

By whipping up a half cup of whipping cream with a tablespoon of maple syrup (beating with a mixer until light and fluffy), I have a sweet whipped cream that I can dip my strawberries in!

What are your go-to summer deserts?

Learn

“If we don’t plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And you don’t have to be, you know, a brilliant biochemist and you don’t have to have an IQ of 150. Just common sense tells you to be kind, ninny, fool. Be kind.”

—Maya Angelou

Lead

In a world that is constantly asking us to pick a side, an organization that is offering us a different way, is the Preemptive Love Coalition. Dedicated to serving families in war torn Iraq and Syria, PLC’s challenging slogan is to Love Anyway. And this past week, one of their writers, Courtney Christenson, showed us a startling example of what “loving anyway” can look like in our world.

Showing up to a white supremacist rally in Portland, Oregon, where hundreds of anti-fascists also showed up to protest the rally, Christenson brought a simple sign that read:

“Us Vs. Them is a False Choice.”

Standing in the middle of the two angry groups, as they hurled insults at each other, and were held at bay by policemen in riot gear, she bravely held up her sign. She explained in her article:

“There was too much hate coming from both sides, and hate is an ineffective way to make change.You simply can’t hate people into loving each other. I wanted to stand in the gap—in between the vitriol being slung from both sides—and offer an alternative: peace.”