Want a baby? Ask Sarah Maxwell!

[salex]

So does this mean every Monday, she always prays for these things. Every Monday, two prayer requests for babies? A couple's salvation??????????????????????????????? Geeze, these folks really do think everyone is going to hell. Wonder if on Tuesday's she prays for an unmarried person's salvation

So, the prayers are just another chore on the chart.

[danvillebelle]

My left/right handwriting anecdote: About a month into 1st grade, I broke my right wrist and it was in a cast for 8 weeks. During that time, I learned to write perfectly well with my left hand. When I got the cast off, I wanted to keep writing left-handed and they MADE me switch back, quite firmly. Public school in TN.

[divadivine]

So, the prayers are just another chore on the chart.

Yup, prayers are part of Sarah's Chore Pack... And any Maxhell's Chore Pack for that matter.

[emesbe]

Can Sarah cure hot flashes???

Inquiring minds want to know.

How about endometriosis and PCOS??? :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :cray-cray:

[anniebgood]

How about endometriosis and PCOS??? :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :cray-cray:

How about migraines and spring allergies? Prayers for a better organist at church?

Just a question about a previous comment up thread, does Steve allow Sarah to read mail specifically addressed to her? If he kept it from her, or censored it, wouldn't that be a federal crime to intercept legally mailed items?

I wouldn't put it past him, like getting magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's Day or Good Housekeeping?The ads might corrupt her

:stir-pot:

[Oz1977]

My left/right handwriting anecdote: About a month into 1st grade, I broke my right wrist and it was in a cast for 8 weeks. During that time, I learned to write perfectly well with my left hand. When I got the cast off, I wanted to keep writing left-handed and they MADE me switch back, quite firmly. Public school in TN.

I'm really confused as to why it was so wrong to be left handed back in the day? Anyone know why?

[ThatSnark]

I'm really confused as to why it was so wrong to be left handed back in the day? Anyone know why?

Here's a great article about it: http://www.theworldofstuff.com/lefty/

In short, it's denounced in the Bible, the Latin term for left is "sinister," and the sun doesn't move in that direction... therefore, being left-handed is EVIL. :twisted: Fortunately, most of the world has gotten past that, but there are still cultural taboos in parts of the world.

Humans can be so weird.

[Oz1977]

Here's a great article about it: http://www.theworldofstuff.com/lefty/

In short, it's denounced in the Bible, the Latin term for left is "sinister," and the sun doesn't move in that direction... therefore, being left-handed is EVIL. :twisted: Fortunately, most of the world has gotten past that, but there are still cultural taboos in parts of the world.

Humans can be so weird.

Wow thanks for the link! That's some crazy stuff.

[Arete]

Here's a great article about it: http://www.theworldofstuff.com/lefty/

In short, it's denounced in the Bible, the Latin term for left is "sinister," and the sun doesn't move in that direction... therefore, being left-handed is EVIL. :twisted: Fortunately, most of the world has gotten past that, but there are still cultural taboos in parts of the world.

Humans can be so weird.

It actually goes back to the Old Testament. When someone in the Hebrew Bible is described as giving a blessing, they are often described as raising their right hand. There is a psalm where the psalmist declares that if he forgets Jerusalem, his right hand should be cut off. Again, this would cut off the ability to bless or perform a miracle. An Orthodox priest will always give a blessing with their right hand, as will a Greek Orthodox woman. So left handed ness was originally seen as a barrier in being able to transmit a blessing. That is why left handedness was consider "sinister".

[Marianne]

Latraviata, you should read this : http://www.amazon.fr/Eloge-du-gaucher-J ... 2757807218 !

[terranova]

I wonder what that means for people like Erin Bates who have had a miscarriage. Does that mean Sarah changed her mind?

[Myfanwy]

Oh Sarah, sweetie, you poor stifled woman/child;it's the sex. A healthy young couple having unprotected sex will generally make a baby. Your prayers have nothing to do with it.

[SPHASH]

Oh Sarah, sweetie, you poor stifled woman/child;it's the sex. A healthy young couple having unprotected sex will generally make a baby. Your prayers have nothing to do with it.

She doesn't know what sex is. She probably thinks babies come from the stork.

[lilith]

I'm really confused as to why it was so wrong to be left handed back in the day? Anyone know why?

My mother, who went to Australian public schools in the fifties, was made to try to write with her right hand simply because writing left to write with her left hand smudged the ink of what she had just written. Nothing religious or esoteric about it in her case.

It didn't stick, and in the age of biros, followed by the ages of word processing and texting, it hasn't been an issue.

[uber frau]

My father has a similar story. He had to write with pencil for a lot longer than his peers because his (right handed) writing was so awful. As an adult he writes left handed on paper but right handed for most other things. Probably because the world is set up for right handed ppl in a lot of ways.

[formergothardite]

Yes it is, the lovely nuns tied my left hand to the chair, so I was forced to write with the other hand.

Oh lovely memories....j'aime le sympathique église catholique...... :disgust: :disgust:

My mom has a cousin who is left handed and when he started school the teachers used to hit him with rulers if he didn't use his right hand. :( And people wondered why he struggled in school and hated going.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Prayer is one of the aspects of Christian life that I as an atheist have most difficulty wrapping my head around. It makes no sense at all. I would call it Magical Thinking except that magic usually has rules and prayer is completely nebulous and illogical.

Numbers: Are Sarah's prayers more powerful than the couples involved? What about an entire convent of nuns; do their prayers count more? How about an entire stadium of football fans?

Strength: Do scheduled prayers have more power than non-scheduled prayers? If Sarah prays 10 times for a particular outcome does it have more power than if she prays just once? Is there any chance you might piss God off if you continue to pray for something He doesn't want to happen? Do prayers at night on your knees count more than prayers in the sunshine on a lounge chair?

Proximity: Why does God listen and respond mostly to the Maxwells immediate family (like Teri's need for a new phone cover)? Are prayers said 50 feet away more efficacious? Is that why the babies in Africa have such a terrible time? because the prayers of people in America don't reach them?

Method: Do you actually have to form the words or does God read your mind? What about if you accidentally misspoke, said the wrong name or said the opposite of what you mean, does that count? Does it count if Sarah just prays for every barren couple longing for a child to be blessed with offspring or does she actually have to name names? Do the couple involved have to be Christian?

Does God sit around and wait for someone to ask before he does stuff? Why doesn't God "lay it on our hearts" to pray for more things? Can you pray for someone to turn to prayer-- or is that too meta?

Finally, if you truly believed that prayers worked-- that God listened to you and responded by granting your wish-- why would you spend time doing anything else? That would be one helluva powerful tool. You could change the course of history, make everyone's lives better. Maybe if Sarah has God's ears, she should spend less time writing Moody books and spend more time praying. Maybe she should pray to write better Moody books.

[Black Aliss]

At least now we can stop worrying about how Poor Sarah could support herself if she had to. She can go to work for an infertility clinic. Any one of them would love to be able to advertise a 100% success rate.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

There are some things the Maxwells do, day to day, that I find myself thinking "oh, I do that too!" but just in a sliiiiiightly different way.

This article had one of those. I sympathize with Sarah when she says she loves paging through her journal and reading the old posts, reflecting over how those prayers came true.

Well, I do similarly - I like to look back over my old schedules, and my old study notebooks, and realize just how far I've come in whatever pursuit I'm after. It gives a real sense of accomplishment, and I've enjoyed doing this since I was a small kid. I'd look back at old school notebooks and the letters I was learning to write then, say two years old notebooks, and think to myself, wow, those things are so easy to read now! I'm so much smarter! ...and then realize, wait, two years from now, my difficult homework from now will seem easy! I will be so smart!

It kept (keeps!) me motivated to keep on pushing on. It's the same with schedules - I love checking stuff off of lists and seeing just how much I've done. I think maybe my brain and the Maxwells' in that sense, are aligned up.

But the CONTENT, man... 180.

Just kinda had me thinking.

Meanwhile, yeah, Sarah probably hasn't stopped to consider the math of pregnancy.

[twin2]

Meanwhile, yeah, Sarah probably hasn't stopped to consider the math of pregnancy.

There is no mathematics to pregnancy. The lord opens and closes the womb. Duh.

[Toothfairy]

I wish Sarah would get up one day and say fuck this shit I'm outta here. Screw up daddy! :o

[LilMissMetaphor]

Finally, if you truly believed that prayers worked-- that God listened to you and responded by granting your wish-- why would you spend time doing anything else? That would be one helluva powerful tool.

Well, there is a Bible verse that says to pray without ceasing. That always struck me as...very specific and vague at the same time. Obviously people have to get things done during the day. It would be odd to pray while on the toilet, for example. And if you had dual task interference issues you would have a hard time sitting in a meeting and listening to the boss (unless you were praying for the meeting to end). I suppose it would be a good way to answer a telemarketer. "Sorry, I can't answer your questions, I'm praying."

[Trynn]

Actually it's very easy... It's like constantly being on the phone with god... Shoot I prayed on the toilet all the time. God why do I have such a small bladder I hate you for his I wish I could kill you...

Oh wait, that's not a maxhell approved prayer...

[Angharad Crewe]

Sarah just sounds so sad in this latest post. I want a baby but instead I'll pray about all these other women wanting/having babies. I want a husband but instead I'll pray for all these other couples. I want a life but instead I'll just journal my prayers about everyone else's life.

In general, I don't follow the Maxwells very closely because I find Sarah Maxwell to be such an incredibly depressing person. Unlike her parents who chose the crazy, she was born into it. I think that her general naivete and childishness is a result of being spiritually abused for so many years by her crazy family. The fact that she believes that her prayers resulted in couples getting pregnant makes me feel sorry for her rather than snarky... :(

[ljohnson2006]

Sarah should be praying for a husband for herself.