living among the Dutch

The Grand Rapids/Holland area has a large Dutch population.

One would think that one white American couldn't possibly be a minority while living amidst other white Americans ... but there are times when I realize that I am.

It's their attitude towards housekeeping that fascinates me, while at the same time proving to me that I am definately on the outside of this blonde-haired, blue-eyed group.

A few examples:

• Yesterday while out for a walk, I saw a nice little mother and daughter stop their car on the street, both hop out, kick off the snow from around the tires, and then pull the car up onto the driveway.

• A Dutch friend who frets about people in her area who have let ... horrors ... weeds grow in their yards. (You may remember my earlier post about the weed lady near the church? This is NOT the same woman ... it's obviously a fairly common phobia.) Now, growing up, our yard, and the pasture across the fence, were composed of precisely the same plants. The only difference was the length. And there were times, the length wasn't even all that different, if the lawn mower wasn't working properly!

• I often tease the janitor here at church that she cleans behind her water heater with a toothbrush. I made the mistake of telling this (what I thought to be patently-obvious sarcastic story) to another lady. Her eyes lit up, and she eagerly responded, "oh, how does she get back there?!!!?"

• There is the often-heard fretting about people whose cars leak oil onto driveways. My thought ... "a driveway is a place where you park cars. Cars occasionally leak oil. Hence, the driveway is the perfect place for leaked oil to BE."

There was a time when I thought myself to be a relatively neat, clean person. And then I moved here. The longer I live here, the more inferior my estimation of my housekeeping skills becomes! There are times, at the end of a long, busy week, when I half expect the health department to burst down my door wearing bio-hazard suits and demand to inspect my condo.

Hmmm ... study ... did happen a little last night, but only under peril of appearing at my ladies' Bible study tonight woefully unprepared. I enjoyed some time in John 5 & 6. It's interesting to see how much the physical and spiritual is contrasted in John. Everyone was looking for Jesus to meet their physical needs for healing, or food, or a king to overthrow Rome. But He came for something bigger than that. He came to meet the spiritual need that underlies it all - to become right with God by having the problem of our sinful nature dealt with.

But speaking of the physical ... I heard the author of Under the Overpass speak Monday night. He lived for 5 months as a homeless person, and wrote this book about it. I haven't read it yet, but I have it on order from the library. It was an excellent challenge to be mindful of the physical needs around us, and to see people as individuals.

Exercise is still happening about 5 days/week, though I've been mostly walking. I haven't seen the gym in almost 2 months. After work I've been so weary that I just haven't been able to face a noisy room full of people, or the 15 minute drive to get there. It's just SO nice to have a quiet walk right outside my front door, and then retreat to my "to do" list.