E65: #Blessed?

Show Notes

• McDonald’s Spam Burger

Questions for Reflection

Each episode we offer you a few prompts to think about how that day's conversation applies to you. Our supporters over at Buy Me a Coffee now have exclusive access to the PDF versions of all our Questions for Reflection. Join us today! 

1. Do you feel #blessed? What does that mean to you?
2. How do you define being blessed? Is it about what you have, or is it about something else?
3. Do you like it when people say, "God bless you," when you sneeze? Why or why not?
4. Do you ever consider asking God's blessings for other countries (not your own)?

Transcript

 Beth Demme (00:03):
Welcome to the Discovering Our Scars Podcast.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:06):
We have honest conversations about things that make us different.
 
Beth Demme (00:09):
Our mission is to talk about things you might relate to, but that you don't hear being discussed in other places.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:13):
Our hope is that you're encouraged to have honest conversations with people in your own life. I'm Steph.
 
Beth Demme (00:18):
And I'm Beth. On today's show, we're going to have an honest conversation titled #Blessed.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:23):
Then we'll share a slice of life, and the show will close with questions for reflection, where we will invite you to reflect on the conversation in your own life.
 
Beth Demme (00:31):
All right, Steph, I have a Bible verse for you. Are you ready?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:33):
Oh, fun.
 
Beth Demme (00:35):
This is from Genesis chapter 24, verse 35. The servant of Abraham is speaking. He says, "The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys." So what we read here is that Abraham has been blessed, and that means that he has received all of these material goods, all this property.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:05):
And people.
 
Beth Demme (01:06):
And people, who in this context, are property as well,-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:10):
Okay, great.
 
Beth Demme (01:10):
... which is not great. Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:12):
Nothing wrong with that statement there.
 
Beth Demme (01:14):
Well, maybe this is problematic on more than one level. I mean, it's right there. It's in the Bible. That's what it means to be blessed.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:24):
Yeah. So, I mean, I think it's very clear that because this individual's blessed, he's given lots of monetary things. Was that how you read it, Pastor Beth?
 
Beth Demme (01:35):
That's what the verse says.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:37):
So is that something that we can interpret that when we have lots of money and nice houses and nice cars, that means that we ourselves are very, very blessed people? Then on the opposite, if you don't have nice things and a nice car and a big house, then you are not blessed. Is that how we can interpret this, Pastor Beth?
 
Beth Demme (01:56):
Sadly, I think that is how some people interpret it and-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:00):
Wrong.
 
Beth Demme (02:01):
... and that that is not healthy.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:03):
Wrong.
 
Beth Demme (02:03):
Wrong?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:04):
Wrong.
 
Beth Demme (02:05):
Okay. What's right?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:07):
I don't know, but that's what we're talking about today.
 
Beth Demme (02:11):
Yeah. Well, what do you equate the word blessing with?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:14):
Blessing to me is a tricky word. I feel like in the modern day, there is a shift of people using the term so much for so many things that I think have nothing to do with blessing. In a lot of ways, I see it as a very harmful thing when people literally use the term #blessed. You see it in social media posts. They maybe post a picture of ... Okay, we're in the holiday season, maybe there's a Christmas tree and a lot of presents from air quote Santa. I could easily see somebody posting this picture and putting a #blessed on there to show that we have a wealth of presents for Christmas so we are blessed.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (03:00):
When I see people use the term in that way, I don't think they're intentionally using it to be harmful. I think a lot of times it's become a social norm to use that term when we're showing an abundance of something or a wealth of something. I find it very harmful, and I don't think people are intending that. I think they're meaning like, "We're very fortunate. We're very thankful to have these things."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (03:29):
I think there are so many terms that could be used instead. If I was to see that and I didn't have a tree like that and I didn't have presents like that, how am I supposed to feel when someone says that they are #blessed for having that? So if I don't have that, does that mean I'm not blessed? Does that mean that God doesn't love me the same that they love those people? Does that mean I've done something wrong? If I'm not #blessed, am I #cursed? Am I unloved by God? Are these people loved by God? Is that what blessed means?
 
Beth Demme (04:00):
I think you're right that people think they're expressing appreciation, that their intention is to express appreciation, but that they aren't really thinking about the theological implications of what they're saying. God is not transactional. So it's not as if God is saying, "Wow, 2020 has been a hard year. Here's an extra present under the tree for you." God and Santa Claus are not the same.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:27):
One is real.
 
Beth Demme (04:28):
One is real. God is real, and God is not making a list and checking it twice to find out who's naughty and nice. What could be meant to show appreciation to God, who is the giver of all things, can actually come across as someone actually saying like, "God gave me this because I earned it." Like, "I'm so good that God gave me this."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:53):
"I've been a good girl this year, so God gave me a nice car."
 
Beth Demme (04:57):
Yeah. Or, "I went to church enough," or, "I tithed enough," or, "I followed these religious rules enough that ... "
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (05:08):
"I earned a blessing."
 
Beth Demme (05:09):
"I earned a blessing." I don't think that people really think about what that means theologically. Because, like you said, then what's the reverse of that? #Cursed? No. No.
 
Beth Demme (05:22):
I mean, there is a strain of teaching or thought in modern day evangelical circles called the prosperity gospel that basically is that. It's folks like Joel Osteen. This is a big part of his ministry, and he'll say things like, "God wants you to be wealthy. This is something that God wants." That's very different than my theology because I don't think that God is looking at our current cultural economics and deciding that he wants some people to have more than others. I don't think that that's how God works. I actually think God probably cares very little for the ...
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (06:01):
Superficial things in life?
 
Beth Demme (06:02):
Right, for the possessions, but also for the ... We just have finished Christmas, and so I've been really in those parts of the scripture. When Mary finds out that she is going to have a baby and she sings or says her Magnificat, basically what she says is, "God is going to bring down the wealthy. God is going to bring down the proud." It might be helpful for us to think about that when we're like, "Look at everything I have, #blessed." It might be helpful to think about what did Mary say about that? Hmm. I think Mary said that's not God's way. Mary wasn't the first one to say that in the Bible, that's just the one that's really on my mind because of the season we've been in.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (06:49):
Is it one of the 10 commandments, isn't there some saying or teaching where we're not supposed to like flaunt our wealth and want all the things and have all the things?
 
Beth Demme (06:59):
Well, there's one about not coveting what your neighbor has. So it would be like, don't look at what they have and wish that you had it or think that you are entitled to it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:09):
Yeah. But isn't it on the other side, don't be a jerk and be like, "Look at all my great stuff. I'm the best."
 
Beth Demme (07:16):
Wow. Wouldn't it be great if there was a commandment that was like commandment number 11,-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:19):
Don't be a jerk.
 
Beth Demme (07:20):
... thou shalt not be a jerk.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:21):
Can we do that? Can we write that?
 
Beth Demme (07:22):
I'm going to pencil that in.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:23):
Yeah, let's pencil that in.
 
Beth Demme (07:25):
I'm going to pencil that into my Bible. I mean, I think when Jesus says you should love your neighbor as yourself, I think he was thinking ...
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:32):
Yeah, as in more broadly.
 
Beth Demme (07:33):
In other words, people, don't be a jerk.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:36):
Oh, my gosh. That's the headline of 2020, I think. Don't be a jerk, people. Put on your freaking masks.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:42):
When you see #blessed, when you see and hear people use the word, "I'm blessed," what does that make you think or feel?
 
Beth Demme (07:51):
Well, it depends partly on if I'm in a good place, because if I'm in a good place, then I can assign positive intent and say, "Oh, they just want to give God credit for everything they have and everything they are. They want to give the creator of the universe credit for that." So part of it depends on if I'm in a good place, and part of it depends on the context of it because I think I see it more with family than with stuff.
 
Beth Demme (08:22):
I'm thinking in particular about a couple of families who have been in the last year or two, who have gone through the foster care to adoption path. When they say that they're blessed, they really are expressing gratitude for God, gratitude to God for all that has happened in the life of their family and the progress that they've made as a family and the growth that they've had as a family. So I would say it depends on my attitude and the context of what it is.
 
Beth Demme (08:51):
But if someone gets a new car, which is amazing and definitely something to celebrate and super fun, it's harder for me to ...
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (09:01):
Well, I think it's situational. I think it's harmful just to use literally #blessed without giving context. Like you just said with the foster care, if they explained in their posts, if they said, "We are giving so much thanks to God today for helping this happen and bringing our children into our lives, dah, dah, dah, #blessed," with context, that I feel would be comfortable to me. But if somebody posted a picture of a new car and they said, "#blessed," I would feel icky about that, and I'd feel like, "No, you bought a car. Great for you." I mean, there's nothing bad about buying a new car, but if they said, "Our car broke down two months ago, and we just found this-
 
Beth Demme (09:55):
Exactly.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (09:57):
... ad where it was a $2,000 car." If there was a story of how that had really impacted and how this was something that just was really impactful and they used #blessed, that would be a whole different thing.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (10:10):
If you can give context to really how God worked in that situation, then I think it gives a whole different context because #blessed just means like, okay ... I mean, you could be completely in debt with your new car and that you're not blessed in any way. You're just going to become a drain on society probably.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (10:30):
I think it does a huge disservice when people just overuse the term #blessed and just put it on everything and use it so flippantly. It really loses and devalues what blessings truly mean. I think there are so many other ways to express gratitude for something, for explaining a situation. I think there's a lot of other things that could be used in those contexts.
 
Beth Demme (10:58):
Well, and I think it's important to think about what you brought up, which is the flip side of it. The opposite of #blessed is #cursed. So if I post a picture of myself with a bunch of stuff, I go shopping and I get a bunch of new clothes, and I post a picture of my bags, and I say, "Had an amazing time shopping today, #blessed," it's like, "Guess what? If you couldn't go do this today, then you're #cursed." I don't think that when we use the word blessed that's at all what we mean, but I think it's important to think about how it can be received.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (11:30):
Yeah, I agree. I think it's one of those things that needs to be reserved for really actual blessings because I think they can be very powerful.
 
Beth Demme (11:39):
That's a good point.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (11:41):
Having someone say a blessing over you. My mom and I were talking the other day, she was talking about the benediction. Isn't it a blessing after a church? It's like a blessing to go out in the world. I don't think there's anything inappropriate about that to just say a-
 
Beth Demme (11:55):
"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you favor." Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:01):
Exactly. There's nothing, a hashtag, silly about that. I think there's definitely beauty and importance in things like that. When things are overused and thrown around, just tossed around, I think it's really harmful,
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:21):
Do you feel blessed? Are you #blessed, Beth?
 
Beth Demme (12:26):
I do feel blessed. I do. It's that tension of wanting to not live as if I'm completely self-sufficient and as if I don't need God, and so wanting to always give credit to God for everything.
 
Beth Demme (12:43):
One of the things that I got to do in seminary, that looking at it from the outside it would have been like this is the dumbest assignment ever, but that really did produce some change in me, some transformation, it was in a class where we actually spent time exploring a variety of religions and a variety of religious practices.
 
Beth Demme (13:02):
One of the things that I came to understand in that class was a prayer before we eat. I have always done that. I grew up doing that. I've taught my kids to do it. I always say a blessing or ask a blessing before we eat. Sometimes it's really simple like, "Hey God, thank you so much for this food. Amen." Usually, it's a little bit more than that. But what really came to me as I was in this class and working on other religious practices is, there is so much involved in me getting that food. There's so much involved. There's weather, there's farmers, there's seed, there's growth, there's harvesting, there's-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (13:43):
DoorDash.
 
Beth Demme (13:45):
There's packaging, there's production. Even for DoorDash to have gotten it, a lot had to go into that. When you think about each and every one of those steps coming together for me to be able to have this meal before me, I should be grateful. I should be crazy grateful. I didn't have to go grow it myself. I didn't have to harvest it myself. There's a lot I didn't have to do in order to have that.
 
Beth Demme (14:07):
So in that sense, when I talk about being blessed, what I'm trying to express is gratitude. But I also don't think that there's a limited amount of blessing. I may be expressing my gratitude and that I feel blessed; and I'm not trying to say that means someone else isn't, but I understand how it could be perceived that way.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (14:31):
But when you're giving things for your meal, you're not posting it on social media-
 
Beth Demme (14:38):
True.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (14:38):
... with a picture of your family praying and #blessing it. You're not saying that. Definitely, it's important to give thanks for those kind of things and especially for a meal, and also you want to pray that you don't get COVID because about 200 people touch your food, sounds like. So I think there's definitely huge importance to that and taking a moment to be grateful for that.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (15:06):
So would you say your life is blessed?
 
Beth Demme (15:08):
Yes.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (15:09):
And by saying your life is blessed, would you say that other people's lives aren't blessed because they don't look like yours?
 
Beth Demme (15:14):
Definitely not the last part. I think that everybody's life looks completely different and that that's not a reflection of whether or not they're #blessed or not.
 
Beth Demme (15:24):
I don't know that I would say my life is blessed, but I would say that I see a lot of blessings in my life, which means I see a lot of places where God has been at work. I see a lot of places where God has redeemed things that were not good.
 
Beth Demme (15:40):
Maybe every mom feels this way. I don't know. Maybe you don't, I don't know. But when I look at my kids and I think about everything that had to happen for us to come together as a family, that has to be the work of God because I had to go halfway around the world to find them and ...
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:00):
To pick them up.
 
Beth Demme (16:01):
Yeah. I had to go pick them up, and everybody involved in matching us and caring for them while they waited for us and all the personal growth and self-awareness that had to ... It's too big of a work for it to have been completely human, in my mind. So I see a lot of blessing, but I'm a little bit nervous about saying, "Oh, I'm so blessed," as if I'm like-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:28):
Superior to someone else.
 
Beth Demme (16:29):
Yes, that's the word. Superior. Like superior or uniquely special.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:33):
Yeah, and I think when we put those terms on ourselves for our situations ... I've probably, but I can't think of situations where I've said, "I'm blessed," in the situation. I'm thinking through different things in my life. I'm like, "Would I say that's a blessing?" I would definitely say it's like a God moment and a God thing. Would I even call that a blessing though because it feels uncomfortable to me to put that term. Other people can decide that. Other people can hear the story and make that choice whether they would see it as a blessing or not. But I don't know, I tend to not use that term because I feel like it's gotten overblown in our society and become something that-
 
Beth Demme (17:11):
And lost its meaning for that.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (17:12):
Yeah, lost it's true meaning. But I think, like you said, there's not unlimited blessings. There are over and abundance of blessings. They don't end. So I think everyone can be blessed. Everyone is blessed if they choose to really examine that. I don't think wealth is a blessing,-
 
Beth Demme (17:36):
A reflection, right.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (17:36):
... is a reflection of blessing. In my mind, I've never had to live paycheck to paycheck. I've never had to wonder where my next meal was coming from. I would say God's definitely provided in my life; and when I follow him, I feel like I have what I need in my life. But I wouldn't go out being like, "Blessed, I'm just so blessed, and that's why I never have to worry about these things because I'm blessed." Because then it's what's the opposite of that, and what about my friends that do have those things? They aren't cursed in any way. They are blessed as well, just in different ways. Yeah.
 
Beth Demme (18:18):
The reality is, there are plenty of people who live lives that are spiritually rich that don't have an abundance of material blessings. If you doubt that, if anyone doubts that, I think that all they have to do is spend some time talking to someone who lives in another country where they don't have so much stuff.
 
Beth Demme (18:41):
I'm thinking in particular about a time when I ... It was either my first or second time in Nicaragua. I've done some short-term mission trips, literally walking in the jungle to get to this one house to deliver groceries to this family. They had nothing. I mean, not even in an American sense of having nothing. Their house was a lean-to. It was just scrap materials that they had put together to have a shelter. They did not have any running water. They did not have electricity. They cooked over an open fire.
 
Beth Demme (19:16):
We were bringing them really basic supplies, some corn meal, some soap, some oil for cooking. I think there was some sugar in there, really basic stuff. When we got there, they wanted to give us a gift. They had gone out into the jungle and they had picked berries, because they knew we were coming, so they would have them to give to us as an exchange of hospitality.
 
Beth Demme (19:43):
It was a husband and a wife, and they had two or three children. I think if I had asked them, "Do you feel blessed?," they would have said, "Yes, we feel so blessed because, look, we have shelter. Look, we're blessed because you brought us these basic supplies. We're blessed because we could walk through this jungle and pick these berries." Yet, that would not be a blessed living situation by any American definition.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (20:15):
Well, I think that was a good example of, a blessing is something very personal and something that you have to decide for yourself. I've heard those situations. I've heard situations where people by American whatever we can ... I'm not saying the American standard is the one that should be the standard. But by American standards, they have nothing. They live in a small apartment with one bed, maybe a bathroom, and they feel blessed. I know people like this that feel so blessed that have a place to live, that have clean sheets, those kind of things.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (21:02):
That's why I think that we are all blessed in different ways. We just have to really decide and examine it for ourselves what our lives look like and not compare ourselves to other people. I want to have enough money to live and to get the things that I need, but I don't want a McMansion. I don't want to have a gigantic house. That seems very stressful to me to put on this act of, "I have all the things." I don't want all the things. I want what I need and some Lego sets.
 
Beth Demme (21:36):
That's really the wisdom of that commandment about not coveting what your neighbor has, is to really live in gratitude for what you have without referencing yourself by someone else or making someone else your standard.
 
Beth Demme (21:53):
What do you think we mean then when we say, "God bless America?"
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (21:57):
Oooh. Well, that's interesting because it's like, "God, bless my country." Yeah, when I think about it, it almost makes me think like, "God bless my country. Don't bless the others. Bless us." Yeah. I think it should be changed to God bless humanity.
 
Beth Demme (22:18):
Or at least add that in as a verse. "God bless America and everyone else, too."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:23):
Yeah, God bless us all.
 
Beth Demme (22:26):
Hey, Tiny Tim.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:27):
Everyone.
 
Beth Demme (22:28):
That's fun. That's a whole Dickens thing. Yeah.
 
Beth Demme (22:31):
All right, so I have another one for you because I happen to know that you don't really like this phrase. So what about when people sneeze and we say, "God bless you."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:40):
Oh, my gosh.
 
Beth Demme (22:43):
What do you think? Is that like a #blessed thing?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:48):
Yeah. I think it does relate to this because I think people use the term #blessed now just as white noise. They don't think about what they're using, they just use it. That's how I think of God bless you when someone sneezes. It makes no sense to me. Why are you asking for a blessing on them when they sneeze? It's a normal human bodily function. Men do it, women do it, humans do it. Why do we have to offer them a blessing? What in the world?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (23:17):
When you Google where that term came from, I've read it differently than you've read it. There's no exact this is how that term came about.
 
Beth Demme (23:27):
Right, a bunch of ways. Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (23:29):
There's a lot of crazy ways that they think it came about. But why do we say that? It's so silly, and it's also, I think, devalues the blessing term as well. When we use these terms just so flippantly just when someone sneezes, I think we just lose all meaning of these very important words.
 
Beth Demme (23:53):
I really want to disagree with you, but I don't actually think I can because that's one of the reasons that I'm pretty careful with the word God and with the name of God because I don't want to devalue it. So I think it falls into that same line. Like when I get frustrated, I don't say, "Oh, my God." I'll say, "Oh, my gosh." I'm real intentional about it because I don't want it to just become another word.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (24:21):
Exactly.
 
Beth Demme (24:22):
It means too much to me for that. So I could see where God bless you could fall into that same realm,-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (24:29):
And why would-
 
Beth Demme (24:29):
... unless you really mean it when you say it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (24:31):
Yes. But it's become such just a habit thing. You see somebody, "Hi, how are you?" It's just automatic. You don't really care. You just are saying that because that's what you do. When someone sneezes, you are not truly offering a blessing. You just say it because that's what you're supposed to say in polite conversation. I got no time for polite conversation. Don't have a polite conversation with me, people. Have a real conversation. Sneeze, and we'll continue talking, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. Do what you need to do. I sneeze when I see the sun. It's a thing. 11% of people do that. You don't have to tell me, "God bless you." I'm fine, unless I have COVID, then give me some blessings.
 
Beth Demme (25:12):
Actually, just yesterday, I was a couple of rooms away from my son, and I heard him sneeze three times really loud and really hard. So I texted him "God bless you." But you know what, Stephanie? I meant it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:27):
I agree with you there. My niblings are in town, and two of them sneezed at different points. In my head I'm like, "Is this COVID?"
 
Beth Demme (25:38):
Oh, no.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:40):
And even if it's not COVID, they're spreading, they're spreading.
 
Beth Demme (25:43):
Aerosol!
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:44):
Yeah.
 
Beth Demme (25:44):
Aerosol!
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:44):
Aerosols everywhere. I will say, they've been awesome. They are all wearing masks when they're around us. Obviously, we're wearing masks. They're like, you know what? Kids can do this, people.
 
Beth Demme (25:56):
Kids can do this.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:56):
And if kids can do it, guess what? Adults can do it, too. And guess what? Don't have dogs do it. That's non-safe.
 
Beth Demme (26:03):
Oh, okay.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:03):
Yeah, CDC says-
 
Beth Demme (26:04):
I remember when all this started and,-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:05):
... not to put it on your dog, a mask.
 
Beth Demme (26:06):
... and people were like, "Kids aren't going to be able to do this. We can't have school because there's no way kids can learn to use masks."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:10):
No, The problem is, is the parents.
 
Beth Demme (26:12):
I think it's easier for them than for a lot of the adults who I know.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:16):
Yeah. My niblings we're playing with Lego in the Lego room yesterday, wearing their mask. No question. No problem. The only time they took it off was when they were eating, and they put it right back on after. It's not a problem. So I think that's a whole other separate thing though.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:32):
But like, seriously, why do we have to have a response when someone sneezes? Honestly, if you sneeze in front of me, I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to let there be awkward silence because I am trying to push the boundary of it's so silly that we have to comment on someone sneezing.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:50):
Also, if someone burps, I'm sorry, it's just a bodily function. Just burp. Do I need to acknowledge it? Do you need to acknowledge it?
 
Beth Demme (27:00):
Never ever have I said God bless you when somebody burped.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:03):
I know, but then the response-
 
Beth Demme (27:05):
I know.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:05):
No, so the society response if someone burps ...
 
Beth Demme (27:09):
You say, "Excuse me."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:10):
The person that burps because it's inappropriate.
 
Beth Demme (27:15):
If you burp and I can hear it, you need to say, "Excuse me."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:17):
So inappropriate. Why is that inappropriate? But when someone sneezes, it's not inappropriate, and we must bless them. Why? Just think about that. It's inappropriate if I burp, and sometimes you can control it, sometimes you can't, if I burp it's on me and I have to be very apologetic. If I sneeze, that's happening to me, and you must bless me. It's a whole other topic. But God, bless Beth please.
 
Beth Demme (27:45):
Please.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:46):
Please. Her son sneezed three times.
 
Beth Demme (27:53):
If you guys want to make us feel #blessed, you could do that by going to our Buy Me a Coffee page.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:58):
Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Beth.
 
Beth Demme (27:59):
Did I do it right?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:00):
Oh my gosh. That's completely what we've been saying is inappropriate. No.
 
Beth Demme (28:04):
Oh.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:06):
If you want-
 
Beth Demme (28:06):
So we won't feel #blessed if they go to Buy Me-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:08):
No.
 
Beth Demme (28:08):
... a Coffee?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:08):
We are not using that term in this way. Goodness gracious. Were you even paying attention to this episode? No. If you like what you hear here, if you want to support what we're doing, if you want to buy us a coffee, we'll feel-
 
Beth Demme (28:22):
Grateful.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:22):
... loved and grateful, but we're not going to be #blessing this stuff. Okay.
 
Beth Demme (28:28):
#Grateful.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:29):
#Grateful, exactly, and thankful for listeners and for coffee and tea.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:34):
So like Beth was saying, there's a website called buymeacoffee.com. There'll be a link in our description below where you can go and support us by buying us a coffee or a tea. You can also become a monthly member, where you're going to get PDFs of our Questions for Reflections, and we have some behind-the-scenes videos and clips on there as well.
 
Beth Demme (28:55):
Fun stuff. You should definitely go check it out.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:00):
So Beth, before we started talking today, you said you had something that you wanted to share, and I would love to hear what that is.
 
Beth Demme (29:07):
Well, so we have this part in every episode that we just call Slice of Life, and I have decided that in 2021, I want my slices of life to at least sometimes be weird news items.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:22):
So first we should say happy New Year.
 
Beth Demme (29:24):
We should say that. We should've said that at the beginning,-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:26):
I know.
 
Beth Demme (29:27):
... because today is the first day of 2021.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:30):
Oh gosh, 2021's not starting out .... Well, oh goodness. Oh, bonus. My dad got the first COVID vaccine.
 
Beth Demme (29:38):
That's really exciting.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:40):
He's a doctor.
 
Beth Demme (29:42):
He's a medical person.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:43):
He's a doctor. He's a PhD doctor, so that's why I'm like, well, let me put that in there. He's not an MD.
 
Beth Demme (29:48):
But he works in healthcare.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:49):
But he works in healthcare actively, and so he got the first vaccine. Hopefully soon, he'll get his second one. He will, not hopefully. Two weeks later, I believe.
 
Beth Demme (29:59):
I hope that I get one soon too, actually.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:02):
Actually, I have it right here, Beth. You ready to get it on the air?
 
Beth Demme (30:05):
I would be #grateful if I could get a COVID vaccine.
 
Beth Demme (30:09):
All right, so my weird news item for you is about a new item that is on the McDonald's menu in only a few places.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:19):
Do you want me to guess what it is?
 
Beth Demme (30:21):
Oh, I don't know. Do you think you could? It's pretty weird.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:26):
Have they ever had it before?
 
Beth Demme (30:28):
No.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:29):
Oh, is it scallops?
 
Beth Demme (30:31):
No.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:32):
Is it sea-related?
 
Beth Demme (30:33):
No.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:34):
Is it food?
 
Beth Demme (30:35):
Yes. Well, I guess. So McDonald's has started selling a Spam burger. So a burger that's made from Spam, and it is topped with Oreo cookie crumbs. It's two slices of Spam, Oreo cookies all crumbled up, and mayonnaise on a bun.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:59):
Is this in Hawaii?
 
Beth Demme (31:00):
No, it is only available in China, actually.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:04):
Oh, my goodness. My brain is confused.
 
Beth Demme (31:06):
Isn't that so strange?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:08):
Wow.
 
Beth Demme (31:08):
I'll put a link to it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:09):
Do you have a picture?
 
Beth Demme (31:09):
I'll put a link to it in the show notes.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:10):
Is there is a picture of it?
 
Beth Demme (31:11):
There is a small picture of it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:14):
I mean, I guess the biggest question is why?
 
Beth Demme (31:16):
That was actually my first question. This is like-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:18):
Why not America? That seems like something super gross that Americans would be all over.
 
Beth Demme (31:23):
Why do they want to do this? Why did they think it was a good idea? Why are people paying money for this? And then the other thing you need to know is that this sandwich was part of a series of members-only promotions-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:38):
That sound's disturbing.
 
Beth Demme (31:39):
... only released on certain days in China. Apparently, they use China as a test market for their foods. Maybe because they have such a big population or maybe because they have ... I don't know. It's just so-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:53):
People willing to try them?
 
Beth Demme (31:55):
Yeah. Yeah. At least one person who ate one of these Spam Oreo burgers said that it was delicious.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:05):
Wow. Well, it is good promotion because we're talking about it right now. The grosser, the better, I guess. Have you ever had Spam?
 
Beth Demme (32:14):
I'm just thinking through that now. I don't think I have.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:16):
I don't think I have either.
 
Beth Demme (32:17):
I think I have a can of it in my pantry as emergency meat, but I don't think I've ever actually eaten it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:24):
No. Well, thank you Beth for that weird news. That has made us hungry and also never hungry again.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:30):
We want to remind you that if you like what you heard today, maybe minus the Spam conversation, we would love for you to give us a review. That helps other people find our podcast and become listeners. So if you are in the Apple Podcast app, you can just scroll all the way to the bottom, and you'll see five stars. Just hit that fifth star, and you have done your rating for the day. Also bonus, if you want to add a little written commentary there, you're welcome to do that as well. That would be greatly appreciated. So thank you so much and happy New Year.
 
Beth Demme (33:07):
Happy New Year.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (33:09):
At the end of each show, we end with Questions for Reflection. These are questions based on today's show that Beth will read and leave a little pause between. You can find a PDF of them on our Buy Me a Coffee page.
 
Beth Demme (33:19)
Number one, do you feel #blessed? What does that mean to you? Number two, how do you define being blessed? Is it about what you have, or is it about something else? Number three, do you like it when people say, "God bless you," when you sneeze? Why or why not? Number four, do you ever consider asking God's blessings for other countries besides your own?

Stephanie Kostopoulos (33:47):
This has been the Discovering Your Scars Podcast. Thank you for joining us.