Saturday morning found me kneeling in an inglorious position in front of my toilet. Some sort of stomach bug hit us in full force this weekend, attacking half of the family in 24 hours. This nasty creature showed no mercy and hit where it hurt right out of the gates - mom got sick first. This does not a happy Saturday make! My poor husband, who was feeling half-way to death himself with a brutal sinus infection and was planning on a weekend of rest and recovery, found himself rallying the troops and manning the house, the laundry, the soccer game, the sick me, and all while he would have much preferred to be the one with his hurting head under the covers. He, as is so often the case, was my hero this weekend. He was my knight in shining armor. By noon, my hero had battled my dragon with a script for an anti-nausea drug, crushed ice and water, and a quiet room, soft bed, and sweet solitude. Did I mention that he is my hero? By the end of the day he had been puked on, twice, by our two year old. He had been to the pharmacy, twice, for medicine and milk. He had done loads of laundry, prepared three meals, and the house was clean when I made my way down for the first time at 5:00 pm. He was sick. He was really sick. But, because he wasn't throwing up like some of us, he soldiered on. Did I mention that he is my hero?
This man of mine - he's a keeper.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Take Your Time
Are you like me in that you find yourself repeating the "hurry up!" mantra a gazillion times each day? After attempting to wake the kids for school, "hurry up - you need to get ready for school." When said kids are dressing/brushing teeth/fixing hair/eating breakfast, "hurry up - we need to get in the car." When gathering backpacks and snow stuff and trumpets and lunch boxes, "hurry up - we're going to be late." When gathering all of the same items and heading into the school building, "hurry up - there are people behind me."
The two little words follow me throughout my day. We hurry in and out of the grocery store, Target, the library, the post office, the dry cleaner. We hurry so we can get lunch and a nap squeezed in before it is time to head back to pick up kids at school. We hurry up so we can get chores and schoolwork done before dinner. We hurry up so we can clean up and play a bit before bed. The bedtime routine brings out the molasses again and those two icky words show up again. "Hurry up and brush your teeth, get your pajamas on, set your clothes out - you need to do your quiet time before you go to sleep." How can it take twenty minutes to brush fewer than twenty teeth in a mouth the size of a plum? Finally nestled in bed, the kids are quiet and at peace. I hurry myself through cleaning up the house so we can sit for a bit of peace of our own before my husband and I need to head to bed ourselves. Oh, how I hate "hurry up!"
What if, instead we replaced those two unpleasant words with three more delightful ones, "take your time." One of the things I love about Saturdays and vacations is that great "take your time" feeling that meanders along with us as we lolligag our way through the day. Praise God for Saturdays and vacations! Words like stroll and amble and wander, daydream and discover and wonder are sweet accompaniments to a day full of "take your time."
My challenge is to be intentional about getting more "take your time" into the other days of the week, because life is too short and busy days are too long though somehow the minutes race by me. I pray that I would remember that God gives us richly all things to enjoy - that He delights when I take delight in Him and there is no time to do this if His voice is drowned out by my own, impatiently repeating, "hurry up" (I wonder how often I say this to HIM when I am waiting on an answer or direction? Yikes!)
I pray you have more "take your time" days than "hurry up" days in your week and that you can make time to sit and sip tea with a favorite friend - or novel ;0), cozy up with a lap-full of lilliputians and beautiful books, or snuggle under a blanket with your husband, a bowl of popcorn and a great movie .
The two little words follow me throughout my day. We hurry in and out of the grocery store, Target, the library, the post office, the dry cleaner. We hurry so we can get lunch and a nap squeezed in before it is time to head back to pick up kids at school. We hurry up so we can get chores and schoolwork done before dinner. We hurry up so we can clean up and play a bit before bed. The bedtime routine brings out the molasses again and those two icky words show up again. "Hurry up and brush your teeth, get your pajamas on, set your clothes out - you need to do your quiet time before you go to sleep." How can it take twenty minutes to brush fewer than twenty teeth in a mouth the size of a plum? Finally nestled in bed, the kids are quiet and at peace. I hurry myself through cleaning up the house so we can sit for a bit of peace of our own before my husband and I need to head to bed ourselves. Oh, how I hate "hurry up!"
What if, instead we replaced those two unpleasant words with three more delightful ones, "take your time." One of the things I love about Saturdays and vacations is that great "take your time" feeling that meanders along with us as we lolligag our way through the day. Praise God for Saturdays and vacations! Words like stroll and amble and wander, daydream and discover and wonder are sweet accompaniments to a day full of "take your time."
My challenge is to be intentional about getting more "take your time" into the other days of the week, because life is too short and busy days are too long though somehow the minutes race by me. I pray that I would remember that God gives us richly all things to enjoy - that He delights when I take delight in Him and there is no time to do this if His voice is drowned out by my own, impatiently repeating, "hurry up" (I wonder how often I say this to HIM when I am waiting on an answer or direction? Yikes!)
I pray you have more "take your time" days than "hurry up" days in your week and that you can make time to sit and sip tea with a favorite friend - or novel ;0), cozy up with a lap-full of lilliputians and beautiful books, or snuggle under a blanket with your husband, a bowl of popcorn and a great movie .
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wonders
The incongruity of a sunny blue sky and fat floaty snowflakes greets me today. Only God can give my eyes the feast of sun and snow in the same sky! Feathery clouds that are easily pushed on a harsh wintry wind are not usually the ones who carry in their depths the snow that currently dusts the drifts along the sidewalk. What a special blessing to have the showy dance of sun and snow, rays and flakes, winking their flirtatious way through the day today.
As I study the life of Moses this year, one of the many recurring themes is this special setting apart of a day for rest and worship to the Lord. How precious that He has chosen to bless me with the perfect setting for a long rest in a cozy spot by the window, relaxing and wondering at His delightful works.
May your day be one of rest and refreshment and may you find yourself the witness of the wondrous works of a Creative God who delights to share with us His beauty in the snow, His warmth in the sun, His power in the wind, and His playfulness in the joining of them all at once!
As I study the life of Moses this year, one of the many recurring themes is this special setting apart of a day for rest and worship to the Lord. How precious that He has chosen to bless me with the perfect setting for a long rest in a cozy spot by the window, relaxing and wondering at His delightful works.
May your day be one of rest and refreshment and may you find yourself the witness of the wondrous works of a Creative God who delights to share with us His beauty in the snow, His warmth in the sun, His power in the wind, and His playfulness in the joining of them all at once!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Hands
Over the weekend, we spent some time playing in the snow and walking on our frozen lake. There is something breathtaking about standing in a place that only months ago we were racing by in our boat. This time, instead of pulling a skier or kids on a tube, were bundled against the cold and had set out on foot.
At my husband's suggestion, I wore his ski gloves. He correctly pointed out that all of my pairs of gloves and mittens are equally fashionable and useless for a cold January day in the snow. They did not match my coat, but what did I care on an icy deserted lake with my family? A little bit of chivalry at work, ladies and gentleman.
The two older boys were the most pink cheeked of all due the the exertion of the sledding before our little walk on water. Their gloves were soaking, no doubt, on the outside, but the lack of complaints led me to believe that either they were numb from the onset of frostbite, or the cozy fleece lining was holding up.
My daughter insists on wearing crocheted (or are they knitted?) mitten, on which the snow encrusts almost instantly and makes a big frozen mess of her mittens to the point that it looks like she is carrying around big snow balls. The benefit, as she apparently sees it, is that she can snack on the icy snow that is now literally at her fingertips!
My youngest was clad in red and blue and his thumbs weren't even in the proper place in his mittens but he didn't care. What mattered to him was that his mittened hand was safe inside his daddy's big gloved one.
I am reminded that the snow out there on the frozen lake, unblemished by man nor beast, was last touched by God Himself. As I stood there and let that soak in, I was breathless and not just from the cold. The One who created me in His image, who sent His Son to live and die and live again so my heart could be as white as this snow, is the only One to have touched that fresh blanket of white out there. Awesome.
I pray that, like my tiny son, with his hand safely tucked inside his daddy's, I will not forget that my Father in Heaven draws me to place my hand in His and consider the wondrous works of God.
Enjoy the snow and remember to give praises to the One who made it.
At my husband's suggestion, I wore his ski gloves. He correctly pointed out that all of my pairs of gloves and mittens are equally fashionable and useless for a cold January day in the snow. They did not match my coat, but what did I care on an icy deserted lake with my family? A little bit of chivalry at work, ladies and gentleman.
The two older boys were the most pink cheeked of all due the the exertion of the sledding before our little walk on water. Their gloves were soaking, no doubt, on the outside, but the lack of complaints led me to believe that either they were numb from the onset of frostbite, or the cozy fleece lining was holding up.
My daughter insists on wearing crocheted (or are they knitted?) mitten, on which the snow encrusts almost instantly and makes a big frozen mess of her mittens to the point that it looks like she is carrying around big snow balls. The benefit, as she apparently sees it, is that she can snack on the icy snow that is now literally at her fingertips!
My youngest was clad in red and blue and his thumbs weren't even in the proper place in his mittens but he didn't care. What mattered to him was that his mittened hand was safe inside his daddy's big gloved one.
I am reminded that the snow out there on the frozen lake, unblemished by man nor beast, was last touched by God Himself. As I stood there and let that soak in, I was breathless and not just from the cold. The One who created me in His image, who sent His Son to live and die and live again so my heart could be as white as this snow, is the only One to have touched that fresh blanket of white out there. Awesome.
I pray that, like my tiny son, with his hand safely tucked inside his daddy's, I will not forget that my Father in Heaven draws me to place my hand in His and consider the wondrous works of God.
Enjoy the snow and remember to give praises to the One who made it.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Anticipation
In the weeks before Christmas, the air is thick with anticipation. The coming festivities envelop me with a warmth that permeates the cold December days and heats my very heart. Christmas carols in the car and twinkle lights in the windows keep me company at home and out and about and I get wrapped up and carried away. It is utterly delightful!
December 26 brings with it a bit of a vacuum. As is our nature, we tend to fill a vacuum, and in our house, we fill the days following Christmas with special treats like board games and books by the fire, movies with popcorn and long marvelous mornings sleeping in, the unwanted alarm clock sulkily unused across the room.
Somewhere in the week after December 25, a little bug bites me and give me the itch to regroup and repack and return to a life of routine. Don't get me wrong. I have not yet put away my decorations and I have no desire to give the alarm clock his reign over my morning. However, I find myself inexplicably drawn to websites like www.holdeverything.com and www.organize.com and www.containerstore.com and the giddy feeling I previously got from wrapping gifts is now coming from the thought of cleaning out my pantry. This is a sick twist, a strange trade off, but one that I find delightfully practical and, dare I admit it, welcome!
Until it is actually time to put things away (a few more days of festive pleasure) and move into the new year, I content myself to browse the occasional store ad full of totes and bins, linens and cleaning supplies. I pour over storage possibilities and sorting and purging tips like a gardener bides her winter time with seed catalogs. To everything there is a season and a time to every activity under heaven. I choose to take Solomon's wise (and inspired) words to heart and enjoy each season for what it has in store, with predictable turns and surprise endings alike!
Off I go to read my book before I tackle the pantry!
Happy New Year!
December 26 brings with it a bit of a vacuum. As is our nature, we tend to fill a vacuum, and in our house, we fill the days following Christmas with special treats like board games and books by the fire, movies with popcorn and long marvelous mornings sleeping in, the unwanted alarm clock sulkily unused across the room.
Somewhere in the week after December 25, a little bug bites me and give me the itch to regroup and repack and return to a life of routine. Don't get me wrong. I have not yet put away my decorations and I have no desire to give the alarm clock his reign over my morning. However, I find myself inexplicably drawn to websites like www.holdeverything.com and www.organize.com and www.containerstore.com and the giddy feeling I previously got from wrapping gifts is now coming from the thought of cleaning out my pantry. This is a sick twist, a strange trade off, but one that I find delightfully practical and, dare I admit it, welcome!
Until it is actually time to put things away (a few more days of festive pleasure) and move into the new year, I content myself to browse the occasional store ad full of totes and bins, linens and cleaning supplies. I pour over storage possibilities and sorting and purging tips like a gardener bides her winter time with seed catalogs. To everything there is a season and a time to every activity under heaven. I choose to take Solomon's wise (and inspired) words to heart and enjoy each season for what it has in store, with predictable turns and surprise endings alike!
Off I go to read my book before I tackle the pantry!
Happy New Year!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Ten Days of Christmas
Can it really be December 15? This month is rushing along like the shivering shoppers in the busy parking lots! How are you doing? I hope you are carefully considering your plates, as we talked about last time! I am trying and relying on my wise husband to keep me in check as well! So, in the interest of time, a quick note for today!
With ten days until Christmas, here's some stuff I still need to do.
10 - Sunday School Teacher Gifts (I think...I should count again!)
9 - Different kinds of cookies I still want to bake
8 - Presents I still need to buy (yikes - I thought I was more "done" than that!)
7 - Church events or meetings to attend
6 - Oranges for the toes of six stockings (actually, this is done - they are in my fridge!)
5 - Things I'm forgetting to do ;0)
4 - Children to take Christmas shopping for each other
3 - School parties on Friday
2 - Meals to make this week for other people
1 - Savior worth celebrating!
With ten days until Christmas, here's some stuff I still need to do.
10 - Sunday School Teacher Gifts (I think...I should count again!)
9 - Different kinds of cookies I still want to bake
8 - Presents I still need to buy (yikes - I thought I was more "done" than that!)
7 - Church events or meetings to attend
6 - Oranges for the toes of six stockings (actually, this is done - they are in my fridge!)
5 - Things I'm forgetting to do ;0)
4 - Children to take Christmas shopping for each other
3 - School parties on Friday
2 - Meals to make this week for other people
1 - Savior worth celebrating!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Full Plates
I am sure I cannot be the only one who suffers with the struggle to eat reasonably during this Christmas season. We are inundated with tasty treats and savory snacks, with parties at home and dinners out, with late-night cookies and cocoa. I often find myself with a plastic cup full of punch, a cute red and green paper plate in hand, and too many yummy choices on the heavy laden table before me. Have you been there? Do you have favorite holiday food for which you have been longing? I have made some lists on the right of some of my favorite things. I'm sure at least some will strike a chord with you.
Do you find yourself with a figurative full plate as well? As evidenced by the chaos of my kitchen, the mayhem in my mudroom and the craziness of my crammed closets, when I say I have a lot on my plate, I'm not just talking Pita Chips and Crab and Artichoke Dip!
My favorite holiday treats tend to be hors d'oeuvres. I just love all those little bite sized morsels and the opportunity they give me to taste lots of different things in one sitting. Unfortunately, my plate gets just as full from all those little snacks as it would with a few choices of real food. I sure can make a meal out of dips and spreads and little weenies! The problem often comes when I realize that I have so many different little things on my plate that I am still overwhelmed my the shear quantity of bites before me! Each individual yummy seems harmless enough on its own. En mass, however, the last three things to land on my plate inevitably become my downfall.
The same is true about my figurative plate. I have a tendency to look at the individual tasks or commitments and think, "That won't take long," and the little tongs in my brain tell my tongue to say that dangerous little three letter word, "yes!" What inevitably happens is that the list of little bite sized morsels, otherwise known as service, commitment, responsibility, obligation, chores, plans, opportunity, and even fun, fill my plate to overflowing and the real food can find no room at all.
If I were to first fill my plate with raw veggies, a piece of fruit and a half a sandwich, the snacks would not have so much room to overtake and I would be forced to choose my absolute favorites. If I fill my figurative plate with the good stuff first, then there will only be room for a few extras, and I will choose them more carefully. The real meat and potatoes of my life are my daily personal relationship with my Heavenly Father, my daily purposeful relationship with my sweet husband, and my daily precious relationship with my four children. Commitments to friends and family, faithfulness to serving at church, and helping out at the school are a few of the extras that vie for room on the plate, so I need to prayerfully consider them before I reach out and grab with both hands that which may tip the scale.
I don't want to regret holiday eating because I can't get into my jeans in January, and I don't want to see the important contents of my figurative plate in a mess on the floor because I didn't choose carefully the things that would occupy space in my days.
As we look ahead to the weeks of December, I know we all see things like family get-togethers, office parties, choir concerts, school programs, shopping trips, caroling excursions, road trips and much much more. I wonder if you will join me (and I invite you to ask me...to keep me accountable) in my effort to carefully choose what goes on my plate. Maybe together we can stay trim!
Do you find yourself with a figurative full plate as well? As evidenced by the chaos of my kitchen, the mayhem in my mudroom and the craziness of my crammed closets, when I say I have a lot on my plate, I'm not just talking Pita Chips and Crab and Artichoke Dip!
My favorite holiday treats tend to be hors d'oeuvres. I just love all those little bite sized morsels and the opportunity they give me to taste lots of different things in one sitting. Unfortunately, my plate gets just as full from all those little snacks as it would with a few choices of real food. I sure can make a meal out of dips and spreads and little weenies! The problem often comes when I realize that I have so many different little things on my plate that I am still overwhelmed my the shear quantity of bites before me! Each individual yummy seems harmless enough on its own. En mass, however, the last three things to land on my plate inevitably become my downfall.
The same is true about my figurative plate. I have a tendency to look at the individual tasks or commitments and think, "That won't take long," and the little tongs in my brain tell my tongue to say that dangerous little three letter word, "yes!" What inevitably happens is that the list of little bite sized morsels, otherwise known as service, commitment, responsibility, obligation, chores, plans, opportunity, and even fun, fill my plate to overflowing and the real food can find no room at all.
If I were to first fill my plate with raw veggies, a piece of fruit and a half a sandwich, the snacks would not have so much room to overtake and I would be forced to choose my absolute favorites. If I fill my figurative plate with the good stuff first, then there will only be room for a few extras, and I will choose them more carefully. The real meat and potatoes of my life are my daily personal relationship with my Heavenly Father, my daily purposeful relationship with my sweet husband, and my daily precious relationship with my four children. Commitments to friends and family, faithfulness to serving at church, and helping out at the school are a few of the extras that vie for room on the plate, so I need to prayerfully consider them before I reach out and grab with both hands that which may tip the scale.
I don't want to regret holiday eating because I can't get into my jeans in January, and I don't want to see the important contents of my figurative plate in a mess on the floor because I didn't choose carefully the things that would occupy space in my days.
As we look ahead to the weeks of December, I know we all see things like family get-togethers, office parties, choir concerts, school programs, shopping trips, caroling excursions, road trips and much much more. I wonder if you will join me (and I invite you to ask me...to keep me accountable) in my effort to carefully choose what goes on my plate. Maybe together we can stay trim!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
November
I realize that the arrival of November is no surprise to anyone, since it drops in faithfully on the heals of October every year! However, I was just beginning to settle into a comfortable fall and already I find myself taunted by its imminent follower, winter. We have not even begun to dispose of all the leaves, the ducks and geese and swans are still congregating in the lake outside the windows, and I am still in bare feet (and yes, my toes are painted)!
Nevertheless, winter comes. It snowed this week and those cheeky meteorologists are threatening more this weekend. (This is no excuse, however, for the inflatable snow-globe lawn ornaments I saw this morning! Really!) Retailers serenade us with Bing Crosby's White Christmas and tempt us with shiny Christmas wraps and snazzy gift sets, door-buster sales and extended holiday hours. My inner toddler stamps her foot and says "No!"
I want to enjoy a few more crisp weeks of leaves underfoot and V's of geese overhead. I want to feel the autumn sun pouring through the kitchen window (while stubbornly ignoring the dirty glass!) and wave at my kids playing soccer in the leaf laden grass, sweatshirts trailing and faces warm and chilly all at the same time. Our oak trees are as stubborn as I am, as they cling to their brown leaves and refuse to let the November wind carry them away just yet. The squirrels are still busy collecting and storing up their winter meals and the waterfowl, as I mentioned, still seem to be making their final travel arrangements (I think I actually saw a Mrs. Mallard with a list yesterday).
Will you join my little creature friends and me as we enjoy the last days of fall. Winter will be here soon and, as always in these parts, it will settle in for a good long visit. For now, please enjoy the last radiance of mums, the final crunch of leaves, the sweet-tart scent of apples on your counter. Plan for a lavish or simple Thanksgiving; whichever suits you best. Play touch football with the kids, take a brisk walk with your husband and shuffle through the leaves as you meander down the sidewalk or the woodland path. Enjoy November and don't get too worried about the coming craziness of December (later we'll talk about making it not so crazy!)
Happy not-quite-halfway-through-November to you!
Nevertheless, winter comes. It snowed this week and those cheeky meteorologists are threatening more this weekend. (This is no excuse, however, for the inflatable snow-globe lawn ornaments I saw this morning! Really!) Retailers serenade us with Bing Crosby's White Christmas and tempt us with shiny Christmas wraps and snazzy gift sets, door-buster sales and extended holiday hours. My inner toddler stamps her foot and says "No!"
I want to enjoy a few more crisp weeks of leaves underfoot and V's of geese overhead. I want to feel the autumn sun pouring through the kitchen window (while stubbornly ignoring the dirty glass!) and wave at my kids playing soccer in the leaf laden grass, sweatshirts trailing and faces warm and chilly all at the same time. Our oak trees are as stubborn as I am, as they cling to their brown leaves and refuse to let the November wind carry them away just yet. The squirrels are still busy collecting and storing up their winter meals and the waterfowl, as I mentioned, still seem to be making their final travel arrangements (I think I actually saw a Mrs. Mallard with a list yesterday).
Will you join my little creature friends and me as we enjoy the last days of fall. Winter will be here soon and, as always in these parts, it will settle in for a good long visit. For now, please enjoy the last radiance of mums, the final crunch of leaves, the sweet-tart scent of apples on your counter. Plan for a lavish or simple Thanksgiving; whichever suits you best. Play touch football with the kids, take a brisk walk with your husband and shuffle through the leaves as you meander down the sidewalk or the woodland path. Enjoy November and don't get too worried about the coming craziness of December (later we'll talk about making it not so crazy!)
Happy not-quite-halfway-through-November to you!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day
On this historic day, I reflect on the many choices that are continually before me. My vote, whether it is part of turning the political tide in a direction that pleases me or not, is a precious liberty I do not take lightly. My children watched me vote today and have been there every election day in the past. Today there were only two of them, and I had some slight regret that I didn't wait until after school for the others to accompany us! At the risk of sounding overly sentimental or patriotic, I must emphatically state that my freedom to vote was bought by the blood of many! Men fought for a free country in which we now live. Women stood boldly up and demanded a voice in government, and the cost to many was the ultimate one. I don't want to take it lightly, nor do I want my children to miss the enormity of what they will one day do.
It is not lost on me that the freedom to vote, along with the many other freedoms we have living in this democratic (really a republic) nation, is only a hint of the freedom we have available to us in Christ.
Here, too, I want my children by my side, watching me cast my vote, making my choice, using my voice. I want them to see that the freedom of a believer cannot be removed by any man or woman in office. The rights I now have as an American pale in comparison to the rights I have as a child of the King. I have an inheritance. I have eternal security. I have hope. I have a future. I have an Anchor. The liberty I have in Christ Jesus was also bought with blood, but this sacrifice only required one life. His was faultless and holy and obedient. His sacrifice was complete and sure and thoroughly satisfying.
With my freedom in Christ, I cast my vote, I make my choice, for many things each day. Today I choose joy - not happiness born from fine circumstances, but joy that bubbles up from the depths of me. Today I choose obedience - not just a bending of my actions and my will but of my heart. Today I choose love - not out of the loveliness of my heart or others, but because He first loved me. Today I choose to exercise the choices given to me when I was first chosen by the One who had nothing to gain but still gave it all on the cross out of utter obedience to His Father and love for me.
Today I celebrate freedom - Freedom to vote for the leaders of the land, freedom to worship in a way that is pleasing to God, freedom from the bondage of sin and the hopelessness and fear of an uncertain future.
We are no longer slaves but daughters and sons. Let freedom ring!
It is not lost on me that the freedom to vote, along with the many other freedoms we have living in this democratic (really a republic) nation, is only a hint of the freedom we have available to us in Christ.
Here, too, I want my children by my side, watching me cast my vote, making my choice, using my voice. I want them to see that the freedom of a believer cannot be removed by any man or woman in office. The rights I now have as an American pale in comparison to the rights I have as a child of the King. I have an inheritance. I have eternal security. I have hope. I have a future. I have an Anchor. The liberty I have in Christ Jesus was also bought with blood, but this sacrifice only required one life. His was faultless and holy and obedient. His sacrifice was complete and sure and thoroughly satisfying.
With my freedom in Christ, I cast my vote, I make my choice, for many things each day. Today I choose joy - not happiness born from fine circumstances, but joy that bubbles up from the depths of me. Today I choose obedience - not just a bending of my actions and my will but of my heart. Today I choose love - not out of the loveliness of my heart or others, but because He first loved me. Today I choose to exercise the choices given to me when I was first chosen by the One who had nothing to gain but still gave it all on the cross out of utter obedience to His Father and love for me.
Today I celebrate freedom - Freedom to vote for the leaders of the land, freedom to worship in a way that is pleasing to God, freedom from the bondage of sin and the hopelessness and fear of an uncertain future.
We are no longer slaves but daughters and sons. Let freedom ring!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Layers
We've all heard the humble, though pungent, onion used as an illustrative tool for many a point. With all those layers, it is just ripe for comparison! I'll spare you another analogy with the over-used onion but instead, I'd like to consider layers of another sort.
My October has been busy, as evidenced by my absence from this keyboard. In the past flurry of weeks, the calendar full of events was layered in heaps upon my days, like the clothes on the floor in the laundry room.
My husband's shirts and pants are in there, soiled from long days with patients, and reminding me to pull them out for the dry cleaner. (I praise God for this small indulgence!) He is a good, hard working man, and I thank God for him. I need to make sure he knows it.
My boys had many trips to the soccer field, and their sweaty socks (in little irritating, smelly wads) and dirty T-shirts, inside-out game jerseys and grass-stained shin guards prompt me to pray for their safety on the field. This week the tournaments start and even as I type I wonder how we'll fit dinner in. Something tells me my slow-cooker will work hard this week! Also in their layer of grubbies I find the clothes my ten year-old wore on the field trip last Thursday. I got to go along on this one (thanks to my mom, who took the day off and, as my husband put it, allowed me to be in two places at once!) When my son thanked her for making my part of the trip possible, he told her it wouldn't have been as much fun without me. Sniff sniff and all smiles...that was a golden mom moment. I still feel the glow inside me!
My little one has dribbly shirts and dirty knees and sodden onesies in the heap and I remember that the poor boy has been traipsing around after us all for the past few weeks with a great little toddler smile, and a wonderful sweetness. There is nothing terrible about this two year-old lately and I thank God for his joyful participation and his cute chatter. What a trooper! Note to self: plan his 2-year birthday party (something quiet and special with just the six of us?)...it will be here in a week!
Another laundry layer is pink and soft and peppered with doll clothes as well. (she insists on changing the baby doll clothes and thinks they must be washed :0) My daughter had her first field trip last week and, though we shivered our way through a cold, wet orchard, her soggy fleece jacket reminds me that the cold "forced" us to sip hot chocolate and snuggle even closer on the wagon, and it was a special, memorable first for her.
My workout clothes are in there, but not enough of them, reminding me that now that my schedule is about to clear a bit ( I hope...just after soccer skids to a halt), I need to get on that treadmill more than every couple of days. I am thankful for my sweet friend who reminds me that exercise is for my good, but I am not a slave to it! "The Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the Sabbath..."
Layers of towels remind me of bubble baths for curly headed little ones and quick showers for boys who are literally growing up overnight. There are socks, hinting that our twelve feet are getting colder as the temperatures drop. I won't complain about that. I love fall and resolve to get out and do my walk outside more often.
When the layers of clothes and linens have made their way through the washer and the dryer, I am out of laundry soap, low on Bounce sheets, and my house smells fresh and warm. There is three dollars and twenty seven cents jingling in the Pizza Money jar and a plastic hair clip, two army men, a toy car, a rubber band, and two now-illegible receipts on the dryer and a soggy pull-up in the garbage can (just in case you wondered, when you wash one of those things, your machine will be full of what resembles little piles of wet snow, but it is not nearly as much fun as that sounds).
As I type and remember that past couple of weeks, I have propped my feet on a stool and the keyboard on my lap. It is not hard to spend so much time with you today because, frankly, I can't muster the energy to get up now that I've finally sat down! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! The big missions week at church, for which much of my time these weeks was commandeered, went well. My to-do list is full of check marks, and onward I go. At the moment, while two and four year-old heads slumber, the layers are thin and gentle. The trickle of the fish tank filter carries on a low conversation with the murmering dishwasher. The dog softly snores near me as if she is beat from her busy life as well. The filmy dust taunts me, but I say let the last layers stay a while longer while I linger here and wonder what layers fill your lives today?
I challenge you, along with myself so I had better sit up a little straighter, to peel back a few of your layers and examine them. While I am first to admit that life really is daily and it is, by necessity, full of layers that may not seem to have any eternal significance, I desire to make even the grubbiest layers count. God's mercies are new every morning and I am certain He knows I need them to face the moments that can so swiftly become overwhelming mounds, just like the laundry. Do you trust Him with it all? Do I? I pray that we go about our days, doing what must be done, but also ready to spot the spectacular in the mundane, and relish each layer as part of the rich fabric of our lives.
My October has been busy, as evidenced by my absence from this keyboard. In the past flurry of weeks, the calendar full of events was layered in heaps upon my days, like the clothes on the floor in the laundry room.
My husband's shirts and pants are in there, soiled from long days with patients, and reminding me to pull them out for the dry cleaner. (I praise God for this small indulgence!) He is a good, hard working man, and I thank God for him. I need to make sure he knows it.
My boys had many trips to the soccer field, and their sweaty socks (in little irritating, smelly wads) and dirty T-shirts, inside-out game jerseys and grass-stained shin guards prompt me to pray for their safety on the field. This week the tournaments start and even as I type I wonder how we'll fit dinner in. Something tells me my slow-cooker will work hard this week! Also in their layer of grubbies I find the clothes my ten year-old wore on the field trip last Thursday. I got to go along on this one (thanks to my mom, who took the day off and, as my husband put it, allowed me to be in two places at once!) When my son thanked her for making my part of the trip possible, he told her it wouldn't have been as much fun without me. Sniff sniff and all smiles...that was a golden mom moment. I still feel the glow inside me!
My little one has dribbly shirts and dirty knees and sodden onesies in the heap and I remember that the poor boy has been traipsing around after us all for the past few weeks with a great little toddler smile, and a wonderful sweetness. There is nothing terrible about this two year-old lately and I thank God for his joyful participation and his cute chatter. What a trooper! Note to self: plan his 2-year birthday party (something quiet and special with just the six of us?)...it will be here in a week!
Another laundry layer is pink and soft and peppered with doll clothes as well. (she insists on changing the baby doll clothes and thinks they must be washed :0) My daughter had her first field trip last week and, though we shivered our way through a cold, wet orchard, her soggy fleece jacket reminds me that the cold "forced" us to sip hot chocolate and snuggle even closer on the wagon, and it was a special, memorable first for her.
My workout clothes are in there, but not enough of them, reminding me that now that my schedule is about to clear a bit ( I hope...just after soccer skids to a halt), I need to get on that treadmill more than every couple of days. I am thankful for my sweet friend who reminds me that exercise is for my good, but I am not a slave to it! "The Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the Sabbath..."
Layers of towels remind me of bubble baths for curly headed little ones and quick showers for boys who are literally growing up overnight. There are socks, hinting that our twelve feet are getting colder as the temperatures drop. I won't complain about that. I love fall and resolve to get out and do my walk outside more often.
When the layers of clothes and linens have made their way through the washer and the dryer, I am out of laundry soap, low on Bounce sheets, and my house smells fresh and warm. There is three dollars and twenty seven cents jingling in the Pizza Money jar and a plastic hair clip, two army men, a toy car, a rubber band, and two now-illegible receipts on the dryer and a soggy pull-up in the garbage can (just in case you wondered, when you wash one of those things, your machine will be full of what resembles little piles of wet snow, but it is not nearly as much fun as that sounds).
As I type and remember that past couple of weeks, I have propped my feet on a stool and the keyboard on my lap. It is not hard to spend so much time with you today because, frankly, I can't muster the energy to get up now that I've finally sat down! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! The big missions week at church, for which much of my time these weeks was commandeered, went well. My to-do list is full of check marks, and onward I go. At the moment, while two and four year-old heads slumber, the layers are thin and gentle. The trickle of the fish tank filter carries on a low conversation with the murmering dishwasher. The dog softly snores near me as if she is beat from her busy life as well. The filmy dust taunts me, but I say let the last layers stay a while longer while I linger here and wonder what layers fill your lives today?
I challenge you, along with myself so I had better sit up a little straighter, to peel back a few of your layers and examine them. While I am first to admit that life really is daily and it is, by necessity, full of layers that may not seem to have any eternal significance, I desire to make even the grubbiest layers count. God's mercies are new every morning and I am certain He knows I need them to face the moments that can so swiftly become overwhelming mounds, just like the laundry. Do you trust Him with it all? Do I? I pray that we go about our days, doing what must be done, but also ready to spot the spectacular in the mundane, and relish each layer as part of the rich fabric of our lives.
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