Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns
If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…
I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…
I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…
Happy last day of 2011!
We do a lot of remembering on New Year’s Eve, for good and bad, about the year that’s wrapping up, and we look on the coming year with hope and expectation.
Whatever 2011 held for you, I wish you every good thing in Christ for 2012.
Here are my weekly smile-makers. And read on for a preview of what you can expect on this blog for the new year!
We got a Wii for Christmas, and while trying out the swordplay game on Wii resort, I laughed so hard I think I scared my 3-year-old. My husband crushed me in the duel, and for some reason, it was funny to me. Laughing uncontrollably, for whatever reason, is a guaranteed smile-maker, even after the fact.
My son and his “tiny wittle bear.” I’m not sure how this started, but he got this little stuffed bear for Christmas, and now when he looks for it, he says, “Where’s my tiny wittle bear.” Totally adorable. Perhaps not the best picture, but I wanted to capture the moment before we lost the bear. I nearly left him at a rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike yesterday.
Holding babies. Though we didn’t meet our nephew yet, we did meet and see my husband’s cousins’ new babies. There are four this year, not counting our nephew. Babies fascinate me. I always wonder what they’re thinking. Plus, they’re easier to talk to than grown-ups sometimes.
Our son decided that his Christmas present to us would be learning to do this.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIT4QFbRK88]
This morning, he climbed out of his crib before I could go in to get him. And he ended his 3-hour nap by strolling into the living room unannounced and carrying no less than three of his sleeping friends. Toddler bed, here we come.
Our daughter’s personality. It has blossomed of late, and she is sporting a major ‘tude. In the coming months, I sense there could be more drama in this house than a high school theater club.
Endings are never fun for me, but a song I’ve always liked says that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” So, the end of the year brings new beginnings.
We have a lot to look forward to in 2012. A trip to Disney. My husband’s graduation from seminary. And the great unknown after that.
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So, speaking of 2012 …
I don’t consider it a New Year’s resolution, exactly, but I’ve wanted to get on a more regular blogging schedule for a while. This year, I’m going to give it a shot, for my sake and yours.
Here’s what you can expect:
My Cup of Tea — Okay, so I usually start the day with coffee, but I do enjoy a good cup of tea, too. On Mondays, I’ll start the week blogging about something that’s been rolling around in my mind that I just can’t keep to myself. I’ll pretend we’re talking over coffee or tea, and I’ll tell you what I think or how something has impacted me, and you can tell me if you agree or disagree. I love conversation and thinking about things in a new way.
The Weekly Read — On Wednesdays I’ll post a review of a recent book I’ve read. Through Christian Speakers Services, Blogging for Books (Waterbrook Multnomah), Tyndale Blog Network and BookSneeze (Thomas Nelson), I have regular access to Christian fiction and non-fiction, but I’d like to branch out. If you’ve read something good recently, I’d love to hear about it! I recently joined GoodReads, so you can see what I’m reading or want to read, or send me a recommendation.
Saturday Smiles — I’ll continue to write about the things that have made me smile that week. In the couple of months since I started this exercise, I feel like I’ve noticed the positive things happening in my life more, and I’ve let the negative parts of the week go a lot more easily. It’s been a good, life promoting addition to my week.
I may find reason to stray from this schedule from time to time, but for the most part, you’ll know what’s coming.
Happy New Year! And thanks for reading!
It’s Christmas morning, and most of us are probably unwrapping presents, or fiddling with toy packaging of already opened presents, or cleaning up the paper and boxes and bags. Maybe we’re eating a special breakfast in our Christmas jammies or this year, getting ready for a church service. As you read, I’m probably doing one or more of those things. Just thinking about Christmas morning gives me warm fuzzy feelings from head to toe. It’s the kind of moment where you wish you had a pause button for life so you could look around a little longer and take it all in.
The tree.
The lights.
The joy.
The giving.
The smiles.
The hugs.
The everything.
Christmas was special even before I knew about Jesus or his love for me. It still is but in different ways.
This year, one of my priorities for Christmas was to give. We don’t have a lot to give, but I wanted the special people in our lives — particularly the ones who have helped us in some way — to know how much we appreciate and love them. So, the kids and I made gifts. We made ornaments/fragrant wall hangings like these.
We layered cocoa mix in a jar and made moisturizing hand scrub. We whipped up a batch of our increasingly famous molasses softies. We sorted and bagged and wore ourselves out. Then we delivered. To Isabelle’s teachers at the Y. To church friends. To our mail carrier who is also our neighbor. To our landlords, who are also our neighbors. And to the firefighter who came after dark one September night and pumped nearly 30 inches of water out of our basement. He, too, lives in the neighborhood.
It’s this last delivery that affected me the most. I’m not brave or bold when it comes to approaching relative strangers or knocking on doors or making unprepared remarks. I put it off till almost the last moment, delivering the package when I was sure no one was home and on the day before we left for Illinois.
I left the bag of goodies on the front porch. Just stepping onto the porch broke a barrier in my mind. We have walked past this house many times on our travels around our block. But setting foot on the property, leaving a gift and a note, making contact, felt like an invasion, but not an unwelcome one.
Maybe this will help say what I felt.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Yasgzjc0w&ob=av2e]
So much of what happens in my daily life feels self-absorbed. Or self-protective. I often insulate myself from anything beyond what’s necessary to survive a day of parenting. Like talking to grocery cashiers. Or committing a random act of kindness. Or giving what I don’t have. I don’t open my world to anyone else, and I’m surprised (sometimes annoyed) when someone dares break into it.
But isn’t that what Christmas is all about? God in Heaven, when the time was exactly right, when all hope was almost lost, broke the barrier separating the earthly from the spiritual, and became human. He made contact with His creation by taking on flesh. We call him Baby Jesus, Jesus Christ, Messiah, Savior and a host of other names.
Jesus’ birth gives us hope. We are not alone. We do not have to fend for ourselves. We are not lost. Someone cares. And sees. When life seems dull and gray, the Light of the World bursts into our lives like a ray of sunlight on an overcast day.
Maybe we didn’t ask Him to get involved. Or take notice. Or intervene. But He did, and by this, we are encouraged.
My biggest fear when I do something like deliver cookies to a neighbor I hardly know is rejection. What if they think I’m being nosy? Or what if they don’t like cookies? (Seriously, who doesn’t like cookies?) What if they don’t want visitors? (Some of our neighbors have a “No Trespassing” sign in their windows.)
I let the fear keep me in my own house, convincing me it’s safer to stay inside and mind my own business and not get involved.
But on those rare occasions when I do cross the street and knock on the door, I’m exhilarated. People are polite. And grateful. Sometimes they even reciprocate, which is not my goal at all. They smile, and I leave wondering what else I can do to unexpectedly bless someone.
I followed up the gift-giving with Christmas cards. Hand-written. Personal greetings. Licked, stamped and addressed. I love e-mail and text messaging and Facebook and Twitter. But none of that compares to a card sent in the mail. It’s that personal contact again. A sign of someone else in their world thinking about me in my world.
So, if you’re reading this on Christmas Day (surely you have better things to do on Christmas Day!) or the day after or a week later, think on this: How can you pleasantly invade someone else’s world to bless, encourage and offer hope? If answers to that question don’t come easily, then think about what you’d appreciate and do that. And when you do it, leave me a note here. I’d love to hear all about it.
Merry Christmas!