On most Valentines, like my birthdays, I have been able to get through the day with very little fanfare. I know my man loves me and I truly do not need him to buy me candy, flowers or dinner out as a demonstration of that love - it's all too expensive & commercial for me. Neither am I much for contrived sentiment, but with 3 girls, I cannot let a holiday like today slide by. From the homemade valentines & candy hearts to flowers & school parties, I was in up to my neck in pink love.
In the past few days of preparation, I was trying very hard to bring the lessons of loving others and the gift of giving into this otherwise very commercial and superficial day. As I looked out the window this morning, the beautiful white snow was apropos for today. While the girls were enjoying their little love gifts from mom & dad, we were able to talk about how our hearts were washed as white as snow because God gave us the greatest love gift of all - His son Jesus.
All of us girls had a great day. Ellie got 4 Valentines from 1 boy, all 3 of the girls ate so much candy they were up too late and Tracy came home with pretty flowers for his honey, but I think the most fun we had was taking the love God has given us and giving it away.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Show's about to Start
Most of you know - some this will be news - I used to be a pretty decent singer at one point in my life. School choir, Church choir, musicals, competitions, solo performances, the occasional wedding. I still sing to my audience of 3 around the house. I'm used to putting my request for obedience to a song (sing it with me - "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry, when you get impatient you only start to worry...") or a helpful reminder that yes indeed, "God is bigger than the boogie man". It comes naturally to me to burst out in song, although, lately I have noticed I stick to belting out songs that already exist rather than the precious made-up versions I sang when the girls were younger. Maybe I am already self-conscious about being the crazy mom who marches to the beat of her own drum!
The girls and I have a little routine on school mornings where mom tries to get out the door 5 minutes early and the girls figure that means they have 15 more minutes to get their shoes on! Well, the rare and beautiful morning happened yesterday when we all were up, dressed and fed with 20 minutes to spare. The girls marched upstairs to play while I cleaned up the kitchen. I had 5 more minutes before crunch time so I ran upstairs to throw in a load of laundry. As I came out of the laundry room I stopped to listen. No fighting, no movie, just girls singing a song. Kiki sang about how she was the mom fixing breakfast for the sweetie (that's what they call the daughters cuz that's what I call them!) Ellie returned her reply in a singsong voice. This continued for a couple more lines until I popped my head in to the room, smiled at them and got a garbled no word tune from Mattie!
Psalm 40:3 says, He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
I pray today that you have a new song to sing to those around you. I am sure it will be contagious; maybe there will be little musicals everywhere - all singing and giving God praise just because He is worthy of our praise.
The girls and I have a little routine on school mornings where mom tries to get out the door 5 minutes early and the girls figure that means they have 15 more minutes to get their shoes on! Well, the rare and beautiful morning happened yesterday when we all were up, dressed and fed with 20 minutes to spare. The girls marched upstairs to play while I cleaned up the kitchen. I had 5 more minutes before crunch time so I ran upstairs to throw in a load of laundry. As I came out of the laundry room I stopped to listen. No fighting, no movie, just girls singing a song. Kiki sang about how she was the mom fixing breakfast for the sweetie (that's what they call the daughters cuz that's what I call them!) Ellie returned her reply in a singsong voice. This continued for a couple more lines until I popped my head in to the room, smiled at them and got a garbled no word tune from Mattie!
Psalm 40:3 says, He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
I pray today that you have a new song to sing to those around you. I am sure it will be contagious; maybe there will be little musicals everywhere - all singing and giving God praise just because He is worthy of our praise.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Pityriasis Rosea
I have often contemplated - Where would my faith be in the face of a trial so huge that in the midst I would doubt whether I could trust God through it or even survive with my faith in tact? I've asked, why has God never trusted me with a trial so big that my faith can be tested and stretched to a limit I didn't know existed? Daily trials or faith tests come each day whether big or small. Pain and brokeness can bring us to the feet of our Savior swiftly. It's not only the huge, sometimes very public trials in our lives that put our faith to the test but also the common everyday desires of our hearts that keep us on our toes as to where our loyalties lie. Mind you, I am not asking God to inflict hardship on my life. I am just aware that while living on this Earth, there will be pain, there will be temptation, there will be times of crisis all involving choices to turn to ourselves to survive or to the One who has given us all the strength & hope we will ever need.
A month ago, I started getting some red, dry splotches on my arms and then on my stomach. I joked with Tracy that it was my body's final attempt to push out all toxins from the earlier 6 weeks of being sick. I was sure the spots were eczema, or the like, until they started spreading all over my trunk (front & back), legs, arms and now my neck and chest. I finally decided to have a doctor diagnose me and get me on the road to recovery. He confirmed that my joke about my body pushing toxins out was pretty acurate. He put a name with my rashy, nasty spots - pityriasis rosea - a non-contagious skin infection. There is nothing to do but wait it out and keep it moisturized (for up to 8 weeks!). There is no known cause. There isn't a cure. I just have to wait and resist the urge to itch and hope that it clears up soon.
Annoying as these last few weeks have been, I have been thinking about why I have been inflicted with this ugly skin trial. Did I deserve such a horrible skin defect? Is there something in my life that I need to address before these spots go away? Could I have done something differently while I was sick so that this outcome was avoided? I don't believe I have been "struck down" or that this is some form of punishment. But I have been reminded that I do not have to endure a trial of major proportion for my faith to be strengthened and God to teach me lessons I still need to learn - stop complaining, listen to the advice of others, the folly of vanity...
It's not always the huge tests that show how strong our faith is. It can be the everyday annoyances. Are there really big and little trials or have we assigned value to something that isn't quantifiable? God has given me this rather than a heavy, emotional pain, but it doesn't make it any less valuable of a lesson. I am still learning about God's mercy and how He cares about the little stuff. I am still learning that prayer changes my desires to align with His. As the days go by and I am not healed, doubt creeps in - what if it's something else... God has calmed my fears. It's an ugly, sometimes painful reminder that I am not home. This life is only temporary and now I am going to put another layer of cream on before I crawl out of my skin!
A month ago, I started getting some red, dry splotches on my arms and then on my stomach. I joked with Tracy that it was my body's final attempt to push out all toxins from the earlier 6 weeks of being sick. I was sure the spots were eczema, or the like, until they started spreading all over my trunk (front & back), legs, arms and now my neck and chest. I finally decided to have a doctor diagnose me and get me on the road to recovery. He confirmed that my joke about my body pushing toxins out was pretty acurate. He put a name with my rashy, nasty spots - pityriasis rosea - a non-contagious skin infection. There is nothing to do but wait it out and keep it moisturized (for up to 8 weeks!). There is no known cause. There isn't a cure. I just have to wait and resist the urge to itch and hope that it clears up soon.
Annoying as these last few weeks have been, I have been thinking about why I have been inflicted with this ugly skin trial. Did I deserve such a horrible skin defect? Is there something in my life that I need to address before these spots go away? Could I have done something differently while I was sick so that this outcome was avoided? I don't believe I have been "struck down" or that this is some form of punishment. But I have been reminded that I do not have to endure a trial of major proportion for my faith to be strengthened and God to teach me lessons I still need to learn - stop complaining, listen to the advice of others, the folly of vanity...
It's not always the huge tests that show how strong our faith is. It can be the everyday annoyances. Are there really big and little trials or have we assigned value to something that isn't quantifiable? God has given me this rather than a heavy, emotional pain, but it doesn't make it any less valuable of a lesson. I am still learning about God's mercy and how He cares about the little stuff. I am still learning that prayer changes my desires to align with His. As the days go by and I am not healed, doubt creeps in - what if it's something else... God has calmed my fears. It's an ugly, sometimes painful reminder that I am not home. This life is only temporary and now I am going to put another layer of cream on before I crawl out of my skin!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Downtime
Tracy and I had the privilege of being "kid-free" last night. My parents took the girls around 4:00pm with a promise that they would return some time this morning. Tracy wasn't going to be home for another hour, so I asked myself, "What am I going to do?" It's not long enough to watch a good movie or get started on a cleaning project (not my cleaning projects anyway). I could get myself gussied up and make Tracy take me out tonight, OR I could just sit down in front of my computer and play mindless computer games and drift off into a place I like to call downtime. You can guess that when the front door lock started to shift, I jumped out of my tech-stupor and began to shut down my game, with guilt. Why, you ask? (only if you don't know me well) I don't DO downtime well. I am always on the go with the task at hand or an agenda to complete. I am always busy and if I'm not I get ansy trying to figure out why everything seems to have a place for the moment. Rarely do I sit still and give my thoughts credence.
God takes a back seat in my busy day and my prayers by day's end are - Lord, please help me find peace in the craziness of my day. I am fully aware that God chuckles at me a lot.
So this morning was different. I got up and went to the gym. I usually don't get the luxury to go on Saturdays (yes, I like working out). The morning drive was beautiful - with the sun shining and new snow glistening on the Foothills. I have a workout buddy most days, but this morning I was alone for about 30 minutes to run by myself (running alone - not recommended). I grabbed my memory verses that I have committed to learning and headed to the treadmill. This morning, my thoughts calmed once more and I was able to have some downtime. This time it was with my true love and it was good. These verses were given just to me for such a time as this. I had some great downtime this morning.
What do you do for downtime? I'm still going to play computer games every now and again but I will treasure the moments I take with my Savior from whom I draw my strength to make it through the craziness of life.
God takes a back seat in my busy day and my prayers by day's end are - Lord, please help me find peace in the craziness of my day. I am fully aware that God chuckles at me a lot.
So this morning was different. I got up and went to the gym. I usually don't get the luxury to go on Saturdays (yes, I like working out). The morning drive was beautiful - with the sun shining and new snow glistening on the Foothills. I have a workout buddy most days, but this morning I was alone for about 30 minutes to run by myself (running alone - not recommended). I grabbed my memory verses that I have committed to learning and headed to the treadmill. This morning, my thoughts calmed once more and I was able to have some downtime. This time it was with my true love and it was good. These verses were given just to me for such a time as this. I had some great downtime this morning.
What do you do for downtime? I'm still going to play computer games every now and again but I will treasure the moments I take with my Savior from whom I draw my strength to make it through the craziness of life.
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