A Moment

We thought it would’ve been much easier

 

This past week was the week I look forward to each summer, as I have the past 13 years.  Each year my husband’s parents take the kids for a week to spoil them and make memories with them they’ll hopefully tell their kids about one day.  It’s usually planned the week of their small town’s annual  Lawn Party.  This week is always a win-win-win situation: our kids get loved on by their grandparents and relatives, the grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren without mom and dad being around, and this mom and dad get some “just-the-two-of-us” time.

For the past several years during our kid-free week, my husband and I work on a house project.  Two years ago we painted the playroom and put new furniture in the kids playroom.  Last summer we painted and decorated our daughter’s bedroom. 

Before the week arrives, each year we usually have a project set and ready to go.  But this time we didn’t.  The only project we thought we might work on was to make some changes with my blog (maybe you’ll see it soon!)  It seemed strange to not have a house project.  At the beginning of the week, though, my husband planned our delicious menu of things I don’t normally fix for our typical family dinner, and he even planned to cook and do the grocery shopping!  What a gift that was!

Then on Tuesday, my husband received an email from the university where he works, informing that the football team’s locker room was being remodeled and the current lockers were outside by the field house and were free to anyone who wanted to come get one.   A project!  Our son has been hinting ever since last summer that he would like his room to be re-done.  We had been thinking about it but didn’t have an idea and when we heard that announcement, we knew just what we’d do. 

That evening we went to the university to claim a locker.  To our surprise, they weren’t individual lockers; rather three big lockers attached together.  Three to a pack.  And you know they had to be pretty big to store the belongings of a football player.  Well, to make a long story short…it took two days (one very hot one) to get those lockers apart, cleaned up and taken individually upstairs to our son’s room and then reassembled. 

We thought it would’ve been much easier.

They were a lot heavier than we expected and it was a lot more work than we expected.  My husband, who’s a jack-of-all-trades, did most of the work but I wanted to help how I could.  When it was time to take the lockers upstairs to our son’s room, I put on my work gloves and spirit of determination.  They were heavy!  It took a lot of strength to get those lockers up those stairs…three times.  I had to stop for a break half way with each locker, but we did it.  And we couldn’t have done it by ourselves. 

We couldn’t do it half-heartedly.  We had to give it our all.

And that applies to marriage.

As newlyweds many think marriage will be like a piece of their wedding cake…always easy to relish and enjoy.  And yes, God designed marriage to be relished and enjoyed, and to easily become more in love every day.  And most of the time it does become easier through the years of marriage, but it can also become easier to develop the habit of being just comfortable, or too busy, or even lazy and fall into the nature of not making the effort to intentionally give your relationship your all.  Self can get in the way.

At church yesterday we heard a great teaching about Mary Magdalene and how she was completely devoted to Jesus.  Her love and devotion for him was not half-hearted.  It was full adoration.  Never-ending commitment.  Her all in all.

I know there have been times in my life when, at one point or another, I haven’t lived my marriage, parenthood, and devotion for Jesus in all strength and perseverance the way I did to get those lockers up the stairs.  Doubt, anger, apathy and lies creep in the soul to make me feel weak, not good enough, or strong enough, or determined enough.  And then it becomes easy to think: why try to do my best when I don’t think I’ll make the mark or reach the top-of-life-stair anyway?

But I AM is stronger and He tells me I am stronger than I think I am.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”              2 Corinthians 12:9

When we feel incapable in whatever area of life, Jesus gives us His holy power and the strength to press on to win the prize…which includes a stronger marriage and parenthood and a sold-out devotion to Jesus Christ.  When we have that devotion to Jesus, hearts change and grow.  Now, it’s not that we have to give it our all…we’re now devoted to love and desire to give all we have whole-heartedly back to Him and those we care for.  He just wants us to give our marriages and people close to the heart our all because that’s what He did and will always do for us.  

(And our son loved his new room!)

 

Joys and thankful for these recently

#1539  gift in story - The story of Mary Magdalene and how she was quiet, more risky then courageous and over it all was devoted to Jesus…not just halfway.

#1540  gift in story - the cute story about a preschool girl at our church who asked why weren’t there any girl disciples after having learned about the 12 in church class.

#1541  gift in a story - “Ours is a love story written by God”  Studio JRU

#1542  teaching the kids how to “fly a June bug”

#1543  watching and hearing laughter while flying a June bug (is that too much summer boredom…or to show a creative way to have fun?)

#1544  baby fingers and granddaddy fingers

#1545  zucchini bread made from a HUGE zucchini from our garden

 

#1546  a raspberry filled cake from the bakery we got our on date night,

#1547  Maxie B’s bakery makes you smile

#1548  husband’s strength…and strengths

#1549  a project for son’s room

#1550  sleeping in late

#1551  husband’s gourmet cooking

#1552  candlelight

#1553  grandparents to keep our kids for a week each summer

#1554  them taking our kids and niece to see Noah’s Ark at Sight and Sounds and through the Amish country.

#1555  shopping with friends for a bride

#1556  brother in law who’s helping get us started on my blog facelift…and “us” meaning my husband who’ll design it.

#1557  an invitation to share workout tips over a block of cheese

#1558  joy in son’s face when he sees his remodeled room

#1559  reading My Upmost for His Highest recently and each time was written for me to read that day

#1560  my husband planned our splurging dinner’s he planned to cook and even did the grocery shopping

#1561  I’m stronger than I think I am…because I was redeemed by God.

#1562  a beautiful sunset…and each one is unique by God’s hand.

 

Joining in today with Ann Voskamp counting joys

You are…

Joining in with Five Minute Friday and today’s word is PRESENT

God, You are the Rock of Ages

You beauty with age in our lives

You are with us.

You are for us.

You take hold of our hand and guide us.

You delight in us.

You fight for us.

You are always present even if we feel it or not.

You love us deeply.

You redeem us.

You rescue us.

You revive us when we’ve lulled into complacency.

You allow us to make mistakes in hope that we’ll run to you for grace and forgiveness.

You see us as you created us to be.

God, You are…

 

How do you see God?

 

Next week I’m resting from writing and won’t be posting on my blog.  But come on back in a week…and always strive to choose joy!

 

.

today and always

A beautiful mystery and dinner

I remember when I was about 10 years old, my mom threw a birthday party for me that included a Mystery Dinner.  Thirty years later I asked my mom is she still had the menu.  It only took her 30 seconds to pull it out of a drawer and read it to me.

So, I planned for our daughter to invite a few friend over to celebrate her birthday which included the Mystery Dinner. 

It’s where the food on the menu is given a “disguise” name so the friends don’t know what it is.  The meal is served in four courses and the friends must choose what they want to be served at each course, not knowing what they’re ordering.  And the menu included the utensils!

My daughter’s first course was Shark’s Friend, Moon Goop, Shaky Foundation and Brown Cow and she was served goldfish, string cheese, Jello and ice cream.  She had to eat her Jello and ice cream with no utensils.  Another friend had to eat spaghetti with no utensils while others were lucky and ordered a fork at the same time.  They had to make choices and then have to wait to see what was the outcome.

It was a beautiful mystery dinner to see the girls giggling with messy fingers and faces.

A favorite song of mine is “Beautiful Mystery”.  I think the words beautifully describe everybody’s life.

I tried to know
Every mystery
Soon realized, no
It was too much for me
'Cause most things true
Are simple and complex
So it is with You
What else should I expect

It’s true.  There’s things in life that we’ll never know the answers to on this side of heaven even though we want to be know-it-alls.  And sometimes we think we’re know-it-alls when we’re not. 

Life can be simple and complex.  The simplicity of it all is love.  Yet isn’t there so much complexity in love?  The two greatest commands Scripture tells us is to love God and love people.  The simplicity of God is that He loves us deeply and He’s the only One – plain and simple.  The complexity of Him…well, is like a mystery.

Yet, He wants us to still ask him questions…maybe that’s why he doesn’t give us all the answers immediately.  So we’ll keep talking to him and keep asking so we’ll stay in fellowship with him.

There’s so many things I don’t know the answer to but want to.   Why does there have to be war on the other side of the world and in our homes and hearts?  Why does God allow school massacres?   Why do I have to wait so long for Him to answer?  Isn’t there a quicker way?  The list can go on.

He doesn’t leave us hanging to aggravate us but instead He wants us to hang onto Him while we ask Him questions and wait for answers.

God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery-which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 GW)

Giving us the hope of glory.  The holy mystery of God gives us glorious hope.

I recently read this statement by Frederick Buechner:  “To say that God is a mystery is to say that you can never nail him down.  Even on Christ the nails proved ultimately ineffective.” 

Let that one marinate.

The nails couldn’t hold him down.  This glorious mystery is beautiful in it’s holy way.  There can be glory in all we see and feel and wonder.  There’s no mystery in the ultimate love God has for us.  He loves us.  It’s plain and simple.  It can be found.  It can be felt.  It can be seen.

Lord, Your Word says that you want us to know the glorious riches of this mystery – which is Christ living in us, giving us the hope of glory.  Christ, live in us.  Let us understand and have faith in the beauty of your holy mystery. 

 

Joys to add to the count

#1523  childhood mystery dinner memories

#1524  giggles from crazy courses

#1525  eating spaghetti with no utensils

#1526  celebrating daughter’s 10th birthday

#1527  Paul’s donuts for breakfast for a birthday treat

#1528  joy she had opening her keyboard gift

#1529  celebrating our freedom

#1530  daughter wanting to be a photographer

#1531  a new place to see fireworks with friends

#1532  rain held off for our 4th of July celebration

#1533  being there for friends in need

#1534  hard eucharisteo – seeing friend off to overseas to serve our country but thankful for his willingness.

#1535  husband putting in a new door

#1536  daughter being asked to teach her peers about the importance of God’s Word

#1537  her willingness and boldness to do teach

#1538  family movie night

 Joining in with Ann Voskamp today counting joys

 

(And by the way…if you’re interested, here’s the menu I used for the mystery dinner if you’d ever like to try it!)

Red and Green Wheels - tomatoes and cucumbers

Night Sighter – carrots

Pucker Upper – pickle

Shakey Foundation – jello

Shark’s friends – goldfish

Evening Tumbler – rolls

Thimbles – raspberries

Moon Goop – string cheese

Streamers and Balloons– spaghetti and meatballs

Three paths – fork

Silver ladle – spoon

Butcher’s Delight - knife

Chip off the Old Block – toothpick

Drooler’s Delight – napkin

Brown Cow – chocolate ice cream

Instant Refresher - lemonade

Your dream job

Joining in with Five Minute Friday and today’s word is BEAUTIFUL.

 

She just got back from camp and seemed she’d grown up even more and it had only been 5 days since I’d seen her.  Her hair was let down and wavy, skin golden brown and those eyes looked a little tired but filled with joy and excitement to tell us all about it.  Just beautiful.  Tomorrow is her 10th birthday.

My baby is now double-digit and I have to take a double look at how time goes by so quickly when this time 10 years I was about to hold her for the first time.

I remember back this past January when our family went on vacation to Disney.  One of the days we got back to our hotel room from playing in that magical kingdom, we opened the door to find the housekeeper had made origami out of towels and had taken my daughter’s stuffed animals and added them to the display.   It tickled her pink!

The next day we were standing in line waiting for a ride, I asked her if she could have any job at Disney what would it be?  I assumed she’d want to be a princess like most mom’s probably would assume. 

But she said she wanted to be a housekeeper.

She wanted to be a housekeeper so she could make fun decorations out of towels for the people staying in the hotel rooms.

I thought she’d say she wanted to be a princess or a character shaking hands and signing autograph books or a dancer in a parade or a chef at one of the gourmet restaurants.

But she would chose to have a not-so-popular job that I would have never dreamed of having yet it’s a job that brings unexpected smiles to tired families coming in from a long day. Or it would bring simple joy to children who are crying because they didn’t want to leave the park yet when arriving back at their room to see a masterpiece of art created from washcloths.

That makes her even more beautiful to me as her momma.  Is this early signs showing she has a heart for others?   I think so.   Is this showing she has a heart to serve?  I hope so.  Is this showing she is a “behind the scenes” type of person?  What a gift that can be. 

What a gift she is to us and Happy 10th Birthday!

 

What is the foundation of freedom?

There are so many emotions going on this week: excitement, feeling overwhelmed, being blessed, and the fear of the unknown. We helped throw a “Sending Off” party for a dear family friend who’s being deployed to serve our country.  We sent out daughter off to camp.  Our son got braces…and oh I remember those days and the pain that came with it. I was offered an exciting job opportunity, one I wasn’t even seeking, and I have been praying for direction.

But the one thing that has quietly reminded me of His Presence in the midst of all this is the theme at the camp my daughter is attending this week with our church.  It’s “Out of this World – Where God is Always with us”. 

God is always with us.  This week I’ve seen the reminders…the shouts…the whispers…that HE’S WITH US.

Our friend needs to remember HE IS WITH THEM. While he is going to be away for several months, his wife and two sons, and soon-to-be daughter they’re adopting from Haiti, will the holding down the fort here at home.  

I’m reminded God IS ALWAYS WITH US as tons of kids are being taught tons about how He’s always with us!

God is with us and just lays gifts in our laps, even when we haven’t prayed much about it and was offered a job doing what I love to do.
This week, reading a post on incourage, God reminded me with His grace, that as a mom, relationships are more important than jobs, answering emails and checking Facebook.
This week, I’ve seen how we receive freedom because God is always with us.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

We have the choice to allow or not allow the burdens in life hold us captive.  We have the choice to accept freedom through Christ…always…because He’s always wants to be with us. At the eve eve of celebrating our freedom in America, I thank God for the freedom He so graciously gives us.
It is a gift. 

"Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules.  Treat everyone you meet with dignity.  Love your spiritual family.  Revere God.  Respect the government."                   1 Peter 2:16, 17

This past week serving God has a fresh meaning as our family’s friend is being deployed to serve our country. 
And oh how a spiritual family is needed to grasp what true service and freedom are.   A spiritual family gives the freedom to be yourself, to be vulnerable and it makes your heart desire to serve each other and others together. And when you’re in the midst of doing that, God is revered…worshipped.
I’m grateful for the foundation of freedom, through God, that was formed by our government over 200 years ago. 

The foundation of freedom is Christ in us because He’s always with us. 
And that is something to thank God for, especially this week.  Here’s joys and thanksgivings from this past week and I’m still counting and giving God the glory for them all.

# 1506  thank you to our friend who is serving our country…being deployed later this week…and will be missed
#1507  helping get ready for a “Sending Off” party

#1508  the hours of time and heart my husband put into making a video for our friend
#1509  words from the heart

#1510  laying hands and praying for our dear friends
#1511  prayers from the heart

#1512  our small group through the past almost 10 years…especially in big times like these

#1513  still finding prettiness outside even though it’s been raining and cloudy for a week

#1514  Libby off to camp
#1515  the leaders taking 44 SMC kids to camp


#1516  watching The Help with my hubby
#1517  Exodus 4 scripture used in The Help…one of my life verses.
#1518  our first cucumbers

#1519  neighbor calling to tell me to bring my camera to his yard to take a picture of the baby bunny in their plant.  love how they know me!

#1520  to just be silly

#1521  a job opportunity put in my lap to work with a great  photographer and design digital books for her clients.  Thanks be to God!
#1522  son got his braces and is hanging in there adjusting with some uncomfortable teeth