Saturday, February 28, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Powers

Ryan and I have been married 11 years today, and being married that long has given me some unique powers to push his buttons. I know just the ones he has, and know juuust the right way to push them. I mean, 11 years teaches you that, right?

But what 11 years also teaches you is how to use your powers for good instead of evil. I know what his weaknesses are, yes, but I also know that those weaknesses are tied to his greatest strengths--the reasons I fell in love with him in the first place.

You see, the "powers" we feel we hold over one another aren't really powers at all. The true power is being able to love another person in the good and the bad, in sickness and in health, and so on. You don't need power when it comes to love, because in love, you sacrifice for the other person. In love, you put the other person first.

Ryan and I are by no means perfect, nor do we have the perfect marriage, but when we use our powers for good, and put each other first, we're as close as we're ever going to get.

Happy anniversary to the wonderful man I married 11 years ago. I'd do it all over again--I love our life together.
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 Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian

Friday, February 27, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Wait

I am not a fan of waiting.

Those of you who know me well know I'm not a super patient person in some respects, especially when it comes to a change I want or need. What I've learned over the years, though, is that there is always a lesson to be learned during the wait—that the waiting is happening for a reason, whether I agree with it or not.

For me, the lesson is almost always the same. It's God saying, "I've got this. Stop rushing, stop trying to do it all yourself. Just trust me."

[Impatient sigh]. That is so hard for me, you guys.

Fortunately, what I have learned in my stubbornness of having to go through this lesson again, and again, and again is that I can trust that everything is going to turn out just fine—that even if the journey is rocky, the end will be good. So good.

As far as the rushing and trying to do it all myself goes . . . well, that's another story, which is why I bought this sign to sit in my living room:
Slow down. Wait. Stop rushing all the time. You're gonna miss the good stuff. Okay, so maybe only that first sentence is literally represented on the sign, but the rest is implied.

I may not be a fan, but waiting is a good thing.


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 Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.



Thursday, February 26, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Place

What's your third place?

If home is first, and work is second, what's the third place you spend a lot of your time? Think of it as a Cheers-esque kind of venue. Where is it that "everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came"?

Is it your local Starbucks where the barista knows you like your chai latte extra hot, or the Panera around the corner from your house where your book group always meets? What's the place that your community gets together to share life?

My third place is really less of a place and more of a group-of-people/day-of-the-week type of thing. It's the crew that I get together with every Monday night where we laugh, talk, pray, share, dream and discuss. It's a safe place where I can break into a million pieces and know they'll be there to help me pick them back up again. It's community at community's best.

Our lives are meant to be lived together. It's such an important piece of the way we were created. We're better together, and our third place usually represents that. When I'm struggling with something, these awesome ladies struggle and pray right along with me. When I'm excited about something, they're excited for me (or at least put up with my over-excitability). They adore my kids. They support my marriage. They hold me accountable. They help ground me in my faith.

I'm stronger because of them—in my faith, my parenting, my marriage, in everything—and I'm so very thankful they're my people, my third place.
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 Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Remember

Remember that time . . .

That's why I started this blog in the first place. To remember.

To remember those sweet baby snuggles and goofy kid sayings. To remember the hard things I powered through and the silly things I never want to forget, even 20 years from now.

The stories I'm collecting will be remembered and told for years to come, just as the stories of my childhood are told and retold to me over and over again. It's a connection point with a new generation, and the one before me, and the one before that. It's part of how we stay connected as a family, as a community, as believers. Who we are together is in our stories. The good and the bad. The joyous and the heartbreaking. The funny and the serious.

Remembering these things together helps bring us closer. And knowing that makes me want to make each day one to remember. With my boys, my husband, my friends, my fellow believers.

What will you remember about today?
The Santa Maria degli Angeli chapel at the top of Monte Tamaro,  Switzerland.
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 Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Path

WARNING: I'm gonna go a little poetry nerd on all of you today.

I'm sure all of you are familiar with Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," or at least its very famous last three lines:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

(You can read the whole poem here.)

On the surface, the poem is a metaphor for two different paths in life. The speaker must choose one path and spends the entire poem deliberating, even wondering how he'll feel about choosing that path later in life. What's underneath the surface read though, is that he never actually chooses. The entire poem is about his indecision. It's always ironic to me how people plaster this quote all over things when they're making big decisions in their lives, not knowing they're really celebrating indecision. Oh, Frost. You're so tricky.

Seriously though, what I love about this poem and its trickyness is that all of us can relate. Who among us hasn't stood exactly where the speaker in this poem stands? A decision needs to be made and you have absolutely no idea what the right answer is, what path you should take on the diverging road. In those moments, all you can do is pray for the answer and have faith that you're following the right path.

That's what's so great about having faith. You don't know exactly what the journey might look like, but you do know that wherever it leads, you'll end up in a good place—right where you were meant to be all along.
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 Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Monday, February 23, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Covenant

The word "covenant" feels like such a serious word, doesn't it? The gravity of it makes me want to immediately lighten the mood with a joke or something. But when you really think about it, a covenant is pretty serious. It's a promise, yes, but it's way more sacred than any run-of-the-mill, ordinary promise—it's a promise from God.

Take a look at this verse in Isaiah for example:


"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
— Isaiah 54:10

Whoa. Pretty serious, right? That's some mighty BIG love. Such a giant promise of love and peace that even mountains could shake and it couldn't be stopped. That's what we were promised, friends. 

Every single one of us

We weren't promised an easy life without struggles or sadness or pain, but we were promised that even through all of those things, even in the darkest of places . . . we'd be held. We'd be loved.

Today, may you rest in the knowledge of how very loved you are—no matter what. 
Gullfoss Waterfall, Iceland

Saturday, February 21, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Joy

I visited Haiti for the first time about six months ago and it gave me a serious spiritual ass-kicking that I hadn't fully expected. I left my comfy, larger-then-we-need, suburban, air-conditioned home thinking I knew all about joy, and what it is to be overflowing with happiness. I'd had two babies, been working years in a successful career, experienced wedded bliss for more than 10 years. The list could go on and on about the joyful things in my life.

But then I visited this beautiful place and realized I'd never been in a situation to experience joy the way the wonderful people of Haiti do. All my life, I've had all I've needed, and frankly, most of the things I've wanted, too. I went to Haiti knowing about the orphan crisis there and the level of poverty that permeates most of the country. I went knowing how corrupt the government can be and that well-paying jobs are scarce. I went there with all this "knowledge" and expected to find sadness and lack of hope. In some ways, that was true, but mostly, what I saw instead was something beautiful rising out of the ashes of all that injustice—a people so filled with joy that it was palpable. Their joy didn't come from a long list of accomplishments or successes, or accumulated possessions . . . their joy came from their great faith.

Now . . . did I know that true joy should come from faith and not this list of other stuff? Sure I did. But that's not what jarred me. To see that joy lived out in a group of people who have "nothing" by American standards and contrast that with the depression, anxiety and sadness Americans experience while surrounded by all their "stuff". . . that's what taught me a true lesson about joy.

We're the ones not getting it, friends. But Haitians—they understand fully. No matter the circumstances, in good or in bad—true joy comes from God.  
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person
under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them
in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 8:14-15

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Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Friday, February 20, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Alone

Recently, a good friend of mine confided in our Monday night group that she felt alone. That even in a crowded room, or group of people who love her, she still feels as though she doesn't belong—that she's all alone in her struggles.

This is a woman who is a regular part of my life. I see her almost every day. And yet, I had no idea she was feeling this way. It jarred me.

It made me wonder how I'd missed she had this gaping hole in her life. How had I been so wrapped up in my own junk that I forgot to look outside of myself and see how others were struggling? Frankly, it was a good reminder to me that it's not all about me. It was a good reminder to interact intentionally with those I see every day. We were made to be living in community together for a reason—so we can lean on each other, support each other, love each other, hold each other accountable, and on, and on.

And so...to my dear friend, whom I love, and to everyone else out there feeling as though they're alone in whatever their struggles are, today's Lenten post is for you. Those unworthy, I-don't-belong, I'm-not-important feelings are not what God would say to you today. God would say this:

You are awesome.

You are loved.

You belong.

You are not alone.
On the beach in Vik, Iceland.
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This post is part of a series focused on a single word, which started with a 2013 Lenten challenge from Rethink Church. A group of five friends (including me) posted once a day and love-hated it so much we decided to do it again for the 2015 Lenten season. Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Look

We've all got plenty of ugly going on inside of us every day—selfishness, anger, greed, hate. And that's the short list, friends. I'll be the first to admit I see those things in myself all day long. I can also see them around me—at home, at work, and even places where people think they shouldn't be, like church. Many days, this world can be an ugly place, which makes it so easy to dwell on the bad.

You're unappreciated at work? Grrr. Your spouse didn't let you sleep in? Angry fist! That jerk cut you off in traffic? Outrageous!

But what if—in those times of frustration, when the ugly is attacking us—what if we look for the good?    
What if we attempted to see that co-worker we can't stand as someone who is struggling just like we are. What if we tried to see that grouchy neighbor the way God sees them?

And before you write me off as a Pollyanna, I'm not just talking about turning your frown upside down and faking it. What if looking for the good in our days, our friends, our families, even the strangers we come across every day—what would happen if we became intentional about looking for the good inside of them?

I'm convinced we'd all find it. And I'm convinced the world would change. Those times of trial and struggle would shift from the dark, ugly things they are into something beautiful—something that was a part of the plan all along.
Lupine—the most hated "flower" in Iceland because of its weed-like tendencies.
I took one look at them and thought they were beautiful. Don't you agree? 
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This post is part of a series focused on a single word, which started with a 2013 Lenten challenge from Rethink Church. A group of five friends (including me) posted once a day and love-hated it so much we decided to do it again for the 2015 Lenten season. Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

One Word, Five Voices: Announce

I've got a little bit of an announcement for you: Our "One Word, Five Voices" crew is back for the Lenten season!

ReThink Church has once again challenged followers with a Lenten photo-a-day challenge, and myself and four of my crazy friends will be adding on to that with a blog post focused on a different word every day of Lent.

Now, to be honest, I almost stopped blogging here for today. I used the word "announce" already in the first sentence—yay me! But come on, I can't cop out on day one, right?

The word "announce" always seems so formal to me. It's like it needs to be preceded by trumpets or something. It's big, important, almost regal. And who the hell am I, right?

But here's the thing: to announce something is also to make a promise. If you put it out there that you're retiring, or buying a house, or getting married, or having soup for dinner, you're committing to that statement. You're obligated to follow through. And if you don't, people might question you, or hold you accountable to the promise you made. (Where's my soup, man?!)

And that kind of accountability, that kind of commitment—that's what I want for this Lenten season. I know I'll struggle, I know I'll want to give up, but I also know that I'll have grown in my faith along the way, and that's what Lent is all about, right?

So here it is, folks:

I announce (dun, dun, dun, duuuuunnnnn) I'll be blogging every day of Lent this year. Hold me accountable, won't ya?

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This post is part of a series focused on a single word, which started with a 2013 Lenten challenge from Rethink Church. A group of five friends (including me) posted once a day and love-hated it so much we decided to do it again for the 2015 Lenten season. Check out what my friends think of today's word on their blogs: ShawnHeatherSteph and Brian.


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Latest "Boyisms"

These boys...they are so silly. Here's a flavor of our past few months:

Gavin, while pulling the tops off strawberries:
"I'm a twist grinder!"

While riding in the car:
Gavin: "Daddy's car smells like butt."
Bennett: "Dat Bubby."

Affirmations of love:
Gavin: "Mommy...I love you through your bones."

On misbehaving on the playground:
Gavin: "It's okay, Mommy. No teachers saw me—I watched out."

During the Royals' World Series marathon of TV watching:
Gavin: "Guess what. I'm super creepy Rob Lowe."

While towel-drying after a bath:
Bennett: "Don't rub it off. Dat my skin."

After passing a police car on the highway:
Bennett: "Dat a poweece car."
Me: "What do the police do?"
Bennett: "Dey help people up when dey fall down."

Singing Christmas carols in the car:
Bennett: "Woodolf the wed-nosed snowman!"

On Elf on the Shelf:
Bennett: "Don't touch his hat! It make the magic fall off!"