Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Love Letter to My Child
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
My Child is a Flower
Aaahh!!!! I just love it. It speaks to me so much! How do you care for flowers? You can’t be harsh with them, you can’t force them to grow–you have to provide a favorable environment and lots of tender loving care and encouragement.
Sunlight—I take to mean the light of the Lord in their lives. Opening up heaven for them so they can bask in His love and warmth.
Water—I just think of quenching their thirst…for knowledge, acceptance, love, and whatever else. The basis for their growth.
Fertilizer—Food! This one is helpful to me as I spend hours a day between planning meals, shopping for food, making meals and cleaning up after meals. It makes me think of what kind of spiritual food am I give my daughter? Sure she may be only 8 ½ months old but she still needs to eat. I for sure wouldn’t feed her sugar & unhealthy food all the time, she wouldn’t be able to grow up healthy and beautiful. So am I giving her “natural” spiritual food as well or just packaged sugary junk to fill her superficially?
Soil—I think this is prayer. I just want to cover them (their roots, I guess) with prayer. Giving them some solid ground to be rooted to, a good, strong foundation.
As if these thoughts are cool enough, God then proceeded to give me a picture of my house as a garden to tend to. Wow…how much more pleasant a thought is that?!!! Gardens need weeding, pruning, tilling, bug plucking, etc. However, it’s not usually viewed as a great chore for those who are into gardening because it’s so worth the effort!!! That is how I am to view my home. It takes a little work but it is to be a beautiful, restful place of peace to ENJOY!
I picture myself flitting through my garden, putting away a thing here, wiping a counter there, gently caressing the petals of my sweet little flower face, pouring into them water and nourishment while dancing through my beautiful garden, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.
I look at is as pinching off little pests that grow amongst my flowers was spiritual warfare—squashing any strongholds that try to latch onto our children. Another thought that sometimes the outside petals get a little roughed up through hard times in childhood but when they are opened up as mature flowers, those outside petals are on the very bottom and are not even visible.
And lastly, flowers are easily bruised and wilted with harsh treatment. Another thing that came to me as I was thinking about times I’ve been too harsh, or to easily frustrated or angered. I pictured myself standing over a flower and blocking its sunlight. Sometimes I just need to get out of the way so that the Lord’s sunlight can shine through.
Anyway, you can see that there are so many layers to this and I am so grateful for the picture! It was such a blessing to me and I just thought I would share it with anyone here in case it may be a benefit to you as well!
I can’t explain my joy and excitement over how much the Lord cares about our measly little lives. He is so willing to be involved and speak to us!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
One Size Fits All...I WISH!
So I decided to try jcpennys... this time I tried on 1QGREARI5ROQFIIOIQ3OIUTRH (Gabi says hello) anyways... This time i tried on a 12,14,&16. The 12s were again great on the legs and just okay on the birthing hips. The 14s were great on the waist but looked like I was packing junk in my trunk because they were so baggy. So with tears in my eyes (seriously) I reached for the 16s... They fit perfectly!?!? I bawled! I looked at the price tag & saw they were on major clearance for $8 & felt just a tiny bit better. When I came home I sat down & cried for who knows how long & then grabbed my water & spent some quality time with Jillian. Then I held my new jeans up to the old ones (that are size 10 remember) AND THEY WERE EXACTLY THE SAME!?!?!?!
Sometimes I really wish that everything came as one size fits all! :)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Lessons From the Past
Just a couple days ago I received a letter from my Dad asking for a copy of a story I wrote in college. Oddly enough I had completely forgotten all about this story. Now, I say oddly because the subject of this story was a life changing event for me. Maybe another day I'll post a copy of it but for now, it was all about a week I spent in Oaxaca, Mexico in the mountains with a family of Mixteco Indians. The story talks about all the new experiences I faced both good and bad and the lessons I learned for it all. I was just going to print a copy & send it to my dad but first decided to read it once more. It brought tears to my eyes when I reminisced about the shacks these people lived in and how little food they had to eat yet how thankful they were to God for everything they had.
Here was I, sitting on my wonderfully comfy couch, drinking a glass of lemonade with and obscene about of ice and chatting with friends on my lap top. I watched as my daughter was crawling around on the floor playing with her toys here and there making little screams of excitement when she found something new. I should have smiled and been happy at the thought of everything yet, instead I was looking at our banking statement online and sulking. It had never been this low before and I still have no idea how we are going to pay our bills for the coming month. But, instead of trusting God and thanking Him for everything He has blessed me with I was racking my brain for things we could do sell and what we could do to get some more money.
As I finished reading the story tears just started to fall. Who had I become? I had lost sight of the things that were most important to me. My husband, my baby girl, but most importantly my God. I had pushed him so far to the side that He was almost out of sight. I was trying to fix things on my own knowing very well that it was hopeless to do things that way. So as I folded the story and placed it in the envelope to send I said a quiet prayer asking God to once again take control of my finances.
Life may be hard at times but without God, it would be absolutely unbearable.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Far To Much Fussing
One of the people we needed for our drama practice wasn't able to make it that night, another wouldn't be there until almost an hour later, and the other was busy with another project at church. I was not a happy camper. My husband and I couldn't even practice our parts alone because the sanctuary was full. But my husband, being the kind and patient guy he is, suggested we go join the people in the sanctuary who were praying for the youth event we were hosting for the weekend. I reluctantly joined mostly because I didn't want to be left alone surrounded by little kids wanting to touch my baby.
I sat in the back pouting with my baby all the while shooting glances at my husband the whole time telling him I wanted to leave. They eventually asked that all the children be taken out of the room so that the pastors could specifically pray together over the church and the weekends events, so I passed Gabriela off to another lady and joined the other 5 pastors in front. We all began to pray in a circle and while every ones eyes were shut I quietly slipped out the back and found a quiet room to be alone, complaining to myself.
After what seemed like forever my husband found me and asked me to join them upstairs because the others wanted to pray for us. Me, being as stubborn as I am, declined. I told me husband no thank you, I don't need that right now and that I'd much rather go home. He tried to convince me but knowing I wouldn't budge he quietly gave up, handed me the keys and said, "I love you very much. I will see you at home." I quickly grabbed our daughter and rushed to the car. I thought I would feel relief knowing that I was going home and would be able to put the baby down for the night (it was almost 10pm) and finish the rest of our cleaning, but I didn't. I felt horrible.
At home, the baby was asleep and I was still getting nothing done. Then, as if I had just been smacked upside the head, I began to cry. A story in the Bible came to my mind...
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Deuteronomy 4:29-30