The Imaginer

“I’ll take a spaceship and some mini powdered doughnuts to go,” I overhear one boy say to the other inside the cardboard box store. I smile and snap a quick photo of them actually playing nicely together; the older two assisting the younger with product selections and play money creation.

While I enjoy my boys’ simple approach to play, I know, as an adult life isn’t that easy. If only real life were as good as a child imagines it to be.  If only we could pull through a drive-thru to purchase a spaceship. If only we could create as many dollar bills in our living rooms that it required to purchase our heart’s desire. There is the rub.

But what if the world was intended to be that way? What if it was supposed to be as magical as a day Disney promises (without the painful price for admission), as limitless as a child’s imagination, and as abundant in supply of any need we could dream up?

It was... in the Beginning.

At the start of the world the ultimate Imaginer dreamed up everything from the tiniest molecule to the largest ocean, and everything in between. He decided to make light, time, plants, birds, animals, ice cream and even chocolate cake! (Genesis 1) He made space and humans to explore it all. There was no end to he possibilities and it was all perfectly perfect until…

Until that fateful day when His two most favorite creations of all decided they didn’t quite trust Him. They didn’t quite believe that He wasn’t holding out. They took something they were never designed to handle, the knowledge of good and evil, and they got way more than they ever desired in return.

Everything they were put on earth to do – enjoy a relationship with the Imaginer, take care of creation, grow food, have babies – it all got very, very hard. With that one choice to turn their back on the Creator they opened the door to everything hard; sickness, death, toil and struggle, just to survive.

I think kids imagine so much because they are still more like their Creator, uninhibited by life’s realities. They know their Imaginer’s heart. They reflect Him as they dream up drive-thru spaceship stores. They long for the day at Disney where everything is as magical as they know inside it was supposed to be every day.

Jesus tells us, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Life with Jesus isn’t perfect. It isn’t a day at Disney over and over again. That isn’t what He is promising here. But He does promise if we seek Him first, all our basic needs will be met. (Matt. 6:33). And He graciously gives so much more than our basic needs; life with Jesus is often overflowing with good things. But it is never quite perfect on this side of heaven…

That perfectly perfect comes later now – since we messed up this life – we have to live with sin and it’s consequences for now. But Someone did pay a very big price for admission into the abundant life that is to come. (1 Peter 3:18)

The question remains, will we accept the ticket to get in? At the end of our days on this earth will we enter into what a child’s heart instinctively imagines, a life more magical, more powerful, more abundant than we can even dream up?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.  This isn’t an invitation to perfect life in this world, but to an eternity of perfectly perfect in the next.  And I can’t wait to find out if there will be drive through spaceship stores.

I Don't Want to Forget...

That put your head back in the sunshine dizzy flip flop tummy feeling. This is pure joy. 

Overhearing T3 share the Gospel story with his little playmate in the next room. Unprompted. Unashamed. Unwavering in his belief. This is pure faith.

The love of a boy and his dog. This one who is working so very hard to fly this year. This photo makes my mama's heart sing. This is pure happiness.

How happy my kids are doing the simple things...they just want me to get out and play with them. This is pure fun. 

There is no perfect family photo. This is pure love.

What Comes After 39?

T3- Mom, how old are you?

Me- 39.

T3- Whoa! What comes after 39?

Me- you tell me.

T3- 20?

Me- Exactly!

Such a smart little man!!!!

Here he is carefully picking all the hot dogs out of the beans at CO cowboy day. 

Unanswered Prayers, Unexpected (difficult) Circumstances and Unlikely Callings: The Characters of Christmas

Thinking about Christmas this season I imagined this heavenly scenario:

 All of Heaven shudders as the crunch of the apple in Eve’s mouth echoes throughout Paradise.  The angels watch in silent despair to see what the Father will do. Heartbroken He leaves them to talk to Adam and Eve, to cover their nakedness with the first sacrifice that will lead to more bloodshed than could ever be imagined.  When He returns Jesus asks Him, “Papa, is it time?” Jesus knows the Plan. He has known all along. Though He hoped it wouldn’t come to this He is ready and willing. “No, not yet,” God mournfully replies, “They are not ready.” Centuries pass and like many times before Jesus asks, “Papa, is it time?” And this time God looks down at His Chosen people, His eyes smile when He sees Mary softly singing praises to Him as she prepares for her wedding day…”Yes, it is time. Gabriel, go and prepare Mary for my Son.”

I think my favorite verse in the whole Christmas story is, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37).  These are Gabriel’s last words to Mary. Nothing is impossible with God. Not even restoration after the separation we caused with that first crunch of the apple. Only He can heal all the hurt, disease, bloodshed that it has caused on earth ever since. And He uses the most unlikely folks as part of His plans.

The Christmas story is full of people the world (including us) would have never chosen. An old priest with decades worth of an unanswered prayer – a request he struggles to believe God is able to fulfill after so many years of silence. Can you relate? Do you have an answered prayer from long ago? God might be saying “that’s not my best for you.” Or like with this doubting priest He might be saying, “not yet”.

Then there is a young Jewish girl on the fringes of society and living under Roman oppression. And when God does work a miracle through her the circumstances are hardly what she or we would have chosen. Have you ever answered God’s call and then had things turn out drastically differently than you imagined? Mary could relate! But she was truly right in the middle of God’s will for her and the most important miracle ever. And yet I imagine a cave miles from home was hardly the birth center she imagined.

And then there are those blue-collar missionaries. A rough group of men tending sheep that were likely used for sacrifice in the temple. Sheep on land that king David had used to shepherd centuries before (1 Sam. 17:15).  Shepherd’s told of the Ultimate Good Shepherd and Lamb for sacrifice to come. It’s hard to miss the foreshadowing here and this part of the story is packed with meaning for us to discover. I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty unlikely candidate to carry His message of hope, and yet like the shepherds He uses people like you and me.

These are the characters that God uses to write His story of redemption.  And in each of their lives we can identify, we can find courage and we can hope.  If He used them, He can use us.

I’m reading through Revelation this month and thinking about Jesus’ return to earth to finish what He started so many centuries ago.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom , priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. I am the Alpha an dhte Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Rev. 1:5-7)

This is Who we worship. This is what we live for. This is why we labor. This is Who we celebrate this season and Who we wait expectantly to return. In the midst of unanswered prayers, unexpected difficult circumstances and unlikely callings, lets take a few minutes to remember He is with us through it all and praise and thank God that He came and He is coming again. Because Nothing is impossible with God.

My Brilliant Idea

I recently spent some time with a group of younger ladies that are all staff training with the Navs. I was challenged by several them sharing with the group how scripture more sustains them to keep growing with God. I have let memorization slide the past semester and decided my application from our  time would be to renew that habit. Since I'm not sure what drawer I stashed my verse pack in six months ago I'm writing it all out. But this morning as I was reviewing from the app on my phone I had the great idea (and we know where all great ideas really come from) to take a screen shot of the verses and save them as my screen/wallpaper. Now every time I turn on my phone (which is 100times a day) I am automatically reminded to review that verse! And I know I won't stash my phone away to forget for months on end. 

If you have other tricks for memorizing I would love to hear them!

Advent - Light Arriving

Baby Jesus is born...light enters the world again. Perfection. Holiness. Clarity.  We can finally see what our hearts knew all along...we were dwelling in deep darkness.  Blinded by our own sin. Light pushes the darkness back making room to dwell with us, in us...Immanuel. 

In Him there is no darkness at all. (1 Jn 1:5)

Our souls long for this - we were made for this - we crave His goodness and Love. 
The darkness numbs our hunger but always leaves us wanting more. 
The light fills every crevice of our hearts, sneaking through the cracks, creeping in and satisfying.  The darkness cannot hold it back. With Christ's birth the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. (1 Jn 2:8)

Welcome Lord Jesus.

Rules for Wrestling

I love our life. 

Baptism

On October 26th Thing 2 was baptized by his Dad.  What a special day for our whole family and a great memory for the two of them.

T2 chose 2 Corinthians 5:17 to be read at his baptism.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  the old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
We know this is one step in T2's journey. There will be times when he feels close to God and times when he feels distant.  I pray he always remembers though that no matter how he feels, God is always near to him. This day marks an important declaration on his journey of becoming that new creation. We are proud of you, son!

Why I Can't Have a Fish on my Van (How I Lost my "Witness" at the Grocery Store)

Three different stores with three boys and a dog all in one morning...what was I thinking???

 At each stop the dog jumped out of the van and tried to get hit by a car.  Our final stop turned into the typical longer-than-expected trip to get groceries. Halfway through grabbing "just a few things" we had to make an emergency stop at the bathroom (why do they always wait until we are at the opposite end of the bathrooms to have to go RIGHT NOW?). Groceries bought and two penny pony rides later, we rush back out to the van where I hoped the dog hadn't done anything smelly.

As I lift the 100 lb cooler bag of groceries out of the cart the dog makes a break for it.  I drag the bag toward the dog and grab her by the collar with my free hand.  At THIS EXACT MOMENT (I'm about to lose my witness here...) a grumpy old man pulls up and stops behind my van.  He angrily lectures me on my bad parking skills (I readily admit I'm a terrible parker) informing me he could barely get out of his space next to mine.  I think to myself at this moment...are you kidding me? Can you see what I'm managing right now? Somewhat politely I say, "I'm sorry sir but I have other ISSUES to deal with right now."

I turn away and wrestle the dog with one hand back into the van. When I drag my 1000 lb grocery bag back to the van the grumpy old man is STILL parked there glaring at me.  My witness slips a bit more and I say, "What do you want me to do?" (clearly he was able to get out of his spot without incident).  He says something else I can't remember to which I reply, "Well I'll go to parking school, okay?!" He snaps, "Good, you should." I yell, "Great, you can pay for it!" He finally departs and I call him a jerk under my breath right in front of my kids.

Nice. What happened to loving my neighbor? I even got up early and had a quiet time this morning! As I drive home I think to myself, This is why I can never put one of those fish on my van. 

But here is the amazing thing that I'm still trying to get my head around.  Something that I think is so very important for all of us who claim to love God to really grasp. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  Jesus took on all my sin and in exchange He credited His righteousness to me. God doesn't look down on me in that parking lot frowning in disgust that I STILL don't get it right.  He looks down to see Christ's righteousness and my mistakes already paid for on the cross.  

It's that perfect love of the Father that motivates to do better next time, not out of guilt, only out of pleasure and delight in His perfect acceptance of me, just as I am. And if I ever do make it to "parking school" maybe I can finally put that fish on my bumper...or, maybe not! 

Funny Things

Our Things keep us laughing...life is good.

Thing 3 to Dad - What are your favorite kind of cupcakes?
Dad - Black bottom cupcakes.
Me - Oh, you mean the ones your mom makes better than me? (He accidentally admitted this about a  
         decade ago and I haven't let him forget)
Dad- Yup
Me - How about those flowers? (he hasn't gotten yet for our anniversary this week and it is a fun little
         joke between us)
T3 - Dad, remember when you used to get mom flowers?
Me - snicker
Dad- You aren't helping me out here, T3. Yeah I should get those...


T3: Mom T2 said I hit him on the head with my stick but I didn't!  (Wait for it...) I hit him on the legs! (He says indignantly).

T3: Mom, why do we have belly buttons?

Me: it is where you got your food inside my belly. What mommy ate came through the tube to you. 

T3: Did you have to eat baby food and applesauce?

Speaking of babies in bellies....

T2: Mom, can I ask your phone something?

Me: Sure

T2: (holding my phone) How are babies made inside mommy's bellies?

Cyrie: Checking on that...here's what I found. 

Me: GIVE ME THE PHONE!!!

Discussing sleeping arrangements at the hotel. 

T3: do I have to sleep with T1? He farts! Puey. 

Mom:(discreet smile) maybe. 

T3: whatever. I'm outta here!

I Spy

Can you spy the lego in this picture? I did around 6:30 this morning while gulping down my first cup of coffee. I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming. 

Can you spy the forbidden "chew toy"?Zoeghnut (you know, our girl that sleeps curled up like a doughnut) walked into the kitchen and deposited Thing 2s tennis shoe at my feet right after I spied the lego and took another long drink of coffee. I'm pretty sure I finally got T2 to put them AWAY and now I've got another redistributing them. PERFECT. 

 Can you spy my heart? It's all over that little man; God has designed it that way.

I LOVE Friday mornings bc they are the only time that is just us two. Coffee, time with a boy and jigsaw puzzles...can you spy my contentment? :)

What about you? What do you spy lately that makes you smile?

Intentional Living - Post Preschoolers

         Ten years ago after the arrival of my first son this season seemed so far off I couldn’t even   Now that I’ve sent my youngest off to K the quiet house screams at me, “This day has arrived!” The ObGyn tells you all about navigating postpartum, but I've yet to come across a manual on post-preschoolers.

imagine it.
 It has finally happened.

 So now what?          

           

            Prompted by Jean Flemming’s, Pursue the IntentionalLife, I ask myself a lot of soul searching questions.  Where should my contribution of these few hours go?  What will make me want to spring out of bed in the morning? What choices made today will help me live well (and end well) spiritually?

            This is a critical juncture.  I’m setting the pace and tone for the rest of my life.  My time apart from my kids is only going to increase as the months and years roll by.  Jean says, “Spring is the best time for planting if I want a good harvest in the fall.  Vision, values, character and disciplines developed in the springtime of life serve even into winter.  Whatever the age, it is not too soon to prepare for the rest of life.” (p.32).

            The years of parenting preschoolers has passed; it’s time to plant in new “fields” I couldn’t go to with little ones. Just like my children, I need to continue to grow and move on to the next thing….at least for a few hours…until my little treasures come back to my nest. Then it’s time to really make those hours with them count.

           

What about you? What life changes are you facing? I’d love to hear what has helped you successfully navigate a new role, season, etc.