Things Life and God are Currently Teaching Me July 23, 2009

1. God is really, really big.
2. Housework is way overrated.
3. Sleeping in is way underrated.
4. God is not as uptight as I once thought.
5. We as human beings have an astounding knack for over complicating just about everything. I find this interesting especially when so many of Jesus’ teachings revolved around simplicity.
6. Simplicity vs. Duplicity is a running theme in my life. More on that later.
7. Monism vs. Dualism is also a theme. More on that later, as well.
8. I am blessed. And I am thankful.
9. If you want to have a great marriage, spend time with your spouse. If you want to have a great relationship with your kids, spend time with your kids. If you want to have healthy finances, spend time working on them. In other words, if you want something to be healthy, focus and work on THAT thing. Don’t work on one thing, expecting it to solve problems or cause blessings to pop up in some other random area of your life. These are the very principals of sowing and reaping. You can’t get cucumbers from planting tomato seeds. Sometimes, but not always, we may have unexpected pleasant consequences arise from seemingly unrelated actions or events. But we should never count on these. This may seem elementary and it probably is, but I see far too much of the other going on, and I think it’s a duplicitous and dangerous way of shirking our responsibilities.
10. Having a sense of humor is a necessity in life.
11. Getting older, for me, really has meant getting fatter. And gravity isn’t really helping matters either. But I’m finding that I like the older, fatter, saggier, sassier me than the younger, thinner, tighter, slightly bitchier version. Plus, I like me with brownies and cheesecake waaaaay better than I do without.
12. I still have a voice, it’s just currently being muffled by the sounds of Sesame Street.

Welcome to “No Longer Waiting”! July 15, 2009

You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

–Dr. Seuss, Oh the Places You’ll Go!

Er, girl.  I read that little jem to my kids a while back, and at the time, it really bothered me.  At the time, it felt a bit like a cold, hard, slap in the face, considering that the title of my then blog was Sitting In the Waiting Room.  I’ve lived most of my life, as C.S. Lewis says, “in the shadowlands,” thinking that the sun is always shining somewhere else.  Around a bend in the road.  Over the brow of a hill.  Someplace that I currently am not.  Sitting uncomfortably in the cold, but too afraid to find the warmest spot, for fear of making a wrong move.  I am realizing that the sun shines on me, too.  I feel it’s warmth.  Right here.  Right now.  Ever since that fateful bedtime reading of a beloved children’s classic, I’ve been asking myself…What the hell am I waiting for exactly?  Honestly, I don’t quite know anymore.

What I do know is this:  I love my life.  I am absolutely in love with my gentleman of a husband and am convinced I snagged one of the  last great men on earth (Sorry, ladies!).  My 4 kids are beautiful, healthy, and awesome, and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be able to hang out with them all day, and do things like go to the park, go to the pool, and eat ice cream.  Seriously?  This is my job? I live twenty minutes from my entire immediate family and get to see them quite often.  Furthermore, I am surrounded by the best group of beautiful, kind, gracious women you would ever meet.  There are, of course, a few friends that are too far away for my liking and that I would teleport here in a heartbeat if I could (you know who you are!).  But other than that, I really can’t complain too much.

I am learning to love the simplicity of life.  I am also learning that God is right here, in it with me.  During the diaper changes.  During the toilet scrubbing.  During the pb & j assembling.  I am not waiting for God to show up.  For God to move.  For God to speak.  I carry God with me, always in my heart.  God is already here, and has been all along.  “There’s no place like home.” [click, click, click]…

Also, on a logistical note, starting a fresh new blog has given me the excuse to emerge out of the Dark Ages, i.e. Blogger, and reemerge with one of these WordPress beauties.  I’ve been covetous of you WordPressers for long enough.  So, I came.  I saw.  I conquered.  Covetous no more!

So, I’m not quite sure what direction this new blog is going to take.  If it’s any reflection of myself, which, I am sure that it will be considering that’s EXACTLY what writers usually do, it will probably move in a thousand different directions, often get sidetracked, lose focus, sit down to eat, take a nap, wake up again and wonder what the heck just happened.  On a daily basis.  Oh well, anything’s better than sitting still, I guess.