Woke up this morning wishing it was Sunday again--I LOVE going to church!!! It's like all those wonderful things in my life that I wish I could have EVERY DAY--like ice cream and rainbows & ballet and twirling, beach sand and boogie boards & lush green walks o'er mountaintops in Ireland. Yeah, like that. *sigh*
:)
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I posted this as a status update this morning.
The title of this blog, of course, is play on words from Joel Osteen's book, "Every Day a Friday." But, for me, it should be entitled as I have it, since that's the day I wish I could repeat most often.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Scribble Musing
I dunno.
Tonight, I wish I could take pen to screen,
THIS screen, my "Happy Psalm" blog screen,
and scribble all over it...Nonstop.
Never-ending circles
(I like that thought),
Over and over until hand cramps
Cause me to falter...
Broken line alone would make me cease--
So important the "cause" of my effort.
THIS, I feel in this moment,
Is precisely what I want to say.
"Tonight, I've decided to SCRIBBLE on my blog,"
I would say to wayward folks
Who stumble upon my pages
By some Act of Random.
"Looking for guidance? Direction?
Wisdom From Beyond the Ages?
You've come to the right place!"
(I'd write this in the afterword.)
"Follow the scribbles,"
I'd say, mechanically,
Lost in the beauty of the
Eternal arcs, Infinite arcs.
[The Scribbles are speaking.]
Tonight, I wish I could take pen to screen,
THIS screen, my "Happy Psalm" blog screen,
and scribble all over it...Nonstop.
Never-ending circles
(I like that thought),
Over and over until hand cramps
Cause me to falter...
Broken line alone would make me cease--
So important the "cause" of my effort.
THIS, I feel in this moment,
Is precisely what I want to say.
"Tonight, I've decided to SCRIBBLE on my blog,"
I would say to wayward folks
Who stumble upon my pages
By some Act of Random.
"Looking for guidance? Direction?
Wisdom From Beyond the Ages?
You've come to the right place!"
(I'd write this in the afterword.)
"Follow the scribbles,"
I'd say, mechanically,
Lost in the beauty of the
Eternal arcs, Infinite arcs.
[The Scribbles are speaking.]
"The Best Decade"
This afternoon, I went to Ft. Smith to get my teeth cleaned. The dental assistant and I started talking about "The Best Decades" and which we preferred.
She told me that if she were able, she would live in her 20s forever.
I thought quickly back to that decade in my life. I went to college six years in a row during that decade--going to school full time and working full time. Going to graduate school. Teaching an insane number of hours and trying to balance everything that was important in my life. Too many things going on...very little balance in any one thing. If I thought school and work were going well, it was more difficult to manage the social and church areas of my life. Romance was hit or miss--mostly miss. I was making up for lost time--since I never really had time to date, pursue that part of my emotional life. It felt like my 20s involved seeking a balance I just couldn't manage for long.
Heading into my 30s was frightening, I will admit. I hadn't married, had worked professionally for four years--teaching at CASC right after graduate school. I had a LOT of things going well for me, but a lot of questions. My body was changing--I cannot explain how scary it was when I realized my metabolism was changing and I couldn't keep my weight down doing the same things and eating the same diet. In addition to the weight changes, I realized my energy levels were dropping drastically and I couldn't maintain the same crazy schedules I'd adopted or been used to (sometimes by necessity).
I suppose, if I'm being honest, the first three or so years of my 30s decade was full of a lot of self-doubt, and, very importantly, soul searching. I really had no idea what my life held, and I'm referring to its permanence. I wasn't sure of anything--would I stay in Poteau? Go back to graduate school? Move away? Find someone?
But I found myself growing in faith. When I look back, I realize that the first half of the 30s decade was really spent growing in my faith. For once, I had a job and I didn't have a gazillion-and-one things I had to do to "get by" and I could go back to something that had meant so much to me all along--something that I had just not had the time for in my 20s.
Yes, I went to church. I have always gone to church. God has always been important to me. My faith is the core of my being. But I really didn't have time to pursue my faith as I had so many other things--it got shoved downward on the priority list for most of the decade--out of pure necessity, I'm sorry to say.
I told the lady helping me at the dentist's office that I thought my 30s were definitely my favorite decade. She said that she thought it was true that we don't really know who we are fully, or "come into our own," until our 30s.
Thus far, for me, my 40s (granted, I've not even made it a whole year through the first of them!) have been great, though comical in parts (realizing my knee wouldn't function like it used to function on demand, for instance!). I know I'm getting older, and there are times when I scare myself when I think of my age!, but I am really enjoying my life right now, where I am, what's going on.
I feel as young as ever--better, actually! It's nice when body, mind, and soul get to a "leveling off," where they can grow and operate together...
We both agreed that we thought our parents were "so old" when they were our ages.
What was I thinking?!?
She told me that if she were able, she would live in her 20s forever.
I thought quickly back to that decade in my life. I went to college six years in a row during that decade--going to school full time and working full time. Going to graduate school. Teaching an insane number of hours and trying to balance everything that was important in my life. Too many things going on...very little balance in any one thing. If I thought school and work were going well, it was more difficult to manage the social and church areas of my life. Romance was hit or miss--mostly miss. I was making up for lost time--since I never really had time to date, pursue that part of my emotional life. It felt like my 20s involved seeking a balance I just couldn't manage for long.
Heading into my 30s was frightening, I will admit. I hadn't married, had worked professionally for four years--teaching at CASC right after graduate school. I had a LOT of things going well for me, but a lot of questions. My body was changing--I cannot explain how scary it was when I realized my metabolism was changing and I couldn't keep my weight down doing the same things and eating the same diet. In addition to the weight changes, I realized my energy levels were dropping drastically and I couldn't maintain the same crazy schedules I'd adopted or been used to (sometimes by necessity).
I suppose, if I'm being honest, the first three or so years of my 30s decade was full of a lot of self-doubt, and, very importantly, soul searching. I really had no idea what my life held, and I'm referring to its permanence. I wasn't sure of anything--would I stay in Poteau? Go back to graduate school? Move away? Find someone?
But I found myself growing in faith. When I look back, I realize that the first half of the 30s decade was really spent growing in my faith. For once, I had a job and I didn't have a gazillion-and-one things I had to do to "get by" and I could go back to something that had meant so much to me all along--something that I had just not had the time for in my 20s.
Yes, I went to church. I have always gone to church. God has always been important to me. My faith is the core of my being. But I really didn't have time to pursue my faith as I had so many other things--it got shoved downward on the priority list for most of the decade--out of pure necessity, I'm sorry to say.
I told the lady helping me at the dentist's office that I thought my 30s were definitely my favorite decade. She said that she thought it was true that we don't really know who we are fully, or "come into our own," until our 30s.
Thus far, for me, my 40s (granted, I've not even made it a whole year through the first of them!) have been great, though comical in parts (realizing my knee wouldn't function like it used to function on demand, for instance!). I know I'm getting older, and there are times when I scare myself when I think of my age!, but I am really enjoying my life right now, where I am, what's going on.
I feel as young as ever--better, actually! It's nice when body, mind, and soul get to a "leveling off," where they can grow and operate together...
We both agreed that we thought our parents were "so old" when they were our ages.
What was I thinking?!?
Monday, July 9, 2012
Reflection on July 7, 2012
On Saturday morning, July 7, 2012, our daughter Allie called us from youth camp to tell us that she had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit the night before at a youth service.
I immediately started crying.
There are certain moments in Mommydom that surpass all other moments. For me, these moments have all included verbal affirmations by my children.
These are they:
1. "I love you, Momma," said sincerely. (Psalm)
2. "I accepted Jesus into my heart." (Allie and Raylee)
3. "I want to be baptized." (Raylee)
4. "I got filled with the Holy Spirit." (Allie)
I cherish each and every one of these moments, because these moments are the ones which have ETERNAL IMPACT.
I pray, BELIEVING, and look forward to the day that Psalm tells me that she has accepted Jesus into her heart, that she wants to be baptized, and that she has been filled with the Holy Spirit.
O, what a day that will be!
I immediately started crying.
There are certain moments in Mommydom that surpass all other moments. For me, these moments have all included verbal affirmations by my children.
These are they:
1. "I love you, Momma," said sincerely. (Psalm)
2. "I accepted Jesus into my heart." (Allie and Raylee)
3. "I want to be baptized." (Raylee)
4. "I got filled with the Holy Spirit." (Allie)
I cherish each and every one of these moments, because these moments are the ones which have ETERNAL IMPACT.
I pray, BELIEVING, and look forward to the day that Psalm tells me that she has accepted Jesus into her heart, that she wants to be baptized, and that she has been filled with the Holy Spirit.
O, what a day that will be!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Late Night Musings
I've got a load of dishes in,
The laundry's spinning round.
The books are piled on the couch,
Yet to the page I'm bound.
No more pens and ink, my friends,
No more bound lined pages.
It's me and screen and all these keys,
Tumbling mind word sages.
I close my eyes, I know it's late,
I've only this precious hour
To record the picture I can see:
The ocean's mighty power.
There's a wave of words and phrases,
Coming toward me on the shore--
My fingers stumble, my eyes open,
I still see my tiled floor.
I can hear them now, the cyclone
Of characters who wish to be,
Their voices sailing inland
On winds too rough to free.
Stay and see them through, my friend,
Or wait another day?
The moon is high and I've not time
To keep the practical at bay.
The laundry's spinning round.
The books are piled on the couch,
Yet to the page I'm bound.
No more pens and ink, my friends,
No more bound lined pages.
It's me and screen and all these keys,
Tumbling mind word sages.
I close my eyes, I know it's late,
I've only this precious hour
To record the picture I can see:
The ocean's mighty power.
There's a wave of words and phrases,
Coming toward me on the shore--
My fingers stumble, my eyes open,
I still see my tiled floor.
I can hear them now, the cyclone
Of characters who wish to be,
Their voices sailing inland
On winds too rough to free.
Stay and see them through, my friend,
Or wait another day?
The moon is high and I've not time
To keep the practical at bay.
Monday, July 2, 2012
In My Father's House are Many Irish Forests
Tonight, I am reminded of the paraphrasing of John 14:1-3 I recited to our driver and friend, Sean, as he drove us through the beautiful country of Ireland, en route to the Irish sea:
"Let not your heart be troubled:
Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many Irish Forests:
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
That where I am, there ye may be also."
These words tumbled out of my mouth without a thought as we passed mile after mile of the lush Irish hillside. This, I thought, is what The Garden of Eden must have looked like. This, I thought, is precisely the kind of landscape that God Almighty would create for us to walk and talk with Him.
"Let not your heart be troubled:
Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many Irish Forests:
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
That where I am, there ye may be also."
These words tumbled out of my mouth without a thought as we passed mile after mile of the lush Irish hillside. This, I thought, is what The Garden of Eden must have looked like. This, I thought, is precisely the kind of landscape that God Almighty would create for us to walk and talk with Him.
I Miss You, Ireland!
This evening, I sat down at the kitchen table, drowsily browsing updates on Facebook after having spent three and a half hours with my parents and family in Muldrow. We had such a great time!
But by the time we got home, it was after 10:30 p.m. and I found it difficult to keep my eyelids open.
Stephen and I were talking, both of us sleepy, and then he started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked, pretending to be offended.
"You. You're speaking with an Irish accent!"
"I am...?"
"Yes, you are!" he said.
I am? I'm speaking with an Irish accent?!
Wait a minute.
Exactly one year ago, we were settling down in a town called Newbridge, Ireland, getting ready to work the week-long VBS they were hosting at a church called Open Arms.
I miss it.
Something inside of me misses it. Deeply.
Perhaps that is why my subconscious is bringing an accent from 365 days ago--it feels like a century ago sometimes; at other times, it feels like three days ago--back to my mind and mouth.
I miss you, Ireland. I look forward to returning there one day--with my husband and daughter in tow. I want them to meet you first-hand. Wander your streets and luscious hills as I did. Meet your warm people.
It is my prayer that within one more 365 day set, I will see you again.
And I will rejoice.
But by the time we got home, it was after 10:30 p.m. and I found it difficult to keep my eyelids open.
Stephen and I were talking, both of us sleepy, and then he started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked, pretending to be offended.
"You. You're speaking with an Irish accent!"
"I am...?"
"Yes, you are!" he said.
I am? I'm speaking with an Irish accent?!
Wait a minute.
Exactly one year ago, we were settling down in a town called Newbridge, Ireland, getting ready to work the week-long VBS they were hosting at a church called Open Arms.
I miss it.
Something inside of me misses it. Deeply.
Perhaps that is why my subconscious is bringing an accent from 365 days ago--it feels like a century ago sometimes; at other times, it feels like three days ago--back to my mind and mouth.
I miss you, Ireland. I look forward to returning there one day--with my husband and daughter in tow. I want them to meet you first-hand. Wander your streets and luscious hills as I did. Meet your warm people.
It is my prayer that within one more 365 day set, I will see you again.
And I will rejoice.
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