Story
One can bear anything if one can put it in a story. - Isak Dinesen
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Confession
Maybe it’s time for a little confessional. Will this make me appear self-serving in your eyes? Maybe. But I’m going to risk it. I once wrote that I blogged to gain perspective on my days and my life in general. To remember to laugh at the mundane or pull extraordinary from what feels ordinary. That is still true. But more than one thing can be true at the same time- right? I also write this blog because, well, because I really like your comments. Really like them. As in, I check my e-mail in the morning just to see if anyone had anything to say and I get happy when…
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Grace
I didn’t write this. I don’t know who did. I just found it. And typed it here. There are no longer good days and bad days. There are only days of grace. There will be days where you will be given the grace to endure what’s going on around you. And there will be days where you will be given the grace to enjoy what’s going on around you. But from here on out, there are only days of grace.
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What I Want To Do
What is now proved, was once only imagined. – William Blake There are some things that I long to feed my children every day. And it isn’t food for their stomachs. I want to offer them a sense of mystery. The incredible blessing of a vivid imagination. The gift of simple joy. The beauty of anticipation. The knowledge of a powerful and loving God. The appreciation of nature. The ability to be still. Food for their brains. Their hearts. Their souls. I know I fail miserably every day with these lofty ideals. And I always fail more dramatically on days when I forget to pursue these things myself. When I…
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Divine
We all have long days and lonely moments and scary dreams and busy lives and self-absorbed episodes and exhausting schedules, right? And we sometimes feel as if we give and give and give and these people (in my case, very short people) to whom we are giving and giving and giving just never seem to notice anything except their desire to take more. But then sometimes we get to experience these little moments where we are lifted from our circumstances. We are pulled up, supported, loved in some unexpected, extraordinary in its simplicity kind of moment. God uses people to meet these unspoken needs so often. And I just love…
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He Does
“Jesus screws everything up.” I just read that statement on a blog I recently discovered. It wasn’t an anti-Jesus blog. Not at all. It was actually an amazing story about love and restoration and hope. And a man who allowed himself to be a part of God’s plan for redemption when he really wanted to take another path. But Jesus screwed that up. Because He does that. You want revenge? Oh, I don’t think you can have that AND exhibit God’s love. (You know, the very love that saved you.) Want to wallow in your own self-pity? Shoot. Foiled again. What about this? I just want to serve me. I…
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Right Now & Forever
So I have had these thoughts mulling around in my brain for a while now. Thoughts about the past. Which cause thoughts about the future. I like to dwell on yesterday. And the yesterdays before that yesterday. Oh so many yesterdays. I just let my mind sit still in last week, last month, last year. And then I think about tomorrow. And the next tomorrow. And the tomorrow that will follow that tomorrow. And all of the next weeks and months and years. Decades even. I just think on and on about the tomorrows I know nothing about. But what’s wrong with all that thinking? I’m pretty sure Paul said…
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No Longer
No longer will I pass judgement upon you when I hear your kid screaming six aisles over while shopping at Wal-Mart. Perhaps you have just run over your daughter’s hand with the grocery cart and that is the reason for her ear-piercing wails.No longer will I assume you are lazy when I see you leave your shopping cart in the parking lot, far away from the cart return place. Maybe you just left the store without finishing your full purchasing potential because your daughter’s hand was crushed and your infant son needed to eat and your six year old daughter had just informed you that your toddler’s car seat had…
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This Body
Some days I survey my own body and I am not exactly pleased with what I see. I begin to play the ultra-damaging Compare Game. Particularly when I find myself on a sandy beach surrounded by bodies. Barely clothed, flesh-in-excess bodies. So I find myself playing The Game. I pick apart body parts, compare my untanned self to the perfectly tanned supermodel splashing near me. I realize I am too short and too flabby. I think I am not toned enough, my hair is the wrong color. Are my ears even aligned correctly? Why can’t I have a little more here and a little less there? When I surrender to…
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Just What We Needed
You know when you reserve a beach house from looking at photos online, you never really know exactly what you will get. After a day in the car, as soon as our gang pulled in the driveway at our new casa for the week, we all stumbled out of our bursting Suburban and looked for the water. It’s what we came all this way for anyway, right? Walking down the picturesque stroll (per the website’s description) we saw ahead of us the shore and the ocean. Hooray! Upon closer inspection we realized the waves were not exactly crashing onto the sand as we had imagined. Oh and there was land…
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Fix You
It was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Free tickets to see Coldplay. Kevin had to work so Riley was the lucky benefactor of Ticket Number Two. (Naturally, I had already claimed Ticket Number One.) We had a great time at the concert. (This is an understatement, of course.) Getting to the concert was an entirely different matter. One mile to the venue parking lot took us 48 minutes to traverse. I had to take Fox because of the whole nursing thing that he’s into right now. Besides, he’s a pretty big Chris Martin fan. Before you join the ranks of the thousands of strangers who judged me that evening, let…
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Travelers Rest
It’s August. And that means something around here. Summer camp season is almost complete. As I have said before, if summers in Virginia always ended when the Wickstrum’s suburban pulled out of the driveway, then summers here end when the summer staffers load up their belongings and leave the camp. What a privilege it has been to be a part of all that is Look Up Lodge – two summers now. We love this collection of people, travelers, if you will. All of us at different stages in our journeys, but headed for the same ultimate direction – to live forever. How prophetic really. To live in Travelers Rest. Travelers…
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Enough
Have I ever really believed that God is enough? I mean, I’ve probably said He was. I might have even thought that I believed it. But your beliefs are pretty much revealed through your actions. So. Have I acted like God is enough? Or has my life thus far been mostly a study of how God is not enough? Don’t I really expect God plus? You know, God plus personal fulfillment. God plus healthy children. God plus financial security. God plus physical safety. God plus a happy marriage. That’s the lie I find myself believing, and living, so often. The truth is God is enough. No plus. Just God. Enough.…
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Lunch
I found myself staring at my plate during lunch today. The sight of my meal triggered some memory in me. It wasn’t an exciting meal, but it was a very familiar one. I had a scoop of this macaroni-tuna-egg-salad-type-thing and two slices of banana bread spread with cream cheese. Don’t worry, it doesn’t offend me if that sounds unappetizing to you. I know. It’s kind of a weird meal. I have no name for the type-thing I was eating. I just know it was this concoction that my mom brought out frequently during the summer growing up on our family’s dairy farm. I think maybe she made it up. She…
