Smile

Sometimes things just make me smile and laugh rather uncontrollably in class.

Some people just have the funniest expressions and mannerisms. Those people should not sit on the front row in Theology class for all to see. And when the teacher pulls the "we are all adults" line maybe you should start reading your Bible. Preferably not the book of Song of Solomon.

Its rather amusing you know when people seem to be mediating very deeply upon their church history in class...or more likely they are having dreams of long dead theologians.

When a person realizes they have been running around campus with their shirt on backwards you wonder if maybe you should help them find their brain.

A movie can be about 10 times more funny when watched with lots of boys and only one other female.

Go ahead and just laugh when the planned studies for Sunday afternoon don't get done because of the embarrassing moment/awkward story sharing session in the girls dorm. Don't ask.

It's not really a wise idea to laugh during choir though even if the tenors are being especially amusing.

Don't giggle too much either during chapel when your stomach is trying to out due the speaker.

Sometimes life requires a smile or more like several just to keep sanity.

And What Can I do?

As a teenager I did not consider myself talented. It was always the other person who could play a instrument like no other or sing a song that brought tears to people's eyes. Other people knew how to capture beauty with paintbrushes or create beautiful things with fabric and thread. And me? Well I just a little girl who either had her nose in a book, but most of the time could be found in the kitchen contacting a storm that would put a hurricane to shame.

Mom says when I was little I would ask what was for supper and when I didn't like the proposed menu item I would make something else. I guess that's how it came about that I became the cook at our house. First it was making the same stand by recipes over and over again than it was going crazy with spices and combining several recipes into one.

Feeding my family it seemed was only my moonlighting job. I liked it best when I could make meals for those who had far too much trouble on their minds to think about a meal. Baking cookies for my brothers and finding just the right carrot cake recipe for dad's birthday were things that added stars to my day.

I come from a rather large family, so when we get together large amounts of food is required. I thought it great fun to make the whole Thanksgiving meal for 20 plus people. It didn't really seem hard at all to make a meal for whatever occasion and I never gave it second thought how much I liked to cook.

I am not sure if this is a good thing, but going into another person's kitchen and snooping in the cupboards doesn't bother me in the least. I am just glad the lady of the house, so willing relinquishes her rights to the kitchen.

I am not sure it is a passion or a talent. Maybe its just something I like to do, but well I have discovered that cooking is a a handy tool to use. A tool that can be used in so many ways. Maybe I can't spell, play the piano, but I can cook and wash a sink full of dishes. And if that's where God wants to use me I think that would be a wonderful way to serve Him.

Remember this if you think you don't know your passion consider what you do most for other people with great joy and than I think you will know.

Monday

This morning I pushed the snooze button a few too many times. It was Monday and I didn't want to leave my nice warm bed for class after a blissful week of conference. Before the morning was over I knew I would get my near lethal church history test back. I wished I could wear sunglasses in class so the teachers would not see the droopy eyelids. Yes it was Monday and I wanted to replace the day with something else...anything besides my intended duties.

The attitude was bad because I had forgotten that I had a lovely night of sleep while young mothers everywhere got up many times in the night to tend to their little children. I had forgotten how only just yesterday I held a tiny baby basking in the sheer joy of touching such a new life from our Creator.

I didn't get the best grade on my test, but I remember now of the people everywhere who would do anything to get a bad grade on a test just so they could go to Bible school.

Texting it kind of annoys me sometimes, but I couldn't have been more thankful last night when I got the most encouraging words over a text.

Sometimes I think too much of my circumstances and forget think about our faithful God, because well you know He is very good.

Beyond...

So sometimes I want to see beyond into my future...eager to know of what lies ahead for me in life. I just want to know details of life beyond college...just so I can have a answer to the multiple times people want to know what the scoop is on my life.

Sometimes I'm glad though I could not see beyond the next 10 minutes. I get into bed at night thinking of all the neatly laid plans I had for the day which were never completed. If I could have seen beyond into my day perhaps I would have been more prepared, but I couldn't, so I was left with no choice but to simply rest in God's grace. It's better that way though because seeing beyond into the future would probably only give me a terrible amount of anxiety. Even worse maybe a case of impatience.

I stop myself from looking beyond into the unknown instead I prefer to look at the grace I now I will have for whatever unexpected or anticipated moment will befall me.

Beyond into the future is not to be impatience or anxiousness...it is trusting God alone for the adventures life will bring.

To just Catch

You catch a cold and wish you hadn't it.

Sometimes I try to catch the ball but for some reason the ball will escape my hands.

I catch my nieces and listen to them giggle in the most infectious way.

Sometimes I want to catch some sleep right in the middle of class, but I don't for fear of becoming a comedy act.

I like it when the wind catches my hair and blows it back and forth just because it reminds me of windy KS:)

I look back and wished I had stopped to take time to catch a moment with a friend. Just to stop and talk about life.

I was I had stopped to catch myself before I did the thing I now regret. Too often I am just thinking about if only I had not done that and so I stop and catch myself...reminding myself once again I live under the wondrous grace of God.

To catch is just grasping those moments of life that other wise would slip away and making the very most of them. Its too easy you know to think about all the problems about life rather than stopping to catch how faithful God is.


So I wonder what are the moments I will catch today...or will they slip away without me even realizing what great thing was missed?

About that Ordinary...

In thinking about ordinary...

My big brothers are not ordinary in the least...perhaps they do live in another time zone hours away, but when the situation requires they are ready to talk and of course do a great deal of listening.

Its an ordinary midterm week. You know the kind entails staying up way too late and cramming facts into your brain just to regurgitate them the next morning. Do you also know God's strength is more than enough for mid term week?

Why make an ordinary chocolate pie when you can make it extraordinary with a bit of coffee?

Note to self...always remember that I do not have ordinary friends, but instead ones who care very deeply about what makes me hurt.

Sunrises are never ordinary...ever...understand? And I repeat our God is never ordinary!

Ordinary turned extradordinary

It rained yesterday...drops of rain that pounded the earth and turned the parking lot into a river. There were dark stormy clouds that sent down piles of white hail. It was just an ordinary rain storm the kind we expect in the fall. It was the kind that made big puddles though...you know the kind you splash in without bothering to change into ordinary old clothes.

This week was not an ordinary week...and after so many distracting things of life it was nice just to sit and do nothing. Just listening to the ordinary rain fall.

Remembering that I do not serve an ordinary God, but an extraordinary one.

Realizing that life isn't always about the extraordinary, but the ordinary is just as in important.

I thought the hug of my mother when she kissed my good bye last Sunday...ordinary as it was it felt extraordinary to me.

When my friend simply rubbed my sore muscles and listened to me I thought how wonderful ordinary life can be.

Waking up in the morning is very ordinary...by the end of the day it is only you who can determine whether you had an ordinary day or extraordinary day.

Every day lived under the goodness of God I think should be extraordinary. But that is just my opinion...