bekahcubed I’ve no time to talk. I’ll be back at work today, doing something decidedly unusual for me.
I’ll be cooking, a task I am rather looking forward to.
I don’t intend it to be a long term thing, but I do like the novelty for now. Just the sort of thing to shake me from the “I’ve been doing the same thing every day for a year” doldrums of early professional life.
And someday, I’ll have something to blog about again :-)
Mornings have been tough recently. When dawn breaks later and later and the air beyond my bedcovers is cold, I don’t like to get up.
Yet God reminds me of His great faithfulness every morning when I awake again.
Today I’m thankful…
…that the sun rises every morning, faithfully in accordance with the season
…for the daylight lamp on a timer that helps me pretend it’s still summer
…for the “Have a good day” Anna and I share each morning as we head to our respective workplaces
…for the all-to-common mornings where I linger in bed only to rush with a panic to get myself ready for work
…for the rare but blissful mornings where I’m up perfectly on time and have opportunity to spend time in the Word and do dishes before work
…that God’s mercies, like the sun’s rays, are new every morning, consistent and reliable
I’d been trying to get a hold of my little brother for weeks–and not just to chew him out for the birthday celebration that was (in my humble opinion) ill-advised. I was trying to get ahold of him because I hadn’t talked to him for a while and because I missed him.
So when I saw on Facebook that his relationship status had changed to “In a Relationship”, I was a bit disappointed.
And when he finally called a week later to ask if there were any boys around for him to beat up (Try as I might to make them understand, none of my brothers seem to have gotten it through their heads that at some point they might not want to be repelling all of their sisters’ potential suitors!), I chastised him for not calling me earlier.
He hemmed and hawed, talked about the distance between here and California, so on and so forth.
I told him I understood–and didn’t expect we’d stay as connected as when we were both in Lincoln. “But just keep me updated,” I requested.
In the past few days, he’s been faithful to keep me updated, little pings in my text message mailbox at all hours:
“Hey I’m eating pizza”
“At chow hall bout to go to church”
“Oh BTW I went to chow a while back”
“Just got done with field day………Prolly gonna go to sleep in like an hour…. :)”
I’ve been texting him back. Smiley faces. “Like”. The occasional personal update:
“On my way back from Grand Island. It’s really starting to feel like Fall, what with the wind blowing cold and the trees about half turned.”
It’s silly stuff, overwhelmingly mundane.
The sort of stuff I see on Facebook every day.
But these status updates aren’t the impersonal blobs on Facebook. These are opportunities to interact with and enjoy my brother.
I wouldn’t trade them for a dozen Facebooks.
When bloggers write that they’d almost forgotten (or comment that they HAD forgotten) their Nightstand posts, I tend to gasp in astonishment.
Forget a Nightstand?
Certainly not my M.O. I eagerly anticipate the fourth Tuesday of the month, adding items to my Nightstand post as I finish them up. Frequently, I spend the fourth Monday of the month putting the finishing touches on my post–and check my reader right after finishing up to find that the link-up is open. Score!
Until this month, where I actually (completely) forgot that this was the fourth Tuesday of the month. Despite having made additions to my post prior to my trip to the library in Lincoln this weekend, I failed to make the connection that this week was the fourth.
So I was surprised when I opened my reader this morning to see Nightstand post sprouting all over. Alas, I had less than five minutes before I needed to leave for Grand Island, so my post had to wait until after I was home (and would have to be sans photographs-sad day!)
Anyhow, this month I read:
Thanks to a trip to Lincoln this weekend to see my Marine brother (returned from his military training and ready to resume normal reservist activities), I was able to stock up on a whole slew of books. 84 to be exact–except that I already read the two by Gist above and the one by Whalen, and started a dozen others.
Which might explain my silence this weekend/early week. I’ve been either spending time with family or reading.
Which is not an altogether bad use of my time, if I do say so myself.
Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!
I almost started crying on my way to work today. Not for any reason in particular. Just ’cause I felt…weak, spent, overwhelmed, but not really.
I got to work and had a slice of breakfast pizza in our morning meeting. Bad idea. I felt ill for the rest of the day.
Today I’m thankful that…
…God never has an off-day
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
~Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)
…God cannot be contained by space
“Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you”
~I Kings 8:27 (ESV)
…God’s presence is full of joy
“In your presence there is fullness of joy”
~Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
…God is a rock, higher than I, but one I can run to for refuge
“From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
~Psalm 61:2
It has been seven years since I could play (due to my brother being an employee).
And before seven years ago, I went to McDonalds approximately once a year (on a church sponsored youth trip).
So now, for the first time in my life, I am playing MONOPOLY.
You know, the artery-clogging, pocket-emptying exercise in futility that allows McDonalds to rake in the big bucks every fall?
Yep, that Monopoly.
See?
I told you so.
So far, I have won several orders of medium fries, a breakfast sandwich, 20 Snapfish prints, and some MyCoke Rewards points (whatever those are.)
I’m still holding out for one of the biggies.
Anybody want to share? I’m looking for–
Of course, if you were really smart and had any of the above, you’d run over to Walmart and buy $1 medium drinks until you had the rest. What I’ve got is a dime a dozen.
So why am I playing again?
Oh yes.
Because I can.
***Disclaimer: Professional dietitian on closed commute. Please do not attempt.***
Sometimes, the weekend’s just too great to resist documenting it.
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Not gonna lie. I really love my life. This weekend is a perfect example of why.
“God helps those who cannot help themselves.”
~Charles H. Spurgeon (from my pastor’s Twitter feed)
“So Gideon gathered together an army to fight against Midian. At last, he had gathered together thirty-two thousand men. Surely that was enough to defeat Midian.”
I asked my Sunday School class if they thought 32,000 men was a big enough army.
They nodded, said that it seemed pretty big to them.
“Well, you know what God thought? God thought Gideon’s army was too big.”
I could see the puzzlement on their faces. Too big? Seriously?
“Yeah. God said that if they had that many men, they’d get proud and think they were the ones who had defeated Midian, instead of realizing that God had defeated Midian.”
One of the kids raised his hand and interjected a bit of what he’d learned last week from the book of Joshua. “But the important part wasn’t how many men they had or how good their plan was. It’s only whether God’s on their side.”
“You’re right. We learned how God defeated Jericho when the people were obedient to God’s battle plan–and we learned about how the people lost at Ai because Achan had been disobedient, even though they thought they could easily win. The important thing was that God was on their side–not what their battle strategy was.
And now, when Gideon was getting ready to fight Midian, God wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the reason they’d win was because HE was on their side. He didn’t want anyone else to think that they’d been responsible for the victory.”
I told how God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 men, how He sent terror of them to the Midianite camp in front of them, how He ultimately won them the victory.
I’ve been struck this week with the tender mercy of God. When we think we can help ourselves, when we think that someone other than God can help us, God mercifully pares down our army, such that we realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was He (and He alone) who effects our salvation.
In my Sunday School “flock” meeting last night, we read in Hosea, and I was reminded again of God’s severity and His mercy when He says:
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
I will return again to my place
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.”
~Hosea 5:14-15
Unwilling to let Israel go on pridefully playing the whore, God comes at them like a lion, tearing them to pieces until they recognize that only God can heal their wounds.
My church’s songwriters (Highland Park Writers’ Collective) wrote a beautiful piece that describes this well.
“Because He is so faithful,
He will always tear apart
Every gleaming idol
Built inside the human heart”
~Tearing Down by Christensen, McCann, Qualsett
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.
If you’re one of my bloggie-friends, chances are the Cybils are old-hat for you. You’ve been reading about them since the beginning–and probably reading along with them too.
If you’re one of my real-life friends, chances are you’ve never heard of the Cybils.
“Cybils” stands for “Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary” Awards.
Several of the book bloggers I follow (or have followed intermittently over the years) are or have been judges, including Sherry @ Semicolon, Dawn @ My Thoughts Exactly and 5M4B, Jennifer @ Snapshot and 5M4B, and Emily @ Homespun Light.
I am not a judge, not being particularly focused in my book reading or blogging.
But this is one of those rare sports in which I LOVE to be an armchair judge–and Amy @ Hope is the Word has offered up a challenge to any and all to join her in the Armchair Cybils
Participants are free to name their own stipulations for participation–so these will be mine. Over the next four months, I’ll be reading at least one book nominated in each of the ten Cybils categories.
And, of course, I’ll be blogging my thoughts and reactions–and reading others’ thoughts–along the way.
Wanna join?
It’s not too late. Write a quick post and join us at Hope is the Word for tons of kid lit reading fun!
A long day in Grand Island done, I pointed my car towards home, eager to get back to Columbus.
But as soon as I turned east, I saw a gorgeous almost-full-penny moon.
Do you know what I’m talking about? A moon that glows with coppery tones, where you can almost see Abraham Lincoln’s profile in its enormous glistening glory?
My eyes twitched to the camera bag sitting beside me, my hands thrummed the steering wheel restlessly.
I wanted a picture of this–except the construction on the road between Grand Island and Central City left me with no place to turn off.
I determined to take a detour through Central City. I’d find a country road; stop and take some pictures before rejoining Highway 30 a little further along.
What I didn’t count on was the difficulty of finding country road turn-offs after dark.
I crossed the Platte River and knew I needed to turn east again soon (since I was traveling south and my destination was northeast). Finding a little highway, I turned off on it.
Unfortunately, this little highway had no shoulders for pulling over to take pictures–so I kept driving, sure I’d find a north-leading road soon.
The penny moon rose and became a dime, not anywhere near as enthralling.
I drove further, wondering at my folly–chasing the moon.
My usual route looks like this:
Instead, last evening’s trip looked more like this:
Dozens of extra miles, at least a half hour extra drive time.
No pictures to show for it.
An evening chasing the moon.