“To think that we were just the lucky few
And all along I never even knew” – Bebo Norman
Growing up, I didn’t realize how truly blessed I was. In fact, I don’t think it was till I went away to college that I truly recognized how good I had it. I was blessed to grow up in a home with two parents who truly loved each other as well as my brother and I. And they taught me a lot about what a godly marriage looks like.
Three lessons on marriage I learned from my parents.
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Divorce is not an option. The first time I can recall hearing the word divorce, I was in second grade. I vividly remember a boy in my class sitting with his head down on his desk and when I asked him what was wrong he told me his parents had gotten a divorce. Shortly after I recall my parents having an argument and I remember knocking on my parent’s door, tears in my eyes as I asked my mom if they were going to a get a divorce. She got down on her knees, looked in my eyes and said, “Crystal, divorce is not in our vocabulary. It is not an option for your Dad and I. We love each other and even though sometimes we’ll disagree and argue, we will never stop loving each other and we will never divorce.” It’s amazing the feeling of security that conversation gave to me. Over twenty years later and I can still vividly recall the details of our discussion.
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You must make your marriage a priority. Growing up my parents sacrificed a lot for my brother and I. They both worked hard to put us through Christian school. They attended all of our plays, concerts, and games. They chaperoned youth group trips and band trips. It was obvious that they loved and supported my brother and I. But, they also made it more than clear, that their marriage came first. They had regular date nights. They went on trips away without us. And there were times when my self absorbed teen self would think it a great injustice that they didn’t revolve their entire lives around us. Poor me had to stay home because my parents had a date. My mom told me that there would come a day when my brother and I would leave home and her and dad were married for a lifetime. As much as she loved us, she didn’t want to center her life on us and find herself married to a stranger when we left the nest.
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Love is a decision, not a feeling. In high school, I was a hopeless romantic. I loved those cheesy romantic comedies and dreamed of one day being swept off my feet. My mom would tell me often, that love is much, more than a feeling. She warned me there would be days, when I wouldn’t always feel in love, but love was a choice and you can choose love even when you don’t feel it.
Looking back on my childhood I recall my parents stealing kisses, holding hands, and slow dancing in the kitchen. It wasn’t hard to tell that they loved each other. And 32 years later, my brother and I are both grown and married, and they love each other still. In a day and age when marriage is treated lightly, when more than half of marriages fail and many people would choose to cohabitate rather than make a covenanted commitment, I am grateful for the godly model I grew up with and I plan to pass on this legacy to my children. How I long for them to grow up and say, “To think that we were just the lucky few… And all along I never even knew.”
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
When my son started preschool last fall, I told him he’d have a chance to make some new friends. His response? “I don’t need new friends. I have enough friends already.” I then proceeded to explain that sometimes maybe they need us. It took a little while, but he warmed up and made some new friends at preschool.
Hmmm… ever notice how sometimes you see something about yourself reflected in your child?
How often to I close myself off? How often do I neglect to “put myself out there” and make new friends because I feel like I don’t need them? I am not naturally outgoing. Truth be told, I am more of an introvert. And I stink at small talk. So, really making new friends is not exactly my thing either.
This fall, our family enrolled at a home school tutorial. I remember sitting at the orientation, where I knew not a soul, and feeling very much like my son did last fall. He adapted more easily than I did this year and made friends quite quickly. He was begging me to invite his friends over and I had yet to really introduce myself to any of the other moms.
But, then we had our monthly parent meetings and I found myself sitting next to other kindergarten moms, several who had younger daughters as well. As our girls bonded over baby dolls under the pews, we engaged in small talk. A few months later, I was assigned my first big volunteer responsibility to cochair the Harvest Party for the tutorial. Turns out my partner was also new to the tutorial and her daughter sits next to my son in class. They were already good friends, having bonded over Star Wars at recess. Within one phone call, I felt a connection with her. We set up a play date to work on the specifics of the party. While our kids played together we sat and talked about relay games, food lists, and our husbands and kids. The next day we met for lunch at Chick-Fil-A.
A connection was made and a friendship born.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about community. How do you develop a sense of community in your school, church, or other group?
I really think, you do it by creating opportunities for people to work along side each other. Working together on a project, big or small, gives you a common ground and experience from which to build a relationship. Whether it be serving on a Vacation Bible School committee, setting tables up for a brunch, or working side by side on the PTA, I really think a sense of community is developed when people feel like they have something to contribute to the group and when they have the opportunity to work alongside other people for a common goal. Also, by working together, you instantly have a common ground, it helps fill that gap that just sitting around making small talk can leave. I am not suggesting you’re going to instantly become best friends with someone just because you work together on a project. But, I do think you can make a connection with someone. And as those connections are made and conversations started, friendships will grow. Besides building a community isn’t the necessarily about building an instant group of best friends. It’s about building a sense of belonging, making people feel welcome and needed, and a part of the team. I am sure there are other ways to build a community, but I do think that a community built on serving together, is one that I’d like to be a part of. What do you think? Any thoughts on how one can build a sense of community within their group?
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
This year in my Bible Study we are studying the book of John. Last week we read in John 4 about the Samaritan woman at the well. It’s funny to me how I can read a passage I’ve heard many times before and this time see it in a new light with fresh application. I love how living and breathing the Word of God is.
Many things challenged me about this passage. The Samaritan woman was looked down upon by Jews because she was Samaritan. She was also looked down upon by her fellow Samaritans because of her adulterous lifestyle. These two facts made it all the more startling that Jesus, a Jew approached her at the well. But, he not only approached her, he changed her life. She left their conversation with the understanding that Jesus was the Messiah. And then she went and told the people of her village about the Messiah. But, she actually took it a step farther and brought them back with her to meet the Messiah themselves.
After studying this passage, I was challenged by two main points.
Jesus told his disciples that the Samaritans were ripe for the harvest. Who are the people in my life that are ripe for the harvest that I perhaps haven’t been looking at with Jesus’ eyes? Who have I judged or shut out and not approached that is ready to hear about God’s love?
The second thing that challenged me is the Samaritan’s response to Jesus. She left their exchange and ran to tell her neighbors and bring them back to meet Jesus.
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.
42They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
I was definitely convicted by this passage as I am not running to tell my neighbors, or anyone really, about the Messiah. This got me thinking about my neighbor. Over the past few years we’ve developed an amicable relationship. Our kids enjoy playing with their son. We talk easily over the fence from time to time while the kids play. They know we go to church on Sunday morning. I then got to thinking, what am I doing to share God’s love with them? Other than the fact that we leave the house early Sun morning and return mid day, how does that fact that we call ourselves Christians make us different from the world? Do they see us loving our neighbors? What am I doing to share God’s love and grace with them?
I don’t have answers to all the questions I am pondering. But I can tell you that this is what I am thinking about. I want to serve God where I am in the most effective way I can. I want Christ’s love to shine brightly through our family.
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
Long before the costumes and candy were even consumed for Halloween, stores already had their Christmas products on the shelves. I saw Santa and Jack-o-lanterns literally across the aisle from each other at Target a few weeks ago. And now, while the candy still lingers in our pumpkin bowls, if you walk into any department store, mall, or craft store, you’d swear it was December as the sights, sounds, and smells all tell of Christmas.
But, what about Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is too often forgotten in our culture. Perhaps because it is an attitude of the heart and not something which can be bought or decorated. A true spirit of thanksgiving must be cultivated, not consumed. And this takes time for both thought and intention. Hmmm, all things we seem to lack in our consumer drive, instant gratification seeking way of life.
I know that personally, I struggle with truly taking the time to stop and reflect and genuinely give thanks for the many, many blessings God has given me. It’s all too easy to focus on where we’ll be celebrating this year, and whose bringing what, and will it be like old times, and don’t forget Black Friday shopping the next morning……
This year, I’d like to do something different. This year, I’d like to make Thanksgiving more than just everyone going around the table and saying what they are thankful for. I want to make it a season. I want to spend the next three weeks leading up to thanksgiving, giving thanks. I want to set aside some personal time, each day, to just give thanks to God. I want to look around my house, my neighborhood, my church, my every day life filled with dirty dishes and overflowing laundry baskets, and I want to say, “Thank You.”
Then, after I spend about a week or so of personal reflection on my blessings, I’d like to lead my kids to do the same. I’ve read some great ideas online about making Thanksgiving trees, or calendars, boxes,…where you have everyone in your family write or draw something they are thankful for that day and reflect on it throughout the month. These sound like wonderful ideas. I’m not sure which one I want to implement this year. It could be as simple as going around the table every morning at breakfast and saying something we are thankful for. The goal, for me, is to make the true act of giving thanks more than just an after thought, but rather the for thought of our day.
And to be honest, I can’t think of a better way to prepare my heart for the season of advent, then by preceding it with a season of thanksgiving. Care to join me?
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
Gentleman.
I am convinced that if you were to look the word up in the dictionary, you’d have to find a picture of this man.
I first met him at our high school graduation. I remember being taken with the fact that he had one of those sweaters with the reinforced elbows and remarked to Scott how much I loved his genuine “Grandpa sweater” and was convinced he’d be the perfect Worthers Original grandpa.
Somewhere over the past 12 years he went from being Scott’s grandpa, to my grandpa too. I can’t pinpoint the moment it occurred, but I can tell you that I truly love him like my own.
Grandpa is the kind of man that walks you to your car after a visit, and insists on carrying your things for you. When you instinctually start to object and insist, “I’m fine” your words stop in your throat b/c you know its no use and you simply say “thank you.” He’s funny and witty and I am pretty sure we have him to thank for the sarcastic streak that runs through Scott’s side of the family.
I love, absolutely, LOVE watching grandpa interact with our children. It truly warms my heart. Each of our children love him and he them, but there is something special between my middle child and him. I couldn’t begin to put it into words, but you can see it in the sparkle she gets in her eye when he is near. 
We’re blessed to live close to grandpa and because of this I can say, “he’s always there.” Every holiday, birthday party, every gathering big or small, you can count on him being there. I quite honestly can’t imagine it any other way (nor would I want to). He’s also there when you’re in a pinch and need some help…like when we couldn’t find a dog sitter for Maggie over Labor Day weekend, or Scott needed a ride to the mechanic to pick him the van, or we couldn’t get a hold of anyone to watch the kids when I went into labor with our third and Grandpa and Grandma dropped everything and came to sit with the kids while we went to the hospital. Like I said, “he’s always there” and because of this fact I am embarrassed to admit we take his presence for granted. We don’t spend nearly the amount of time with him that we’d like . When we do see him we always realize that too much time has slipped since last time and “gosh I wish we did this more often.” That is definitely something Scott and I would like to change. We truly are blessed to have him close by and we’d like to take advantage of that gift.
Happy Birthday Grandpa! We all love you!
I know this post doesn’t really fit with the theme of my other weekend thoughts, but, it’s the weekend and tonight the extended fam will be getting together to celebrate this wonderful man’s birthday, therefore that’s what I am thinking about tonight.
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
This week we took the kids to see a performance at the Sight and Sound theatre in Lancaster, Pa. If you ever get the opportunity to go (they also have a location in Branson, Mo) I highly recommend you go. (thankfully we were able to use a home school discount and take our family for less than the cost of one regularly priced ticket). We saw their production of In the Beginning, which was a rendition of the Creation story.
It made me think of the story of Creation in a whole new light. As they portrayed God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden, they did an excellent job of portraying the love between our Father and His children. I felt like it gave a beautiful picture of what heaven will be like, as we will truly dwell with the Father in a way we can’t even imagine b/c our sin keeps us from that while on earth. It made me so excited about heaven. Also as I pondered the garden God created, and all its beauty, I realized how magnificent the new heaven and new earth will be. Right now I love to spend time in God’s creation. I enjoy gazing at beautiful sunsets, star studded skies, mountain views, ocean views…but the most beautiful thing on earth, is still existing in a fallen world. Can you imagine God’s handiwork in the new heaven and new earth free from sin? That will be truly breathtaking.
Another thing that struck me was the consequence of sin. When Adam and Even disobeyed and were removed from the garden , they no longer dwelled with God. The Bible talks about them walking together with God in the garden (before the fall). They experienced an intimacy with God unlike we can imagine b/c right now our sin prevents this. When they left the garden, they could no longer see or feel His presence with that same intimacy. The actors did a great job of portraying the pain this caused both God and them. Yet, the story didn’t end here. You see how God still cared for and provided for Adam and Eve, even though they no longer dwelled with him. More than that, God later provided His son to take the consequences of the sin which prevents us from dwelling with God. Because Christ took took that consequence on our behalf, we will one day dwell with the Father, much like Adam and Even did in the garden.
I left so excited and humbled. So often our focus is here on the temporal. And because this world is all we know, we tend to think it’s pretty great. Even in its sinful state. We don’t know what heaven will be like. We know God says it will be wonderful. But it is hard to wrap our human minds around something we haven’t seen or experienced. So often, I think we doubt it. If we’re honest, I think many Christians wonder “how great will heaven really be?” “Are we just gonna sit on clouds and sing praise songs for the rest of our life?” Typically, we’ll say, “I know I won’t be disappointed, but I have a hard time getting excited about heaven.” But my friends, I truly believe heaven is going to knock our socks off. For so many reasons. We have no idea what it is like to truly dwell with our Creator. We can’t even fathom that intimacy. I can only imagine that, that alone will leave us in awe. But, yet there’s more. God created us for His glory. That is our purpose. And while it is true that we glorify God when we sing His praises. That is not the only way we bring Him glory. We glorify Him when we use the gifts He’s given us, for His glory. I imagine in heaven, we’ll be glorifying Him by working and serving together (perfectly) in His new heaven and new earth. And that is going to be incredible. Not to mention the beauty we will experience in the no longer fallen earth. It’s mind boggling to be sure, but magnificent as well. And I am confident that we will NOT be disappointed!
I am thankful or family had the opportunity to see this production. I am also thankful for the thoughts it provoked and the discussions Scott and I had on our way home. I think its valuable to spend time pondering these things. Too often, we don’t.
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
Looking back on my childhood I recall my parents stealing kisses, holding hands, and slow dancing in the kitchen. It wasn’t hard to tell that they loved each other. And 32 years later, my brother and I are both grown and married, and they love each other still. In a day and age when marriage is treated lightly, when more than half of marriages fail and many people would choose to cohabitate rather than make a covenanted commitment, I am grateful for the godly model I grew up with and I plan to pass on this legacy to my children. How I long for them to grow up and say, “To think that we were just the lucky few… And all along I never even knew.”
