Voice

Sometimes, my voice is loud.  Sometimes, it is quiet.  Sometimes it is uncertain.  It amazes me how the tone of a voice can change the context of what is being said.

Once Upon A Time...
I attended a Bible study with a good friend.  She is an outspoken, doesn't like silence kinds of woman.
I'm the quiet, contemplative, wait for it and I'll give you my thoughts one.
So, after several years of attending Bible studies together she asks me, in frustration, why I never say anything.  My response, "because I can handle silence and you can't.  So, I know if I wait two seconds I won't have to answer."  ;-)
We haven't been in Bible study together in a few years, but it seems that she is becoming quieter and more contemplative and I am becoming more outspoken.  I would love to participate in a Bible study with her just to see if we really have changed or if the rules of our young married lives still hold.

I love when children aren't listening and you can play with your voice to get them to listen.
I have been known to whisper math assignments to my 5th graders, give drill sergent orders to my sons, yell on occasion when someone is getting in harms way (ie not being safe in a parking lot).
Our voices are amazing things.  With a little inflection a comment can become a question or an exclamation.
I took sign language in college.  Our instructors were deaf.  It was interesting at the end of the term when they shared their voices with us. 


You can come join the Friday flash mob, just click the link.

Look

"Look at me."  I have never been one to be the center of attention.
At my bridal showers, I was thankful because my niece was almost one and did not mind being the center of attention.
But, now, as a mama of three boys, who always seem to have something going on that makes them the focus of every moment.  Makes me want to SHOUT, "Look at me!  I'm right here.  I am a person."
I feel like I fill roles without ever being noticed or appreciated or even thanked.
I try to spend 5 minutes writing this.  And, as I type, a little boy is messing with the timer and after being told to leave it alone, walks around me to the mouse and starts messing with it.  I tell him to stop more than once before I swat his little hand.
Two other boys are down that hall having some time in their room because they have taken up beating on each other and no matter how much/often I say, "STOP!" or "Don't."  They keep "accidentally" punching or running into each other.
I wish their ears would hear me.  I wish they would look and see how much their attitude affects me.
I want to be noticed.
But, as I type this, I think of my Heavenly Father who wants the same from me.
How often does He say, "STOP! and notice Me"?

Now, you can come play along.  Just click the link below.

Race

What a funny word.  My first thought, I have ran in races.  I have completed the Lincoln 1/2 Marathon 3 years in a row.  I have done fun runs this year, too.  The fun runs are A LOT of fun.
However, run, also, makes me think of the little balls of energy that are forever in motion around here.  And, recently how I have felt stretched to thin as I try to keep up with them and do somethings apart from them.  I race all day long from the time my feet hit the floor till I crawl into bed and pass-out from exhaustion.
I have been working on figuring out again, for like the millionth time in my life, how to say, "No."  And, then, I walk into church to hear a sermon on needing to say, "Yes."  I can't be stretched thinner.  But, we are to help our fellow Christians.  How do you do the things preached about from the Bible and not stretch yourself to thin?
Being a stay-at-home, home schooling, mama of 3 seems like a full-time, and I don't mean just 40 hours a week, job.  However, if I, then, want to spend time on my hobby/passion teaching pregnant couples unmedicated childbirth, and occasionally working as a doula.  Plus, take on helping in the church nursery because they need help and helping with Sunshine Bunch because they need help and having fellowship and getting to know the other ladies at our church.  Plus, BSF, Cub Scouts, and AWANA.  Plus, ministering to my unbelieving family in the hopes they will see Christ in me and want to get to know him too...
Where do I say, "no"?
How do I say, "no"?

Welcome

Welcome home.  Welcome in.  Welcome, Dear God, what am I going to write?
Welcome home is not a common phrase in my life.  I have never moved away from home.  I have lived 34 years in the town where I was born.  I can take a less than an hour drive and drive past every residence I have ever lived in.
My parents' bought their current home two weeks before their first child, me, arrived.
I know I am always welcomed there.  Same with my grandparents' home, even though it has changed addresses and my grandpa is no longer in his rocking chair, I am always welcome there.
This week I celebrated my 34th birthday.  My grandpa, if he were still alive, would have celebrated his 82nd birthday.  Today, my youngest celebrates his 4th birthday.
Not feeling welcomed is probably a stronger word to write about.  I never felt welcomed in the church where I was raised.  It wasn't till I was 21 and first met Jesus that I finally was "welcomed" at church.  I felt like I belonged, FINALLY!  After all those years of going to church and trying to be "good enough."
As part of the family of Christ, I am amazed where I feel welcomed.  I am amazed at how small the Christian community in my home town is.  In this city of 200,000+ it seems like if you meet someone and they are a Christian, they know pretty much everyone you know who is a Christan.  It keeps facebook interesting, seeing who is related to whom.
I started BSF again this fall, like the last 6 falls before it.  My discussion leader has the same name as a girl I went to high school with.  So, I ask girl from high school, via facebook, how they are related..."She's my aunt."
This town sure is small sometimes.  But, God's love and welcome is spread far and wide.


Come play along...