WELCOME

Welcome to our blog. Life is busy, but it is fun to share the stories of our craziness and it is kind of like therapy to have a place write it all down. Enjoy.
Please don't use our first names when posting comments

If, as you read, you wonder whether I'm laughing or complaining--just assume I'm laughing...and chuckle along.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Distracted

Gray clouds loomed low. Chill permeated the air. My foot pressed the brake as I slowed for the last red light before I turned toward home. Metal bands of a headache wrapped my brain; my eyes stared unseeing at the taillights of the car in front of me.

A bright patch of yellow distracted me from the grayness of the moment and drew my glance over the rail, across the stream. In the middle of the park lawn a boy wearing a bright yellow rain jacket sat upon his father's shoulders. The man stood grasping an old bread bag. The distance blurred the features of the boy, but energy emanated from every limb as he perched there, above the persistent snapping duck beaks crowded in a great circle around his father's knees. He was pure pleasure as he tossed handfuls of crumbs down to the anxious crowd. The moment enchanted me as I watched the antics of the child.

Perplexed, I squinted as I watched the father begin to play with something else in his hands. Finally I realized he was texting. I suppressed the urge to shout. "Pay attention! Don't get distracted in this is a magical moment."


The light turned to green and I eased through the intersection and turned toward my own black and white house...where so often I see the distractions instead of the main attraction.

Until, a moment comes and I glance again:





  • When did his feet get so big? They once swam in those tiny socks now tucked quietly in my dresser drawer.

  • When did she learn to think these deep thoughts, to turn a phrase in that way, to understand the humor in such a complicated joke? I know we have that tape where she was content to giggle for an endless hour simply because it was funny to slap the tray of her high chair.

  • When did this hair grow another silver thread? There is wisdom in his eyes. My hands slow gently as I trim his hair, and I resist the urge to wonder at the two so young in their wedding finery on the living room wall.

  • When did they learn to talk, and take responsibility, and dream, and think and notice so many details?

Was it in all the moments I missed--because of distraction?




Lord, help me to notice and love these moments of color with which You've infused my life. How shall "I Live, to Finish Well, Without Regret" if I cannot learn to ignore the unending distractions?




"...The corrections of discipline are the way to life..." Proverbs 6

Tell Me: 
Posted by

2 comments:

BAHowells said...

Thank you.

October 6, 2011 9:16 AM
Steve Finnell said...

you are invited to follow my blog

October 11, 2011 9:46 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Blog Archive

How I can Laugh

Sometimes I’m surprised when someone tells me they’ve been reading our blog. I tease the dad~ster that there must not be much on TV these days.

For awhile now I’ve been wishing there was some way I could share the reason I can laugh on even the craziest days. I suppose it is in part because I’m a little weird, but most of all it is because of GRACE. God’s grace has transformed me from what I could be (a perfectionist who is not perfect and is driven mad by her own imperfections, an idealist who lacks patience with the “short people” in my life who always seem to have a different agenda than me, an insecure chubby lady who often forgets that I am loved) into one who realizes that I have a big God who patiently loves me. It is God’s grace that is transforming me from what I could be (a suicidal alcoholic) to what He’d have me to be…and in the process He gives me the ability to look at life and LAUGH.

So when I read the following from Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel I decided to take some time and share it with you…because if all I ever did was make ya laugh without telling you about the One whose care makes the laughing possible…well…all the laughs would be wasted.

From page 167-171 in Grace Base Parenting
“The Bible says, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7). It’s amazing how inclusive the word all is. It doesn’t say that we are to cast only our legitimate cares on Him. Frankly, I wouldn’t begrudge God if He had said that. Although He’s a busy God with a lot on His plate, He’s also on omnipotent God, so He’s never too busy….He knows we often lack perspective, but that doesn’t stop Him from inviting us closer to His heart.

A good example of God’s grace is not only the gigantic act of grace that Jesus showed by dying on the cross for our sins, but also the little acts of grace he demonstrated in the midst of His crucifixion. I think most people—including the most ardent critic of Christianity—would agree that if there was any time in Jesus’ earthly life when He actually had the right to be a bit self-absorbed, it would be when He was hanging on the cross. Man hasn’t come up with a more horrific way to torture someone than nailing him to a cross and standing back while he endures a slow, agonizing, and lonely death. In the midst of that agony, the utter focus of pain in human’s mind would make it hard to think of anything else.

But He did. There were some people at Calvary who needed a personal touch of His grace. For most of them, they needed it because of the His crucifixion was costing them personally.
There were soldiers at Calvary who were simply following orders. They didn’t realize that they were driving nails into the hands of the One who had created them. They had no idea that the man they were executing was actually taking a divine dive for them. Because they were so used to crucifying the underbelly of the criminal community, it was standard for them to show such low regard for their victims.

A fickle crowd hovered around the foot of the cross. Some came out simply to see someone being put to death. It was the Roman equivalent of a “reality” show that few wanted to miss. There were also the duped sheep—those who didn’t know much, read much, or think much. They were part of the mob who would chant whatever you told them to.

Then there were the men who wanted Him there, who needed Him there, and who helped put Him there. These were the professional-theologians-turned-powerbrokers who had seen Jesus as bad for business around the temple. They couldn’t see the crossbars that hovered above each of their heads. They couldn’t see the thin strings that came from those crossbars that moved their arms, made them jump, and manipulated their mouths. They couldn’t see the evil hand of Satan, using them like marionettes to do his bidding.

But Jesus could. He could see the religious leaders being used, he could see the crowd being manipulated, and He could see the soldiers doing what they were ordered to do. The fact the He even bothered to notice these things tells us so much about his grace. He did notice them, and in the process He did something to give all these people a gift they desperately needed. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). …Jesus gave grace to the vulnerable surrounding Him, even when He had bigger issues on His mind.

And what about the thieves who were crucified on either side of Him? You would think, what with the sins of the entire world on His shoulders, that He’d ignore these men. When you add to the equation that both men joined the crowd in hurling insults at Him, you would think He would have been justified to view these two condemned men as mere footnotes of history—little more than simple props hanging on either side of Him to strike a greater contrast to the magnificence of His sacrifice. But that’s not how Jesus’ heart works.

Apparently, one of the thieves figured this out. His theology was crude, and his understanding was limited, but he figured out enough in his debilitated state. He figured out that Jesus was King, just like the sign above His head read. He figured out that His kingdom wasn’t of this world. And he believed that Jesus had the power to transport him to that kingdom after they both died. It was a primitive grasp of the salvation message. He called on Jesus by name, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

This thief couldn’t have known that when they were being laid down side by side to be crucified Jesus already knew his name. Jesus could have told him how many hairs were on his head—not that he would have cared much at the moment. But Jesus already knew him that well. He could have told this thief things that no one else knew about him; things that would have demonstrated just how precious he already was to God. In the midst of His pain, His personal focus, His preoccupation with taking on the sins of the world, Jesus responded to this man’s faith: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)

Soldiers, leaders, followers and criminals got Jesus individual attention when He had bigger tasks on His “to do” list. That’s because God’s grace notices vulnerable people. It’s in constant tune with their hearts….

…None of these people could see what Jesus could see. None of them had any grasp on the bigger picture. Their needs were the result of their myopic condition, or their naiveté, or their lack of sophistication. Jesus could have dismissed their needs because of how small t hey appeared next to the bigger task before Him. But his grace kicked in, and it will kick in for us whenever we’re feeling vulnerable. It also kicks in when we don’t even realize just how vulnerable we actually are…."