Several things...

There have been several things I've wanted to post about this week... but, it's been a little crazy so I've had a hard time sitting down to do it. Now, dog-dead tired, I'm here, ready, willing, and ... well, evidently not able, because I CAN'T REMEMBER ANY of the many things I wanted to share! Well, I suppose that's what I get for passing my neurons out to four other creatures ...

Josiah turned 4 today and is sleeping tonight for the first time in a "big boy bed". I'm feeling a little sentimental about it all... I go most of the year without being a really sentimental gal- but, the older my kids get, the more I find their birthdays bring it out in me. It's a good thing. :)

(time passing at the speed of light- or life!)

So, now that I'm typing, I'm remembering one thing... I was driving home alone (an extremely RARE experience) on Friday from a dr. apt- (everything's great- no need for curiosity or worry!)- and was listening to Greg Laurie on the radio. He grown son passed away in an automobile accident this past summer. When I turned on the radio, I joined them as he's describing when his wife called him asking where there son was- he texts his son, "Where are you? Call me"--- "But," he says, "he couldn't call me, he was in heaven." Well, that's MORE than enough to make the tears start flowing- and a mother is certainly inclined to feel even more sentimental when her darlings aren't IN the car squabbling with each other (effectively ruining any potential sentiment- not that mine would squabble with each other... pastor's children are perfect after all! lol!!!). But, I felt the Lord reminding me of a truth. There is no dress rehearsal in life. THIS IS IT! We have to be the parents/grandparents/spouses/friends we want and need to be now. This is our children's only childhood. Our spouses only marriage (hopefully- or at least their LASTING one!) Thinking of kids though- the issues they grow up with are born NOW- not later when we've figured it all out. It's the time to put selfishness behind- and make the kids, my spouse's needs more important than my own.

Philippians 2:3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

It's not that any of these things is really new news. It's just that in the humdrum of life, the sense of urgency tends to wane. But, what more perfect time than advent, to recommit to being ready- recommit to being present- to recommit to being alive and fully engaged in the lives of those the Lord has place around us, in our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our neighborhoods, etc ? In an email I got- it was suggestd that we make a holiday "hit list" rather than a to-do list. I thought this wise. What things do you not want to get to January 2nd and not have done? Write those things down. Complete this sentence... "I'll feel really let down if I don't __________." Move that up on the list, and move something like... cleaning under the sofa, down. (You don't do that regularly, do you?) Blessings to each of you as you seek to live out your "inspired life"...
~katherine