A to Z Challenge: Laughter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc

Jennifer Aniston was asked in an interview once about her childhood. She said there was lots of laughter in her home growing up. Wow. Someone with a happy childhood. And a Hollywood someone at that.

But it made me stop and think. How will my children describe the atmosphere in our home when they are grown? I want them to look back and see a happy childhood and a home that was filled with love and laughter. Too often our house is filled with yelling and impatience.

Children bring laughter and happiness wherever they are, but often I am so focused on the daily duties I’m trying to accomplish that I miss out. I forget to have a sense of humor.

This is something I need to work on. I’m trying to be more conscious of taking time to laugh and make the atmosphere in our home more conducive to fun and happiness. Things don’t have to be perfect or even okay in order to have fun and laugh. I need to laugh in the chaos, laugh at the chaos. And laugh at myself. I tend to take myself too seriously.

I want my children to look back on these years fondly. I know I can’t control my children’s perceptions, but I want to do my part to make these fleeting moments as joy-filled as possible. Big hot mess and all. 

----------------------------------

Incidentally, I had no idea that the baby in the above video has the same name as my baby.  

A to Z Challenge: Kindness

You won’t win any awards in our dog-eat-dog, Me-Me-Me society for being kind. But a little kindness goes a long way in making someone’s day a little brighter.

Several years ago, a coworker and I were talking about marriage. She said, “After awhile, you just forget to be kind to each other.” We do. Especially with our spouse and children or those we are in close contact with. The people we supposedly love the most often get the worst treatment from us. We need to be ourselves with those we love, but it doesn’t mean we have to utter every little thing that comes to our minds. Belittling comments and sarcastic words don’t do anyone any good. That kind of talk is better left unsaid.

It doesn’t have to be difficult or fancy. My husband is really good at thanking me for some of the mundane things I do. When we first got married, I remember he thanked me for cleaning the bathroom. I didn’t know how to react; I wasn’t used to being thanked for doing tasks that had to be done. And all these years later he will still occasionally thank me for making dinner. It’s not like I prepare five course meals; it’s usually something like spaghetti. But that makes it all the more special that he thanks me for it. It’s taking a little extra effort to show each other that we care. Like my neighbor bringing us a loaf of bread she had baked today. Or offering to watch a friend’s children so she can run errands one afternoon. Or stopping by someone's blog and letting them know you liked it. :-)

Life can be tough. There are enough people out there who make it even more difficult. I’d rather not be one of those people. I’d much rather choose kindness and maybe make someone’s day just a little bit better in some small way.

Don’t forget to be kind today.  

A to Z Challenge: Journey

Life is a journey. How cliché. But it is. It’s an ongoing process of growth. A messy, chaotic journey with lots of potholes, road construction where we least expect it and prolonged stays in towns we’d rather not visit in the first place.

When I’m going on a trip or on vacation, I usually enjoy the car ride or plane ride; I like the anticipation. But not so in life. Often I just want to hurry up and get there. When I was a kid, I just wanted to be an adult so I could do whatever I wanted. And we all have our “things”. My life will be better when_____. We can fill in the blank with just about anything. When I finish school. When I’m married. When I have a child.  When my kids start listening to me. When I get a job. When I get a job I actually like. When I’m single again. When I retire. When I can afford a nicer house.

It can be hard to embrace where we are on the journey at any given time. We’re in a hurry to get somewhere else too often. But each point in our journey has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. Getting married is great, but it doesn’t solve all our problems. Often it creates new ones. Same with having children. If we don’t learn to be happy right where we are, chances are we won’t be happy when we get to that next destination either.

 It’s those tough spots where we usually learn the most anyway. We can embrace the good parts and look for the lessons in the not-so-good parts. We might be hoping to get away from a difficult person, but maybe we need to learn lessons about choosing to love when it’s hard or how to forgive or cultivate a positive attitude in the midst of ugliness. Maybe we desperately want to be married, but need to first learn how to be happy with ourselves or trust God to bring us the right person at the right time. Or maybe we need to learn some empathy or to have our heart softened. Maybe we just need to be brought down a notch. Whatever it is, if we look for the lesson, then we won’t have traveled through that bad place for nothing.

But the best part of the journey is that we’re not on it alone, though sometimes it feels that way. There’s One who walks with us. We’re usually so busy worrying about how to get from here to our next destination, that we may miss Him. We’re so busy trying to avoid the potholes of life or fuming about the unexpected construction in our path, that we ignore Him completely. But He’s there. He’s always there. He’s waiting on us to notice. He’s waiting for us to stop and focus on Him, to talk to Him, and more importantly, to *listen* to Him. He’ll help us navigate this crazy, chaotic journey if we will let Him. 

A to Z Challenge: Investigation

Ok, I'll just apologize right off the bat. I am completely going off course with this post. I was getting a little bored with my theme and needed a breather, so this is a bit of flash fiction. Completely unrelated to my other posts. Just call it an Interlude. Or call me Insane. Whatever makes you happy. I may go back to my regular theme tomorrow. Or I may not. Depending on my mood and any feedback.

--------------------------------------------------------

That was odd. Her cell phone was ringing. He never called her. Something must be up. “It’s starting! I told you it would happen! I told you,” Stan began.

“Wait a minute. Slow down. What’s starting? What happened?” Marge asked.

 “I’m under investigation.” His voice was serious.

 “ Investigation? What for?” Marge couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“They claim I’m dealing drugs.”

 “ What?! You-you’re not, are you? I mean, what evidence do they have?” Marge stumbled for words.

 “Of course I’m innocent. This is no coincidence. They’re after me. This is their way of warning me. They want me to back off. I’m reaching too many people.”

 “But – I’m. Confused. How can they possibly make such an accusation?” Marge tried to wrap her head around what Stan was saying.

“They must’ve planted something at the store. In my office. They had to. Marge, it’s an inside job. This isn’t an insignificant accusation. I’m a small business owner. I have a reputation in this town. I’ve staked my livelihood on my integrity. This is all I have. My business is all I have and they’re going to take it away from me. Do you believe me now? Do you finally believe me? Do you still think I’m insane?” Stan was talking so quickly, Marge could barely keep up.

“I-I didn’t want to believe you. But I don’t know what to think anymore. What are you gonna do?”

“It’s time. I’m going incognito. I’m going into hiding.”

Marge gasped. “This is what you’ve been planning for all along. You said you thought you’d have to leave everything behind and go. Is this it?” she almost whispered.

“This is it. It’s begun. Here we go. You need to contact Darrell and the others. We have to start to work on The Plan immediately.”

Marge was silent. This wasn’t a dream; it was real. She was shaking. “Are you sure this is the only way? Don’t we have any other options? Are you sure?” she pleaded.

“We are out of options. It’s time for action,” he ordered.

Marge dropped the phone and sobbed into her hands. 

A to Z Challenge: Hurt

Hurting people hurt people. Ok, I shamelessly stole that from Joyce Meyer. But it’s true. I’m the meanest and tend to lash out the most when I’m tired or worried or feeling unappreciated or stressed or scared or all of the above. Just this morning I about lost it with my kid because I was exhausted from a bad night’s sleep.

And many of us carry around deep, lasting wounds too. We may not even always realize it because we’ve built up so many defenses around ourselves over time. But unless and until we acknowledge them and try to work through them or allow God to bring some healing, we’ll probably end up either taking it out on someone else or taking it out on ourselves. Yes, it takes effort and can be painful, but it’s so worth it to get out of these hurtful cycles we perpetuate.

It’s also helpful to remember this when we encounter difficult people. I’m not in any way condoning taking things out on our kids. We do have to take responsibility for our behavior regardless of the pressure on us. But maybe the lady in the checkout line snapping at her kid is a single mother who has no help and whose ex is behind in child support. Maybe she has worked 10 hours of overtime already this week and has no idea what she’s making for dinner. And now her kid is asking for candy that she can’t really even afford for the 12^th time today. Maybe instead of a disapproving glare, she could just use an encouraging word. Or a smile. There are hurting people all around us. Maybe, just occasionally, a little kindness might go a long way in easing someone’s pain. You never know.

A to Z Challenge: Grace

I’ve heard my husband tell my son when he’s asked for something, “You don’t deserve that after the way you’ve been behaving.” The truth is that none of us really deserve much of the good things that we get. We yell at our kids, we’re mean to our spouses, we keep messy houses, we gossip about people we don’t like, we hold grudges far too long, we complain about everything, we work too much, we pray too little; the list could go on endlessly. We fall short every single day.

If we’re so imperfect, you’d think we could extend a little grace to those around us. But for some reason this can seem to be the hardest task. Fact is, most of us are doing the best we know how. Why can’t we remember this when our kids spill or drop something? Do we really think they do those things on purpose so they can get yelled at?

We all make mistakes. And we all need to extend a little grace to those around us. Especially when we consider how much grace God shows us every single day of our lives.

A to Z Challenge: Fear

Fear. I feel like an expert on the subject. I’ve spent a good portion of my life ruled by fear. Fear of big things. Fear of small things. Fear of just about everything. Fear is paralyzing. After awhile, it’s just easier not to do much of anything.

Yet the more we succumb to it, the more it boxes us in. Our world gets smaller and smaller. We get more fearful, not less. I find that the more I step out in faith and choose not to live in fear, the less power it has over me.

The opposite of fear is love. I try to remember that it’s not God who puts fear into my heart; it’s the evil one. Knowing the source of fear helps to put things in perspective.  I love I John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out (casts out) fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” And 2 Timothy 1:7 is extremely helpful to me too. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”