It finally happened. I grew up.
Yep, I turned 30 on April 1st...I guess at some point I should start feeling like a grown woman who is a wife and mother of 3 boys...BUT I still feel like I should be 18. Not that I want to be 18...oh, no! I just can't believe how quickly 30 years has gone by. Amazing...
I remember being a young girl and feeling like it took FOREVER just waiting for evening to come so I could spend the night with my bff who lived down the street. I guess all those silly boys who wrote in my Jr. High yearbook were right after all, "life is like a roll of toilet paper"...the older you get the faster it goes!
Here are 30 things I've been learning the last 30 years of my life:
1) I never stop learning and it's not always new things! I keep re-learning many of the same things over and over and over again...just on a deeper level with greater revelation.
2) If you can be patient potty-training a toddler, you can be patient during ANYTHING!
3) I was made to be in community and need to ask for help more often.
4) People can't read my mind. (shocking, right?)
5) I can't read other peoples minds. (even more shocking!)
6) The things I am TOO tired to do are probably the things that will energize me the most.
7) The things I have judged, I will serve. (stole this from Pastor Jimmy...but i am FEELIN' it! and am thankful for the stretching, humbling growth).
8) I don't have to completely understand or relate to someone to be able to love and serve them well. This frees me up to be myself and not feel pressure to try be like everyone else.
9) I need a Savior more than I know.
10) Thankfulness paves the way for the Holy Spirit to come and break my spiral into a bad, grumpy, self-focused day.
11) I have to rely on God...trying harder doesn't cut it and makes me tired.
12) I can hear God's voice!! =)
13) I shouldn't always do for my boys the things they can do themselves (even if I think I can do it faster and better).
14) I don't have to be doing something "spiritual" to experience God's presense.
15) Sometimes, there's nothin' to it but to do it! I've got to dig down and just do the things I hate or don't want to do and one small step after another and suddenly I'm done!
16) It is easy to be nasty to others...to come up with something sassy or down-right evil to say. It takes deep character and self-control to chose my words and live out of a place of love.
17) My default to sarcasm is sometimes funny. But usually not. (sorry to those of you who I've been learning this on over the years.)
18) I have an ever increasing capacity! Things I thought would have been impossible are now totally doable! God is always growing me...sometimes in small bits that go unnoticed and sometimes in big stretches that are quite painful. I'm looking back with thankfulness that I have greater capacity in knowledge, understanding and energy because of those times of expansion.
19) My husband needs my respect, more than he needs my love.
20) Choose Joy. I mean REAL joy...not fleeting pleasures that this world offers up.
21) This world is not my home. I shouldn't feel or get TOO comfortable. Ofcourse, I SHOULD seem a bit out of place to others because I AM out of place.
22) Lots of small "yeses" can turn into a really big "YES!"
23) Caring for others is annoying when all I care about is myself. When I take my eyes off myself, then suddenly taking care of others becomes an awesome privledge, an amazing responsibility and an overwhelming joy.
24) Peace can be enjoyed anytime and anywhere as a direct result of being in fellowship with the Spirit. I don't always have to have the perfect setup to find peace.
25) Thinking ahead keeps me out of trouble. Not thinking ahead leads to lots of "doh!" moments.
26) The more my family acquires, the less thankful we become.
27) I need less stuff than I think I do.
28) Assume the best of others but don't presume that others should do the same for me. I want to live in such a way that it is easy for others to think the best of me because of my past actions.
29) I don't remember as much as I think I will. I really do need to jot important things down. Mom, I guess you were right about writing after all!
30) Strenght is made perfect in weakness. Thanks for all the paradoxes, God. I love how you like to spice things up!
Showing posts with label Joy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joy. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
My Life: The Funny Pages
Simple. Plain Jane. The Everyday.
Life...It's hilarious if I let myself look up from the spinning wheel of routine and schedules.
Here are some recent things that have made me laugh:
~While cutting Josiah's hair, I turned to see Lucas with my water sprayer...soaking the front windows of my parents house and furiously wiping his grimely little hands on the panes of glass...making more mud than shine and then repeating this process for over an hour. Seriously. That long. When he ran out of water he then managed to refill from the cat bowl.
~JohnEllis and his obsession with the word ball and anything round. He literally says "ball" 100's of times/day...and always with a ? at the end, as if to say, "can I have that??". He was sick a couple weeks back. Respiratory problems. Cough. Congestion. Retractions. Wheezing. Crying uncontrollably. A visit to the ER in the middle of the night and inconsolable screaming...until he saw the top of a bulb syringe and suddenly after 3+ hours of nonstop screaming, instantly stops and says, "ball?".
~After a long 12 hour night shift: turning down all the lights and the entire night shift hiding as the day shift arrived with lots of questioning looks on their faces.
~Having my husband give me a 10 minute discourse on the numerous different pens he carries with him in his pencil box...how each of them has a different function and purpose such as: I use this blue pen to write in my journal, but this blue pen to take notes with in class and this particular pen to underline scripture in my Bible, but this pen is only for when I'm at work, etc. One would think that a pen, is a pen, is a pen. Until you meet Jody Cash. Then you realize that every pen has a story and not all pens are created equal. And that pens are serious business.
~My husband has and uses a pencil box. =)
~Josiah drew a picture of JohnEllis the other day at church. They were supposed to be drawing a picture of things they do at home. Since JohnEllis has been sick, Josiah said that we have been trying to get JohnEllis better soon, so he drew his stick figure...Complete with knee caps and a penis. I nearly lost it as we discussed with him how drawing a penis at church is inappropriate.
So there you have it.
My everyday is filled with humor. Somedays I have to hunt for it more than others but finding joy in the little things is the spice of life.
Life...It's hilarious if I let myself look up from the spinning wheel of routine and schedules.
Here are some recent things that have made me laugh:
~While cutting Josiah's hair, I turned to see Lucas with my water sprayer...soaking the front windows of my parents house and furiously wiping his grimely little hands on the panes of glass...making more mud than shine and then repeating this process for over an hour. Seriously. That long. When he ran out of water he then managed to refill from the cat bowl.
~JohnEllis and his obsession with the word ball and anything round. He literally says "ball" 100's of times/day...and always with a ? at the end, as if to say, "can I have that??". He was sick a couple weeks back. Respiratory problems. Cough. Congestion. Retractions. Wheezing. Crying uncontrollably. A visit to the ER in the middle of the night and inconsolable screaming...until he saw the top of a bulb syringe and suddenly after 3+ hours of nonstop screaming, instantly stops and says, "ball?".
~After a long 12 hour night shift: turning down all the lights and the entire night shift hiding as the day shift arrived with lots of questioning looks on their faces.
~Having my husband give me a 10 minute discourse on the numerous different pens he carries with him in his pencil box...how each of them has a different function and purpose such as: I use this blue pen to write in my journal, but this blue pen to take notes with in class and this particular pen to underline scripture in my Bible, but this pen is only for when I'm at work, etc. One would think that a pen, is a pen, is a pen. Until you meet Jody Cash. Then you realize that every pen has a story and not all pens are created equal. And that pens are serious business.
~My husband has and uses a pencil box. =)
~Josiah drew a picture of JohnEllis the other day at church. They were supposed to be drawing a picture of things they do at home. Since JohnEllis has been sick, Josiah said that we have been trying to get JohnEllis better soon, so he drew his stick figure...Complete with knee caps and a penis. I nearly lost it as we discussed with him how drawing a penis at church is inappropriate.
So there you have it.
My everyday is filled with humor. Somedays I have to hunt for it more than others but finding joy in the little things is the spice of life.
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