Thursday, August 28, 2008

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

(Ooh,ooh, ooh YEAH!)



Feeling that way about God?


Watch this...Then COME BACK HERE!


(First grab a Kleenex and some waterproof GreatLash, and turn up the volume)




Are You back?


Did you cry?


(I did! I did the Oprah ugly cry...thank goodness it was dark.)


Let's make our own cards!
What would your card say?



Tuesday, August 26, 2008

YOU DHTBPTBB (Free the ducks!)

Over at Nesting Place, The Nester decorates with the mantra "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful". She recommends mistreatment of windows and other such wonders for feathering the nest.



Can I let you in on a little secret?



It's not just our windows. Sometimes we need to tell our hearts- you, made just as you are, don't have to be/look/act perfect to be beautiful. Maybe this is not a struggle for you- It is for me. I know it's a problem especially when it spills over to my children and my spouse. I am so intent on all the ducks in a row and frustrated with my inability to keep my feathered friends on their best behaviour that I decide I'll take over everyone else's ducks, too. It needles like nagging in sharp tones, it echoes in an exasperated sigh, it resonates in my tightly pursed lips (hello wrinkles!). None of that horrible pursuit of perfection is beautiful. It's ugly- from the inside out.



You are beautiful. You are. BELIEVE IT! The Bible says you are "fearfully and wonderfully made." God made you beautiful. When He sees you He catches His breath, His head turns, His eyes sparkle - you are his child. You know that feeling you get watching your baby do something? That's how God feels about us! We are beautiful. This beauty doesn't come from us- we don't create it. (Thank goodness!)It is from the Holy Spirit of the Living God. There is no true beauty without it. Keats said "Beauty is truth,truth beauty" .The Bible says that "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life". Do you know the Truth? Tell yourself the truth- because "the truth will set you free". Free from the trap of perfection. Free from delivering your children to that same prison. When we strive for perfection as our goal, we push God out. Seeking to be perfect on our own, we alienate ourselves from the very source of peaceful perfection. God loved you so much that he sent his one and only Son to die for you. (John 3:16) All so your ducks don't have to be in a row. They can just be....well, ducks!



At the park, the ducks get to the water in a little wad of waddling. Everyone gets there-together. (Without my help!) No one is examining their feathers, insecure about them not being as fine as someone else's. Sometimes there's a nudge here or a quack there as a duckling gets too far away, but the point is not perfection- it's getting there together, as ducks. And that is a thing of beauty.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Second Post

Disclaimer: I hate the "first post" paragraph. It feels so choppy, like when essays are written that begin with the line "I am going to tell you about". For goodness' sake, get on with it. Don't tell me- TELL me! (That's great- now you probably think I'm some sort of wack-a-doo English teacher-type.Ha.) That being said, I guess it bears some sort of introduction.....


It was a cold and rainy night... not really, it was actually around 102 (sizzle sizzle) today in sunny West Texas, but whatever. After spending time admiring the sun-induced natural highlights in my red hair and trying to decide if I was really tan or if my freckles were actually holding hands, I headed to the computer. There I was perusing one of my favorite blogs, Nesting Place. ( The Nester is one fabulous decorator and person- the kind of person you'd want for a BFF and if you couldn't get to be that, you'd go around showing everyone how she signed your yearbook. So go check out her blog! When you're finished here , of course. Which may be now. Who knows?) Anyway, she mentioned that they were looking for writers at another amazing sight, Blissfully Domestic. The spectacular Mrs.Fussypants resides there as Queen. What? What's that? That sound like hail on a tin roof? Only the rapid-fire namedropping. Nothing to fear!

I threw my hat into the ring. So, they want to see my blog, they say.

So now I have one.

There you have it.