Set Your Sights On Things Above
We so quickly get our eyes off God. Let's get back into
perspective.
perspective.
12/28/2013
Confessions of a real Mom'Fess up, Moms - ever find clean clothes stuffed in the laundry hamper? Seriously, I hate that. Half the time they're still folded.
Or I find something I've consigned to the give-away pile - four times - only it somehow mysteriously crawls out of the bag and into the laundry, as if it has some weird obsession with the washing machine. Most irritating part about this is, the clothes that actually NEED to be washed usually remain on the floor of said child's room until they could crawl to the hamper themselves. Ok, if you're a mom of any type, you have to read this blog by Christina Tisdale: The Mom Confession
12/18/2013
Proverbs 31The Flawed Proverbs 31 Woman The above article is good for us ladies to remember. Sometimes we look at the Proverbs 31 woman, and we get discouraged that we aren't her. One thing that helped me tremendously as a young mom, was when someone pointed out that Proverbs 31 is a description of a lady after years of experience. God is giving us an end result example, not something that we have to be completely right from the start. It's a wonderful goal to strive for, and a sort of promise of what will come from the struggle we see every day. So when we have those days, where the kids are everywhere, dinner is burned, we've been difficult to live with, and we just don't feel 'Proverbs 31ish, remember, God's still working on you, and He knows where you're headed. Don't let the criticisms rule you.
11/30/2013
Comic reliefThere are times when kids say stuff. They say things that will make you cringe, cry, and crash all at once. Like one time, our 7 year old daughter turned to the infamous 9 year old John, and said, "Do you know who keeps our neighborhoods safe?" (no, I don't know why she was asking a question like that, but I swear she was - it was weird, but hey, what do you expect.)
John answered, "Of course, it's the police. What, did you think it was just some guy named Steve?" (As if no police are ever named Steve) So we live near Burbank, California, and on the way to church we have a clear view of the WB watertower - the one featured in Animaniacs where Yacko, Wacko and their sister Dot have 'lived' for years. (It's a cartoon - a favorite of our family) Dot's tag line was that she was the 'cute one.' So tonight we're driving down the road looking at that water tower, and Tricia - Miss 7 year old - turns to me and says, "Look! It's the Warner Brothers Water Tower!" With a flourish, she began putting on a pair of sunglasses and said, "I'm Dot, 'cuz I'm the cute one!" And then there's John - again. Today he comes in the kitchen and says, "Hey! I just made a new world's record." (Did I want to know the rest?) So I said, "Oh, great! In what?" "Not gagging on peanut butter sandwiches in my entire life." Yes, that was his world record event. NOT ever having gagged on his pb&j's.... weird, huh? He wasn't done. "Yea mom, I only gag on your food - not ever on a pb&j." "Oh well, good to know, Johnboy." Got any funnies from your kids to share for the holidays?
10/7/2013
Through the Looking GlassMy daughter was at work today and had an interesting experience. She was parked outside the apartment complex where she was babysitting, getting ready to leave. Her truck had a minor mechanical issue - which to me means call out the national guard because I have no idea how to fix those - but to my daughter it was really no big deal. She could fix it, it would just take a couple seconds. In the meantime, someone else drove up behind her, and pulled halfway to the curb, obviously with the intent of taking her parking space as she was vacating it. Now remember, this was basic public parking along the street's sidewalk - not the parking lot for the building. So the following was in no way caused by my daughter being in the wrong spot - because she wasn't. And it's not like there weren't other spaces around them open, because there were. The guy in the truck behind her was obviously not happy, and was gesturing to her to move, even as she was getting out of her truck to fix her minor little issue. She told the guy, it's having a problem I have to fix. My daughter had to get out, tighten the connection to the battery, and then get back in to the truck to see if it would start. She had to do this four times before it would start. Remember, she's allowed to be in this parking space. It's a public road. There were at least two car spaces ahead of her...at least one car space behind her. At first the guy was alright with her dilemma (how nice of him), but as she kept having to go back and forth his impatience grew. The guy simply thought of her as being in his way. Eventually he decided he may as well just park behind her, and in the meantime flipped her off. I mean really? A young girl in front of an apartment, having mechanical issues, and he flips her off for being in his way? Of course, just as he shuts his truck off after having parked, my daughter's truck started and she drove off. How much time had passed? Maybe two or three minutes? The guy's patience wore out in just two or three minutes - five tops if you allow for my daughter not having a good judgment of time passage. I grant that maybe he'd had a really bad day. It was Monday after all. I grant that he may be going through some things that none of the rest of us can even imagine going through. Who knows? But really? Has society gotten to the point where a lady can be in distress and the guy around her flips her off for being stuck in his way? Maybe the question should be asked of us all.... Where are we in this society? We might not flip someone off when they get in our way, but do we help them? Do we sit by and watch while someone is having a 'minor mechanical error'? Do we inconvenience ourselves to make someone's life easier? Do we go out of our way to help a friend? Do we go out of our way to help an enemy? Life is full of stress, and stress distorts - like a face shoved up against a glass door. Like this picture: You have to work hard to see the real person in that picture. She's there, but could you pick her out of a police line-up just going on this picture? No, I'd say you probably couldn't.
Stress in our lives smashes our face up against glass. It distorts if we let it. Giving in to it makes us do things that we never thought we would have done. I dare say that if that guy had a daughter he'd expect other people to treat her with more kindness than he treated my daughter. I dare say that at some point he'll be embarrassed over his behavior today, maybe even remorseful. Do I really know it's stress that made this guy act like that? No. Maybe he's just a mean person. I don't know. But we can take a lesson from it. We don't have to let our faces smash up against a glass. We don't have to give in to things that distort us. We can take a step back and let God take over. We can live our life in kindness. Be as nice as you know how - in every way you know - to everyone you know.
8/23/2013
Being Under God's FeetAwww! Isn't she cute? Yes, true, she's adorable. This is Dixie, the Schnauzer/Poodle mix, or Schnoodle. She's also known as 'Ditzy' because she's a little...ditzy... sometimes. We're talking walk-into-walls, forget-where-you're-going, sometimes-caught-staring-into-space type of adorableness. And this is Buddy. He is also known as 'The Best Male Dog Ever' in our house, the wonderful Beagle/Jack Russell mix - Jackabee - that has found his forever home here. We once thought that if these two had puppies, the result would be called Schnackaboodles, but that's a different story. By the way, they aren't being bred, it was a funny story because of the puppy names, that's all...so put your torches and pitchforks down. *grin*
8/6/2013
I'm nine and I'm fine!So, this last weekend the boys in the family all went to a Men and Boy's Campout with our church. The boys in our family consist of my husband Rich, and our two sons, James and John. James is 15 years old, John is 9 years old - and a bundle of nearly unstoppable energy.
Well my husband was having to keep a close eye on John for those three days in the mountains. After all, there's bears in them there hills - seriously, real bears. Not the fluffy teddy bear kind, the big-clawed, don't-feed-the-bears kind. Mostly everyone stayed together, but at some point John was rarin' to take off, and my husband turned to him and said, "Where are you going, son?" John turned to his father, and said, "It's ok, Dad. I'm nine years old now. I'll be fine." It was funny, really, how my husband is so much bigger than him, and knows the dangers waiting in the woods far better than our son does, and can keep my son safe. Yet in John's nine year old brain, he was grown up and fully capable of taking care of himself. As I thought about this, I realized something. Don't we do that with God? We look at God and say, "It's ok, Father. I've been saved (however long). I've got this. I'm fine. I can take care of myself now." You know, in the Christian life we're supposed to mature, yes. But we never will get to the point where we're as grown up as God is. Sure, John is more mature than he was as a one year old, but he isn't grown fully, and he can't meet the challenges we know he'll face if he goes off on his own. God knows that about me too. I can't go off on my own, expecting to be able to meet and conquer the challenges I'll face, without having God's help. While someday, Lord willing, John will grow to be a 40 year old man, and be as mature as my husband is now. But as a Christian, I will never accomplish the feat of being as 'mature' as God - none of us will. We never grow to the point where we don't need God's help any longer. Today, let's let God be in charge. |
AuthorI'm Sherry Chamblee, aspiring author of Christian fiction, mom of six, wife to a cool dude, and caregiver to his granny. Besides that, I am just little old me - it's just a phrase, I'm not really old, honest. Check out my new release!
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December 2019
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