Guilt & Gluten Free Communion

Let me see- I could write a book about the stressful things that have occurred to me in the past week. Nobody likes a complainer so I will keep it short and sweet. Raw sewage in my kitchen sink. Husband worked 4 -12 hour shifts in a row. A sick child. Both babies had to get shots on the same day, making them feverish and grumpy at the same time. Blah blah blah. However, this time, from the get-go I told God that I acknowledged that He was trying to teach me something and would He please go ahead and do just that because I was ready to learn and get back to a more comfortable spot. What I witnessed was the love of Christ shown to me through my family- my mother in law as always rushed to my aide on a particularly stressful day, and my parents as always did the same on another day (there were plenty of days to choose from this past week). The feeling that I received from accepting the graciousness of others was indescribably wonderful, and therein was my lesson. I really need to concentrate on making an effort to be gracious and helpful to those around me- it is easy to walk around in an oblivious haze, but if we stop and pay attention there are so many simple ways that we can be a living, breathing blessing to others. And it's not that hard. The very day that I had all the above-mentioned horrible things happen to me, I had a man come to my door asking for donations for a local drug rehab center/church. He has come by before and I had shrugged him off, but on that day I felt like God was saying- "I put this opportunity in your lap; take advantage of it." So I made a donation and hopefully that donation will make someone feel as blessed as I did that day when I received help from my family. As I mentioned previously, I am in the process of joining the Catholic Church, and I am taking 6 months or so of classes in order to do this ( it's less impressive than it sounds) I learned tonight that they now make gluten free hosts (communion wafers) and this caused me to chortle. (Thats not all I learned) I also began to think about how we as Christians are really living, breathing communion to those around us. Romans 12:1 says 

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spirituala act of worship

In essence, how we live our lives as Christians could be someone's only view of Christ. We have been commissioned to be His hands and feet on earth. It is our job to seek out ways to practically do that. When we accept God's grace (whether it be through communion on Sunday, or prayer, or any other way) we are saying to God that despite our imperfections, we recieve His gift of grace and the sacrifice that He made for us. He gives us His body and blood in order that we allow Him to use our bodies and talents for His glory here on earth.

Fear and Laundry in OKC

We have all had that laundry nemesis- that particular basket of clean laundry that begs to be folded and put away and you turn around 2 weeks later and it's still in your bedroom giving you the evil eye. Then you finally realize that you can't do another load of laundry until you put away the old load. So why on earth am I doing so much online shopping lately? Trying to rebuild my wardrobe after having my first child was a task I had barely begun before I became pregnant with my second child (Yes, they are 15 months apart...yes, I am a very tired woman, thanks for asking). Besides stretchy maternity pants (which I love and feel should be a socially acceptable staple item in any woman's wardrobe, pregnant or not), I have not been sporting many new clothes lately. My sister and I were just discussing this the other day. We used to be stylish people; now we are definitely candidates for "What Not to Wear". My husband and I went into a trendy hipster store yesterday and lo and behold when I observed all the cute, skinny, stylish employees I had never felt so frumpy and tired. When did this happen? You mean we can't wear the same kind of clothes that we did our senior year of high school and look good in them? I suppose this concept of re-invention can be applied to so many aspects of our lives. Life is God's ultimate tool because it pushes us along, and causes us to grow and change on a daily basis- this in turn allows us to discover Christ in new ways throughout our lives. The God that we were introduced to as children is the same God today. But if we have ever allowed Him to take the reigns in our lives, He probably looks like a very different version of Himself. So whether it is the laundry monster, 3 days in a row of solo watching two precious but very demanding kiddies while the hubs works gross hours at the hospital, confronting your sadly ill-fitting and out of date wardrobe, or confronting a deep-seeded spiritual hurdle-- don't fear! Thankfully it is never too late to start a new journey, and you will probably discover that the change that you once feared is exactly the catalyst needed to push you into life's next chapter.
On a totally unrelated note, my oldest son dumped an entire canister of oats on my living room floor this morning. Yep.

My Prayer

May our faith never become simply an obligation, but rather a passion; a mission; a driving force. May our words be fortified by our actions, and may our actions be holy. May the reflection of God in our lives not be dictated by our limited understanding of his greatness, but rather through the revelation of His grace and guidance in and through our lives. May we never cease to seek Him although we will continue to fall short of His glory until we join Him in eternity. Praise be to the One who grants us second, third, and thousands of chances. Thanks be to the One who doesn't ask us to be perfect, but simply demands that we admit that we will never be perfect and accept His grace. 

May our thoughts be those of righteousness and thankfulness. May we always realize that no matter how blessed the earthly lives we lead, they are only "training" for our lives with Christ in eternity. Possessions do not own us; we own them, and we do not award them more merit than is deserved for they will always be secondary to the work God longs to accomplish in our lives. We must be careful to nurture each relationship that we are a part of- it is our duty and calling to be a living example of Christ to everyone that we come into contact with. May we give our children the tools needed to begin to build a strong foundation in Christ's love, and may Christ intervene where we are not able so that our children are safe when we cannot protect them, loved where we cannot demonstrate our love to them, and comforted when we cannot comfort them. May we always understand what precious gifts children are, and never take for granted the time that we are given with them. May Christ always be the foundation of our families, and may our foundation become stronger with the passing years.

Beauty in Chaos

I am currently in a very zen state right now. My oldest son is in his crib screaming at the TOP of his lungs like a pterodactyl and my youngest is trying to sleep at the other end of the house (granted, I have a very small house) but every time he hears this screeching he erupts into a tirade of tears. Which is what I feel like doing at the moment. Or banging my head against the wall. Which would probably lead to tears so I guess I'll save myself some pain and just cry. I am trying hard to glean some glimmer of wisdom from this situation; how can I look at this from a heavenly perspective? *Eye twitch*....still lots of crying..
This too shall pass.
I know this insanity won't last forever.
This is how I should be looking at my life. The hard parts don't last forever, and they teach us things that greatly enrich our lives. However, the easy parts don't last forever either. Heck, life in general doesn't last forever (I'm speaking about the physical, here on earth part of life) I have been made so much more aware of the passing of time since the birth of my second child. I am turning 25 this year. My husband is quickly reaching the end of his medical training and we will be sent out into the world as the next generation of young professional adults with children. All of these landmark events seemed so long in coming and now life is simply flying by leaving me to wonder if I was awake for half of it. So good, bad, or ugly ( yes, I was watching the Clint Eastwood marathon on AMC yesterday), life is simply marching on and what we learn from it and do with our time is up to us. I have learned that the difficult parts of life are not necessarily bad, and the easy parts of life are not necessarily good. Emotions, circumstances, loss, and gain- we are in a constant state of fluctuation  which can definitely feel like chaos. The beauty in this chaos is Christ, and the ways in which He is constantly transforming our lives if we allow Him to, which in turn spreads his peace to those around us. And I finish this blog to the sounds of silence. That didn't take long. :)