Stupid cookie.

Rough days.  Sister moving, teacher leaving.  Stomach bug, dead fish, rainy weather.  Holiday parties, holiday travel, birthday plans for Zachary.  Busy, rough days.  As a treat to myself, the boys and I stopped at our favorite local Chinese food restaurant for dinner tonight.  No cooking, no cleaning.  Just one tired, difficult baby to round out the day.  You win some, you lose some, right?  I pay the check and crack open my fortune cookie and see that the message inside says, "Patience is the hardest virtue to master."  I now hate fortune cookies.  Maybe all cookies.  I am in a bad mood.

The boys and Kevin are in the next room watching Duck Tales together as I write this.  It was one of Kevin's favorite cartoons growing up.  He was so excited to order it on Netflix and share it with them.  They have a deal....no one watches any episodes without the others.  They take it VERY seriously.  I think about them all huddled on the couch together unknowingly bonding over Scrooge McDuck.  My bad mood is melting a little.

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

One thing about being thankful...it takes a lot of work some days.  Not because there aren't plenty of things to be grateful for, but because there's so much to distract us from them.  Paul's advice to the Thessalonians was a lot easier before, for example, Walmart.  But the key is not in Paul's command itself, but the necessity behind it.  For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

For this is God's gift for you in Christ's sacrifice. 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  John 10:10 

A call to daily gratitude isn't just a suggestion for living happier.  It is a must for accepting Christ's death on the cross and the gift of God's son.  It's what keeps our lives full no matter what is going on around us.  Seeing things for the good of God's will reminds us what Jesus' love for us is all about.   

I'll probably be over my hatred of cookies by tomorrow, but even if I'm not, Happy Thanksgiving all the same.

XOXO...Kelly



       

Perfect praise.

Psalm 8...O Lord our God, the majesty and glory of your name fills all the earth and overflows the heavens. 2 You have taught the little children to praise you perfectly. May their example shame and silence your enemies!

 

I'll never forget the day I learned people could hear me when I sing in the shower.  I was in high school and my cousins were in town Christmas.  I was into show tunes those days...Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, a collection of Andrew Lloyd Weber's greatest hits.  I had the first shower shift among my three sisters.  With everyone else still in bed it was like a sanctuary for me, the warm water, the solitude.  The acoustics were great in there.  It never occurred to me that the sound carried beyond the walls of the bathroom until my cousin, David, said, "Hey, nice concert this morning."  They could hear me???!!  At the time I was so embarrassed.  Now all I can think of is how many mornings my poor sisters must have awoken to my emotional rendering of "One Day More" at 5:45am.      

Loud, oblivious singing runs in our family.  Blake's probably the newest practitioner with his breakfast-time originals like "I Love My Cinnamon Roll" and his ability to hum Christmas carols in the middle of summer for 45+ minutes on a long road trip.  But the true master of the art is my father.  He has a penchant for cowboy music and often makes up his own words to familiar hymns and spirituals.  If you've never heard him sing "Up From the Bed the Poodle Rose" or "So Long Saddle Pals" at 8:30am on a Saturday morning you've never really lived. 

My father, and those that follow in his musical footsteps, has taught me much about perfect praise.  Not perfect pitch.  No...we used to fight about who had to sit next to him in church.  After years and years of work in our church choir I am pleased to say that he can now carry a tune, but still needs a pretty strong bucket.  But perfect praise nonetheless!  The kind that comes from deep inside your heart and doesn't care how late you were up the night before, what sort of issue is going on in your life, how much homework you have to do or how much your kids are whining about it....you're getting up and going to church!  Because GOD. IS. GOOD. and worthy of praise!!  It isn't really about the singing though I feel like I've always connected best with God through music.  It's about the whole-hearted, unembarrassed joy Christ brings to our life and the chance to turn that back around to Him. 

Perfect praise, friends.  Perfect praise.  It don't matter if it's 8:30 in the morning or 8:30 at night.  I will never tire of the sound of it.  May the sound never tire from me.

XOXO....Kelly

 

Fish are people, too.

Allow me to introduce the newest member of our household, a small black fish appropriately named Soldier II, as we bought him on Veterans Day. 

Soldier I, Michael's pet, passed away in the spring.  I decided we were ready to open our hearts and home to another fish this morning after Small Fred, a tiny lizard Zachary caught in the backyard, turned up dead.  The real tragedy is that when Zachary was removing his little dried body from the terrarium Oscar (our dachshund) ate it.  I quickly recovered with, "Hey, let's go bowling and then get a new fish!" 

I explained to the associate at Petsmart that we already had a small beta tank with a filter.  Would the little black molly that Zachary picked out fit in that?  She then explained that as long as we kept up with the water quality the molly, though restricted in his growth potential and probably life span, would still have a good life in the tank.  At best, we're probably looking at a respectable year or year and a half.  "So it will fit in the tank, right?" I replied.  I don't think the Petsmart associate and I were on the same page. 

Every time we get a pet I can't help but wonder if this is what God meant when he gave man dominion over nature.  Like dog sweaters, for example.  Do you think His command intended dog sweaters?  I have several, by the way.  I truly think pets serve a useful purpose.  They provide companionship, teach kids about responsibility, provide protection.  They remind us to be humane.  My grandfather always used to say that in his next life he'd like to come back as a dog in my parents' house.  It would be a pretty good gig.

At the end of the day I hope that's true.  I hope I please God in the way I treat His creation, all of it.  It's easy to remember the pricelessness of my children, friends and family. 

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered.  Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:6 

But God forgets none of His creation.  His sovereignty lives in every creature, every flower, every tree.  How grateful I am that His spirit dwells in everything around me.  Even the fish that may or may not be with us this time next year.  I'll keep you posted.   

And speaking of God's blessed creatures, did you know there is such a thing as a micro pig?  It's true!  A pig that tops out at ten pounds.  They're tiny!  You could take it to the store with you!!  It could wear a sweater.  Kevin, I want one.



XOXO....Kelly

Cat pants.

"No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one or love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"  Matthew 6:24-25

The last line of this passage would probably have been a lot different if Matthew had seen these cat pants.

 

 

In case you've not seen them at Target they feature a variety of household cats photo-shopped against an outer space background.  In one word, AMAZING.  It's hard to believe they sold out.  That's right....there are other actual people out in the world right now wearing these pants and maybe the matching sweatshirt that went with them.

 

But this blog entry is not really about cat pants.  It's about my consumed soul and how I walked into church on Sunday and had one of those the-pastor-wrote-the-sermon-for-me kind of days.  The passage from Matthew was the theme of Sunday's stewardship sermon.  It astounds me how close I hold these words to my heart and, yet, how quick I am to stray from them.  No one can serve two masters.  Why is that so hard???  Did you know you can be obsessed with money no matter what your income?  Truly.  I used to think it was just the rich people Jesus was directing these words toward, but there are all kinds of ways to be obsessed with the world.  The enemy is everywhere just waiting to pull our focus.  When I'm not worrying about our outrageous middle-of-summer-in-Houston electricity bill it's something else.  For two solid months once I worked on my kitchen.  Never mind that I had a job at the time and three small children.  I could not let the state of our cabinets go.  Every spare moment I had was devoted to drawer pulls and white paint.  I'm fairly sure we ate every meal out of the house during that time and no laundry was done.  You know what that is?  Cat pants.  Ridiculous, crazy cat pants.  Target's way of distracting us from the milk and paper towels we should be buying and luring us in to something seemingly more fun.  Until you get home and realize you forgot the milk.  Cat pants.

 

Okay, maybe this blog entry is about cat pants. 

 

No one can serve two masters.  The enemy is everywhere.  Whether your worry is money or clothes or what your house looks like or your hair or your car or your cell phone, etc., etc., etc., there is no peace when we put God second.  Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.  God, let me put you first today, above anything else that might cross my path.  Hold me close to your side, fill me with your peace.  The enemy is everywhere, Lord, but let me see you first.  For what can the world possibly give me that you can not?  

 

Not even cat pants.

 

XOXO.....Kelly