Like a turtle on a fencepost...

So there's this picture of a turtle on the top of a fence post (you may already be familiar with it).  The story goes that it hung in Alex Haley's office and whenever anyone would ask about it, Haley would say the turtle sure didn't get up there by itself.  He kept it up in his office as a reminder that Haley didn't get to where he was by himself either.  I don't know a ton about preachers, but I know enough to know that this story is a treasure trove for sermon topic!  I've probably heard it from at least two ministers myself.  But I must confess, each time I hear it I can't help but get a little distracted with the turtle.  I mean, who would put a turtle on a fence post?  How in the world is he supposed to get down?  So if the message is that we need to remember that we don't get up on our own, then the other half of the story is that we don't get down on our own either.  We can work and work to undo the messes we make for ourselves in life, but I haven't yet come across a solution so effective as surrendering to God.  And I don't mean bringing Him in as a consultant and decide later if you like His advice.  I mean wholly, completely and totally surrendering to His will.  Admitting your way is not the best way and letting Him take control.  A fencepost is a stupid place for a turtle.  Likewise, despair is not where God wants you to be either.  As slow or frustrating or HUMBLING as God's path may be sometimes, it is the only way off the fencepost that will give you any sort of peace down the road.  (That's a good thing!!)  Rest today in the assurance that God loves you, that He wants to be a part of your life--the good and the bad.  We praise you, Lord, for the success you lead us to in spite of ourselves and for the deliverance you afford us in spite of ourselves as well.  XOXO...Kelly    

I, Kelly, take you, Kevin, and your gym shorts...

I let the holidays go by without mentioning that Kevin and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on December 27.  Because it's right after Christmas the day sometimes gets a little lost.  No one in our house was very eager to put down their new Legos and watch a copy of our wedding video.  Still, I think the day is worth noting.  I feel very blessed in my marriage.  Kevin is an amazing father, a good provider and my best friend.  All that being said, neither one of us is the easiest person to live with.  Kevin likes to watch "Dexter" and movies like "Scarface" and his running shorts could tackle a marathon on their own when he's done working out in them.  I have specific rules about how much to put in a laundry basket and buy things like metal goats and ceramic chickens.  But we've made it so far due in large part to that very essential element in any relationship....humility.  I am sure you thought I was going to say love, which is indeed essential, but in this house love is an action word as much as it is an emotion and there's nothing more action-packed than putting your pride on the shelf for the good of those around you.  Now I know what you're thinking.  Sometimes you've got to hold your ground.  "It's the principle of the matter!  I know he would hate this floral quilt on our bed, but I shouldn't have to live without it just because he can."  Or "I don't care how hard he/she worked today.  I emptied the dishwasher last time.  I am not doing it again."  Don't get me wrong....our principles are important and so is standing up for yourself.  But I believe the line between principle and pride is awfully thin and often confused.  What exactly are you standing for when you put the "it" before the "who"?  So whenever I am tempted to let my principles become my pride, in my marriage or any other relationship for that matter, I run myself through this simple test.  I picture myself twenty years from now having a lovely anniversary dinner, just me and my pride.  I picture Christmas shopping for the perfect gift, getting it home, wrapping it and labeling the tag, "From Kelly, to Pride".  I imagine snuggling up at night for a movie with some popcorn, my pride next to me on the couch.  To love as Christ loved is not easy.  It's about putting Christ's love for someone above your own love for everything else.  But in so many years, when the goat has rusted and the gym shorts don't fit anymore, it will be what keeps us going.  And I welcome whatever humility I need to preserve that.  Happy Anniversary, Kevin.  XOXO...Kelly

 

Summoning the Good

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" Romans 8:28.  I'm a terrible resolution maker (how many people have said that today?).  There's my standing goal to walk taller, which is not figurative at all.  I have terrible posture and I really do want to try to stand up straighter.  Then there's also the standard save more, spend less, eat right, etc., etc., etc.  All of the usual ingredients for a better, healthier being.  And so this New Year has started like many before it.  We gathered 'round to bless and eat the traditional New Year's black-eyed peas, collared greens and cabbage.  And believe me, I'm all for whatever luck and fortune they want to bring me.  But this year more than ever, as my husband prayed for the new year ahead, I longed for God's fortune, God's goodness.  Kevin prayed for the good and happy things to come and for the challenges, the disappointments that are inevitable.  He prayed that God would be with us, that He would guide us through all of it.  If I may be completely honest, I am a mess on any given day.  I never know if I'll get to sleep all night or be woken by any combination of my children.  My housework completely overwhelms me, always something to do.  The boys are gloriously, wonderfully but very loudly all over the place.  Our budget gives me a headache.  And every time I turn on the television or get online the government, the media or society in general is giving me something else to get down on my knees for.  But I have to believe God's word.  I have to seek God's divinity, God's sovereignty, His mercy and His law.  And so this year, in addition to all of my usual favorite resolutions, I will be summoning the Good.  I will be looking to God for guidance more than ever before, to His will for the good that we all so desperately need.  God, I do love you.  I love that our calendar puts Christmas right before New Years, so that we might celebrate your love for us through your Son and are then immediately reminded to lean on that love to get us through another year.  I love that you gave me 2012, the blessing of another healthy, beautiful baby boy, plenty of reasons to celebrate, plenty of opportunities to grow.  Help me to summon the Good this year, Lord.  Help me to seek You in everything I do.  And also, seriously, to stand up straight.  You know, if you've got a couple of extra minutes....  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  XOXO...Kelly
              

Flamingo, flamingo, flamingo.

I’ve mentioned our Christmas yard decor a couple of times now, so as long as I’ve got my toes in the water might as well go all in and explain the flamingos. If you’ve driven past my house you’ve probably noticed them, fifteen or so pink plastic flamingos wearing shiny tinsel scarves. They line the walkway, peek out of bushes, look over the manger scene and keep Morris company. I put them out this year for two reasons. (1) It delights my children who correlate Christmas spirit with the number of figures you have in your yard, and (2) they irritate my husband. I’m hoping that reason #1 will balance out my karma for reason #2. At any rate, the editors of Southern Living Magazine should be here any day to take a photo, which I am sure they will feature in some "best of the holidays" edition to come. The flamingos are right up there with a set of kitchen towels I bought one year that are covered in kitty pawprints and say, "Meowy Christmas" because when you see towels like that how can you NOT purchase them? Needless to say, things are starting to go a little downhill here in the Long house in terms of tasteful decor. For someone that pours over decorating magazines and Pinterest as much as I do you think this would derail me a bit more. And yet all I can feel is joy, joy, joy, unspeakable joy! It is Christmas, friends! Emmanuel has come, God with us! I want to cover the world in pink, plastic flamingos for the happiness that fills my heart. We come to the manger just as we are, pretty or ugly, beaten or victorious, and we simply accept God’s love. It is there for each one of us, manifest in His Son, and we are fools to think we may not need it. No, knowing Christ’s love this year will be the most important gift we will receive and the most important one we pass on. More precious than silver, more costly than gold. So joy to the world and peace on earth and goodwill to mankind and MERRY CHRISTMAS, loved ones! The Lord is come. XOXO...Kelly

If the Reid family of the Copperfield area is reading this....thank you.

One of my favorite parts of the movie "Dumb and Dumber" is near the beginning of the movie. Harry and Lloyd have both lost their jobs and have come home to find that their pet parakeet has been beheaded, only they don’t know he’s been beheaded because they are dumb. And dumber. In despair Lloyd cries out, "We’ve got no money! We’ve got no jobs! Our pets’ heads are falling off!" The last couple of weeks in the Long family have been pets-heads-falling-off kind of weeks. We’ve had broken toilets, showers & windows, hives, illness, a family pet put down, a car in the shop, more illness and my Dr. Pepper exploded on me in the van one afternoon. And though these are small things compared to what others may be going through this week, still the poo just seems to keep on rolling sometimes, doesn’t it? On Friday evening I popped into the study to check something in my email and caught a glimpse of the Connecticut news story. For about the fifth time that day I began to cry at the horror of the whole situation when suddenly my doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a note on the door mat which read, "Thank you for being such a blessing by displaying your nativity scene!" The note is referring to one of our Christmas yard decorations (no, not Morris...I assume my thank you note for putting him out will come later this weekend). It might as well have been Jesus on my doorstep that evening the way that note reached me. It’s not the first time we’ve received one. We have a family in the area that does this each year and if I could figure out where they lived I’d hug them. But it’s just the small, but oh so important reminder that comes to us in the midst of all the other madness in life that OUR FAITH DOES MATTER. That it means something to put it out there and to share it. That what we do in Christ’s love does not go unnoticed. We are surrounded by things that break, bodies that fail us and hearts that despair. We MUST be God’s hands and feet in this world. We’ve got to put God in the middle of it. It is too important not to. XOXO...Kelly

Booger.

I started volunteering at my sons’ preschool this fall by leading the school’s monthly chapel gatherings. "Chapel" is a fifteen minute assembly-style session that happens once a month to reinforce some of the concepts the children have been learning in their classroom Bible lessons. After years of working in youth ministry with junior and senior high youth, preschoolers, believe it or not, were a bit intimidating to me. Yes, it’s true my house is full of them. But four kids under six is nothing compared to a whole room full of bows and curls and the latest Lightning McQueen tennis shoes all staring up at you waiting for you to say something interesting. If you say the word "booger" to a group of teenagers you are relatable and cool. If you say the word "booger" to a group of preschoolers every single one of them has to laugh and repeat it and soon you’ve lost control of the entire room and all of the teachers are mad at you. Preschoolers don’t understand sarcasm either. Or Will Ferrell jokes. Do you see my problem? And so I prayed and prayed that God would help calm my fears and reach these kids. Please make me funny and sweet and understanding and capable, I prayed. Please let them like me! And do you know what God whispered to me in return? "Kelly, my dear, once again you have missed the point." God says that to me a lot and, of course, He was right. It wasn’t my voice I should have been praying about. It was His. God wasn’t giving me this opportunity so that the kids would love me. He wants those precious little ones to love HIM through me. How many times do we dismiss God's call because we think we're not good enough, as if it was all up to us anyway? I fall short in many, many ways and that will likely never change. God does not use me because I am ideal. He uses me because He is infallible through me. What is that saying I love so much? "God does not call the equipped, He equips the called." I praise you, God, because I am just a vessel, full of flaws and misgivings, but in Your purpose I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And to Your purpose I am more than capable. XOXO....Kelly

Morris the Christmas Tinsel Moose

A couple of years ago, much to my husband's chagrin, I purchased a large animated moose for our front yard.  He's made of grapevine and comes out of the box in about 10 different pieces you have to carefully assemble.  As you might imagine, several years of this set up and take down has somewhat compromised the structural integrity of the moose.  This year my beloved friend is not only shaky, but half of his lights don't work, his whimsical berries are falling off and his motor is burnt out.  To spruce him up a little I did what any Christmas-loving individual would do.  I wrapped him in tinsel.  Now he glistens in the sunlight AND twinkles in the glow of his still-working lights.  He may not be as spiffy as the leaping reindeer buck a few doors down, but he's hanging in there, every bit as full of the holiday spirit as he has ever been.  Sometimes I am the tinsel moose.  I think of Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances" (5:16-18).  Sometimes the best I can do is to throw a little tinsel on top of my tired, worn and ragged self and hope it shines, but I am going to celebrate what the Lord has given me anyhow.  Everyday, good or bad, we are called to remember the joy of our salvation in Christ, the relationship He wants to have with us, His presence in all situations.  Praise God for the gift of His son, that it comes to me regardless of my own condition.  Oh Morris, you trusty hooved beacon of the holiday season, you are all right by me, my friend.  All right by me.  XOXO...Kelly