Have you ever thrown a pebble in a still pond? The point of impact makes a small splash and then the ripples start. Small at first, but then larger and larger. I'm sure there is some scientific reason for why that happens. However, I just like the effect. :) I'm finally learning everything does NOT need to be explained. It's OK to admire or like something just because!
If you're bored (ha!), type "water ripples" in Google. There are some awesome pictures and YouTube vids. But I digress....
As I'm typing, I'm thinking of various ways this replicates in our lives. Some good...some not so good. Gossip would be one of those not so good. Maybe we make a comment or remark that is taken out of context or something we really didn't need to repeat. Splash! Then maybe that comment gets repeated. Ripple. And repeated again. BIGGER ripple.
In the movie, It's A Wonderful Life, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) finds out what life would be like if he would have never been born. By the end of the movie, he realizes that by living his own life (SPLASH)
he has influenced many lives (RIPPLES).
You may be the pebble in someone's life. The pebble that makes a splash that will ripple outward to influence other people. What you do makes a difference to other people even when it seems like it is not very much. Maybe just a smile or a kind word. Throw the pebble. Set that splash effect in motion!
1 Thessalonians 3:11 (MSG) 11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Summer - Full speed ahead
School officially ended today for this year. Summer days will turn into summer weeks and months. So far, our calendar is mostly empty....which is not all bad. However, I have a habit of calendar creep....slowly filling in squares with things we need to do....or should be doing....or what has not gotten done yet. I watch the days slip away it seems slowly, hour by hour. But isn't that how the school year went by?
Since I unfortunately packrat too much stuff especially paper, I will sometimes find my "to do" lists of days gone by. What is most disheartening is when I find that weeks, months or even years have gone by...and the "to do" remains undone. sob.
How will this summer be any different than last summer....or the school year leading up until now? I don't know if I have an answer for that yet. I guess I'm putting it in writing to myself that if I don't change something time will fly by and another school year will be ready to start. I really do not want to find a "to do" list with a June 2011 date and find out that it is STILL not done.
I guess for now, I will take one day or even half day or hour at a time. I will make my list shorter so that I actually can feel like I accomplished something worthwhile. I will grab those minutes of time that I will never get back with our kids. If that means something won't get checked off the list that day? So be it.
Time marches on and sometimes I feel like I'm being trampled. I can try and control some of my time so I do not feel like my time (or lack of) is controlling me. A few minutes of planning goes a long way. In the meantime, I will remember the verse about not worrying about tomorrow. I will take care of what I can do today and be happy with what I have accomplished OR happy with what I got to do instead.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
A Time for Everything
Since I unfortunately packrat too much stuff especially paper, I will sometimes find my "to do" lists of days gone by. What is most disheartening is when I find that weeks, months or even years have gone by...and the "to do" remains undone. sob.
How will this summer be any different than last summer....or the school year leading up until now? I don't know if I have an answer for that yet. I guess I'm putting it in writing to myself that if I don't change something time will fly by and another school year will be ready to start. I really do not want to find a "to do" list with a June 2011 date and find out that it is STILL not done.
I guess for now, I will take one day or even half day or hour at a time. I will make my list shorter so that I actually can feel like I accomplished something worthwhile. I will grab those minutes of time that I will never get back with our kids. If that means something won't get checked off the list that day? So be it.
Time marches on and sometimes I feel like I'm being trampled. I can try and control some of my time so I do not feel like my time (or lack of) is controlling me. A few minutes of planning goes a long way. In the meantime, I will remember the verse about not worrying about tomorrow. I will take care of what I can do today and be happy with what I have accomplished OR happy with what I got to do instead.
Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Friday, June 03, 2011
Take Time (THANKS mom and dad)
Tonight I was reminded that I have known some people for 40+ years and I still learn interesting tidbits about their life.....when I take time to listen....and ask....and talk.
Tonight my dad went with me to a funeral home for a visitation for my cousin. He didn't have to go with me...or wait the extra hour it took for me to finish up some stuff before we went. He doesn't HAVE to do a lot of things. But he does. For me, my family now, my family growing up and a lot of other people. He and my mom have done a lot of "behind the scenes" work over the years. They have taught us well to help and volunteer whenever possible - even when it is inconvenient or time consuming or not noticed by most people.
Tonight we had at least 1/2 hour each way to drive (with him riding...usually he ALWAYS drives!) and talk. We got talking about Alaska and his time in the service. I thought he had been there only months. He was there 3 years. He was there when he got a call his mom had died. He went back there afterward. That all happened in his life before marriage and kids.
Sometimes we forget our parents had lives before us. Sometimes our kids forget we had lives before they came into the picture.
Driving home seeing the reflectors on the side of the road reminded me of the times my mom would come over in the dark early AM to watch our son when he was little. That time back at work went much easier knowing I had somebody I loved and trusted taking care of him if I couldn't be there.
Now that I've helped with my brother and sis-in-law's triplets (nephews and niece) I realize how much I missed. BUT now I get to take time with them and make new memories too.
I guess I just needed a reminder that I need to take time now to spend time with those I love. Honestly, is reality TV better than the people in your reality? (OK, maybe sometimes....at least you don't have to live with those people!) Everybody has a story. Take time to listen.
Ephesians 6:1 (NIV) Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Luke 2:45-46 (NIV) 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
Tonight my dad went with me to a funeral home for a visitation for my cousin. He didn't have to go with me...or wait the extra hour it took for me to finish up some stuff before we went. He doesn't HAVE to do a lot of things. But he does. For me, my family now, my family growing up and a lot of other people. He and my mom have done a lot of "behind the scenes" work over the years. They have taught us well to help and volunteer whenever possible - even when it is inconvenient or time consuming or not noticed by most people.
Tonight we had at least 1/2 hour each way to drive (with him riding...usually he ALWAYS drives!) and talk. We got talking about Alaska and his time in the service. I thought he had been there only months. He was there 3 years. He was there when he got a call his mom had died. He went back there afterward. That all happened in his life before marriage and kids.
Sometimes we forget our parents had lives before us. Sometimes our kids forget we had lives before they came into the picture.
Driving home seeing the reflectors on the side of the road reminded me of the times my mom would come over in the dark early AM to watch our son when he was little. That time back at work went much easier knowing I had somebody I loved and trusted taking care of him if I couldn't be there.
Now that I've helped with my brother and sis-in-law's triplets (nephews and niece) I realize how much I missed. BUT now I get to take time with them and make new memories too.
I guess I just needed a reminder that I need to take time now to spend time with those I love. Honestly, is reality TV better than the people in your reality? (OK, maybe sometimes....at least you don't have to live with those people!) Everybody has a story. Take time to listen.
Ephesians 6:1 (NIV) Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Luke 2:45-46 (NIV) 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
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