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I’ll Have a Diet Coke and an Exorcism, Please
Sometimes I get a kick out of people. Okay, a lot of the time. People are so funny. They don’t mean to be, not all of the time, and I imagine I fall into this category, too, but sometimes they just do the silliest things. We just do the silliest things, don’t we? Here are a few examples.
We want to lose a few pounds, so we have a diet soda with our hamburger, french fries, and fried apple pie. That will help.
We want to have a cleaner kitchen floor, so we buy a new mop, but also get a few extra dogs to have around the house. Smart one.
We want to get smarter, so we buy a new educational tool and then leave it in the box. Osmosis, yeah, that’s the ticket.
We want to go to college at a prestigious university, so we fill out all of the forms and get the paperwork in on time, but then go shopping instead of doing our English homework. Colleges love a sharply dressed student.
We want God to move mightily in our midst, so we pray for miracles, but when He does them or challenges our traditions or calls us to do something, we decide it’s too scary and we run away. The church loves a good tradition.
Yes, people are funny. Good thing that we can laugh at each other, I mean “with” each other!
A Toast for the New Year Morning
I have a coffee mug collection, much to the dismay of my family. An entire shelf in the kitchen cabinets is devoted to my mugs. You might have figured that if you have read my previous post, ‘Coffee to Go.’ We have to carefully empty the dishwasher so that my mugs are put away correctly and with care or the other glasses and cups won’t fit in the cabinet. My family loves me for this.
Each mug is special to me though, and only the special mugs make the cut for my shelf. There is a story behind each one, and in that way they are to me like other collections that people have – baseball cards, matchbooks, hats, shoes…Mine is coffee mugs. I choose my mug carefully each day. Sometimes, as mentioned before, it is a factor of the coffee I plan to drink, but most of the time it is a philosophical statement. For instance, when I choose my Michael Buble mug, it’s going to be a mellow morning; I’ll be feeling a little swing in my step. I may even break into song and spin you around the kitchen, so watch out. But if I choose my Polka Dotted mug, I am feeling a little feisty, peppy, and looking for some fun. Then there’s my National Homeschool Academy mug. It’s good for days when I need to be very focused or when I have a full business day. Or, there is the the Women of Passionate Purpose International mug. It means I am connected to a group of beautiful women who may not be in my immediate line of sight each day, but are every bit “near me” and we are bonded together for the cause of Christian ministry.
But today, the first day of 2010, I chose my mug carefully. It’s a brown mug, a bit narrower and taller than most, and it has a scripture quote on it. It was given to me by a dear friend for my birthday along with 100 1-Dollar bills, each with a Post-It note listing an adjective or phrase describing my character. This was a gift I will never forget, and not because of the money that came with it, but because of the time that was invested in thinking about who I am and what is important to me. This mug says to me that nothing is going to be too difficult in the day to come, and nothing that I do is without purpose. It reminds me of the joys of faithfulness through the scripture listed on it. It reminds me of the places that I’ve been and the ways in which God has brought me through some difficult and unusual experiences, and always, but always, for the better!
So lift your coffee mugs high with me, toast to the new year ahead, and remember, as my mug says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:10-13)
Wedding Album Musings-25 Years Later
My husband and I have just wrapped up a semester-long marriage class for our Sunday School group. It was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed this group. Everyone was very honest, and very serious about working to have a good, no, a great marriage. The group was candid, but open, and along the way, my husband and I continued to grow, to challenge each other, and to polish off the areas where we tend to get a little “dusty” from time to time in our habits and attentions towards one another.
To culminate the class finale, those who could, went out as a group for brunch after church and each couple was encouraged to bring their wedding album or a picture from it to show and tell a little of their romance story. The aging process was fun to laugh at because for the most part, the couples in our class had been married more than 15-20 years, and those photos were a little old – ours too! In essence, this was mostly a veterans class, and I think the few class newlyweds were the richer for it.
But as I prepared our own romance story to share, based on our wedding album, I had a funny revelation. Our photos were not professionally taken. We had a friend of a friend take our pictures in order to save a little bit of money. This photographer was decent, but not a pro, and as such, there are a few anomalies with our wedding album. For one, the album itself is a little fragile and has lost one of the pegs that keeps it together. I keep thinking that I should just replace the binder, but I am afraid to remove the photos from their plastic sleeves for fear that the images have “melted” onto the plastic sheet. So, I am just careful with the photo album when I move it around. It just needs a little bit of extra attention.
Also, since this photographer did not really know us well, he did not know the family members from the non-family members. He took pictures that were photogenic, but necessarily meaningful in all cases. There is one element in particular that used to bother me, that is until I prepared for this brunch. There was a child in many of the pictures, whom the photographer obviously thought was important to us. This young man is in about 75% of our photos. He loved the camera, and he loved the camera to love him, if you know what I mean. He was, or I presume still is, the son of a coworker of mine at the time. Time being what it is, I have not kept up with her, but I have never forgotten her son. How could I? He is in nearly all of my wedding photos! His name was Happy – no, not his nickname, but his actual name. Happy…now that’s a statement!
As I reflected on my photo album for our marriage class outing, it struck me that my album is a symbol of my marriage. It requires a little extra care, above and beyond the other relationships that I have. Not because it is more fragile, but because it is more precious. I need to care for it, hold it carefully, treat it with love and special attention. That is what it deserves. But even more symbolic is that child. No matter the circumstances of our lives, our marriage has always been happy. I believe my husband and I have one of the best marriages I know of. We are not perfect, nor is our photo album, but we are happy. We are not elitist, expensive, or professional, and neither is our photo album, but we have always been happy. “Happy” keeps showing up in our marriage, regardless of the situation. I can look back over our 25 years and see good times and tough times, financial strain, job loss, the loss of a child, 11 moves, good jobs, sacred callings, etc., but all the while, we have been content – at peace – and happy.
I think the two things go hand in hand – that extra care to a marriage, and happiness. I cannot remember the photographer’s name, but I think he gave us a priceless gift in that album. Don’t you? It only took me 25 years to make that connection…
