In Vain

Easter thoughts:

My mindset this weekend very much followed the arc of the Easter story. Friday and Saturday were heavy with the weight of the dark things in this world. And weird, scary stuff happened too, such as Josh getting into an icy highway accident while towing two Jeeps back from Moab, Utah, in our pickup. (Thankfully, it was a very low speed accident, and he's fine, though the truck is not fine yet.)

I was hungry for a real taste of Easter today, and I got one.

How I Read the Bible

Yesterday, I opened a can of worms. 

Of course it's dangerous to post something like that and ask for comments, because you never know what people are going to say and who is going to take it personally. For the most part, I decided I'm just going to let the conversation run, because I want people to feel free to say what they really think. This is all about trying to listen well and understand each other better. I will step in if I think that people aren't listening well or aren't trying to take the perspective of those they disagree with. And I might ask some questions if I personally need to hear more to understand well. 

And then there was one question that was so good, it needed a whole post unto itself:

I Got Busted

Our poor dishwasher door really takes a beating. From the time Josiah could crawl, he wanted to be up on top of it. And lately, Lorien has been following his lead.

It's not unusual for me to say, "We don't sit (or stand) on the dishwasher door" a dozen times while loading or unloading. Usually it's directed at Destructo Boy and involves physically removing him from  his perch. Tonight, though, it was directed at Lorien and I raised my voice a bit.

She lost it. (Like her mama, my girl is stubborn, but tender, and sometimes she really crumbles at a reprimand.) Even after I hugged her and apologized, she couldn't pull it back together. And then she spent the next 15 minutes asking, "What did you tell me not to do?" I quickly figured out that she was referring to something that had happened earlier this evening, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was she was talking about. Let's just say we were really getting on each others' nerves.

Plus (Four)

Everything Falls Apart

Well, my Lenten observation crashed and burned in the past 10 days. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why. You know those weeks when life seems to be on top of you, instead of the other way around? I had one of those. And then I had another. 

Lack of sleep. Stress at work. Conflicts to resolve. Teething and viruses while adjusting to daylight savings time. (Have mercy.) Laundry piling up. I'm not sure why I can sometimes navigate those things and sometimes I can't. But this time I couldn't.

Our own little Band of Brothers

It's been several years since we've done this, but Josh and I are making another run through Band of Brothers.  Amazing filmmaking.

Tonight, about halfway through "Bastogne," we heard Lorien singing upstairs. I went up to put her back to bed, and here was our conversation: 

Lorien: What are you doing?

Me: Watching a movie.

Lorien: What are you watching?

Me: It's called Band of Brothers. It's a movie about the Army, because Daddy was in the Army. The Army's job is to protect us. That's why Daddy is so good at protecting us. 

Plus (Three)

Head and Heart

A brief Lenten thought about how the Scripture is revealing me to myself:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Clifton StrengthsFinder (both excellent tools we use with our FLI students) heartily agree upon this: I am prone to getting stuck inside my own head.

I think. A lot.

I used to suffer from "analysis paralysis," because I would think myself into a corner and then not be able to do anything. That's not really a problem any more (thank goodness!), but one thing I do still struggle with is the emotional aspect of my faith. I have a hard time feeling God's love for me. (Even though I know and believe that God loves me.)

This is Grandma's fault

My mom bought Josiah (and his twin cousins, Cedric and Ezra) this shirt.

Plus (Two)

What Does the Text Say?

Hey there. Another Lenten check-in here. 

I've been in the Pauline Epistles this week as a part of my read-Scripture-in-big-chunks discipline. Specifically, Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians and Romans, in that order. 

This time, a couple of thoughts about the content, in no particular order: 

The gospel has been frustrating legalists for thousands of years. 

Corinthians impressed that on me. First Corinthians, especially, is like hearing just one side of a phone conversation. You know there are specific things that the believers in Corinth are riled up about, and you can sort of tell what those things are by the way Paul responds.