{Thirty Days of Thanks~2012; Day 5}

Day 5 | ...give thanks in all circumstances....

I teach music at a private school here in Raleigh. One of the things I do each month is expose my students to hymns of our faith that have often been forgotten. Now, this post is not going to be a diatribe on hymns or choruses or anything like that---BUT, it's context---SO, moving on....I was introducing our November hymn today. We are learning "Now Thank We All Our God" by Martin Rinkart (1586-1649). I was telling them about Rinkart's life and his inspiration for writing this hymn. He was the German pastor of a church in Eilenburg during the Thirty Years War. So many within the walls of the city were killed or they died because of famine or the plague. He was finally the only pastor left and conducted up to 50 funeral services a day. I can only imagine that he was exhausted and depressed during these days. Yet, when the warring subsided, he wrote this hymn:

Now thank we all our God

With hearts and hands and voices;

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom this world rejoices.

Who, from our mother's arms,

Hath led us on our way,

With countless gifts of love,

And still is ours today.

 He wrote a song of thanksgiving after living this insane life he was living. As I spoke to my students about this hymn, I couldn't help but think of 1 Thessalonians  5:18 that teaches us to "give thanks in all circumstances"...and not just that, but "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." I was careful to say to my students that it doesn't say "give thanks FOR all circumstances, but give thanks IN all circumstances."WOW----this is a humbling piece of scripture.

I recently shared with a dear friend that I have just come to the place where I can truly say I am thankful for my circumstances. They have changed me. I am not the same person I was before I walked through this life---and I hope to keep growing and changing and accepting my circumstances. So, for Day 5---I am grateful for how a loving Heavenly Father uses his word and my own life to mold me into the person he sees in me. And I am thankful for my circumstances. This is a gift!

{Thirty Days of Thanks~2012; Day 4}

Day 4 | Iron Sharpening Iron...or smacking someone upside the head.....

I have mulled this over all day---I truly have so much to be thankful for and I feel like I say the same things every year! HA! BUT, this is a little different--so stay with me!  Today I was with some friends and everything that was said was so negative---I was shocked at my reaction---I just felt SO SAD when I walked away. Sad because I think people just don't realize how that negativity/being judgemental/having an arrogant attitude can CHANGE THEM into someone they don't want to become. I texted a friend and told her that if I EVER become that way, she has to promise to tell me. Her response was "I'll smack you upside the head"....and I think she will. It made me think of this commercial that I've seen lately--it's something like this one from the Super Bowl a few years ago. I have never seen an episode of this show, I just thought of this when my friend threatened to smack me!

 So, today I am thankful for friends who will DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to point me to Christ---even if they have to "smack me upside the head" to do it...grateful!

{Thirty Days of Thanks~2012; Day 3)

I'm grateful today for a Saturday with nothing on my calendar. Oh, I have SOOOOO much planned---but nothing has a timeline. Nothing HAS to be done today---oh, other than the "normal" Saturday activities---the lawn, the grocery shopping, the "cleaning of the house"--whatever that means, oh, and the watching of the BAMA vs. LSU game---ROLL TIDE! These are the things I do every weekend, so they aren't scheduled...they are just understood!

I love seeing my Google Calendar on a Saturday with the words "you have no scheduled events today". I WISH it meant I had no work---but it means the day is MINE! I can arrange my "events/work" in a way that pleases me. Joshua recently told me that he wanted to own his own business like the dad of a good friend of his, "because he can do the things he wants to do....and he has a TV in his office". YES, we all know that everyone who owns their own business just sits around all day watching TV and running from soccer game to soccer game. What I quickly told him was that this man likely works ALL THE TIME---morning, noon, night, middle of the night sometimes, because his work is always with him---not "at the office". BUT, hey, when you're 11 and you see this dad down in his office with a TV in it--you are likely thinking, "MANCAVE"---and that seems pretty awesome.

What is it about our lives that makes our TIME so valuable to us? Why do we so value time alone, or at least AWAY from the "normal" routine. I dare say it's because we are SO over scheduled in our society that we do not have adequate time for rest, for quiet thought. Even in our educational system there is RARELY time to "ponder"---we just push from one subject to the next, stuffing more and more into those thirsty brains---no wonder children are stressed out these days---we all are. BUT, I digress----sort of----TODAY, I'm grateful for some unstructured time. I had best get off the computer and start blowing leaves. I'm not too excited about that----but, at least I get to decide when I'll do it.

{Thirty Days of Thanks~2012; Day 2}

Day Two | The Vote

Today I am so thankful for the right to vote. Honestly, I am always amazed that I get to take part in this crazy process. My whole family (birth family) is pretty crazy about politics---my parents have always been actively involved in the process. One of my sisters worked on Capitol Hill for years and still lives in Northern Virginia---which means you ARE involved whether you want to be or not. My other sister teaches American History and is a political junky---yep, she is. And then there is Kathleen---frankly, I'd just rather us find out the day before the election who is running and make a decision based on their platform and be done with it.....I think only the people in the news business and those near the Beltway are into the three year election process....BUT, I would NEVER think of NOT voting! SO, today, I did my civic duty---more than that, I was PRIVILEGED to get out there and vote. It was crowded---I had to park on Ray Road and walk to Lake Lynn center, waited about 45 minutes just to get in the door, walked in with my voter guide and cast my ballot. It is done. I was giddy as I grabbed that sticker and wore it all day---I may just wear it tomorrow! I think it's amazing that we get to vote---I LOVE the peaceful transfer of power---as I've grown older, I've watched as Presidents leave their home, shake hands with "the new guy", get on the helicopter and fly away. There is no rioting, no one storming the gates in protest---it's just the way it is.  I'm not crazy about everything in America---I'm not arrogant enough to believe that my country is any more "special" to God than another---but I AM grateful that I have this voice---It's a gift.

{Thirty Days of Thanks~2012; Day 1}

Hello blog---Oh, how I've missed you. I wish I had more time for you. You are dusty and neglected, but I am going to use you this month anyway.

I'm embarking on my Thirty Days of Thanks again this year. Once again, I find myself in the place of sincere thanks in all areas of my life. I think I am a changed woman from the woman who wrote last year, and I was last year from the year before. I know it is the goal in Christ to work out my salvation. I have SO much more to "work out"---but I am getting better at seeing the beauty in every day. At seeing things through the lens of Someone Else. There are plenty of areas of my life that I am not handling with grace, but I do feel like the Lord has allowed me to see beauty even in the ugliest of days...for this I am grateful.
NO, that's not what I'm thankful for today---today I am thankful for old friends.

Day One | Friends | The Meltons

Can I say "old friends"? Oh yes, it's my blog---I can say whatever I want!!!---you know what I mean. Friends from long ago. I must tell you, I have had the unique privilege to live in  6 cities in my adult life and I have DEAR, SWEET friends from each place. These are the friends you don't keep up with on a regular basis, but when you do, it's so natural and easy---just like it was when you were together many years ago. Just this week, I had the opportunity to visit with these friends-Doug and Lana Melton.

 I lived next door to the Melton's when I first had Caitlin. Doug and David were on staff together and we spent HOURS together sharing meals, watching movies, hanging out. I learned how to be a good mom by watching Lana parent her (then) two boys. She was such a great, easy-going mom and she helped me develop into a fairly confident mama. We moved away and our families grew and now our children are  growing up. They are marrying  and having babies! We rarely see each other anymore---it has been too long. Doug is a pastor and Lana works for Oklahoma Baptist University. It's hard for them to get away, but Doug came to speak in Chapel at Southeastern Seminary this week and we were able to spend two evenings together. It was such a joy to catch up--for Doug to have some boy-time with my boy and for them to meet this family.

They hadn't met Carson or Eve and Lana just kept saying how much she felt like she was looking at Caitlin all those years ago each time she looked at Eve---

I am so grateful for the chance to catch up and SEE these dear friends. Face to face---people who love unconditionally, who love my children because they love me and I feel the same way about them. These are once in a lifetime friends for some---I am so blessed to have been given many precious friends like the Meltons in my life---none share the same history with my family that these friends do---and that makes them special. But I am TRULY grateful for "old"---lifelong friends. I KNOW this is a gift from a gracious Heavenly Father--And I have to leave you with this last picture---here's Doug's "Mother" picture from Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels---I think you had to be there!

{View}

Here's another post from 31 Things---I've changed a few names in here to protect the innocent---or, at least the anonymity of those who are involved. I know they didn't do this for any glory! 

 View

This view is from my kitchen window---Saturday was TAR graduation, which I’m required to attend. I got home around 11:30 and found some of my dearest friend's husbands and their teenage boys doing work in my back yard. There were cars parked all around my house and a friend's huge work truck in front of my house loaded down with yard debris. When I walked up in my dress clothes, I was saw seven men and four teenage boys all working SO HARD on a very hot Saturday afternoon. I was met by one of the men who said, “Hey, are you attached to this tree? Because we’d like to take it down”----"Nope---not attached", I said. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a man this happy before!! He got to use his chainsaw---whooohoooo! So, he cut and two others pushed at the appropriate time and down it went. They had cleaned up the whole back yard, tons of ivy was removed, downed trees were cut up and tossed, all sorts of saplings and weeds were removed. It looks SO MUCH NICER!! What a blessing to me---I couldn’t have accomplished this if I worked every weekend in the summer.

“View” is what I’m supposed to write about---the physical view is described above, but my view was enlightened in many ways---THESE MEN---took hours out of their Saturday. Hours from their families and their own work that needed to be done and gave it to me. Routinely, since my life was turned upside down, God has blessed me in unexpected, practical ways. This is one of those ways---the Body of Christ, working through these men and boys, representing four different churches in our area, came and worked in my yard. It was amazing. The Lord just encouraged my heart so much. Thank you Father, for always providing for me---even if it isn’t money, you provide for my every need and I am truly grateful.

So, my view----from my window and beyond, I see grace and love. And that’s a beautiful thing.

{Read}

So, the last time I posted, I told you how I've been in this online class. It's really a scrapbooking class about ME! ;D It's a class that sends me a prompt everyday and I'm supposed to write about the prompt---however I want to. Then, I'm supposed to make it into a scrapbook. SO, I had to put several of these prompts on hold for awhile with school coming to a close, but I'm almost caught up. So, for the next few days, I'm going to just post to my blog several of the pieces I've written. Most of them are done in a day---I don't really worry about a lot of edits----again---the title of the blog.....Nelson RAMBLINGS----editing not required!

Day 3~Read

 Hmmmmm, read.  books. libraries. bookstores. I have a schizophrenic relationship with books. I was never a reader growing up. I think because I didn’t see it modeled as a child. I don’t remember my mom reading to me, although I’m sure she did. I don’t remember being encouraged to read except for school. Now, I’m positive I could have forgotten it, but I have no memories of my parents encouraging me to read. They read---but I didn’t really see much of it. From the time my dad walked in the door in the evening until he went to bed---and even after that when the TV was in their bedroom, the television was on. It was the nightly news, then the sitcoms or dramas…move to bedroom, the 10:00 news and then Johnny Carson. I know my mom would read during the day when I was at school, but, I was at school---I didn’t see it. I probably didn’t show much of an interest in reading, so I wasn’t encouraged to do it.  Of course, it’s not really my parents’ fault—I could have been a reader, I just wasn’t.

After I went to college, my friends would sit around and talk about all the books they had read, I felt so insecure—and frankly, stupid. Why hadn’t I read that book in my literature class? Why hadn’t MY parents encouraged me to read the classics? How had I missed the Narnia series, Tolkien’s trilogy or Jane Austen’s beautiful stories? It fostered an insecurity I already had about my own intelligence and abilities intellectually. BUT, of course, I didn’t pick those books up during my down times at college---and I could have! I just wasn’t really that interested in reading. I think I hadn’t discovered how beautiful it was to escape into a new reality with a character in a story---to find an uncommon friendship with one of the Bennett sisters, or live at Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Because of these insecurities I was determined that my children would be surrounded by books, would look forward to reading time---at ALL times of the day. I was determined that they would discover this love of a fantasy world early on so it would whet their appetite for the great adventures to be discovered in books throughout their lives. So, we began the Narnia series while we were still in Tulsa—the girls were four and six. They LOVED them! I wish I could take credit for my daughters’ love of books. Both of them are voracious readers---they read early and read much. Joshua is still learning to love it. I still read aloud to him most nights. We are currently in the Hunger Games Series. Last year I read the entire Harry Potter series to him…well, actually, after the 4^th book I checked out the audio books from the library!

Just as the Harry Potter series has captured so many children’s imaginations, it captured mine as well. I think I was sort of a child “in the reading world” when it came out. I hadn’t developed as I should as a reader. I credit J.K. Rowling with sparking my interest in reading again.  I tore through the books as soon as I could get my hands on them---waiting in line at the midnight release for each subsequent book.  I loved these books, but still hadn’t developed an appreciation for or love of the classics.

I remember a distinct moment in 2004 when Hannah was in 6^th grade. We were in the car alone and she was telling me about her latest Humanities discussion---a rare peek into her school day! She began comparing Jane Austen to Charles Dickens and giving me all sorts of similarities and differences. (I was blown away and as soon as I got home I wrote her teacher, Mrs. Joni Bolin to thank her for her love of literature that had excited my girl to read the classics.) Hannah then began to speak of her passion for Pride and Prejudice and what great characters Austen created. I went out, picked up a copy and begin to read it. I fell in love with the story, with Mr. Bennett, with how vividly she created Mrs. Bennett-- with how much you can’t stand her, but you LOVE that you KNOW her! And, OF COURSE, who couldn’t love Mr. Darcy?  I think I was changed. I would love to say that I have been a crazy reader of the classics and new books ever since---I haven’t, but I do read more than I used to. Summer is my reading time---I just find that when I don’t have much time to read, I don’t read. A chapter a night just frustrates me. I’d rather have several hours to really get into a story. Most recently, I bought the Hunger Games trilogy on my Kindle. What a fun read! One Saturday I spent the entire day reading. I hadn't done that in years---it was SO fun!  Joshua began the book, but in the insanity of the end of the year he couldn’t finish it, so I began reading it aloud. I hope reading will capture his imagination one day soon. I am learning that it’s a beautiful escape!

I said at the beginning that I had a schizophrenic relationship with reading—I think it’s like this: When I’m reading I LOVE reading; but when I’m not, I don’t want to. It’s a bit of a chore for me to start a book---once I start one, I’ll finish it and LOVE it. Starting is hard for me because I just don’t have a lot of down time. Someday in the future I hope to have more time and I hope I can fill much of it with good reads---