Why are We in a Rush?

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung over at our Five Minute Friday website. Today’s word prompt is “rush.” We’d love to have you join us.

People quickly moving to and fro. It seems like the world is constantly in motion. Why are we in such a rush?

This afternoon, I was at the grocery store picking up a few items. I grabbed what I needed and got in line at one of the tills. The lady in front of me told me that it might be awhile as she was having an issue with one of her sale items. I simply laid down my stuff and waited patiently. I wasn’t in a rush so I simply waited until it was my turn. It was only a few minutes and then she was on her way and it was my turn. I didn’t lose anything by waiting.

The thing that got me was how she kept apologizing for holding us up. The world is always in such a hurry. We need to savor life and not get caught up in life’s craziness. Too often I think we miss parts of life and important moments because we are in such a rush.

Im vowing to slow down. To spend time with those I love. To play with sweet Luna more. To stop and just be. Let’s focus more on God’s words “Be still and know that I am God!”

Grief and Our Heavenly Home

It’s no secret to anyone that this year has been a very difficult year of grief for many of my friends and I. Since last October, I know five individuals under the age of 40 who have died. And at this current moment, a friend’s wife is fighting for her life in the intensive care unit. It has been one of the most difficult years and I am weary from grief.

I understand that grief is a part of the ebb and flow of life. I know that eventually those I love will die. I am no stranger to death as both of my grandparents on my mom’s side have been gone 14 and 10 years respectively. I lost my elementary and high school best friend way too young. As a younger adult, one does not expect to lost friends way too soon and way too early. Yet that is the reality of life. Grief shows that we have loved and been loved.

Recently I was reading Concordia College professor Jacqueline Bussie’s new book Love without Limits: Jesus’ Radical Vision for Love with No Exceptions. In one of her chapters, she focuses solely on grief and one of the quotes continually is replaying in my heart and soul. The quote reads as follows: “All grief is love, and all love will someday cause you grief. Knowing this, grief tries to tempt us to never be so foolish as to love again. Granted, love is a seesaw. But I choose to hike up my skirt and climb aboard anyway, even if it’s unladylike, because reserve is for the dead, while soaring and splinters are for the living.”

That’s the beauty, isn’t it friends? God calls us to love each other despite our differences. God calls us to love without limits. A love that reminds us that love is worth it. God loved us so much that God sent God’s one and only Son into the world for each and every one of us. “For God so loved the world….(see John 3:16-17)

There are days that I experience the intense seesaw of love. But there are other days it feels like a swing blowing in the breeze. Love is something I am willing to fight for even when it involves me, in Jacqueline’s words, hiking up my skirt and climbing aboard anyway. It is this kind of love that allows us to soar.

It is also this kind of love that sometimes causes us to get splinters. These splinters are removable and we still can feel the tinge of the splinter being removed. And depending on how deep it is lodged, the pain can bring a grimace to our face or tears to our eyes.

Despite this kind of grief, no matter what, I want to remember those I have loved. I want to cling to the gifts and blessings they brought to my life. And even in the weary moments of grief, I want to continually remember what it means to love and be loved.

For it is in the loving and living, that I am reminded again and again of the gift and power of grief. Grief is hard and there are days I would much rather not feel that pain. But there are days, that God reminds me through a simple memory and moment in time, that this life is not eternal. That God will eventually call us all back home; not to our earthly home but to our heavenly home.

I am linking up with Kelly and the Ra Ra linkup, Mary and Tell His Story, Kristin and Porch Stories and Holley and Coffee for your Heart.

  

 

Sunday Blessings 226

(1) A boat ride

(2) Mentor Group fun!!

(3) Texting with HS

(4) Fresh tomatoes from LG and EG

(5) A visit from NM

(6) Birthday cake for BK’s birthday

(7) Coffee with JL

(8) Last summer nights on main for the season.

(9) A call from Dad

(10) Guest posting over at the Mudroom

(11) Bedroom set delivery from Dad and C

(12) Supper with Dad and C

(13) Church

(14) Finding something that was lost.

(15) Rain

(16) Leftovers

(17) A PLN!!

(18) The ELCA Youth Ministry Network…a community that comes together in times of need.

Husker Loyal

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung over at our Five Minute Friday website. Today’s word prompt is “loyal.” We’d love to have you join us.

We would crowd around the television watching the football move from side to side. As little girls, one of us would inevitably end up in grandpa Sam’s lap. As we grew, we never grew out of gathering around the television with Grandpa.

The sounds of Tom Osborne coaching his team carried through the tv. All of us chanting “Go Big Red” filled the room. The loyalty of tried and true Huskers fans enveloped the room. These are still some of my fave memories growing up.

And others knew our loyalty too. Mom gifted me a homemade Huskers quilt for my high school graduation. My best friend gifted me a stuffed Herbie the Husker. He’s a little worse for wear as his stuffing is starting to come out. But beautiful reminders of my loyalty to this team.

To this day, I am loyal to my Huskers. I watch every game I can usually dressed in my fave Husker tshirt or sweatshirt. This girl will always be loyal to her Huskers.

Go Big Red!!

The Book that Almost Wasn’t Birthed (or Loving Beyond Limits)

Last summer, a colleague and friend Jacqueline Bussie set out to birth her latest book Love without Limits: Jesus’ Radical Vision for Love with No Exceptions. The irony is that her original publisher asked her to remove stories about her LGTBQ+ and Muslim friends. When she refused to remove those stories, the publisher decided to not publish the book. But love is a powerful thing and within 24 hours, this book had a new home and a new publisher in Fortress Press.

This book was published because of the power of love. Bussie put a piece of tape over her mouth with the word “Censored” and posted on Facebook. That post went viral when friends, colleagues, friends of friends and others started to share the post and tag publishers who might be interested. Little did any of us know that her book would indeed find a new home within 24 hours.

This book is a book that I believe the world needs to read especially if you believe that God’s love sent into the world through God’s one and only Son Jesus is the kind of love that God wants us to share.

As I read this book, there were so many times I found myself thankful for the stories Bussie was sharing in her book. She was giving a name and a face to those that are often seen as the outcasts. “Abraham and Sarah are the first immigrants, the first ‘resident aliens.’ For Christians and Jews who claim these two as faith-parents, this means our faith is an immigrant faith! It also means we were born to cross boundaries (Bussie).” She was reminding me how limitless love truly can be when we treat on another with love and respect.

And this book brought me to tears so many times; tears of healing, tears of joy, tears of reconcilation and tears of pain and grief. In the midst of my tears of grief, Bussie’s words were a gift to me especially in a year filled with so much grief as I have lost five friends since last October. “Grief has always stung my soul like a thousand Georgia fire ants swarming my skin (Bussie).” Grief stings so deeply but love and community bring healing in the midst of that grief.

The truth is that as followers of Jesus, we are called to love without limits. “Followers of a love-without-limits God don’t seek peace. Instead they seek a just peace–meaning a peace built upon the foundations of justice.”

This book reminds us over and over the incredible power of loving without limits. It’s what can happen when one publisher refuses to publish a book the world needs to read. It’s what can happen when a community comes together in the midst of grief. Its what can happen when we truly love one another for who God created us to be. It’s what happens when we set our stories of sorrow and pain alongside one another. It’s what happens when we hold hands together and love without limits.

“God’s love sees us for who we can become, instead of merely the person we are today, unfinished (Bussie).” In fact, it is this kind of love that accepts us all for who God created us to be. We are all unfinished works in progress. Love transforms and renews who we are as loved children of God.

Love is not a candle, it’s the freakin sun” (Bussie)
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Some additional favorite quotes from the book:

“A genuine apology is like an eleventh hour rain on a dusty crop. Grossly overdue, but miraculously just in time.”

“Life writes its own poetry. But like all poetry, it’s sometimes hard to read.”

“We set the cracked plate of their stories of sorrow alongside the broken cup of God’s own story of pain and redemption.”
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I am linking up with Kelly and the Ra Ra linkup, Mary and Tell His Story, Kristin and Porch Stories, Holly and Coffee for your Heart!

  

 

Sunday Blessings 225

(1) Chatting with JN

(2) One of my youth who got confirmed last May walking by my office and peaking in to say hello.

(3) Rain!!

(4) Popcorn and a painted rock from sweet RD!

(5) Extra keys

(6) Picking potatoes with RG

(7) Guns and Hoses Game with RG

(8) Yummy wine to end the night.

(9) Supper and Fun with KD and her family.

(10) Reading and finishing Love without Limits by JB. Thanks for letting me be on your launch team.

(11) Texting with my favorites

(12) Zy waving at me at church.

(13) Chocolate Mint Dilly Bars

(14) Fun cat toys!

(15) An awesome PLN!!

 

Loved by God

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung over at our Five Minute Friday website. Today’s word prompt is “loved.” It felt so good to be back last week. I’ve missed this group of friends. We’d love to have you join us.

In the early dawn, she licks my face and rubs against my body. She is affectionate. She is my new kitty Luna Lovegood. She is so loved and I am loved by her. At the moment, she is standing next to the couch meowing at me for affection.

I post on Facebook about a dream I’ve felt God calling me to; to do respite foster care. The comments and likes and loves on that post are overwhelming. Friends affirming this calling in my life. As I read through the comments, I feel so incredibly loved.

The photographer captures my essence in one single snapshot. My own light and joy embodied in a picture. The comments remind me again that I am a loved child of God who has been blessed beyond measure.

An infant lays in my arms..both of us feeling so loved. An elderly man laying waiting for healing….yet feeling loved and cared for. A kindergartner frightened but ready for their first day of school…..yet knowing he/she is not alone but loved. All generations, all beloved children of God claimed and loved by God.
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Also looking for an awesome book to read? Check out Love without Limits by Jacqueline A Bussie which releases in Monday. Preorder now! This book is a book of fresh air to me and is a message I believe the world needs to read.



Meet Luna

Sunday Blessings 224

(1) Texting with my faves

(2) Being on launch teams. Thanks JB! Your book is a message that the world needs to hear.

(3) New yummy teas from Chelsea Market.

(4) A visit from SW and his family. So fun!

(5) My Luna kitty!!

(6) MJ being G tube free!!

(7) Chokecherry Festival Fun

(8) Catching up on my shows.

(9) Tackling Mt. Laundry

(10) UMM Sweet Corn Festival

(11) Getting to see people I haven’t seen in forever. Good to see PD and MH!

(12) Water on an extremely hot day!

(13) Laughter

(14) Baby smiles!!

A Woman

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung over at our Five Minute Friday website. Today’s word prompt is “woman.” It has been weeks since I’ve been able to participate. I’ve missed this group of friends. We’d love to have you join us. 

Her hands tell the stories of how much she has loved and been loved. Her eyes carry with her the laughter and tears of a life well lived. Her face carried the worry lines of all the worry she has carried over her life. She is a woman who has taught me so much about love; unconditional love.

This woman is my momma. Our momma who has lived most of my life with a mental illness. Even though she lives with this illness, she embodies Christ’s love to all she encounters. She seriously would give the shirt of of her back to someone in need. She lives a life of faith that has carried her through life’s ups and downs. She embodies the power and grace God has bestowed upon her.

I hope that I someday I am half the mom she has been to my sister and I. I hope that I am half the woman she is today and every day!

Sunday Blessings 223 (Vacation Mode)

(1) NYC trip!

(2) Time with Aunt N and Uncle B

(3) The tour lady on the Big Bus Tour. She was insane!

(4) Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

(5) Getting to catch up and have an adult beverage with MR in NYC.

(6) Sleeping after a very long day of walking.

(7) Good tour guides.

(8) Wicked on Broadway!!

(9) Keith Urban on the Today Show

(10) The Bronx Zoo with sis

(11) Umbrellas!

(12) Good flights home.

(13) KK picking Ann and I up at the airport and taking us to my house.

(14) Playing with Luna

(15) Twinings Lemon and Ginger Tea

(16) A beautiful PLN!!