The Life You've Imagined

Have you ever seen those mugs, or journals that have inspirational quotes on them at Chapters? Today one quote from the cover of a journal has come crashing to mind, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." -Thoreau.

The truth is the life I'm living is more then I ever imagined it would be in terms of what I dreamed as a little girl & even what I had hoped for in high school. I married my best friend just over four years ago. Our relationship has been full of beautiful, romantic moments that make up fairy tales. We built our first home & moved in just over three years ago & it has quickly become more then just a dwelling place for us, it's our safe place where we're establishing ourselves as a family. Both my hubs & I started our careers fairly young & despite many opposing situations have managed to be successful by the worlds standards & by our own personal standards as well.

The thing about the above quote is that I think "life" encompasses more then just what you DO & HAVE. I think it really boils down to do who you ARE. What character traits define you? What are you passionate about? What do you love?

With my 26th birthday still fresh in my memory, I can't help but challenge myself to "Live the life I've imagined," as I realize there are only a few precious more years left in my twenties. I've come to understand that what I DO & HAVE is ultimately trivial at the end of the day. It's my character that creates this "life I've imagined."

And so bearing all this in mind, I'm bravely facing the next four years with a smile on my face. I'm looking forward to new adventures & challenges as I stretch myself to live this life to it's fullest. The future is no doubt bright & so I'm putting on my sunnies; I don't want to miss one second because I've been squinting!

When the going gets tough...

...the tough get going. This is phrase that I'm sure most people have heard, and almost as many have said at one point or another. But where do the "tough" go?

Is it possible that maybe we have the quote all wrong? Maybe it should be said, "when the going gets tough, the tough tough it out." Because really, does it not take more strength to stay and press through whatever situation you're faced with, rather then to turn and walk (or in some cases run) away?

So, the challenge comes, will I be part of a complacent generation & society, who rather then facing trails & tribulations in the face decide to leave? Or, will I take a stand, stay where I am and do something to bring about change?

Maybe it's time to redefine "tough"

a thankful heart is a happy heart

The weather at the moment is less then optimal considering it's the middle of June and Father's Day weekend. It's currently raining, and I don't mean just spitting, it's raining. Everything is drenched.

Unfortunately, Father's Day weekend plans may have to be canceled, adjusted, or relocated. There is more then enough reason to complain...and yet, I've decided to do otherwise. I've always been a huge fan of Veggie Tales, videos where vegetables talk and teach incredible life lessons. In a particular episode there's a song that has a the following line:
"a thankful heart is a happy heart. I'm glad for what I have and that's an easy place to start."
On this incredibly wet day, I'm choosing a thankful heart.
I'm thankful for, the roof over my head, the incredibly green grass, hot coffee, boots, pashmina's, trench coats, an indoor job, down spouts, muffins for breakfast, a loving family, the best husband in the world...

and I could go on, and on, and on.

It's easy to look at the negative, it's often magnified more then it deserves. What will you choose today?

As for me, it's a thankful heart all way, because truly, my heart is more then happy.

preparing

I read the following in an e-mail yesterday:

Engaged people are obsessed with preparation. The right dress. The right weight. The right hair and the right tux. They want everything to be right. Why? So their fiance will marry them? No. Just the opposite. They want to look their best because their fiance is marrying them.

The same is true for us. We want to look our best for Christ. We want our hearts to be pure and our thoughts to be clean . . . We want to be prepared.

(Max Lucado)

I love it, and can identify with it.

The four years of my life it seems like I've been in this place of preparation. To say I've been on a roller coaster would be an understatement. I've dealt with various emotions that I never thought possible, and have spent countless hours crying out to God for some sort of relief, as it seems one painful turn of events leads to another. Yet through it all, there have been times when the only form of comfort I've received has been in knowing that I'm being prepared.

I can only take responsibility for myself - my own thoughts, actions and words. It's been a painful process of keeping my heart right, and watching what I say and do, but it's all out of love and preparation for the lover of my soul.

Quote of the Day

as heard on B 93.3:

It's been quite the year in sports; Tiger got caught with too many women and the Riders got caught with too many men.

Matty Got Ran Over By The Belsher's

(sung to the tune of 'Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer')

Matty got ran over by the Belsher's
He didn't see them coming for afar
All he wanted was to marry CJ
At four hundred and counting, here we are

First he had to meet all of the aunties
All the kisses all the hugs and all the yuck
Then he had to go and meet the uncles
If it weren't for Uncle Ken he'd be a shmuck

If he said he'd seen it all he would have been wrong
For the cousins took him down the hill that night
And after all the beer and all the drinking
He was happy just to say he was alive

He was up on time and went to have some breakfast
Just to have his name pronounced wrong from the start
But when he looked at who was trying to say it
It was for him that he felt sorry from the heart

The next day at lunch he was told to come up
And asked why he wanted to be a Belsher
He didn't know but it could always be worse
He could have had to be a Lingerfelt

Well thank you for letting me be here today
To sing this song for my new family
Some may say the Belsher's are all crazy
But as for little Matty he believes.

By Matt Furukawa

for real.

I have a friend who owns at store in downtown Lethbridge called Edit: stylish and sustainable shopping.

"The goal of Edit is to help clients make ethically smart shopping choices, while not sacrificing style. We as consumers need to refine the way that we shop, to really think about what is behind what we are buying and to feel good that our decisions to play a part to better the world around us."

The thing that I love about this shoppe (besides the fact that they provide fair trade and eco-friendly product) is the person behind it. The shoppe owner not only provide great products that are great for the world, but she stands behind her commitment. There have been numerous times that I have seen her riding her bike downtown since she doesn't own a vehicle - just one more way to better the world.

I work in a field where hypocrisy if often seen. Although I believe it's absolutely true that no human is perfect and people will always sin and make mistakes, it's heart breaking to think that so many have trouble sticking to their commitments.

James 5:12b sticks out in my mind where it states:
"Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," be no, or you will condemned."
How easy it is to say, yet so hard to actually follow through. Perhaps rather then spouting out commitments with empty emotions it's time to stop and think about what the follow through will look like, and what it will cost!

So to my shoppe owner friend:
I applaud and stand in awe of you! Thank you for sticking to your commitment. Thank you for "practicing what you preach." I have much to learn from you.

To my other friends out there, I challenge you (just as I challenge myself) - "Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," be no..."

NOTHING!

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
(Romans 8:38-39)

Wow.

The past few days I've been trying to wrap my head around these verses, and simply put - I can't.

There is no sin, thought, person, thing, feeling - nothing - that can get in between us and God's love.

There have been times in my life where I've felt distant, and disconnected from a God who's love I can't escape - who's fault could that be?
I think without realizing it I've blamed God for the feelings of distance between us, as if it's His fault that I'm not perfect. And yet, when I take time to read and meditate on two verse from Romans I realize that it's not God's fault at all - it's mine. His love is so huge that I can't be separated from it, so huge that I can't even fully comprehend it...and yet I try to blame Him.

It's my blindness to His love that keeps me from realizing that I can never escape from it.
It's me, it's not Him. And so I make the choice to remember that my sin, my thoughts, the people in my life, the things in my life, the things that I feel - they have absolutely no bounds on God's love for me.

I'm always surrounded.
Always loved.

And so are you

predictably unpredictable

I like to describe my life as 'predictably unpredictable.' It seems as though many things in my life are permanent, and I'm often faced with change [thankfully, I like change!].

With a husband who works at a car dealership it shouldn't be any surprise that over the past two years we've owned eight different vehicles (JUST got a new one in fact...a Jeep Liberty!!!).
I get bored with the same look and often when I got to the hairdresser I ask for something different (like last week).
Although I haven't been in my own home for long I feel the need to redecorate and rearrange often (good thing my husband isn't SUPER anal - nothing has a permanent home).
I truly do enjoy where I live, but frequently get cabin fever and have the urge to leave for a day or two just for a bit of change (we were in Calgary this past weekend).
I'm not one for meal planning and I like having options depending on what I'm craving (not to mention that taste buds are replaced every two weeks!).
I have a job in which my responsibilities seem to consistently change and expand (although some things remain the same, there are always seems to be a new project or event to work on).

"Everything is for sale for the right price," has become a motto for my husband and I, and although we both enjoy the things in our life we're not so attached to anything that we wouldn't be willing to get rid of it.

Although many things in my life seem to be constantly changing there is one thing that remains constant. My God (See Hebrews 13:8).

I love change, and I love having a life that is predictably unpredictable, but even more then that I LOVE knowing that my God is the same...yesterday, today, and forever.

human doing.

I have a very full life. From the responsibilities I face daily at work, the planning, the meetings, volunteering, keeping a (somewhat) clean house, family, keeping up with friends, being a friendly neighbor, sending and receiving e-mails, texts & phone calls, paying bills, being a wife...it seems there's always something to be doing.

It's interesting that in the full (or busy) life that I lead, I often feel very refreshed. I've come to understand that I'm not only a people person, but that crowds and activity seem to energize me. (This was an interesting discovery because at the time, as I was surrounded by introverted people who need time alone to have the same feeling I have nearly all the time.) It's been ages since I've been bored and have had nothing to do...and yet, I'm (generally) not exhausted.

I've heard the phrase before "we're human beings, not human doings." True. But how do I balance between "being" and "doing"?

The thing is that we've all been created differently. Just as there are no two fingerprints that are alike, there truly are no two people alike. And I've come to understand that my "doing" is also part my "being". It's just the way I've been wired. (Mind you, my heart and thoughts have to be in the right place in my "doing.")

It's ok, and perfectly normal for my life (at this point) to be very full. It's ok that often times I don't see my husband until we eat dinner (occasionally at 9:00pm). It's ok that I rarely get "me" time. It's ok that I don't remember sitting through a whole church service.

It's ok... because in all of this "doing" I truly believe that I'm just "being."

having both is a blessing.

My amazing mother-in-law has remarkable quote on the wall in her dining room, it says
"Having somewhere to go is HOME
Having someone to love is FAMILY
Having both is a BLESSING"

I love that quote because it's so true! "Home" doesn't necissarily have to be your house, or someone else's. It's a place where you can go and be yourself. And "family" isn't always just the people that you're related to. It's the people in your world who love you unconditional and take you as you are.

Being a children's pastor its my desire to see all children blessed with both. If they aren't finding these things at their house, I would love to be able to help them find it some other place...possibly even at church.

That's why the other staff at my church and myself have determined that we need to create "family" in our congregation. Through things as simple as the ushers and greeters who volunteer every Sunday, to connect groups, to family events...we're doing what we can to try and create a place of belonging where relationships can form and flourish.

My prayer is that our church is BLESSING to many.

Quote of the day:

Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.

-attributed to Yves Saint Laurent

Quote of the day:

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does...and that is his."

S-Bucks vs. McDick's

I read an interesting article today by Bill Tancer title: "Brewing Battle: Starbucks vs. McDonald's".

My thinking is along the same lines as Tancer when he writes:
"I've always thought of these two chains as polar opposites — one designed as a sophisticated faux living room where customers could get a decent coffee drink and read their newspapers; the other, a riot of plastic-and-vinyl booths and bright fluorescent lighting where meals are counted in billions served. I wondered if it was really possible for these two worlds to collide."

Definitely an interesting read which you can find here.

Pearls.

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

"Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.

"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.

As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.


**I didn't write this**

The Way They See It

The Way I See It #283
The most important thing in life is to
stop saying "I wish" and start saying
"I will." Consider nothing impossible
then treat possibilities as probabilities.

-David Copperfield


The Way I See It #291
In a world where celebrity equals
talent, and where make-believe is
called reality, it is most important
to have real love, truth and stability
in your life.

-Bernie Brillstein

the music in my head

To Know Your Name
The precious blood of Jesus Christ redeems.
Forgiven I'm alive, restored set free.
Your majesty resides inside of me.
Forever I believe. Forever I believe.
Arrested by Your truth and righteousness.
Your grace has overwhelmed my brokenness.
Convicted by Your Spirit.
Let by Your word.
Your love will never fail. Your love will never fail.
I know You gave the world Your only Son for us.
To know Your Name.
To live within the Saviour's love.
He took my place.
Knowing He'd be crucified.
And you loved. You loved a people undeserving.

- Matt Crocker

WORD...

God's word became my daily spiritual food and daily spiritual drink. His Word alone is able to quench spiritual thirst and satisfy the soul at any time and in any circumstance. I always loved books, because they enlarged my worldview and formed my beliefs. But once I started to read the Bible and think about what it ways, I found it to have a much greater effect on me and my life as a whole than all the books I've read put together! It has the ability to penetrate the most secret place in my heart, change it and make it better. It is able to transform my being, my thinking, my beliefs, my feeling, my future - my entire life!

- Vera Kasevich
(Born for a Purpose)

The rewards

come each time we see that a difference has been made for just one child. That child whose life is turned around might just be the 'yeast' that over time, activities regeneration in

a family,
a community,
a region,
a country,
the world.

- Christina Noble