Today is Labor Day. The unofficial end to summer. For me it’s been my favorite summer ever.
But it was August 16th when this is what I found.
The very first glimmer of Fall. An ending and a beginning.
I texted this picture to John, Katy, and Maggie and got two different responses:
Taking a little August Sabbatical so I thought I’d repost one of the most popular entries from this past year. I’m glad you liked it!
I really admire my husband.
He’s brilliant and wise and athletic and better than me at everything.
Except maybe one thing.
When we were dating, we never danced.
And when we got married we didn’t have dancing at our reception.
And when we went to our first wedding reception as a married couple he didn’t ask me to dance and I cried and was sure he didn’t really love me.
I wrote recently that some friends and I have wrangled our husbands into taking dance lessons, and I’ve finally discovered why this has not been part of our life together up til now. I’m not gonna sugar coat it. I’m no Ginger Rogers, but John is truly bad. I don’t understand it. How can someone who’s so coordinated in so many other areas be so…not…in this area? Sometimes we just have to stop trying because we’re laughing so hard.
It’s one thing to have a humility thrust upon you. You make a mistake and have to apologize. Like BP. Or the captain of the cruise ship in Italy. Or Lindsay Lohan. You’re given a job to do and things don’t go well. You’re humbled.
But to choose to step into a situation where you know you’re weak, vulnerable, open to ridicule? That takes love.
Doing this together with some of our closest friends has led me to another conclusion.
I’m taking a little August sabbatical. I pray you’ll be blessed by a repost from last year on a Spirit Stretch Friday…
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Communion Debacle our daughters experienced at church. It made me think about how hard it can be to truly enter into this sacrament and be present to God in the moment…reflecting on His grace and our sin.
Frankly, it’s darn easy to be present to…me. My comfort, my will, my convenience, my agenda…But Jesus? Not so much. Are you with me?
I’m taking a little August Sabbatical, so I thought I’d repost one of my favorites from last year. Eric is continuing to grow and went to his first baseball game this summer. I tell him every time I see him that he is an amazing young man. I think he may be starting to believe it…
Every Monday evening from 5:00-6:00 I have what is both the most discouraging and most powerful hour of my week.
Three years ago I started tutoring a 9 year old girl named Erica who moved here from Togo, west Africa with her twin brother Eric, and her older brother Sylvanus. Erica and Sylvanus have made the transition to a new city, a new culture, a 5th (yes, 5th!) language, and are catching up academically in a new school. Amazing. Courageous. Inspiring.
I’m taking a little August sabbatical, so I’m reposting some entries that you’ve seemed to like from awhile back. If you’re newer to the blog and know others who might be encouraged, I’d love it if you’d pass along the link.
I’ve thought a lot about this.
If I ever become an actress (Don’t laugh. It could happen!), and I have a scene where I have to cry on cue, no sweat. I’ve got this one covered. Not because I’m particularly weepy (I’m really not at all, you know). But because all I’ll have to do is think of “that person.”
You know. “That person”.
What fills you with joy or gratitude or spurs you on to higher ideals? What energizes or encourages you?
Is it particular relationships with people who pour wisdom and hope into you? Or a particular place or tradition that makes your heart sing?
In what environments does God’s Word come to life for you?
We need weekly rhythms of filling so that we serve out of overflow but I believe we also need seasonal and yearly rhythms of filling too.
What are we going to do now that the Olympics are over?! Watch Bachelorette reruns? Complain about political ads? Wonder what celebrity is heading for rehab?
The great thing about the Olympics is that it raises our eyes and gives us a vision above the mundane, above our lowest selves. It inspires us with stories of courage and determination and high ideals.
I read this Monday morning in USA Today:
This was the Olympics in which the Queen said hello, and Michael Phelps said goodbye. This was the Olympics where a man from South Africa ran with no legs and a woman from Poland played table tennis with one arm. This was the Olympics that reminded us what it does best – nurturingevery dream. – Mike Lopresti
Do you know what your airline status is?
You know…the color that tells everyone how special (or not) you are?
I’m Silver in the eyes of Delta…just about to cross that magic threshold to Gold, but not quite there yet. And I can’t even see the Promised Land of Platinum from where I sit in coach.
Yes, I’m Silver. But John? John is Gold. All this usually means is that he gets bumped up to 1st class if it’s a 45 minute flight to Dubuque in non-rush-hour.
The other day, however, it meant more.
Here’s the rest of the post from Wednesday. We’re talking about avoiding Bible Boredom…
When we were little, my cousin Karl had some weird ideas about road signs. And one of them was that this was the only place deer could cross the road legally.
Somehow he thought deer would understand (maybe because of the picture of themselves that they’d recognize) and line up to cross only where they saw that sign.
Over the years I’ve had some weird ideas about what was “legal” Bible reading…you know…what “counted” on the cosmic scoreboard of spirituality.
This morning I sat down to read my Bible and…wait for it…I just didn’t feel like it.
Now half of you may be thinking, “Well, duh! I never feel like it!” And half of you may be gasping, “Well, you probably aren’t a real Christian. Are you sure you ‘prayed the prayer’? The RIGHT prayer?”
Jim Rayburn, who established Young Life, was famous for saying “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” But what about the Bible? The whole Bible?
Remember back in High School when you had to read ___________(insert book title you dreaded, that was thick and long and had words you didn’t understand).
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