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Looking for a Little Extra Hope? 2

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I have a disco ball. Truly, it’s Kate’s, but I insist that she leave it in the dining room. When the air starts to get cooler in the fall, and the earth tilts just a little differently, I put the disco ball on the table and the room is awash in small dots of light. It doesn’t work in the summer, just in the winter months. Small bits of light to remind me that there is always beauty to be found when I search for it.

It’s the first week of December, the month of frenzied excitement and craziness. I crack open the bin of decorations and the Christmas smells leak out. It’s the smell of nostalgia. It’s the joy and the sorrow, the hope and the grief, all at once.

There’s a tension to this season, isn’t there? There’s glitter and excitement and happiness spilling over. But often, there is deep sorrow. There’s disappointment in the space between what we thought would be and what really is. Our lists keep getting longer and the weariness doesn’t fade.

Every year the tension of December surprises me. But there is one thing that holds me steady— the story of a baby and the generations of people who made up His family tree. We get out our Jesse Tree with our funny homemade ornaments and we listen to the stories again. We remember again with David’s words in Psalm 119: 30, “The unfolding of your words gives light”.

Because here’s what I need to know every Christmas— I need to remember that life is messy and far from perfect. I need to know that Jesus knows my sorrow and He cares for me. I need to know that He hears the cries of my heart when I hang up the empty stocking and put a tiny Christmas tree next to a grave. I want to know I’m not alone.

As we begin the season of Advent, this time of waiting for the birth of Jesus, I’ve written something for you. Join me over the next few weeks as we discover together the hope held out for us, using people who were in the family tree of Jesus. People like Abraham, who held on to the promise that God would bless him, even in the midst of unanswered promises. People like Jonah who discovered that God comes to us in our storms. People like Mary, who saw that even our emptiness can be used by God.

I don’t know where you are this holiday season, but if you are in a place of darkness and sorrow, I want to whisper words of hope to your weary soul. Though you may feel it, you are not alone. My heart is with you. I’ve been there. But even more importantly, Jesus is with you. He is near to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit.

So come back here over the next few weeks as we unwrap gifts of those who have bravely gone before us.

And if you are hurting this season? I would love to know so I can pray for you. Leave a note in the comments or write me an email. We may not be sitting on my couch having a real conversation, but I’m thankful for the ways we can reach out to one another.

{Hello, Friend.}
There are hard seasons in life. But even in the midst of sorrow, you can hold tightly to the hope of Christ. Want to know more? My free eBook tells the story of how I grappled with loss and grace in the days, months and years after burying a child. You can find it on iBooks or Google Books.

The Discipline of Slowing 0

The very last week of our six week sabbatical we dropped off the camper then drove to a small lake cottage.

For over 5,000 miles we had driven 55-60 miles per hour, hauling our little camper. We crossed rivers and mountains, two lane back roads and six lane highways through big cities. We got used to the cars whizzing past us. We had heard too many horror stories of trying to drive fast with a trailer. So we took our time, sometimes with sighs because even the short days of driving seemed to drag on longer than we’d anticipated.

But a funny thing happened. When we began to go the real speed limit after weeks of traffic flying past us, we were shocked. We hadn’t realized just how slow we were going and the ACTUAL speed limit seemed out of control.

Of course, you know where I’m going with all this. Because it’s September and chances are your calendar looks just like mine. It’s filled with good things— practices and dinners with friends, meetings for good causes and school functions.

As I rushed to get dinner on the table tonight, in between one thing for one kid and another thing for another, I couldn’t help but go back to those lonely Kansas roads. The ones with no cars and almost no towns and wind that would not quit blowing. I thought about the early mornings, when Peter and I would take our coffee outside and sit with our Bibles, talking and dreaming while the kids slept hard, way past their normal time.

I thought about the bike rides in Wyoming, through the pasture where the cows lazily watched us dodge cow patties as they chewed their grass. I remembered the night we sat at a Lake Superior beach for hours, waiting to watch the sunset, the kids playing in the sand with a fast food cup and a football, happy and content.

We’ve been home just over three weeks and I’m finding this transition time like a tug of war. Our summer was amazing, but it was for a time. A sabbatical can’t last forever. And yet I want to hold on to the slowness, to the savoring.

We came home to full speed ahead, plus a little more. And I know this about myself— when I’m moving at a crazy speed, I find it harder to be intentional and purposeful. Words spill out of my mouth and feelings get hurt. My lists give birth to new lists until there’s a List Pile, which happens to hide the Very Important Paper that doesn’t get sent to school until it’s too late.

It seems we’re living in an in-betweeness, processing a sweet season as a family and a trip that helped us really step back and look at our lives. On the other hand, we’re also starting school and jumping back into our everyday life. Our rhythm right now seems to be off as we try to reconcile the two seasons.
Can I whisper something to you? I refuse to live in the fast lane. The squares on my calendar may be full to overflowing, but I’m fighting for the things that really matter. I’m going to get it wrong more than I’ll get it right. But I won’t give up trying.
I’ll slow the car down, look in the rearview mirror and pretend there’s a camper back there. Want to join me?

Well, hello!
I’m so very glad you’re here. I hope you’ll stick around so we can get to know one another a little more. Go here if you’d like to receive posts from me via email. I have a few printable verses I’d love to send you to encourage your heart. –Sarah

#damaskasontheroad: H O M E 1

I know, I know.

If you only follow me on this blog, you may be thinking we fell off the face of the Earth somewhere between Kansas and Colorado.

Don’t worry. We didn’t. And we’re home now. The car may be dusty and road weary, but he made it.

Here’s the thing: About the third week into this trip, my words seemed to just dry up. It was so strange. I had nothing. The only way I can describe it is that at that point our whole family just seemed to take a big exhale and we grabbed onto it for as long as we could. We realized just how stretched thin we were, just how much we needed to realign and we went for it.

And it was so good.

We’ve been home for a little over two weeks. We’ve been rooting through all the things we forgot we had and enjoying all the extra room of our house (I don’t have to duck when I take a shower! We all fit around the table!) But also? It’s like we’re trying to find our family rhythm all over again.

School started this week and with it comes the rush to gather supplies and find shoes and get dinner on the table before 8:00.

It’s nothing new– it just takes a bit to adjust. And it turns out that it takes every single one of my brain cells to parent my children, even during the hours they’re away from me!

So I promise to keep up with the travel posts until they’re done, but it may take me awhile.

While I’m busy catching up at home, here are five fun things I don’t want to forget about our trip:

{one}

One of the things I miss most? Doing laundry in an hour. Fill all the washing machines, come back and fill all the dryers. And done. Why does it take me so much longer at home?

{two}

If you have a few minutes while you’re driving, here’s a good podcast on suffering and hope with Katharine Wolf (Jamie Ivey keeps me company while I run and do dishes and make dinner. Love the Happy Hour!). We enjoyed Revisionist History, too (Malcolm Gladwell is always interesting) and we’re probably the last people on the planet to start listening to This American Life.

{three}

This is how I ride in the car. Always. I can’t seem to ever reserve space for my feet. Where would I put all my bags?!

{four}

I brought plenty of books to read (and got them almost all finished!) but I also read a few almost-released ones that were amazing. If you haven’t checked out Edie Wadsworth’s All the Pretty Things or Shannan Martin’s Falling Free, I give them both five stars! Edie’s book speaks of growing up in a broken, alcoholic family, with poverty and violence. Her style is amazing and it’s easily the best book I’ve read this year. Falling Free is a book that was written by the sister of a friend, about places that are familiar to me. It’s a journey of a family realizing that we’re meant for more than building a life of dreams. Both books reminded me of the healing work of Jesus and the way He leads us to places we never dreamed.

{five}

We packed pretty light (we even had an empty cupboard!), but even still there were several things we never touched in the camper. There were also lots of things we didn’t necessarily have room for that we brought. Like this ice cream. A friend gifted me with two blessed pints and I allowed myself just a few bites a day and made it last the entire six weeks. Sometimes if Peter was good, I’d share, but it was a sacrifice.

We continue to shake our head at how amazing our summer was. We still shake our heads that we were able to pull this thing off. But we did it and we had a blast! As I process all the ways God was faithful to us, I just get so excited.

#damaskasontheroad: Western Kansas & Colorado 2

I certainly felt that by this point in the trip, we’d be tired of living in a camper, longing for our own beds and a little space to spread out. But it turns out we are camping people! Who knew!? We often laugh at our little baby camper next to the monster motorhomes driven by people my Great-grandpa’s age (If my son cannot ride in the front seat until he’s 14, surely there should be a law against 103 year olds basically driving houses down the road?!)

We’ve had our share of little mishaps, but we’ve powered through each one like the experts we are (not). We backed into a pole and bent our bumper a bit (just a flesh wound). We also sliced our water hose, causing waves of water to gush through the camper (there was a bit of yelling, but we mostly held it together). Once in a while, when our old suburban we’ve lovingly named Grandpa has had enough, he’ll just refuse to turn on. But Peter baby-talks him and sprays some concoction in the keyhole, and eventually Grandpa decides to cooperate. Praying and laughing have gotten us through it all.

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After a day of insane wind (note the leaning bikes) on a two lane highway through nowhere Kansas (we seriously cheered whenever we saw a car or a house), we pulled into a little valley, ready to be out of the car, wondering if we would ever see human life again. We spent the evening climbing rocks and shaking our heads that after hundreds of miles of flat fields, there was this.

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We pulled out the next day and drove to Colorado Springs. Everything changed so rapidly– suddenly there were mountains and red rocks and people everywhere. It was like a big playground and we really loved it.

We climbed Pike’s Peak… on a train. It was only 37* at the top! The lack of oxygen was a little unnerving, but it was nothing a dozen doughnuts couldn’t fix. My headache was mostly caused by an 11 year old boy who didn’t have the fear of heights I believed he should have.

Then we explored the Garden of the gods.

Our kids really got into their groove in Colorado. Traveling and being gone had caused some anxiety, but it completely disappeared on this leg of the trip. It may have been because basically everyone in the state is high. With marijuana being legal, it just seems to float in the air. I’m kidding. Sort of.

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We took a morning to visit Compassion International, and we even got to see Sean who led our trip to Ecuador a few years ago. The statue of Jesus was such a sweet part of their lobby, intentionally made so that kids would crawl into His lap. Somehow it just seemed weird to yell, “Stay off Jesus!” and “Be careful. Don’t fall off of Jesus and get hurt!”, so I held my tongue. We also visited Whit’s End (if your kids are into Adventures in Odyssey, you’ll know what I’m talking about) and drank root beer floats. The kids were disappointed that the elevator to the Imagination Station only took them to the bookstore and not to 500 B.C.

We are so thankful for this time away. Slowly we feel the weight peel away as God leads us. It’s hard to know what exactly to expect from a Sabbatical, especially one filled with busy kids and many miles of driving. But as we travel we feel God’s favor on us so heavily and we do not take it lightly. He has been so good to us and He has been so faithful.

Up next: Peter’s hometown of Buffalo, Wyoming

(For some reason, it seems that my pictures may be loading upside down. I’m so sorry. Please be assured, they were all taken right side up.)

How to Develop Compassion in Your Kids 1

Somewhere in unknown Kansas, we stopped to stock up on groceries and have a quick lunch in the camper. It was while we were eating our sandwiches that Peter saw a man in the parking lot, sitting against a light pole.

We were unloading our groceries almost an hour later when Peter noticed the man was still there in the same spot. Without a word, he disappeared and returned with the man, asking him if he needed some food. The kids and I scurried around, tossing out chips and apples and granola bars. We made him a sandwich and gave him some water.

We listened to his story of riding his bike from Georgia to Wyoming and how he was now headed back south. Along the way, his original bike had fallen to pieces. I noticed he wasn’t wearing shoes.

We don’t always have the eyes to see people for who they are when our lives are too caught up in our own plans. We miss it so easily because we’re being too efficient or we’re too scared. Our minds are occupied with the task at hand and the ten tasks we must scurry to finish. But Jesus used a barefooted man in a Wal-Mart parking lot to teach us that being compassionate is a sweetest of gifts. We just had to slow down enough to see it.

I watched the kids listen to his stories and I was so thankful for a husband who saw a need and responded. I was reminded of what I’ve said before: It has to be in us before it will be in our kids. The best teaching moments come to us when we don’t have a chance to prepare— they’re our everyday acts of obedience.

We, as parents, must take the time to cultivate compassion in our own lives so it will leak into the lives of our kids. Not because there’s an obligation, but because we are called to genuinely care about others.

A few days after we met Paul in the Kansas parking lot, one of my kids took some money and bought something extravagant for the little boy we sponsor in Haiti. I wish I could tell you the whole story, but it isn’t my story to tell. So you just have to take my word for it— our kids may look like they don’t care about others. They may seem like they’re self-absorbed, but as we model Christ’s love, they will develop compassion.
There are countless deep needs all around us. May we, as parents, have the eyes to see them. May we have the wisdom to extend compassion… and may our hearts leak into our kids’, even on the days we feel like we’re losing the battle.

May we have the courage to help others, simply because every person on the planet has value in God’s eyes.

#damaskasontheroad : Kentucky & Kansas 4

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If you’ve been following me on instagram, you’ll know that we’re two weeks into our six-week sabbatical. We’ve had spotty internet for much of it and I’m not going to complain. The break has been lovely.

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Here’s a picture I snapped of our camper one night as the kids were getting ready for bed. The good news is that campers are really small and quick to clean. The bad news is that it takes about 10 seconds to trash it. So this isn’t a perfect picture, and I certainly wasn’t going to turn around and post the other half, but I’m thankful for the imperfectness of it all. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Except maybe sometimes I wish the kids would voluntarily pick up their clothes.

(If you’re interested, we have a 28 foot camper. It has a bunkhouse in the back with 4 bunks. We took one of them out to make space for our clothes and I also made curtains for each bunk so the kids can pull them shut each night and have some privacy. That alone has saved our lives. We also have a full bathroom and kitchen. The bed Peter and I sleep on is a pop-out and we like the great breeze we get every night. I made some cosmetic changes, because I abhor camper decor and I figured if we were living in it all summer we should at least like being in it.)

We spent the first week of our trip sleeping in guest rooms. First, a few days in Kentucky with our close friends on my favorite road. We lit sparklers and perfected the back flip and laughed until the tears ran down our faces.

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Then we drove to Kansas, to spend a few days with my Aunt Cheryl. She spoiled us with amazing food and showed us that Kansas doesn’t deserve the bad rap it gets (it was so beautiful!). She took us to a Salt mine– 650 feet underground– and it was the coolest thing ever. We loved the history and were so impressed with the size (over 150 miles of tunnels!). Road salt. Who knew it could be so interesting!?

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I have a stack of books to plow through and I’ve made a dent in several. Here’s my pile (I’m 100% sure it will take me a year to get through this pile).

And here’s Peter’s (He’s a little more practical).

So far I’d recommend them all, but I’ll try to go into more detail when I finish. There are so many good books in the world. Kate also has a backpack FULL of books that she has been lugging around everywhere, just in case she might need all ten at once. That girl cracks me up… she’s a lot like her mother.

On our way to Aunt Cheryl’s we noticed a particular odor in the camper. We figured it had sat in the hot Kentucky sun for a few days and it just needed a good airing. But as we drove, it got worse. During one stop, after I took the kids to the bathroom, I saw the camper door was open and Peter was throwing things out. When I got closer, the stench made me gag. Apparently, one day he had checked the freezer to make sure it was working and a few things had slipped out when he opened the door. He thought he had picked it all up, but had inadvertently left a package of raw hamburger that had slipped under the couch. And there it sat for the next 3 days, baking, until we found it. You cannot even imagine the stench. I guiltily left it in the rest stop trash can… so if you stop by a Kansas rest stop and notice a particular smell, please accept my deep apologies.

I’m so glad you’re following along. We’ve appreciated all your comments and notes along the way.

Until next time….

Sabbatical {We’re going on a road trip} 4

Everything looks a little different for us this summer. And that’s because we’re going on a great adventure! In just a few days we will begin driving in a great big circle around the country– over 4,000 miles!

Here’s the deal: I don’t often write about the ups and downs of being the Pastor’s family. I keep most of those stories private, because many times the stories aren’t mine to share.

We’ve served at our church for almost twelve years now, and many of those days are good days. We are blessed in too many ways to count and we are deeply grafted into this little town we serve. But the stakes are high and the demands persistent and sometimes that leaves us feeling very empty. The daily weight of ministry is heavy and in order to be effective we must be intentional to step back and find some room to breathe.

There’s a constant struggle to balance the care others need and the care we give our family…. some days we get it right and other days we don’t. We’ve known for a few years now that we needed to take an extended amount of time away from ministry to regroup and renew our hearts, but the timing just hasn’t been right.

Until now.

So in a few days, our family will load up our camper and take to the big open road for six weeks. It will be time for us to reconnect with one another and recalibrate. And we are so excited!

We don’t consider this to be just a regular vacation– it’s a Sabbatical. An intentional rest from life. We are focusing on renewal. This means we have stacks of books to read and several stops along the way built in to talk to others in ministry, to see how God is working in His church across the country. We have our hiking shoes and bicycles packed. We will be carving out time to seek God, strengthening our relationships with Him and with one another. We’re asking Jesus to renew our joy and purposes, to sharpen our gifts in ministry. Plus, we love a good adventure and this trip will have plenty of that!

As we scramble to cross tasks off our gigantic to-do list, it’s easy to wonder if it’s really worth it. But there have been so many gentle reminders from Jesus that this is good and right. Even before we have pulled out, He has been so faithful to encourage our hearts and send us good gifts.

We are asking for your prayers as we embark on this adventure… and we’d love to have you follow along!

Hello Monday! 1

Deep breath…. Welcome to a new week!

For us, it’s our first week of Summer break (finally!). We’ve been watching others celebrate the end of school for what seems like months now, not-so-patiently waiting for our turn to come!

This summer is going to look a bit different for us (more on that later) but something does remain the same: the transition for us all as we go from “school mode” to “summer mode”. By the end of the year, the routine is in place and we long for a break, but when it actually comes, with free time and unending snacks… it can tend to be a little overwhelming for us all.

God is teaching me this truth:

It struck me this week that the Fruit of the Spirit cannot be learned alone, but only in community. If you grew up in the church, chances are you sang a catchy little song to learn the list in Galatians 5: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

We can learn of love ourselves, but developing love comes when we live with others, working through stuff together. The hard work of kindness is with one another, especially when we think they don’t deserve it. And it’s pretty easy to be peaceful alone in an empty room, isn’t it?! One after another, you can see how developing these characteristics in our lives takes work, with those who live with us and around us.

I should probably disclose that as I’ve been writing this, I’m sitting at a picnic table at a campground. Our kids have been running nonstop with friends all day for several days. And it’s all going down right this very moment… they’re exhausted and I feel myself quickly unraveling. It’s amazing how God teaches me even as I type these words. We are a work in progress, that’s for sure.

One of the ways I’m going to be intentional this summer with my kids is to be mindful of the Fruit of the Spirit and the way we’re treating one another. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I spend a lot of time disciplining and settling arguments during my days. It can be wearying and annoying. Too often it isn’t only their fuse that is too short… it’s mine, too. But I don’t want to be a sentimental Christian, I want to live a life full of the gifts that God has handed to me. So we’re going to work hard.

The Message puts it like this:

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard– things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good– crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea our heads or a sentimental our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” (Galatians 5:22-26)

Eliza really likes this version:

Need to memorize the Fruit of the Spirit? Eliza and I listen to this often (I’m a big fan of all of the Rain For Roots songs):

Let’s memorize this verse:

Full Disclosure:

If you think the Pastor’s House is any different from your house, I have a few pictures of how things really go down.

A prayer for your summer:

Jesus, On the days when the temperatures and our tempers are soaring,

When we just don’t know how we can handle one more fight,

When our words come out sharp and our patience runs thin….

Give us grace.

Grace to see the gifts you have given.

Grace to hand out kindness and patience along as we wipe the tears and mend the hearts.

Alone we cannot change, but with your help, we can.

Give us humility when we lose it, remind us of how we can ask forgiveness from you and them.

And when we’ve put them to bed, after the books have been read and the drinks have been given, after we’ve answered yet another question and kissed and hugged them one last time,

Remind us of when we’ve done right instead of when we messed up.
Allow us to see how you’ve been working in our souls and in the souls of the ones who live under our roof.

Thank you for the gifts you have given, as we work them out together, may we see the beauty.

Hello Monday! 1

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Peter and I celebrated our anniversary last week… by going to William’s baseball game. Once upon a time we imagined that every few years we’d return to our honeymoon destination (British Columbia) to celebrate. Womp. Womp. We haven’t been back in sixteen.

Advice to couples: Plan your wedding date with the activities of your unborn children in mind. Because one day they will take over your life and if you get married in May you won’t even have time to take a drive-through McDonald’s date. Instead you’ll be running your unborn children to a practice or you’ll be sitting at a game or helping them with homework or feeding them yet again. But guess what? Even in the midst of all the crazy, you’ll still be thinking of all the good and amazing things about your life.

So instead of a romantic getaway to the Canadian West Coast, we had Pad Thai thrown together so fast that I only tripled the first half of the recipe. Then we invited a few of our favorite drop-in guests for the quickest dinner ever, including fortune cookies (so fancy that a few of us got the exact same fortune) and gelato. We sat through a nail biter of a baseball game for Will and went out for ice cream again at the end. I love my life.

Somehow in sixteen years we’ve gone from this:

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to this:

That is the look of a man who has put up with a lot of my shenanigans. Clearly I am riveting. I’m so glad he loves me.

I’m reading this book.

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I picked up this book a few weeks ago at the library and then I had to buy it because there were so many parts I wanted to underline and remember. It’s a story of Madeleine’s life as her husband, Hugh, dies. She weaves all their memories so beautifully as she faces grief and questions about how to best care for him.

“Our love has been anything but perfect and anything but static. Inevitably there have been times when one of us has outrun the other and has had to wait patiently for the other to catch up. There have been times when we have misunderstood each other, demanded too much of each other, been insensitive to the other’s needs. I do not believe there is any marriage where this does not happen. The growth of love is not a straight line, but a series of hills and valleys. I suspect that in every good marriage there are times when love seems to be over. Sometimes these desert lines are simply the only way to the next oasis, which is far more lush and beautiful after the desert crossing than it could possibly have been without it.” — Madeleine L’Engle, Two-Part Invention

I’m working on this verse.

I’m praying this for my marriage and yours, too.

God, help us love You deeply and fear You greatly.

Teach us how to love each other for Your sake.

May the humility of Christ be seen in the way we treat each other.

Show us how to enjoy each other without neglecting Your mission.

Remind us of the brevity of life so we share Your good news urgently.

Remind us of heaven so we will face rejection and trials joyfully.

When we settle down for too long, prod us to run.

When we are prone to fight, teach us to fight together, and to fight for You.

When we are tempted to run away, bring repentance and renewal.

May we spend our married days reminding each other of Your glory, Your gospel, Your love, Your power, Your mission, and Your promise of what is to come.

Amen.

(Taken from You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity by Francis & Lisa Chan)

Happy Monday, friends. It’s going to be a great week.

Well, hello!
I’m so very glad you’re here. I hope you’ll stick around so we can get to know one another a little more. Go here if you’d like to receive my posts via email. –Sarah

Hello Monday! 0

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It’s Monday and the beginning of a new week!

I have a terrible habit of randomness. But I must share these few unrelated things with you right this moment, or they will forever disappear into the abyss of my brain:

I’m thinking about rules.

Will and Kate made up a simple game last week. They were sitting about six feet apart, rolling a tennis ball between them, trying to get it past the other person. These two are intense and quite competitive, but they play great together, as long as no one tells them. What struck me most about their game was how many rules they had.

“You have to roll it!”
“That one didn’t count!”

“No fair! I wasn’t ready!”

The crazy kids fought about the rules more than they played the game. I was sitting on the couch, watching them, and it was all I could do not to intervene. To me, it seemed like they were just bickering. But to them, I realized working it out was part of their play. It was as important to the game as getting the tennis ball past their sibling.

As much as we hate to admit it, rules are such a big part of our life. We tend to think rules hem us in, restricting our lives. They actually give us a wide open space to explore, they are what make us genuinely human. If we think about it, our limitations force us to be creative in what we have.

My husband explains it like this: Have you ever seen a dog who has worn a track on the very edge of his perimeter? You can see just inside the fence where he has hung out. He doesn’t see the whole yard he has, but just looks with longing of what he doesn’t have.

It’s the same with us, isn’t it? We spend so much time longing for what we wish we had that we often don’t see all that God has given us. There is freedom inside the fence, if we just adjust our perspective.

A good book I just finished.

FullSizeRender 24 — Photo credit: Alexandra Kuykendall

I’m a big fan of Loving My Actual Life by Alexandra Kuykendall, because she took stock of her life and decided to rekindle her love of her ordinary days. So she started a nine month experiment of enjoying her actual life, the one right in front of her. The book reads like a journal, and it’s so real. She pairs the good with the bad, the failures with the achievements. It challenged me to really evaluate my life and the satisfaction I feel everyday. Instead of looking with longing toward the “perfect life” (whatever that is), what if I strove to love the very life I have? Right now, imperfections and all? (Here’s an excerpt if you’d like to read a bit of it)

We did this as a family.

It’s so easy to lose sight of how much of the world lives. We tend to focus on what we lack. When that happens to me, I’m learning to do a hard shift. To recalibrate. We go to Flint to hand out water. I travel to Haiti. This week we took the kids to the Compassion Experience, where we were able to “travel” through the life of two Compassion kids– one from Kenya and one from the Dominican Republic. Our kids got to hear how their lives were before they were sponsored and how Jesus changed them as a result of being part of the program. We often don’t think of the difference food and education can make in a child’s life, but the truth is, it changes everything. We were also reminded of the crucial importance of writing to our child and how children save their letters from their sponsors. I will never forget how surprised I was when we met our sponsored child and he knew everything about our family. He had literally memorized our letters. I was blown away.

Go here to learn more about the Compassion Experience.

Go here to learn how you can sponsor your own child.

If you’ve been around here long, you know I’ve said that we must pay attention to our tears because often it’s the leading of the Holy Spirit. You guys, this stuff brings me to tears every time. The poverty of the world and the joy Jesus brings– I will never get over it. And I’m paying attention.

I’m memorizing this verse.

A prayer for you and me.

Father, We all have those in our lives that we don’t see. We pass them by everyday without a thought. But they are created by You.

Open our eyes to those who cannot speak for themselves.

Never let our hearts become hardened enough that we stop speaking up for justice.

Remind us that our lives need recalibration.

Give us courage to quit our comfortable lives and reach out.

Take our selfishness and give us compassion.

Take our pride and give us kindness.

Bust open our hearts for those who are helpless today… because we want to be like You.

Amen.

Have a lovely week, friends!

Well, hello!
I’m so very glad you’re here. I hope you’ll stick around so we can get to know one another a little more. Go here if you’d like to receive my posts via email. –Sarah

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