synchroblog

This post is for the May synchroblog, Life Unfurling.  This month bloggers write about what they've learned and gained by letting go of something they once held tightly.  Last fall I went through a process of loss and grace that I wrote about in choosing a sometimes extravagant and ridiculous life, grief and gratitude, and saying goodbye.  Rather than rewriting all of this, I hope referencing these posts will be okay.  I love the synchroblog idea!  As a result of these losses I've experienced how faithful and loving God is.  In my greatest time of need, as in my not-so-great, God cares for and takes care of me, even when I cannot sense it.  Being given a greater understanding of God's care and faithfulness is a richness that cannot be put into words, so I encourage you to let go of something which you may be holding too tightly and see for yourself how high and deep God's love is, from which we are never separated.

Take a gander at the other entries!

John Martinez at Indie Faith – Letting Go of the Holy Me

Beth Patterson at Finding Ground – What is Passed Over is Not Love

Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – Help, I’m Lost and Can’t Find Myself

Ellen Haroutunian – Life Unfurling

Marta Layton – On Burdens, Blessings, Babies and Bathwater

Alan Knox at The Assembling of Church – Where Did I Go?

Crystal Lewis – What Happened When I Let Go

Pam Hogeweide at How God Messed Up My Religion – Letting Go of a Church-Centered Me

K.W. Leslie at the Evening of Kent – Legalism, Anti-Legalism, and Anti-Anti-Legalism

Ryan Harrison at How We Spend Our Days – Scraping the Barnacles

Kathy Escobar at The Carnival in My Head - Letting God Off the Hook

Christine Sine at Godspace – Giving Up For God, What Does it Cost?

Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – What Do You Do When You Are Not Sure

Dan Brennan at Faith Dance – Letting Go for a Greater Good

Elaine Hansen – Recovering Control Freak – Let Go?

Wendy McCaig at View From the Bridge - Embracing the Grey

Chris at The Amplified Life - Seasons of Life

Kerri at Practicing Contemplative - Synchroblog

Jeff Goins - What You Get From Giving: The Paradox of Generosity

Jules Kennedy – Letting Go…Watching the Rope Come Apart

"little" blessings, big impact

Yesterday I left Grandpa's a little early and realized I'd be getting home right when my friend Ben got out of preschool.  As I'm sure you remember, he used to come visit for a bit after preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays until it was time to pick up his brother Sam at grade school.  So I called another friend, who just happens to be Ben's mom, and asked if Ben could come over.  She was signing Ben out, talking to someone, and had just changed purses and couldn't find her phone, so I had to leave a message.  (If mothers couldn't also be multi-taskers, what would this world be like??)  Anyway, Ben called me back and I asked him if he wanted to come over and play.  "Yeah!"  So Ben came over and caught me up on Legos and his mom and I caught up in general when we could fit words in edgewise.  Ben got on the Legos website, Mom left to get Sam, and Ben and I printed some pictures of Legos characters.  I had the brilliant idea of putting them in sheet protectors so they'd stay nice.  (Look for my "Nerds Having Fun" calendar coming out later this year - instead of pics, there will be fun tips like, "Make a list!"  "Make another list!"  "List your lists!", etc., and the month pages will be blank so you can draw your own lines and write in the numbers yourself - fun!)  Thought I'd commemorate the visit with camera phone pics - I'd like to say the quality of the pics is due to Ben moving, a rare Kansas earthquake, or your caffeine buzz (vs. mine), but you're probably smarter than that.  And can't you just hear Sam in that last one thinking, "Are you going to start pulling that thing out every time you see me?"  At least I don't pinch your cheeks, buddy.

 

Last week when I sat for Bella, I ate the family's entire box of Peppridge Farm assorted cookies - hey, the box was already open, one or two cookies were gone, and Christmas was over - what did they expect?  Today, our favorite hospice worker came to see Grandpa and brought me a belated Christmas gift - hot chocolate and...cookies!  I whooped in happiness and when Grandpa heard her coming down the stairs, he started clapping.  Y. always brings joy into our lives.  Then Grandpa asked her when she was going to hurry up and bring the batteries for the remote-control helicopter she gave him 2 weeks ago.  Taskmaster.

random act of kindness

Made my daily pop run to McD's today.  When I paid, the cashier looked at the quarter for a few seconds before getting my change.  I realized, oh no, that's the quarter with the national park on the back that I was going to give to Grandpa!  I only discovered the other day that they started doing nat'l park quarters this year.  Grandpa avidly collected the 50 state quarters, so I think he'll like this.  The guy handed me my change on top of the receipt, and I crumpled it all into a ball and tried to hand the guy a dollar and said, "I just gave you a quarter with a picture on it - I've been saving it to give someone.  Can I-"  He smiled and said, "Yeah, I know - I gave it back."  And he had - in addition to the change!

a must-see/read

Thanks to my brother for sharing this with me.  This man changed my life when he assured me and sang to me (on TV), "You'll never go down the drain."

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/commentaries/2010/mynewhero.html?start=1

http://www.pittsburghinwords.org/tom_junod.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upm9LnuCBUM