Freedom in commonality

So recently, I joined a mission community through the church I attend. It was a great decision. As I get to know these people and dig deeper into what makes them tick, I find the list of things in common growing. Clearly what brought us all together is the love of Jesus and common belief in Christianity. It is more than that though as you see the journey each of us have taken to reach that point. Truly intriguing. I amaze myself at how at ease I am naturally with these people and how encouraged I am in just sitting and having a cup of coffee. And I think the reason for it is this; freedom of commonality. When you find a group of people whether through religion or work or history or whoever your people are, you may begin to feel that same feeling of comfort. It's a safe zone. A place where you know truly being yourself won't be left alone, bruised and battered. It's a vulnerable place to be. I think many can feel uncomfortable in such a place because of the said vulnerability. If any of you are like me, sometimes words are hard to verbalize and when you do it ends up being this giant fluster cluck. And add being vulnerable on top of that?? Seems real comfortable right?? Not so much. My point is this. In those people we find common ground, we also find trust. In finding a spouse, it's the highest form of common trust. Mutual agreement and respect. Our biggest hurdle then is learning to let that vulnerability be the reason for trust. Trusting a group of people with your insecurities and shortcomings. If we can teach our younger society to find common ground and learn freedom in that, don't you think that maybe, just maybe fewer kids would feel the need for seclusion? It's those who feel no common ground that take the dark journey to suicide or shootings or crime. It is those who feel as if no one understands that begin to think of their situation irrationally. As Christians, we often isolate ourselves because we feel guilty or that no one struggles with the same sins as we do. Even if you aren't a Christian, isolation for struggles surround us all every day. Remember the vulnerability? Because of that, I believe we use isolation as a crutch because it's easier to be alone with our thoughts than to try and verbalize(with difficulty) our struggles. For Christmas, a couple in my missionional community (MC) gave us all a New Testament translation called The Voice. The book of James is one of my favorite books in the New Testament so naturally, I decide to read through that. Oh my. Check this out. "God the Father is the giver of all things and is looking for every opportunity to bless us. But many people have difficulty trusting and receiving good things, even when those things come from God. The problem is that we not only have trouble trusting God's work in our lives, but as also don't always respond to God's voice. People often hear the Scriptures but don't really listen. People store truths in their brains but never put them to use. For James, the only good religion is religion lived out every day." 😳💥 Did anyone else stand up and cheer?? How spot on was that!! I am not good with verbage like that! I read the above passage after completely half this blog and I just chuckled. God is around us, my friends. Take a minute to close your eyes, take a deep breath and listen. 

Taking the time

So as we get close to the holidays, family starts coming into town, all the finishing details of presents and baking are in full swing and we all seem a little stressed. So as we get stressed and busy, we sometimes just don't have time for the details of our life that are most important. I was reminded of this just a little bit ago after putting Z(the 4yr old I nanny for) to bed. My brother, Isaac, whom I haven't seen in quite some time, came into town yesterday afternoon. Naturally, we somehow stayed up til 2 in the morning talking and catching up last night. Which then led to numerous prayers of patience and energy for work today. So as today progressed I noticed more down time and cuddles with all three kids since I don't have the energy to be running around playing hockey or tag. It has been so nice. Z is always the last to lie down for his nap so I crawled into bed with him for a few minutes. I asked him about his show and tell at preschool and how his morning went. As it turns out he had got in a little trouble for not listening and told me he hurt his own feelings. It was darling but also made me realize if I hadn't been tired and taken those couple moments to rest and talk to him, he probably wouldn't have recalled the days happenings and I would have missed an opportunity to encourage him. Parents and other nannies can sympathize with precious moments like that. As I walked down the stairs, I wondered how many times I have missed moments because I didn't taken the time to really talk to Z. I have done that with my niece Lydia as well in the past. She always takes a little encouraging to open up. Kids in that 4-7 range are so tough because they are finally independent and able to do most everything on their own. However, we can get so caught up in their independence, we forget to give them the extra time and love they need. Kids are such amazing tiny humans and I take them for granted way more than I should. So take some extra time this year for a one on one moment with the tiny humans in your life. They are worth it. You might be surprised what you ll find out. 

Thankfulness

 So we have reached that time of year again. November. The red holiday cups have popped up in all the coffee shops. Pumpkin has been replaced with peppermint and everyone is thrilled for the extra hour of sleep. Cue the variety of scarves and boots along with the cardigans and wool socks. Needless to say really, I love fall. It is my very favorite time of year. The cool, crisp air and vibrant change of colors in the trees make me so happy inside. I can feel the change happening and it's almost as if anything is possible. I could write an entire blog just on fall. It's fabulous. 

Along with all things holidays, come the days of being thankful on Facebook. And don't get me wrong, I am all about taking time to reflect on the abundance of blessings we ve been given. However, I would like to challenge you. What if you could only be grateful for one thing? What if we were limited? My family has the tradition of going around the table after the meal on Thanksgiving and saying something they are grateful for. It's painful. I love the tradition but even though I think about it all day, I always panic when it's my turn and mumble something about loving my family. To which I am very very grateful for! Always. But there is more. I will always been grateful for the love of my family and their support. I think the glory in the tradition is what are you grateful for this year. Why not focus on the previous 365 days and really dig deep? Was it a hard year? A fantastic one? Did someone die? Was there a birth? A wedding? What about the defining moment on your worst day that year where you knew you were going to make it to the next sunrise? This year, I challenge you to find the one thing in the past months that made this year what it was. And next year, there will be another. God has blessed us all with beautiful people whom we love and care for, but He s also given us the choice to rise every morning and praise Him. So let's find those moments and give thanks for them. Because it is those moments that continue to keep us humbled and deserving of His grace.   

P.S. This year, I am grateful for the opportunity to redefine myself as not a Lutheran but as a Christian. (For more explanation, see link of a previous blog post.) 

http://heartofatravler.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-long-hard-look.html

Chasing the Sun

So I have been trying to decide for the past week if I wanted to write about this or not. It's a hard topic, however in light of many current issues across the world and locally, I decided to give it a try. A childhood friend of mine died last weekend in an awful car crash. It was very sad. I missed his funeral by a day since I couldn't get off work. Joe and I were never very close but he was always with my brothers causing trouble around the neighborhood. As I have grew up, I realized death is all a part of living. It goes hand in hand. My father performed part of Joe's funeral last Wednesday. It just happened to be dad's birthday. The irony speaks for itself. Where there is life, there is death. Every single day. 

Sara Bareilles is one of my favorite musicians. I refer to her lyrics often because they often explain emotions that are tough to verbalize. Her most recent album has a song called "Chasing The Sun." Below I posted the lyrics. I encourage you to take time to read them and even listen to the actual song. About halfway through she sings the following, "There's a history through her

Sent to us as a gift from the future, to show us the proof

More than that, it's to dare us to move

And to open our eyes and to learn from the sky

From a cemetery in the center of Queens"

The part that really got me was "it's to dare us to move." Deaths that are sudden like Joe's or the shootings in Kenya or the ones in Washington, they remind us just how fragile life is. Death shows us life stops for nothing. Sometimes we even get angry that life continues on as if nothing happened. If life stopped for us when tragedy happens, we d never get going again. It doesn't make it any easier. By no means, no. It does allow us to move towards healing. Everyone always told me "time heals everything." It bothered me a lot to hear that phrase. A decade later, I would like to correct it to say, "Time dulls the pain." And with that, we ve got to keep moving. Not forgetting, just encouraging each other to press on.  I encourage everyone to know the air we breathe is a constant reminder to keep chasing the sun! 

Philippians 3:14 

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

                                          Cheers! 

 

   Chasing the Sun by Sara Bareilles 

It's a really old city

Stuck between the dead and the living

So I thought to myself, sitting on a graveyard shelf

As the echo of heartbeats, from the ground below my feet

Filled a cemetery in the center of Queens

I started running the maze of

The names and the dates, some older than others

The skyscrapers, little tombstone brothers

With Manhattan behind her, three million stunning reminders

Built a cemetery in the center of Queens

You said, remember that life is

Not meant to be wasted

We can always be chasing the sun!

So fill up your lungs and just run

But always be chasing the sun!

So how do you do it,

With just words and just music, capture the feeling

That my earth is somebody's ceiling,

Can I deliver in sound, the weight of the ground

Of a cemetery in the center of Queens

There's a history through her

Sent to us as a gift from the future, to show us the proof

More than that, it's to dare us to move

And to open our eyes and to learn from the sky

From a cemetery in the center of Queens

You said, remember that life is

Not meant to be wasted

We can always be chasing the sun!

So fill up your lungs and just run

But always be chasing the sun!

All we can do is try

And live like we're still alive

It's a really old city

Stuck between the dead and the living

So I thought to myself, sitting on a graveyard shelf

And the gift of my heartbeat sounds like a symphony

Played by a cemetery in the center of Queens

You said, remember that life is

Not meant to be wasted

We can always be chasing the sun!

So fill up your lungs and just run

But always be chasing the sun!

All we can do is try

And live like we're still alive

   Lyrics from azlyrics.com

Dating

I am so excited about this new blog, I am going into overdrive on what to write about first!! Coffee? Wine? Scarves? New restaurants? Friends? Dating? Omaha? Jobs? Babies? The list goes on!

Well, lets start with one of the new occurrences in my life. Dating. This concept is still quite foreign to me. It is not at all what I know or grew up around. People were boyfriend and girlfriend. You hung out a couple times and then it was "official." And if it ended up on Facebook, then you might as well start a board on Pinterest and begin planning your wedding. I look at my family and four of them married their high school sweetheart, 3 married their college sweetheart and the others are either dating seriously or recently engaged. My mother always insisted that I "never date anyone you wouldn't marry." As a teenager and high schooler, this made sense because so many couples I knew then, ended up married. As I got a little bit older, I felt the extreme pressure that type of mindset put on me. I have been blessed with wonderful male role models in my father and brothers. This led to high standards. Literally. I don't date short men. Its like an unspoken rule. Until of course, I inform them I have a 6 ft rule about dating guys. Hahaha! What can I say? Its a great ice breaker. My point is that I ended up waiting a while. I didn't really date in high school or even when I was in Portland, OR for nanny school. It wasn't until the first 9 months of my job in Colorado that I met my first official boyfriend. He was a great first boyfriend. I had so much fun with him and we learned a good deal from each other. After I moved, we tried long distance twice before calling it official quits. After breaking the boyfriend seal, I guess I was officially inducted into the dating world. Since then, I have found myself on numerous coffee dates, drinks at local bars or dinners. I keep feeling it is a big deal and dating should be this complicated process full of questions and suspense. However, what I have found is how simple it is. I love meeting new people. Talking and hearing where other people come from, their stories, experiences and opinions intrigue me. It is as if each person is writing their own book of life and I love being a part of someone's chapter. And I love remembering the impact they have had in mine.

Dating seems to be a touchy subject for many. Somewhere in our lives, we were told that if it doesn't work out on a date, it means there is something wrong with us and it is considered rejection. SO not the case. In meeting people over my life, I have found interactions are these weird combinations of not being personal to being one of the most intimate experiences humans go through. If you go out on a date and it doesn't work out with that person, it isn't personal. It means that one side or the other wasn't feeling it. And that is perfectly okay. It is actually a good thing, in my opinion. There have been a few dates that by the end of the night, I found myself looking forward to the second date already. Sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't. If it didn't, sure I was bummed, but it only meant there was someone even better out there, not that I was this socially inept ogre. Or even better, I ended up with one more great guy friend. I truly cherish my male relationships. They are unique and special in their own way.

I guess what I am discovering is that the concept of dating isn't nearly as scary or sketchy as our society can make it out to be. I felt at first as if it was wrong or weird that I had been out on numerous dates with a few different guys. Then I realized, how else is this suppose to work? We aren't in school, or in the work place or in any other setting to get to know each other day in and day out, other than dating. Think back to all the people you may have dated in high school or college. You didn't just walk up to them and ask to hang out. You had the same classes or homeroom. Were both in the same after school club or met through your roomates' girlfriend or boyfriend. Out here in the world away from school and work, this is how you get to know people. As a nanny, I am absolutely in love with my little co workers, I just can't date them. :) You get my point. So for anyone who is a lonely soul out there wanting to date but are afraid to give it a try, I encourage you to go for it. Just remember that if it doesn't work out, it doesn't mean anything is wrong with you. It only means they like salmon and not tilapia. And if you really look at the other person, you will see you would rather have another type as well. So brave up, my friends! Life is too short to spend it alone.
  Cheers!

A Whole New World

So over the past few months of being in Omaha, I have been mulling over the idea of a new blog. There are times and places for everything and I feel as if my other blog is more my outlet for the ins and outs of life. I need a place I can talk about all the little parts of life I love and not have it tarnished by times I need to write out a bad day. So here it is. Like all other cliches in my life, I figured going with a small tribute to Julie Andrews, I would title my new blog- These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things. Over the past few years, my eyes have been opened to a whole new culture of good food, new coffees, wines and experiences that are just too good to not share in its own forum. So heres to a whole new world of experiences as I journey through adulthood. Cheers!