Friday, May 5, 2017

Love, Handstands, Groceries...

I recently came across this picture, which I had used as a header during my early days of blogging. It was a fun find this week, bringing back memories of all sorts.



It's Friday, and the weather is oddly turning cold, windy, and bleak. Rain is in the forecast, and I'm anticipating a cozy weekend. Even more odd is the fact that all three of my boys have bye weeks, so there are no games filling up our Friday night. Playoffs will begin next week, but we will be wrapping up the season fairly soon since they are single elimination games. The boys will miss it, but to me it's yet another indication that summer is on it's way and I couldn't be happier about that.

Jon should be coming home tonight, too. That's another reason I'm glad for a cozy Friday. He's been out of town all week, flew in last night, arrived home just in time to say hello/goodnight to the kids before they fell asleep, then he was on an early train for L.A. this morning. He may be super late tonight and he has an early morning meeting tomorrow, but I'm really looking forward to catching up. I'm hoping he's got a little energy and mental space left for me. Hmm. Sometimes the tables turn. Realizing he will probably arrive tired and distracted tonight makes me think of all the times I came to the end of my day completely depleted from months of sleep deprivation, nursing babies, caring for sick children, etc... and wishing to muster up some physical and mental energy for my husband. There were many days I felt like a failure, not able to put my husband first. These are exercises in perseverance, commitment, compassion, and understanding.

It's never too late to be a better spouse. This is a comment unrelated to Jon, but at the same time all about him. I want to spend the rest of my days becoming a better wife to my husband. There will not be a point of arrival, but there is the hope that I can change and grow and love more fiercely. That's a happy thought.

I've given myself 20 minutes to sit down here and type. Not sure there's really a point to it all, except that I've got these random thoughts all coming out. It's grocery day. No, it was grocery day several days ago, but I don't love doing groceries so I put it off. I have a gift, though, and it's not making yummy food, but making meals out of a seemingly empty fridge. Yesterday I had some frozen chicken, a few random veggies and some mushrooms; I decided to make a pot of chicken and rice soup. I like soup because there's only one pot to clean, and because I can make enough to give us left overs for lunch the next day. But yesterday I decided to use some wild rice instead of brown rice. I threw that wild stuff in the pot only to discover it turned the broth to a thick, unappealing purple-brown. Yep, sometimes I serve my family food and all I can say is, "I'm sorry." Tonight, some of my kids will have a friend or two over, so I will try not to embarrass them with my culinary skills.

I've been having a little rush of energy recently. It's probably a normal amount of energy, but for me it  just seems so wonderful. I've always said that if I have the smallest inkling to do something that requires more energy output, I'm best not to overthink and go with it. So I told my kids they could invite a bunch of friends tonight, even suggested a big group so we could play a big game of capture the flag in the dark at the school nearby. Sometimes, though, my kids are more like me than not, and I shouldn't be surprised by it. My big kids want a mellow evening to finish up homework and enjoy some quiet/down time. So that's cool. I can appreciate that. I'll spend my energy in other ways. Like, doing handstands or something. I've been jump roping and doing handstands this week, and it's making me feel younger and more hopeful about aging. Jon hasn't been home and my energy hits late at night, so I have been doing handstands at midnight. I'm not kidding, I'm that weird sometimes.

The kids and I have been talking about biblical love this week. Mostly it's just me talking, even though I would like to draw out their thoughts and opinions more effectively. I pray about that often-- about being able to understand and know them individually, and about creating an environment within our relationship where they feel safe to express and expose themselves. I want to love them that way, without judgment and with full acceptance.

This week we've only covered the fact that GOD IS LOVE. He is perfect love, our ultimate example. The first two words from 1 Corinthians 13 that further describe love are PATIENT and KIND. That gave us plenty to mull over and talk about. Sometimes having a few key words are so helpful to me, because then I can see the same theme woven through the pages of scriptures and in the moments of my days. It's so much easier to remember two words, patient and kind, when situations come and I want to act differently. A couple of the related verses that were helpful in our discussions were:

Rom. 2:4 "...God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance"

Ps. 103  "The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger {patient} and abounding in steadfast love....
  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him"

Good and clear, so helpful, so very wonderful.

>:<

My groceries are done now, there's a loud game going on in the backyard with Jacob, Andrew and their friend involving pool noodles and hiding and tree climbing. Dinner is in the making. Olivia has now completed her Algebra II final exam and finished with flying colors her math for the year. Michael is working on Sketchup and soaking up some quiet in the sunroom.

In other news, the huge pile of bags filled with clothes to be donated that were outside our garage doors for pickup were stolen. Also, we are having a problem with birds flying into our windows in the morning and I've got some greasy outlines of birds in flight to clean off my windows.

Happy weekend, folks!


~Katherine



2 comments:

  1. I like these 'random' posts. It's fun to hear what's on your mind.
    Yay for energy and for husbands returning home!

    I was just reading in 1 Cor. this week as well. I was even thinking about doing something creative with that very verse to put up in our home. (not sure what though) Such a beautiful reminder of how we need to exhibit love. One thing the Lord pressed on my heart about it - is that I can be/not be those things regardless of whether or not the one I show it to "deserves" it. Certainly Christ showed it to me when I was unlovely!

    Congratulations to Olivia for completely Algebra II. (NOT my favorite subject!)

    Blessings and happy almost weekend.
    Carol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you come up with an idea for the verse yet? I'm always looking for ideas... : )

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