MOTY's Unite

My kids woke up last week and asked how many days till Christmas.  I love the sweet excitement and Christmas spirit that beams in their eyes.  That sparkle...that shine...why don't we have that all year long? There are countless stories in the Bible that talk about how bright and full of light the people from heaven are when they come down to talk to people on earth.  Like when Moses sees God and Moses' face shines so bright when he comes back to the village that people couldn't even look at him.  The kingdom of heaven shown bright on his face.  Like glowing liquid gold poured on his skin.  A reflection of the Mighty God. When you're pregnant, people often say that you have the pregnancy 'glow' about you.  Something about carrying a child, not quite released from heaven...not officially 'here' till their birth, bring a glow about you. When you see someone who lives in close communication with God, what do you notice first...their eyes.  How ...

Lately we've been under construction.  On our brand new home.  Six weeks, and counting, if your'e curious. Long story short, we had a bad 'batch' of windows installed that caused countless problems over the winter till this spring they started leaking when the rain arrived.  Puddles.  On our brand new, 4 month old, window sills.  Needless to say, things did not go well when we spoke to the window company. They've redeemed themselves.  They gave us an upgrade from vinyl to fiberglass windows, and their insurance is paying for the work, re-stucco, siding trim work, dry wall fixes, painters (inside and out), window cleaning, etc. I knew it would take longer than the 2 weeks they originally quoted us.  But we are sitting at 6 weeks...and although the end is in sight, its still a good week or two away. My kids are asking when Halloween is because I cannot decorate.  There are no signs of any holiday visible in this mess.  Not with our chan...

Twenty-eight was my age when my four year, live-in relationship ended.  I was left alone, in a state half way across the country from my family, sitting in the corner of his empty closet crying.  Wondering...what does the future hold?  What am I going to do?  I don't have the energy to start over.  What are the chances I'll love again? My cousin recently went through a romantic loss.  Life is full of uncertainties and confusion.  She asked me if I'd write a piece on love.  The wait.  The faith walk.  My story.  So here it goes... After the break-up I immersed myself in work, self-help books and church.  I dug deep.  Who was I?  Apart from my ex-boyfriend...who was I?  Without having to communicate with someone daily, dance emotionally with them daily, focus on their needs daily....who was I? I think it was around 13 self help books that I read.  Or close to.  I journaled my way through each one. ...

My brother, Dave, always says when he's riding in a car (shotgun) and he feels out of control with the driving he tells himself ..."side window, side window" ...as he grasps for some comfort in changing his view from the road to the scenery beside him.  As if completely ignoring reality and focusing on something beyond himself will calm his mind.  The beauty in a hillside.  The snow covered mountains.  The headlights in the lane beside him in the thick of night. Anything, really, to distract him from the discomfort he feels being a situation in which he has no control. How many times do we do this ourselves? Something challenging presents itself and instead of facing it with fear and worry and not a lick of control ...we simply change our view.  Change our focus.  Distract ourselves with something we can observe, something we can do something with, something that will make a difference. I'm afraid to say that I don't do this enough.  I tend to ...