Thank you for the Gift of Love

I woke up this morning thinking about our family small group our family has been part of for three years. This week we are going to be talking about LOVE. We are using a series called Visionary Parenting as the basis. As I prepared the discussion questions the theme of LOVE really came out loud and clear. LOVE really does make all things possible. As Dr. Viola Vaughn so beautifully illustrated, "God's music is playing all the time in the world...and God's music is LOVE" .

So, in life, we have to be open to hearing the music of LOVE. If we choose to be resentful, unforgiving, entitled, boastful, selfish we do not hear the music. For instance, in our homes, with our spouses....we can choose to LOVE them unconditionally and HEAR the music. If we choose to open our hearts, to trust, to put the needs of our spouse above our own, to protect the vows we spoke...then we are rewarded with HEARIING God's music of LOVE.

I thought about the prayer I will start with Friday night before we all sit down to discuss love. Here it is:

"Dear God, Giver of all good gifts, thank you tonight for the gift of Love."

Then I remembered a prayer my Dad said at my wedding.

"Dear God, Giver of all good gifts, thank you tonight for the gift of Laura and Mike's love."

If there is one thing my father has done very well is his teaching of God's Word to me. His prayers throughout my life have gotten me where I am today. I am so thankful. Little did I know it then, but that prayer set the stage for my marriage...I believe that.

God has been by our side along. He waits, he is patient, and his music has been playing. Today, my next step in this thing called Unconditional Love is to open my heart wide open and HEAR God's song of LOVE. It is been here all along...playing softly in the background. It is time the music plays loudly. He has the power to make a good marriage a great one. I realize now it will never be perfect; but it can be amazing...with God's help. And it starts with unconditional love. It starts with putting God First. We need him, to guide us, protect us and lead us. We are human and we can not love like him....and so if we really do want to love unconditionally then we need him to help us.

Dear God, thank you for the gift of your love. Thank you for bringing Mike into my life so that we can hear your music together. Thank you for giving me my soul mate to love and to cherish till death parts us. Amen

Lois Legacy Lane

This journey I am on took me down yet another road today....Lois Legacy Lane. What I found on this road was a blessing and an idea. The night my mom passed away, the last thing I did after I
kissed her cheek and let go of her hand was pick up her 'worn in' bible sitting by her bedside. At that moment, that bible was passed on. I had no idea for special that moment was.

During the past four months I have spent a lot of time going through her bible. I am reading God's word...in a whole new way....through my mom's eyes. As I turn the pages I find verses that touched her....she marked them. I find verses she underlined during times in her life she found comfort in her bible....she marked them. At the end of her bible is a long list of verses, when they were read throughout her life, who they were read by and why....she marked them. She left her mark. Her legacy is written down...through the pages of her bible. Her faith journey comes alive every time I open the pages of her bible. What a gift she gave me.....if only she knew.

I have decided to start a Laura Legacy. I am writing in my bible. I am diving right in, journaling my own faith journey. Some day, my children will open my bible and see what verses touched me, connected me, impacted me. They will see how WHY I lived and acted out my faith. They will be reminded of the verses that were important in their lives.....because they will see my writing next to them.

So....then I had an idea. What if we could find a way to blend together Adult Faith Formation and Child Faith Formation by providing an equipping ministry for children and parents to start their own legacy? Would this be a way to make the bible relevant and meaningful and build relationships in a family..all at the same time? At my church, Our Saviours, I have been taking a journaling class from our head pastor's wife. She has taught me so much about 'telling my story'. Her gift of words is just amazing. This past Sunday my daughter Katie and I attended a Early First Communion Class with Pastor Janelle. I can honestly say, the way she brought the verses of the bible alive for Katie, AND for me.....was just amazing. God is at work in amazing ways over at Our Saviours.

So, I move on from Lois Legacy Lane to Laura Legacy Lane...and tell my story....and I am going to say a prayer or two that others will tell their story and leave the most important legacy ever....a faith filled life.

I Will....with God's help.

A good friend, whose parenting is one I admire and aspire to, told me how she takes her 5th grade  son out to lunch on Fridays.  My reaction was "You can do that?" So much of the time I feel like my kids are part of a 'system' I have no control over.  Lisa answered a resounding, "You are the parent, the child is yours...you make the decision".  What wise words those were!  

SO, I decided to follow her lead.  I told my daughter, Katie, to call me when she got to school this morning and tell me what time her lunch period is.  I knew asking her to do this was a tall order.  She is literally scared to death of the telephone and in front of her classmates....that's even worse.  She answered that she would just eat at school.  At that moment, I had a choice to make.  I could say, "Okay, your choice" and walk out of the room.  I could also take this opportunity to  make this moment a 'teachable' moment.  As a teacher, we always had to think of what the 'currency' or 'kid buy in' would be in order to plan effective behavior management.  I always had a problem with this concept...mainly because I have always the 'currency' is our heart....but another story in itself.  

I decided to use it as a teachable moment.  If you know my daughter you will know that what she treasures most ( her currency)  is her bible, and this little cross she carries with her...always.  I have to be honest, and humble, when I say sometimes her honest sense of God in her life worries me.  When will her faith test her and will she be strong enough to stand by her beliefs?

I told Katie, "You know that little cross that you love so much?  Do you think that if you hold on to that and ask Mr. O if you can call home...would that help you?"  I really did not know what her answer would be.  She looked up, smiled at me and said, "Yes!".  This little 8 year old --that would rather miss lunch with her mom or a play date to avoid a dreaded use of the phone....just answered, "Sure, I can do that...with God's help".

At that moment....I was taught a lesson.  What would my life be like if I said "Yes!...with God's help".  What could I accomplish?  Who could I help?  What difference in this world would I have the strength to conquer?  I was also reminded that when this little girl of mine was baptised I stood before Pastor Jack and answered his question of "Will you we raise this little child entrusted to you  to know God, to love God and to serve God?"   I answered,"I will...with God's help".  This morning in her room.....I followed through with that promise....with God's help.  

 

I Will....with God's help....down  'Love Ave.'  

Journey down Love Ave. #1

I woke up again with a mind full of 'aha's.  This Love Ave. I am going down is taking me to a place called Unconditional Love Alley.  Down this 'alley'  I find that people love each other just because they can.  I keep being reminded of a word I learned from Desmond Tutu- Ubuntu.  In its essense is "I am because We are".  It speaks to being connected...each and everyone of us. What alarmed me is that if "I" really "Am" than life just got more interesting.  You see, in the rat race, crazy world we all live in it is so easy to not be connected. We can say 'we are', because we wake up next to someone, get our kids off to school, talk to people at the grocery store, on the phone, at a restaurant.  But are we always listening?  Are we always connecting?  Are we sometimes just moving through the motions without paying attention to being connected?  I wonder.

I friend recently told me that "How do we teach paradise to our children when they are already living in it?".  Those words have stirred a pot for me.  How is it that we are called to love others as ourselves;  love our neighbor so to speak.  How is it that we know this guy named Jesus unconditionally  loved, and therefore healed, so many.  He loved those that had different color skin, different beliefs, diseases we can only imagine...truly only imagine.  He lived at a time and place that would not always be described as paradise.  

Flash forward to today....my children wake up in a warm bed, two parents that love them, a hot breakfast, a kiss and hug and a blessing as they go off into the world each day.  How do I teach them about this heaven place?  Why would they want to set their treasure on that place?  This place is pretty darn good.  When they become adults, that little bubble breaks....and the reality here on earth will hit them in the face if they are not prepared.  I want them prepared and equipped for that time....but how do I do it?  Any ideas?  I do not know, but I am sure it begins with Love.  How do I teach my children to love others- those considered untouchables- those living in places we could only describe as pure hell (amazingly these same people might describe their situation as filled with joy--and that is another blog post for sure)? 

As I ask these questions I am reminded of an action of my oldest just this week.  Katie took the noun LOVE and made it an action word so beautifully and humbly.  Her little brother was sick, sleeping on the couch.  She came in, with her little glass pocket cross she so excitedly bought with her own money last week and placed it on Ben's chest...and then sat on the floor next to him.  It was something to witness...and all from an eight year old.  She is a light in my life.  I am blessed to be her mom for sure. 

I wonder if those AIG exec and the bankers and all of us put Love-ubuntu- God first, at our center, and then wealth down a notch.  Would we be where we are today?  

Off to run.....and I am heading down to the fork in the road in which I need to decide if I am going to LOVE because it feels warm and fuzzy and easy or because it is unconditional...taking and accepting everyone where they are on their own journey...and just love.  Can you guess which road I am going to take?  Maybe my next entry will explain a little more what happened down Unconditional Love Alley.  Peace, Joy and Love!  Lulu

Parking Spaces

I woke up this morning to an analogy about life...but that it got interrupted by an eight year old and a four year old.  Two of my kids came into my room this morning and wanted to cuddle.  As much as I hate to 'wake up' this is by the far the best way to do it.  As I laid in bed with Ben, Katie, Mike and our cat I realized a few things...okay many things.  First, I am loved.  I am loved by these people I am lucky enough to call my family.  I then realized they love because I first loved them....and God first loved me.  I realized I a have been given the ability to love others in ways I do not even comprehend.  Then the analogy hit me like a ton of bricks.

On this road we call life we are given many choices.  A choice to drive in traffic, hitting the accelerator then hitting the brakes.  A choice to drive the in the fast lane or the slow lane.  A choice to take the scenic route or the back roads.  We are given the choice to stop and pull over in our own parking space, made only for us.  I am not sure what this all really means in my life right at the moment, but I can promise that I am ready for the journey.  So today, my journey begins.  I do not know where I am going, by which road I will take, but I do know that in the end, I will choose the parking space made just for me.

Now, back to this love thing.  I do not have all the answers, in fact, I have very few.  I do know my strengths and my weaknesses.  I know God gave them to me and asks that I use them for him.  So, with the ability to love only he can give me, I promise today to be an Ambassador of Love.  I promise to love when it seems like the hardest thing to do in the world.  I promise to accept life as it comes, learn from it and Love.  Love with unfailing intensity, love without being taken advantage of.  I promise to Love in all that I do.  For in the end, Love is all we have.

So here starts the journey.....I am on the road headed down a street called LOVE Ave.

Losing Mom...

There are a million topics I could start this blog off with but what is fresh in my mind right now is My Mom.  My mom passed away, at 85, on Janurary 10, 2009.  Her life was full, she touched so many, and saw the world.  I, for so long, would pray that she be treated with dignity and respect and die with grace.  In the end, my prayers were answered.  Thanks to Hospice, the world of 'fixing' what is wrong with us took a different direction; help on our journey to heaven.  

I will have to write more later.  My four year old is trying to clean up moon sand from all over the floor and is having trouble- can not imagine why.