Moving!
Mood:  celebratory
At long last, I've finally set myself up a MySpace page and I'm moving my blog entries to that profile.  Come visit me at http://www.myspace.com/sandyp99.

Merry Christmas?
Mood:  don't ask

Ya know, it's hard to be a Christian who's just not all that jazzed about Christmas.  I think it's all the stuff that surrounds teh day rather than the day itself.  Putting the funk in family dysfunction.

Is it New Year's yet?

Easy Peasy

No one really expects parenting to be easy, do they?  But I honestly don't think that anyone really anticipates how difficult it can be at times. 

No one tells you about the guilt you feel every time you fall short of June Cleaver-esqueness.  No one tells you about the worry that you've somehow damaged someone's psyche and will be a future episode of Oprah, or, God forbid, Dr. Phil. 

No one tells you about the problems with no quick fixes.  About how to shape a sweet innocent soul into a resilient human being without destroying that innocence forever. 

No one tells you about the hurts that can't be fixed with a bandaid and a popsicle.  About the hurts that keep you up all night because your child can't explain what's wrong. 

About how much you'll pray for guidance when all the books you read and the "helpful" advice you get doesn't work. 

About learning that they call them "pigeon holes" because people don't fit into them. 

It's harder than it looks, folks.  Wonderful, but not easy peasy.

Keeping Up Appearances

This is sad commentary on our culture:  http://kevinmccullough.townhall.com/g/179034f4-6f14-4ef1-bad3-8e1befd6b108

Have we really become this vain as a culture?  Are we really more worried about wrinkles than a possibly malignant mole?  Is our appearance really more important than our health?

The Bible tells not to be so absorbed with appearances and to concentrate on the condition of our hearts, minds and souls.  They don't have botox for our souls.  Maybe more people would be interested in their souls if you could maintain it by a trip to Dr. 90210.

 

Eventfulness

There are times that stuff just seems to happen out of the woodwork.  One thing after another.  It's overwhelming really.  Times when you just want to crawl in a hole and not have any communication with any other carbon based life forms for fear that they're going to tell you something you'd rather not know. 

That time was last week for me.  It just seemed like one bit of bad news followed another until I was underneath an avalache of weirdness.  I could tell you that I handled it like the great woman of faith and power that I am... or I could tell you the truth.  I sucked. 

Lucky for me, God is faithful even when I suck.  I know that I made it through last week because of His grace and His mercy.  It's the only reason I got through it all without being postal or just sitting in a corner crying.  (Yep, it was that bad.)

When the Bible tells us that God's mercies are new every morning, it's not kidding.  I could feel those new mercies.  They were what got me out of bed.  They were what helped me to function through the day.  They were what gave me hope that everything, as bad as it seemed at the time, was going to work out somehow.  I didn't have to know how.  I just knew that God was in the plan and that He had it under control. 

It's hard for me sometimes to not be in control.  Last week, I was unbelievably thankful that God was in charge. 

Peace and blessings to us all in Christ's name.

Ugly Is as Ugly Does

It's easy to call it
an "Ugly Truth".
Much easier than admitting
that I have an ugly heart.

It's easier to call it
a "test of faith"
than to admit
that I failed.

It's easier to say that
she's difficult
than to admit that
I'm not loving or patient enough.

It's easier to say that
I'm waiting for direction
than to walk in the direction God's ordained,
but
that I don't want to go.

(c) 2007 Sandra Perry

All the news that's fit to print...

In an age of 24-hour news channels, what is news anymore?  With continuing coverage 24/7, we get a whole lot more information than we do news.

News is important events that shape people's lives.  Anna Nicole's babydaddy is not news.  Britney Spear's revolving door of rehab is not news.  This is stuff I don't need or want to know.  Why do the personal lives of celebrities mean anything to me? 

I'm also smart enough to read a news report and make my own conclusions.  I don't need a political pundit to explain to me how I should feel about it or to rehash in double the words and half the meaning what a speech means.  Don't insult my intelligence. 

News used to be unbiased information.  Not any more.  There's a slant no matter what channel you watch.  Conservative... Liberal... Weirdo... they're all out there if you have a fresh battery in your remote.   Just find your flavor and sit back. 

I don't know...

I don't know what's sadder:  the fact that I don't trust her or the fact that it's probably best that I don't.

When they say the truth hurts, they're not kidding.  But still, it's the only substance on earth strong enough to build your life on.

It's funny what God uses to get our attention.  To draw us back to normalcy.  Sometimes it's embarrasing.  Sometimes it's shocking.  Sometimes it's just some normal, everyday thing.

More interesting though than His methods, however, is the fact that He even bothers to get our attention in the first place.  You'd think that just being the Creator of the Universe would be a completely time-consuming gig, but yet, He takes the time to know each and every one of us so personally that the hairs on our heads are numbered.  When you consider how many heads are currently roaming around on Planet Earth, that's pretty darned impressive.

Restart
Regroup
Revive
Regenerate
Reenergized
Removing obstacles and excuses.

 © Sandra Perry 2007