heart – Consider the Birds…

Today is the day! The last football game for the Freshman/JV team. This is of importance to me because both of my guys have been up-to-their-eyeballs involved with football since the beginning of June. And, this involvement has taken over any kind of life/schedule/family since that fateful day. Of course, it’s probably not as bad as I am making it sound, but it will be nice to eat dinner as a family sometime before 7pm again!

I mean, I like watching my almost 15yr old son get knocked around by other almost 15yr old boys as much as the next mom, especially when that son is a messy/arguing/always-right teenager, but all good thing and such…

**disclaimer-No, I do not actually enjoy watching my son get hit during football. No, it is not some weird form of punishment inflicted on him for his mouthy little mouth. Yes, my heart is in my throat each time that ball is snapped. Yes, you should realize I am simply trying to find some humor in this teenage maze that is my life right now**

It has been crazy over here. Between coaching and work, it feels like Clint and I have been on different schedules since the beginning of summer. Between school and practice, it feels like I haven’t said more than a few words to Jaden since classes started. Also, I have had more one-on-one mommy/daughter time with my almost teenage girls than any one mom should be allowed without some kind of mental health monitor following their every move.

It has felt like we are just going through the motions, and checking off to-do’s, so we can get to the end of the day. Because, at the end of the day we can find each other and commiserate about the last time we actually sat down and, just…well, the last time we sat down!

Please, tell me I am not the only one who feels this way. That going through motions, and feeling like you are doing the work with no real sense of accomplishment is a common thing, right?

A friend of mine posted something on Facebook the other day about running and not using her Map My Run app; like if you didn’t turn the app on did it even really happen kind of thing? I have to admit that’s how it feels to me; no app, no credit. Like I never laced up the shoes or hit the pavement. I know, I’m a little crazy like that. It needs to be on the list at the end of week; it just has to!

Wow, does my life feel like this right now! Like I am running around doing all of these good things, but I forgot to turn on the app that gives me credit! It’s like it never happened. We come to the end of the week, just to do it all over again and it’s the same stuff just a new week. Even, my devotional/prayer time has felt kind of quiet. But, I keep going through the motions and keep on keeping on…

Then, something happened and I had to stop and pay attention. I woke up one morning, after a pretty crappy night of no sleep and fighting kids, to find my self thanking God, praying, and just feeling very grateful. That’s right, I woke up with words of thanksgiving running through my head and my heart before I was even completely conscious!

Wait! What?!!!

I write all this, not to make you look at me and think I have it all together. Because, trust me…I don’t! And, if you think I do, this is clearly your first time here. Welcome!!!

I do write this to tell you that you ARE getting credit for all of those little things you do. All of the items that get done without a second thought; the things that get done just because that’s what you do. It may not seem like it now, but it all counts; even if we forgot to turn the app on. Our hearts are paying attention even when our heads are in a million different places. That’s why we keep on keeping on. Even if it seems like we have no time to spare and it’s just another to-do. We spend time with the One who stays in confusion and chaos, because even when it feels like no one is hearing us, or that no one is paying attention to our work we still get credit for it.

So, I am choosing happy this week because even when it seems quiet or feels like I am just going through the motions, and even when all I can seem to do is stand; my heart is still listening. My heart gets it even when I don’t, and that is a very happy thing if you ask me.

P.S.

This? This is just hilarious and I thought you all should enjoy it too!

A couple of years ago, I went to a herb workshop. I am still not exactly sure why one would need to go to a workshop where you literally put all ready grown herbs in pots, water them, and then bring them home; but I paid my $25.oo and went to the herb workshop. Along with cilantro, basil, and oregano (FYI, I proceeded to kill these plants in about two weeks time), I also was able to get a hanging strawberry basket. My girls LOVE strawberries! So, of course I was thinking I was going to be this GREAT and AWESOME mom, who not only grew her own fresh and organic herbs, but would also have these incredible strawberries for her children. I was gonna score some major wholesome mom points!

Well, not only did the herbs die (still not sure how I managed that one), the strawberries never really came to fruition. Well, the fruit came, but they were the tiniest little red berries, and there were only like five of them and one at a time. The girls ate them and waited for more, but none came. So, the strawberry plant sat out on our deck. Getting sun and rain it was nice and green, but there were no more berries. Then it started to turn brown and no one really looked at it anymore. Occasionally, when one of the girls remembered they would give it some water but, for the most part it sat for the rest of the summer, into the fall, through the winter with no one giving it a second thought in the corner of our deck. Forgotten.

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel forgotten? I mean the type of day where you talk and no one listens; not your friends, not your kids (which happens more often than it doesn’t), not even your husband? The kind of day where you feel like you could probably disappear and not a soul would notice. There are days when I feel like I am standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming, trying to get someone’s….anyone’s attention, and life just goes on around me! Sometimes, this feeling of being forgotten pushes its way into my heart and steals my focus. I find myself asking God if He has forgotten me too! Can He hear me? Does He see me? And I find myself feeling like that strawberry plant; just sitting in a corner where no one remembers me. I am pretty sure I am not alone in this…..

Think about Ruth. Her husband died. She left her home. She must have felt forgotten. Then came Boaz. I am pretty sure Hannah felt forgotten. She prayed for years. Then came Samuel. What about Anna and Simeon at the temple. They waited their entire lives; surely they had times when they felt like God had forgotten His promise. Then came Jesus.

You know what happened last spring? That strawberry plant came alive with all kinds of beautiful white flowers, and produced all kinds of big, juicy strawberries. The girls thought that it was dead, and I had given up on it too. What had been forgotten was now giving us all kinds of fruit!

Find encouragement in knowing that you are NOT forgotten. You have the heart of the One who listens to every cry, hears every prayer, and sees every need.

This is the kind of love that doesn’t leave you behind even when you feel lost.

This is the love that will bring you into full blossom, bearing all kinds of fruit.

This love never forgets.

Tag: heart

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That Little Plant in the Corner