Depression, Hope, and Life

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”- Ecclesiastes 11:5

This verse stirs up two emotions in me: depression and hope. Depression because I "cannot understand". Hope because God is bigger than my understanding, bigger than what I see. This reminds me of another verse, which has come up a few times as of late:

"We live by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7

Christianity is not necessarily about doing things differently in life, but it is about having a different mindset in all areas of life.

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. - James 2:18b

beauty within beauty

I have been spending time staring up at the stars the last 3 nights. It was a bit cloudy on Tuesday night, but the clouds were moving by so quickly that it didn't bother me. In fact, I saw beauty in the clouds and I became intrigued with them: why some are wispy, some are white and fluffy, some are dark, some are big, some are small. And the trees, they looked kind of fake against the night sky. Whenever I stare up at these big trees, I am reminded of how small I am in this world. I remember walking from Kentwood to the college, and as I stared up at that beautiful prairie sky, I was in awe of the vastness of God. Now I am back in Abbotsford, staring up at these stars, and I think not only of how God spoke the stars into being, but that He displayed them as pictures for us...beauty within beauty. I love to enjoy this artwork created by God.

Mother's Day Humor (and a tribute to Jack and the Pinters)

A real life story!!(Obviously, not mine!)

So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died.

Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli.

Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So, finally, one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and trying to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up.

Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli.

He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . Rear
end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped."

Now, if you have a cat,you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty
chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.

The only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's' behind or the hundredth.


And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.