Tag: blog

The Thankful Challenge – Recurring Themes P2

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful! – Week 4, Post 2

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels.com

On Monday, I wrote about a recurring theme that had been weaving in and out of my daily life for quite a while, yet I chose to ignore it. I have learned my lesson and know if I see something popping up over and over again, I need to take notice. Since the start of this new year I’ve seen the words “mercy” and “grace” repeated over and over again. When I was a kid, I always heard the two words lumped together “grace and mercy”or “mercy and grace”. I honestly always thought they meant basically the same thing.

When I started hearing those two words on repeat I thought I better take heed. Grace and mercy showed up in the message at church on Sunday, my morning study, several videos, as well as a few readings. I wasn’t even searching for those specific words, they were just there. Someone was trying to get my attention. The alarms were going off, “DO NOT IGNORE!”

From my morning study, The Bible Recap withTara Leigh Cobble, TLC gives a great definition of these two words. “Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve… Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.” At first it was a little hard to wrap my head around these two definition. The words for both definitions are so similar, however, when the words are slightly reordered, grace and mercy convey opposite meanings. While Tara Leigh Cobble is referring to the words as they relate to our relationship with God, it is important to note that we can extend grace and mercy to each other. Heaven knows I need all the grace and mercy I can get.

As an imperfect human, I mess up…a lot. I don’t start my day thinking about all the mistakes I will make in the day. I do my best to be the kindest, most honest person I can be but sometimes my humanness gets the better of me. If I get frustrated, sometimes I may say something I really didn’t want to say. When I was a kid, my Mom always said (mostly in reference to the interactions between us siblings), “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I still try to live by that standard but sometimes the little soldier standing guard over my words takes a little power nap and out flies something that should have never been given breath.

If a friend, hearing those words, chooses to reprimand me, they have every right to do so. However, if they choose not to reprimand me, they have shown mercy. They didn’t give me the “what for”, which was probably well deserved. In contrast, if they choose to buy me some tea (I don’t drink coffee) and help me work through my frustrations, they have extended grace. I don’t deserve the tea or their company but they are being very gracious. My friend exercised mercy because instead of giving me what I deserved, a stern talking to, my friend chose grace, and gave me time with them and some thirst quenching sweet tea. As a southern girl, there isn’t much a cold glass of sweet tea and good conversation cannot fix.

Like a southern girl and sweet tea, it’s almost hard to have mercy without grace. While the words have opposite meanings, they go hand in hand, a positive partnership. I am so thankful for the mercy and grace partnership extended to me on a daily basis. I know I do nothing to deserve the grace and am on the receiving end of endless mercy. I want to make sure I extend that same mercy and grace to others because we have a legacy of mercy and grace. Christ showered us with the ultimate mercy and grace at the cross.

The Thankful Challenge – Recurring Themes P1

A 365 Day Challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 4 – Day 1

Photo by Viktor Smith on Pexels.com

Do you ever have those moments where the same phrases or ideas keep appearing in your life? You are not looking for them, they just keep showing up. Whether it’s a speaker at a conference, your daily devotion, reading a friend’s social media post (cheesy or otherwise), or maybe it’s just an inspirational poster on the wall (Hang in there Kitty!), those recurring moments keep coming around again. It’s almost like a kid on a carousel, waving every time they round the bend to make sure you notice them. If you are looking away or not paying attention even for a moment, you may miss the kid on the carousel, you may miss the recurring theme.

Sometimes it takes me a little longer to recognize the recurring theme. Other times I think I am blocking it out, especially if it is something that makes me uncomfortable or makes me look a little too hard at my current place in life. Often I think those recurring themes are intentionally calling me out waving as me as if to say, “Pay attention!” with flashing red arrows and fireworks in the background.

The last few years (yes years) one recurring theme kept showing up over and over again. At first I ignored it and “wrote” it off as coincidence but the recurring writing theme, that kid on the carousel, kept on waving! “What if you can write a book in a month?” “Why do you hesitate on what brings you joy?” “Face your fears!” Then as I was working through one of my daily readings and the accompanying video, I heard, “How many books are buried because people were afraid to share their writing.” That one hit me to the core. I am not planning on “going anywhere” anytime soon but it shook me.

Photo by Garon Piceli on Pexels.com

The recurring writing theme finally shone like the sun, impossible to ignore. The kid on the carousel finally seemed to be making some headway. While I had been cataloging all the reasons why I couldn’t write or shouldn’t write, I was also subconsciously compiling a list of reasons why I should write. I don’t have time to write/I’m sure you can carve out some time each day. What if people won’t read it/but what if they do. I haven’t really written anything in over 3 years/there is no time like the present. It was a strange struggle. A battle royale in my brain and I wasn’t entirely sure which side was winning…until finally, the word “WRITE” was emblazoned on my mind.

I could not ignore it any more. The “prose” finally outweighed the cons. The dizzying carousel ride had come to an end and the frantically waving (and now motion sick) carousel kid was thinking to themselves, “Finally! She listened.” Sorry it took me so long, kid. I am thankful that, even though I was stubborn and didn’t pay attention as well as I should have, the kid on the carousel kept on waving. I am thankful for those recurring themes that won’t let go, those divine interjections into my life that keep making themselves known. Thank you for not giving up on me.

The Thankful Challenge – The Little Moments

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. – Week 2, Day2

Photo by Adonyi Gu00e1bor on Pexels.com

When looking for things to be thankful for, I sometimes find myself looking at the big picture. I focus on the stand out moments instead of looking for the details in the smaller moments. There isn’t a wrong or right way to look for ways to be thankful but I do think we sometimes miss out on the joy of the little things because we are looking for the big life changing moments. Today I want to focus on some of the little moments.

I am incredibly thankful for the time I have with my kids. They are growing up so fast, with one already in college and the other one soon to follow. I don’t know what I will do when they are both out of the house. For now, I will cherish each moment I have with them. There are definitely big moments in both of my kids lives but I love the time I have with them in the little moments, time spent playing family games or car rides to and from school. In all honesty, I thought I would be relieved when I didn’t have to drive my kids to school anymore but when the time came, I realized that was our very special one on one time. We could talk in the car about whatever, a lot of times leading to hysterical laughter.

My oldest is off to college now. Can someone please tell me why is it so hard every time he leaves home to go back to school and does it get any easier? I miss him so stinking’ much! I do cherish every single time he calls from school. Thankfully he does call me a few times a week so we can keep in touch. I know I am a lucky Mama. I’ve heard a lot of stories from Mom’s with kids in college that never call home. If you are a college kid reading this post…call your Mom. She misses you!

When my daughter was little, we had a live skit we would do in the carpool line each morning. We had a tiny following but we had fun. I’m a little biased but I thought we were pretty hysterical and creative. When she moved up to the next school we had to stop doing the skits because her bell schedule changed and our morning live skits were no more. I still go back and watch them sometimes. I am thankful we had that time to spend together in the little moments while waiting for school to open.

As we move forward through the days, weeks, and years, I will continue to look for the little moments nestled in between the big moments. If we are only ever looking for the big events for joy, we miss so much of life. Life happens in the little moments. Do you have any favorite little moments?