I painted my toenails blue yesterday. Blue is not usually the color I'd pick for my toes, but it was just one of those, "Blue is good today," days. And today is sunny and I wore sandals to work and my blue toenails came with me. Just looking down at them makes me smile.
My blue toenails took Stewie, our great dane, for a walk and they loved the summer sunshine that joined us.
Nothing profound to say today. But sometimes blue toenails can make all the difference in the world. They can make you laugh. And that's all I've got today.
Hope you have a "blue toenail" kind of day today!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
A new perspective
Went to church this morning and was reminded of a few things. First, Jeff Lucas spoke about Abraham and about his testament to, not only the church itself, but to the world. Abraham is one of the most respect men in the bible for his works done through faith as well as his faith by itself.
Jeff mentioned a point that struck me profoundly; sometimes we define ourselves by our failures...but God defines us by our faith.
I am the person who defines herself by her failures.
I look through my life and pick out those moments when I've screwed up or made the 'wrong' decision and I talk to God like he only sees me as that girl. But today I thought about this; what if I'm talking to a God who REALLY sees something else, and when I approach him in my embarrassed and repentant state, he just looks at me and says, "But Erica, remember that other time when.....(and brings up something postive that I've done.") But silly me, I don't hear him say that part.
I left Jeff's message with this in tow: I've had failures. But so did Abraham, one of the most referred to men in the bible. I've made mistakes, but so did Abraham. And in Hebrews 11....NONE of his mistakes are mentioned when speaking about what a leader he was to his people. So...if a man as influential as Abraham can make a mistake or two and change his life to make a difference...maybe I can too.
And directly after service Brent, my husband, and I teach Sunday School to five year-olds. Which brings me to my second realization: Today we taught about Saul and how his life dramatically changed once he was saved. And it was his friends who bailed him out when authorities were looking to kill him. In our attempts to teach our kids about friendship and helping one another, we made friendship bracelets. Each child made a bracelet for themselves and one for their best friend....
A boy in the class made one for me. He asked me my favorite color and made my entire bracelet in that color, (orange).
What a real life expanation of the things I am doing 'okay' in. I may make mistakes. I may disgust myself sometimes.... but what if God has the perpective of my little 5- year old...and says....I love you and want to give you a friendship bracelet that I made for you because you mean a lot to me. My heart began to melt away the disappointment I've felt for too long.
And I realized that maybe God does JUST love me for me. He loves me for my incomplete self and my lack of success. But at the end of the day....if my savior, the one who I try to impress all the time and continually fail to impress, still loves me and makes me a friendship bracelet...then maybe I'm an okay person afterall.
Today was the glimpse of a new perspective. I hope it stays...because I think HE wants it to.
Jeff mentioned a point that struck me profoundly; sometimes we define ourselves by our failures...but God defines us by our faith.
I am the person who defines herself by her failures.
I look through my life and pick out those moments when I've screwed up or made the 'wrong' decision and I talk to God like he only sees me as that girl. But today I thought about this; what if I'm talking to a God who REALLY sees something else, and when I approach him in my embarrassed and repentant state, he just looks at me and says, "But Erica, remember that other time when.....(and brings up something postive that I've done.") But silly me, I don't hear him say that part.
I left Jeff's message with this in tow: I've had failures. But so did Abraham, one of the most referred to men in the bible. I've made mistakes, but so did Abraham. And in Hebrews 11....NONE of his mistakes are mentioned when speaking about what a leader he was to his people. So...if a man as influential as Abraham can make a mistake or two and change his life to make a difference...maybe I can too.
And directly after service Brent, my husband, and I teach Sunday School to five year-olds. Which brings me to my second realization: Today we taught about Saul and how his life dramatically changed once he was saved. And it was his friends who bailed him out when authorities were looking to kill him. In our attempts to teach our kids about friendship and helping one another, we made friendship bracelets. Each child made a bracelet for themselves and one for their best friend....
A boy in the class made one for me. He asked me my favorite color and made my entire bracelet in that color, (orange).
What a real life expanation of the things I am doing 'okay' in. I may make mistakes. I may disgust myself sometimes.... but what if God has the perpective of my little 5- year old...and says....I love you and want to give you a friendship bracelet that I made for you because you mean a lot to me. My heart began to melt away the disappointment I've felt for too long.
And I realized that maybe God does JUST love me for me. He loves me for my incomplete self and my lack of success. But at the end of the day....if my savior, the one who I try to impress all the time and continually fail to impress, still loves me and makes me a friendship bracelet...then maybe I'm an okay person afterall.
Today was the glimpse of a new perspective. I hope it stays...because I think HE wants it to.
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