Five-Minute Friday | From: The Little Pink House

identity

May 112012

“And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own…”
-Ephesians 1:13, NLT

Twenty-five years ago today, I took His identity for my own.

With the simple faith of a child, I knelt and prayed.

I gave Him my heart, my life. I decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.

But it was only the beginning. As I grew, my childlike faith turned to pride. Too often I brought disgrace upon the Name of the One Who made me.

I walked through the valleys and the mountaintops of the pilgrim way. I learned that I would never arrive, that I must never stop growing.

And now, so many years later, I pray for the maturity of that childlike faith. That natural ease with which I daily identified myself with Him.

“Being a Christian isn’t just a 30-second prayer repeated at some point in your life. Being a Christian is the daily act of submitting to Christ. It’s an ongoing relationship, not a one time meeting.”
-Aaron Wilkinson, “There’s a Carnival on 8th Street”

Five-Minute Friday: Identity

real

May 052012

I’m a country girl.

Real is the dirt field my farmer plows.

Real is the paper and ink love letters we wrote to each other.

Real is the peanut butter on my children’s faces.

Real is the dark yellow yolks of the eggs our chickens lay.

But I’m a girl of the twenty-first century.

Real is the smiles from pictures we can email to grandparents hundreds of miles away.

Real is phone calls from Twitter friends in the middle of dinner.

Real is loving someone you’ve emailed but never met in person.

Real is truth, no matter if it’s pen and paper or colors on the screen.

Velveteen Rabbit Real doesn’t limit itself to touch and feel. Velveteen Rabbit Real is about love.

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

-The Velveteen Rabbit or “How Toys Become Real” by Margery Williams

Five-Minute Friday: Real

community

Apr 282012

I grew up in the same little community my dad and grandpa had before me. I went to church with the same ladies who’d babysat my dad when he was little. We had shirttail relatives everywhere.

Moving to a new town when I got married, looking for a new church, all in a community where my husband’s family was relative strangers, was a bit of an adjustment. Nobody knew me by who my daddy and grandpa were anymore.

But these days, I recognize more faces on the street here than I do back where I grew up. It’s not quite as small a town, but it’s a farming community, and that makes it small enough in its own way.

My husband’s family moved here twelve years ago, I joined them almost six years ago now. I’ve been visiting here for over a third of my life.

We have loyal customers who return each year to support our family farm. We have a church family who has been with us through my husband’s accident and the births of each of our three children. I have made friends with other young moms in the community. And I’ve even found some author and blogger friends nearby.

I’d have moved anywhere to be with my husband, but I’m extra thankful the Lord put us here, in this community I love calling home.

Five-Minute Friday: Community

together

Apr 212012

Writing can be a lonely calling. The hammering out of words on keys. The editing, the honing, the writing again. It’s laborious and lonely. So there’s nothing like doing it together with a team of those who are also called to write.

Cheering each other on when we get published, when we’re featured as a guest poster. Reassuring each other after a critical comment or when someone completely misunderstood the words we labored over so long.

Spurring each other on as we better our skills. Promoting each other rather than just ourselves. Helping each other attain greater heights.

Together, because of Him. Writing, for His glory.

Here’s to my teams—the YLCF Team and the Ladder Bloggers mastermind group. I’m so thankful I get to do this with you; thanks for sharing your passion and your prayers. And thanks to the better half of my primary team: thanks to my husband for still reading my words after all these years, and for loving me regardless of the comments and the stats.

Five-Minute Friday: Together

of weddings & goodbyes

Apr 132012

hugging my brother goodbye, May 2006 - photo by John Feldschau Weddings make me cry.

So do goodbyes.

But goodbyes at weddings?

They really make me cry.

I made it through my own wedding day with a big smile and dry eyes.

Except for that moment my childhood and forever friend, my guestbook attendant, came up to hug me right before the ceremony started.

And when my little sister came out into the fellowship hall and I saw her red eyes, the first evidence I’d seen of the tears she’d shed our entire ceremony.

But when it came time for the goodbyes and my big strong brother broke down as he hugged me?

Then I really lost it.

Merritt and I telling my brother goodbye, May 2006 - photo by John Feldschau

The antics of four little flower girls kept me from getting too emotional at my sister-in-law’s wedding last Saturday.

hugging Marlys goodbye, photo by my mom Sara But when the just-one-more hugs and too-long goodbyes came around?

That’s when the tears spilled over a bit.

Just a bit, because Marlys and I have always been able to make each other laugh even while we’re crying.

Usually by saying something like, “Don’t make me cry!”

But we cried all the same as we hugged goodbye.

And then our oldest niece, the picture of her Auntie Mouse, was crying as she hugged her again and again, regardless of the fact that Auntie Mouse would actually be living closer to her as miles go.

Marlys hugging Mason goodbye, photo by my mom Sara And I cried again as I watched the bride hug her soldier brother and not want to let go.

I kept one eye on dancing flower girls waving roses and blowing bubbles, the other on my husband hugging his own little baby sister, and the emotions welled once more.

And we laughed and we cried and we waved goodbye.

saying goodbye, photo by my mom Sara

Five-Minute-Friday that took Ten Minutes: Good-Bye

gift

Apr 042012

The weekend was such a gift. Eight whole hours, sitting next to my husband, holding his hand.

The marriage event we went to was very good. (We are recommending it highly to our friends.) But the time spent together was very, very good.

It had been too long since we’d sat for very long without little ones crawling all over us.

Not that they aren’t a gift, a very evidence of our love. But sometimes, it helps to get away, to just be us again.

To remember that we can have fun just enjoying each other’s company, without the entertainment of the kids’ antics or the distractions of a long to-do list.

To relish the gift of each other.

(Many thanks to my cousin Jennifer for the gift of babysitting our three children so we could go!)

Five-Minute Friday: Gift