Unfriended

Recently I was unfriended on facebook by someone I considered to be a good friend. There was no confrontation, no explanation, and as far as I know, no real reason to do so. "Big deal!" you say. Big deal, my foot! Regardless of the fact that I am a full fledged grown-up, it still hurt my feelings! I know it's just facebook, and I realize that this person may even think that I would never notice. Well, I noticed. "Maybe it was on accident!" you say. No, only if this person accidentally unfriended my husband as well. Not likely.

Even if it was not a direct attack, it was an insult in my general direction. So to make myself feel better, here are a few reasons I have come up with to rationalize why this person may have decided to unfriend me:

1. I chew a lot of ice. Loudly.
2. Sometimes I still watch reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter.
3. I secretly have mad krumping skillz.
4. My mom car is just too sexy.
5. I'm uncannily good at 80's trivia.
6. Nearly every room in my house somehow incorporates an element from Star Wars.
7. I find that most meats are really just a vehicle for Frank's hot sauce.
8. Any four pair of shoes in my closet, added together, are valued at less than $100.
9. My passion for saving orb spiders may be just a bit too weird.
10. I just look too darned much like Monica Lewinsky.

So,  I guess I understand. Some of these offenses are pretty rough. But I hope one day this person sees through the outer me and forgives whatever I may have done - or appeared to have done. And I really hope this person knows that I still love them.

On a side note, I am exceptionally grateful that facebook did not exist when I was a teenager. Because if so, I would still be paying for the therapy bills.

Pink Blankets

Naptime is typically drama-free with my daughter. She has always been the type of child to crawl in her bed, give you a hug and a kiss on each cheek and be out as soon as the lights are off. Yesterday, though, I spent the first hour of naptime consoling, resisting negotiations, and keeping my patience in check.

At the beginning of nap, she laid down just fine, but within fifteen minutes I could hear her over the monitor and she was full on bawling. Of course, I headed upstairs to see what was going on. Inbetween sobs, she explained that she wanted her pink blanket. And not just any pink blanket, either. The very same pink blanket that she had just negotiated to trade with her brother so that she could have his blue polka dotted blanket. It wasn't an easy sell. How many five year old big brothers would be willing to trade their awesome blue blanket for a pink blanket? It took some doing, but he (as usual) was willing to make her happy and made the trade.

However...the pink blanket was, at that moment, wrapped up with big brother and he was in his bed asleep. Which I told her. And you can guess what happened next. We tried to talk it out, we tried to hug it out, I tried laying down with her for a minute but to no avail. It was as if she had just received the news of the demise of her best friend. Or that Chick-fil-a had closed or something. To put it simply, there was a whole lot of really loud crying going on. And she was even starting to get angry that she couldn't get what she wanted!

This story ends pretty well...sort of. Her crying woke her brother up, who understood the situation (and his sister) enough to bring her the blanket. While I was glad to see her settled down, I really was concerned by the message that was sent: If you cry loud enough and long enough, you'll eventually get what you want.

Is that really what I want to teach her? Absolutely not. And it made me think...this is exactly how God teaches us. Sometimes we cry long and loud for what we want, only to be left with an unanswered prayer. But these are the times that God teaches us the most. It's hard and it hurts, but it's for a good reason.

So I'm just reflecting back today...what have been the pink blankets in my life? Which ones were never made available to me? What did I learn from that? Which ones did I cry out for and eventually receive? What was the lesson in waiting? And who did God use to give them to me?

Only God can put together puzzle pieces like mine and make them fit perfectly.

Check out this great sermon clip from Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC:
What To Do When God Doesn't Come Through

Second Chances

I'm sitting here printing out little Star Wars name tags and activities for my son's birthday party on Saturday. I've had a great but busy week and I still have lots to do before the big day. We have out of town company coming as well as tons of friends. You know, the usual. It's nothing you wouldn't do. I don't really feel stressed about it, mainly because of my new "I don't care" cleaning policy. If I can live with it on a daily basis, guests can live with it for a day. I will, however, wash the guest sheets and clean the toilets before guests arrive. There's about a 50% chance of vacuuming.

So this is all good and I'm happy but very tired. A little late on preparing my flower beds this year, I've spent the last two nights spreading 28 bags of mulch. Yes, that's 56 cubic feet. And yes, I just double checked my math on the calculator because I'm so tired. But this is still all good.

But as the printer chugs along, I print something that isn't quite right, tear it in half, fix the document, and print another one.  Then, here is where my mind goes...

I can start over whenever I want.

I can, no matter what, stop anything and try again. The Bible says that in the beginning, God created everything by speaking (Genesis 1), and Jesus was the Word who caused everything to come to pass. (John 1:1–2, 14) So if you put your faith in Him, all you have to do is stop what you're doing, ask for forgiveness, and start again. And you can do this as many times as you need to. Why? Because we're human. And God knows this. Anything that is broken can be fixed. Anything that is wrong can be made right. Any person, place, object, situation, or idea can hold purpose through Christ. It's just that simple.

Through Jesus, ALL things can be made new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

John 1: 3 (NIV)
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.