Saturday, May 20, 2017

Enjoy.

Enjoy is a verb.

For some people, this verb comes naturally. They wake up, and they enjoy life. For some people, this verb is a choice. A lot of people experience both of these paths of "enjoying."

But doesn't it feel good? Once ya choose it of course... To just---ENJOY. 

To wake up laughing at your two year old screaming for chocolate milk first thing in the morning. (Instead of groaning...which is what I tend to do)...

To taste food. The way it's meant to be tasted. Like you haven't eaten in 3 weeks, or if all you've been eating is potatoes. I once heard of a diet in which you pick one food and you ONLY eat that food for a week. When the week is over you start to eat healthier foods and you can taste them differently because you "reset" your taste buds. Do we need to really be resetting our taste buds? Because we have so many food options that we forgot to just taste or enjoy our food?

To stare at our children. Remembering them just as they are now, with our own eyes. Not with a camera lens. Enjoying the ability to have them, and see them grow, and be in their presence. It's one thing to feel gratitude...but is there something requiring more of us---to not just be grateful, but to enjoy?

We move around in our busy lives so quickly. And every spare second we get we are looking at our phones. Believe me this is not a chastisement for anyone more than it is for myself. But I know I am not alone in this. I often think of the way people lived hundreds of years ago, and I wonder if they enjoyed life more than we do today. Food required a lot more work. Having babies was WAY more risky and often resulted in death for either the mother or the child. Time was spent completely differently---as was money. Treasures were often small and simple.

So, whether your life is spent working to travel, or traveling to work, enjoy it. Whether you have a family you're raising, or still being raised, enjoy it. If you are living to work, or working to live, enjoy it. If you are living a dream, or wishing you could dream more, enjoy it. If you are like me, and folding another load of laundry, cleaning the same rooms over and over, and making more food just so you get to do the dishes...enjoy it. Whether your life will end in triumph or tragedy, enjoy it---because it's yours, no one else's. Each of our lives have blessings and burdens...but just...enjoy em'.

Monday, March 20, 2017

The Great Divide

Another poem by me. I actually wrote this while living in the lovely trailer last summer. I haven't written in a long time, I've been quite busy and "pondering" time doesn't happen as often when you're a mom of 3 kiddos under 4. But I specifically remember sitting in our little trailer, sick as a dog, and finding it impossible to ignore the prompting to sit and write this one down. It, like the others, is quite imperfect.


There is a day coming 
That is what we've heard
No...the day is here now
Where you must heed the words
For this is the day 
Of the Great Divide
{Where some will}
 be afraid and hide:

Unsure and rocky is the trail 
They take with no clear path in view
They search to bring others with them 
Because they're lost, and lonely too.
Happiness and Confidence
is the promise of this side
But because it isn't real, 
it only lasts a little while.
But they still laugh and poke fun
At those holding to the rod
They say, "Look at those silly folks,
Who say that there's a God"
But when they close their eyes at night 
It's fear that's in their souls
And though they say they're fine
They are yearning to be whole
So they seek the things of this world 
Hoping to fill the void
And they scoff at those who know they're loved
And relationships are destroyed
Some walk over to The Fence of Indecision
And they stay there for a time
Not knowing their decision is made
Unless they move fully to the side of Christ
They fear what those wanderers will say 
if they take a leap of faith
That fear is overwhelming--
If only they would pray.
Because little do they know
it is not really a leap at all
If they would choose the Savior 
They would be on a foundation that will never fall.

{Where some will} follow the prophet in stride

They will have watered their seeds of faith and will know of the Tree of Life
They will have their hands tight on the rod-Even whilst they experience trials and strife
They will have left that Fence, a long time ago---That fence called Indecision
With Christ they are yolked forever as they work to conquer the battle within.
They know His side is safest, His foundation is sure
With His help, their hearts and hands will have become clean and pure
Distraction- no, they stay their course as they seek for those in need
they want (because they know), for all to eat the fruit of the tree
For the fruit is God's love and the utmost form of divine
and even when the battle rages---for this fruit they will still climb
For His love for us all is endless, infinite, and true
And the atonement is the reason for doing all that they do
These are they that today choose to not let their minds float away
But instead they focus on the Lord and on His pathway
They worry not what others think and continue to press on
For they know whose side their fighting for and they'll fight 'till the battles won.
Those whose hands are securely locked in place
Following the Savior---they will continue to keep their pace
And they'll call to their friends and loved ones on the Fence or far away
And even if they're laughed at--you will still hear them say,
"Please come, our Savior Jesus Christ loves you so
We want you to be with us, we do not want you to let go,
The power lies within you to choose the path that you will choose
But the truth is truth and if you're not with Christ, then this battle you will lose."
These one's hearts will break, as they watch loved ones walk away
But Jesus Christ will heal them in the most amazing ways.
So with His strength they'll carry on, knowing they're not alone
And knowing, as all children want to know, that they are safely headed home.