Am I Lovely?

I was in a store the other day.

This store did ear piercing with piercing guns.

A little girl who couldn't have been more than seven or eight came in with her mom.

When she got there, she was still a bit indecisive but soon chose to go through with it.

The first thing she asked when the earrings were in: "Am I pretty, now?"

My heart sank.

The woman piercing her ears responded: "Well, you were pretty before, but I guess you could say you were more pretty, now."

Seriously? 

NO.

I wanted to run up to her, hug her, tell her she was absolutely beautiful in every way, with or without the earrings.

I didn't do it because I knew it would be inappropriate to do so.

But I almost wish I would have.

That little girl is wrestling with quite possibly the biggest thing that will affect how she makes her decisions and how she interacts with the people in her life. Every girl desires to know: "Am I lovely?" And unfortunately, the world around her tells her "no." 

Dear precious, beautiful little girl, I'm praying that in your heart you would know just how treasured you are, that you wouldn't listen to the lies around you telling you you need to be thinner, have the most expensive clothes, and dress skanky to be beautiful. I'm asking God to tug at your heart and whisper in your ears that he is near and wants to be your friend. 

Honestly, I really dislike Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Grandparent's Day, Fireman's Day, Groudhog's Day...

(Okay, maybe Groundhog's day is taking it a little over the top, but you catch my drift).

I don't like that these days have taken over our culture. 

We should be loving these people every day of our lives, not just the day {Hall}marked on our calendars.

I feel so insincere wishing people a happy holiday. 

Not to mention, these holidays just seem to be fed off of obligation not genuineness.

Maybe I'm an odd bird, but I don't ever want someone to do something for me out of obligation (unless it's honoring a contract, but that's entirely different). I would prefer a thousand times that they genuinely do nothing. 

This lets me know where they are. And I'm completely okay with where they are, as long as they're somewhere.

I know not many people feel the same way I do about these days.

I know it's not about me, and it doesn't hurt me to give someone a call because it's in the air of the day.

I know at the end of the day I just need to get over myself.

But I'm not going to lie, because of how much I value genuineness, it's super hard to do.

Even if I'm being sincere in what I say, I feel like I'm almost not being sincere because I'm most likely only calling them on this day because it's the day marked out in the books to be obliged to do so.

Dog the Bounty Hunter

It's a rare thing for me to watch TV. 

It usually only happens when I walk into a room and it's on, which was the case this evening.

Tonight, Dog the Bounty Hunter captured my heart.

(The show. Not the man.)

We watch it, and many of us laugh, find it absurd, think they deserve what they've got coming to them.

And while it is a bit over the top.

And while they do deserve what's coming to them.

All I feel when I look at them is this incredible sadness.

They are so very trapped.

It's easy for us to be judgmental on the other side 

To think they must know there are better ways to live.

To think they know the right choices and are choosing not to make them.

I've lived in that world.

The one where jail time is assumed, drugs are served on the hour, having a good time is all that ever matters (because trying to forget the world you're in is preferable, and there's nothing else to live for anyway).

It's a vicious cycle.

One that's not often broken.

Without vision, people parish.

It's hard to see when there's only one option. 

It's hard to go somewhere different when there's only one sure place you're accepted and not looked down on.

It's hard to leave the comfort of familiarity.

Tonight, my heart is with those who are sick of their current situation but feel trapped and helpless.

Those whose lives have been the furthest thing from easy and who feel the least valued.

Those who just need a huge hug, someone to love them for who they are, someone to support them.

May they know Your love.

Short

It's always sobering to think just how short our little lives are.

In the moment, a year or two looks like a long time. 

We wonder how we could ever get through it.

But looking back...

It never seems quite as long as we thought it was.

Or even as unbearable as we feared it would be.

Sometimes, we even miss it just a smidge.

I want to be thankful for the seasons of life I live.

Which is why I try my darnedest (and many times fail that way, too) to live in the season I'm in right now, not the one of tomorrow. 

When I look back on this season I'm in right now (and every other season in my life) I want to be able to say, "Wow. What a great season that was. There were definitely challenges, but God was with me through it. And I learned so much."

I don't ever want to discredit the time I'm in right now by wishing it away. 

For my life is but a vapor.

A flower quickly fading.

But how beautiful it is.

A bit of a throwback. But thinking about seasons reminds me of this song...

Kids Get It.

Kids get community.

(And they understand what it means to be all in where they are.)

They just do. 

Yesterday I happened to go on a friend date with a mommy. We went somewhere kid-friendly (the mall play-place) so we could talk and he could play.

I got there a little early, and a girl came in with her mother and began playing. 

Once my friend got there, her child and the girl played together.

It wasn't long before many children were there, playing together.

When someone new came, they were automatically included.

When someone left, it was okay; it was understood it was time for them to leave.

They were all in where they were, giving all of themselves despite them knowing there would be an end to this time, that these people wouldn't be the ones who were always there.

You know what the best part of this was?

They just got it.

They didn't try to get it.

They didn't make up rules or conditions for how or why it should happen.

It just did.

And anyone who came was included.

Sometimes, we don't want to be where we are.

Sometimes, we don't want to leave where we are.

But what if we just accepted where we were?

What if we were able to put aside our fears and live life with the people we were with for as long as we were with them?

What if we decided it was worth investing in them and knowing them, even if only for a day?

What if we chose to accept that the one leading our steps knows better than us?

Sometimes, for some reason, children just get things we don't.

Maybe we should pay a little more attention to that.

After all, Jesus did say to come to him as a child does...

To Whom It May Concern...

Why are you so far from me?
In my arms is where you ought to be
How long will you make me wait?
I don't know how much more I can take
I missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh but I want to
How I do
Slowly counting down the days
Till I finally know your name
Ooo the way your hand feels round my waist
The way you laugh
The way your kisses taste
I missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh but I want to
How I do, How I do
I've missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh I missed you
I haven't met you
Oh but I want to
Oh how I want to
Dear whoever you might be
I'm still waiting patiently. 

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That is all.

Rooted

For the few who have actually gotten close to me, you've probably noticed I've taken to a couple of verses.

Ephesians 3:17-18, which talks about being rooted deeply in God's love. 

And Psalm 1:3, which is David asking God to plant him as a tree by water.

Time and time again, I'm drawn back to these verses.

At the core of who I am, I desire these things.

To be firmly rooted and established in Love (which is God-1John 4:8).

To be drawing from God so much that I pull from him as my main source just as a tree planted by a river constantly pulls in the water flowing next to it and the life it's providing.

For the longest time, this is the only way I've thought of the word rooted.

But the other day, it struck me...

There's another way to be rooted.

The way I normally use the word root is like it is in Ephesians, rooted in God's love, established, planted.

But what happens to a tree that has died? 

And what has to be done to a weed to insure that it doesn't come back?

They both must be pulled from the ground.

The puller must ensure that they are rooted... that their roots are pulled out.

No longer planted.

Completely detached.

Gone.

Which got me to thinking.

Am I rooted enough in God that I can let him root me of all other things?

Am I rooted enough in God that even when things don't make sense, even when the rooting hurts like no other pain I've experienced, I can choose to be okay with it continuing?

Are my roots deep enough to trust that God knows what he's doing when he decides to pull something out?

I want to be rooted. 

All definitions of the word.