You Know It's Going to be One of Those Days When....

You misspell your own name. Twice.

I feel like I could just leave the post like that and move on with my life, but you, my dear and faithful readers probably deserve more of an explanation than that. Otherwise you might really start to worry about me.

So I sat down today at my trusty pink laptop (yes, it is pink) and prepared to dutifully write a post filled with encouragement and inspiring faith-filled...uh...words. Right, lots of awesomely strung together words. I typed all my super-secret info into my Blogger log-in page, my mind whirling with the many possibilities of the aforementioned awesome words, when I was suddenly confronted with Blogger's "Nope, wrong answer" message.

It's actually a much more professional message, something along the lines of "We're sorry, your username and/or password are incorrect so you will not be allowed to enter this highly sensitive world of tossing random opinions into the universe under the cover of anonymity until you remember who you are and/or locate the coffee stained napkin you scrawled your password on." You know, something like that.

So with a grumble and a sigh I looked at my username, which happens to be my email address, and realized that I spelled my name wrong. My own name. Fabulous. So after a furious click-clacking of the backspace button, I re-entered my info and was was promptly denied. Again.

"We're sorry, you're still wrong. Clearly the burden of remembering one more username and password is too much for you. May we suggest that you legally change your name to log-in and begin tattooing passwords on your arms so you no longer have to rely on a memory that is slowly being eroded away, even though we're pretty sure you still remember most of the lyrics to The Facts of Life theme song. Feel free to try again, but we're pretty sure you're going to embarrass yourself again."

Anyway, after that little pep talk, I looked again at what I had typed and realized I had misspelled my name. Again. My real name. Sigh.

This time I typed like a little old lady drives...with my head hunkered down over the keyboard, watching each finger type the keys.

And voila, success. And now all of you get to laugh at my expense. Although in fairness to me and my melting brain, it was my last name. Which I got from my husband, I mean I've only had for like 11 years. It's not like I forgot how to spell my first name or anything.

PS...Is The Facts of Life theme song stuck in your head now? Sorry.

The Potter's Work

I recently finished a devotional series that talked about Jeremiah 18. This passage of Scripture tells the story of Jeremiah visiting a potter's house and receiving a word from the Lord while he watched the potter work clay on his wheel.

"So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." Jer. 18:3-4

I've read this passage many times and in the past I often focused on a relatively positive theme that we are the clay in the Lord's hands and He is shaping us according to His will. But this time, as I read this passage I was struck by verse 4. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. The potter was attempting to fashion the clay into something, but the clay resisted and the potter had to abandon his original purpose for the clay and make it into something else.

How eye opening that should be for each for us. God has a purpose for us, He has a design in mind for us and He is constantly shaping and molding us into that design. But if we resist His crafting hands, if we refuse to submit to His shaping, if we remain hard and stubborn, attempting in our own way to force the potter to shape us into what we think we should be, He may have to abandon His plan for us and allow us to be something less than we could have been.

We all instantly get the message when we hear something like, "can the clay tell the potter what to create?" And we think we get it. But how often do we resist the refining and shaping hands of God in our lives? How often do we question His techniques when the shaping becomes uncomfortable, even painful? Perhaps, we never come out and question His right to be the potter, but we certainly question His techniques.

But we are only the clay. We can't see beyond the spinning wheel we're sitting on. We may think the potter's hands are too hard, too demanding, asking too much of us. But the hands that shape and mold us, are the same hands that keep us from falling. God has a design for us, He has a purpose for His clay and if we submit to His shaping, then we will one day become something glorious for Him.

Life Changing Moments

So during these past two months of radio silence, in addition to painting my nails a wide variety of occasionally questionable colors, I also got to introduce my young and impressionable children to the greatest of all great films...the Mt. Everest of movies, the epitome of entertainment, the dark chocolate of the dessert world...that's right folks, my kids have now seen Star Wars. And not just the original Star Wars, but the entire series (with the exception of a few parentally edited moments in Episode III). Can I get a woot, woot from my fellow Star Wars fans? After you finish chiding me for allowing my daughter to go 8 whole years without seeing the wonder that is Star Wars, of course.

See, we had a rainy week and Major Dad was gone and I was desperate for a distraction. When it suddenly dawned on me...aha! Star Wars. And sure enough, these kids must be genetically related to me because they were both hooked after the first scrolling words drifted across the screen. So we spent an entire weekend sitting in a darkened living room, living on popcorn (with movie theatre butter of course) indulging in a Star Wars marathon. So much fun! But here's the best part...

Picture this...Ella and Jack sitting spellbound watching The Empire Strikes Back, a bowl of popcorn between them, light sabers flashing as Luke bravely battles the evil Darth Vader when suddenly Vader says in that haunting James Earl Jones voice, "I am your father."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" That was Ella squealing at the top of her lungs. "No way! Mommy, Mommy, MOMMMMMMMMMMYYYYY! Did you hear that?"

I of course was laughing like a fool. That was my favorite part of the movie, just watching Ella's reaction to the big news. And it cracked me up, it was like watching someone's entire world view change. Like that one bit of iconic information, that one massive movie twist totally changed her perspective on life.

Now, I started typing and then deleted several sentences on the deep meaning behind these life changing moments, about their rarity, about the way we receive them, or not, and what we choose to do with them, about how easy it is to let them slip away or how we can relegate them to a youthful memory and forget the brief moment of passion and clarity we suddenly felt. But I think I'll just leave it there.

And I could go on and on about the philosophical subtext of Star Wars, but I won't. I will add that my second favorite part of our Star Wars marathon was when my kids decided that of all the characters, I'm Yoda. Hummm, happy am I.

As Honest As It Gets

So once again I have apparently abdicated my heavy blogging responsibilities. And once again I have been stalked, harassed, badgered, cajoled and teased for not posting. And yes, once again I'm very, very sorry. Bad blogger (smacking my hand). So what's my excuse? Don't have one. I honestly couldn't think of anything to say. Which is weird, I know, since there are people who actually pay me to write stuff. Go figure.

See, Major Dad was gone for a month on a training exercise, and it rained...alot...so the kids and I were stuck inside and I just felt overwhelmed in general. So my pet blogging project got shuffled repeatedly to the bottom of my to do list. And honestly the bottom of my to do list is the equivalent of chore Siberia. But, because I currently fear for my blogger safety (I'm looking at you, Shelly!) and because my darling hubby won't stop teasing me about being a slacker...here I am, ready once again to bring laughter and wisdom and adorable anecdotes to the blogosphere.

Sooooo...um, let's see. Well, there was this time, uh....hmmm...oh, I found this great site, wait no I didn't. Nope, I got nothing. You know what I've been doing these past 2 months? Painting my nails and making chocolate desserts. That's right, life in the fast lane, people.