Things I wish I knew then

Things I wish I knew 15-20 years ago:

-Memorize scripture. It is much harder as an adult.
-Be nice to your teachers. They are people too.
-Never throw away anything you write. (creatively speaking) Because I would LOVE to read it now.
-Never do anything you can't tell your children.
-Learn the rules of football. It will make Saturday's in the fall much better when you are married.
-Don't fret to much over those mean girls in school. Because you won't even be able to remember their names 15 years later. (Even in the world of Facebook.)
-Pay attention in class. Because you might home school your children one day.
-Salvation is more about Lordship than saving someone from Hell. (Although that is pretty huge too.)
-Pay attention in Home Ec.
-Go to PE
-No body will ever remember what you wore on the first day of school.
-When you get someone's address and say that you'll write.....DO It.
-When you tell someone you'll pray for them.....DO It.
-Don't shave your legs every day. You'll hate it when your older.
-Sex....don't do it. (until your married.....and then do it alot :-)
-If you don't have something nice to say.....shut up!
-Never make fun of people. It's mean.
-Read all of your assigned reading. And choose to enjoy it!
-Sing, act, dance. Believe in yourself.
-Never quit anything you have committed to. The flute, the piano, softball, track, friendships,girl scouts, private school,jobs, cheerleading (ok the last one isn't true....I was just on a roll)
-Fight for things that matter.
-Listen when elderly people tell stories. Because they've been there, done that.
-Love everyone! Jesus does.


There are many other things that I wish I would have know 15-20 years ago but.....these just kind of rolled out of my head and onto my finger tips.

~LL

Myrtle Beach 2010

Lessons I learn from my children on vacation #2

Actually this one should be titled "Lessons my children learned from their mom on vacation".

The little boys in the house got to purchase guns from the Disney store this week. Fun for them to run and fight and play games in the house. They have played all sorts of make believe and different games with them. But ONE of the guns has little green balls that you can shoot. You have to lock and load it and then fire away. The other gun turns from a gun into a telescoping sword. So you can imagine the excitement at the house with these two.

I was sitting in a chair chatting away with the adults when POW I get hit with one of those cute little green balls. I look up only to see one of the boys grinning from ear to ear at me.
Now I am at a cross roads. I can 1. take the adult route and nicely ask him not to shoot people in the house and then go on with my conversation. 2. Loose my temper & scream about how you could put out an eye. or 3. Grab the gun, lock and load it and then begin running though the house like I am one of Charlie's Angles. Pegging each child like they are terrorists trying to take over the world, while spinning and whirling like I'm a secret agent.

So of course I took option #3. What else would I choose.

The Lesson:
If you shoot at your mother. Be prepared she might shoot back.

~LL

Lessons I learn from my children on vacation #1

As we have walked the beach this week, Peyton has been obsessed with finding seashells. We have had a blast hunting. But I have discovered that when she checks the shells to see if they are "keeper" quality, it is a little different than when I check the shells.
I look and look to find the biggest possible shell, finally when I can't find that huge shell (that everyone is always looking for and NEVER finds) I settle for looking for one a little smaller. But I will not settle on anything less than perfection. It must be perfectly formed. No chips or scratches. Perfectly colored. Nothing dingy or faded. Perfectly smooth or Perfectly rippled. Must be completely perfect or I throw it as hard as I can back into the ocean.
But Peyton. Now she has a different technique. She sits down in the water with all the shells.Runs her hands through the sand and the water and then picks up what ever she finds. If it is a shell......then it's a keeper. They ALL go in her bucket. I try to convince her that those shells aren't perfect and how we should only look for the ones that are. But she quickly educates me. She says, "Mom, they are all shells. And didn't we come down to the beach to look for shells?" I hang my head and sit down in the water with her and begin to look for shells.......her way :-)

The Lesson:

We the church (little c) love looking for shells. We love the idea of adding to our collection. But the truth is we only want the perfect shells. Because somewhere in our world we have become convinced that it is only the perfect shells that will add true beauty to our church. People whos lives haven't been cracked, or broken, people who are the perfect color, or fit into the mold of beautiful. We have come to believe that the broken imperfect shells will take away or distract from the overall picture of the church.
Pretty sad huh?

To change our thinking would mean that we must change the way we view people. See them for the beauty they add instead of what they could take away. We would have to focus on keeping the broken and scratched ones instead of tossing them back out into the world. We would have to stop looking at our own preferences of getting things done and start focusing on "whatever it takes to reach them". Just like how Peyton sat down in the water with all the broken shells. It was there that she found the shells that she would take home. Standing up and looking down trying to find shells will cause you to miss the beauifully broken ones.


~LL