And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.(2 Corinthians 12:9)
This is the verse my church has been focused on.
When I read it Sunday, I nearly laughed out loud. Not because it contains some inside joke only those who attend my church would know, but because I suddenly heard the truth of it loud and clear and I could see the evidence of it in my own life.
It isn't the part about grace that got me. I grasp the idea of grace: something I am given beyond what I deserve. Well, to be honest the concept of grace I understand, but God's willingness to continually extend grace to me becomes overwhelming if I fully consider what that means. God's forgiveness, love, responses to prayer, hope, patience, provision...yes, the concept I grasp, the fullness of it's meaning is overwhelming.
God's strength is made perfect in weakness...I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. This is the phrase that caused the laughter to well up inside me. I've experienced it you see, in my own life.
I have witnessed God's strength while experiencing the many hardships of life. However it has been the seemingly insignificant act of creating this blog that has caused me to really think about God's strength being made perfect in my weakness.
Maybe it's because I have believed God will give strength only when it is really needed, like in times of sickness or loss. But for a blog? Really? A blog isn't necessary. Right?
The difficult time I had deciding to blog came from the incredible struggle it is for me to write. It has always been painfully, tearfully impossible for me to move my thoughts from inside my head to written word.
When the Husband suggested I blog I couldn't believe he would encourage such a thing. He knew I couldn't! He knew my weakness.
I wonder if the Lord was using the Husband to plant a seed. Something He wanted to grow, I don't know why, out of my weakness.
Maybe it is for no other reason than for me to learn that He will be strength for any weakness and that I need to rely on Him in all weakness. I would prefer to ignore my weaknesses! God has blessed me, each of us, with talents and strengths that he wants us to use for His good. I would like to focus on those please. I realize however that relying on those strengths and talents alone can allow me to think they are mine and it's all about me. Working from weakness causes me to rely on God and any good outcome will have to come from His strength.
Maybe it's because there is a story He has for me to tell because someone needs to hear it. I don't know. I will just have to wait and see.
What I do know is that there are bloggers who have an incredible gift for writing and I admire their talent. I am not one of them. I will have to be OK with that. And I have come to enjoy relying on God to help me share my thoughts and trusting Him for the outcome, whether you like it or just think I'm bonkers.
And so my friends if you enjoy reading the blog, if you have laughed, cried or just read it to take a break from a hectic day I want to take the opportunity today to boast in my infirmity! It is the Lord at work in me that I am able to achieve a single coherent sentence for you to read. If your heart has been touched in a positive way it is His doing! I praise Him for it! And I laugh because He took what I know to be my weakness to show His strength.
Christine
The table was set with a little extra flair.
In the hope of giving joy to each Mom who'd be there!
A Mom who brought six into this world they're now grown,
Great Grandma she is called by the children's children of her own.
She is still full of beauty and grace
I delight in seeing the smile on her face!
And her daughter a Mom of two girls now grown
From them she has four grandchildren of her own.
She too is lovely as in this photo can be seen,
Aging beautifully...I hope I got that gene.
And her daughter, that's me with my girls by my side
O this mommying is a wonderful ride!
Four generations together celebrating Mother's Day
A time of laughter and a chance to say
For all you do and all you've done
A place of honor in my heart you have won!
And to the beautiful one who lives too far away
To join us in celebrating on this special day
Your impact on my life is clear
You raised well the Husband I love so dear!
Mom, Grandma and Mother-in-law, this silly rhyme is just to say
Thank you, you are loved more each day!
Christine
You may be wondering what happened to me yesterday...no blog post and all. Then again you may not have noticed the lack of post and didn't care, which is fine, mostly, really it's OK, I will only cry a little if that's the case.
But if you were wondering why there was no post, I will tell you. This is exactly what happened, or approximately what happened. It's possible this story will be exaggerated, but then again maybe not.
Anyway, I ran to Target yesterday morning to purchase some body wash. We were out. Clearly I missed that on my last shopping list. Either that or the family is overly concerned with being clean and everyone has been showering way too much lately. Since I do prefer the family be clean, I won't complain about excess showering, unless it becomes obsessive. I will buy cheaper body wash however!
While at Target I had to get a Starbucks Mocha. You probably knew that.
I grabbed the body wash and while waiting in the checkout line, I saw it. The Special Collector's Issue of People! Guess who the special issue was about. That's right William and Catherine.
The issue is a 72-page Royal Wedding Album!
From hats to what the Royals wore and photos of Kate's lovely Party gown.
I bought the magazine. Drove straight home. Sat on the couch with my special issue and my mocha and devoured them both...until the girls got home from school and wanted to see it too.
They had to pry it from my hands!
They didn't want to give it back!
But they had to go to school today and once again, it's all mine!
The Husband may have to hide it from me so I get something done next week!
Christine
I do not like any sentence that begins...what's your favorite...
My desperate desire when someone begins to ask me that question is to point into the distance behind my interrogator and shout "what is that?" and bolt while they are looking the other way!
It isn't that I am not willing to share about myself, I am, clearly or I would not blog. It's just that I don't really have that many absolute favorite things.
Off the top of my head I can say that, for sure, my favorite perfume is Chanel N˚5 and my favorite coffee beverage is a Starbucks Mocha. Yep, that's it. Those two things are favorites. But no one asks "what's your favorite perfume?"
People ask "what's your favorite color?"
That's when my brain starts to flail around for an answer.
My favorite color is...
Pink! Just like the pink of the blooms on a William Baffin climbing rose.
Wait! No, it's orange! Like these begonias.
Nope! It's blue! The blue of the Husband's and the Sofibug's eyes.
Or actually...brown! Chocolate brown, like Emma bean's eyes.
How is a person to decide? They're all my favorites!
The question, what is your favorite food, is no easier.
My Mom's chili is my favorite! YUM!
Except...my Grandma's Beef Stroganoff. That's my favorite! It makes my mouth water just to think about it.
Wait! I also really like...
See why this is a problem?
Whether the question is favorite color, food, book or movie, I simply cannot choose just one "favorite". It is not possible. Am I really the only one with this problem?
I'm always amazed and frankly impressed by people who can, with conviction, give a simple, single answer. Blue is my favorite color. My mouth drops open in astonishment! How do they do that?
I only bring this up because my oldest Miss Sofibug, has in the last few weeks, been pummeling me with what's your favorite, questions.
At first I sputtered and tried to change the subject. Could I tell her the truth, that her Mom was fickle and did not have many absolute favorites? Would she be satisfied with, one of my favorites is...
At first she was determined to try to get me to pick just one favorite.
It made my head hurt!
Finally, she has accepted her Mother's inability to choose. She still asks about my favorites, but now she allows me to share a list, sometimes long lists and it leads to nice conversations about things each of us likes.
I have come to see that my girl just wants to learn more about her Mother. I love her for it!
Now I'm glad I can't choose just one thing as favorite because then these conversations would be much too short.
Christine
This is some heavy duty chops lickin'!
What could possibly cause this much intense lip smackin?
Snausages dog treats? Lilo's favorite...but No!
Beef flavored rawhides? Nope!
This kind of lip smackin', chop lickin' only happens when I start peeling and cutting up...carrots.
That's right, our little pooch loves her carrots.
Once I have all of the carrots cut up for the family, she comes running with her treat ball.
I fill it up with the remaining carrot ends, the bits I would normally discard...
...and Lilo is a happy camper for the rest of the day until she has eaten all of her carrots.
She's an odd dog...healthy, but odd.
Christine
One of the sure signs of spring is the return of the farmers market downtown St. Paul.
The farmers market is absolutely one of my favorite things!
I knew that there would not be much in the way of produce to purchase, but that didn't matter, it was the first market of the season and I wanted to be there.
Like I said the market didn't have any carrots, zucchini, or tomatoes yet, but there were plenty of spring Pussy Willow...blooms? Are they called blooms? I never thought about it before. Whatever they're called, there were lots of them and they were very pretty.
We also found flats of lettuce seedlings. I can't wait to eat my first garden fresh salad.
As always the market had honey, golden and delicious.
We even made some new friends.
There weren't many, but the market did have a few flowering plants.
I know I should have waited, because the weather is still so cold here and it continues to snow in between bouts of rain, but I could not resist purchasing a couple of these gorgeous Begonias.
Now I'm going to have to nurse them and protect them and hope they make it until the weather is warmer so I can put them in my planter on the porch.
I really should have waited! But they are sooo pretty, I couldn't help myself.
Speaking of rain...we had a great time at the market (we were only a little disappointed that our favorite brat vender wasn't there so we could have our first brat of the market season, actually I prefer a chili dog...I'm just sayin! Next time) and only had to deal with a few light sprinkles, until we headed back to the car which was a couple of blocks away, at which time the wind and rain really began to pick up.
Yep, we got soaked!
I don't think the family appreciated my need to document that part of our outing with a photo, but again I couldn't help myself. I may need to work on that.
Christine
Yes, I was up at 5:00 am to watch the Royal Wedding.
I wasn't sure if I was going to get up. I wanted to, but that is really early!
When Sofibug said she wanted to get up to watch the wedding coverage too and asked me to please wake her up in time, my mind was made up and I set the alarm.
The Royal couple was lovely!
The ceremony was beautiful! It was very fun to feel a part of the whole wonderful affair.
I was so engrossed in fact that I totally forgot, until I was half way through my corn Chex, that yesterday the husband had come home with some farm fresh eggs a coworker brought in, from her dad's chickens, to share with everyone. The eggs are gorgeous! I was planning to have an omelet for breakfast. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Tonight we are going to continue to celebrate the royal wedding with the first cocktails-on-the-porch, of the season with the neighbors.
Actually cocktails on the porch have nothing to do with the Royal wedding. It's just been a long, long time since we were able to sit outside with the neighbors for drinks and it just so happens that the weather has finally cooperated and we are taking advantage.
I do plan to wear my new hat though!
Not that anyone cares. I'm sure everyone is still watching the Royal wedding footage.
I could probably make this whole blog...blah blah blah and no one would notice.
That's OK. It's their day and I hope they have many years of wedded bliss!
Christine
