Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

{Put on your Oxygen Mask!!}



Let’s set the scene…
It’s a quarter to 4 in the afternoon and your day started at 5:30 am, you are exhausted. You have been dealing with a very cranky 3 year old with a cold. You have just ended a busy work week and it is finally your weekend. All you want to do is NOTHING. But, you don’t because you are the grown up, the mommy, the wife. The washer and dryer is running, dinner is on the stove, the dishes are being put away , your folding the laundry in the laundry basket, cartoons are on the T.V that you hope are going to keep your 3 year old occupied but, they aren’t because he wants to be in the middle of it all, hacking and coughing because he has a cold, freaking out when his nose runs to the point that he is screaming if you don’t immediately, I MEAN IMMEDIATELY have a tissue in hand to wipe. You can’t seem to move fast enough for it all.
All of a sudden, all the sounds seem to merge into one very loud sound all at once, you can hear it all getting louder and louder, machines running, pots of food are boiling, silverware is clinking, and your child is screaming. The room starts to spin…
STOP!!! THE CABIN IS LOOSING PRESSURE!
Put your oxygen mask on mom!!
“Should the cabin experience sudden pressure loss, stay calm and listen for instructions from the cabin crew. Oxygen masks will drop down from above your seat. Place the mask over your mouth and nose, like this. Pull the strap to tighten it. If you are traveling with children, make sure that your own mask is on first before helping your children.”
I never really understood the pre-flight directions from the airline attendant before having a child. I mean, wouldn’t you instinctively want to put it on your child first….Well that’s what you would want to do but, the fact of the matter is, if you are in that situation you may pass out before completing the task then,your both goners.

In my daily life I think of those instructions often. Taking care of the home, the kids, working, all becomes a little overwhelming, the cabin pressure drops and you find yourself in a cabin emergency. God then drops down the oxygen mask and tells you “Put your oxygen mask on mom and listen to me!!”
That’s when you step back and walk away from it all. Placing your child in a safe place,handing them a tissue, turning down the dinner on the stove so it doesn’t over boil, putting the towels in the laundry basket, and setting them aside for later, turning down the cartoons. Then retreating into your bedroom, bathroom, and garage, what ever place in your home you can escape to go breathe deeply the oxygen provided through your mask. You breathe in and out, in and out. Saying prayers and listening to instructions provided. You say “Oh God! Give me the strength to get through this cabin emergency"and he does.
You find yourself calm,collected, you can breathe, and you can then go back to your noisy {now it doesn’t seem so noisy}, busy activities of the afternoon. You get it all done without casualties.
When life gets noisy, busy, and overwhelming.
Step back and put on your oxygen mask.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{I’ll take the 70’s please…}

If you walk into my home you will walk into a time warp. A sea of pea green, gold tones, burnt orange, glass table grapes, wooden fruit, swag lamps, and gaudy 1970’s oil paintings.
Oddly as it may sound I find peace and tranquility in it all. A sense of being home.
I can remember as a small child going to my Grandma Marlene’s house and seeing the gold veined mirror tiles on the wall.
It was home.
A place full of love, love, and more love. I remember playing hide and seek behind the vinyl tufted bar, and skinny dipping in the pool. I remember how she would always where the most uncomfortable pointy toe heals with short shorts, get her hair done once a week, and pick up after the dogs in her panty hose. She always had a variety of ice cream in the freezer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
This woman was beautiful; and unique in her own way. I love and miss her so very much. I never went without feeling a sense of belonging, and being so completely loved.
I was her little angel.
As I have become more aware lately. I find myself thinking about her and how my relationship with God is similar.
My relationship with him is unique, not the same as the person next to me. It’s personal. I can be myself, and be so completely loved, and reassured that I have a place in this world, he is my 1970’s.
I have a problem with main stream Christianity, cookie cutter, put on the Sunday best, a smile, and pray in a format as if reading from a script.
Just be yourself! Scars and all.
Do we talk to the people we love like “Oh dearest friend I come before you today .......” NO! We say, “Hey I have something to talk about.” Just be real. He already knows what’s on our mind before it comes out of our mouths.
So why be fake?
I am thankful for my relationship with him. I can go crying to him and say “Hey I had a bad day today I need to talk about it.” Or, “That was so cool that you did____.”
He knows our heart of hearts, He isn’t an idiot, and he doesn’t need us to pray in format.
He wants us to feel like we are home, to feel like we belong, he wants us to embrace life, where panty hose while doing yard work, eat ice cream for breakfast, and be unique.
BE REAL EMBRACE YOUR 1970’S