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The Benefits of Purging
Posted on April 24, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
My children always have a wonderful way of making me face things that I deliberately avoid! Today, it came in the form of my daughter who approached me about a question regarding our refrigerator. As I was preparing for a warm and relaxing midday bath, I hear Abby loudly from the kitchen, “Mom, can you help me get this shelf out of the fridge?” I was not sure why she was asking me this question so I went to find out why she needed the shelf removed. Well, my very helpful daughter that was helping me put groceries away earlier decided that the fridge really needed to be overhauled. This was not news to me, as I tend to avoid the “nasty” duties of being a homemaker.
While I am leery to tell you what happened, I am going to, and hopefully, I can provide some humor! Abby said, “Oh my goodness, Mom!!!! You wouldn’t believe the sour cream that I found in here!” I said, “Oh, I am sure I would.” She continued by telling me how that sour cream was at least four different shades of green. Being a homeschooling mom, I immediately referred to this day as Science and we logged our time in our book while we discussed mold! Every moment is teachable, moms!!! Well, Abby continued to pull out one Tupperware bowl after another, after another, after another! I quickly reverted to sarcasm and said, “I think maybe I need to have a Tupperware party, as I definitely don’t have enough bowls here!” As Abby told me how she almost threw up looking at that sour cream, I with tears in my eyes, reaching for the Vick’s Vapor Rub to put under my nose to keep from smelling the death that was wafting from the garbage disposal, just smiled and nodded! It is so funny now, but it has me thinking!
How much junk and rotten things do we have in our lives? I mean, we are faced with junk every single day. It could be from a gossipy neighbor, girlfriend or co-worker, or possibly in the tv shows that we allow into our homes as entertainment, what about the books that we read or allow our children to read, the friends we keep, the activities in which we are involved. All of these things should be reviewed daily, weekly, even monthly! It has been about two years now that my husband and I cleaned our DVR of shows that we just simply couldn’t justify any longer! I will not name those shows because this isn’t a conviction post, it is just an encouragement to really just sit and re-evaluate what you’re allowing into your life (fridge), because whether we think so or not, it will always rot!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some things worth saving! I love eating left over soup, but if I don’t get to it after a week, it starts to go bad, much in the same way as a relationship problem. Sometimes, it is best to pray about a situation before discussing it with someone, it’s kind of like putting it away in a spiritual Tupperware bowl, but if you don’t address it, Satan will allow the mold and rot to set in and eventually it will spoil the friendship! Tend to it immediately, friends! It’s important to preserve relationships, as well as purge the ones that are rotting your lives!
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What I Needed, But Didn’t Always Hear
Posted on April 23, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
Today has been a day of reflection for me. I am not sure why, but I do know that my mind has been saturated with thoughts. So, rather than beat around the bush, this is what I want to share in this blog post!
We all live life feeling like, whether or not we need it, that it would be nice to have someone tell us that we are doing a good job. We have things in our life in which we are passionate. My passion is raising my children to be fully devoted followers of Christ, to be kind, compassionate and loving, and to be a God honoring wife. I don’t think this is out of the realm of possibility with me and I strive for this daily. Sure, I don’t need to be told that I am doing a good job to do a good job, but it sure is nice to hear it. I remember being a young, stressed out, sweatpants wearing, puke and snot stained mommy of two and feeling completely under-appreciated. God gently rebuked me of this tonight. His words to me were, “Have you been telling the young moms around you how well they are doing?” The answer is, “no.” So, I hope this blog post will be able to reach all my young mommy friends out there, and even those I don’t know.
My dearest mommy friends that are just in the trenches of bringing up your children in the love of our Lord, take heart! These are very tiring times for sure! You may look in the mirror and think, “I am so tired of only wearing ponytails, or will this baby weight ever come off,” but take heart! You may be tired of waking up every. single. night. to nurse, change and burp your baby, but take heart. You may be so tired of repeating the word, “No” a hundred times a day, but take heart. I look at your babies in admiration, as they are all beautiful children with huge smiles on their face! A smile on a baby’s face says a whole lot! It means that you love them, take care of them, and nurture them. If you are doing those things, you are doing an awesome job!
I am telling you to take heart because as I was watching my children today accomplish tasks that involved my teaching through the very tough years, my heart was overjoyed. God allowed me to see something today that I haven’t seen in a while. He allowed me to see that all my repetitious no’s, and conversations have truly paid off. He allowed me to see that all those talks we’ve had about manners and respect have paid off. I also got to see that God is working on their hearts now. Why is that? Well, it is because I relied on God to get me through the toughest mommy moments and now I am seeing the blessings.
Take heart!!! It will happen, but until it does, just know I admire you and love you for accepting the highest calling a woman could ever have! You are the first one to teach your children to love, care, respect and succeed! From what I see in you, my dear friends, you are doing a great job!
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To Kony or Not To Kony
Posted on March 9, 2012, by Kim, under News | Events | Politics.
My mind is spinning with thoughts today. I remember seeing a trailer of the Invisible Children almost a year ago at a youth gathering. When I saw the three minute trailer, my heart was stirred at that point, but it wasn’t because I was ready to jump on the bandwagon right at that moment. It was actually very disturbing to me. I don’t know why, but political rallies on Capitol Hill always make me nervous. I understand that people have passion about certain things, but to me, it’s difficult to see. I am reminded of flag burnings, and the other insane things that people do in protest.
I share this with caution because I have friends that are passionate about this movement, Kony 2012. After seeing the Kony 2012 video circulate all over facebook, I finally gave in and watched it one day while my children were reading during school. I have to be honest and tell you that every fiber of my being told me that this is definitely something that we should not mess with. I will admit, my heart is torn because I have a deep love for children. I want to see them have the best life possible, and to succeed in everything they do. It is my dream that each child should be afforded a full and happy life, but we can’t always control the outcome of their lives.
I feel like God has given me a spirit of discernment and so, the research began. I stumbled upon some facts that confirmed my feelings and contacted a good friend to see if she had watched it to find out her opinion. She had not watched it yet, but later that night she had a chance and her feelings confirmed exactly my thoughts. Friends, I ask that before you go all in, please think about this. Read between lines, and listen to the verbiage. Everything that is being said is focused on a “Global Community” or “One World Government,” we as Christians know where this will take us. I know that it is inevitable that we end up there, but as Christians, are we really going to embrace this movement? Are we really going to jump into every good, pull on your heartstrings, movement? People, there is a thing called discernment. I am praying that the generations that are fully impacted by this get an over abundance of discernment. The red flags are everywhere.
I want to share with you the thoughts of a very good friend of mine. She eloquently shared them on Facebook earlier this afternoon, and she has spoken the very words I have been trying to put together.
It’s official: I’m old enough that I’m not easily herded with the rest of the hip flock. You see, my generation and those since have grown up in a world where we jump on band wagons quickly and rather mindlessly. Examples: *livestrong*, *Susan G. Komen*, and *WWJD* wrist bands were ways to show support for something good, right? Or perhaps, the wristbands really said more about ourselves: that we allowed brilliant marketers to use us as their billboards and make some money off of us. They were packaged with wholesome marketing and for the most part, our financial and social support went to worthy and decent causes. So we all wore our cheap plastic wrist bands with blissful smugness, feeling that we were part of the hip flock AND were doing something good. Thus we were mindlessly herded.
Which brings me to *Kony 2012* and the video, *Invisible Children* which has gone viral on FB and other social media sites. I watched it and found myself on an emotional roller coaster: ADMIRING a selfless dad who wanted to impact the world and save Uganda’s children and then INSULTED, realizing that the afore-mentioned dad was actually attempting to manipulate millions of “happy, hip sheep” by explaining his view of a complex political situation in a manner that his five year old would understand. Well, if I continue to move with the happy, hip flock of 5 year old intellectuals, then I’m quite happy to have someone tell me that I should support the simplistically explained political tragedy, I pay a small amount, and run with the “happy, hip flock” and their newest version of the hip new bracelet.
Trouble is, I actually listened to what was said and then did further research. That’s right, the flock kept moving and I decided to stay put and think for myself …. I can always catch the flock if they’re on the right path.
So, to the flock: did you hear the solitary sentence where it was divulged that Kony is no longer in Uganda? Yup! Uganda is now in the rebuilding phase and has been for quite sometime (do your own research or follow some of the links I posted last night and today.) Here’s another mind blowing tid-bit that he somehow made palatable (easy when your target audience has the decided to accept information dumbed down for a five year-old with a heart of gold): we should start an armed conflict with Kony and his army to bring him to justice. “Yay!!!!” the happy flock all “bahhhhs” together. Wait a minute ….. isn’t Kony’s army made up of the Invisible Children of Uganda? Shouldn’t the flock be bahhhing, “Booo!!!!! Bad idea!!!!! Don’t kill the abducted Invisible Children of Uganda!!!”
So, I encourage the happy flock to stand still for a moment, do some research, and think it through. It might take more than 30 minutes and you might not get to wear the newest hip bracelet, but that naked wrist of yours will be advertising your ability to think for yourself.
BTW: I think Kony and his supporters should be brought to justice, and I trust that Africans are both wise and capable enough to do that on their own.
Now, to deal with my impending midlife crisis: I’m not in the young, happy, hip flock anymore …….. *sniff*
I understand that many of you may support this, and that you may have done your research and have formed your opinion. This is no attack on you, it is just the flip side and should be taken into serious consideration.
