Being Open: Social Media

Lately I have been contemplating social media. Can we have a 24/7 fly-on-the-wall's view of our friends, family and even just acquaintances and not let it "suck our souls"? 

I love it because I can stay connected with old friends and watch as their families grow. Also, it makes sending information out VERY easy. I also love to study other people and learn a little about what makes them tick. Or just escaping my little space in the world and hearing about how one of my current favorite blogger/artist raises her 6 sons. 

There is of course the other side of the coin where people share too much, or even just too often. 

My kids are just getting to the age where social media is starting to be part of their everyday life. Now that the stakes are high it makes me wonder how I'm going to help them navigate this world where we know every little detail about everyone's lives and sometimes even their bodies.

I don't want my kids to let social media define who they are. I want them to take it by the horns and tell it who is boss. I don't want it to strip them of their innocents and make them want things they don't have. But, I also feel like they can learn from it, because some form of social media is going to be around for their whole lives.

Which still leaves me wondering: Can there be social media without soul sucking?

I'll let you know when I know.

Being Helper

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

Sometimes (most times) I can't seem to figure out how to be a helpmate for my husband. We are opposites in almost every single aspect of life. He's all sci-fi and I'm romantic comedy. He's words and I'm thoughts, he's cynical and I'm happy-go-lucky, he's podcasts and I'm music. In most ways it isn't a big deal to be so different. In fact, it's kind of nice because we are able to see first hand what the other side looks like and then make well informed decisions. 

But, sometimes when trouble comes and when he's overwhelmed I just have to sit here and watch helplessly. He tells me, and I believe him, that I am his perfect mate because of our differences, but that doesn't make watching the pain any easier. Thirteen years has taught me how to study him so I can adapt to better suit him, however there are still plenty of blanks. 

Since he's been working from home 3 years ago we've gotten really close, scary close (we sometimes even know what the other is going to say before they say it!!! Freaky!). I've learned that when he's really grouchy it's usually because he's just frustrated and feeling overworked (or hungry!) and it's not me. Or many times he speaks before he thinks and that I need to either just listen to the words and not the tone or else in a calm and loving way point out that he didn't communicate so well. 

This past year has been one that he has been stretched incredibly thin and I've found my job is to just listen. I wasn't expecting that listening would be my number one prerequisite for "Helper". The word helper has a simple definition it simply means: "Someone who helps someone else." That's easy, right?! Not often. It's hard to JUST be a listener, or JUST be a respecter, or JUST be a secret keeper (not in an unhealthy way, but in a "I'm keeping mine and my husband's dirty laundry off Facebook" kind of way), or even just be a house cleaner/cook/baby wrangler all simultaneously. But 2014 has taught me  this: Listening is sometimes all my guy really needs. He doesn't always need a way to fix something and a lot of times he doesn't really need my opinion on the matter, he just need me to be a person who listens and a person who will always points him back to our Creator.  

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord.¹⁹ ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you²⁰ a future filled with hope.²¹

Being, Just Being: 2014 Edition

The end of the year always puts me into reflection mode. 

This year has been...well, it's really been so many different things. It started with anticipation and ended with anticipation with so many feelings and emotions sandwiched in the middle. 

2014 has been amazing in so, so many ways.

Then, completely discouraging in a  lot more soul searching, "what do I really believe" ways. 

Sometimes it's so incredibly hard to feel the good parts of life when you're down in the mire. 

Everyone loves to point out that we need to count our blessings, but sometimes you wonder how exactly you're supposed to do that. 

I grew up ALWAYS looking for the silver-lining in situations and people. 

But, sometimes life throws so much at you that it feels like you're drowning.

For Christmas my husband bought me some new Chuck Taylor's to replace my old worn out 20-year old pair. Though I'm super excited to have a new pair that will actually stay strapped on my feet and not let the elements in anymore. It made me think of everything those shoes and I have been through over the past 20 years. It's been a wild ride, and I've learned many valuable lessons in that time.

The most valuable lesson being: I'm really only interested in following God.

In some ways I wish I could go back to when my first Chuck's were new and tell myself "You would save yourself so much time and regret if you would just believe and follow God." (Not that I would've listened, my heart was no where near the right place for that.) But then I wouldn't have had the life experiences that lead me here either. There wouldn't be these specific kids, or this specific marriage, or most importantly this specific relationship with Jesus. So I guess I needed those 20 years in those Chucks to walk me right to where I am today.


I'm hopeful that when my new Chuck's wear out and I'm looking back in 2034 I'll understand why I had to go through the pains of the next 20 years and that I will find myself still faithfully following God above all else.