Songs of Summer

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (ESV) “My way, my way! Get outta my way! ” my toddler says as she squeezes her way behind me on the couch.   “Say excuse me,” I remind her. “‘’Scoo me,” she says as she continues to push her way through, and the limits of my patience. Being a mom to a toddler is harder than I remember. I’ve been through these years with my older kids, but I thought this time would be a breeze with the experience of being an older mom.  However, her temperament is a  little more turbulent than breezy. My husband and I aren’t sure what will work best for her.  I think she needs limits and consequences and discussed the possibility of time-outs.  He didn’t like my idea and backed up his thoughts with an article explaining how punishment can be harmful to toddlers.   His parenting...

I was 39 when my husband and I got married, but I still firmly believed in living “happily ever after”.  I thought marrying the right guy could make this happen, but it didn’t take long before I learned our marriage would be full of ups and downs.  Adjusting to each others habits and ways of doing life was hard and to add to that, my husband had to adjust to living with my two teenagers.   In our four years of married life, we have had great days mixed together with tough days.  We have had fun times when we feel silly and happy and other days when we’ve felt frustrated and annoyed with each other.  We have great talks and then times when neither of us can communicates what is bothering us. There have been days when he is concerned about low corn price while I am nagging him about remodeling the kitchen. Then I take it personally when he seems irritated or is in a bad mood.  It bothers me when he is quiet and withdrawn.  This has happened more as ...

“ The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:33 Do you ever make things harder than they need to be?  Way back when I was finishing college, my student teaching supervisor told me I do this.  She tried to soften her comment by adding that my teaching would become easier and more streamlined with time. There was no doubt leading a classroom was hard, but I couldn’t pinpoint how I was making it harder.  Thankfully, I did start to see some ways I did this and learned from my mistakes. For example,  I discovered it’s not a good idea to begin an art project to hang in the hallway on the afternoon of parent teacher conferences because of the stress and frustration it created when I tried! Unfortunately, I can make things harder on myself in other areas of my life too.  Because of this tendency, I am really appreciative when I look back and see how God has lined things up to make things work out for the be...

Romans 15:13 (CEB)-May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. You know how you start thinking about something and then see the topic everywhere?   Hope has been that recurring theme for me lately. It started a few weeks ago when I got a text while doing the dishes. I heard my phone ding, but I finished the dishes before I checked it.  The quiet afternoon allowed time to daydream and my mind wandered to what would be the best text I could hope for. When nothing came to my mind right away, I realized I don’t often live with hopeful expectation that something good could happen.  After washing a few more dishes, I came up with a few things I am hoping for in my life. Later on, I wrote down a few of these hopes.  I think hopes are often ideas that God has put in our hearts.   Martin Luther said, “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” The life I live n...

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)- And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I strained a muscle in my back and went to bed grumpy and woke up grumpier.  I wanted to be selfish and lazy and wished I could have an entire day to only take care of myself.  Instead, I needed to dress my little one and take off to watch my teenager play in a softball tournament.  My husband needed to do chores and would meet us there later.   I went through a drive thru on the way for breakfast and I truly appreciated the coffee and food prepared by someone else.  Soon, I began to feel a little more able to take on the day, but I winced when I heard on the radio that the heat index would be well over 100 for the day. We got to the tournament and saw friends to watch the game with.  Maycee was happy with the special breakfast food and the sky was overcast and there was even a bit of a breeze.  There was a playground not far f...

“Above all else, guard your heart,  for everything you do flows from it.”Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)   Do you ever work on an area of your life and then it gets worse?  This happened to me.  I had been praying about my words because I want them to bring honor to God. I know I need to show better judgement.  I don’t want to spout out things too quickly or sound rude, but that is exactly what I did at a spring softball game.The few previous weekends had been frustrating for Leah (and me) because she wasn’t getting much playing time.  I told her that these early games didn’t determine the whole season and to keep trying hard and stay positive, but in my head I was doing that dreaded thing that parents sometimes do- second guessing the coaches’ decisions.  Why wasn’t Leah getting a chance at that position instead of the girl playing it for two games in a row?  Blah, blah, blah. On this afternoon, several players were missing for a music trip so Lea...