I did it! I did it!

I DID IT!
Thursday morning I RAN 1 full mile. (Note the lack of " " around the word ran)

Of course, on the down side, that means I'll expect myself to run a full mile from here on out.

Lower expectations (ie: run a couple laps) are easier to achieve.

Higher expectations offer greater satisfaction.

I bet there is a life lesson in there somewhere ;)
...............
.............
............. And NO. This does not mean I'm now setting my sights on a marathon.........silly reader! ;)

All About Me Video

In light of yesterday's post, I thought this video relevant.

O-kay. Can't embed it for some reason, so you'll just have to click here to see it. (scroll to the bottom of the post - after reading the article, of course)
My thanks to Robin Dugall and his blog Spiritual Regurgitations, where I found the video.

And did I mention relevant in that first sentence?
Click here for another funny video.
My thanks to author Jill Williamson for posting it on her blog.

Missing the big picture

I love details. I love lists and cross-check color-coded spreadsheets.  Excel is my friend.
If I don't take frequent breaks to come up for air, I miss the big picture.  The why of why I am performing a detailed task.  The purpose of my precious little details. 

Read Matthew 20:17-21 and the same story in Mark 10:32-37.
If you don't have your Bible handy - use the sidebar Bible gadget.

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus clearly laid out for the 12 what was going to happen. He gave them the big picture: 
            The Son of Man will be betrayed - Priests will condemn Him - Gentiles will mock, flog, and kill Him - Three days later He will rise. 

That may sound like a detailed list to some of you.  Trust me, it's not.  Details would be:
      The Son of Man (which is me, Jesus, by the way) will be betrayed (by a kiss from Judas Iscariot in the garden of Gethsemane) and (Caiaphas) will condemn ME to death (by crucifiction at Golgatha)......................  you get the point.

Anyhoo, I digress.

Jesus just finishes telling the 12 about his death.  More importantly, He tells them of His resurrection!  He is going to forever conquer sin and death!

James and John, the sons of Zebedee missed the forrest for the trees.  They only had one little detail on their minds.  "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory".
Basically, they said, "That's nice.  Now, when you reign, can we share your glory?  We're worried about us, Lord."

Do I do that?  Am I so caught up in my own life - my own details - that I miss what Jesus is trying to teach me?  Do I forget to glance up and notice what God is doing in the lives of those around me?  To look at the big picture?

Painting Friendship

Stereotypically, men bond by watching or participating in sports and doing a project of some sort together.  Women bond through shopping, eating, and talking (usually involving large amounts of crying, laughing, or both).
So when my good friend Marci called Thursday morning and invited me to help paint mutual friend Joelle's nursery on Friday,  I wasn't thinking, "Oh goody!  A chance to bond!"  Quite frankly, I was thinking, "Great.  I'm spending all day today planting a garden and my house is a mess.  I don't feel like spending tomorrow helping someone else paint.  Bu-ut, Marci generously gave her time and energy to help me paint my master bedroom, so how can I tell her no?!?"
"Sure!",  I told Marci...... hoping she didn't detect my false enthusiasm.

3 Things God taught me through painting a nursery yesterday:

1) Marci is a servant friend.  She comes to a friend's need in a heartbeat.  So giving..... and cheerful about it, too.
2) I am not.  I prefer to be the "taker".  Oh, I'll help a friend, because that is what friends do.  But I'm not very often cheerful about it.  Shame on me.
    side note:  Part of me wishes God had kept that one His little secret.  Did I accidentally pray recently to become a better friend or more servant-hearted?!
3) There is blessing in servanthood.  I had such a fun time with Marci and Joelle yesterday.  Sure, someone (Marci) tried dropping a level on my head and I ended the day with a kinked neck and wrist.  But all in all we enjoyed good fellowship.  Deepened our friendship over sharing the excitement of a new little boy.
I nearly missed out on that blessing.  Glad I didn't.

Bringing it full circle, we girls bonded through an activity.  Who says bonding through activities is just for the boys?  Ok, sure there was lots of talking going on.  But there wouldn't have been talking without the activity.

Interaction:
Where do you fall on the servant-heart scale?   1 - 10
Use the following guide:
1 (help if forced to)  3 (Britt-like: joyfully volunteer - if it fits in my schedule and is needed)  9 (Marci-like)   10  (practically Jesus)

and I know for a fact most of my friends are at least a 7 or 8..... so if you underscore yourself, I'll call you on it!

Ketchup Scrambled Eggs

Good Morning. 
Kinda hard to wake up this morning.  I have yet to do my Wednesday Pilates, shower, read the Bible, or make my children breakfast.  Instead, I am cooking you up a tasty cyber breakfast of ketchup scrambled eggs. 

1) First of all, how do you spell ketchup?  KETCHUP  or  CATSUP?  For the purpose of this post I really should have spelled it CATCH-UP.  Hang on, This post covers several items in no particular order and with no particular thread connecting them  (Hence the "scrambled" portion of the title)

2) Speaking of Scrambled, that's how Dan thinks my brain is wired.  We watched this humorous marriage seminar video clip on The Men's Brain by Mark Gungor.  In it, Mark explains how Men have neat separate mental boxes for every area of their life.   In response, Dan figures my brain is more like a grab-bag with every thought scrambled into randomness.  Never know what's gonna come out.

3) We are closer to deciding on a puppy!  Probably going to go with English Setter.  Was it hours of research leading us to this choice?  Kind of.  I researched several breeds on the internet and narrowed it down.  English Setter made the top 10.............and then for some random reason I can't remember, got crossed off.   The breed reappeared at the #1 spot, however, when Dan's co-worker offered a generous discount on a recently born English Setter pups :)  They are 4 weeks old today and I hope to meet them this week!  (We'll only be purchasing one)  I'm feeling a little "nesting" going on.  Making lists of what we need to buy and what I need to accomplish around the house (ie: pick up the downstairs) before our little arrival in 3 weeks.

4) Soccer and AWANA are over !!!!  Great times.  Glad we participated.  Glad they're done.

5) I am SOOO ready for Summer.  Camping, Water Park, Seeing several different family members.  Backyard-swing-book-reading while my children play in the wading pool.   Al....most.... there.....  :)

6)  Guess What!?!  Exciting "Running" update.  I now "run" 3/5 of a mile without stopping.  Impressive, I know.  I've decided when I "run" a full mile I will reward myself by dropping the quotation marks from "running".

7) Now that it's 8:30, I better start making real breakfast.  Hope you enjoyed your cyber ketchup scrambled eggs!

Speaking of Ketchup, (See how I brought this post full circle?!?), what is the wierdest thing you -or someone else- put ketchup on? 

For me it was last night at the supper table.  My children put ketchup on their Tilapia fillets.  
Okay, I'll admit it.  As a child I had a wierd ketchup experience.  I routinely squirted ketchup on cottage cheese.  Gags me to think about that now, though.

Mis-Matched Flatwear

If you are ever at my house and you open up my utensil drawer, mismatched silverware flatwear will greet you.  Laying in their green untensil holder, they'll put on their best face, hoping you'll pick them.  You might have to rumage through the top few spoons to find your favorite.   You see, I own two different styles of butter knives and tablespoons, three different forks, and five styles of spoons.  And that doesn't even include a wide assortment of mismatched baby/toddler utensils.  Usually, I think nothing about my lower-class, mismatched flatware.  (I think at least one set is Oneida, afterall).  I even call it "silverware". 

However, this past Thanksgiving we ate dinner at a friend's house.  Just before eating,  she pulled out something peculiar.  A rectangular shaped wood box with red-velvet lining.  Imagine my surprise when upon peering inside I discovered real silverware.  All matching.  Even novelties such as serving spoons, jelly spoon, pickle fork, and meat forks matched all 12 coordinating place settings. It was a site to behold.

If my friend hadn't invited me over for dinnner and used her box of real silverware, I might have forgotten such items even existed.  I am used to my mismatched flatware.  I think nothing of it.  Digging 4 spoons down for my favorite is normal.

What if instead of flatware, it was my lifestyle?  What if I lived a cheap imitation life - void of the real deal?  I would think it normal.  I would need someone else to show me real LIFE existed.  Open their red velvet lined box life and let me experience the real deal.  Then I would know what had been missing in my life.

If you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you have the real deal.  The red velvet lined box.  People living without knowledge of His love and goodness, living in sin or bad life circumstances, only know cheap imitation flatware.

Here is to letting others into our lives so they may experience the real deal. 

Street Evangelizing

I did it............. almost. Remember my Lysol post?  The one about reaching out to non-believers where they are?  Well,  I was *this* close to some street evangelizing last Sunday. See the diamond shadow on the sidewalk?  Yah.  That was me.  Inches from the street.
Who was my mark, you ask?  My neighbor four houses down.  Four.  It's as if God brought a foreigner to my doorstep sidewalk.

As Dan got the children ready for bed, I sat in my comfy living room recliner relaxing.  Staring out the window at the lovely sunshiny evening and reflecting on my blessed Mother's Day. When all of a sudden my distant, 4-house-down-neighbor strolled into view.  Pushing her three year old son on his little tricycle. 

I considered armchair praying for this woman's salvation.

Then I felt the Holy Spirit's nudging to get off my rocker (my little Britt-sized recliner is also a rocker!) and meet the heathen where she was. 

Outside.....  In the neighborhood.

She smiled.  I smiled.  We said hello and exchanged the customary "Happy Mother's Day" - even though we are not each other's mother.

Anyhoo..... after a nice little chat I thought I'd test the spiritual waters.  It was a Sunday.  I could casually work church into the conversation.  Church could lead to the gospel bridge illustration and BINGO!  I could convert a heathen right there on my sidewalk!

. . . .

. . . .

Oh.  You went to church this morning?  You go to Holy Apostles Catholic Church?

As I said, my blog readers, I was  *this* close.   If you're protestant like me, you know how close. Catholocism is practically not Christian.

(Disclaimer...... I have nothing against Catholics.  I have Catholic friends.  I believe Catholics are just as "Christian" as Protestants.  Just a little cross-religious humor, my friends.)

Zilch

Isn't that a fun word? ....... Zilch
Not bothering to look it up, I'm not even sure it is a word.  But in my mind it means nothing.
Appropriate since I have nothing to write about this morning.
Nothing.... Nada......  Zilch.
Not even a funny kid-story comes to mind.
Sure, I could find something in the Bible to talk about.  Plenty of good stuff in there.  I just don't feel like being "preachy" today.  Especially when I don't feel God laying anything on my heart.
So I guess I'll just talk about nothing.
Hope this little discussion on Zilch encouraged you today!  Have a good one.

Mother's Day 2010

How was your Mother's Day?
I enjoyed a very peaceful and relaxing day.  Nothing special, but everything wonderful. 
The weather even cooperated with a warm and sunny day. (Thank you, God)

As we piled in the minivan for church, I had just clicked my seatbelt when all 3 kids piped up at once, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  We love you!"  (Dan's idea - coordinated by Ethan) :)
After church we enjoyed pre-plated crackers, cheese, summer sausage, and sushi.  So wonderful to come home from church and have lunch all ready.
Then I read pretty much read all afternoon while kids played outside and Dan played a video game.
(after calling my own, wonderful Mother, of course!)
Dan grilled delicious NY strip steaks for supper.
Dan gave me a nice card and we relaxed watching "The Seeker" DVD after the kids were in bed.
It was wonderful.
I felt a bit guilty for not doing something with my family on Mother's Day.  But Dan assured me to just relax and enjoy myself.  I guess at this stage of life, Mother's Day is all about taking a break from Mother duties, right?!  :)
However, I'm so thankful to be a Mom in this family.  I love the family God has blessed me with.  I am very fortunate to feel loved and appreciated 365 days of the year, so I don't ever feel Mother's Day is SUPER special .............. but it's still nice to read all afternoon uninterrupted and eat grilled steak for supper!

How was your Mother's Day?  If you are a Mom, what was the hightlight of your day?  If you are a daughter, what did you do for your Mom? 

Top 3 Survey

I don't care for those "favorite" surveys.  The ones where you have to pick chocolate or vanilla.  Coke or Pepsi.  Or you have to list your favorite cereal, movie, book, ice cream, etc.................
I just can't commit to those either-or scenarios.  And picking a favorite ice cream is kinda like picking my favorite child........impossible!
So I've decided to create a "Top 3" Survey.
Have a Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend........

1) Top 3 Ice Cream Flavors
2) Top 3 Authors
3) Top 3 Places to Go on a Date
4) Top 3 Places You Have Visited
5) Top 3 Places You Want to Visit
6) Top 3 Restaurants
7) Top 3 Drinks
8) Top 3 Breakfast Foods
9) Top 3 Games
10) Top 3 Pets  (either you have, or would like to have)

P.S. - My answers in comments.  Feel free to leave yours!
P.P.S. - In case you don't notice from my responses, there really are NO rules on this "top 3" survey.  Pick and choose which questions to answer and how many answers to give for each question.

Being like Mary

This morning I am wondering if I tend to be a "Mary".   I'm not referring to Mary as in Mary and Martha of the famed Bible story (see Luke 10:38-42).  I'm referring to the Nursery rhyme Mary,Mary, quite contrary sort of Mary.

Last night at supper, my husband and I started rattling off our four-year-old daughter's catch phrases. 
Phrases she'll regularly throw into a conversation as random and out of place as a pull-string doll.
Phrases like:   "I want Mommy"
                      "I'm hun-gry"  or   "I want cereal"
                       "I don't want to"
                       "I don't like that"

She really is a sweet girl.  But she can be a bit contrary at times. So when she is being contrary, Dan and I have taken to calling her "Mary" - as in the Nursery rhyme: Mary, Mary, quite contrary)

Do I do that?  Do I ever tell God "I don't want to" or "I don't like that" ?
I'm pretty sure I do.  And unfortunately, I probably even use my 4-year old whine voice to match.

I'd like to be more like Mary of Mary and Martha.  Sitting still and peaceful at the foot of Jesus.  Worshipping Him.  Delighting in His presence and not worrying about all my tasks for the day.
I think I could be, too.............. except ............ I don't want to   ;)

Easy-to-assemble Altar

Recently, a friend helped me assemble two dressers for my newly decorated Master bedroom.
I am SO thankful for her help!  If you've never assembled a big piece of furniture-in-a-box........well, you just don't know what you're missing!

Guess what God pointed out to me in Exodus chapter 20 this morning? Directions for an Easy-to-Assemble Altar.

The passage is Exodus 20:24-26.   
God had just given Moses the 10 Commandments in verses 1-17.  Normally I stop after verse 17, "I just read the 10 commandments.  Done - and - done."
But this morning, I kept reading and in verses 24-26 God gives instruction for building an altar .....
"Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle.  Wherever I cause My Name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.  If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.  And do not go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakendness be exposed on it."

1) Not to go all Joel Osteen on you, but I think a large part of this passage is about receiving God's Blessings. Notice God says, "Wherever I cause my Name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you."  To me, that read like, "Find yourself in the center of My will, and I will bless you.  In fact, Britt, sit tight.  Don't get up. Relax.  Rest in My will and I will come to you, and bless you."  Rather passive on my part, isn't it? 

2) This isn't out of Websters, just out of my head.  But to me, an "altar" represents the place of interaction between a deity and worshipers.  And in this passage, God is saying that His altar will be a place of burnt (sin) offerings AND fellowship offerings.  God wants me as I am.  He wants my confession of sin and my praise.  I can bring it ALL to Him in one place.

3) God sure made it easy for the Israelites to build an altar.  It's like God said, "Just heap up a pile of dirt and call it good."  And if the Israelites felt they needed to jazz it up a bit, like other cultures?  God said, "O-kay.  If you must make it 'fancy', go ahead and use stones - but don't work too hard at it.  Don't use a tool and don't build it so high you have to use steps." 
I don't want to neglect the importance of God saying not to use a tool because "you will defile it", or "do not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it".  I get it that these references deal with our unworthiness of a HOLY GOD.  The stone HE made is perfect how it is.  Our nakedness represents our sinfulness (Adam and Eve had to clothe themselves after the whole "apple" incident.)
However, I think it is equally important to note how easy God made it for the Israelites - sinful and unworthy as they were -  to build an altar.  A place of communion with a Holy God.
I wonder how often I make it difficult to build an altar?  I think I have to spend time and energy (I'm guessing it's harder to quarry stone than dig dirt) and my own gifts and talents and acts of service (tools) to try and get closer to God (altar with steps) before He will hear me.  I don't have to "try harder" to be heard by God.  He hears and communes with me where I am at.  Here on this earth.

Praise God for His easy to assemble altar!  Praise God for all His blessings in my life.

Interactive:
Agree / Disagree with my assesment of the passage?  Something I missed or am totally off the mark on?

Random Lysol Thoughts

Yesterday, as I Lysol-wiped my kitchen counters; a random thought link ran through my head.
And since I have no better blog post ideas and I'm a day late - I'll share it with you :)

Several years ago, while I was pregnant with my firstborn,  a woman co-worker shared the following with me:
"When my babies were born, I put Lysol in the air humidifiers and when people came over to visit those first weeks, I  just held my baby up to the screen door so they could see them.  I didn't want any germs making my babies sick"

I. kid. you. not. 

As I remembered this random conversation, God planted a thought in my head:
"Do we, as Christians, over Lysol-wipe our lives?"
Am I so worried about being contaminated by heathens, that I don't interact with them?
Is it safer to give money than time?
Heaven forbid I invite a non-Christian to hang out.  Or worse - go with them to their social function!  There might be germs, for heavens' sake!

On second thought,
For heaven's sake, perhaps I'll go ahead and hang out with heathens.................
I'll just pack a few Lysol wipes in my purse to be safe ;)

PS - The lysol woman was really nice and not nearly as wacky as that story makes her.  She admitted how crazy she had been as a young mom.