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Flipping Superbowl 2012

Posted in life, The Hubby, WONDER, tagged flipping the bird, Football, Half Time Show, Janet Jackson, Just Sayin', M. I. A., Madonna, NBC, Superbowl 2012 on February 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I watched the Superbowl last Sunday, just like every year since I got married to my football loving hubby.

Hum, I need to make a admission … I didn’t watch ALL of the Superbowl, I didn’t even watch most of the Superbowl … I did watch the half time show though, and I did watch all of that.

I have to say that I am usually extremely disappointed with the half time shows at the Superbowl. The sound is usually of a quality equivalent to communication at a fast food drive through. The entertainers are usually older than myself (and if you ask my kids I’m archaic!), to the point that some might say they are over ripened. shudder.

I quite enjoyed the half time show at the Superbowl this year. Maybe it is because the network seemed to get the sound quality improved, or maybe it was because I AM old, and I was a teen when Madonna was rising to the top. The costume changes and dance choreography were fantastic. I was able to lay my head on my pillow Sunday night, feeling quite encouraged that, yes Virginia, there can be a good Superbowl halftime show!

Which brings me to my “just sayin’ ” point.

This morning I was awakened to internet news sites and radio broadcasters announcing with vigor similar to a new father announcing the birth of his baby, or a nation’s leader declaring the start of a world war, that “The bird was flipped at the Superbowl halftime show.”

To which I replied, “Really? Really?”

Had media NOT made it a front page story, no one would have cared (if, indeed, they had noticed at all, and I had not noticed it when I was watching it). Then there is the apology by NBC:

“Our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and we apologize to our viewers.”

Having watched the Superbowl for a number of years in a row now, I would think that NBC would, by now, have a system that is prepared to obscure inappropriate gestures and statements. It is not like these inappropriate expressions are unexpected (remember Janet Jackson? And now M. I. A.). After all, as I read one commentary today, the entertainers who were hired to perform were ones whose careers are known for shocking acts and actions … what do we, what do the networks, think might happen?

And that is my “just sayin’ ” comment for today!

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Needing a Physician

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged Burden, Burden Bearing, GOD, Healer, Ill, Kari Jobe, Matthew 11, Sick, Struggle, The Great Physician, Trust in God on February 6, 2012| 4 Comments »

I feel cruddy! My head is swirling, my body aches, my brain is not thinking straight, and there is a throbbing in my heart that just won’t rest. I think I need to see a physician.

Other than my body aches (from a super energetic walk with hubby, after going far too long without doing so), none of my symptoms are ones that a Medical Practitioner could help with. They are ones that come from disappointments that life sometimes brings our way.

My symptoms are ones of angst for the hurting of ones I love. Sometimes baring the burdens of others is more weighty, more heavy than bearing our own. And, on this particular day, my shoulders are sagging with the weight of the burden of another. My sleep, my appetite (oh, how I wish it affected me by my losing my appetite … then there could be some good come of this heaviness), my every thought is preoccupied with this smothering burden.

Then I heard a song on the radio, and it reminded me that the one who makes the world spin on it’s axis has everything under control. I still do not know how things will work out for this burdened on who I love, but I know who loves this person more than me, and I trust in You, the Great Physician, to carry this burden, and to carry us.

Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

“Are you tired?

Worn out?

Burned out on religion?

Come to me.

Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.

I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

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Unfading – Part 5

Posted in Unfading, WONDER, tagged Aging, Alzheimers, Amara, Dymensia, Fear., Fiction, Forgetfulness, Loneliness, Story on February 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

This is another post in a series, about a woman named Amara. Every Friday I will post another segment in this story.

Joy was startled out of her childhood memories by the ringing of her phone.

“Three rings and she has not picked up yet” Amara questioned no one but the air around her.

“Hello,” was the voice of her daughter. Oh, how soothing that voice of confidence was to Amara’s ears. It helped to erase the frustration and anxiety she was feeling due to her forgetfulness. There was no voice on the face of this earth that could communicate so much to Amara, with only one word … hello. It could communicate annoyance, sadness, happiness, weariness or fear. Although Amara was feeling a soothing relief from hearing Joy’s voice, she was also concerned, because what the tone of Joy’s voice was communicating was a level of weariness that Amara had never heard come from Joy.

She was named Joy because that is what she brought to my life, Amara reminisced. Amara’s firstborn was a boy, David. Although Amara loved him at first sight, she had secretly wanted to have a baby girl. Jacob was a most healthy newborn, who was never ill once as an infant or toddler, or even as a preschooler. He was easy in every way.

For over six years Amara had hoped that she would have a daughter. She had become pregnant six times in as many years, but never a baby in her arms. Finally, on Jacob’s first birthday she discovered she was pregnant … again. But this time, nine months late, she gave birth to the joy of her life, wrapped in pink … and whaling like a banshee. She whaled that way, every day (and seemed like every hour) for almost two years straight. Amara was convinced that God had gotten so tired of the constant begging she had done and he had thought that if she really wanted a baby girl, she would have one, but she would have to earn this blessing.

And Amara did just that. She earned the right to say that she had a daughter. And as loud as Joy would cry, Amara would relax. There was not one time when Amara lost her patience with her wee whaler. There was not one time when Amara did not attend to Joy’s demanding cries. There was not one time that Amara did not look on her daughter with love and delight. Joy was born with the full attention of her mother … until Jacob got sick …

After he started to get ill, Amara was forced to remember that she had a son as well. There were doctors appointments, and blood tests, and treatments, and prescriptions, and hospital stays, and bills. Amara had been so thankful for the help of her nearby parents. They filled in with Joy, while Amara was tending her son.

Her parents had taken Joy on adventures and vacations. They had taught her how to bake a pie and grow vegetables. They played games with her, and even took her to school on her first day of kindergarten, when Joy had to take Jacob to a specialist appointment in another city on that same day. It nearly broke Amara’s heart that she and Joy were apart so much, but she knew that Joy would be loved and cared for and doted on, by her parents, just as she would have done (and just as she had so wanted to do).

Unfortunately, the years of Amara caring for Jacob, and of Joy being cared for by her grandparents, left a gulf in the relationship that Amara had once had with her daughter, and Joy was never again in her life, in want of her mother. Amara was left wondering why God had forced her to choose between her dying son, and her beautiful daughter. In the end she gained the life of her son, but lost her relationship with Joy. And nothing she tried could ever get it back.

“Hello? Mother is that you? Are you okay?” Amara was startled to awaken from her memories, with her phone receiver in her hand, and Joy’s concerned voice coming through it.

“Uh, yes dear, it is me. I am just fine, sorry to worry you.” Amara responded, still whirling from the thoughts of the past. Some days that is the only place she really wanted to be, in the dreams of the past. It was safe there, it was comforting there, and she always knew what would happen next. She always knew that there, in her memories of the past, she was who she really was, with no strange occurrences of being in places that she didn’t know, or forgetting chunks of time, or sad looks from her family, as though they too did not know her anymore.

Unfading – Part 6

Unfading – Part 1

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Is ‘our’ Heritage Always … Ours?

Posted in canada, life, WONDER, tagged Birthright, Canadians, christianity, Christians, Heritage, Inheritance, Insider, Our Heritage, Outsider on February 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

‘Our’ heritage is not always … ours.

Heritage is defined, by various sources as:
something given from one to another
can be tangible or intangible
can be by birthright, handed down or inherited

I love the heritage of my family … imperfect, but mine. I love the heritage I share as a Canadian citizen … imperfect, but mine. I love the heritage of my Christian faith … imperfect, but mine.

My kids go to a school, one I work at, that speaks of ‘our’ heritage, but it is not mine or ours.

Our family goes to a church, one hubby works at, that speaks of ‘our’ heritage, but it is not mine or ours.

And I wonder, how long will it be before ‘their’ heritage is mine? I was born into my family, so it is easy to accept the heritage it offers. I was born in Canada, and love my Canadian heritage. I was born a child of God, and have been grasping at my heavenly father’s hand for most of my life, so my Christian heritage is precious to me.

But, how long does it take before an individual can sincerely take on the heritage of others as their own? There are times when references to ‘our’ heritage (when I do not feel part of the ‘our’) result in an emotional experience akin to finger nails on a chalk board for me. This does not mean that I have no appreciation for ‘their’ heritage, but I have not yet adopted it as mine, and the inclusive speak of ‘our’ feels foreign to me.

I do believe that, eventually, it will happen, that I will grab on and even use the term ‘our’. I do wonder though, will those who share that heritage by birthright resent me, an outsider, saying ‘our’?

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Speaking from the Heart of Someone Else

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged Anne of Green Gables, Choosing Words Carefully, Confucius, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Speaking of the Heart of Someone Else, William Shakespeare, Winnie The Pooh, Words the Speak to the Heart on February 1, 2012| 2 Comments »

WinnieEver had one of those times when you say something, and another person looks at you with shock and disbelief in their eyes, and they say, “that is exactly what I was thinking/how I feel”? To speak to the heart of another is to gain their confidence, their respect, their support.

When we hear someone else echo our thoughts in word we feel the sense of having an ah ha moment. We feel understood, confirmed, and not alone.

When you look at the lives of many historical figures who people wanted to hear, and who are still quoted today, it was their ability to speak the thoughts of others that makes people want to hear them (or, as often is also the case, it makes some to not want to hear them).

Mother Teresa said, “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” People can hear this and nod in agreement because most of us are aware of how deeply we appreciate the small things that others do for us. We are also keenly aware that we cannot do great things, and her words empower the small things we can do.

Confucius said, “our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” All who have fallen or failed, and gotten back up could echo this philosopher’s words.

Good old Shakespeare shared the depth of his common wisdom when he wrote, “cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” And anyone who has thought of and acted bravely would agree.

Martin Luther King Jr. was able to communicate well in this way. He did not just speak what was on his mind, and from his own soul, but he spoke the words and the dreams of many around him, when he preached, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Winnie the Pooh told us what our moral compass does (should) when he said, ” a little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.”

And Anne of Green Gables said what we often think before our head hits our pillow, “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

Some of these quotes are heard in our hearts, because they echo our heart cry to individuals and to a generation (and to generations to come).

It makes the importance of choosing our words carefully. For if we speak negative and discouraging words, they also echo in the hearts of others.

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Some Creatures Eat Their Young

Posted in FAMILY, life, The Kids, WONDER, tagged Children, Love, Love for your kids, Parent Frustration, Parenting, Parenting Teens, Some Creatures Eat Their young, Spiders on January 31, 2012| 4 Comments »

Filial cannibalism is the act of eating ones own offspring. Creatures from birds to fish to spiders (they should eat more of their young) all practice this horrendous act.

It is disgusting! It is unbelievable! It is … pondered once in a while when you have children.

Now, obviously I am joking, but lets face it, there are days when we wonder (momentarily) why we asked for that back rub many years ago. There are days when we, as parents, feel pushed to the edge of the cliff, and the jump starts looking mighty appealing!

But then we are, ever so quickly, reminded of what our heart really feels about these offspring of ours. We would do anything for them, we would even die to save their lives.

We parents live in such a place of contradictions. We love them, we want to eat them.

Whenever one of our kids is pushing our buttons (or maybe all of them … at once!), our eldest, in her most mocking of mocking tones, likes to remind us the “sex has consequences.” Her point being that if we had not had sex, they would not be here here to drive us nuts. What her real point is, though, is that them driving us nuts is our own fault. Sigh, sometimes I regret encouraging our kids to think critically!

The thing is we do love our kids. We did want them and we forgive them faster than we could ever forgive any other. They are ours, a part of us, and no matter how often we hear the words, “some creatures eat their young” in our heads, we would die for them in an instant. And this IS the miracle of love.

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Cat or Dog?

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged Cat or Dog?, Cats, Dogs, Faithful, Forgiving, Greeting, Resentful on January 30, 2012| 2 Comments »

Comparisons between cats and dogs are often extremely hilarious … and accurate. Cats have been largely viewed as intelligent and stand-offish whereas dogs have been viewed as dumb and faithful.

In the past we have had cats who, when we had been away for a number of days, would greet us (if you can call stretching on the sofa a greeting) with a sneer, followed by an arrogant walk to the litter box. Then, they do not acknowledge us for days.

We have only had one dog, but, when we return home to her, after a number of days (or weeks), she comes running to us, is excited enough to leap from her own skin, and does not leave our side for days.

The cat acts resentful for not being tended to, and upon our return, would only communicate bitterness and resentment.

The dog forgets what is past, and is so thankful to have her people back in the den.

I have learned that I (gulp) am a cat.

When I have been hurt, or am feeling untended to, or ignored I often respond like a cat would. I avoid the ‘offender’, or stick my tail up in the air and walk away, when they approach. I, like a cat, try to make them feel the way I have felt.

I wish I could be like my dog, who can forgive AND forget.

I think that maybe the dog, who we see as dumb, isn’t so dumb after all. Maybe the dog knows we will fail, so it is not a shock when we do. Or maybe the dog understands unconditional love. Or maybe, just maybe, the dog sees us as more valuable than they see themselves, and so they are able to love with a consistency that says more about how committed they are to us, than how deserving (or not) we are to receive their love.

Just sayin’.

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Unfading – Part 4

Posted in Unfading, WONDER, tagged Aging, Alzheimers, Amara, Dymensia, Fear., Fiction, Forgetfulness, Loneliness, Story on January 27, 2012| 3 Comments »

This is another post in a series, about a woman named Amara. Every Friday I will post another segment in this story.

Amara followed Joy through the doors, and to the elevator of the professional building at rapid speed. She had now begun to experience that familiar feeling of her knee swelling and throbbing.

Once in the office of Dr. Faw, and once Joy had informed the Vulture-lady receptionist of her mother’s arrival, they were quickly ushered into a sterile examining room. Before they were able to be seated, Dr. Faw walked in.

The next memory that Amara had was that of sitting in her living room, her foot up on a stool, with an ice pack on her knee. It felt as though she was just startled awake from a solid sleep, and did not know what day it was, or where she was, or anything leading up to this very moment.

Amara looked around the room, all looked as it always did. She saw the setting sun outside her large bay window, noting that it was mid evening. She looked down at her knee, saw the dirt on her pants, started to feel it’s throb, and the cold of the ice on it. Now how did that happen without my knowing it? She wondered, worriedly.

Surely I should be able to remember what caused this pain in my knee, or at least my getting the ice on it. Now, what day is it? I do not even remember that! What was I doing before this moment? What did I do all day? About my knee, how did this happen? Where did it happen?

With every question Amara pondered, only more questions surfaced, with not an answer or clue in sight. Anxiety was setting in, not due to her knee, but due to her not remembering.

She decided to call Joy to see how her day was, and maybe she would give Amara a clue as to what she had been doing all day.

As the kids did their homework, and Joe was gone on yet another business trip, Joy poured herself a steaming hot cup of tea.

This was not a mug, but a china cup, complete with saucer. She had received this beautiful pair when she was just five years old, the same age as her Jessica. Her grandmother, Ellie, gave it to her for Christmas, the last Christmas before Gramma Ellie died. They said she died of a heart attack, but those who knew and loved her, knew that she died of a broken heart on Valentines Day of the following year.

Her husband, Joy’s lovable Gampa Carl, had died just months before of a major stroke, and Gramma Ellie was so very lonely, so very lost without him.

Oh how wonderful were the memories Joy had of her Gampa and Gramma. She had spent weekends with them in their immaculate old Victorian home. Baking cookies with Gramma or finding treasures in Gampa’s vegetable garden. He could grow anything! And, if he plucked it from his garden, Joy would eat it. Gramma made the best blueberry and raspberry pies. There was something magical about the crusts of them, that no other person’s pie crust could duplicate. Joy would spend weeks with them traveling the countryside down the east cost, from their home in New Brunswick, all the way to Orlando, Florida, where Joy was able to meet all of the Disney princesses that had captured her imagination. That was her best, and last trip with them. Just a week after their return, Gampa had the stroke, and died immediately.

Joy’s memories of this special pair filled her heart like no other childhood memories. Really they were the only special memories of childhood that Joy could remember. Her memories from her own home, with her mother, father and brother, well she just did not seem to remember much. But, those days were filled with the memories of her brother being ill, and her mother caring for him, and her father working a second job to pay for all of the medical costs racked up by her brother’s treatment.

Joy was startled out of her childhood memories by the ringing of her phone.

Unfading – Part 5

Unfading – Part 1

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He Who Began a Good Work in You

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged Bible, Christianiy, Co-workers, Devotions, GOD, God speaks, He Who Began a Good Work, Hope, Philippians, Philippians 1, Students, Work on January 26, 2012| 3 Comments »

As I was leaving for work one day last week, over and over and over in my mind I heard, “I thank my God every time I think of you.” It had been a day when, as a team of special education and learning assistants, we were one unit, working together, and loving each other. It felt good!

Then I awoke this Monday, and was preparing for work when I remembered that it was team devotions and meeting day, and that I was on for the devotions part … fear cursed through my body! Devotions are not an area of comfort for me, and my first instinct was to call in sick! Then I remembered that day last week, and those words were again remembered, “I thank my God every time I think of you.” I had it! My blood pressure began leveling out to a normal range.

I opened my Bible app. and searched for Philippians 1, the passage I would use:

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:3-11

I used the emboldened part when doing devotions with my class later that morning. To be free to remind them that the one who gave them life does not give up on them, but that he has a plan that is not completed until the day of Christ, is to share a great hope.

And then today another teacher used the same passage for her class devotions …

I began thinking that maybe the message that I have been feeling and sharing, for others, might just be something that God wants me to hear too.

It has been a sucky, emotional, hormonal, week. I am tired and feeling worn down and discouraged on so many levels. And then today, I heard the words echoed back to me: “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” What a message to rest my head pondering!

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What Makes a Love Story?

Posted in life, Love, Marriage, The Hubby, WONDER, tagged Commitment, Disney, Disney Pixar, Love, Love Story, Marriage, Stephanie Mayer, Twilight, Up, What Makes a Love Story? on January 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

I saw the quote to the left the other day, and pondered it’s words and message.

I have read all of the “Twilight” series (minus the last … one day I will get it read too) and really enjoyed the story it told. I also think that Stephanie Mayer is a brilliant and captivating story writer. But, would I call the Twilight books a love story? No.

And then I re-watched a video clip from the Disney-Pixar hit, “Up” …

It was in the short second half of the eight minute clip that starts the movie, that a love story is told in a most sensitive, genuine and real way. It is in the story telling of the life story of Carl and Ellie that a love story is constructed.

It is the story of a couple who were not perfect, who were not popular, who were not wealthy, who were not successful in all that they pursued, who did not achieve all that they had set out and dreamed of doing.

But, it was also the story of a couple who worked together, who dreamed together, who experienced joys and sorrows together, who were committed to each other … together. And it is that, their mutual commitment and doing together that enabled them to live the love story.

That is my idea of a love story. And I don’t believe that you need to be animated to live it!

Check it out …