ROFL

Oh Lori-girl... how you make me laugh!!!

From Behind the Eyelids

Saturday mornings I am in bed.
Sometimes I am asleep.
Mostly I pretend to be.
Often there is a din.  A stampede through my room which jars my senses.
Occasionally there are whispers and tip-toeing.

Regularly I wake to distant conversation, and like a fly on the proverbial wall I hear everything.
I hear the tea kettle steaming,
I hear hands furrowing through a Lego bin,
I hear little girl voices babbling like the ceaseless flow of a mountain brook,
I hear baby squawks and motor noises made by boys.

From behind closed eyelids I know what projects are going on.
Pancake making, rocket building, pencil drawing...painting.

One morning, eyes still fastened shut I surmised that my eldest was
working on a project using model paint.
There was a hubbub.
A frantic command for someone to grab a paper towel - "quick."

"QUICK!!!"

And just as I am imagining the many possibilities I hear Clayton's
slow calm voice say with great fanfare:


 "And from now forward

this shall be known as...

THE TABLE... of SILVER."


Then with eyes squeezed even tighter, I broke out into luminous grin
shoulders quaking with laughter.
With images of instant-drying silver paint tickling the back of my eyelids
there was little else I could do
but laugh.

And be glad I was still in bed.

The now infamous Table of Silver
 (I ask "why did you stop there?  Next time would you please paint the whole table.")

A cup half-full... of sunshine

Every snapshot is a true picture

and every snapshot is focused on just one part of the whole.

In all life there is more to the picture - even if it's the addition of an unseen

photographer behind a camera. 

A wider angle usually includes clues to the big picture - more to the story:

toys, dirty socks, trash, unfinished projects, open books strewn across a table...

the one child not interested in participating, a broken part, dust bunnies.

You don't always see those things when the presented perspective is zoomed in.

It's not that the idyllic image is untrue, 

but rather, only a part of a much bigger picture.

I am not being deceptive when I focus in on the beautiful.  the noble.  the best part

of  my own bigger picture, it's just that I see dirty socks every day.  I am well aware

of all things in the "strewn" category (which encompasses more than books),

and these days I have so many dust bunnies I hardly notice them at all!

But I can always use more practice seeing 

the best and most lovely part of the picture.

You know... not the wide angle view -  the part where my children forgot to wipe

the counters when they cleaned the kitchen...

but the sweet part where they did the  whole chore while enjoying each other

and filling the room with laughter..

Not the far-back vantage where fort-building materials are as rubble in my living room...

but the look-a-little-closer perspective to see that some thoughtful souls 

remembered to pick up the books,

getting them onto a bookcase beyond reach of book-ravaging babies.

...{Thank you dear ones.  Thanks for noticing and taking care of it )...

Not the mud tracked in...

but the fist of flowers ceremoniously presented.

Not the hammer left in the driveway...

but the groceries unloaded and put away.

Not the schoolwork I didn't correct...

but the math books with every page completed. 

Not the refrigerator which needs a good scrubbing out...

but the strawberries for dinner.

Not today's weather forecast for "partially cloudy"...

but tomorrow's prediction for "partially sunny".

See, the clouds are there whether it's partially cloudy or partially sunny.

But so is the sun.

The only real difference is what you choose to pay attention to.

Take heart beloved!  There is a real story behind every lovely picture. 

(and incidentally a mud tracked floor is not a shameful part of the picture.

It's a real {oh so very real} part, but not the piece I wish to magnify)

I will encourage you that our "bigger picture" is full of real life ant invasions, dust bunnies,

sticky spills, underwear left on the bathroom floor and water splashed on the walls.

Our people are imperfect.

As with any good, wholesome perspective of a partially sunny day,

we have lots to celebrate and so we do!  

Not from fear of letting people see the grit for themselves,

but from a  heart full to the brim 

and splashing over with grateful appreciation 

for the sunshine.

"Finally brethren, 

whatsoever things are true, 

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report,

if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,

think on these things."

Philippians 4:8

His creation sings

"For thou, LORD, 
hast made me glad through the works 
of thy hands.

O LORD, how great are thy works!..." 

Psalm 92:4-5

New  boots - my Mother's Day gift -  serve me well in the garden.

Old and weathered apple trees, remnants of a home-sight long gone. 

Such beautiful intricacy in the middle of a Birch round!

"Before the mountains were brought forth

or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,

even from everlasting to everlasting,

thou art God."

Psalms 90: 2