Find your Whimsy! 🥸

My daughter's favorite word is "whimsy."   I have spent a lot of effort trying to instil in our children the importance of finding joy, laughter and fun to break up the monotony and the pain and sadness that often pervade our lives.

Yesterday evening we were all watching TV (blinds were all closed) when my husband decided to open the door to our deck.  I saw sunshine and I saw rain and I immediately got up and said "rainbow weather!" and went outside our front door to find that a large, brilliant double rainbow had formed over our neighborhood!  Our entire family went out to look at it and my daughter and I took lots of pictures!  My husband thought we were ridiculous- especially me since I went out into the middle of our road in the rain to capture the full rainbow with my camera.  I asked him "where's your whimsy?"  🙃

We live on a dead-end road that has a grassy field that is a utility right-of-way that leads to a creek.  The properties on either side of the right-of-way are both owned by one of our neighbors.   On one side sits their house and the other lot is an undeveloped field in the middle of which our neighbor maintains a large garden and greenhouse.  We have planted pumpkins and sunflowers in his garden in years past and we help keep it watered when they are out of town.  There is a little wooden foot bridge over the creek that allows you to cross from one field to the other without getting wet.  😁  Both fields are filled with clover and one of them has a big patch of tall grass at one end.  This was a wonderful oasis for our family during the COVID lockdowns.  There is clover growing all over in both these fields.  Whenever we walk through there I am always in search of 4-leaved clovers.  When I find them, I take a picture and sometimes I pick them to press in a book and use for a fun St. Patrick's Day craft.  I often enlist the help of my family in the search.  My son likes to hide in the tall grass and play hide-and-seek or else he's looking for bugs to observe and my daughter is always on the hunt for flowers.   If there are daisies, she will make a daisy chain to put on her head.

This week is my son's spring break and he really wanted to go to the Kidsquest Museum during this week so we spent a couple of hours there on Wednesday.   My son had so much fun with all the hands-on exhibits!  Such a fun place to explore!

This week is spirit week at my daughter's school and she has participated in all the themed dress-up days.  Today was a western theme so after the Kidsquest Museum excursion and after picking my daughter up from school, we headed to my Mom's house for more fun and whimsy and to borrow my Dad's cowboy hat and boots.  She borrowed her other Grandpa's flannel shirt that was hanging on my husband's side of the closet (he passed away in 2008) and looked like a genuine cowgirl as she headed to school!

We find moments of whimsical fun when we can.  Driving to the store this week I noticed puffy clouds and my son was telling me what shapes he saw in them.  The other day on my way to pick my daughter up from school I noticed the layers of clouds had made a square shaped hole and blue sky was showing through as if it was a window in the sky and a little cloud appeared inside the "window" that looked like a person peeking through it at the earth.  I was driving so I couldn't take a picture but I often take pictures of the clouds.

I see faces in everything.   Most recently I found the food coloring I dripped in to make green frosting for St. Patrick's Day cookies frowning at me!

I can give more examples from my own life but I see beauty, fun and whimsy because I'm LOOKING for it.  So go out and find your own whimsy and enjoy all God has to offer!  He isn't a dull or boring God.  He gave us this beautiful creation to explore and He gave us our senses of humor and the ability to laugh.  He created fun and our sense of adventure.   We just need to unlock it and allow God to show is how creative He is!

Love Like Jesus

We are supposed to live and love like Jesus but what does that mean?  What would that look like?  It's something all Christians struggle with and it's REALLY difficult to put into practice. 

It all clicked with me this week - at least the answer to the what would that look like question.  Maybe I'm a little slow to make this connection but in Matthew chapters 8 and 9 we see a day in the life of Jesus.  I read these chapters and noticed that Jesus performed miracle after miracle as he walked through His days.  He heals a paralytic and calls Matthew to be his disciple, rolls right in to teaching the Pharasees the truth about forgiveness and the purpose of fasting and as He is speaking a devout ruler interrupts because his daughter has died and he believes Jesus has the power to come raise her from the dead.  While Jesus is heading to the ruler's house to perform this miracle, a woman is healed of a bleeding disease. After He raises the girl from the dead and as he is leaving town, 2 blind men request that Jesus restore their sight and as the men with newly restored sight are leaving, a demon possessed man who is mute that needs relief presents himself to Jesus who casts out the demon and restores his voice.  

John tells us that the entire world couldn't contain all the books that could be written about all the signs and wonders Jesus performed while on earth.  So I tend to think the events recorded in Matthew were pretty typical of a day in the life of our Lord.  What I realized as I was reading through these accounts was that Jesus willingly helps people - everywhere He turned someone needed healing.  And He healed them all.  He did it without expressing frustration that someone had interrupted Him or delayed His journey.   He didn't make anyone feel like they were bothering Him and He didn't complain about how much or how hard He was working for everyone else.  It must have been exhausting which is why He frequently slipped away to be alone - to recharge and to fellowship with the Father.  But after this important time of prayer and quiet communication with God the Father, Jesus jumps right back into the fray - providing healing, comfort and hope.   Meeting the needs of others without hesitation.

I was contrasting this with my own life.  How often do I get frustrated when I am interrupted while doing something I view as important?  Do I make people feel like I have places to go and things to do so they need to hurry up or stay out of my way?  I admit that Multiple Sclerosis makes it more difficult for me to switch gears quickly.  I don't transition easily and I approach my daily tasks more methodically and systematically than I used to, leaving less room for spontaneity.   It's more difficult for me than it used to be - but not impossible. 

What I want is to be more like Jesus as I walk through my days.  Always loving, compassionate and meeting the needs I encounter with grace and without complaining.  I want to be available when I am needed and not distracted by my task list or by the concerns of life.  I want to be present in each moment with each person I encounter.  

Now, that's what I WANT to do, who I WANT to be.  And it's so easy to say but so difficult to do when my world gets hectic and my slow brain can't keep up.

But I wanted to talk about this because it has been on my mind for several days and I need the prayer and accountability of others to point out when I am failing to behave in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.  Jesus did it perfectly and we are (I am) never going to attain that level of perfection.   But I believe God wants us/me to TRY.