Tripping Over Typeset

It’s Friday and the first day of spring!  You would never know it by looking out my window.  The snow is still falling and the wind is blowing cold.  Yet there are good things in store for today like a lunch date with my hubby and our Five Minute Friday link up with Kate and the gang.  Our word prompt today is:  REAL

As a little girl I loved playing pretend. My baby dolls were perfectly behaved children and they always sat still in the church pew on my stairs. My preacher/husband spoke eloquently from the stair’s landing and I shouted out an appropriate “Amen” to encourage him along. Standing at the end of the service and holding my hymnal I would belt out “Power in the Blood” and then happily greet all the parishioners with a cheery smile and warm hug. Pretend land was easy and simple.

Real life is messy and difficult. The children don’t always behave and the demands of Sunday don’t always leave me with a cheery disposition.

Yet living real brings beautiful moments that I wouldn’t trade for any kind of pretend.

We’ve been in ministry long enough now that the little girls I taught in Sunday School are now married and have children of their own. Kid Christmas musicals have turned into wedding showers and baby dedications.

And on the other end of the spectrum, we live real with those who are journeying the tough road of Alzheimer’s and dementia. They don’t always remember our name yet they know there is something stronger between us then remembering who we are.

This week, Dave and I walked the road with a family saying goodbye to their father. As we looked through the pictures, viewed the home movies and listened to stories, we were reminded that real life is messy and hard. Even when strife and difficulty tear at the threads of family unity, the end of a life has a way of weaving those strong cords back together.

Living in pretend is easy and comfortable, as every 5 year old’s life should be; everything is good and everyone is lovely.

Real life is good and lovely as well.

Living real grows out of moments that stretch us beyond what we think we can do. It’s in the messy days and hard decisions that tear us up and drive us to places we don’t always want to go. Yet it’s in the messy and difficult we learn we are stronger than we ever imagined.

There are days I would love to go back to the simple days of ministry in my pretend church on the stairs where life was easy and my hair was always in place. But then life would be lonely and I would miss the adventure that real living brings.