Tripping Over Typeset

We have come to the end of another month and time is marching on.

To be completely honest, June has been a difficult month. It’s been full of unexpected news, sad news, expected news that makes one sad and reminders from the past I would rather forget.

But isn’t that how time is… our days bring events we have no control over and time marches on despite our desire to stand still.

As a church, we have staff moving on to new positions in another state.   And as a family that means good friends are leaving bringing more goodbyes just around the corner. Ministry can be heartbreaking and this has been one of the months.

We have choices in how we will grow in these times of stretching and some days it’s easier than others.  Transition is difficult for all involved and God doesn’t call us to what is always comfortable instead He calls us to come near and follow Him.  And that’s what we do.  We keep moving forward, growing, stretching and leaning hard into Him.

And even though this transition and change has consumed many of my thoughts and much of my time this month, I’ve been reminded of some other things as well.

• The importance of friendship – It’s been far too long since my hubby and family have had moments of just relaxing with friends. Some good friends from years ago came back for a visit with their beautiful children. We had a barbecue with most of the old gang.  The men blew things up. The kids had crazy fun riding bikes in the streets and sneaking cookies in the yard.  And the girls enjoyed shopping and chit-chatting. It was a nice reprieve from the busy-ness of life. Our time with friends was therapeutic and restful. It’s a beautiful thing to have conversations where nothing is expected or required. We all need people like that in our lives.

• I can no longer do crazy amusement park rides – For an end to school fun day, our family went to an amusement park. First off, let me tell you, I have been a lover of rides. There’s not really a roller coaster or upside down, flip, twist, drop-down ride I haven’t ventured on to. But my body doesn’t recover like it use to and those whiplash, head slamming safety bar rides just aren’t for me anymore. Last year, I chaperoned a class trip and that’s when I decided I was done with the Mind Eraser. The way my ears boxed against the safety bar and my head slammed around and neck muscles strained to keep everything where it’s supposed to be just isn’t worth the thrill of the ride anymore. Call me old or call me smarter… I’m going with “wisdom comes with age” and I’m feeling wiser every day. Soon I will be the one pulling the wagon around, passing out the snacks and sitting on the bench in the shade while everyone else whips their bodies out of whack!

• Poison ivy is annoying – For years, I have pulled weeds out of my flower beds and thought nothing of it. I could even pull poison ivy and it never really bothered me. But about 2 years ago I got into some and my arms broke out all over. A friend pointed me in the direction of a poison ivy remedy— washing with Dawn dish soap. It might sound absurd but it works! You come out smelling like a dishwasher, which isn’t really sexy, but it does take the itch out and dries it all up. I now have such a sensitivity to the plant that I can’t even go near my flower beds because of the reaction. Yet this actually is not a bad thing. It’s now my perfect excuse for letting my flower beds go to pot… one less thing on my ‘to-do’ list.

• Big boy haircuts grow up little boys – My little Matt was in need of a haircut. It was getting bad. Bad like… bushy bangs in the eyeballs and hair sticking out in strange places. He kept swiping his hair off to the side and whipping his head around for clear vision. I finally took him in last week and as he climbed up into the chair, the hairdresser asked, “What are we doing today?” And Matt responded with: “I just want 3 little spikes up front!” And with that said, the summer-do was done! Now my little boy looks like a little man and it just reminds me how fast these days go by.
  

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That’s it for this month’s re-cap.  What about you?

Jump into the conversation:

• What have you learned this month?
• Do you have any poison ivy remedies?
• How is your summer shaping up?

Linking up with #InspireMeMonday, Mom 2 Mom Linkup