worship might look like...

Where has the summer gone? The lazy, hazy days of muggy sunshine with welcome breaks of thunderstorms are almost gone. I am not too sad, though. My birthday, August 29, serves as a kind of farewell to summer, giving way to my favorite season of all - fall! I was due in early September, a fall-ish month, so I don’t know why I couldn’t wait a few more days to be born…I am so glad I have a few dresses my mom made for me when I was little, that my girls can wear. Ella Kate wore a dress that I wore when I was 10! It's still looking pretty good!

We finally made our Fourth of July fruit pizza!

For quiet time in the afternoons, sometimes a girl just a needs a good book and her cat. Bumble enjoyed reading just as much as Jenna on her bunk bed.

We also have enjoyed box cars too!

We saw The Peach Truck last Saturday and got a bag of peaches. I felt so Betty Crocker today since I made a peach cobbler with those fresh, juicy goodies. We watched it bubble in the oven and it made the house smell so homey.

We are looking forward to school. It has been a nice break, but fresh starts are always nice too, even when it brings work with it. Fresh colored pencils (that get used all the time), new markers, and sharp crayons are always wonderful. We took our annual trip to Walmart for school supplies to fill in what we needed for this year. It was a trip. Everyone born 2020 and later in my house, have no idea what in-store shopping feels like or what to do, because curbside pick-up is everywhere. It has been a while since a kid (Izzy Grace) grabbed a display box and pulled all the notebooks in it onto the floor. Krew was so intrigued by the spinning, he crawled out of his cart seat and onto the bag carousel. I am sure the cashier was amused…

We have begun Nutcracker season with auditions last week for the four big girls. We walked around downtown Franklin and Izzy Grace had a pup cup at Starbucks. Yum!

As my birthday gets closer, and it’s a big one, I think about life and my accomplishments and people I knew, and what I still want to do. I was rocking Izzy Grace one night in the quiet with just the squeak of the rocking chair, thinking about how God has moved in my life and what He has taught me over the years. He makes a difference everyday.

I realized that since I have gotten older, I have moved away from throwing a fit and blaming God for disappointments, losses, and frustrations. We all can tend to blame God for bad circumstances especially because we know He could stop them. Instead of blaming God, as I get older, I find it more comforting and calm to just ask God to help me feel better and to take me somewhere else. Instead of being angry at Him, I now would rather just accept His comfort and trust He has a plan and is taking me there. It is so hard to have something taken away, feel abandoned, or feel lost.

It’s tough to pray for something for a long time and still wait. We will start another school year in our rental house, when I was really hoping to start a new school year in a new house. We have just outgrown the floor plan of this one. Here we go again!

It’s also difficult to see other people with “stuff” we want and don’t yet have. Even as adults, we still do this, right? I have learned though, that people with that “thing” we want, also have “things” we don’t want. Everybody has struggles. Sometimes the reason they have that “thing” is because they don’t have something we have! In my house, this might look like a girl has more ballet classes but that girl also doesn’t have the free time to play outside and climb trees.

I read recently that if God didn’t allow our circumstances to grow uncomfortable and even sometimes seemingly unbearable, we might not ever choose to move or follow God’s different way. It sure is uncomfortable and confusing at times, but it’s wonderful to look back and see how God planned it for good all along.

Life brings joy and laughter and it has disappointments and pain too. As I get older, I love this verse more and more, and it takes so much pressure off to perform, achieve, and accomplish.

…seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands… 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Sometimes in life’s difficulties, worship looks different that just singing worship songs at church. It might look like:

Getting up before little children to spend time with God and prepare for the day.

Accepting God’s comfort instead of being angry with Him.

Choosing to treat someone kindly when they were mean first.

Believing in God’s goodness when we don’t see it right now.

Speaking gently instead of saying what we really want to.

Trusting God while waiting to see His plan.

Working hard in jobs even when they are not super fun.

Knowing God saw hard work even when nobody else did.

Letting God fight instead of us.

Choosing to see the joys in the ordinary days.

What have you learned as you have grown up? I can’t believe life has flown by like it has. I still remember coming home from school in first grade and being welcomed by open windows at home with that fresh fall smell flowing through the house. I remember pretending to be 13 years old because that was so cool. Reading American Girl books outside and Nancy Drew at night under the covers with a flashlight was the best. Playing in the dirt outside on Saturdays and the sun making my face slightly red after playing all day made me feel so alive. Let’s remember the small joys God gives as we all get a little older!

Love,

Charis

Pic(k) of the week:

Swimming tires me out too...