Day Ten: Most embarrassing moment

I used to be easily embarrassed. Not so much anymore. I don’t know if this is because I’ve done so many embarrassing things (I admit to clumsiness) that I have grown immune or what, but my most embarrassing moment seems really, really boring to me now. I’m trying to figure out a way to make it more hilarious, but I’m struggling! I think I’ll just list some of the embarrassing things I’ve done (to show you why I’m immune to embarrassment).

I was once standing in a parking lot chatting with friends and an ambulance sped by, lights shining and sirens blaring. In order to see it better, I took a few steps backward, forgetting that there was a concrete bumper behind me. Yep, I tripped (clumsy) and landed on my backside in front of my friends and siblings. Embarrassing. (And painful.)

At a youth function at church, teams were pulling wooden carts with two people on them, racing across a finish line. I was helping pull a cart. Guess what happened? I tripped (clumsy) and the cart ran over me. I was the team leader, so I couldn’t leave the function, despite the fact that I had road rash on both knees, elbows, and the palm of one hand. I bear the scars to this day. (I could have been injured much more significantly than that, so I am thankful.)

Much more recently, I was at a work meeting and spilled (clumsy) a large (32oz) glass of water in front of about 40 people. It went everywhere. I was literally in the front of the training class (I think I was one of the presenters that day). I don’t think I spilled on anyone, though.

My “most embarrassing moment” was in high school at church. I was wearing a long skirt, and set my Bible down on the floor to help put away some folding chairs. When I picked my Bible back up, I didn’t realize that the pen sticking out of my Bible cover had caught the hem of my skirt, so I was unintentionally holding my skirt hem up above my waist. A kind person ran over to tell me of my dilemma, and it was quickly rectified. However, I was pretty embarrassed because we’d only been going to this new church for about two months at this point.

So, there you have it!

Day Nine: A moment in my day

Walking with my sweet sons

Day Eight: A piece of advice

I am the oldest of four, so advice is my thing. Nothing pleases me more than for someone to ask my advice and actually do what I say. I have an opinion on everything, and I like to give it. I try really hard not to be obnoxious about it, and wait for people to ask my opinion. (Notice I said “try really hard,” not “I’m really good at.”) I have to consciously WORK at not bossing people around, because hey, I like to be the boss. Basically, I think of myself as everyone’s big sister.

I say all of that to say, I have LOTS of advice. I could run an advice column.  For today, though, I’m just going to give one piece of advice that seems to come up in the relationships I observe more often than anything else.

My advice is: Extend the grace that you would like to receive.

It is far too easy for me to forget that just because my feelings get hurt, that doesn’t mean that the other person was trying to hurt me. He or she might be doing the very best that they can, and may need grace from me to cover what I feel is lacking.  Think of it this way: the crusty old grandpa doesn’t ever tell his grandkids he loves them or is proud of them. The grandkids are crushed. They want their grandpa’s love and approval.  What they don’t know (unless they take the time to find out!) is that their grandpa wasn’t told that he was loved when he was growing up. He is operating under the limitations of his circumstances. The grandkids can choose to hold a grudge against grandpa for hurting them, or they can extend grace and understanding, and let the hurt go.  That’s just one example of many! I’ll bet you can think of other ways to apply my advice!

So, now that you know how much I like to give advice, remember that next time you’re in a quandary. I’ll be happy to weigh in on the situation. And if you decide to follow this current piece of advice, let me know what happens!

Day Seven: Your Biggest Fear

There is a scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Harry walks into a room to find Mrs. Weasley being tormented by a boggart. A boggart is a physically harmless beast whose real threat is to rattle its prey emotionally. It is a shape-shifter, and takes the form of whatever it thinks will most frighten the person in front of it. Harry is astonished when he witnesses a boggart take the form of each of Mrs. Weasley’s children, one at a time, laying before her, cold and lifeless. As a horrified and confused Harry watches, Mrs. Weasley sobs, completely debilitated by the thought of her children being hurt.

That detail of the book didn’t really impact me until I became a mom. It brings me to tears now! If I was to come across a boggart, it would appear to me as the cold, lifeless body of Big Brother or Little Brother, and I, like Mrs. Weasley, would be reduced to a sobbing mess. In Harry's world, there is a magic spell that can easily defeat a boggart, but I don't have a magic wand here on earth.

Thankfully, my God is greater than my fears, and the real way to fight off those “boggarts” is with the power of The Sword. It always seems to come back to scripture memory for me. That is the only way I know to fight against the temptation to worry over the fear of “what ifs.” I don’t say that lightly. Several years ago, I was battling some pretty significant (almost crippling) fear. It wasn’t unwarranted fear, either. However, I took my fears to my pastor, and he gave me a list of scripture* that I could read and memorize to help. It made a big difference then, and came in useful again more recently.

Little Brother had a rough time after he was born. He was in the hospital for ten weeks, and there were days when fear for his life and health gripped my heart. I was shaken to my core more than once. I had to continually give Little Brother back to the Lord (because I kept “taking the burden back on my shoulders”).  I reminded myself over and over that no matter what happened, God is still God and He is still Good. It was hard. Oh, was it hard! It is STILL hard to surrender the lives of my precious sons to Him! Yet, how ridiculously prideful of me to think that they are mine anyway! As if I was in control! And really, as I’ve mentioned before, He loves them more than I ever could, anyway.

So every time fear raises its ugly head, I take up My Sword and fight. No boggart is getting into THIS head!

*II Tim. 1:7, Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 50:15, Isaiah 12:2, Psalm 27:1, Isaiah 43:1-3a, Joshua 1:9

Day Six: Publicly profess love and devotion for a blogger friend

I was having difficulty writing this post, not because of a lack of inspiration, but because it is a challenging topic and I couldn’t make it as short as I wanted it to be. Every time I write anything at all, I hear my college professors’ mantra reverberate throughout my head: “say what you have to say in as few words as possible” (I once condensed a short story of about 5,000 words into a six line poem due to that mantra). Well, dear professors, sometimes, it takes a lot of words to say what I have to say.

So I cheated. I wrote a totally different post about menu planning and posted it as “day six,” justifying to myself that it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want. Then I realized that my menu graphic wasn’t displaying correctly and it just wasn’t all that interesting, so I deleted that post and decided to write the original post, even though it might be somewhat lengthy.  Hopefully, you will agree that this is more interesting, anyway!

I know two ladies named Tammy and Carrie, and they have been best friends since birth. When I was sixteen and had just moved to their town and started going to their church, they befriended me and we’ve been friends ever since. They continue to amaze and inspire me with the things that they accomplish.

You can read Carrie's blog here. She started her blog and business in 2008 and is an expert at helping families save money in the Colorado Springs area. Did I mention that she has five kids? Oh, and she home schools. Add to the list the talents of fabulous cook and hostess extraordinaire, and you’re beginning to get the picture. Since I’m supposed to be talking about a blogger here, I should emphasize that her blog became a profitable business. Is any of this reminding you of the woman in Proverbs 31? Yeah, me too. That’s why I respect Carrie so much.

Tammy just started blogging a few weeks ago, but each post is just so Tammy. She is a newlywed and is counting One Daily Blessing. I don’t know any other person who actually uses the word “‘Tis.” Tammy does, though, and I love it. If I say the word “classy,” what (or whom!) comes to mind? A lot of people would say Audrey Hepburn. Not me. When I hear “classy” or “real lady,” I think of Tammy. She is the real deal and I love that about her.

These two godly women inspire me in many ways, but another big one is that they have both written books! If you know me at all you are aware that it is one of my life’s goals to write and publish a book. In recent years, my writing has taken a back seat to other life pursuits, but it is always, always simmering under the surface. One of these days, I will follow the example of my friends and actually accomplish this feat! Meanwhile, I’m inspired by their writing!

Carrie wrote an ebook called From Garbage to Gourmet. It’s kind of a cookbook, but mostly, it is a call to better kitchen stewardship by wasting less food. This is the kind of useful tool that ANY household could use. (And yes, this is a shameless plug for my friend’s book. Buy it. It will save you money.) After I read it, I put several of her suggestions into place in my own kitchen right away, and there are more for me to implement in the future.

Tammy was a history major in college and her book is the biography of her paternal grandfather. It is called Blinded By His Shadow and it is not just a biography of a great man; it is an extremely well-researched account of a WWII soldier’s experiences. After reading Tammy’s book, I felt like I knew her grandfather and I felt a deep gratitude to him for his service, and admiration for his family who took his legacy seriously. You can find more information about Tammy’s book here.

Now you can see why I was hesitant to write this post… if anyone read the whole thing (aside from their families and my mom, haha!), you get a gold star! 

P.S.

Okay, so I said I was going to blog every day for a month and I'm sort of already behind... but not really, if you're going by my intentions. My intention was to write thirty blog posts by the end of July. Randi is blogging every day in July BUT I knew that I would not be able to do that (case in point: our internet was down yesterday) for various reasons, so I gave myself some lee-way. Since I'm technically on "day six" and it's only July 2, I'm good to go.

Just wanted to clarify that. Peace out.

P.S. I'm not counting this as a blog post, but I kind of am. Don't judge me.

My Sword, V13

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him."

II Chronicles 16:9

I love hearing that the Lord is looking for the positive - he is actively seeking those who need his support! We are not only on the Lord's side, but He is on OUR side. Wow! Talk about win-win!