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hodge podge
I can already hear them. My children. In the far future. Discussing me. Dissecting the way I do things. Analyzing why I wrote our meals on chalkboard cabinets and what my obsession with this blog was all about. And calling me a cheapskate. I know they will. I used to look at my mother as she gathered the remaining zip-loc baggies from our lunch leftovers each afternoon. How she dumped the crumbly contents in the trash and then rinsed each and every baggie for a future lunch. Yes. Rinsed her baggies. To me, then, that was right next to wearing black lipstick and piercing your nipples. It was crazy. And…
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truth
Truth. Something I am learning about truth is this. Truth is still truth even if the spokesperson of that truth has sometimes neither lived nor believed that truth. Because truth doesn’t require my consent. Truth doesn’t wait for me to act upon it to become truth. You know how I am learning this? By my husband and I being in the position of having to speak the truth we have not always lived to our eldest daughter. This raising a teenager business . . . this dance of guiding and supporting, letting go and holding back . . . it’s the hardest. Give me the dirtiest diaper you can throw…
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Fix You
It was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Free tickets to see Coldplay. Kevin had to work so Riley was the lucky benefactor of Ticket Number Two. (Naturally, I had already claimed Ticket Number One.) We had a great time at the concert. (This is an understatement, of course.) Getting to the concert was an entirely different matter. One mile to the venue parking lot took us 48 minutes to traverse. I had to take Fox because of the whole nursing thing that he’s into right now. Besides, he’s a pretty big Chris Martin fan. Before you join the ranks of the thousands of strangers who judged me that evening, let…
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Enough
Have I ever really believed that God is enough? I mean, I’ve probably said He was. I might have even thought that I believed it. But your beliefs are pretty much revealed through your actions. So. Have I acted like God is enough? Or has my life thus far been mostly a study of how God is not enough? Don’t I really expect God plus? You know, God plus personal fulfillment. God plus healthy children. God plus financial security. God plus physical safety. God plus a happy marriage. That’s the lie I find myself believing, and living, so often. The truth is God is enough. No plus. Just God. Enough.…
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Everything
Sometimes I think it is ironic how often the stuff of my daily life reminds me of Biblical truth in some random way. And then I remember. Everything is spiritual. A couple of years ago Kevin and I heard a speaker named Rob Bell teach at a funky little club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His speaking tour was entitled “Everything is Spiritual”. And I really believe it is. Remembering that truth actually brings much more meaning (and importance and accountability) to my daily existence. If everything truly is spiritual, then I guess it does matter how I respond to my children when I am exhausted. Or which words come…
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Friday Morning
Yesterday morning I broke an unwritten Keigley household rule. I turned on the television first thing in the morning. Let me ‘splain. Because Wilder had eaten breakfast off his normal routine, Kevin had already left for work before I was able to take a shower. I really wanted a shower. “Hey guys? Who wants to watch Curious George?” You might call it poor parenting – I call it buying a half hour of my life. My aspirations actually reached beyond the cleansing shower. I had just purchased some eyeliner (don’t tell Riley!) and I wanted to experiment. While in Virginia Emma had given me brief instructions on applying eye liner.…
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Greener Ideas
I’m not a radical environmentalist – whatever that is – but I have been trying to trade in some of my earth-harming habits for some greener choices for a few years now. For me, it really comes down to what I believe about God more than what I believe about the earth. To make it simple – God made the earth. He made people and told those people to take care of the earth. So here I am. And if I am doing a less than stellar job of stewardship, than I am basically saying I am not concerned with the gift and responsibility God placed on my head. There…
