Thermometers and Thermostats

“Mom, would you get my lunch ready for me?”  My kids are usually required to pack their own lunches for school, but on this day I was feeling especially generous.

What had she chosen for me to pack in her lunch?  SpaghettiO’s, a cheese stick, some blackberries, a drink, and some treats I had left over from an event the day before. 

The Closing Door

As I finished rebuking my pre-teen, again, for the harsh way she used her words with her little sister, I turned to leave the bathroom.  I had no sooner stepped outside the threshold when I heard the door shut behind me . . . a little too hard.  SLAM!  “That’s it!” I thought to myself as I spun around on my heel.

“But Mom, I didn’t mean to shut it that hard!” were her defensive pleas as I dished out the corresponding consequence for her defiant behavior.  “You don’t understand!”

She claims she didn’t intend to slam the door; and, however naively, I believe she’s telling the truth as she sees it.  But what I responded to was not how hard she closed the door; it was the fact she closed the door at all.  The bathroom door was simply an outward expression for the door I sensed she was closing in her heart.  As she marched away, God convicted me as well.  I thought to myself, “Oh honey, I understand alright.  I understand all too well.”

A Resolution for New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s Resolution (nyoo  yirz  rez’e-loo’shen) noun – originally an early Babylonian practice developed over 4 millennia ago in which a person reflects on the past and ponders the future resulting in a commitment to a reformation, a restoration, a lifestyle change, or a new endeavor.

Most of you who are brave enough to pledge a New Year’s Resolution have probably done so by now.  What I want to know is how many of you have already broken your commitment, or maybe abandoned it all together, at this early date in the year? Have you ever wondered why New Year’s Resolutions are so hard to keep?

Just a Man

Over the Christmas holiday, my family and I traveled to see my father at his home in Missouri.  At 82, my Dad has his share of health issues.  But, more notably, he has accumulated a variety of battle scars from the journey that has been his life.  No one reaches 82 without a few.

As I think back on my childhood, I realize that I had all the typical grand expectations that any girl does of her father.  “Father,” in my head, was synonymous with Prince Charming, Knight in Shining Armor, Super-Powered Hero, and Noble King – all rolled together.  You can imagine my dad didn’t live up to those expectations over time.  What dad could?