I don’t know how I’m going to wrap all of my thoughts into one post that makes sense…but I’m sure gonna try. I am awake early…way before dawn this morning…thinking about life and coincidences that are anything but…about friends who are family…whether by blood or not. I woke up with thoughts that were like this little gift, and I wanna know, what’s in YOUR little wrapped box when God hands you thoughts that are like gifts that make life make sense? Do you even open the box? Sometimes I don’t…today I did. I am going to try harder to open the box every time.
….I am thinking about the way that God chooses to bless us sometimes and the way we don’t always see things as blessings until much later in our lives….I am thinking about gifts that come that we see or don’t see….and sometimes that we leave unopened for way too long when the intention of the giver was that we would derive joy from the very moment that the gift was thought of…but that sometimes we don’t see. I am thinking of nothing in particular, but how many things fall into these categories……do you ever wake up with all of the bigness of life swirling around in your head in such a way that it makes you want to jump out of bed and live BIGGER…..to breathe it in and then to breathe it out…..to take it in and then give it out….GIVE IT OUT?
I am loving Christmas time because we make time to do all of the stuff that we should do all year….we call friends that we haven’t talked to in way too long…we get together with people that we love…we think about what we can do for others…we open the door and see people who have dropped by just to say hello and bring a plate of cookies, and their smiles mean so much more than those cookies….we think about who we really are…..who we ALL really are, and whose we are.
A million little things have made me really think this week. I feel profoundly grateful. I am going to tell you about a few…..I think it always helps us to hear what others are thankful for….because it helps us to remember what each of us have been uniquely given….I hope you’ll think about the gifts in your own life….
I read this book last week….and seriously, if you have a few days or an all-night (like I did…because I couldn’t put it down) you MUST read this book. I read the Christmas Box story years ago…but never knew the story behind the story, what this author went through before during and after writing one of the most successful books in history. I have never felt so understood or well, understood. I have never read about anyone who has had the kind of crazy bunch of craziness and weirdness and miracles and trials and hardships and pain and well, crazy miracles…never read about a life that has as many crazy things happen as mine has…maybe everyone’s life is like this and we just don’t tell each other….but I loved this story because it made me understand even more how God works. Please read it, especially if you’re in the middle of, in the beginning of, or just recovering from the hardest, most painful time in your life….there’s a message there that will help things make sense. Today, through another strange set of miraculous coincidences that happened while I was reading this book, I am sitting down for a nice long talk with the author, Richard Paul Evans, over hot chocolate…can’t wait to see what unfolds…I’ll share for sure. Tonight I’ll share my favorite parts of the book…..
Next, I am thinking about friendship. I was looking at this photo of Carrie and I….we went on a freezing cold little hike after Thanksgiving dinner…I was looking at this photo and thinking about what she and I have been through together, and how tired, but how very very relieved and happy we look….and I’m thinking about how God sent her during some of the most painful times of my life…and how she has just always stuck beside me…how she needed a place to stay right after Marq’s accident and how much I needed someone with me…and for those worst 9 months she was in our home and being the truest kind of friend….and for the last 5 years, how we’ve watched and helped each other grow….how she’s just been the most incredible friend….and how I know we’ll shop for crazy clothes together when we are old ladies…and we’ll have the best and craziest stories to tell…..and we won’t even have to exaggerate…because life has been THAT crazy!
….and how I woke up this morning and listened to the sweetest message from my friend Aubri who called last night after I went to bed…and I thought about everything that we have been through together in the last 10 yearas…and how just hearing her voice and her laugh brought tears to my eyes….and how much I can’t wait for her annual Christmas party….such little things that are just so big….it’s so easy to spread joy….
….I am thinking about my brothers and sisters and my parents and how this year I have grown closer to my family than I was even when I was a child….my sisters have become my closest friends….my oldest sister is even working with me now and I get to learn from her and have fun with her every day, she is so wise and grounded and funny and I just want to be like her in just about every way….it’s been the most incredible thing…I really have the most wonderful family…and the family Christmas party is at MY HOUSE this year….I can’t wait to give you the report…I think there’s about 60 people with just my siblings and their kids and their kids and my parents….I promised to introduce you to my incredible, funny and very very talented family and I’ll do that before the year is over….it will blow your mind not only how huge my family is, but how much they are all doing out in the world….
Ok….and then there’s my kids and the love of my life….I will save them for another post…I have one brewing….and they deserve one all their own. We have learned so much as a family this year….so so so so so so much. Family is everything, folks. I have finally figured that out…I hope you already have that figured out…if not…figure it out…seriously…figure it out. Life is too short to not have this figured out.
There are so many others that I did not mention...I know it's that way for you, too...once you start counting your blessings, no matter what you are going through...they are endless....
Ok….I guess I just sort of blurted out thoughts that are swirling all around inside of my head…I was inspired by my niece Kallie’s blog this morning…she wrote some things that really made me want to share my thoughts……
I guess what I want to say most of all is that the best gifts are just found in taking care of each other. Last night a package got delivered to our house that I will never, ever, forget…and if that anonymous person is out there….please just know that Marq and I will never, ever, ever forget what you did…..and that we will indeed pass it on now and in the future….you are angels in our life and the story of that package will be told to our grandchildren….thank you.
I love what my dear dear dear miraculously wonderful friend Judy said in her comments in my last post ….that we are the hands and feet of Christ…and that we must take that job very seriously. Sometimes we are the voice or the scribe or the ears….whatever our assignment, I hope that we will all take it and do the job with joy and thankfulness….I am going to pray for my next assignment…the greatest joys in life come in serving others.
Sending out so much love to your and yours….big announcement is tomorrow!
Live Christmas this year in the way it should be lived!
Love
Melody
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