Monday Confessions
Hello friends! What's that pep in my step you ask? Well it's a week to Christmas Eve and I am all done teaching classes for the semester. I will do my best to mix together the heavy and light that are all in my heart this week.
1. I confess, I feel an aching sadness over the Newtown, CT situation...as most Americans do/should. We should be sad for the innocent loss of life and the display of such evil. I have found a few articles that shed some light on diferent things for me. If you like to process greif through thinking, check out Al Mohler's thoughts on the tragedy and how Christians should respond. If you have wondered what it is like to be on the other side, the mother of the shooter...dealing with a child with mental illness, read this thoughtful article. Both have given me comfort and/or thoughts to ponder.
2. I think it is only right to read the names of the children/victims and pray for their families. Don't allow the shooter to rise to fame....just help to celebrate the little lives and the lives of those protecting them. I honestly am having a hard time reading the stories and processing the pain that this evil man caused. I will do my best though to help be a celebrator of all they offered this world, even in the short time they were in it.
3. Let this tragedy not go by in vain. Celebrate your own lives and hug close the people you love!
4. The Presdient's prayer vigil service last night in Newtown was very touching. I thought him both comforting the people and exhorting us all to do better when it comes to America's kids. It truly does take a village! I believe Obama's quotation of Jesus, "Let the children come to me, (Jesus said) and do not hinder them. The kingdom of God belongs to these." It was very powerful and reassuring to me. I find that although I might not agree with Obama on much, he is leading well through such an awful tragedy. I certainly find myself respecting him very much as he seeks not political favor, but to mend a broken nation.
5. The twins had their first dentist apointment this morning. How did it go you ask? Well Dean was a true rock star. He loved it all because he is both outgoing and curious. Macy wouldn't even consider getting in the chair so instead she has a dental cleaning with a regular brush while screaming on my lap :) You win some and lose some right?
6. Why did I deactivatefacebook? There's a lot of reasons. The great thing about social networking is the fact that we can connect so easliy, share information and hear each other out. A lot of those things are also it's weakenesses. We can read information but process it differently than the author intended it. It's the difference between a phone vall versus a face-to-face conversation. We can misinterpret things when we aren't seeing the body language or hearing the intonations in the voice. We can totally miss people's hearts if we aren't looking for them and, lets face it, we also don't live in a pretty world. Many of us have opinions about things that we openly air in social media, but it's not the same as that face-to-face conversation. In the spirit of the Christmas season, I just felt my head and heart distracted by all the time spent "communicating" on facebook.
Even after 24 hours, I feel a bit lighter. I am not weighed down by others opinions or looking for approval for my own. I am not worried about checking my phone and not distracted when I sit down to work at my computer. I admit, I do a lot of business communication and otherwise via my facebook account that I didn't realize until it was gone. I am going to commit though to leave it off through Christmas day. You can still find me on Twitter and instagram for quick things here and there. You can always find me via phone or email too friends :) I will be back soon enough!
Well it will be a fun week of baking, the kids first school holiday show, catching up on wrapping, family time, a few more crafts and things before this time next week when it's Christmas Eve! Praying that you are all finding peace amidst the chaos, that you are enjoying and not just enduring!