2014 Goals and Changes

I absolutely love a new year. I love the promises that a new year holds. I love the way I feel and the motivation I have ready to make a difference in my year. I stick with some of my goals and abandon some of them. I think the important thing is to vocalize them and try to implement a plan. Last year we changed our  diet pretty drastically. We certainly need to improve some after the holidays and I need to get back into the habit of some more time consuming things, but all in all - I am happy with the dietary changes we made in 2013. We also made some large life changes - mainly in that we moved in with my mom temporarily while we try to sell our home, which should happen this year.

Here are my/our January goals.

1. Grow spiritually in our marriage.
2. Grow spiritually as a family.
3. Re-establish some of our healthy eating habits and develop new ones.
4. Drink more water.
5. Evaluate budget and make necessary changes.
6. Learn to knit. (specifically casting on)
7. Make and sell crocheted items.
8. Blog at least once a week.
9. Organize a different room once a week.
10. Read one book a month.
11. Minimize ipad/electronics/computer time.
12. Lesson plan for the month of January for homeschool.
13. Develop new chore charts for the children.
14. Work on and implement structured weekly plan.
15. Exercise and rehab my knee.

Here is how I/we plan on making our goals happen.

1. Grow spiritually in our marriage. I've created a document for devotion and discussion questions. I will share it in a week if we like it and it is working for us. We are going to journal our thoughts daily and work through these together in the evening. This will keep us in close connection and help us be more intentional about our time together. Unfortunately, we've gotten into the rut of putting the kids to bed and playing on our electronics or doing our own thing. That isn't always a bad thing, but it is really easy to make it a daily habit and not spend enough quality time together. We really want to change that and we are both so excited to make this change.

2. Grow spiritually as a family. We definitely spend time reading the Bible and praying with our kids, but we want to be more consistent. We purchased a new devotional to go through with them every night. This will be in addition to what I do with them in school. This will likely become our bedtime ritual as a family.

3. Re-establish some of our healthy eating habits and develop new ones. I am going to start making kombucha again as well as having my cooking day. On my cooking days, I would make lara bars, muffins, pancakes, bone broth, and prep and foods we would need for the week. I want to start making water and milk kefir. I also need to get back into the habit of making weekly meal plans for every meal. It keeps us from dining out and helps us stay on track with our food budget.

4. Drink more water. I am going to keep my water bottle full and make myself drink it. I just get out of the habit and the best way for me to get back into the habit is by keep a full water bottle with me at all times. This is something I will do for the kids as well.

5. Evaluate budget and make necessary changes. This is where we look at our spending and see what can change. Cut out unnecessary things. We will evaluate interest rates, insurance rates, cell phone rates, etc. I also want to develop a debt reduction plan so we can eliminate what debt we do have this year. We need to figure out how to pay for some medical expenses for Harrison and work on a good savings plan. We tend to do better on a cash envelope system. Thankfully our debt isn't overwhelming and I feel like we can knock it out this year if we stay focused.

6. Learn to knit. (specifically casting on). Chris got me a knitting book with DVD for Christmas and I just need to slot myself time each week to work on it. I believe I'm going to slot out time from several evenings each week.

7. Make and sell crocheted items.  I am basically going to start posting some of the things I make for sell. I'm considering taking orders on custom items, but I need to figure out time frames and prices.

8. Blog at least once a week.  I am going to schedule time to blog. I've never scheduled time before. I just do it when I feel like it. I would really like to be more consistent.

9. Organize a different room once a week. I'm going to look through some of these plans that other people have already developed and find one that works for me. I think I can manage 15-30 minutes a day of organizing in one room. I actually enjoy it.  Something is better than nothing in this area.

10. Read one book a month.  Rather than scrolling through facebook or playing on my ipad or watching TV when I lay in bed to go to sleep, I am going to read at least one chapter a night. I love reading, but I get out of the habit. I have tons of books to catch up on, so this is how I'm going to do it.

11. Minimize ipad/electronics/computer time.  I am going to start by putting my phone on do not disturb for a big portion of the day. I am also going to start setting a timer on my electronics time. It adds up fast.

12. Lesson plan for the month of January for homeschool. I am going to do it this week and have it ready to do when we start school, next week. It will probably take me half a day.

13. Develop new chore charts for the children. Our kids have gotten lazy. They also want to earn money. I'm going to start figuring out a new chore chart for each child. I will share when I'm done.

14. Work on and implement structured weekly plan. Time management is not my strong suit. It never has been. I need to have a flexible routine of things I want to accomplish each day, so that I can consistently accomplish goals. I'm going to develop a new weekly cleaning schedule. The kids chore charts will help with this. I will incorporate my weekly organizing into this plan. I think this will really help me from feeling so overwhelmed all of the time.

15. Exercise and rehab my knee. I just need to schedule my PT for my knee. I also want to walk and/or do The Shred a few times a week. Nothing crazy. I just need to start moving regularly again.

And there you have it.  My monthly goals for January. I will update at the end of the month on how well we did. I'd love to hear your goals too!

Harry Potter and Halloween 2013

This past summer we entered the world of Harry Potter. I had attempted to read the first book to Harrison during fall of 2012, but he wasn't ready (much to my dismay). I had never read any of the books or watched the movies. I was twenty when the first book was written and had no interest in that genre at the time. As I grew older, I was curious but I couldn't justify the time reading or watching the movies. So basically I was depriving myself without knowing. Harrison has always liked the idea of Harry Potter, so I knew it was coming eventually. For some reason, we decided to watch all of the movies during summer break. It was a huge family event and we LOVED every minute of it. Now we have progressed to reading the books and the kids are really enjoying it. I honestly don't know how I lived those 16 years of my life without Harry Potter. I am a changed woman. Haha.

So naturally we decided that we should go as our favorite characters from Harry Potter for Halloween. Harrison obviously wanted to be Harry, as Kadie wanted to be Hermione. Sam was pretty indifferent, but it seemed natural that he should be Ron.  I started pricing and researching costumes in late July. I realized at that time we would not be purchasing the official costumes because I'm pretty frugal when it comes to Halloween. I couldn't not justify spending $100 on costumes. I should have started making costumes in August, but let's just be honest...that is not how I roll.

I didn't actually start making the robes until the week prior to Trunk or Treat. This was dumb considering I wasn't even sure if my sewing machine still worked and that pretty much left me no time to accommodate for mistakes or mishaps. I thought the scarves would crochet up much faster, but they did not. They were tedious and not fun to make at all.

Somehow, I made it by our Trunk or Treat deadline and all three of my adorable kiddos proudly pranced around in their mostly mama made costumes and daddy made wands. I won't talk about all of the mishaps and lack of sleep that helped make that possible. (Cough cough...Sam didn't end up getting a scarf)

Here is the link that I used to make the Gryffindor robe.

Here is the link for the scarf. I modified the scarf a bit, but mostly followed the pattern.

The ties were made from felt and we just cut them out using a template I found online. I used a circle of elastic to keep them on their necks.

Chris made their wands this summer as a fun project. 

We used white button downs, black pants/skirt for the rest of the uniform. We had most of the regular clothing for the boys, so really it just took buying Kadie the solid pieces of clothing. The nice thing about the uniform clothing is that we can wear the pieces all fall and winter. Conveniently timed, Harrison got new glasses this past week. We used orange hair spray to make Sam look like Ron.

Here are some photos of the process and the cute kids.

They were so silly and so proud. They loved every minute of being their favorite characters.

Oh Harrison, stop with the gummy smile.

Can't even handle it. Seriously kid.

And he is back to the "I'm cute" sideways smile. Sam the Ham.

Sweet little Hermione.

Beauty.

Expecto Patronum! 

 

 

My own personal distractions

I had great intentions of being a regular blogger this summer. I had a plan of writing about distractions. Then life happened. In May, right before my 36th birthday, I was in a great deal of pain for nearly two weeks. I assumed I had kidney stones but a CT scan did not confirm that suspicion. My symptoms most  closely matched those of endometriosis, but the only way that can be accurately diagnosed is through an abdominal laparoscopy. Thankfully, I have not had nearly the amount of pain since May and have had no need to have anymore treatment.

Shortly after my abdominal and pelvic pain, I injured my knee. I have no idea what I did to it, but it hurt all of the time. If you know me well, you know that I have an incredibly high tolerance to pain. This pain was so bad, that I immediately called an orthopedic doctor. Ten years ago I had some knee issues, but weight loss helped tremendously. I went through a series of cortisone shots and nothing provided relief. A MRI showed what my doctor thought was a torn meniscus. My surgery was scheduled for July 10th.

Now if you know my family, you probably know that we decided to move this past summer. We had outgrown our home. We decided to move out and start working on our house to get it ready for the market. We moved into my mom's house, which is large enough for us each to have our own room. This was good on both ends - because my mom lives on a lot of land and since she has become a widow, it has been really difficult to upkeep the property. This moved literally dragged on for several months. We moved half of our things prior to my surgery. We didn't have the resources to hire movers, so we were doing most of it on our own. Remember that I have a bum knee. This is the greatest factor contributing to why it took us so long. We started moving the other half a few weeks after my surgery. Other than what is in our basement, we have most of it moved.

Of course when life happens, it happens. We had lots of unexpected financial things occur this past summer and limited resources to handle most of it. My van A/C stopped working. The A/C unit in our bonus room of our house stopped working. My surgery. You get the idea. We finally got in to see a developmental pediatrician for Harrison. We've been going through lots of tests so we can get a better idea of how to proceed with his treatment plan. Unfortunately some of it isn't covered by insurance, so we have to figure out how to make all of that work.

So the point in this story is to tell you that I've been distracted. I've been distracted with pain, injuries, surgery, moving, financial stress, treatment for Harrison, physical limitations due to my surgery, and our insanely busy schedule.

I've been a terrible friend. I have almost zero time for socializing. I've been a scrambled and scattered mess. I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel and I'm just running in circles. Things are looking up, but I feel like I've lost time. I wasn't able to enjoy my family as much this summer due to my physical limitations. I couldn't go on hikes or do many fun outdoorsy things. I can't seem to find my rhythm as far as homeschooling and school year schedules. I can't get our home organized and I can't stay on top of my housework. I'm going to be honest. I didn't handle the physical limitations well. I'm a terrible patient. I don't really follow doctor's orders. I do stupid things and pay for them by having days of pain afterwards. I've been grouchy. So incredibly grouchy. I am not myself.

In the midst of my very small storm, I have been blessed by some fabulous people. I have some dear friends who never let me sink. They know exactly when I need encouraging words, hugs, or the opportunity to cry. God has revealed Himself to me this summer in ways that I never quite knew Him. I really allowed myself to be vulnerable and see Him in new ways. I'm a huge believer in turning crappy circumstances in a way to bring glory to God and I can definitely say I have some new material after this summer. I also have friends who encourage me to write again. I had almost given up on blogging because I felt that I didn't really have anything to share. I am seriously a blessed woman when it comes to friends.

Proverbs 27:9 - The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.

I held this scripture close to my heart as well. If you are blessed with godly friends, you are indeed a blessed person.

If you could learn anything from me and my experiences, here is what I'd like you to take from this. God never stops caring. Never. He was with me through every single bit of this. Not once did it feel hopeless. Well, if it felt hopeless, it didn't last more than a day. Scriptures tell us that the very hairs on our head are numbered. (Luke 12:7, Matthew 10:30) I mean if God knows how many hairs I have on my  head (and I shed a lot - so this number changes often),  He most definitely cares about my health issues, my finances, my stress level, and so on. Nothing is too small to take to God. We are never alone.

So all of those things have distracted me way too much this past summer. It was ridiculous. However, I'm done. I'm done allowing them to be distractions. I am ready to move on to my next chapter in life. I know that many of us have been there. It is okay to be there. But don't stay there. God has big plans for you and they aren't going to happen while you wallow in your own distractions. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Grow from your experience and move on. That is precisely what I'm doing.

World Breastfeeding Week!

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It is world breastfeeding week! I have been nursing (not consecutively) for 74 months. I thought I’d write a post about my breastfeeding journey.

During my pregnancy with Harrison, I knew I would breastfeed. I wasn’t committed to a certain time frame, but figured I really wouldn’t want to nurse beyond 6 months. I also didn’t know much about it. One of my sisters breastfed, but I was too young to remember. Another one of my sisters tried so hard to breastfeed both of her children and was never able to produce enough milk despite her best efforts. I had no idea where I would fall in the milk supply spectrum. My milk took forever to come in – like over a week. Harrison was born big and hungry. I never had a huge supply with him either. I had to take prescription medication and herbs to produce enough. I hated breastfeeding for at least the first month. I felt like all he did was nurse. I felt like he was always hungry and had a lot of unsupportive people saying he was hungry. (Don’t ever tell a breastfeeding mom that she is starving her baby – especially if you have never actually breastfed). I was about to call it quits and give him bottles and then all of the sudden it got easier. I still had to take herbs and such to keep my milk going, but it wasn’t terrible. I went back to work when he was 9 weeks old. I was determined to keep going. I do not produce much milk for a pump, so I had to pump while at work and all throughout the evenings and weekends to have enough milk for him.  By the time he was about 5 months old, I was only able to pump enough for one bottle, so he was supplemented with formula. We still nursed on demand evenings and weekends. By the time he was 9 months olds, I couldn’t pump more than an ounce all day long. He was given formula bottles and nursed full time for evenings and weekends. Nursing him was such a great bonding time since we were separated for 9ish hours a day. I really enjoyed those special little snuggles. We kept our nursing relationship going for 14 months. He was only night nursing by that time and it was gentle. I felt like I had to wean him because everyone told me that he was a year old and no longer needed it. I’m so glad I stuck with it because it was worth it in the long run.

We knew that I would likely not return to work after Kadie was born. I knew I would breastfeed her. Somewhere between Harrison being born and Kadie’s pregnancy, I became a research queen, especially with parenting & health topics. I knew that I was comfortable with full term nursing even if my friends and family were not supportive. I knew it was the norm for every area, except USA. I knew I might have milk supply issues and I knew that the first month might be able. I was ready to tackle this. My milk came in within 4 days and she was not given any supplements. We co-slept and bed-shared to make it easier. I still suffered with milk supply issues and had to take the same medications.  She was a fussy baby and literally nursed all of the time. I thought about throwing in the towel again because it was hard to take care of Harrison and nurse her constantly. It took a little longer for it to get easy with her. I think it was around 2 months. We also had thrush during that time frame which was awful. She was also a big baby, but didn’t stay huge. She was petite for her first year. She took longer to night wean – it was closer to one year. At 12 months, she showed no signs of weaning and I was completely comfortable nursing her longer. She actually started nursing more around 15 months and started getting really chubby. Nursing a toddler actually makes having a toddler much easier because nursing is an instant comfort for tantrums, boo-boos, etc. I nursed her until she was 26 months old. I was about 6 months pregnant with Sam and my milk was gone and it was painful. I asked her if she would stop nursing because it hurt and she didn’t mind. She would ask occasionally, but I reminded her that it wasn’t comfortable for me and my milk was gone.

With Sam, I just knew I would breastfeed and he would wean sometime before he started college. My milk was in within 2 days. He was such a tiny baby and gained so quickly and well that I never questioned my milk supply. Around 6 months he stopped gaining well and we realized he had a tongue tie. We weren’t able to get it repaired until he was 7 months.  He started gaining well again after we had his tongue tie repaired. He is 34 months -well he will be in 10 days. He generally nurses to sleep every night and every morning when he wakes. He will still nurse in the middle of the might if he wakes. He will sometimes nurse before a nap – although those are rare lately. He never asks for milk unless he is sick or sleepy. At this point, we are both comfortable with nursing.

I am very thankful for the bond that breastfeeding has given me with my children. I have such fond memories of snuggling my little nurslings. I even have fond memories of nursing the crazy toddlers. It was very difficult for me to nurse two of them, but we made it through the hurdles and it was worth it. I was determined and had good support with my lactation consultant. I would advise any new mom to stick with it for 8 weeks before you quit. It always got easier for me by that point. Supply issues can be a beast, but there are a lot of things you can do to help  (as long as it isn’t due to insufficient glandular tissue). Thrush, mastitis, tongue ties…all of those things suck. With proper support and treatment you can get through most of those and keep on trucking along.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Distracted - #1

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Ok here goes…

Exactly one week ago when I decided I was going to write, I went to bed with thoughts flying through my head. I mean, my head was just swimming with random thoughts. Now most nights I do go to bed with things on my mind, but I tune them out. Do you know how I do that? I pick up my phone and start by opening up Facebook to see what everyone else is doing. If that is boring enough, I will go to sleep. If not, I will move on to Instagram. Then sometimes Pinterest. Then I will look for a game to play until I am propping my eyes open with toothpicks. 

As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I heard a very loud thought. It said,

 “Alicia, STOP! It is okay to just fall asleep. You don’t have to be doing something. God created you to rest. It is okay to rest. That includes resting your mind.”

At that point, I laid my phone down and started praying. Then I heard another loud thought telling me that I needed to focus on getting rid of my distractions and that was going to be my writing venture.

So right then and there I committed to God that I would do this. My intent was to start first thing in the morning. I was going to log my phone usage. My beloved iphone is a huge distraction for me.  Here is the funny thing.  At one point in my life, I was anti smart phone. I was anti texting. I was anti most small electronics. In fact, if you tried to contact me, prior to my iphone, I probably didn’t have a clue where my phone was. We got our first smart phones in fall of 2009. We got blackberries. I didn’t really use mine as it was intended. It was a fancy way to text and I actually started texting a little bit more. I used my blackberry for texting, phone calls, Facebook and emailing. It still wasn’t a really big distraction. Fast forward to Valentines 2011. We upgraded to our iphones. I think Chris and I ignored each other for at least a week while we perfected the apps on our phones, played games, and put our lives on our iphones. We actually joke about it. Thankfully we got them at the same time.

 

Now I don’t think iphones are inherently bad. They are actually pretty nifty little things. I take way more pictures of my children because of it. I mean it is always right there by  my side and they are always being cute.  I rarely forget an appointment now because we have synced all of our information into our lovely color coded calendar – complete with reminders. And let’s be honest - it is nice to have google at your fingertips, especially with Harrison Holbrook as your child. That child is always asking questions that I don’t know how to answer. It does indeed have many good functions. But if I can’t go to sleep at night because I’m aimlessly playing on my phone when I should be trying to fall asleep, we’ve got a problem. A big problem.

Friends, I don’t want my children to have memories of a mother looking at her phone all day long. I don’t want my husband to feel like my phone is more important than what he has to tell me. I don’t want my friends to feel like all of my texts and phone notifications are more important than the time I’m spending with them.  I don’t want my phone replacing real face-to-face memories with the people whom I love the most.

I’ve been trying to keep track of my phone usage over the past week. I’ve also tried to make a point to not use it during meal times and to be more present when I’m spending time with my family.

I will leave you with some questions.

1.  How much time do you spend using your phone each day? (I’m sure there is an  app for it –haha!)

 2. How much of that time that you spend on your phone could you be doing something more fulfilling?

3. How much time do you spend on your phone when you could/should be resting?

Here are some challenges.

1.     Put your phone down at all meal times, even if you are alone.

2.     When you feel tempted to pick up your phone for idle down time, do something else instead.  (play with your child,  pet your dog, knit, crochet, read, journal, sit outside, exercise, etc)

3.     Block out a certain time of your day to respond to emails or to play on your phone. If you are not in that window of time, don’t grab it.

4.     Don’t take your phone to bed with you. (I actually use mine as an alarm, so I will be putting my on my nightstand.)

5.     Utilize the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your iphone. It can be found under settings.

6.     Turn off notifications that are not imperative. (Games, social media, etc).

7.     Put your phone away when you are visiting with another person. Give them your full attention. 

Peace out, friends. May you have a day full of life and memories. 

Distracted - Introduction

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I know that God has called me to write. I’ve been feeling it now for months. I ran from it for a bit, like I tend to do. I’m a runner. It’s okay. I’ll own it. I told Him that I wasn’t qualified. I don’t really write that well. I don’t have the proper credentials to write anything worth reading. My blog is just a hobby. Not that many people read my blog. I’m too busy. There is no way I am going to do more than blog once a month. But He told me to do it anyway. I guess you could say that I am sort of like Moses telling God that I’m not qualified. I’m certainly not saying that what I’m going to write is anything like what God called Moses to do, but you get my point. I am fortunate enough to have two people in my life who really encourage me. They encourage me to take big steps and to do bold things. These two people have helped me ignore my inner voice; who is also my worst critic. My inner voice has been telling me that I’m not capable of this.

I finally told God that I was willing to write. And guess what? Nothing happened! No ideas. None. I would just sit and stare at my computer screen. I would think of a few things, but they didn’t seem right. So I would just sit. And sit. Then one of my awesome encouragers brought me a book about writing. That night after about 6 chapters, I finally went to bed. As I was falling asleep, I had a very loud thought. I knew exactly what I was going to write about. This subject has been on my mind so much lately. It is going to be a huge journey for me. It isn’t an original topic, but that is okay because my journey is different. I am going to share my journey with you because I hope we can do this together. I pray that it helps you too.

Join me (indefinitely) as I blog through my journey of my distracted life and how to re-focus and minimalize my distractions. I absolutely crave a life of simplicity.  A life where I can lay down at night and fall asleep peacefully. A life where I awake in the morning and actually hear the birds sing, smell the coffee brewing, and see shapes in the clouds. I want a simple and fulfilling life. I have too much clutter in every aspect of my life to achieve the life I want. I don’t have the answers to any of these things yet, but I know God will show them to me. He will reveal Himself to me in many marvelous ways. My answers may not be your answers, but we can go through this journey together. You can share your answers with me and we can help each other. I’m really excited!

This is what it is all about...(not the hokey pokey)

Matthew 22:37-40 has been on my mind a lot lately. Like for months actually. It has been consuming my thoughts, so I guess it is time I write about it.

37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

What does it really mean to love God that much? I’m fairly certain it is a level of perfect love that we as humans will never actually reach, but we should strive for every second of every day. I think as Christians, we get that. We need to love God. We need to put Him first. We need to trust Him. We need to let Him lead our lives. Putting those things into action is what is really more difficult. Let’s face it. We have a lot of distractions in our lives that keep us from loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.  But like I said, I think we know we should strive for that love.

The second part of that command which Jesus says is EQUALLY important – to love our neighbor as yourself? Wait……what? I’m supposed to love everyone as much as I love myself?

1 John 3:11

11This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Romans 12: 9-10

9Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Romans 13:8

8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

These verses are just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously, love is kind of the theme.  Especially loving others.

Here is my question. Why is this so hard for Christians? Sadly, Christians are known to be some of the most hateful and ugly people around the world. What kind of disservice are we doing to the name of Christ? I mean, really? Friends, what are we doing?

Dude, Jesus loved. He loved everyone. He hung out with the unlovable.  He taught them. He fed them. He healed them. He loved people.  Jesus was love. Jesus is LOVE.

Aren’t we supposed to be like Jesus? That is a rhetorical question, in case you didn’t know.

I seriously get all warm and bubbly thinking about Jesus. He was hands down the coolest guy who ever walked the face of the earth. I want to be like Him. I really do. I eff it up daily, but He is patient with me.

So my challenge for whomever reads this little blog of mine is this….

Walk the walk, people. Stop giving Christianity a bad name. Stop doing things in the name of Jesus that aren’t Christ-like. LOVE. Love unconditionally. Forgive. Help. Use your spiritual gifts. Make a difference. Show grace. Love others. Don’t pretend to love. Really love them. Look at people as Jesus sees them and remember that God made that person too.

The church isn’t about pretty candles. It isn’t about whether or not you think the music is at an acceptable level. It isn’t about the Sunday School rooms being big enough. It isn’t about the thermostat setting in the worship area. It isn’t about sermons that make you feel happy and don’t challenge you. It isn’t about whether or not you agree with every little thing. Being the church is about coming together as a unified body of believers who have one greater purpose.  

John 17:20-23 (part of Jesus’ prayer)

20I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.