TIme Flies

"And just like that I have finished freshman year of college," texted my #4 son to our family group this morning. What a freshman year! Some classes online. Some classes in-person. Masks. Social distancing. ("How do you meet anyone with masks on and socially distanced?" he bemoaned in August.) Covid tests. Postive covid test. Storms. Power outages. Burst pipes. Apartment flooding. Hotel for five days. Home for five days. Apartment for five days. Hotel for 30 days. TRYING to learn and focus on studies. Yikes. Not your usual first year college experience. 

Instantly, as I read #4 son's text, a comment by my #1 son -in a speech to his classmates at an awards ceremony 12 years ago- flashed into my mind, "Time flies when you are having fun!" (Everyone in the auditorium laughed because he ALWAYS talked about flying and airplanes, and had unintentionally used "flies" in his speech. )

Time flies...

And just like that...

Yesterday...

Time flies when you are having fun...It seems like just yesterday #1 son had the auditorium in stitches with his "time flies" comment. Or #1 son was born. Or #2. Or #3. Or #4.  And just like that my boys have grown up. Ouch. My Mom heart hurts. Where have the years gone? My babies have grown up so quickly! How easy it is to just hurry through life. How many times did I tell my boys to "hurry up"? 

Brenda Jank, Founder of Run Hard Rest Well, posted a wonderful article and resource on her blog about "minutes matter". I encourage you to read it https://runhardrestwell.org/5-minute-breather/#more-7825  and watch the S-L-O-W video. We all need it. Stop. Linger. Observe. Wonder.

I replied back to our family text group this morning, "WOW! Time does fly. Pause. Enjoy the moments; the people you are with; the environment around you-God's awesome creation!"

Take a moment in your life to SLOW the hurry.

Storms and Blessings

I should have known better since I had lived in Wisconsin for over 30 years and grew up in Michigan. As the ice and  freezing rain began to fall upon Texas, I thought to myself, "I should have been more prepared!"  And at that moment my electricity went out. I stared down at my phone that had less than 5% battery. I did a little mental checklist of my refrigerator and cupboards which were not quite bare, but there was not much in them. Thankfully I was able to head to my car, warm it up, and charge my phone. I did have a gas stove- much to my chagrin when I was house hunting. (I definitely did not want a gas stove. In my experience gas stoves were equivalent to burnt meals.) Over the past few years I have learned to cook with gas and that stormy day with no electricity, I was very thankful for a gas stove.

Storm one left us with nine hours of no electricity, a cold house, and many tree limbs downed from our beautiful live oak trees. Once the power was back on, our poor puny Texas furnace could barely warm our house above 62°. Storms two, three, and four left many people without power- either for several days or for hours during rolling power outages. Most nearby localities were either completely without water or had boil water orders.

Between storm two and three, with our 2002 four-wheel-drive suburban (in Texas, the streets are NOT plowed), we checked on some people without water and electricity and brought them to our house to share the warmth and water. Bill Woosley, founder and president of FiveTwo Network, talks about lessons from the parable "The Feeding of the 5000" Mark 6:30-44. A couple lessons were "abundance from scarcity" and "miracles from the mundane".

Our miracles and abundance included: Other than the first storm, our house maintained both power and water. (When we found out later how our community kept our water supply during the storm, we were amazed.) Somehow our food just seemed to keep stretching even as more and more people joined us in our "powered and watered" home. During this time we were so richly blessed with special relationships! We had a house full of people and laughter, story telling, game playing, Bible reading, and so much more. Next time I will hopefully be more prepared for the winter storms in Texas, But in the meantime I thank God for using this time to shower us with
the incredible blessings of water, power, and people and the very special memories created during this time! 

Where in your life do you see abundance from scarcity or miracles from the mundane?