Category: lessons learned

sunshine on a saturday

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I re-organized my room when I returned in August of this year so that my bed is cattywampus in the corner. A long, plant-patterned ribbon stretches down from the ceiling to hold a hanging basket that is growing several books at the moment. Beside my bed, stacks of books have already claimed floor space like good friends claiming the best seats. Creativity finds all sorts of places to hide and I hope I never grow tired of searching it out.

Today, the sunlight drifted in through the window and pranced straight across my morning face at 5:30 am. Even though it was Saturday, the day seemed to be saying there was much to live and that I better start early.

By 6:30, I had already made coffee, enjoyed whole wheat waffles, and finally sent several messages I had been writing in my sleep. I love mornings. Some mornings seem just so suited to curl up in covers warmed by a night’s rest. Other mornings seem to beckon like a playmate outside the front door.

Today the morning beckoned outside my window, but instead of a playmate it sounded like a man on loudspeaker selling avocados, tomatos and onions out of the back of a truck. Well, no simile needed there. He really did start his rounds that early!

But, truly, this day made me thankful to live it.
Do you ever get those?

Even as 5:30 am rolled into 6:30 and and then as 7:30 led to plans for the entire sun-drenched day, I felt more sure that this day was a gift. Maybe it has something to do with my obsession with Germany and the mid-1900s (thank you Bonhoeffer and Eric Metaxas) that I can’t seem to shake, as I read the letters Bonhoeffer sent to encourage all his students to live with a robust courage to live hopeful. Though Bonhoeffer was involved in the conspiracy to end the reign of a tyrant (and also knew of the imminent danger posed to his ordinands in battle), he exhorted them to find joy.

In any case, 7:45 found me on my way to meet a friend and to visit Hospital Escuela, the most affordable (and least sanitary) places to get medical care in Tegucigalpa. After a second round of coffee, we met up with a medical mission team from Arkansas and offered our morning to cut, package, and stuff as they needed. I felt of little use, but hugely blessed by the opportunity to see what the Lord is doing through willing hearts and able hands! Because of their service, this week will be full of desperate-turned-joyful stories of patients receiving medical care.

We parted ways before lunch and set off, my friend and I, on the next adventures Saturday was hiding for us. Currently, she is reading “Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church” by DA Carson and I am reading “Bonhoeffer,” as you well know. Our conversation drifts in and out of the page turns, but I am so thankful to be in community. In fact, I dug up an old post I wrote in 2007 about community and, ironically, Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together.”

Then, while I was digging up posts, I found an old post I wrote after I attended the first ever Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. It rocked my world, to say the least. I’m pretty sure that’s when I picked up Carson’s book (above) and jotted down then these thoughts.

After our book-reading, sun-loving afternoon, we met up with another friend and celebrated a birthday. A night of laughter and new faces and… did I mention laughter? Maybe one of the most encouraging things, as I continue to love learning this language, is succeeding at humor. If I am 3/5 for jokes in the States, then the odds that I would be witty here are pretty slim. As it turns out, I’m not all that bad! And, if I can do anything to add laughter to a room, it’s a good day!

Well, I obviously spent far too much time trying to recap this little Saturday. I hope some of it makes sense.

Mostly, I hope that we

let LOVE FLY like cRaZY!

Posted on by Caroline 0

I love a crowded kitchen

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As a five-year-old, I remember the kitchen as one of the best places in our whole house. We didn’t have the best layout (our kitchen could fit in some people’s closet space), but that didn’t keep the constant stream of people from laying on the linoleum and crowding the counters and sitting on step stools.

The kitchen was a crowded place where we discussed the events of the day, dreamed about future plans, and practiced reading papers and reciting speeches (okay, so the last was something just I did to my ever-so-patient mother). The kitchen was a place where my brothers and sister and I would gather to taste the simmering spaghetti sauce and find the boldness to ask how much time until dinner made its way to the table.

If I’m honest, our crowded kitchen became no less a hub for activity as we got older. In fact, we might have noticed the crowding even more as we sprawled out on the floor or claimed space atop the counter, next to the bread box. And, if I’m honest, those times spent in the kitchen inspired and challenged and grew in me an appetite for community that I’m hoping is never satisfied.

So, last night, as the girls crowded me with mixers and containers and pizza and spatulas, I delighted.

I love the chatter and laughter and outrageous guesstimations about the amount of fruit needed for our newly invented angel food cake topping recipe. I love the exclamations of pride at the surprisingly good taste of a new creation. I love the huddle that forms in the space that is too small to hold the bodies moving around. I love that a flying elbow or spoon or hot pad holder can make contact at any point with a shoulder or side. I love the hopeful look lingering over a delicious bowl of fruit topping, imploring a sneaky taste of the concoction.

I love it all.

I think I love most that we were created to enjoy community. It was no accident that, when Jesus walked on this earth, He set apart time specifically and intentionally to eat with people. To recline and savor and enjoy food and drink as a way to invest and love the community around Him.

I love a crowded kitchen.
 Who is crowding yours today?

let LOVE FLY like cRaZY

Posted on by Caroline 0

sometimes…

This is a day of many sighs. They aren’t all sad or overwhelmed, but there are just so many! As I sit in my office and finish up the tasks of the day, this sermon by Mark Driscoll is spurring me on:
Jesus Heals the Paralytic:

What a great reminder of the humility it takes to approach how we live out this Christian life.

Posted on by Caroline 0

beginning again

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Wow. It’s hard to know how to begin. I didn’t write all summer, but I don’t feel bad about that. I never really do. There’s something about taking a break to live life and let the words drift in and out on the wind instead of flow from my fingertips. I spent some time putting pen to paper, but I even let that just be for a while.

What I DID do was enjoy the people who stood right in front of me. What a beautiful blessing it is to have community that builds us up, gives us new energy, and reminds us of the One who is responsible for anything good in this life.

I spent quiet mornings at the farm, drinking in newness of day. I passed time on the patio with my grandparents, listening to updates about neighbors and the bird family that just grew by three.

I ran the quaint streets of Atlantic and ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I played competitive nertz games with people who make joy bubble out in every direction and stayed up until 4 am debating politics and Christian living.

I barbecued homegrown steak with my parents on the East porch and talked about old times and the upcoming year. I spent beautiful time at my family reunion and then road-tripped for weddings in Chicago.

I picked up the biography of Bonhoeffer by Metaxas and rediscovered the biography of John Calvin. I watched some of my closest friends decide to love someone forever and I celebrated family every chance I got.

My summer was at the same time full and spaced out. It was a double-spaced, ten page paper on the most interesting topic imaginable and it never felt rushed.

And so, with that little prelude, I walk into this year with fresh eyes. All my excitement is bound up in the sincere decision to trust God in all things. In his grace, He makes every good work abound. If I could borrow a phrase from Mark Driscoll, I hope this year sees me working to the “glory of God and good of all people,” knowing that God is moving regardless.

If you are still confused about this outlook, the soundtrack to Peter Pan captures it pretty well.

and, as always, I’m setting out to

let love fly like crazy

Posted on by Caroline 0

Hello, world!

Yes. Hello.

I am coming to wordpress with my blogspot tail between my legs because I can’t figure out for the LIFE of me why I can’t log into my own blog. So, I took it as a sign to move along and into a new blogosphere, after several months break over the summer.

Now, here I am. I’m not sure how hard it will be to spread the word that I am now posting here, but I hope the transition won’t be too painful. I also hope that I can really master the art of blogging here… maybe even try a few new things and kick it up a notch, in an overnight writing sensation kind of way.

Let’s not get ahead of yourself, you are thinking. Okay, then. I’ll stick to what I do best and see who shows up to read it. How about that?

I have a LOT to update about, so I may have to resort to the awfully uninteresting bullet points for a few posts, but then I promise things will get more interesting.

Posted on by Caroline 0