Lessons Learned

As I read  these words, I was reminded of a very short, but profound conversation that took place many years ago between a young husband and wife.

They were our close friends, and we had gotten together at their house to visit and watch a football game. They'd been married several years longer than we had, and they'd been blessed with a little girl who was the "apple of her daddy's eye"

My friend and I chatted as we walked to the kitchen during a commercial break. As we were returning to their living room, we witnessed this common, ritualistic guy thing, being exchanged between our husbands.

They were sitting on the couch talking, and as we rounded the corner to return to our seats, a commercial came on that caught their attention. The image of a teeny-weenie-bikini clad young woman sauntered across the television screen. With the poke of an elbow, the nod of a head, and a few grins; unspoken, but not unnoticed, appreciation for her appearance was conveyed between the two.

Without missing a beat, and with absence of any malice, my friend walked over to her husband and asked him if that's how he wanted their little girl to dress when she grew up.

"Well, no!" he answered rather incredulously, as he glanced over at their young daughter toddling around at his feet.  Big, beautiful, brown eyes, and a cute, little upturned nose; she was the perfect blend of her mom and dad. Wispy brown curls shook softly as she played on the the spacious living room floor. The image of his little girl dressed like this young woman was being imprinted upon his mind.

"She loves you and she's going to want to dress like what her daddy thinks is pretty. Is that how you want her to dress?"

"Well, no." he answered in a much softer voice.

No other words were needed.

And it took place, all in the space, of a commercial break.

Blessings,


P.S. Every young woman is someone's daughter, and every young man is someone's son. If we will look at them through the eyes of our Heavenly Father, we will be much more willing to gaze upon their eternal soul, rather than their appearance. "Don't judge by his appearance...The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7 N.L.T.

TIME TO MOVE IN

I have a friend who, along with her husband, built a home several years ago. They designed the home themselves, which was a lengthy process, as she wanted to utilize every square inch of the home in to functional space. They went on to build a beautiful home and had a finger in each and every gorgeous detail. Doing most of the work themselves allowed them not only to save money but assured that everything was just like they wanted. As they added the final touches, it was a fabulously beautiful home in every way, and yet upon completion, she refused to move in.

I was totally baffled! How could you put your life's blood in to something, literally in many ways, all of your time, your finances, and your total focus for so long, and not go running in to the front doors the moment it was completed and MOVE IN!

When I ask her what was going on, she explained to me that she " was angry at the house "! Seeing my look of utter confusion, she explained. She had worked on this project for so long and had given it so much of herself; she was angry. It seemed to her that it had cost too much. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, and needed to step away and take time to heal. Yes, she and her husband took time to recover, then moved in to their dream home.

This story does have a point. If you give of yourself entirely to something and you are bone tired upon its completion; you will need time to heal, to rest.

So guess what? I'm ready to MOVE IN!

Sincerely,

Farther Down the Road

I SO HOPE THAT THIS IS THE LAST EDIT I'LL BE DOING WITH THE GRAPHICS ON MY HEADER. i THINK I'VE BEEN AT THIS FOR ABOUT FOUR WEEKS NOW. MY VERY PATIENT HUSBAND HAS BEGUN TO GET USED TO TALKING TO THE BACK OF MY HEAD AS I TYPE AWAY, FROWNING AT THE IMAGE I'M SEEING ON MY SCREEN. I'VE REWORKED THE GRAPHICS UNTIL THEY'VE BEGUN TO LOOK MUDDY, THE LINES NOT CRISP AND CLEAR AS I'D INTENDED. I THINK MY MISTAKE HAS BEEN IN NOT DELETING THE WORDS AND STARTING OVER ON THE GRAPHICS, but, INSTEAD TRYING TO REDO THE EXISTING WORDS AND IMAGES.

SO... on to blogging! you know, for all my complaining, you'd be hard pressed to believe how much i really enjoyed this design process. I can't write in hyper text code, so, essentially, it will always be built on the work of someone else. but what a feeling of satisfaction it brings to look at a web page and know that this is your own place on the web to speak and to create beauty and to,hopefully, inspire someone else.

BTW, I HAD INTENDED ON BLOGGING ABOUT THIS ENTIRE PROCESS DAY BY DAY, but would have found it hard to find key stroke characters that spoke my language! ;]

sincerely,

Almost There

I'm almost through with my first official web page. I've worked almost nonstop for about three days now trying to get my blog up and going. Wish me luck!

Sincerely,