Seeing with New Eyes

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born. Unto us, a Son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and  Prince of Peace .  Peace; we pray for it. It is used as a salutation or a greeting. Sometimes it's a hand gesture in pictures. It is often a mantra in times of war. Its symbol adorns jewelry and tye dye shirts depending on what's in style. I'm sure I am missing some others. No matter what country or time period, humans cry out for peace on every level. It is one thing most people try desperately to gain both personally and within relationships. In fact, I would guess many people would say being at peace can actually be better than being "happy." When you are at peace, you find contentment. You accept yourself and others around you. This weekend we move on to the last name the prophet Isaiah uses to describe Jesus, the coming King. He calls him the Prince of Peace. Out of the four names

Isaiah 9: 6 For unto us a child is born. Unto us, a Son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father , and Prince of Peace.  This week I've witnessed some incredible fathers in action. Without going into detail, I saw men sacrifice, protect, provide, carry, worry, and powerfully pray for their children. Where did they learn these things? Are they modeling taught behavior or simply acting out of instinct? As we continue with our Advent passage for the third week, we come to the third name Isaiah calls God; Eternal Father. In other versions, He is an Everlasting Father. The name Father is used almost 200 times in the Bible. When a descriptor such as this is used so much, we can't ignore the significance. John 8:41 - God Himself is our true Father  Acts 13:33 - I have become your Father 1 John 3:1 - See how much our Father loves Romans 8:15 - We call Him Abba, Father The word used in Romans, Abba, is

Isaiah 9: 6 For unto us a child is born. Unto us, a Son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God , Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.  What do you feel when you hear the roar of a lion? Does it excite or scare you? Maybe you feel a little of both. The lion, one of the most ferocious animals in the animal kingdom, is often used in stories to symbolize power. I recall one scene from a beloved Disney movie, the Lion King. Mufasa rescues his cubs from some mangy hyenas with a simple, yet powerful roar. Another bone shaking scene comes from Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. It's the part where the White Witch confronts Asland about his deal and she questions his authority. Asland's roar, so intense, the witch can't help but step back and sit. Our God, Maker of the universe, Master of the skies, King of creation, including lions, is described as Mighty the verse above. In other words, he is to

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born. Unto us, a Son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor , Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.  Have you ever watched someone try to put together a piece of IKEA furniture without the instructions? It's a difficult task even with the cryptic little man demonstrating each step. To enter into the project sans the directions could be deemed insane. Almost all IKEA furniture comes in a flat box.   It's contents: a bag of hardware and multiple identical shelf-like parts with holes both big and small. And somehow it all fits together perfectly to create a closet system. Or a bookcase. Or a bed frame. Or a toy box. Or a Lexus. Okay, maybe that last one is a stretch. The IKEA engineers are quite genius, in my opinion. They created numerous furniture items with just a few basic patterns, and all the same, basic building blocks. When you walk around an IKEA showroom, you might never gues

I have a holiday hangover. Thanksgiving came and went. I asked for prayer to enter the week with a grateful heart, and I left the week ungrateful, unrested, and with a bad attitude. No real reason for it. I skipped my quiet times with God. I focused on myself and what I wasn't getting, i.e., my way, my time. In our house, we call that out as a "do-over." Usually, it's just a day, not an entire week but you get the point. If someone comes down to breakfast with a bad attitude, that person has to go upstairs, maybe pray, cry, journal, whatever strikes his/her fancy, and return with a 'new attitude' (enter Patti LaBelle: Greatest Hits, Track 8). So I am asking, right now, for a "do-over" this next season. I want to begin today, December 1st, with a new attitude. One with gratefulness, thankfulness, and focused on what really matters. Or rather, who really matters. It is His birthday, after all. Isaiah 9:6: For a child will be born for us, a son wil

Sometimes our past selves have a lot to teach us. So quickly we forget where we have come from.  I cut and pasted what I wrote 4 years ago on this very day below: "I was reflecting today on this past year. A year ago at this time, we were awaiting some news about our sweet boy. We were waiting to hear whether or not our lives would change forever. We were waiting on God. Waiting for Him to show us what would be next. It was hard. Probably one of the scariest moments a parent can go through. Wondering if your child would have a normal life. If he would be healthy and thriving. And on November 16th, 2012, we got a phone call that our son was just fine. He was completely normal. And we breathed a sigh of relief. I vowed to try and remember that place of desperation as I moved forward. Easier said than done. It's hard to be in that place when life is cruising along. Until something else happens. You are right back there in that place. 6 weeks after I had our sweet baby boy, Mason

I wrote last week about the desire to hide behind masks to save "face" or preserve integrity. We do it more frequently than we may think and in at least my case to salvage pride.  The problem is that when we keep the masks on, we forfeit authentic relationships. If we can get to a place where we lay down our masks and acknowledge that we really don't have it all together, that is when we begin to see ourselves come alive. Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. In keeping with the theme of Halloween, it would be fun to demonstrate my ongoing thought with our actual costumes this year. Our family dressed up as superheroes. A couple of a bat people, wonder woman, and a tiny spidy (Spiderman). I think there is a reason we (as a human race) like, at least the idea, of superheroes. They embody what we would look up to. Justice, hope, power, to name a few. At our core, we want to have those qualities or powers that truly impact the world. Make

Yesterday was Halloween. I loved this holiday as a child. I got to be a different person for one day and collect as much candy as possible. How cool is that? Well, sort of. There is the whole cavity and pre-diabetes concern. That aside, the idea that you get to be someone else and get rewarded is fun but a bit twisted. Hear me loud and clear Halloween lovers: I am not knocking Halloween. It's a perfectly fun holiday. Just bear with me for a bit. As I sprayed black dye onto my daughter's hair, I thought about how much of our life is spent pretending to be someone we are not. We are often told to from a very early age that we must act a certain way or put on a happy face or not throw a tantrum. If we are "good," we get a treat. Whether it's candy, an A+, or even a trophy. In reality, we never grow out of that. We are constantly bombarded with messages to perform. We have to "fake it 'til we make it" in jobs, as students, even as parents. I will agree

It was fall break for my daughter this past week. Our household has had a couple of issues that would probably go unnoticed most weeks. I would not say that they were minor, just things that slide under the surface on any given day due to busy lives. Lying about homework was the first one. Jocelyn didn't want to do a page of her homework. We do a page a day, so we aren't bombarded at the end of the week. She had already finished one page the day before. I instructed her to do the next one. She should have had 2 pages completed when I checked that night.  I found only one page complete and no more. Bummer. Yesterday, both my children, decided that it would be ok to take a penny from the horse ride jar at King Soopers (our local grocery store). Both of the children had to return to the scene of the crime and place the penny back in the jar. Bummer again. I could take these things to signify that: A. I am failing as a parent  B. My kids are hooligans C. Both of the above 

Our world is so amazing! The planet we live on has so many awesome things. Did you know that most of the earth is made up of water? 70% of it! So only 30% of the earth is made of land. And land that is where 7.6 Billion people live. Those billions of people live in 193 countries. Each country has a unique group of individuals. They speak different languages, eat different foods, and wear different clothes. If we put one person from each country, all in one place, it would look a lot like what Heaven will be like. How cool is that? My daughter goes to a really cool school. It teaches languages and cultures that are found all around the world. Every month, we get to learn about a new country. I love this because it exposes my family to areas that I never knew existed. Now I will be honest and let you know that Geography is not my strongest subject. I'd be willing to bet there are many people that share my same disadvantage. This month, our school is studying a country by the name

I can't help but write about the butterflies right now. They are everywhere. If you are anywhere other than Colorado, there has been a Monarch butterfly migration through our state this past week.  To me, they are like little love notes from God. Just when I think there is nothing to smile about on any given day, out pops a butterfly, or two, or a whole swarm! I have always loved the butterfly analogy and how it relates to us humans.  We so desperately want to be the thing we were created to be but we aren't there yet. It's like we are stuck. It is a strange tension between the already, not yet. Think about the life cycle of the butterfly. It is already a butterfly by its nature, but not yet. It doesn't know it yet because it has to go through the refining process. It is destined to become something more. It is a butterfly in progress. It's called something different before it actually emerges, but it is still a butterfly. It has to go through a journey, maybe a lo

I hate strongly dislike obligation. Well, at least, when I am the one obligated. E specially when I committed to something   and then 10 other things get stacked on it even with the best intention . There is heaviness that hangs around my neck when I am obligated to someone or something. I just don't like the idea of having to be in debt to anything. That feels like prison. Not freedom. But obligation is not a law or a requirement. The actual definition is "to bind or compel someone, especially legally or morally." So if I boil it down, it's not something I have to do. It's more like something that is highly suggested. This is where it gets tricky. While I don't agree with it entirely, there is thought process in this generation that you have to do what makes you happy and you don't have to do what doesn't. Obligation only exists in a world of rules and order. I often look at obligation through the tainted glass of the world. I view it less as a pr

After dropping the kids off at school today, I came home to a long to-do list. I didn't know where to start. My heart was craving some time with the Lord but I had so much to do. But today, those "more important" things became less important and I chose to sit quietly with my Creator. I craved to hear His voice. I sat in silence and allowed my thoughts to become prayers. I asked Him what He wanted me to read in His word. I kept hearing 1 Corinthians 12. Not sure why.  To be honest, I wasn't sure 1 Cor 12 existed 😁. I obeyed and turned to it. Guess what? It does exist. It's right before the infamous wedding chapter 13...Love is... Today, chapter 12 fed my soul. It filled me up. It gave me much needed context for the next chapter. After pulling apart chapter 12, I read on to the first part of chapter 13 and it's was like I read it for the first time ever. My eyes were opened to seeing the Love chapter in a brand new light. I'm going to stop there. Not b

My husband used to refer to certain things I did or said as: the world according to Jenna. He coined the phrase after many debates regarding my view being very narrow, small, and from my perspective only. Now, I do believe that I have improved in seeing things through a larger looking glass but I still slide back every now and again. Eh hem, last night. I don't believe that my perspective is bad or wrong (obviously) and neither does my husband . But everyone has their own perspective. I describe people in two ways: they see the forest through the trees or they see the pine needles on the forest ground. Both are very important POV's. One focuses on the grand scale. The big picture. The past or future. The other discovers the minute details. The brush strokes. The here and now. Here's the dilemma: if we always revert to one way of looking at things, we miss out.  We miss a bunch. Even worse, we miss Him, with a capital H. We can't get a full picture of God when we don

In light of this week's hurricane and the craziness of the holiday, I'm going to make this short and to the point. What do we do when people are in need? How do we respond? Bottom line: we help. However that looks for each person is different. But it's that simple. We help. The wonderful thing about helping others, beside the obvious, that it helps others, is that we are blessed by the opportunity to do so. We get to be the hands and feet of Jesus in these times. What an amazing gift! We get to be the helpers. Proverbs 22:9 - The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor As you go into your holiday weekend, I encourage you to take a moment, if you haven't already, and just pray for those along the gulf coast. And ask God to give you some opportunities to help. Engage your kiddos: Activity: Pray for the people affected with your kids. Talk about the hurricane and show them a few pictures that help them understand the impact.

These past two weeks the media and my Facebook feed were filled with two events: one that divides and one that unites. The first one had a nation focused on each other and ourselves in disgust. The second one had a nation looking up in awe. The first one tore into our communities with hate. The second one covered our communities with wonder. The first one brought people out to stand up for something. The second one brought people out to stand up for one thing. The first one lasted days. The second one lasted minutes. How is it, that in a matter of 2 weeks, we have a people divided and then, a people united? I think there are more important questions: - Where were people looking when both events took place? - What was actually happening in their hearts and minds as they viewed both of these events? When we look at ourselves and then point out the differences in others, chaos happens. When we look up, harmony happens. Col 3:2  Set your minds on things that are above, not on thin

I wrote a blog a few years ago about playing hide-and-go-seek with my husband and daughter. Jocelyn was about 2 when I wrote it. I remember how excited she would get to go hide. She could hardly contain herself as she stood quietly in her spot. Nine times out of ten, she would burst out of her place before she was even found. But the real joy for her, was in the finding. She would squeal at the reveal of her daddy behind the curtains. As I reflect on this entry from a few years ago, I can't help but remember what I learned at that time. It's like this for my relationship with God. There are times I hide from Him or think I am hiding from Him. There are also times I am trying to find Him. When I am hiding, it's because I don't trust God can handle my yuck. I struggle with trusting that God sees it all and still loves me despite myself. As soon as I bring it all before Him, I am filled with relief. Psalm 139:2 -  You know when I sit down or stand up.      You know my

I was first inspired to write about Princess J. (the main character in my book) because I was feeling spiritually attacked. A guest speaker explained that, as a woman, a mom, a wife, I have a target on my back. What is an easier way to tear a whole family apart than by going through the mom? The enemy will use every tactic to tear me down so that he will ultimately tear my family down. That made me angry. It still makes me angry. Really angry. You can mess with me but don't even think about messing with my family. So I did what any angry mom would do: I decided I would write books.  Ok, maybe not a first choice for everyone. Productive, nonetheless. I wanted teach my kids and other kids. Give them something that would help them be prepared when they are attacked. We are told to almost everywhere that we are alone. We must fight for ourselves. That we have to be brave, courageous, fearless, strong...all on our own. When we actually listen to that lie, we start to gain confidence i

As I sat down to write this, an inspirational, all-time classic movie played in the background: Twister.  Ok. So maybe not an Oscar winning movie. Or even a top ten best. Regardless, the scene that was playing fit so well with this particular topic that I can't help but post it: "Things go wrong. You can't explain it. You can't predict it. You have to stop living in the past and look at what you have right in front of you." -  The late Bill Paxton - Twister Those "things that go wrong" come in all shapes and sizes. Some are big to me but not to you. Some are just speed bumps to me, massive road blocks to the next person. What seems huge one day may be completely irrelevant the next.  I won't ever forget that horrific moment in high school when my pants split down the backside in front of everyone. It makes me laugh out loud today, but I can assure you it did not make me laugh then. The pain of infertility, not once but twice, brought me to my

I took the kids to the skate park for the first time yesterday. I was a little nervous about how they would fair in a fast-paced, wheels rule, move it or loose it kind of environment. I envisioned my children getting pushed out of the way or "jacking up" trick areas with their inexperience.  My fear of "hooligan skaters" bruising my kids fragile ego made me hesitant to even go in the first place. Of course, they both fell. They both made mistakes and got in the way of the more experienced riders. I expected that part. What I didn't expect to witness though, gave me a little  a lot more hope for the future of my children in this world. I witnessed patience. I witnessed grace. I witnessed encouragement. I witnessed helping. And all of these things from not only my kiddos, which was cool in itself, but I watched several other children act this way. Kids standing by waiting until the smallest member moved out of the way. Teens reaching down to pull the little

Yesterday started off with a bang. I woke up refreshed. My kids slept well and were happy. It all pointed to a day filled with peace and fun. And then...the familiar sound of screaming, crying, and tattling entered in. This was the third day in a row that I had to speak with my oldest about not using a physical means to get her point across to her brother. Not to mention the hurtfulness that spewed out of her mouth to her friend the day before.  Something bigger was sitting below the surface and she acted out of that. I can totally relate to her for so many of my days. Of course, my first instinct was to take all privileges away for the day. That wasn't getting at the heart of the issue. So, I sat her down and asked her what was going on inside of her. I'm not sure she even knew. She was just angry inside. But rather than try to dig for what it was, fix it, and move on, I felt she just needed to name the yuck inside as sin. Period.  We discussed how she could try and change th

A song came on during my workout this past Tuesday morning that hit me hard. Here are the lyrics: She just wants to be beautiful. She goes unnoticed. She knows no limits. She craves attention. She praises an image. She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor. As I listened to this song while “sculpting” my body, the words brought back a flood of emotions from being a young girl. I remember watching Miss Teen USA every year. Each winner (and contestant) had the perfect body, smile, hair, skin, and platform. I had high hopes of being that pageant winner one day.  That image of beauty was a standard set long ago in my mind and it was the farthest thing from my own image in the mirror. I so badly wanted to be noticed and adored by others. Being beautiful was equivalent to having value. While I’d like to say that I have since shrugged off the robe of insecurity, I can’t. It has even reared it’s ugly head as recent as my trip to Nashville this month. One comment by a stranger a