Be Present

That's what I'm trying to do these days...be present. Live in the now, don't worry about tomorrow, cherish everyday moments. It's something I've never been good at. I'm a planner, an organizer, a doer. I like to get things done so I can look back on my day and say, "yeah, I accomplished a lot". But really, work as a mom is never done, as soon as you finish laundry there's a pair of socks in the basket, as soon as you're done doing dishes from dinner there's an ice cream bowl in the sink, and as soon as you vacuum the floor graham cracker crumbs appear out of nowhere......our work is never done. So why miss out on times like these...

...when a clean house is fleeting, but memories are forever.

Death comes in 3's

At least that's what Angie, my brother's girlfriend, tells me. A week ago yesterday Brad Renfro was found dead in his apartment. You may remember him from the Client. It is an excellent movie with Susanne Sarandon. I guess he struggled with drugs and alcohol abuse and was in and out of jail. Sunday night a high school classmate of my brother Colby died in a car crash. The story Colby heard was that he (Vincent Boos) was taking friends home that had been drinking and after dropping the last one off got in the fatal accident. Colby said he was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. And then, I'm sure all of you have heard about the very publicized death of Heath Ledger. Possibly an overdose, possibly suicide. And the daddy of a 2 year old little girl... And most likely she won't remember him being in her life. These kind of events always make you realize how fragile life really is and they make you wonder if you're living it to the fullest and treasuring every moment. Today's ODB (Our Daily Bread: http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml) was excellent:

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God..."Colossians 1:10

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:13-14

Help us, Lord, to be a lifeline
To a dying world today,
Bringing hope to hopeless people,
Telling them that Christ’s the way. —Sper

A world in darkness needs the light of the gospel.

How fitting. I think sometimes we forget how dark the world really is and how badly it needs the light of the Lord. We don't really know the stories of these 3 people (no matter how many People magazines and ET shows we watch) but it sounds like at least a couple of them could have used a little light in their lives. Sometimes I get caught up in the goodness of my own life and cherish the fact that the light of the Lord lives in me and I forget its my job to let God's light show through me, so that other's might see it and be saved as well. Just like the candles on Christmas Eve...we need to keep passing on the fire that burns inside us so that other's can experience the joy and warmth of the Lord's light. You never know who might be freezing in the dark.