Where everybody knows your name...

You could barely call yourself a child of the 80’s if you did not watch the popular television sitcom, “Cheers.”  It was about a sports bar in Boston and how the lives of the patrons and employees played out and overlapped.

As popular as the show itself was, what I think we most looked forward to each week was hearing—and singing along to-- the theme song, Where Everybody Knows Your Name. This song has received critical acclaim and was voted as the best TV theme song of all time by both a 2011 Rolling Stones Magazine reader’s poll as well as the editors of TV Guide in 2013.  Recently, that song ran through my head at a place that should provide an even greater welcome than a sports bar—church.

While walking across the auditorium on my way to sing with the worship team that Sunday morning, I spotted a newer friend and called him by name, adding how wonderful it was to see him that morning, then proceeded to take my place among the other background vocalists. Following the service, this gentleman made straight for me and with tears in his eyes, related how much it meant to him to have me greet him by name and say I was glad to see him there that day. He also stopped my husband and shared the same with him.

See, this gentleman has been walking a tough path lately. The road of life is often rough and steep and we sometimes feel lost and alone. Does anyone know or care about the burden we may be carrying? Does anyone even know who we are?

The popular sitcom tune’s lyrics read:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got

Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot

Wouldn’t you like to get away…

Sometimes you wanna go…

Where everybody knows your name

And they’re always glad you came

You wanna be where you can see

The troubles are all the same.

You wanna be where everybody knows your name

And isn’t that what we all want? Isn’t it what church should be all about? Reaching out to people around us, getting to know who they are and part of their story—letting them know they matter. That’s exactly what Jesus did—what He desires of us.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could turn church into a place that is so welcoming that people couldn’t wait to get in the doors? What if church was like “Happy Hour”… a place where people felt welcome, comfortable, able to share their struggles and receive support and encouragement (that didn’t come in the form of alcohol!). I think it would please God if we took more time to make church a place, “where everybody knows your name…” because He’s into remembering things like our names.

Isaiah 49:16 reads, “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;…” Our names are that important to Him.

A very Brave birthday party

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I love, Love, LOVE to throw parties! I enjoy all the details of planning and carrying out an event--and kids' birthday parties are a favorite. This year, my youngest asked for a Brave themed party. Immediately, the wheels began to turn and visions of tartans and archery danced through my head! The celebration was a tremendous success! Here's how it went down:

Invitations are a fun way to generate excitement for a party. Because we are always watching our budget, I love the challenge of creating a exciting invitation for as little money as possible. Since the Brave theme lends itself to all things Scottish, I immediately thought of plaids/tartans. The invite we created fit the bill beautifully! It was not hard to find some plaid scrapbook paper at our local craft store and I found a Celtic knot stamp as a bonus! The ribbon we had already. I simply typed the invite info in a font that fit the theme and printed it onto colored paper that matched the plaid paper. After gluing the printed info onto the plaid background, I stamped the Celtic knot design for additional Scottish flair, punched two holes at the top and wove a complimentary ribbon color through the holes. 

Included in the invitation information we had decided to invite not just my daughter's friends, but also their families. Since the Brave movie focuses on clans--we thought it was fitting. Side note here: With three kids in our family having summer birthdays, we are accustomed to having a number of invitees unable to attend because of vacations, etc. This particular party was an exception--with around 50 people included in the RSVP's!
To add to the fun, we gave each guest the chance to "choose their clan." I found four different patterns of plaid sheets at the thrift store and cut sashes from each pattern. The guest got to roll a die with pieces of each pattern attached to see what clan they were part of for the day. They then took an appropriate sash and wore it for the party. Everyone really got into this--even more than I anticipated.

Dividing people up by clans made it easier to get people involved in our Highland Games where they participated in various events to earn points for their clan. The guests enjoyed trying their hand at a log toss--made using a large sheet of cardboard I got free from the local home-improvement store. My older son and I rolled it into a tube, stuffed it with blankets, sealed it and duct taped it to hold it all together. I did eventually break, but only after many had fun trying their hand at it. 

We also provided a bean bag toss style game which we called a Haggis Toss. My older daughter painted the faces of Meridah's triplet brothers and their names on it and we made bean bags out of nylon knee-high stockings filled with mixed dried beans. Note: The bean bags were cute but, despite the fact that we doubled the nylons, they were not durable enough for a party where they were being tossed by older brothers, etc. They broke open and we ended up sweeping up thousands of beans from our sports court--lest they sprout!

The highlight of our Highland Games was the archery shoot. We already owned a toy bow that simply needed re-stringing. The arrows we made with 18" lengths of 1/4" dowel with pencil erasers for the tips. For a target, we cut a large circle from cardboard with a hole in the center about 6" in diameter. After painting it white and adding some blue striping, we attached a piece of red flannel on the back behind the cut-out. By attaching it only at the top, the arrows were able to "shoot through" the hole if you made a bull's eye. The line for this attraction remained steady all evening with guests of all ages giving it a try.

Probably the thing that helped motivate the interest in the archery shoot was our special guest. One of my older daughter's schoolmates participates in competitive archery. He is an impressive young man with an ambition to one day be an Olympic archer. After demonstrating his amazing skills, he was kind enough to answer questions about what he does and his equipment. It was definitely a highlight!

No party is complete, of course, without food! Since we had such a large crowd to feed, we decided pizza was our best option, but wanted to keep within the theme as much as possible. This was answered by ordering 10 pepperoni pizzas from our local Little Caesar's Pizza and asking if they were willing to arrange the pepperoni in the shape of a target. They were actually pretty excited to get a special order to break the monotony of their jobs and had fun with filling it! Along with the pizza, we served chips and a veggie tray to complete the dinner meal.

The Birthday Girl isn't fond of the "Everyone gather round the cake, watch me and sing publicly at me" moment of parties, so she requested that we not have just a cake, but rather a sort of dessert buffet. Her older sister truly outdid herself by creating some very noteworthy desserts, including mini cupcakes (yellow cake) with powdered sugar glaze and a red-hot (looking much like to cakes the triplets in the movie are always chasing after), sugar cookies shaped into celtic knots, and bear claw cookies. We added chocolate teddy grahams and gummy bears as well.

As a final bit of fun, we lit a campfire and had s'mores supplies available. Partly as a nod to the Scottish theme and partly because I have recently discovered this as a much simpler way to do s'mores, we used fudge-striped shortbread cookies in place of chocolate and graham crackers. For those who were able to stay through this part of the party, it was a big hit!

So, all in all, we had a wonderful time celebrating our little princess in the BRAVEst way possible ;)

Freckles

(Blogging the list, post 2)

My youngest child has freckles...sprinkled across the bridge of her nose like so much cinnamon on toast. They are adorable, and they make me happy just to look at them! She's a quiet one, this blue-eyed pixie. She often goes somewhat unnoticed by others. She tends to hover around me almost virtually like my shadow. When people do notice her, it's common for them to say how much they like her freckles--a comment that always elicits a quiet smile and down-cast eyes. I think she captures hearts with those freckles and that sweet smile.
I don't know what it is about freckles that is so appealing. Many people who have them spend a lot of time hoping they will go away--even trying to be rid of them. Anyone else remember the classic, Frecklejuice? (It doesn't work, by the way...I had freckles once, too!). Wikipedia reveals that people with freckles have a lower amount of photoprotective melanin in their system, making them more vulnerable to sun exposure.
Hmmm...I feel an analogy coming on! Probably due to the health challenges that this freckled princess has weathered, I think I've always felt her vulnerability more keenly. No one in our family has needed to be quite as brave as she in what she has had to face in her short life. And the evidences of her vulnerability are still visible in many ways...a bit like freckles--sprinkled across her life. But, I also see how she has an overcoming spirit. I admire her strength, in fact.
One day, it's likely the freckles across her nose will fade away, like mine did. And every day, I see her strength growing and her vulnerability fading. But for now, I will enjoy watching the evidence of her overcoming...and those nose freckles, too. Yep, I know she captures hearts with that sweet, freckled smile. She sure has captured mine!

International Sisterhood

(Blogging The List--post 1)

A while back, I found myself  waiting in the sitting area of a department store dressing room. My teen daughter was trying on dresses for her upcoming dance and I--the mom with the feet tired from covering the mall up and down in our quest--was trying out the chairs which were thoughtfully provided for those in my situation.
As I waited, I observed the others around me. Mostly, it was other mothers and daughters on the same quest as we, but one group caught my eye especially.
It was a group of co-workers from the department store, gathered around to see the result of one of their own, trying on some new outfits. It didn't appear to be for any special occasion, but I was struck by how they intereacted. You see, this group was comprised of about half a dozen women from all areas of the globe. Their skin colors and accents varied widely, but they were all women. It fascinated me that they all seemed to share the goal common to women of finding (or helping a friend find) an outfit that achieves the purpose of all good outfits: to make us look good and feel good about who we are in it! I smiled to myself as they all weighed in on the different outfits their friend modeled. They were all encouraging--they were united.
It made me think about how very much alike we are in our hearts. We have similar aims and goals, dreams and desires as women. We are like an international sisterhood. This thought makes my heart happy. It gives a new meaning to reaching out to others not like me outwardly. It makes me thankful to be a part of the world.

Blogging the List

Just over 462 items in to my "1000 Gifts" List and I began to think about how I'd like to interact with some of these items with more than a few words jotted in the journal...to savor them and feel them spread out into my life like a healing oil. So, the idea was born to "Blog the List." This should provide plenty of material...there's so much to be thankful for!

Dancing Leaves

 

One of the unrecognized blessings of having older children is  they are involved in things outside of my influence that require drop-off and pick-up. It is not unusual to have to wait a few minutes at pick-up time. Usually, I bring something to read or occupy myself. Last week, however, I found myself waiting to pick up my daughter with nothing to fill those moments, so I began to pay attention to my surroundings....

It was a blustery day and I found a quiet calm in the warm cocoon of my van as I watched the autumn leaves flying, whooshing, skittering, spinning and dancing about. I found it fascinating how these essentially dead objects seemed to take on a life of their own in their wild ballet--but then it occurred to me that it was actually the wind which was doing the moving and the leaves were only being carried along. In fact, the leaves were merely showcasing what the wind does regularly--but because we cannot see the wind, we remain unaware of the direction it takes.

This thought has been with me a few days...and forming into truth. God's Spirit is like the wind as it says in John 3, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (verse 8) God's Spirit is always blowing in our lives...always spinning and dancing and active--we are just unable to see it generally. But, every once in a while--there is something placed in the path of that wind and we see the effects of God's Spirit. And like the leaves--I find it is often the useless, dead things that go careening about in life as if they are in an uncontrollable dance of abandon. But really, those items are just things placed in the path of God's Spirit in our lives. They are not in control of their own path--God is. His Spirit takes them where He wants them to go.

So, maybe...just maybe...I can be grateful for those things in that they are evidence that He is very much at work in my life...and I am being privileged to see the evidence of it.

Would someone please look behind the curtain

Fear...
I feel it weighing me down these days...
Dread...
of what could, will go wrong or happen...of where I will go wrong...
It all feels like too much...life...chores...the endless struggle in relationships...finances...heck, just getting out of bed...

And through it all--I sense that there are those who look to me to be a savior of sorts....and that scares me most of all.

Saviors are supposed to be perfect....capable...in control...
I feel none of those things right now.

Paralyzed.
this fear of failure makes it hard to just put one foot in front of the other.

Lord! What is the answer here?

Can they not see that the one behind the curtain is not "the Great and Powerful Oz"...just a fumbling human, feet of clay...trying to keep everything in balance and terrified of messing up?

Who hung this curtain, anyway? Was it me, Lord? Was there actually a time when I wanted them all to think I could satisfy all needs...be all-sufficient...grant them all they wanted?

Please help me to point them to "the Great and Powerful God" and admit that the dog and pony show I've been putting on isn't going to do the trick for them...or me...or anyone...

Please show me how to push back this curtain and show them all the truth and not be afraid of exposure.

Actually, Lord...please tear down the curtain and let me hide my fearful heart in You. I am ready to be exposed...