Whistle a Happy Tune

"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."
                                -Colossians 3:16

This doesn't happen to everyone, but once in awhile life circumstances hit us full-on, and when Thanksgiving comes around it is hard to find something to be thankful for.  It is true that we can chime in with what we KNOW we should be thankful for...maybe the kids, maybe your family, maybe a helpful friend, or your health....we've been trained well to do this.

But really, deep down inside, we find ourselves struggling to be thankful. 

This is where I find myself this year.

Ever feel that way?

With social media today, it is so easy to look at everyone else's lives as the picture-perfect, picket fence dream we see them posting on a daily basis.  They've proudly put their happy moments on display-buying new houses, getting promotions, beautiful children in perfect poses...I do it too. 

I also look at everyone's happiness around me and feel jealous, like a little kid, of what they have.  I think that if I had what they had, instead of the circumstance I am in, I would be happy. 

In an all-time favorite movie of mine, "The Count of Monte Cristo", one of the characters is remembering with a wealthy nobleman a time when he was little and he was given a pony while his poor friend was given a whistle.  She remembers with him how he was angry because the poor boy was happier with his whistle than he was with his pony.   I often think to myself, "That's what I want!"  I want to be happy with a whistle!

But I look around at bills we can't pay, mouths we're having trouble feeding, broken friendships, losses I've experienced over the years, and all the anger and fear inside me, and instead of being happy, I'm struggling to be thankful for anything-even the ponies I've clearly been blessed with. 

But there is a place to find peace and contentment.

We've all been given the greatest gift, and if accepted, there is happiness beyond our expectations.  Through all the turmoil and disappointment in life, whatever you are going through, whatever you are anxious or angry about, whatever you fear, there is a promise to be thankful for...a promise of everlasting life, unconditional love, and an undeniable happiness to be found.

A gift worth shouts of thanksgiving.

A whistle named Jesus.

This gift of hope comes with warmth, and fills your emptiness with all that you could ever need, blessings in abundance, and a thankful heart.  A gift that gives contentment no matter what.

Meet in the Kitchen

"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."  -Jeremiah 29:13


It's no secret to those who know me that I am highly competitive.  I love sports, basketball especially, and in the ultimate, self-revolving world of my high school years, it was my priority in life.  My team was pretty decent, not perfect, but we won our conference championship and had a winning season. 

While on the court, I was aggressive, driven, and determined to win at all cost.  (I have a crooked nose, cracked tooth, extremely weak ankles and knees, and a still not fully functioning hamstring to prove it)  I was so focused, in fact, that everything else would disappear except for the game and two voices:  my coach and my dad. 

My dad is also highly competitive and loves sports.  Watching sports is the only time I've ever heard him yell at anyone or anything.  In fact, I have vivid memories of him red-faced in the crowd yelling at referees.

Now our small town loved basketball enough that often we had a packed gym.  (This was partially because the boys team that always followed our game was exceptional, but who really needs that information, right?)  Anyway, even in a packed gym, I could always pick out Dad's voice...sometimes yelling at the refs and sometimes encouraging our team...but I always heard him, even when there wasn't an open seat left in the gymnasium.  Isn't that amazing? 

Yet it was my time with Dad after the games that sticks out the most in my memory.  Following every game, you could find us sitting in the kitchen eating frozen pizza, cereal, or ice cream and rehashing every play...every moment.  When I was over-the-moon for scoring my career high 26 pts, we celebrated.  When I was angry because a foul called on me sent a gal to the free throw line to tie the game and they eventually beat us in overtime, he was there to reassure me that I did not, in fact,  touch her.  When my team lost the game to go to state my senior year and all our hopes and dreams were shattered...everything I had worked for day in and day out for four years let down...he was there to put his arms around me and tell me how proud he was of how I played.  I treasure those memories.

It was loving.  It was constant.  It was unconditional.  It was always there.

It was Christ-like.

Day-in and day-out we play the game with Jesus in the crowd.  He celebrates our successes and redeems us when we fail.  If we listen close enough, we can always hear his voice whisper above the noise...calming the storms that threaten to hold us down, encouraging us when we are tired and behind, celebrating our victories. 

However your game plays out, losses and successes, proud moments and days when you only feel defeat, take the time to meet him in the kitchen.  He loves to hear from you, discuss every play-every moment of your day.  He will come to your defense, reassure you when you doubt, and put his arms around you when your dreams are shattered.  Treasure your time with Jesus for he treasures his time with you.

He is loving.  He is constant.  He is unconditional.  He is always there.

The Ups and Downs of Halloween Costumes

"So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
 Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, 'Can I not do with you as this potter does?' declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand."

Jeremiah 18:3-6

Every year, I make my kids' Halloween costumes.  It is something that my mom always used to do when we were little.  I love allowing them to choose anything they way to be, and I love the challenge of the creative process...and boy is it ever a process.

With four kids, it takes a long time...choosing fabrics/materials, figuring out how to make them fit, figuring out how to make it look like they want it to look while still having my kids able to breathe and see.  I love it and yet I always get  frustrated, disappointed, let down at some point.  Then miraculously in the end, it all works out.

This year, my kids were very excited about being part of the process.  However, they were not able to see the vision.  Often along the way I would hear, "That doesn't look like it's suppose to," or I would just see them trying to hide their disappointment in what it looked like.

There were also times when I had to adjust, start over, fix, resize, etc.

Yet in the end, when the costumes were revealed, there was nothing on their faces but pure joy.  Being a teacher, I also had the privilege of seeing them parade around the school proud as peacocks of the end result.

On the way back from trick or treating, my son asked why I make their costumes every year.  Before I had a chance to answer, he said, "Is it because you love me?"

"Yes, that's exactly it," I replied.

The whole process reminds me so much of being the clay in God's hands like in the verse from Jeremiah.

Our life experiences, good and bad, shape us.

From the smallest conversations with strangers, to the most exciting accomplishments, to the most devastating blows, we are being shaped by what we experience.

When you're in the midst of the worst experiences, it is easy to distrust the potter.  We forget that we are in his hands and he is in control.  We don't see where it is going or how it could possibly be worked out.  We only see the mess.  We don't understand why prayers go unanswered.

But the truth is, that the potter never takes his hands off us.  He never lets go. He takes our situation and uses it to mold us, to shape us, into the vision he has had for us from the very beginning.  It is okay to trust.  It is okay to let go and give it to him and know that he is all powerful-that it is all part of a greater plan, and we are being transformed in the process.

Is it because He loves us?

Yes, that's exactly it.