Wisdom Wednesday (Even though it is Friday :) : The Invisible Church.

 Dear Miss Madeline,

I am sitting here at 6:30am, listening to the sprinklers outside our window. Yesterday we played outside with the sprinklers for the first time.  You are not yet too interested in that all yet, so instead you just crawled around like a little doggie.

I just put you back down in your crib where you like to instantly roll over on to your tummy with your little legs curled under you. It makes me smile.

Last night I had a dream about an invisible church.  It attracted a new group of individuals as we could not see one another .... judge or think we are being judged ... or be seen by anyone else to create a "holier than thou" complex in our heads. It was purely a way we could all come together and not know who we were there with, what they have been through and where they came from, or were wearing, or sounded like, etc... but each individual was there because they were soley looking to better themselves, not just for themselves but for those around them. They were there to simply build there relationship with God.

When I woke from your stirring and desiring a bottle, I stay awake in bed thinking about that invisible church.

Why is it that church is not invisible.

With an invisible church, we would not see one another.  It is that simple.

We were put on Earth into a society of decaying morals, self centered thinking minds and deep sorrows and were given each other to help us out of it. Having a place we can come together to support eachother is wonderful. While there are those who attend church because of the others on earth watching, there are those who go because they simply want to work on becoming better.

Not everyone can make it to church.  Whether physically, mentally, spiritually etc for there reasons from keeping them from going, they do not come. They do not like to be exposed.  Who does. But sometimes we create an illusion of what other people are thinking that isn't there at all. Perhaps history has put us there.  But we have also been given another kind of Church.  The Family.  Family should be a strong unit of support. Everyone is much more fragile that they let themselves allude to. Which is why a healthy supportive family under a loving home are so important.

Hanging on our living room wall, I have collected masks from around the world.  I looked at it the other day, as I went to hang a new one from Venice.  I admired the different styles, cultures, colors etc.  And I sat there thinking about how every country and culture in the world always seems to put out this art form.  But why?

I thought about the idea of 'hiding' behind the mask as a global thing.  Something that as humans and insecure individuals, we do.  Being invisible is therefore a desire of each culture and we all have our masks.

We put up 'Fronts' to disguise our pains. Become invisible. We hide behind the mask with all of our problems invisible to everyone else.  God can always see through the mask. He knows our pains, our sins, our sorrow, our joys ... our struggles.  God, if we let him will lift the mask and heal us, strengthen us, motivate us, inspire us.... ( and totally unrealavant, but as means of lightening the topic just now, I can't also stop thinking of Darth Vaders mask being lifted in Star Wars :)

Anyway, everyone has a scarred face hidden behind there mask in a vain world.

After this life, and resurrection, I know that we will be restored to our full selves. Our masks lifted and our broken scarred selves restored and uplifted.

So now, when I look at that wall, I no longer see it as just an artistic form, but a reminder of the fragile nature of mankind. Everyone is a child of God. Everyone is a delicate precious child of God.

Which is why, we as family must create an enviroment in our home that is healthy to this fragile nature.

A healthy home is:

-  Positive.  Positivity is Power!
- Supportive.  A shoulder is always there to cry on when it is needed.
- A gossip free Zone. Gossip is never helpful. Even when the other person can't hear, somehow they know and it affects them.
- Patience
- Forgiveness
- A healthy place to grow closer to God
- A place to seek rest from a world of pain
- Filled with daily Prayer and Scriptures
- Laughter. In clean and healthy forms.
- A tease free Zone
- Clean. In sanitation, entertainment, language etc.
- A humble place
- A place to talk

Together as families we can work to having a healthy home where we can groove (this was a typo but I had to leave it.  So to add something to the list, not only should we 'Grow' closer to God, but a home also needs laughter, so 'Groove' can stay :) closer to God.

So my dear little Madeline.  I hope that we can provide such a home to you, and I hope you will help us to make it this way. There will be times I will wish you will share more with us about what you are going through, but you will not want to.  But always remember to let God lift up the mask.

Daddies Shoes

Dear Madeline,

With 7 weeks left to go, you are currently still a little breech baby, meaning you haven't turned your head down yet, but are having a blast kicking and poking mommies ribs as your little feet are chilling by your head. Each day you have found a new position. Dad and I have had quite the adventure trying to get you to turn. First we created a pillow slanted couch, like a slide, for me to lay on upside down so you will swish into the right position. It's all "physics" google says. We've tried placing ice at the top of my belly and warmth at the bottom, playing music, and letting daddy say "Baby! Come this way" and we have even tried shining a flashlight at night so that you would come toward the light! I hope you turn soon! Today is the Fourth of July and I will try doing a headstand in the pool. As dad put it, "I guess she isn't ready to dive head first into the world yet..." :) Don't worry baby. We will be here to catch you!

There are so many things to share with you. As you read along, there won't always be an order, but I hope and pray that my thoughts help guide you on your journey through life.

So let's talk about someone who is very important to me. Your daddy. Recently your dad was on a long trip in NY training for a new job, for 8 weeks! While he was away, I packed up our first little apartment and organized through our old things. Soon, I emptied a drawer where at the bottom sat half a dozen of dad's old shoes. Each black pair of leather shoes was a little different in style. Some has laces, others had just a simple stitching around the toe and were just slip ons. These shoes all had one thing in common, and that was that they all had holes. The heels and toes were cracked and falling apart, the soles were heavily worn. Tears came to my eyes as I sat there overwhelmed with the love for your daddy and a little thing called sacrifice. You see, sacrifice is love. As I dusted off these shoes I thought of a scene from the film, The Nativity, which also struck me with tears. The scene is of Mary and Joesph as they sit to rest a mid their long journey to Bethlehem. A journey overseen in only a quick verse of a primary children's song. Joseph lay back to rest in pure exhaustion and feel asleep. Mary, bearing the tiresome weight of her little baby, bent down to see Joesph's feet in open sandals, covered in dust and dirt, callused and cracked. Bleeding and scratched from every rock he had stepped on as he made the way leading Mary on the donkey's back. Mary saw this and she cleaned and tended to his feet. Sacrifice is love.




So sweet baby. One day I hope you find this. A man that will do anything for you, and in return you will want to do anything for him. Together you will build each other up because you will want to be better, for each other. When we loose ourselves in the service of each other we are creating a world of love and happiness, and we forget the self pity woes that drag us down. I love your father dearly and am so grateful for him. He does so much for me without me even having to ask. From doing the dishes and cleaning, to putting my needs above his own. The other day I lay half asleep in bed and your dad woke up to get ready for work. Exhausted, I lay there thinking, "cold shoulder, cold shoulder, my shoulder is cold", as a drifted in and out of consciousness... moments later a hand moved the covers, and tucked me in, and I was warm again. Then your daddy kissed me good bye and went to work.

We may have not traveled across desserts on the back of a donkey, but our shoes have worn through in other ways, like walking to school, or work, in all kinds of weather in all kinds of times of the day, and we do it for love, for you.




Love, Sacrifice, True Love, Breech Baby, World, Marriage Advice, Husband