One of my earliest memories is of my Mom putting decorations around our television. I could not understand why I could not play with the little red bird she put in some flowers she had placed on top of our TV, or why I couldn’t play with the white and red ball she had up there.
Apparently my Mom and my Dad ended up rooting for opposing teams in the 1982 World Series. My Mom was trying to aggravate my Dad as much as she could, because she knew that the Cardinals were going to beat the Brewers. And they did… much to my Dad’s dismay.
My Mom was not much of a baseball fan, and to be honest, I am not much of a fan either. However, I have watched more baseball on TV this year than I have in my entire life and I’ve been to more games this year than I have in the last 12 years. I think this is mainly because my oldest son is taking an interest in the Texas Rangers. I had given up hope long ago of the Rangers making it to the post season, and if they happen to squeak in they would be going home after the first round.
There was something different about this year’s Rangers. They had their moments where I knew “Here we go again.” However, they always seemed to get wins when they needed them. Last Friday, my oldest son asked to stay up past his bedtime to watch the Rangers (I’m a sucker, I know) and I let him. The longer the game went on the more I believed they were actually going to win the game and advance to their first World Series. I went and woke up our third child so he could witness this moment in history. We watched together as the Rangers sent the Yankees home to begin their off-season.
The Rangers going to the World Series is not a future changing moment in history, but it may be a life-changing moment in the lives of many families. For my older sons and I, it is an opportunity to sit together and watch a game and talk. It is an opportunity for us to spend time together, and maybe one day when these boys have become men they will remember spending time with their Dad watching a game and treasuring a memory.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Painting changes things...
My wife and I started repainting the interior of our home two weeks ago. We have taken a few hours each evening after the kids are in bed to work on our living room. It is going much slower than my wife would like but slowly but surely we are making progress.
Before we painted, the walls were a medium brown color (my wife would give it a specific name, but to me colors are light, medium, and dark). Standing in our living room you can see into the kitchen, into a hallway that goes to two of our kids’ rooms, and into our kids’ bathroom. Standing in the living room, the hallway and bathroom was a nice light brown (or tan-ish) color, our kitchen was a light green, and our front door was an off white color.
That is until we put the light brown color on the living room walls. The new color changed the look of the other colors. The kitchen stayed green but it seemed to have a little different hue to it. The front door that was an off white now has an orange-ish tone. The light brown hallway is now a yellowish color, and the bathroom is more of a cream color. The change we made in one area of the house made other parts look different.
It shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. There have been countless times I have done something different, done something new, changed a bad habit, etc. and that caused me to look at other parts of my life differently. Those parts might never have been noticed, but they were because of changes I made. Once I notice the other parts that now are noticeable I have a decision to make, are these things I can live with or are they things I want/need to change.
Rarely do the changes we make not affect something else. Rarely do the changes I make only affect me. Rarely do the changes you make only affect you. Stopping bad habits, or making healthier choices (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually), or daring to try something you have wanted to do for some time now, etc. can be difficult because it is a change. These changes can point out other changes we need to make, or it points out to others changes they need to make.
If I had really realized how much work “just” painting the living room was going to be I might have argued a little harder with my wife to keep things the same, but I know that when all is said and done I will enjoy the changes that we have made. If we know how hard a “little” change is really going to be, we probably would never change, but some of the little changes we make end up being some of the best decisions of our lives.
Before we painted, the walls were a medium brown color (my wife would give it a specific name, but to me colors are light, medium, and dark). Standing in our living room you can see into the kitchen, into a hallway that goes to two of our kids’ rooms, and into our kids’ bathroom. Standing in the living room, the hallway and bathroom was a nice light brown (or tan-ish) color, our kitchen was a light green, and our front door was an off white color.
That is until we put the light brown color on the living room walls. The new color changed the look of the other colors. The kitchen stayed green but it seemed to have a little different hue to it. The front door that was an off white now has an orange-ish tone. The light brown hallway is now a yellowish color, and the bathroom is more of a cream color. The change we made in one area of the house made other parts look different.
It shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. There have been countless times I have done something different, done something new, changed a bad habit, etc. and that caused me to look at other parts of my life differently. Those parts might never have been noticed, but they were because of changes I made. Once I notice the other parts that now are noticeable I have a decision to make, are these things I can live with or are they things I want/need to change.
Rarely do the changes we make not affect something else. Rarely do the changes I make only affect me. Rarely do the changes you make only affect you. Stopping bad habits, or making healthier choices (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually), or daring to try something you have wanted to do for some time now, etc. can be difficult because it is a change. These changes can point out other changes we need to make, or it points out to others changes they need to make.
If I had really realized how much work “just” painting the living room was going to be I might have argued a little harder with my wife to keep things the same, but I know that when all is said and done I will enjoy the changes that we have made. If we know how hard a “little” change is really going to be, we probably would never change, but some of the little changes we make end up being some of the best decisions of our lives.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Signs
There has been a lot of discussion lately with those that I work with about signs. If you have never been to our building before and were to pull into the parking lot, you might not be sure which door is the main entrance to the building. There are eleven doors you could enter our facility through, but very few would get you to where you want to go because there are no signs telling you where to start. If you do manage to make your way into the main entrance there are no signs to tell you which direction to proceed to get to your desired destination. Our facility has had several additions in its history. The additions provided much needed space for additional ministries or the expansion of ministries, but they have not always provided an easy way to get to where you want to go. So, we have been discussing how to make it easier for those who are unfamiliar with our building to find where they want to go.
Life can be a little like our building. There are not a lot of signs to tell you how to get to where you want to go. Additions to your life can make it a little more difficult to get to where you want to go as well. If we are not intentional about where we want to go, life has a way of moving on without us. When we are intentional about where we are going, we will begin to pay attention to how to get there. There may be times when it seems like we are actually moving away from our intended goal, but because we have studied our routes, because we know where we want to end up, we know that this path will get us there.
There are rarely flashing neon signs in life that tell us that this s the right direction. However, there may be people in our life who know how to help us get to our intended destination. Around our office we all know how to get around our facility, our desire is to make it clear for those not familiar with our facility. I hope that there are people in your life, grandparents, coworkers, teachers, friends, neighbors, and family who know how to navigate through life and are able to make it clear to you how to navigate to your intended destination.
Life can be a little like our building. There are not a lot of signs to tell you how to get to where you want to go. Additions to your life can make it a little more difficult to get to where you want to go as well. If we are not intentional about where we want to go, life has a way of moving on without us. When we are intentional about where we are going, we will begin to pay attention to how to get there. There may be times when it seems like we are actually moving away from our intended goal, but because we have studied our routes, because we know where we want to end up, we know that this path will get us there.
There are rarely flashing neon signs in life that tell us that this s the right direction. However, there may be people in our life who know how to help us get to our intended destination. Around our office we all know how to get around our facility, our desire is to make it clear for those not familiar with our facility. I hope that there are people in your life, grandparents, coworkers, teachers, friends, neighbors, and family who know how to navigate through life and are able to make it clear to you how to navigate to your intended destination.
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