Friday, December 20, 2013

Remembering

  

2013
It's been a tough and good year.

And we are blessed to have a home

Favorite picture from Christmas 2012


And a place to hang our coats
(and purses and scarves and ball caps)


And extraordinary places to hang our hat


 And we are thankful for the warmer weather and a reason to
Momentarily hang up our hats and coats
 
And we inspect the damage from the recent ice storm
The tall oak tree fell and broke the fence
The fence now needs mending


And only half of the oak still stands.

  And the tiniest tree remains still standing undamaged

And I am reminded

We don't have to be tall to take it
We don't have to be big to be strong
We don't have to be strong to stand

And I remember the tough

My grandmother went to Heaven this 2013 year
And the earth didn't stand still


As a child, I would lie down on the floor, plop my feet in her lap,
And she would rub my feet
And I remember her cozy lap
She would always tease me about my tail bone being too sharp
And I remember getting too big to sit in her cozy lap but I still did
Because she would say, "You will always be my baby"

No Christmas card from her this year
No smallest gift from her heart this year
And I hold on to every single memory with her.
Her life was a gift to me.
She was not perfect
But she perfected me.

I barely had strength to take her loss
But with wobbly, weak knees, I stood broken and spoke at her funeral
One of my life's sweetest memories

And I am reminded

We don't have to be tall to take it
We don't have to be big to be strong
We don't have to be strong to stand
 
And I wish I could have shared with her the good
 
After her passing, I published my book
It's about surviving hardships
Weathering life's storms

When others break us
When we break ourselves
When God breaks us

The hard.
 
It's about hardships being gifts
Gifts are not always easy
But gifts are life-changing
And I refer to an eagle my husband gave me
That seemed like a bad gift
That didn't go with my décor

But that turned out to be a great gift
A keepsake
Just like hardships
And I can't imagine life without it

And it goes with my décor
And it fits perfectly right where God placed it
 
And the book is not perfect
And it will never be a best seller
And the earth didn't stand still
But God used the writing to perfect me


And revealing my faults and failures and weaknesses
My weak knees wobbled placing it out there for the world
 
And I am reminded
 
We don't have to be tall to take it
We don't have to be big to be strong
We don't have to be strong to stand

And as I watch my precious daughter read about Jesus' birth


I am reminded of the smallest gift
And the smallest gift that Christmas morn was the greatest gift.
And the best wrapped gift in the tiniest package was
A baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
The God-man
The best gift I ever received.


And I am reminded

Jesus didn't have to be tall to take it
Jesus didn't have to be big to be strong
Jesus didn't have to be strong to stand

The tough ...
With weak and wobbly knees
He stood upright hanging and nailed upon a cross
He gave up His life
For you and me

And the earth didn't stand still
The earth trembled

And life ... home ... will never be the same without my grandmother
Because I am not home yet
And I am reminded
The tough and the good ...
My real home is where the greatest gift is.

And the good ...
The greatest gift forever lives today to perfect this broken me
On this road called life
With the tough and the good.


And as I write this on my 27th wedding anniversary
I am reminded
It's been tough and good.
And though the earth didn't stand still for the occasion
And though my marriage isn't perfect
God is using my marriage to perfect me.
And through the greatest gift ...

We don't have to be tall to take it
We don't have to be big to be strong
We don't have to be strong to stand

 Remembering your birthday, Jesus.
Thank you for helping us take it, for being our strength, and helping us stand.

Before the tough has a chance to kill you
Give God a good chance to heal you.

 Merry Christmas, All

Shelli

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Blessed by you, Shelli