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