Imagine

It's Friday... you know what that means....  Five Minute Friday!

Imagine

GO.

A stick is suddenly a large paddle that takes us on a canoe in the clouds... we have a mission. We are searching for monsters. Not mean ones, "the nice kind, the ones that really aren't real." We take off, we ride with a puppy, a lion, a blue puppy and a blue blanket. Sometimes a purple bunny named Sophie joins us too. As we fly the clouds take shape- a dog, a duck, a bear.  We soar fighting the monsters through our back yard wonderland. And then we get them. And we smile. And we fall to the ground laughing. And we go in for a snack because that adventure was amazing and built more memories than our tummies can handle.

And I grasp this memory so tight that I almost squeeze it to death. Because this is what childhood is made of. This is the part we grow out of. The part where we see a stick and it's nothing more than a stick. It fell from the tree and must be picked up from the yard. Another task. But when did we lose the possibilities in the ordinary things?  When did we get too big to make those ordinary objects something extraordinary that is never wrong because when you live in a world of possibilities, nothing can be wrong. When we imagine, when we dream... that is where life begins. That is where we remember that we can make a difference in the world. When we live in the world we imagine can be possible, it becomes a beautiful world filled with all the potential of the future. Dream it. See it. DO IT.

STOP.

Song

Happy Friday! Five Minute Fridays are becoming a routine for me! Here I go...

SONG

When I think of my life, the word 'song' takes me through every turn. There is a quote I heard once- I have no idea who said it- "When you look back, everything in life happens to music."  This is profoundly true in my life for several reasons. One- I love music. I love the way a song can bring to light an emotion that words cannot even begin to cover. Two- I learned at a young age that music was one of my gifts. Beginning at age 7 in that first piano lesson I remember feeling the life that came with the music. That each note made more sense... to create music in silence is in itself a small miracle. That feeling grew as I took on the flute and made it a focal point for my college degree. It grew with my desire to make my career teaching young people how to find their music, how to love their song.  It grew even stronger when that dream came to fruition and even now as I'm paused from that path and living another part of my journey, realizing that I currently have another song to sing that is just as beautiful as my dreams were then. 
I think of the songs that define large moments for me. The songs I hear on the radio that take me back to that precise moment, that exact emotion, sometimes so overwhelming that I cannot listen to the whole song because the emotion is too great. They are not all positive experiences. But they are my soundtrack. They are my life. They are the music that makes me who I am. And I find myself continuing to listen for the next song, the next moment, the next piece to this beautiful medley. And I'm grateful that I have another day to sing.

Wild Things

So I'm reading this book called Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys

Can I just say that raising a son is a daunting task?  All the love, cuddles, dirt, potty words, mighty machines and energy... it's overwhelming!  But it's normal. That's one of the most encouraging things about this book: I learned my son is normal.  He's a boy. A little boy. He's growing up into a man. 

I'm in the process of raising a boy to be a man- a strong, bold, man. 

Go get the book if you're also raising a boy and finding yourself in an alternate universe like I am. And get ready for the ride of your life!

Comfort

Five Minute Fridays are beginning to be my favorite part of Friday! 

Comfort

Today as I think of COMFORT, I think of a familiar robin family that has taken up residence on our back deck. This family started out as a few pieces of straw we kept removing from the drain pipe over our deck. "We don't want a nest so close to the house", we would say. 

This family of birds has given me a whole new appreciation of true comfort. The eggs were laid. The babies were hatched. The mama began the heart wrenching experience of sustaining life. And our birds receive comfort from their life source. And we watch.

And we celebrate them and their little lives and all the things ahead for them. And we are reminded where our true comfort comes from.

"Look at the birds of the sky, they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they?"  (Matthew 6:26)

Brave

Today I'm joining in again for Five Minute Friday. Link up over here. It's always fun to see what the FMF community has to say!

BRAVE
As I reflect on brave, my thoughts go straight to my beautiful little girl.  I have never met someone who is quite so fearless and quite so passionate.  In her precious little 15.5 months of life, she has taught me so many things about myself. She challenges me to be better, be more patient, to have more grace, to show love. She will scream loudly, fight for what she wants, and then grab my face and cover me with "nosy kisses" and slobber filled love. She's the first one up the slide, face covered with dirt and sand but her sparkly necklace gleaming.
My Evelyn Ruth is fierce. Since her first flips and kicks in my belly she has been confident. She is bold. She is determined. She scares me to death. And her passion mystifies me. I have every confidence that her brave personality will move mountains. She will be a world changer. She will be strong enough to live her dream.
  That is my prayer for you little one- stay brave. Be brave enough to shout what you believe in no matter who hears. Stay brave enough to see no boundaries that will hold you down. Be brave enough to fly.