Moments

The other night I treated myself to a redbox movie. It had been a meh kind of day and snuggling in my bed while watching a movie sounded just delightful!

The movie was titled "About Time". It was a movie about a young man who finds out he is able to travel back in time. Not forward, just backwards.

He travels back after various mistakes and mishaps in life, but then realizes while trying to fix things, he often messes them up far worse than before. All in all, he learns the lesson that life happens! It's all the little nix and bruises that make everything worth while and changing the bad changes the good things too. This was kind of a "no duh" lesson that you know he will learn right from the beginning, but even still, I found myself weeping at the end.

Shocker. I'm kind of a crier if you haven't learned that about me already.

It mostly hit me because I started to think about my life and what I would go back to relive, especially since life seems to be whizzing by these days! What were those days that were so fantastic that you couldn't help but have a silly grin? While big moments came to mind, like graduation, vacations, so on, the things that really stuck out were little things. Great times spent with people that I love. If I could go back to relive moments, I don't think I would choose a big event, rather I would choose the small ones.

I would choose Sunday after church at my Grandma and Grandpa's house, with all my cousins home, and us making fun of each other and being way too loud. I would choose late nights in college, laughing and being ridiculous with my friends, not caring about our bedtime or eating far too much junk. I would choose singing with my "sisters" around the piano in the DeMaster's house. I would choose sitting on my Grandma Ongna's lap when I was little, watching her carefully as she teaches me how to back-stitch on the sewing machine. I would choose a week night dance party with Julia in our house in Forest Hills. I would choose a Taco Bell run with my dear friend Kim. I would choose doing farm work with my parents in the summer time under a perfectly blue sky, when life seemed so incredibly simple. There are hundreds of moments I could choose.

Life's small moments have this tendency to make a big impact. And not because of the moments themselves, but because of the people that were there for those moments. God blesses us with people to walk with in this life, the exact people that we need. So here's to all the moments, big, little, and the people who make those moments into memories.

Time to Listen

As I was driving home from my cousin's house tonight, I was listening to the radio, per usual. Except for tonight, Pittsburgh radio stations were filled with somber messages and tributes for those attacked at Franklin Regional this morning.

While I was listening to people talk about those they know that helped and offering their prayers for those wounded, tears started streaming down my face. I had only one thought burst into my mind.

Lord, we need you! 

All of these shootings and attacks are simply horrific. Today's was particularly tough, having taken place so very close to home.  And you know that through the next weeks, talks will be made about violence, safety, what can be done, etc. But all of the awful things in this world boil down to one word.

Sin.

The Lord created this world perfectly, beautifully, and then created man in His own image. His own image! Then He created a helper for that man. They lived in the phenomenal garden, walking and talking with God, caring for the creatures, until....

...until the serpent came and things were never the same. From the moment Eve bit into that apple, sin entered this world. Since then our world has been filled with every type of evil you can imagine. God's beautiful creation has been warped and twisted by humans. Most days the world is just fine stewing in it's sin.

It is days like today that make me realize how badly we need our Savior. The only way out of the muck and mire of this world is to cling to the one who came to this world, lived perfectly, and died painfully, all for the sake of saving us from our sins!

One of my favorite quotes from C. S. Lewis is this:


 

The Lord is begging us to come to Him, to be freed and forgiven of our sins! To live a life that is honoring and glorifying to Him, to spend eternity in paradise with Him! How can we not run to Him with open arms? He is calling out to this deaf world. Isn't it about time we listen?

Farm Life

Someone today at church said something to me about being a midwestern farm girl and it got me thinking about life growing up. My childhood was pretty special. I had the privilege of growing up on a dairy farm. Well, we didn't technically live on it till I was in 5th grade. It was my grandparents' farm and they still lived there, but we lived 5 minutes away. Growing up I wasn't always so fond of my parents' occupation choice. I didn't like having to come home from school to spend a couple of hours doing barn chores. But looking back, I can see just how blessed I was to grow up in this extremely special lifestyle.

I spent my summer days running in fields with my dogs, feeding baby kittens, catching calves, and driving machinery. My cousins would come over when my dad was done haying and we would all unload small square bales together. My sister and I made TONS of games out of jumping between round bales, climbing up on the giant feed bags, and driving the golf cart around. We would name our kittens, we would name the cows! Winters were spent quickly doing our chores and then sledding on the giant snow mountains my dad made for us.

But of course, with farming, there are the hard times too.

There were the times spent trying to guide cows into new pens only to have them escape and run to the road.  Or trying to flip a cow who had gotten stuck in the barn gutter. Or leading a wild heifer to the barn by carrying its baby in front of it. Or climbing into the tank where the milk is stored to scrub out the inside to reduce bacteria counts. Or feeding the calves, outside, when the temperature was -30 and your snot froze to your face.

The glamorous farming life!

Those were days that I HATED growing up on a farm. I have an extremely vivid memory of my dad yelling to have my mom, my sister and I come out to help him late at night to find cows that had broke out of their pens. In the dark. Can I tell you how hard it is to find cows at night? And also how darn fast cows can be if they want to be? Pretty sure my mom, sister, and I were all in tears by the end of the night.

But when you sum up the whole of farming life, it was working hard as a family.  I learned so much growing up on a farm. I learned all about the details of farm life, like signs of mastitis, what strawberry foot is, and when the hay should be cut. But I also learned how to work hard and how to trust the Lord to provide. How to work with your family and how to persevere through. And how to tough it out and just stick some dirt in it. Great lessons learned that help me in my life here living in the city.

So thanks to my parents for allowing me a truly special and incredible childhood, but more so for the life lessons you taught me! Can't wait to head to the farm again soon!!