When I was a child, I loved to play “Peek-A-Boo” with my parents. It was my chance to deliberately hide. But hiding wasn’t the best part for me. It was in being found where I experienced the most joy. Growing up, I often felt unseen. So much activity surrounded my older brothers and sister, as well as the baby, that I often felt pushed aside. So imagine my joy when my parents would be intentional in their pursuit of me as we played this game . It was my time alone with them. Uninterrupted. They had to come looking for me.
Author Archives: Barbie
Remembering To Breath
As a busy, full-time working mom, I try to accomplish as much as I can in a day. I am usually okay with the messy house, unfolded laundry and cluttered kids’ rooms from time to time. But lately, I’ve been anxious and uptight over the fact that I can’t seem to get caught up. I’ve been short of breath, suffering from headaches, body aches and restless nights. I’ve had a busy couple of weeks, but nothing out of the ordinary. My day-to-day activity is pretty routine: I get up, get myself ready, get my children off to school, go to work for 8 hours, come home, help with homework, feed my family, do household chores, get the kids to bed, catch up on my favorite blogs, check my email and throw myself in bed somewhere around midnight, or later.
Walking Forward In Hope
As I slowly begin to pack away all that is Christmas, my thoughts move towards the coming year. It will be a year full of promise, full of life, full of dreams come true. How do I know this? Because God delights to give me good gifts. The new year and all that it holds has already been written. It’s just up to me to walk forward with confidence, laying hold of the promises that He has already prepared for me.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Unwrapping Jesus
I’ve been busy unwrapping the gift of Jesus this week. When I think of that babe, having just been born, laying in a manager, wrapped in swaddling clothes, I think of all of the rich love and goodness that envelops Him. And I take a moment to unwrap each one, taking in the goodness and allowing it to seep deep into my spirit. Here are just a few of the gifts I’ve been unwrapping this week.
“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)
He is wrapped up in light.
Preparing for peace
I love Christmas and everything leading up to the celebration of the greatest gift ever given. As a family, we enjoy all of the festive Christmas traditions. One of the things we love to do is to cut down our own tree. However, as a family of six, this process can be all but peaceful. We all have different opinions and ideas as to what the perfect tree is, and some of us just want to have our own way. Last year when we went to cut down our tree, the process was everything but peaceful. To start off, the trip was sort of spur of the moment.