mom

The Worldliness of Pizza Cheese

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My mind kept returning to the taste I had developed for the pizza that was on its way to my house and mouth… mmmmm…. my kid had asked if I could order for pick up, way home from work, favorite pizza place… I called it in..  I always steal a slice, and yet leftovers are also now amazing heated up in the new air fryer… the cheese melts so good… use one of the paper trays for no clean up… mmmmm… I digress… and digest…

There was no pizza yet, but a phone call, everything OK but not. On the way to the pizza place, new driver kid was pulled over for not changing lanes away from emergency vehicles in the shoulder… it’s an old law but newly enforced, and rats not known to this new driver.. 2 cops with lights on the side, one left to pull my kid over, ugh, the fear of not even knowing why you are being pulled over, a citation comes in the mail later, up to 500 dollars for 1st offenders… and I said, and the pizza guy said, in consolation, to take the incident to court to fight the points and maybe fight the fine…

We will see… I just now read about how these things can turn to good – like a multimillionaire had a car accident once that made him get a job to pay off his brothers car and that lead him to be a media mogul and built his career….  hmmmm – getting ahead of myself….

But the anticipation of the ticket, the harm of the scare, the second guessing of “if I only didn’t crave that pizza I would have been in the other lane…” It’s life..  we second guess… and we get overwhelmed in fear… and oh the tears – I’ve been there… but we need to remember those who have not “been there- done that” – walk in their shoes for a bit…

And as a mom, I’m grateful for being the phone call, the ear to chew, the consoling mom, the “we will do this together, it will be alright” voice… all the while my brain realized that I was back thinking of the pizza… how worldly we are as humans… crazy… me especially… if we’ve “been there done that” – we worry less and move on – we do and we forget others are still having this as a new experience – like I’ve been to potentially scary court scenes twice to beg down tickets – with what I thought was valid concerns – I was more fearful of the increase in insurance etc than the fear of walking into court. God gave me the strength not the bravado…

If we just stay calm and state our case – court – even the pizza guy said that – but for a new thing to happen to a young driver and young person, this is the fear expressed into tears and the lessons to learn….

We have to embrace: “well we will work through it” – rather than “you were wronged” or “they targeted you” – because they might have just put the good fear of God into his driving – this is a lesson for the rules of the road to “get over” – as well as slow down, which was what the officer said, you should have at least slowed down.

Thank you Lord for problems, that’s what the scriptures say. How will you work this “blessing” into something for good? He will – we just need faith to let it melt our fear… Well, depend upon God every day…

Here’s my poem:

Our worldliness of pizza clouded over our day, 

My mom-ness was told to be in play, My kid’s tears I couldn’t wipe away. 

The pizza couldn’t save the day.

The tears, they should be okay, 

Overflowing tears are an outlet in a Healing Way. 

Jesus-dependence wins the day.

Be THANKFUL for tough spots, because they make us DEPEND upon God either Way.

(And the pizza in the air fryer tomorrow will make my tomorrow day)…

Melt our fear and cheese in Your Way.

Amen 

It IS in the Thank You, Daniel 9

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A poem of thank you after my growing/grown son wasn’t feeling well (he is really OK – no need for worry), and he turned to me for help. At the very end of my helping, he breathed out a heartfelt ‘thank you’ – one that makes a mom’s heart WHOLE.

But even if you don’t hear a thank you from a child, God knows and strengthens you… so keep mom-ing, keep parenting, keep loving. 

The poem – about thanking God… “It IS in the THANK YOU”

“It IS in the Thank You”

I think that God’s heart must want what I just got.

A “thank you” from a child, from the finish and from the start.

A child grown and yet not,

who just acknowledged that I love them a whole lot.

Oh joy when they expressed that gratitude, 

without past clogging attitude.

Even take on a little humility,

in their grown yet needful fragility. 

A “thank you” heard little child true,

and surely uttered as a grown up too.

That’s the joy in the thank you from children to mom,

And to God from mom, a thank YOU, from His child too.

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Mom moments want both to be needed and to be not.

Mom moments like to be wanted and yet to step back a lot,

Free to step in undaunted.

Yet to step aside and be OK, moms needs not be flaunted.

And then as moms of grown kids slowly slow down from the chase.

Moms mom-ing simply want to know their children are well and safe.

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God moments are different and exquisite.

God never ages out, He’s NEVER far away nor indifferent. 

God wants and needs to be needed, AND wanted. 

God faces evil undaunted. UNDAUNTED

God never did not have His children in His Embrace.

God IS and God WILL help, a gift to us to continue our race.

God gives MERCY

God gives GRACE. 

Daniel was taking up the prayer of a nation, in the humility of a servant. Daniel could see the people rebelled against God, and begged for mercy and appreciated grace. A lifetime was passing of the struggles and yet they had to sit tight… perhaps Daniel can be an example of knowing that God is in control in the ruins, and praises Him anyway. 

May we praise God in the trouble and in the rubble and look for His Face to guide us into Grace. 

Amen Amen 

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Daniel’s Prayer chapter 9 NIV, v1-19

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom – in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

Amen Amen

Graduation POEM: I’m that Mom with the Bag

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A poem from graduation!

I’m THAT mom with THAT big purse, a mom-bag, 

I’m NOT complaining, MOM is the BEST job I’ve ever had. 

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It’s filled with STUFF – lots of GOOD junk and necessities for life’s fray.

And like my whole mom-hood, it was a bag to hold the day.

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Now a daughter’s decorated graduation cap, diploma folder, the program too.

Yet it’s really holding her TRUST, because as moms, that’s what we do.

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It holds money in the cloud via wallets full of cards, maybe one twenty and a few coins too.

It holds an extra battery for the phone camera for photos do hold my memory moments in view.

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My mom bag is not assuming just plain useful.

My mom bag is not better empty than really full.

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Maybe tomorrow or in another week or two, 

I will clean the bag pour our stuff and look at memories in junked up view.

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I will appreciate the mom bag

not for stuff to brag

but I will appreciate the mom bag in all it’s dream moments that it helped make true,

as God helped me carry the load, realizing these years of blessings are what HE caused to shine through.

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Thank You Lord for my blessed mom-view.

Amen