Thursday, December 21, 2006

Relationships

You know, it's the funniest thing about relationships. They can make you care about, even pray for, things that before the relationship you never would have even known existed.

My Dave has been working on a project for a couple of years now. He's pretty much done, but has some important loose ends to tie up. So, I called him at lunchtime today. He said, "My security certificate came through." I cheered with joy and inwardly smiled a prayer of gratitude. This makes me laugh for two reasons: 1. I KNOW what a security certificate is. (If you don't know- don't worry- no one else knows either.) and 2. I actually CARE about the details associated with one. Why? Because it affects someone I love, therefore, it affects me. I want Dave to be successful in his efforts and happy.

The same thing goes with our little one. Dave and I have conversations regularly about Ian's poop. (Poor thing- he will read this years from now and be totally disgusted/ embarrased.) Not that this is interesting in the least, but because it is an indicator of his overall health. We love the kid, so we inadverdently monitor anything that might help us to assist him in being healthy and happy. I could describe for you in intricate deal how Ian walks and many other things about him.

Thus is the story of relationships. When we love a person, we open ourselves up in so many ways. We learn to care about all of the aspects of a person that build the texture of their character. We learn about their hopes, dreams, thoughts, cognitive struggles, philosophies, physical health and development, emotional health and development, knowledge, history, fears, and relationships (current and past). And in learning about them, we add texture to our own souls.

Ahh. What a delicate and beautiful thing a Whole person is. How important is it to appreciate that soul. How crutial not to rip apart the texture, for those holes are the most difficult to mend.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Holiday Magic

You know, when I look at my little boy. I can't help, but realize how Christmas and everything else in his world is magic to him. I remember as a little one. It was all magic!

Parents were magical. In my mind, they were perfect. Maybe I didn't understand everything they did, and I certainly protested when I didn't agree, but deep inside I truly believed that they were always right. I had no idea that 1/2 of the rules they imposed were completely and totally arbitrary. Nor did I have any idea about how much effort they had to put in simply to make our home, clothes, and food exist. These things just existed- or didn't exist. Poof. It appeared. As child, our home, clothes, food, etc were simply there. Cognitively, there was no connection between their existance and anything else. In this way, our home was magic, my school was magic, my teachers were magic, my parents were magic. My teachers simply were there at church. (They didn't have to work all week, take care of their homes and families, somehow squeeze in time to prepare for their lessons, then get themselves and their families ready for church, drive to church, and then come to teach me. Nope. They just poof appeared and taught a lesson.)

And Christmas. Wow! You just couldn't get more magical than that! You walk down stairs Christmas morning and Woah.... Thousands of lights (or so it appears) glisten before your eyes. A whole room full of presents arrive for you to enjoy. WOW!!!

Now, as an adult, gifts no longer magically appear. We work really hard to acquire them for our loved ones. Magic is replaced with dedication and sincere love. I think this is what our little munchkins are all about. To remind us to enjoy the magic! To remind us, that we, too, are little children. And this whole mysic universe is a gift. A gift from a loving Heavenly Father. Sure, It will be a long time from now before we understand the effort he put into all of it. But for now, I think he would appreciate it if we would just stop skurrying about, breathe in and out, and thank our Father for those lungs, and this world, and WOW! How did he do all of this! What an amazing Christmas present! It's magic to me.