Blueberries on Life

 

I have been asked over and over again for the past many, many months if I was ever going to blog again.  My answer was always, " I don't know".  I never knew how many people read this blog until I got asked.  

I use to love it and then life got really difficult.  It was a struggle to write anything and still keep some privacy about what was really going on in  our lives.  I couldn't "tattle" about our great adventures anymore because they were few and far between with my husbands health going up and down constantly.  Then moving back home was difficult.  It wasn't exactly what we had planned.  

I started this blog to keep everyone up to date on what was going on in our lives while we moved from place to place.  Then I started getting weirded (I know it is not technically a word, but...) out that people I saw everyday read this thing.  I don't like people watching me do things and that is what I felt like this blog was...people watching my thoughts.  I know, weird, but whatever.

So, I am back.  I missed this.  I miss taking photos of my children and I miss writing.  Please bare with me since it has been a long time and my writing may not make much sense, but it will (thankfully non of my old English professors are reading this).  

I have a story to tell.  Things I am learning.  I want to share them with you.  I have a big story to tell about how we got from Alaska to Tennessee, but it will take me a long time to write it.  I want to explain some things, but it isn't about me or my husband or children, it is about God and how he worked in our lives.  To keep that to ourselves would not be giving God the glory.  And as a Christian, I am to give Him the glory always.  It will take me awhile to write it down.  And at this current moment, I do not have the time...I do have 4 kids after all.

On to the actual post...

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 My youngest came to me asking for frozen blueberries (her and blueberries will be a reoccurring theme).  It was nice out.  You know those southern days where it is overcast and there is a storm off in the distance?  You can here the thunder and the breeze is blowing just enough to keep the air moving?  It was one of those afternoons, the ones I missed during the spring in Alaska when there is a mix of snow and mud on the ground.

 

  

I grabbed an old book I recently inherited from my grandmother who had kept all my mom's books.  It was about insects.  They do the strangest things and Campbell loves insects. 

We took our frozen blueberries (that were rapidly unfreezing) and sat outside.  Outside is a good place for a mess.

But reading didn't happen.  

She was more fascinated by the mess that blue berries made.  Her tongue was purple.  So where her lips.  Her fingers!

 

Then Olivia joined us. 

She helped make the mess bigger and more fun.

The blueberries looked like fly eyes.

I kept trying to draw there attention back to the book, but the book never got read.

The purple mess was more fun.

 

 

I could get upset.  I could put my foot down and insist we read the book.  I could get wet wipes and clean faces and fingers so that purple dye doesn't get all over the place.  I could go inside and clean, unpack (we did just move into a new house after all). I could do so much more.  I could stress over it all.  But I would miss this.  I would miss the simple pleasure of watching my kids eat blueberries. 

My point is (and I have to learn this over and over, don't think I have it all together).  I may have this plan, but I have to let God lead the way.  His way are not my ways.  I can get upset and stress, but what good does that do?  Nothing.  I can worry about the next step, but that does nothing either.

Maybe you weren't suppose to read the book about insects.

I go to a Bible study every week.  This past week, this quote by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones stuck out to me, "I do not care what the circumstances maybe, the christian should never be agitated, the christian should never be beside himself, the christian should never be at his wit's end, should never be in a conditions in which he has lost...It implies a lack of trust and confidence in Him."

Ouch! Right?

I am not perfect, and I fail at this.  God knows I will fail. 

I will leave you with a quote from my pastor Greg Spears. He offers some hope just incase that quote leaves you feeling helpless...

"To live Christ is an everyday struggle.  I don't give up, I keep going because of grace, mercy and forgiveness.

                    I bet you don't look at blueberries the same way again after reading this. ;)