Atm's

 My wife and i recently are on the plane returning from Italy (if you ask her, she might claim to be Italian - and of course, who really knows????  She does love shoes and pasta and she has done at least some of her Italian language lessons on the computer!!).  It is one place we go when we just need to not think for a while - to relax and unwind and not use our brains too much!  We eat too much and joke about needing stretchy pants for the trip home!  It is really an investment of rest we have needed multiple times over the years and we are so grateful for the blessing of being able to go.

 

No matter how much you want to rest though, and how comfortable you feel in another country, you still are acutely aware of your "foreignness" - this is one of the inviting things about it for us, no cell phones (sorry if i didnt return your text message for the past few days), and a nearly complete ability to just disconnect - but this "foreignness" also requires some extra thought.  For example, the Italian people are not interested at all in having US dollars - they want Euro's, and we do not have Euro's  in the U.S.  The electrical outlets are different, everyone eats dinner between 8-10pm, many shops close still between about 130-400 or so and of course and then reopen until 7pm or so, and not all the people speak English (I know you are shocked!)

 

Because of all these foreign things about Italy, in order for us to get our rest, we need to make sure that we have money, that we are mentally prepared for the late dinner and that we have our trusty Italian phrase book with us (No, my wife is not that far along in her online course - she can say the dog eats, yellow bicycle and the man drives and car all really well).  In order to get money, the cheapest and easiest way is to use an ATM and our bank allows us to withdraw money from there with no problems.  This most recent trip, we wanted to make sure we had some money and so on the 1st day we were there,  we were looking and looking for an ATM.  We walked miles and miles and it seemed that we were just not seeing one.   In places that seemed like they should have an ATM, none.  It was super frustrating.

 

After a lot of looking, we did finally find an ATM and got our money - no problem - but i noticed something interesting afterward...

 

Once i had searched and looked for ATM's for a while, i started seeing them everywhere.  I was noticing ATM's at every corner it seemed.

 

It got me to thinking - i wonder if life is like that a little bit....

 

Like this...

 

Ever started to think about how frustrated your wife makes you in a certain area of life/marriage/parenting and then the more you think about it, the more you notice it?

 

  It has definitely happened to me (not that my wife has much to notice, because she is so wonderful - that was a close one!). 

 

Ever start thinking about how a job frustrates you to no end - how it is not what you wanted and is not what you deserve?  Then before you know it, it starts to be easier and easier to notice the crumminess of the job?

 

So many times, we start to look for something and then we begin to find it more and more and more...

 

And don't we often times find ourselves looking for the same ATM's over the course of our lives - having an easy time noticing the spouse, the job, the money, the co-worker, the house, the family?

 

Why then do we tend to look for the same types of things over and over again?

 

I suspect it has to do with how we have been programmed over our lives, partly how we were raised, partly our genetics, partly our life experiences and traumas.

 

But how then can we stop noticing the pain in the butt things in this life?  Are we to be forever trapped in the land of seeing every ATM in Italy?

 

No.  We are not trapped. 

 

The answer seems to come partly from choosing to notice other things - and from getting the God who made us involved in the day to day moments of our noticing.  It appears to not be whether we will notice something but what will we notice?

 

Choose to notice the good.  Choose to see the love.  And when you do, invite God into the moment.  And when you can't seem to, let someone who loves you know that you just can't seem to see the good anymore - all you see is ATM's - ask them to help you see.  And, talk to God about it - let Him know that you just can't seem to see the good anymore, ask Him for help - to be involved in your life.

 

Plus, it helps to be around some people who are really working hard to see the good - to notice - and trying to have God involved in their day to day lives - not weird religion - just God involved in people's lives and people caring enough to show the goodness to each other.

 

This is what we are all about at Morethanmore.  We will be hanging out this Thursday night 645-800pm at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler ave, Lafayette, and we would love to have you hang with us.  Noticing the good looks a lot like laughter, silliness, and a nice evening. 

 

We always have fantastic and free child care for kids through 5th grade and McAllister has tons of fun activities for the older kids.  We truly hope you can join us!

Being a Puppy - What is the Draw?

It is good to be back to writing again - sometimes it feels like life crowds out this time, the time that I communicate with you out of my soul - I never want the crowding to happen, it just does - and Im sorry to have been away - but I am back, with the initiative to write again for a little bit...

Many of you who read this blog will remember Flo - Flo was my dog...was...
I realize that this will come as a shock to many of you, but Flo had to leave this world last summer.  It was not a happy time for our family - but her grave is behind our house if you ever want to visit it.  I know that there will be a thousand questions from those of you who loved Flo vicariously through this blog, but it is not for this post.  I will give you a few lines to recover now.



In the late summer, after we were healing up some from the freshness of Flo's departure, we (much more some of us than others) decided that we needed to have another dog.  A friend (thanks Deb!) sent us a contact for silver lab puppies and through a remarkably short courtship, we fell in love with Truffle.  She is now about 7 months old.  She is gorgeous, but she is crazy and full of energy, and not always super obedient

 

Well, this dog is insane.  We have made it pretty clear from her earliest days that she was not to chew on the wood of the furniture.  We have used bitter apple spray and treats to distract her and a wide variety of things, but she knows she is not supposed to chew on the coffee table, the rocking chair, the cabinets.  You also need to know that she has toys - toys everywhere.  There are some mornings that I have nearly woken the entire house by stepping on a squeaky toy sitting in the middle of

 the living room - it can sometimes feel like trying to navigate a mine field getting from one side of the house to the other without stepping on a toy.

 

So, this crazy dog has all these toys - and knows not to chew on the coffee table, etc.

 

So, what does she chew on? 

 

She will walk right past, over, around, or through, more toys than many children in the world will ever get in their lifetimes so that she can chew on the coffee table, the rocking chair, the cabinets, etc.

 

I know!

 

It is ridiculous!!

 

She knows what she is supposed to do.  She knows there will be consequences from choosing the wrong way.  She knows the toys are good too.  Yet, she so often chooses the wood! 

 

Is it that she just loves wood so much?  I don't think so.  I think it is that she is stubborn and ornery and just wants what she wants.

 

Since she can't talk we will never know, but I think there is a part of her that just wants to do what she wants to do, and sometimes that part is just stronger than the part that wants to make her people happy, so she does what she wants - and pays the price.  Seems pretty lame, until I look at my own life.  In fact when I look sat Truffle's coffee table chewing, I might as well see myself.

 

There are so many things in this life that I know I really would be better off if I would just do the right thing - yet I have chosen so many times over the year to go ahead and do what I feel like doing - and I pay the price and many times so do the people I love.  So many times I don't even have a great reason for doing the stupid things I do - I just do them.  I am an idiot!

 

Well, I am convinced that Truffle will not always chew on the wood in our house - I suspect that she will learn that we love her and she will start to chew on the right stuff because wanting to make us happy is better than her orneriness.

 

I am also convinced that I am not choosing what I want just because I want it nearly as much as I used to.  I am inviting God to join me in my day - and I am journeying with some people who are just as messed up as me - and who have also chewed a lot of wood in their lives too - and together we are seeing a better way of living.

 

We hang out together every other Thursday night at McAllister Recreation center, just of 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 645-800 pm and this Thursday night, the 5th of February is the next time - when we hang at McAllister, we call ourselves Morethanmore and we laugh more than any group of people I know.  From time to time, we serve those in our community who have needs that we run into too.  We would love to have you join us - I don't think you'll find a place on earth where the people are more accepting.  We do have free, excellent, child care for kids up to 6th grade if you have kids.

 

If you have problems with chewing on the wood in this world - I hope to get a chance to see you soon!