Driving to Goodbye

Today I drove to Goodbye. The best friends of my two older kids are moving away tomorrow. We drove over to their house to bid our final farewells, and it was just not good. There are easy goodbyes and hard goodbyes, and this was definitely a hard goodbye.

It made me wonder what's really the best way to deal with Goodbye. Is it better to keep it casual, letting it simply slip away like another day? Or to face it head on, driving right up to it, and engaging it? When it's important, like today's goodbye, I lean toward making sure everyone feels like they had sufficient goodbyeing time complete with hugs, well wishes, and hopes of meeting again.

But it sure is messy that way. Is it just too hard? Or is there just no good way around it? At least the direct approach minimizes the risk of things left unsaid. I hate the regret of things never spoken and hugs not given. And so I drove to Goodbye.

As we drove home from our friends' house, my children sat in tears asking why. They had said their goodbyes, but their hearts had not reconciled it yet.

Later my daughter asked if we could go to the pool this evening so she could just forget. It seems to me a certain amount of forgetting is a good thing. It helps take the edge off Goodbye anyway. So we headed to the pool, and laughed and splashed and played like it was any other day.

The Gift of Inconvenience

Tonight I receive a gift. My evening plans have been thwarted so that the work I would normally do  cannot be done. I work remotely from home, but today there is a new server in town and I cannot log on yet. The urgent has been silenced by the inconvenient.

Perhaps I should be annoyed as my work papers sit untouched in their pile. No progress being made. Falling further behind. But the work will wait for me without ceasing, loyal as my trusty dog.

Instead I find in the inconvenience an opportunity and the anticipation of possibilities. Sometimes inconvenience is a gift of redirection... a chance to step back, take a look around, and see more clearly. A time to do something different, unplanned, unexpected. A little space for reading a good book, relaxing with my soulmate, planning summer adventures. Or maybe even... doing absolutely nothing.

What's so Good about Friday?

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) That's the problem right there. It's what brings us to this day, Good Friday. The day that Jesus, the perfect and holy Lamb, was nailed to the cross. It can be too easy to say the words of what happened without feeling the weight of it.

Think about it. He was tortured and tormented, and nailed up to die for all to see. Far worse than being gunned down in cold blood or many other ways to die. Look at your own hands. Can you imagine the nails?

But He was truly innocent. Even Pilate found no guilt in Him. Rather He died for the guilt, the sins, the offenses of us all. He offered Himself to satisfy the demands of Justice in our place.

Why? Because "God so loved the world..." He loves us so much that He died our death, that we deserved, so that we can have true life.

That's what makes this Friday so Good. And so we remember and ponder in our hearts the darkness and horror of this holy day. And we are thankful as we wait in anticipation...

Size Matters... In a Relative Sort of Way

So there I was this morning at the grocery store... dashing around on my hands and knees with my two grocery bags and purse sitting on the floor near me. I was in the entryway where the shopping carts stand ready to haul food around the store. It's fairly secluded, and I was hoping no one would notice me.

Then I heard the Voice of Concern from behind me, "Are you okay?" I looked up briefly to see the nice man I had chatted with earlier concerning the price of pears. He was clearly puzzled by the sight of me crawling around the shopping carts.

My explanation: "I'm trying to catch this lizard."

"Oh. Lizard. Well, have a good day!" He proceeded on his way as I, hastily grabbing my bags, chased the little anole out through the automatic doors.

The lizard was outside, but as I scanned the surroundings I realized that just wasn't good enough. There was nothing but concrete for huge distances (relative to lizard size). I dropped my stuff again, determined to actually catch the little reptile this time. I did catch him - he didn't even get to bite me - and carried him across the parking lot to a grassy area that had some trees, too. The little guy happily scurried through the grass.

It might have been kind of a silly thing to do... taking time out of my life to save the anole trapped in the grocery store. But for him, it was huge.

And Anna wonders why the new pears have bruises on them.

The Importance of Friendly

Friendly. I love it when people are Friendly. Everything just works better. One of my pet peeves is unfriendly people. We can disagree and have different ways of doing things, but at least be Friendly.

As the old saying goes, "Friendliness is next to godliness." Okay, that's not quite it, but it's close. Friendliness is closely related to kindness, and God is most certainly kind. But even if you're not concerned about God at all, you can still be Friendly, and the rest of us will greatly appreciate it.

Sure you may hate your job or feel awful today, but please try not to take that out on innocent bystanders. Set your issues and attitudes aside, and for the sake of your fellow humans, do even just the bare minimum, and be Friendly. Maybe not Happy or Enthusiastic or Sugary Sweet. Just a basic Friendly. It's kind of like Courteous.

A smile, a wave, a helpful tip... Friendly creates community. Friendly makes the world a happier place. Friendly encourages, cheers up, and quickens the step. Sometimes Friendly even saves lives.

Save the whales. Save the planet. Save common decency. Friendly can do all this and more. Encourage Friendly wherever you find it.

Just Start

So Christmas came and went, along with the month of January. It's a whole new year, month number 2. How are those resolutions coming?

My resolution of sorts for 2012 comes from the ever-insightful Seth Godin. I resolve to start and keep starting. Attaining a goal is the culmination of a thousand starts. Take action and keep on with it. Start every day. Over and over until you arrive (or "ship" in Seth's lingo).

So I'm actually faring rather well with my resolution. I'm working on a little secret project, learning new things and making progress. If I keep at it long enough, I'll have a product to ship. Then I get to see what happens with it.

How exciting! Go out and start something!

The Reason for The Season

I love Christmas... the whole season. The anticipation, the lights, the story, the wonder, time with family, festivities. Christmas has a way of making us feel cozy right at the darkest time of the year. The Light shines in the darkness and we huddle around it.

Of course, for Christians, the main focus of the holiday is the birth of the Baby, none other than the Savior of the world. What a wonder to think that the Lord of everything should stoop so low to be born among us... out of His love for us. Amazing.

But that's just the beginning. Sure, Jesus is the reason for the season. But in a larger sense, Easter is the reason for the season. Without the work of Easter, Christmas would be a fascinating oddity.

I sometimes wonder why Christmas has grown to be the biggest holiday among us instead of Easter. I guess it's a bit more difficult to market sin and suffering, death and resurrection. The cross that spanned the distance between heaven and earth. That all doesn't play so well to the culture at large.

So, fine then, let Christmas get all the hype and hoopla, decorations and movies, parties and baked goods by the dozens. But in the midst of the merriment, keep your eye on the horizon. There is a cross on a hillside, a stone rolled away, a temple veil torn in two. Easter changed everything. Easter is the reason for the season.