Hide me

I don't know exactly what it is about the post christmas season, but I just don't like it. I never feel comfortable at this time of year. I suppose it has to do with all of the reflecting on a year gone by and the uncertainty of what is ahead. It should be a hopeful time, as I look forward to a new year but it never is. This year in particular I find myself wanting to just hide.

Hiding seems to be something that I want to do a lot lately. This past year I spent a lot of time trying to hide. I tried to hide from hurt, from pain and from discomfort. I tried hiding from challenges, from responsibility, from truth, from people . . .and even from God.

Is it wrong to hide or to want to hide?

I remember when I was a little girl, there was something safe about hiding. I remember often finding a small hiding place like a closet or a hidden cove in a corner somewhere, away from everything and curling up there for hours comforted by the stillness and saftey that it brought.

I was reading through the psalms in the Message this afternoon and stopped at Psalm 31 when David says: "I want to Hide in You"

I think that perhaps this new year will be a year of actual hiding for me. I can't hide from life, but I can certainly hide in my God and be comforted by the stillness and safety that only the Hiding Place of hope, grace, mercy and love can provide.

Bibles

I finally put together my ikea bookshelf today after months of putting it off. As I was organizing my books I realized that I own 13 copies of the Bible!! Of course there are several different versions, translations and interpretations in the collection including my french Bible and the audio NIV version. Some I bought on my own, and others were gifts. Wow I didn't realize that I had accumulated so many. I have made use of them all at some point over the years, some more than others. In the past few years I've found myself using Bible gateway rather than referring to my bibles though .

It made me think of those around the world who don't even have one copy of the bible. You'd think that someone who owns all those bibles would know God's word inside out, but I don't . . . I'm not even close. You'd think that someone who owns all those bibles would only read the bible and would constantly be trying to devour every word - I try, but find myself distracted so often. You'd think that someone who owns 13 bibles would have been thankful for having the freedom to own one bible let alone many before today.

I'm glad that my bibles are now very visible on my new bookshelf, hopefully seeing them all everyday will inspire me.

A Christmas Wedding

Yesterday I had had the great pleasure of witnessing the most beautiful of weddings. Rachel and Mark were so in love and the joy that they radiated was so contagious. The wedding was such an amazing reflection of Christ's love for His bride.

It was truly an inspiring day.

Pink Poinsettias

My grandma loved poinsettias. She liked all the colours but I remember her telling me when I was young that she was particularly fond of the pink ones. After that I always bought her a pot of pink poinsettias for her birthday, it became my special tradition. She always knew what I'd be giving her, but she would still act surprised. She would sit and genuinely admire them as though they were the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. She would diligently care for the plant all throughout the Christmas season and even sometimes would keep it the entire year and see if it bloomed the following Christmas season. I just couldn't help but stop today to pick up a pot of pink pointsettias. These ones are particularly beautiful, Motc surely would have thought that they were the most beautiful poinsettias she had ever seen. I miss her a whole lot, especially today.

Diva, what's your beef today?

Tenors with ginormous sized egos.

need I say more?

Smiling's my favourite!!

I just love love love this movie, and I seem to love it more and more every year!!!

It just makes me smile and feel all Christmasy inside.

I had my first viewing of the season tonight and I'm thinking that

Perhaps it's time to pull out the maple syrup, pasta, marshmallows, m&m's, and crumbled up poptarts and have another Elf party!!!!

Yaaaay Kindermusik!!

Yesterday I had one of those "this is worth it just for this!!" moments during my Kindermusik teacher training. I was just sitting in observing one of the 3-5 yr classes and one of the little ones really seemed to take a liking to me. Which was surprising because I really didn't say or do much. This little boy doesn't speak English very well as he's new to Canada so I helped to re-direct him a few times, and helped him do a few of the activities, but that was it. At the end of the class when the parents came in, he kept talking to his mother in Spanish saying something about "casa" which I know means home, so I said to him "Are you ready to go home?" his mother looked at me and told me that he is saying,"Can we take her (meaning me) home with us?" I smiled and told him that I have to stay and teach the other children, but on his way out he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the classroom. I took him to the waiting room, told him I'd see him next week and waved bye bye. He resisted, but his Mom took over so I went back to the classroom. A few minutes later he came running back into the room and grabbed my hand again asking me to come home with him. His Mom was so embarrassed and took him out kicking and screaming. How could one not feel special after something like that? I know that he was upset, but it really melted my heart.

There's just something about young children that makes them so special. They are on the most part non judgemental and really willing to try anything. And their reaction to new experiences is just so refreshing!! I have a feeling that I'm going to have many Kindermusik stories to share as I teach, and that all of those little ones will leave strong impressions on my heart, just like that little boy did yesterday.