Family Drama
Okay, so today, I had a long e-mail discourse with my mom about a stranger in need, and she ends it with, "I just thought the women's shelters in the area would be a good idea for you and your friends (to take on for a service project type endeavor) since they house abused families. There was a time in Memphis that I thought we all might end up in one. Mom" ARGHHHHH!!!!! Most people get cute little snippets like, “when you were little, you used to say ‘lasterday’ instead of ‘yesterday’…I get, “Did I ever mention we almost ended up in a women’s shelter when you were young?”.
As I’m reflecting on all of this, I was watching my daughter Sari standing in the window watching the rain begin. As she comments on the rain (and for the first time since the fireworks on the 4th of July doesn’t freak out from the thunder), my first thought is…
the bucket full of worm pee under our worm composter is full, and now it’s raining, the pee will overflow, and all that valuable pee will just wash away!
Have you wet your pants laughing at me yet? That is SERIOUSLY what I’m thinking.
So what do I do? I get up off the couch, hurdle the baby gate with the skill of an Olympian, and head out into the rain to…you guessed it, get a bigger bucket to collect worm pee in.
(I should stop here and explain that we now have a worm composter hanging from our old swingset. I paid $30 for these worms that eat our compost and turn it into nutrient rich soil (worm poop) and liquid fertilizer (worm pee), and I’m determined that a) they will live and b) they will live up to all the hype and more, hence the need to capture the pee [or as they call it “tea”] so we can use it as a nutrient for our organic orange trees for 4-H…I have to confess even in typing all that I feel like I’ve taken a step into the twilight zone…I guess next I’ll be grinding my own wheat).
So back to the pee...let me just say the rain drops were falling with veracity just this side of inflicting pain, and the lightening was simultaneous with the thunder, and it’s at this moment that I decide I must SAVE THE PEE. It’s also at this moment that I realize I AM totally a product of my upbringing (minus my mom's burning desire to rid the world of dirty dishes). The whole "we almost lost our house and ended up in a home for abused women and so we need to value every penny" is the whole reason I am now risking life and limb for liquid worm excretions.
Why is it the traits we like least in our parents/kids are the ones we also find in ourselves? I imagine it’s God’s infinite wisdom. He knows if we get rubbed the wrong way by traits in others and then realize we do the same things ourselves, we are far more likely to extend them grace, where otherwise, we in our fallen state might just lose it with them instead. So what do I do? I lose it anyway, just to you guys, and not to my mom. And that, in a nut shell, is why I haven't blogged before. I'm thinking I really should have 2 blogs-the PC one for prosperity and strangers, and the one with all the things I really should just give over to God anyway, that upon typing it, would magically disappear leaving me feeling both vented and convicted that I need to spend some serious time in prayer and repentence.
Lest I sound petty, I want to list just a few of my many blessings. First, let me say I am blessed to have a mom who is still alive and who can remember things from my childhood, and who does live just a few minutes away. I know there are many people out there who can't say that. She loves my kids and I very much, and we love her too. I also am blessed that it did rain at all, as we have been very dry this year, and we need the rain. I know the people in the plains states who are living in fear of their houses burning down would love the chance to dodge lightening bolts and killer rain drops if it meant they had any reprive from the flames and drought.
Until Tomorrow,
obm
As I’m reflecting on all of this, I was watching my daughter Sari standing in the window watching the rain begin. As she comments on the rain (and for the first time since the fireworks on the 4th of July doesn’t freak out from the thunder), my first thought is…
the bucket full of worm pee under our worm composter is full, and now it’s raining, the pee will overflow, and all that valuable pee will just wash away!
Have you wet your pants laughing at me yet? That is SERIOUSLY what I’m thinking.
So what do I do? I get up off the couch, hurdle the baby gate with the skill of an Olympian, and head out into the rain to…you guessed it, get a bigger bucket to collect worm pee in.
(I should stop here and explain that we now have a worm composter hanging from our old swingset. I paid $30 for these worms that eat our compost and turn it into nutrient rich soil (worm poop) and liquid fertilizer (worm pee), and I’m determined that a) they will live and b) they will live up to all the hype and more, hence the need to capture the pee [or as they call it “tea”] so we can use it as a nutrient for our organic orange trees for 4-H…I have to confess even in typing all that I feel like I’ve taken a step into the twilight zone…I guess next I’ll be grinding my own wheat).
So back to the pee...let me just say the rain drops were falling with veracity just this side of inflicting pain, and the lightening was simultaneous with the thunder, and it’s at this moment that I decide I must SAVE THE PEE. It’s also at this moment that I realize I AM totally a product of my upbringing (minus my mom's burning desire to rid the world of dirty dishes). The whole "we almost lost our house and ended up in a home for abused women and so we need to value every penny" is the whole reason I am now risking life and limb for liquid worm excretions.
Why is it the traits we like least in our parents/kids are the ones we also find in ourselves? I imagine it’s God’s infinite wisdom. He knows if we get rubbed the wrong way by traits in others and then realize we do the same things ourselves, we are far more likely to extend them grace, where otherwise, we in our fallen state might just lose it with them instead. So what do I do? I lose it anyway, just to you guys, and not to my mom. And that, in a nut shell, is why I haven't blogged before. I'm thinking I really should have 2 blogs-the PC one for prosperity and strangers, and the one with all the things I really should just give over to God anyway, that upon typing it, would magically disappear leaving me feeling both vented and convicted that I need to spend some serious time in prayer and repentence.
Lest I sound petty, I want to list just a few of my many blessings. First, let me say I am blessed to have a mom who is still alive and who can remember things from my childhood, and who does live just a few minutes away. I know there are many people out there who can't say that. She loves my kids and I very much, and we love her too. I also am blessed that it did rain at all, as we have been very dry this year, and we need the rain. I know the people in the plains states who are living in fear of their houses burning down would love the chance to dodge lightening bolts and killer rain drops if it meant they had any reprive from the flames and drought.
Until Tomorrow,
obm
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