A Father's Joy

I absolutely love the family unit. One of the biggest reasons is that it’s a model God created for a definite reason. He shows himself to us in family, he created us to be in family. The greatest thing about being a parent is that I learn through it the heart of God. He describes himself as our heavenly Father, and we as (his) children. Thus, I believe that in watching my own children, I will learn the heart of the Father. What warms my heart as a father can’t be far off from what warms His heart. We’re created in his image, right?

One of the things that makes my wife the happiest is seeing our son be creative. Whether it’s wearing a bucket on his head like a hat, stacking boxes to create a BMX obstacle course, or using something in an
unconventional way with an end-goal in mind, she absolutely loves to see his creative mind at work. Today he pulled out his mega-blocks, and instead of building the usual tower, he placed them on their sides, connected in a line, and then slid another piece over it, thus creating a train on its tracks. It was beautiful, both of us beamed from above.

For me, I relish in his joy. When my son is giggling, laughing, and skipping around the room saying “happy, happy, happy,” I am at my most content. I love to see him enjoy his life. I love to see him take what’s in front of him, the many good gifts of a secure household, loving family, and tools for growth, and simply love it. His joy shoots mine through the roof.

And then both of us can say without a doubt we loooove when he wants to spend time with us. Not so much when he wants to take over our time (like sit on the computer when we’re working on financials), but when he simply wants to be with us. Playing quietly by mama’s side on the bed, or reading in daddy’s lap, or waling down the street, laughing at all of the beautiful sights and sounds in the world.

I believe that God is no different from us in these ways. He loves to see our creativity. He relishes in our joy. He covets our time together.

How have you made God smile today? Is creative expression, abundant joy, and simple abiding time a part of your life, your daily routine?

How do your kids (or friends, nieces/nephews, grandkids, pets?) most warm your heart?

Hey Man... Bye Bye!

No So Progressive

My wife used to be known as the "queen hippie" within a circle of our friends. A stretch and a joke, it started with her conservatism of all resources: "turn off the water! unplug that when you're not using it! don't throw away those carrot peals/chicken bones/pepper cores/etc". Then add to that buying mostly all-natural stuff, reusable everything, her old thick-rimmed glasses, and the fact that every time we went camping she made and brought along fire starters of old toilet paper rolls. dryer lint and candle wax (and is a much better fire builder than myself), and she made a name for herself. Last night she exclaimed out of nowhere, "See, that's proof I'm no queen hippie!" What was she talking about? This list from Rachel Held Evans of 13 Things That Make Me a Lousy Progressive. She agrees with almost every one of them. A good and funny read.

Back-linking, we also read her 13 Things That Make Me a Lousy Evangelical, and laughed while realizing that we line up with about 9 of the 13 [won't say which :)].

So I guess we'll continue our Christian life in limbo, following this crazy guy named Jesus wherever he takes us!

Les Muffins Américaine

From time to time we find American food items in some of our local supermarkets. Usually not legitimate American brands, but some sort of international "American" brand complete with stars, stripes, and a statue of liberty. You pick it up, think "this looks pretty good, and normal, I'll take some home" (I usually buy one, and if it's good return the next day to buy out the store). Take these muffins for instance:

American muffin mix, mmmm. If you know me, you know I love muffins. In college they used to be my daily midnight snack (the "just add milk/water" version). Sadly, those mixes don't usually exist outside the US. My wife is a wonderful cook who can do anything from scratch, but she's on forced medical bed-rest right now. So I'm on my own. These puppies are a nice treat. Notice all the English on the front of the box? Mix for 12 Muffins, Chocolate with icing, cake cases included. Sweet!

Open it up and we have our baking mixture:

Now for the directions. Turn to the back:

Wait a second... where's the directions in English? I see French, German, Italian, Dutch, and there's Spanish and Portuguese on the side. But no English?! Seriously?! What, if an American picks up this American product are we supposed to innately know how to prepare it (metric conversions included)? Why is the cover in English but the directions in everything but? Oddly enough, this seems to be a pretty common occurrence.

Thankfully, the muffins still came out well and tasted great!

They're gone from the stores now though. Maybe again next fall!