Sunday, November 20, 2011

Curious Curiosity

I've been watching Jonah and his curiosity the last week or so. He is so interested in everything. Sometimes it is a toy. Sometimes it is a cat walking across the dining room floor. Sometimes it is the construction area in the back of our house. His curiosity takes him ALL OVER. The places where the safety is question I've been trying to teach him "no" or "icky" when he reaches for things that are not good. His curiosity spikes and he tests my authority. What will mommy do if I reach ONE more time. What will she do if I get close to it, but not touch it.

So I've been thinking... where has my curiosity taken me over the years? Have I had safe curiosity or have I been careless and risked things in order to just know? Curiosity is not a bad, thing, but there are times when it is not a good thing (especially for cats).

As I go on teaching Jonah things, I am going to try to keep in mind his curious curiosity. He is only exploring and it is my job to teach him that some things are dangerous and it is also my job to help him stay curious and explore things that are good for him. Isn't curiosity curious? :)

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Sturggle

Today I spelled the word "struggle" as "sturggle" and it made me think of what this word means - clearly I even struggle with spelling! But really, what does it mean?

I like to have pity parties for myself every once and a while. If you ask Simeon, he would correct me and say, "all the time." I really feel like I struggle with many areas of my life - my faith and consistency in it, my wife-dom and its DAILY duties, my ability to do some tough love so that Jonah knows what the word no means, my weight and how I feel about my body, my friendships and how strong I think they are... Do I need to keep going, because I can!

EVERYONE struggles with something. The song "Someone worth Dying For" comes to mind. "You might be the wife, waiting up at night. You might be the man, struggling to provide. Feeling like its hopeless." Which somedays I do feel like its hopeless. Why do we feel hopeless?

So I looked it up. Struggle: Make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction. Wow. Yes. We are fighting against the evil of the world and the impressions it puts upon us. "You need to have it all together." "You need to have enough money for nice things." "You need to be the center of a friendship circle." We are making a FORCEFUL effort to break free from the constraints of the world. Of course we feel hopeless - its a HUGE task.

So, even though we feel hopeless, we certainly are NOT hopeless. We should be hopeful. We are "someone worth dying for" and that speaks VOLUMES. WE are important. WE are special. WE are doing a good job. WE are loved.

So next time you feel like your struggling, maybe you should "sturggle" and break free from the "struggles" of you fight. Win one for Him - become hopeful.