Believe Manifesto

Do you remember back at the beginning of summer when I had all the lofty goals of sharing so many things with you?! And then I dropped off the face of the earth. Ha!

Yeah…about that! So there is a 100% chance this is being written from my cell phone. But I decided sharing something was better than nothing. I still have so much to share with you. But I found myself wanting to give you a fancy tablescape and a serving of my words—and that is just not what fits into my life. I’ll share more about what’s been new with us soon. Today I decided I was just going to keep sharing small things with you when I can.  The great thing about a new day is that it literally is a NEW DAY. You can start fresh,  with a new idea, or a new goal. And make another go of it. Over the years I have set a lot of goals. And I have failed at a lot of them. But I can’t not share with you because it’s something God has laid on my heart to do. So the new goal is that a few times a week I share a little unscripted note with you. A tiny little section of what’s happening in my life that maybe you can relate too. And maybe at some point I will finish those fancy, edited, mostly written blogs.

So tonight, my thought for you is this: focus on the RIGHT NOW thing when you don’t know what to do next.

The other day, Derick and I were trying to sleep in and Coen was REALLY wanting Derick to get up. All of a sudden, Coen mumbles out, “Right now!” In baby talk. But to us it was clear as day! The thing is, Coen really needed some attention and affection. It got me thinking that so often I find myself, and seeing others saying, “Hang on, in a minute, or just a second.” And sometimes that is ok. But sometimes you need to drop what you are doing and do what the RIGHT NOW thing is.

This morning that thing was helping Lyla look for a doughnut eraser. She REALLY needed us to help her look for that eraser. At first Derick thought it was because of the eraser (and drama.) But it wasn’t. She just NEEDED us to listen and let her know that she was seen. So we switched gears and we searched high and low all over the house for that eraser. We didn’t find it and she wasn’t that upset. Because she knew we had stopped what we were doing and showed her that we were listening. We also showed her that we care—even about tiny inconsequential things like doughnut erasers. It reminds me of the way God cares about the seemingly inconsequential things in our lives

Tonight, eight hours later, Coen said “Cup.” And pointed under the butcher block. Low and behold, there was the doughnut eraser in a tiny little cup he had stuck it in.

We laughed and took comfort in knowing that we had done the right now thing, that eventually worked itself out. Today I encourage you to every now and then—stop what you are doing, and do the right now thing with your family and see what happens.