The games have started

Keagan has been enthralled with our TV for some time now.  It's not that he likes to sit and stare at it aimlessly.  For the most part, IF the TV is on, he ignores it.  There have been two things he has liked doing.  First, he likes to push the power button on the cable box.  I'm pretty sure it's the first button he learned to push and it has a neat light around the button that changes color whenever he pushes it.  Second, ever since he has learned to pull himself up, he has pulled himself up on the TV stand.  That's not a huge deal, but now he shakes our weak stand and wobbles the TV; dangerous for everyone.  So, when we are playing in the living room I try my best to keep him away from the TV stand all together.   This, however, is not so easy.  


My strategy has been one of deterrence and distraction...if I can keep him occupied on other things and inhibit him from going to the cable box and pulling himself up on the TV stand, then I win.  


So now we play this game where Dad builds a wall of toys and obstacles around the TV stand and Keagan tries to go through or around the wall using brute force, or dismantle it into smaller more manageable pieces over a long period of time (breaking down the wall, as it where).  Usually the small toy box, ferris wheel, farm and drum do the trick, but as he has gotten bigger and smarter I've had to add to my arsenal.  I now use his dinosaur toy, bean bag and a blue basket from Sara's classroom.  Of course this is not enough and Keagan breaks through to where he can stand, turn, smile at Mom, shake the TV stand and make the TV wobble.


Sara was able to take some pictures today of Keagan conquering the wall...

Dismantle...

Success! 

Just one of the many games he and I will play. 

Life in the Honesty Lane

This is from the chapter entitled "Disruptive Honesty"...enjoy!

"Most people go through their entire lives without anyone, ever, speaking honest, loving, direct words to the most damaging issues in their lives.  Pause for a moment, and count the times this has been done for you.  Better, pause and count the times you have offered this to someone you love.  We chitchat.  We spend our days at a level of conversation as substantive as smoke.  We dance around one another like birds in a mating ritual, bobbing, ducking, puffing out our chests, flapping our wings, circling one another, now advancing, now retreating.  If we filmed a week of it in time-lapse photography, it would make the Discovery channel.  Let's be honest - why aren't we more honest with each other?  Because it will cost us...We're cowards, that's why."  Beautiful Outlaw, by John Eldredge

This got me thinking...if it is hard to be honest with someone you know and care about, then it is probably even harder to be on the receiving end of that honesty.  I mean, no one really likes to be told they are doing something wrong; we know this and so we don't usually say anything...it's one of those vicious cycles.  The author is basically saying, if Jesus is our example, then we should do what he did...this is what he did.  How hard is it for us to be REALLY engaged in the lives of others?  How much do we really care?  That's something that we need to remember...Jesus said the things he said and did the things he did because he CARED...for all of us.    

We love it when we read passages about Jesus "sticking it to the man" and telling the Pharisee's how they don't have it right.  We cheer, we clap and we pump our fists for Jesus and "boo" the evil, the hypocrisy of those who don't "get it", we "boo" the phony, religious types.   But what about...............us?  How would we feel if we were the Pharisee Jesus was talking to?

AHHHHHH!  Crazy right?  We would be irate, defensive, dodging, accusatory back at Jesus, you name it...wouldn't we?  Because that's how we are normally, to everyone else when they say something that rubs us the wrong way; that's usually because in some ways it is true.  We always look on the outside of other people and ourselves, instead of inward.  Deep inside ourselves, and deep inside of others...

The fact of the matter is that we hate it when people are honest with us, we hate the real us.  Not that deep within us we know what's going on, because we do, but we hate it about ourselves...it's not so much that the words themselves, "it is something in us that is offended"

It's honestly why Reality Shows are so popular these days.  There affect on us is very similar to that of Daytime Soaps, in that we can watch these rich, beautiful people, with all of their issues and be able to say "wow, my life isn't so bad after all.  If THEY are having these problems, then..."  Reality Shows give us the ability to see how much better we think we are than other people, because their faults are out there for the world to see.  In the mean time, we get to sit back, watch and say "Oh my gosh, like, she is so awful...I would, like, totally never do that!" (if you were able to do the valley girl voice in your head while reading that just now...kudos from me).  But as easy as it is to see how something is wrong when Mandy Moore throws the Bible at her friend and says, "I'm full of Christ's Love!" we are usually ignoring what is actually going on within ourselves.

"Honesty is the best policy" I guess, unless it becomes difficult.

What I meant to say...

Words are funny...sometimes.  They can also be mean, rude, spiteful...kind, loving and endearing.  They can be all of those things and none of those things, at the same time.  Words are hardly ever words; I mean, they are rarely taken at face value.  Obviously words have meaning, they always will, but that hardly is ever where we stop.  There are so many underlying things that go into a conversation, email, text or even a book we read.  The tone, context, timing and other non-verbals change the way a message is delivered; and that's just on one end.  On the receiving end of the message there are often other issues: there is my perception of the message being delivered, my mood, my feelings about the person, my emotional state, how hungry I am at the time.  I'm sure there are a lot more...

still following?...

Don't get me wrong, I think all of that extra "stuff" helps deliver the message, sometimes.  In other instances the words are just the "words".   See, if we try to add to much of the "stuff" to the message, often times, the message gets lost.  We immediately forget about the "words" and start thinking about the "stuff"...we forget about the meaning, and we focus on all the underlying "stuff".  See, we forget about the actual context, the real heart of the message, the actual message.  But, why?  Well, if you're asking me (which I am) it's because we don't ask questions to clear up the "stuff".  Instead we guess or assume...we go around thinking we know what is going on, what someone "really meant", instead of asking questions, instead of really finding out.  

What have you said lately,  or what has been said to you lately, that has been misunderstood?

That was thought #1, now on to thought #2...

A few nights ago, I couldn't sleep.  Something was on my mind.  I'm not sure if there was any reason for it to be on my mind besides that God wanted me to do something.  So, I sent an email and fell asleep.  I got a response the next day.  The response was simple, but the words impacted me...it was like asking a question and then getting the answer you wanted, but didn't expect at the same time.  As if I didn't really need to send the email, but it was so much better that I did.  It hit deep.  I think God can give us real confirmation that what we are doing is right, real or good...this one was in an email.  

I don't say things by accident, I mean what I say.  I'm not planning on changing.

Words are funny...they can mean a lot of things.  When did you last say something that impacted another person?  When was the last time you were impacted?

Confused?  It happens.