It’s easy to hole up inside, isn’t it?

It’s easy to find a comfortable spot, close the door, and lock out the rest of the world.

It’s easy to do this when you’re tired; and it’s even easier when you have to start all over again.

It’s hard to leave your real life friends.  It’s hard when they have to leave you.

It’s hard to pull yourself together for a coherent conversation when all you want to do is hide, or sleep, or survive.

But, we weren’t made to hide or just survive.

It’s hard to get out there and be real.

But, it gets easier with each step toward the door… with each new friend.

Come meet us at the park…

4-ish?

The text lit up my phone; a smile lit up my face.

We’ll be there…

We fall into the trap believing God doesn’t care about the in’s and out’s of our days.  Those minutes in the day when we wonder,

What difference does it really make?

The truth… it is in the smallest details of our lives where we really live.  In the daily duties, routine requirements, and sometimes mundane monotony – this is where our breath meets the breath of God.  The small things matter to Him.

The children we feed, and clothe, and teach, and adore.  The spouses we support, and battle, and love.  The places we wrestle and realize what it really means to sacrifice.  The places we carry our crosses, and realize sometimes we are someone else’s cross to bear.

The friends who carry us through care-free laughter to crying discouragement.  The real life ones and the ones we seek in the quiet recesses of late night stillness.  Somewhere behind computer screens.

The internet.  This generation’s backyard picket fence.  The way we find each other.  The place we meet, hearts on our sleeves, to remember we are not alone.

So, today I throw my dance card out there with a group at 5 Minutes for Mom (and, man, do we sometimes need 5 minutes… or 50). They are hosting the 2014 Ultimate Blog Party. And, we could use a good party.

If you are visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party 2014, welcome!  You’ve found the place I rise at sunrise (or something like that) with my pack of six.  I write about faith through the eyes of a mom, military wife, and woman who spent more than three decades believing in a distant God.  This is the place I re-live the moments of madness in motherhood and genuine gratitude.

I’m glad you’re here.

If you’ve been reading along with me for a while… I want you to know, I am grateful.  I am truly thankful you have taken a few minutes from your day to meet me at the picket fence.  I hope the words I etch in this place bring you inspiration and encouragement.

I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.  ~ Mother Teresa

Thank you for being part of my sunrise.

 

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.