From the left corner of my brain

” The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but you still have to mow it.” -Anonymous

Although I generally work with kids 0-5 years old, I keep a few adult clients to add some variety to my day. ( I work as a mental health therapist…yup -head shrinking/Freud/how does that make you feel- therapist). I’m very thankful for my job and I love what I do. I think it is pretty unique to get a chance to have unshielded view into other people’s worlds. I walk with others as they look internally and find the courage and inspiration to live their lives better than before.

Last week I had a glimpse into another marriage. Let me say – I have only been married 4 years. In no way do I think that I have perfected marriage or will never have a difficult time in my marriage. But last week made me very grateful for what I do have.

I suppose we all feel that way from time to time. We see someone else and think, ” Maybe I have it better than I thought.” I’m sure people have looked at my life and thought, “phew, glad I’m not her.” And I guess that is where the lesson of learning to be content comes in. Fact is, no one will ever have it all. At what point are we going to say ‘more would be great, but life is good right here too.’ I see many people who are in difficult situations. Some are content and some are not.  Is it a decision we can make?

1. Codeine

2. Antibiotics

3. Tylenol

4. Electric blankets

5. Decent shows on T.V. (lacking at the moment – bring on the fall line up please)

This bug is hanging on for dear life, but I think I’m nearly over it. On the bright side, I have managed to catch up on sleep + a little lot extra.

During the brief hours I was awake over the weekend, I was sitting on the couch in a medicated spaced out stare, and started noticing all the things that need to be done around the house. Not chores, but weekend warrior type projects. So I started making a list. My husband had a difficult type expressing his excitement, but I know deep down he has been waiting for this.

I have been so excited about Fall being just around the corner. I love this time of year – even though the year is almost over, everyone gets charged up for one last round due to school starting again. The weather is nice, the leaves change color, and the holidays are near. No doubt – my favorite time of year.

With one exception. School starting again = kids swapping all their germs.  I work with kids 0-5 years old. They can not wipe their green snot by themselves people. They do not cover their mouths when they cough ( in fact, they usually get in your face and then cough, just to make sure you got your share) sigh , the fun of working with kids.

After only getting 3 (yes, 3) hours of sleep last night due to this cold/congestion/lump in my throat, I broke down and called the doctor. I’m going to go get drugs.

I’ve been thinking and reading about prayer more and more, and finding more questions and a even a few answers along the way.

I’m basing my beliefs/discoveries about prayer on three assumptions:

-God exists

-God is capable of hearing payers (already covered this last time, but feel free to click here to read)

-God cares

Okay, so with that established, here is where I am now:

Prayer is a way to re-align my perspective and  a way for me to respond to His ever present presence. This implies and confirms that humans are created to have a relationship with God.

The glaring answer to accomplish this is prayer. I have heard it said that prayer is for our benefit not God’s (duh). But thinking of prayer within that frame or as a useful exercise seems selfish and an easy means to an end. It is the equivalent as writing in a journal- helpful, but one sided. Jesus prayed all the time, I can’t help but to expect more from prayer.

Relationships are a two way street. Face it, if we got together for coffee and spent an hour looking at each other and not talking, it would be a little weird. We expect conversation. I say something, you respond, you say something, I respond. Prayer does not always follow that pattern. It’s more like, I say something, silence, I say something again. Sometimes I sense God’s promptings, sense His presence etc. Sometimes I get nothing.

Back to relationships. The best relationships require a time investment. The more time spent together, the easier and quicker you can move past ‘how’s the weather’ conversations to the ‘how are you really doing?’ conversations. The more time invested in relationships, the more likely you are to say, “Hi, it’s me” rather than, “Hi, this is Angela” when the other person picks up the phone. I’m finding the same goes for prayer. The more time I spend in prayer, the easier it becomes to recognize God’s response. The more time I spend in prayer, the conversations move from, “God, please give me ______” to “God, you know I really need________”. Prayer helps move things from a dialogue where I am informing God to a conversations where I am including God so He can care about it with me.

So why pray if the Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we ask? Because “the more I know someone, the less information needs to be communicated.”

*Currently reading: Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

Our prayers of comfort go to those effected on 9-11

I came home today after a 10 hour day at work and found that my lovely husband had the window open to let a wonderful breeze though our house. Today is one of the first day we have had cool weather. Fall is almost here!! I can barley wait!! It was nice to have something small like a crisp breeze to wipe out my 10 hour Monday.

 I have many thoughts bouncing around in this brain of mine, but not a lot of time to pull them all together. (Hence today ) So stay tuned… new ideas coming.

Last week, I posted a blog about marriage being long stretches of boring and why I disliked that statement. After thinking about it a little more, I would like to go back and clarify something.

I think at times, life is boring, or dull, or whatever phrase you want to use. Marriage is about doing life together – whatever life turns out to look like.

I still hold to the idea that life is what you choose for it to be, and that boring is a choice. If I am finding my life to be dull or boring, then that becomes an  issue of being content. Life can not be exciting every single day, but if I am content, I hope to find small pleasures everyday.

So perhaps for the person that said the original statement, life was stretches of boring. To pin the tag on marriage as the reason or cause is destructive from the beginning.

phew. feel better now that I cleared that up.

It’s true. I had to take him to the vet today because he had these weird spots all over his skin ( some of which were pretty gross). I thought there was really something wrong with him.

no.

he has allergies.

I’ve never heard of such a thing. Lord only knows what he is allergic to- with our luck, probably grass.

In Cebu, Philippines, the prisoners are required to dance -everyday. We’re talking choreographed, MTV style dance. The jail these prisoners are in is the equivalent of our Sing Sing prison in New York, or any of our other ‘worst of the worst’ prisons. 70% of the prisoners have been deemed ’high security risk’. Rapist, mass murders and drug dealers dancing along to Micheal Jackson’s ‘Thriller’.

 The prison overseer thought that compulsory marching exercises to music might help break the gang leaders’ hold. It worked. Choreography followed. Seems like it is working- not one incident of violence in the past 16 months. 

To see what I am talking about, check this video out -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

For the story behind the video, click here:

http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/in.the.field/2007/08/together-in-electric-dreams.html

somewhere along the way, my parents picked up this little phrase with it’s annoyingly cute tune that goes with it.  I have very clear memories of my mother cheering this phrase to me when I was in my teens and having a rotten attitude. At the time, it only made me more annoyed, but I usually shifted my attitude pretty quickly ( if for no other reason that to prevent her from singing it twice) And wouldn’t you know it, the little diddly has stuck with me into adulthood.

Today would have been a good day to use it. Probably would have saved myself from looking like a goober in front of my husband.  It wasn’t a big deal to start with, should have checked my attitude before launching into a ‘discussion’ with my husband.

Attitude check Angela, attitude check.