DISTANCE

Ok, so we all know how I feel about the ways in which we measure things. 
I learned today how far away Thursday can seem from Tuesday.  Not just forty-eight hours.  Not 2,880 minutes or 172,800 seconds.  (I hope my math is correct there...even a calculator can't help me some days.)
The space between today and two days from now, for at least one person I know, is the difference between everything is going to be alright or things are not as great as we thought.
The space between last Friday and a phone call that may never come seems more like eternity than something that can be ticked and tocked away.
I was trying to figure out how to help these people not stress between now and then.
Yeah, right.
Who the hell am I kidding?
If I were in either position I'd be a walking anxious zombie. 
I wonder how far something can go before it is just too great a distance to be bearable. 

I have no idea what kind of rock this is.  I've actually Googled extensively (for about twenty minutes) trying to figure it out....to no avail.  I brought it home from the beach near Punta Gorda, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico.  It has travelled a great distance, and it has a surface full of holes, but it remains in one piece.

There are things in this life that make no sense and even things that are so bewildering that only God will ever know the reason for.

I'm sure both of the people I was referring to probably feel like they are on a plane/train/boat headed to Timbuktu and they have no idea how long they will be on this trip or when they'll get back, if ever.  They probably didn't pack for such a journey, and I doubt either of them thought they'd encounter the stormy weather that they've seen this week.  You might compare it to being sent on a vacation where you make no choices at all, other than how you spend your time between Point A and Point B.

If I were either of them, I'd start out screaming, then continue on into cursing, maybe kick my car tire, and end up in tears.

I would not be able to bear it....without having someone along the journey with me.
I don't know if they would say that I've been really "there" for either of them this week.  I'm trying to help in the only ways I know, just by listening and spending time with them.  I don't honestly know what either of them needs to get through their individual ordeals.
But I do know I can make it a point to be WITH them, from "here" to "there".
I can help get them from Point A to Point B in one piece, caring for them gently like I did this stone I found on the beach, keeping them safe from the hardships of the journey.
I can remind them that God is on the plane/train/boat too.....maybe that's why they call him our Rock.
He doesn't promise you'll get there on time, or that you will even arrive at your desired destination.
But, no matter the distance, I bet He'll get you there in one piece.

GROWTH

Looking at my oldest son while he was sleeping made me realize just how big this kid has gotten.  I was wonderstruck thinking of the night we brought him home...it was the Fourth of July 2008 when he spent his first night in our house.  He looked so small in the bassinett in our room, and now I can't keep the kid in pants that are long enough.  There was something so familiar though, about watching him sleep, and I remembered a snapshot I keep on my dresser that has been one of my favorite pictures of him from day one.  Lately it's been burried under cd cases and bridal shower invitations. 
I grabbed it from my dresser, dusted it off, and snapped this photo.  Growth.  It gives me great comfort to know that we can all grow and change so drastically in such a short time, but yet our basic nature and the intrinsic pieces of us that make us who we are, can remain boldly intact.  Who you are is a gift from God.  What you do with yourself is your gift to him. 
Think of a beach pebble.  The waves pound away at it, changing it into countless different shapes.  The hot sun bakes it into different colors and leaves it sizzling.  It goes with the flow...taking what comes and fitting in where it can.  It changes always-sometimes quickly and sometimes over years. 
But yet no matter what, the components that make up that pebble are still there, just like they always were. 
One of my favorite quotes is from Hamlet, "To thine own self be true."  This is so much easier to abide by when you know that no matter what happens to you, nothing can change what you are made of.  I like to think that I'm made of the following things: laughter, hugs, kevlar, Southern charm, cream cheese filling, pepperoni, caffiene, hat trick, Marilyn Monroe, glitter, and just a little bit of tears.  What's on your list?