What’s Worth What

So I just got home from my second job…which didn’t go all that great, at least not like I’d hoped…and I came home, ready to update my Facebook status.  Something along the lines of “what words do you use to describe how you feel, when tired, exhausted, frustrated and disheartened aren’t enough, but depressed is crossing the line?

” or something like that.

Then I go upstairs to kiss the wife goodnight and let her know I am home.

I open the door to see three female bodies, have taken over my bed.

The 4-yr old, on my side. The wife on her side.

The, less than 1-yr old, atop the wife, with her arm around my wifes’ neck.

If that doesn’t make you forget what you were upset about, I don’t know what will.

So, I head back downstairs thinking, my status has turned into an overdue blog-post.

This is cool! I’ll have to add #dadintears.

I no sooner open up the laptop and start logging into a couple of sites (ie. Facebook & WordPress) and I hear the baby. Wife “has had it” as I approach the bed and she’s in the middle of making a bottle. “You wanna take her?”

Sure. So as I walk back down stairs (for the second time in about 3 minutes, I ask the baby…”where you wanting to crash on the couch and fall asleep while looking at the Christmas tree lights?”

Sure enough…she’s on the couch next to me and back to sleep. In a matter of seconds.

If only it were that easy.

Needless to say, whatever was on my mind for most of the evening will hopefully stay at bay for a few moments longer. And when it tries to barge back in, I’ll just admire the baby…and the Christmas tree…and the baby.

Repeat.

christmas lights (Photo credit: harold.lloyd)

The Creator, The Created & The Struggle In Between

In the face of observers and analysts who observe and comment with limited amounts of understanding and finite vision, the creator presses own, knowing that whatever the result of the “project”, he has poured his heart and soul, time and resources into pursuing the excellence for which the “project” will be known for.  This is the hope and dream and striving for which the artist has worked.

Isaiah 29:16 from the  Douay-Rheims Bible

• This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.

The same verse from the New Living Translation (©2007)

• How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?

From Romans 9:20 New Living Translation (©2007)

• No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

Made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator, do not let observers and commentators in your life discourage you from the plans and purposes for which God has created you.  Neither your faults and failures, nor your strengths and successes have outweighed the potential that God is confident in you to accomplish what for which you were created.

Whatever the struggle that lies in between, continue on in the “project”, knowing that simply because outsiders can’t see the vision, that the existence of the vision is false. God is truth and He has poured every into you. Stay true to His vision, not your own or that of the naysayers.

Lessons From The Lethal Weapon Tetralogy

You’d be surprised what you can still accomplish, even when you feel “too old for this”.

Most people probably won’t want you to drive if you are suicidal.

“The guys of the 80s aren’t tough. They are sensitive people” -Sergeant McCaskey

If you are out of work, perhaps “there’s an opening in the L.A. Fire Department.”

Trust is built, one brick at a time….starting with  the idea that if “You make it through tomorrow without killing anybody, especially me, or yourself, then I’ll start trusting you.” Roger Murtaugh

If you are going to make mistakes, particularly, stupid ones…do it early in life & not 8 days before retirement.

If you have a gunshot wound and it’s accompanied by a rectal exam, your doctor may be a savage. -Leo Getz

“You have the right to remain unconscious. Anything you say ain’t gonna be much.” -Martin Riggs

Guard your phone…and watch you bill for calls to Afghanistan – Lee  Butters

Be thankful for your family and friends, regardless of whether they’re a better friend than Froggy the frog, or just different.