Real Life Reflections

Andrew Peterson’s Counting Stars

Our car isn't working properly. Some times it starts just fine, but more often than not, it takes a number of attempts before the engine turns over. We have to get it in the shop for a little maintenance, so it will once again run smoothly - exactly the way its makers intended it to run. Our summer, as usual, has been very busy. Our typical Monday night dates have taken a back seat to the demands of life. The other day, I looked at my husband and introduced myself. It had been that long since we'd had any time alone together (you can imagine my relief when I found out that the man standing in my kitchen was, indeed, my husband. Whew!). Yesterday morning, Marc (said husband), said to me, "the car needs maintenance, so we have to put it in the shop. It's an inconvenience, but we have to do it." He then likened marriage maintenance to car maintenance - just as there's never a good time to be one car down, there's never a good time to drop everything and spend...

So many things to blog about these days! How's a girl to choose? I could go with the light-hearted, nostalgic theme or a deeper, faith-centered one (I've plenty of those lately). I think I'll try something a little different - a collage. A series of "blog-ettes." I'll shoot for 3 (2 faith, 1 nostalgic): Faith Blog-ette #1 Yesterday morning, I had the pleasure of catching up with a friend of mine with whom I had spent all my formative years - from kindergarten through senior high. Somehow during the course of the two plus hours we had together, we touched on the untouchable: religion and politics (did I just hear you gasp?). No worries though, it didn't get down and dirty, and I daresay we parted as friends. She did, however, touch a sore spot. She had moved out of our home state about ten years ago. What she didn't realize before her move was the political/religious make-up of the area into which she chose to settle: conservative, right-wing, republica...

If you've lived long enough (let's say a day or two), you've learned that the people around you - your family, friends, co-workers - don't always (or even often) fulfill your expectations of them. Your idea of what love looks like is different from theirs. This reality hit me hard this past weekend. The hurt and disappointment I felt in my heart was so powerful that it affected me physically. It was in this state of emotional and physical tumult when I went to church on Sunday morning where we sang a song that changed everything. The line that packed the punch? I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us. Regret: We generally think of a regret as something we wish we had done or had not done, but regrets are all inclusive. We can regret actions someone else has taken or perhaps, as it was in this instance, actions someone hasn't taken. Regret doesn't assume responsibility in any way. It merely bemoans the fact of an ev...