New Family

We are one of the new families at church.

Yes, you may have known us as acquaintances for quite some time. We are not new to the area. However, situations at our old church caused us to move on. We found that we felt somewhat at home in this church. It will take some time to get used to calling it "our church."

The hardest part about leaving a church you have attended your whole life is the fact that you lose your relationships as well. Friends you spoke to weekly become people you used to know. Passing them on the street becomes awkward - should I say hi or just pretend I don't see them? There is a sense of mourning the loss of those close friends.

Yet, we have made new acquaintances. Those who say "hi" to us on Sunday. People who ask how we are doing. It is nice to have.

What you don't see is the loneliness we often hide. We see the groups of friends that get together occasionally for a good time. We long to feel a part of something fun like that. It is hard to be on the outside.

Getting involved in church activities has helped us get to know some people. Yet there is still a separation between church gatherings and actually being invited to gather outside of the building.

We are hoping the day will come when this church truly feels like our "home", and we belong in the "family."

Already?

My heart is aching tonight after having a talk with my son who is in third grade. THIRD GRADE. And he is already having to deal with cliques and popularity. It hurts to think that he doesn't want to go to school because of the mean kids or being left out of the "good" teams at recess. So it made me ponder this: "Do we as parents make our kids cliquey?" I have to think the answer is yes.
We've all been there. Left out of something we so desperately want to be a part of. As adults, I would like to think we don't do this to each other. But we do. When we don't want to invite certain people to our gathering, our kids see. They hear. Even though we think they don't have a clue. How easy it is to leave out the people that are different. And by doing things with the same group of friends all the time, we teach our kids that they are the only ones worth doing anything with. Our kids become good friends with our friends' kids. And then when they go to school or church together, they leave others out and it hurts. And the parents of the kids left out have to try to explain to them why the group they so desperately want to fit in with wants nothing to do with them.
THIRD GRADE. Really?

Just Start

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher

Today I realized something. Something I should have learned before now. As the daunting task of catching up with two days worth of dishes was in front of me, I thought to myself, "Where do I start?" And a little voice said to me, "Just start." Really... it's that simple. It doesn't matter where you start, it is that you DO start. Soon my pile of dishes was no more than a couple items that didn't fit in the dishwasher. I breathed a sigh of relief and realized once again that there is no task that I cannot accomplish if I JUST START somewhere. Now on to the toys littering the living room floor...