Magical

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My wife has taken to the word magical, as of late. I’m not sure when it started, though I am sure it wasn’t long ago. I’m not sure what spawned it, but here it is – magical- is now a part of our lives.

She has always had a special way of connecting with people. She exudes confidence when she speaks and captures the attention of the room. In high school and college she had her own “language”, filled with terms like “fresh” and “jazzy”. It should come as no surprise that a word that’s seldom used has crept into our lives as grown @$$ adults! So here we are with MAGICAL! It brings me visions of a family movie favorite Mary Poppins. Side bar for a second, we went to see the current Mary Poppins movie as a family and it was good, but not nearly the punch of the original. Oh it was filled with plenty of magical moments but the first one…if you haven’t watched it you have GOT to go and see it. It is an adventure that is filled with all kinds of magical action and it leaves you at the end inspired to prioritize the things that really matter.

My wife is our Mary Poppins, although I haven’t seen her use an umbrella to fly, I have seen her pull out a big bag of tricks to keep us on track. She uses terms like magical to keep things fresh and full of wonder. Her perspective on life is one we are trying really hard to impress on our children during their teenage years – it starts with this- most of what happens in our life is how we handle it. Meaning, “good” and “bad” things happen in everyone’s lives, we get to choose whether we think it’s happening to us or just happening with our part being choosing our reaction. She sees the magical things and celebrates them -often, it’s the people she comes in contact with. When we see the glimmers of her philosophy taking hold in the girls it gives me hope and strength that we are headed on the right path with them!

The youngest displays her magical talent

Life IS magical when you get right down to it and we are fortunate to be here with the people that are placed in our lives with us. The youngest displays here magical talent

Now, Go make your own magic!

Dependability 

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I find myself trying to be someone people can depend on while trying to find people to depend on. Is it fair to expect somebody else to be dependable?  Is it fair if you specifically tell them your situational need so that they can come through?  How much direction does one need in order to be considered dependable?  Is my whole post today going to be questions?  Am I supposed to answer these questions?  My goal is to work out my writing muscles a little bit everyday so that eventually I can answer the questions that are asked. For today however I want to focus on dependable. 

I want to be dependable, the one my wife looks to when she is troubled. The one my kids reach out to when they have questions, when they are scared, hurt or otherwise in doubt. When the whole group of em needs picking up because things aren’t going right.  But how do you be the dependable one when you don’t have the answers…..only more questions?  In my experience, the answers come or don’t come in time.  To me being dependable is being there, willing to work through it together. Sometimes I have the answer, sometimes I have more questions but most of all my presence shows the dependability that is needed to let them know they don’t have to do it alone. We can usually figure it out or at the very least bond a little over the frustration that is before us. Mostly we realize that the things that bother us are usually gone in short order – taken care of by the One that takes care of us. Being dependable is being there, caring and letting God work through me. That’s the dependability that I strive for.  

 

Why Worry (a call to action)

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I was talking with my sister-in-law this afternoon and she was having a particularly difficult day at work. When she called, I was looking forward to hearing about her webinar that she hosted earlier in the day and I fully expected the usual “Oh you know… I nailed it out of the park! Cha-ching”. Then we could move on to more pressing matters, like coordinating her sister’s birthday and family BBQs.

But, that was not the response I got.

Me, obligatorily asking : “How was your webinar?”
Her: “Oh…. my…. worst day ever!”

Uh-Oh, something happened there – now I am faced with the dilemma of pressing forward with my agenda or getting into the “worst day ever”.
I decided to dip my toe into the waters of worst day ever.

Me: “What happened?”
Her: “You are not going to believe this, but my internet went down in the middle of the webinar!”
Me: “Oh, no! Did you have to cancel the webinar or just continue via the phone.”
Her: “Well, no. I work with a fantastic team and they took over and ran with our information and it still went on and all the information was covered.”

I was reminded of the ONE question that I ask my daughters when they are “fussing”.

Can you do anything to change the situation?

If my sweet little angels say no, then I gently remind them know that there is no reason to get worked up because, since you can’t do anything to change it.  It is out of your control therefore it doesn’t make sense to worry.

If, however, the little loves of my life say yes.  Then we are called to action!  If you are presented with a situation that you don’t like or are uncomfortable with and you can change it, STOP worrying and DO something about it.  This place of worry is not helping you.  YOU have the power to fix it!

I am reminded of an Erma Bombeck  quote:  “Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”

So, resign your position as General Manager of the Universe and stop wasting your time worrying about things you can’t control and DO SOMETHING about the things you can.