Okay...so that's a title for ya! Got a million little things on my mind and couldn't decide what to write down...
If you know me well enough, it basically just comes down to me just spittin' out whatever comes into my head at any particular moment...and so now, you reap the benefits of that little personality quirk...welcome to my brain!
After 5 hours in the kitchen this morning/afternoon...it finally was clean...why does a kitchen take that long to clean? Well, in between making breakfast & lunch, filling up the pool, watering the garden, changing Little Munchkin in and out of bathing suits, fixing snacks...well, it just took awhile to complete the project called: Operation Clean Kitchen!
Throughout this whole "ordeal"...(don't you like how cleaning the house becomes an "ordeal" in my head?) I count it a blessing to be a stay at home mom (SAHM)...but there are days that I wonder what I actually accomplish...I do like to tell myself that my children may not remember that the house was clean, but they will remember the fact that I made chocolate covered giant marshmallows and created a new hair style for their American Girl doll...and so, that sometimes helps me look past the sticky syrup on the wood floor that's been there for about 2 days and the burnt pine nuts on the stove and the pretzels crushed into the rug and the sour buttermilk in the fridge b/c the garbageman doesn't come until Monday...
you get the idea?
Also going through my mind as I was pondering the memories that my children will recall in the future...I was struck again by my whole love of "memory" and "taking photos"...at times, THAT becomes an "ordeal" as well...but my good friend (who also happens to be my pastor's wife) gave me an article the other day and knowing that I cannot write as eloquently as this photog/author does, I'm going to quote her...I hope you enjoy...I only copied bits and pieces of her whole article...but I hope you understand the scope of what she was trying to communicate.
Compelling Worship By Sally Morgenthaler
Good photography has often been confused with what is pretty. But good photography isn't so much about the pretty and the beautiful as it is about what is true...It isolates moments in time so we can descend into a subject without distraction, developing new perspectives and insights as we relate that subject to our world.
Worship that is compelling takes care to provide the contrast necessary for people to experience God in specificity, not just as a wide-angle wash of general goodness. Aspects of God's multi-hued, even paradoxical character deserve intential focus...
Not long ago, I came across an album of family photographs that predated my photography classes...The images were recognizable as generic scenic....most shots were not identifiable as to state or monument...sky was washed out, landforms lacked definition...shots of family appeared as distant figures...In a word, what i had produced were snapshots, not photographs...missing were the deep shadows, furtive sideways light, mornin dew, children's faces as they hunched over, laughing, as two lizards buried each other int he sand...Missing was LIFE in it's contrasts and marvelous detail...Life in focus and courageously specific!
Taking a tip from photography 101 (with respects to worship): Know your subject (God), move in closer, then maximize the contrast!
Photography and memory making for me has built up in me a type of worship...and a way that God shows and reminds me what is most important in this life...
So, although it took me 5 hours to clean that silly kitchen today...it's okay...b/c i moved in closer with my kiddos and added some contrast to this thing called LIFE...
Although, if you come to visit...I wouldn't accept any leftovers that I may offer...stick with packaged granola bars or canned soda...just to be safe!
