Monday, December 17, 2012

so much love.


Friends, I will be very vulnerable with you this week because I believe that I am not the only one with a tender heart today, and if I can lift another up by these words then I am glad God has given me the ability do so.

I didn't want to venture into this as I feel so inadequate to even comment on such an event but I have felt very fragile these last few days, like my heart may literally break. At the same time though I have this incomprehensible peace over me.

Like many of you I'm sure, your heart has been hurting this weekend as a very hurting event happened last Friday that has thrown so many emotions into chaos.

One thing I can’t help but think today is that there is so much love in this world.

At first glance that does not make sense, as many have sorrow, anger, confusion and bitterness (to say the least) coursing through their bodies these last couple days, but it must be realized that all of these extreme emotions stem from love.

If one does not love someone, they do not feel the extreme pain when they are taken from them.
If one does not love someone, they do not try and protect them with their life.
If one does not love someone, they do not rush to where there is danger to try and find their child, sibling, wife, husband, or friend.
If one does not love someone, they do not rally together to support one another and lift each other up in a time of need.
If one does not love someone, they do not weep for strangers in hurting times.

There is so much love.

Events happen that we do not understand, and never will on this earth. I wish we could find the answers we so desperately need but it is not possible. To try and understand causes such great inner turmoil that you lose sense of the present and your ability to love for tomorrow.

To try and live again after such a hurting event has thrown your world upside down is not an easy task nor a sign of forgetting the past, but an incredible testament of the heart wanting to live and love again, inspired by the one you have lost.

You were made to love. The devil tries to steal, kill and destroy it, but you were made to love.

Friends, I encourage you to hold tight to love today, tomorrow and for forever.  

A full heart is a brave heart
let's be brave and love

Monday, December 10, 2012

Excitement. Lots of it.

"WHO'S EXCIIIIIITED?!?!??!"

I just had to get that out there. Most likely you did not read it the same way I typed it sounding in my head... but here let me help:

(as loud as you can aka screaming) "WHO'S EX-CITE-EEEED!!!!!!!" (Now hold an expectant look on your face as you watch your audience, even if it's just the mirror.)

Before we jump in on something life changing, I will just tell you now that I got that quote/saying from a motivational CD that I keep hearing. It's such a good one. This dad wakes up his kids like this in the morning, and the kids, being used to such extreme excitement, do get excited to live that day!!

AHHH I'm excited just thinking about it.

"Sherylynn... calm yourself, what in the world are you excited about!"

To which I respond... everything! Because everything has a purpose and set by a God that loves me.

Someone said something today about it being a Monday and how they hated it but once I realized that it was indeed Monday guess what, that made me excited!! I was full of joy over the fact that it was Monday because that means God gave me a whole new week of being with Andrew, meeting people, going to gatherings, hanging out with my family, eating food, writing, reading, baking, working, organizing, dreaming, chasing goals, encouraging, inspiring, being artistique, planning brunches, catching up with old friends, looking at wedding photos, and a million more things! Monday is a brand new start, why oh why in the world do people hate on Monday so much!
Monday, I thank you for your representation of a new week! Hoorah!

Now if you were peering into my window right now (creepy, please don't) you would think that perhaps I am leading you astray because I am just sitting here typing, looking like the average woman. Wrong-O, my friend.......O. There is so much ambition and excitement that is growing within me everyday to be the best I can be and become the woman God wants me to be that sometimes I honestly think I make my heart skip a beat. Other times I'm so overwhelmed with joy I start tearing up in my office. It's fantastic!! I hope I am contagious!

Contagious indeed. To bring in current events today... the Christmas season is not about "ugh, I have to go to this party", "Ughh I have to go to the mall." "Ugh, I'm whining about something Christmas related." Be excited about everything the season represents and how many opportunities become available for you to meet new people, create amazing heart felt gifts with eco-friendly wrapping, be with family and/or friends that love you, and just cherish the moment and the days as opposed to trying to hide until the 'busyness of the season' has passed.

Challenge for you my dear friend: Wake up tomorrow morning and as your brain is figuring out what's happening, who you are, what day it is, etc., start telling yourself how excited you are for the day. Pray for your day to go well and the joy to multiply. Start pumping yourself up that you have so many opportunities to excel right at your fingertips today. Tell yourself how incredible you are and the potential you have to accomplish the impossible. You are going to have a great day. When you're ready... jump out of bed and scream:

WHO'S EXCITE-EEEEED!!!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Marriage: Christmas Decision Making Surprises

Hi Friends!

If you were unaware, about eight times a week I get the question, "How's married life?" so today I thought I would give you an update on said married life. So to catch you all up, Andrew and I are coming up on our one year anniversary of when we started dating... technically it won't be our anniversary since we aren't dating anymore but let's not get all caught up on that... basically what I wanted to highlight is the fact that we started dating at the end of December last year. This means that we have never been together for a Christmas season. This then makes it so much more interesting that we are married this year and are decorating our home and planning for our christmas holidays together.

The best part about our first christmas together is the unveiling of differences that we were unaware of. A few weeks ago Andrew and I ventured out to get our first stockings... (awwwww).... and it was going pretty well, except Andrew pointed out all the stockings he liked which unfortunately happened to be most of the stockings that I didn't like and all the ones I pointed out he considered to be too girly (I will admit, that was quite true). A couple stores later and we found a stocking we both agreed on, so I said perfect, grab two of them... At which point I realized that Andrew had never considered the idea that we would have matching stockings. Ooops, bad communication on my part.

Since we had some figuring out to do with the whole stocking situation I decided we could grab an angel for the top of the tree while we were already in the christmas section. This is when I realized that Andrew had been thinking of getting a star, not an angel, for the top of our tree the whole time. Oh my my, what a surprise. Basically we realized that many elements of our upbringings were completely opposite when it came to Christmas, such as when we open christmas presents (christmas morning vs christmas eve), different christmas traditions, different tastes in christmas decorations, Andrew's love for nutcrackers, my joy of singing Silent Night to any light in a dark room, and many others.

Now as I'm writing all of this I think it's quite humorous just how opposite Andrew and I are in our view of Christmas traditions as my house was typically quite Martha Stewart perfection compared with his home's cozy traditional memories collected. Neither is better than the other but they are just quite different. I also have the thought in my mind that at the end of the day none of these are big issues. The adventure of just finding out these different preferences of ours has been quite fun as well as finding solutions for how to bring our two visions together. Marriage life is so fun as you continually just learn more about each other and what different experiences you have had that makes the other person so unique. My husband is a very unique individual and I am so glad that we get to squish our Christmas traditions together and make compromises to create brand new traditions to decorate for our very first Christmas together...

 

Sometimes when you allow another viewpoint to come into your life, you see the world from a whole new fantastic level. Andrew Smith... I love that man.