Wednesday Writings, What I've Learned Lately

What I’ve Learned Lately

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week, though if you’re like me and still have kids home from school because of ice and snow it might seem like a lot more days have passed. I’m so thankful I don’t get housebound too easily! We got brave and ventured out for supper and a quick trip to the grocery store last night. A big thanks to Jim ‘n Nick’s for staying open for us even though they were getting ready to start shutting things down while their last customers finished eating!

Just like they invited us to come on in, I’ve been inviting some of my writing friends to stop by and share guest posts here on my blog. I’m calling it “What I’ve Learned Lately” and it will be a chance for writers to share something from their journey. It might be related to their writing, but might also be something from their personal or spiritual walks. Some are published authors and some are what we call “pre-published” – but they all are dedicated to using the gift God has given them to share Him with others. The guest posts will be on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, and my first guest will be Jodie Bailey on Jan. 26. I hope you’ll stop by, comment, and enjoy what she has to share.

In the meantime, here are three things I’ve learned lately, to get us started.

  • Watching your child walk into a “grown up” event while you stay in the car is a true reality check. Our son is taking cotillion classes (yes, some of us still do that in the South) and had their Winter Ball at the swankiest country club in town Friday night. Something about watching him shrug into his blazer and adjust his tie as he walked (dare I say “strode,” because he looked awfully confident) toward the entrance made my Mama heart lurch in a whole new way. My boy is growing up, whether I like to think about it or not.
  • Jewish men from Paul’s time had way too many rules for me to begin to follow, but I can learn a lot from the theory behind some of them. For example, they had specific benedictions to recite to themselves as they went through certain rituals when preparing for the day. I can’t count the number of mornings I’ve stumbled out of bed and gotten halfway to lunchtime before stopping to even say “good morning” to God, let alone spend quality time with Him. Ouch. I must say that I’ve been a lot more conscious of it before even getting out of bed lately, thanks to the things I’m learning through Beth Moore’s devotional/journal on Paul. Maybe there’s hope for me after all.
  • Hairspray helps plastic sleds go faster. We got the kids a shallow boat-type sled last winter when we thought snow was heading our way. My husband must’ve googled around to see what might make it go faster, because on Monday he came asking how much spray starch or hairspray I had that they could use. I gave him a big can of hairspray that must have something wrong with the nozzle because the spray blasts out and feels like it’s trying to take the hair off my head instead of keeping it in place. From the looks of things, it did much better on the sled than it did on my ‘do.

So now it’s your turn. What’s something you’ve learned lately?