Life After the Kids Graduate College: Surviving the Empty Nest Syndrome

The last ten years have been a bit of a marathon, filled with family challenges, serious injuries, illnesses, and the loss of my father. For a while, laughter and everyday joy felt like they had packed up and gone on vacation without me. But the good Lord never stopped nudging me forward. Well... "nudging" might be giving Him too much credit. It was probably more like a well-aimed boot to the backside. Either way, I'm finally starting to laugh more, find joy in the little things again, and rediscover my voice. Apparently, God wasn't accepting "maybe later" as an answer.

 **Life After the Kids Graduate College: Surviving the Empty Nest Syndrome** 

Ah, the moment every parent dreams about: the day your child(ren) graduate from college, get a job, spread their wings, and fly the nest. They say life after your kids graduate from college is a golden era filled with blissful peace and quiet, but let’s be real: it’s more like a rollercoaster of emotions coated with a hefty dose of confusion. 

**The Sudden Silence** 

The first thing you notice after your kids move out is the deafening silence. Gone are the days of “Mom! Where’s my other sock?” or “Dad, can you help me build this ridiculously complex science project that requires twelve different kinds of glue? It's due tomorrow!” Instead, you find yourself hearing every creak and noise through the house, convinced that someone might pop out at any moment. You might even start talking to the dog—no judgment here; it’s a real adjustment! 

**Rediscovering Your Grocery Bill** 

With your once-teenage food vacuums now college grads, you’ll notice your grocery bill is suddenly half of what it used to be. You’ll stand in the grocery aisle, holding a family-sized box of Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-tarts, wondering, “Do I still need this?” Your fridge will go from “What’s for dinner?” chaos to “Is a leftover container of queso with chips considered a meal?” panic. Welcome to the new normal, where you find joy in whatever random leftovers make it to your plate! 

**Your Home Is Now a Museum** 

As soon as your kids graduate and head out into the world, your humble abode becomes a glorified museum. “Here lie the bedrooms of a once-aspiring pilot and model,” you muse as you dust their empty room, looking at the blank spaces on the walls that were once adorned with favorite posters and trophies from their youth sports and activities. Every now and then, you find yourself reminiscing about the days when you had to step over a minefield of Legos, Matchbox cars, and dolls to get to the bathroom—those were the days of real adventure! 

**The Parenting Callback** 

After graduation, just when you think your parenting responsibilities are winding down, you realize you are now on call 24/7 for what I like to call *emergency consultations*. “Mom, how do I place a grocery pickup order?” is the frantic call when they realize adulting is far harder than it sounds. “Dad, how much life insurance should I sign up for? And what's AD&D?” becomes a new family quandary. Who knew post-college life would resemble a series of phone interviews to discuss the world’s most confusing concepts?

**The Unexpected Side Effects** 

You may also find yourself suddenly subjected to side effects such as “Hobby Overload.” With all this newfound free time, you might experiment with gardening, quilting, shopping for a wardrobe that isn't based on whether it is socially acceptable for both sleeping and early morning school car-line drop-offs, or maybe you take it a step further and tackle the real monster: organizing the craft/junk room using suggestions from Pinterest or Marie Kondo that are guaranteed to make you the star of the neighborhood. Spoiler: those rooms rarely get completed.

**The Reunion Moment** 

And just when you’re starting to get used to the quiet, you get the call: “Hey Mom, can I come home for a few days?” Your heart does a happy dance as you picture family dinner and saying goodbye to your newfound solitude - even if it's only for a day or two. Before you know it, they roll back in with a suitcase full of laundry and want to take over your Netflix account with their latest binge-worthy series. Suddenly, you’re dodging awkward questions like, “Where's the last slice of cake?” and, "What happened to the Pop-tarts?" 

In the end, while we cherish the memories and lessons learned through parenting, the journey continues, albeit in a different way. Here’s to the empty nest—may it be filled with joy, laughter, and maybe a dog or two to keep you company!

The Brick Wall

To be perfectly honest, I've been in a funk.  That's the best way I know to describe how I've felt the past several months.  One night I went to bed happy and the very next morning I woke up and felt like someone had erected a brick wall around my heart.  The day before I was tootling along just fine taking care of business, and the very next morning when I tried to pray, my brain was everywhere.  I couldn't form a cohesive thought much less a sentence.  Everything from the grocery list, to the to-do list, to home renovations, to......... "SQUIRREL!" was running 90mph through my head and heart.  When I did try to pick up my devotional to read, my insides just said "blech".  When I'd see a spiritual post online, I'd quickly scroll past it as I heard the word "yuck!" inside of my very being.

I figured it was either a phase, I was overly tired, or maybe I just needed a break from it all.  I decided to not do my devotional for a week and to step away from worrying about it.  In that week, the brick wall got stronger and taller.  I knew taking the break was a mistake but I continued on.

The next week rolled around and I promptly squelched every single thought and feeling of needing to study my Bible or participate in any other activity which would stop this backslide I was on.  I chastised myself for being lazy but I figured I'd get back to business in time.  This internal fight continued for weeks before I realized this was more than mere laziness or needing a break.

This brick wall I had allowed to be erected had gained traction and had been fortified with steel and concrete in those weeks.  What started out as a simple low brick wall now had 3 full sides, a ceiling, and a 4th side which was nearly closed.  The height of the walls was seemingly insurmountable and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't scale that wall.

An overwhelming feeling of doom pervaded my thoughts as I realized I had allowed myself to get boxed into a prison cell.  If I didn't actively do something to get off of this path, there would be no escape.  Being a redhead, acceptance of my own stupidity is difficult at best and near impossible at worst.  Even so, there was this overwhelming feeling of needing help which built up inside of me until I could no longer contain it.

I finally made mention of what was going on to a close friend.  Fully expecting to get the reproof of "Well, moron, you opened up the door and let the great loser in...." speech which only a friend can give.  I was quite surprised to hear she was having a similar struggle.  But it also meant she didn't have the strength to help me either since she was battling it herself.

For me, acknowledging a problem has always been the first step to solving it.  Since I owned up to it with my friend, I had made it past this crucial first step, but I honestly had no clue what the second step was in moving past it.  With some more very hard won bravado (remember, I'm a redhead and as such, I don't ask for help), I messaged my cousin (who is a minister) and asked for his advice.

As only a cousin can, he righted my thinking and put me back on the path of life with one simple sentence.  Although he said it with much more eloquence and kindness, in essence he said "just shut up and do it".  So I did......... finally.  Those feelings of "yuck!" and "blech!" were there every step I took through the house to pick up my Bible and devotional book.  I actually had to read and pray out loud in order to squelch all of the "SQUIRREL!" thoughts.

And you know what I discovered?  This wall which appeared so completely insurmountable, which was closing in on me, didn't have to be climbed.  I only needed to do one thing:  reach out my hands and grasp The One that had been there waiting patiently with His arms outstretched all along.  That gigantic reinforced brick, steel, and concrete wall around my heart crumbled to pieces in an instant.

On Friday, I was driving down one of the local highways and was listening to "It Is Well With My Soul".  Ok, so I have to admit that I actually had it cranked up to ear blasting levels because it felt good to have my heart feeling so full and unfettered again.  As the song was hitting its crescendo, I came over a hill and what was before me?  A man dressed in a plain white tunic, wearing a crown of thorns, carrying a cross down the road.............

Written by Christie Bielss

Wishing Time Away

12 years ago I gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy.  It was such a relief to have that ball full of energy out into the world where he wasn't kicking and punching me for a good 20 hours out of every day.  Ironically, when he was born he was quite the snuggler.  If you held him, he would sleep soundly for hours upon hours.  If you laid him in his crib, playpen, bouncy chair, swing, or anywhere else, he was awake in 20 minutes or less.

In his first year of life, he went to the hospital more times than I can count.  We were there so many times, the ER nurses knew our insurance information by heart.  Between the middle of the night cases of croup, the asthma complications, ear infections, and the capper:  RSV, I learned more than I ever needed to know about an infant's breathing.  Most of the gray hairs on my head now came as a result of having to learn how to pacify a baby enough so he'd allow a nebulizer mask to be put on his face to receive his asthma medication so he could breathe.

I'm not sure how many hours of sleep I actually got in his first year of life, but I'm betting I have more fingers and toes than I did actual sleeping hours.  Many long hours, both day and night, were spent rocking him in the rocking chair, as well as watching Barney's Super Singing Circus every 2 hours so he wouldn't notice the nebulizer in his face.  Oh, how I had a love/hate relationship with that blasted dinosaur.  In those days and hours of frustration and exhaustion, I can't even count the number of times I thought about how nice it would be when he was older and we both could get some sleep.

I wished those days away without even truly realizing it.  Now he is older, and in less than 3 years he'll have his driver's permit.  In 6 years he'll be graduating from high school and heading off to college.  Instead of wishing for the years to pass so I can get some sleep, I really want time to freeze.  I want to have lots of memories I can hold onto when our nest becomes empty and his room stays clean for months on end, or I look in the cupboard and realize I don't need to go to the grocery store 2-3 days a week to restock what he's devoured.

In just a few short years, the quiet I enjoy today while my kids are in school will become a deafening silence.  Now where there is shouting, arguments with his sister, rough-housing with his friends, and Nerf gun battles that take place throughout the entire house, in 6 years time it will all be replaced by quiet........ lots and lots of quiet.

I will be hanging onto these next few years memories with an iron fist.  I may even enjoy every time I have to ask him to make up his bed, pick his shoes up out of the middle of the living room floor, or take out the garbage.  As he enters the teenage years, he may drive me batty with his excessive energy, teenage eye rolls, and attitude, but I'm going to put every single one of his mannerisms in my memory bank.

Just as my mother said would happen, my perspective has changed.  When I hear a mother talk about how her infant sleeps soundly through the night and how wonderful it is to get things done around the house, I think "how sad". We have a lifetime of doing laundry, cleaning, and picking things up, but only a short while to enjoy our children while they are small. 

What I saw 12 years ago as an exhausting, thankless job was actually a blessing filled with hours of snuggling and cuddling with that little bundle of snips and snails and puppy-dog tails.  Yes, I still look forward with great anticipation to seeing the man he will become, but for now, I'm going to relish in the teenager he's about to be.

Written by Christie Bielss

Shooting Cupid

Are you a man-made, store-created-holiday hater?  Do you despise Valentine's Day and wish you could shoot Cupid in the derriere' with his little bow and "love" arrows?  I know many people who really don't care for this holiday.  While I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate these holidays, they do get me to thinking..... which is almost always dangerous.  The more I have thought about it, the more I think these for-profit store-created holidays could be used to do a lot of good.

What if  we turned the tables on this greeting card industry marketing ploy and took this day to not only show some love to our family and friends, but to neighbors and strangers as well?  What if we all did one thing out of the ordinary for a stranger on this one day?  Would this then still be day to enrich the coffers of industry, or a day to enrich the hearts of people who would cherish and remember that one kind act for a lifetime?

What if we all did something on this day which didn't involve whipping out our credit cards?  What if you scraped the ice off of a stranger's (or even a neighbor's) windshield?  What if you helped out at your child's school?  What if you brought a plate of cookies to share with co-workers or neighbors (FYI:  I like peanut-free chocolate chip)?  What if you made a bouquet out of holly and other evergreens you clip from your own yard and gave it to a stranger?  What if you took some note paper and handed out handcrafted cards to strangers wishing them a happy day?

WHAT IF we all took a moment to do this for someone outside of our inner circle?  What if we made Valentine's Day a for-profit venture of the heart and soul?  What could you do for someone else? Please share some of your ideas of ways to show others some kindness on Valentine's Day and let's see if we can truly spread some love on this day.

Christie Bielss

Who Cares?

I don't care how much money you have.  I don't care how big your house is.  I don't care if your clothes are the most fashionable or aren't.  I don't care what precious gems you own, or what ones you don't.  I don't care what kind of car you drive or if you even own a car.  I don't care what restaurants you dine at or what wine, beer, or liquor you indulge yourself in.  I don't care how much or how little you travel. I don't care where you travel or the method by which you choose to travel.

I don't care who you know or who you don't know.  I don't care if you think you are all that and a box of chocolates.  I don't care what church you attend and whether it's small, medium, or large.  I don't care if you volunteer.  I don't care what job you have.  I don't care what position you hold on the PTA or on your kid's Little League team.  I don't care if you have stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.

I don't care how many book clubs you attend or tea parties you are invited to.  I don't care if you donate your used items to charity, or sell them in a garage sale or on Craigslist.  I don't care if your yard is meticulously landscaped by a renowned landscape architect or if it isn't landscaped and is mowed haphazardly by a teenager.

I don't care if you have the latest technology.  I don't care if your kids have the latest technology or a college savings plan. I don't care what size your television is.  I don't care if you've seen all the latest movies at the movie theater, plays at the performance hall, or symphonies conducted on a lush lawn under the stars.  I don't care what sporting events you attend or the bars you party at.

I don't care if you've had plastic surgery, Botox and collagen injections, or the latest facial.  I don't care if you have weekly mani-pedis.   I don't care if you eat off of china and drink out of crystal and I don't care if you eat off of paper plates and drink out of Solo cups.

I don't care if you own rental or vacation properties.  I don't care if you own your own island, an office building, a farm or a ranch.  I don't care what area of town you live in or the school your children attend.

I.DON'T.CARE. about any of that STUFF.

What I do care about are the words and attitude that come out of your mouth.  I care about the words you write for the world to see and the context in which you write them.  I care about the way you treat people and the courtesy you show others.

I care whether you honor yourself, your family, and others through your actions.  I care whether you choose to put people before things.  I care whether you enjoy lifting people up.  I care whether you have enough respect for yourself and others to acknowledge your faults, mistakes, and shortcomings.  I care whether you truly give with your heart. 

 

I care whether you are more prepared to love than to hate.  I care whether you are sad or happy. I care if you are experiencing pain or hardship. I care whether there is something I can say or do to help you. I care whether there is something you can say or do to help others.

I care whether you are willing to stand up and help those who can't help themselves.  I care whether you are willing to be around people who just need someone to show they care.  I care whether what is on the outside is a direct reflection of what is on the inside. I care about Y.O.U., not your stuff, not your facade, not the empire you've built or the things you have or have not accumulated. 

Maybe, just maybe, if I care about you in this manner, you will care about someone else and show them the same love, honor and respect I show you.  Maybe this ever so simple act of caring will help not only those you have touched personally, but people you don't even know.  Maybe this society which has developed an attitude of "What about me", with a little bit of caring, can be turned around to have an attitude of "What about Y.O.U.".  Maybe.........

Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."

Christie Bielss

The Marriage Texting Challenge

 

I saw this post on Facebook about a month ago and thought it was hysterical:

Tell Your Husband You Love Him

A group of women were at a seminar on “How to live in a loving relationship with your husband.”
The women were asked, "How many of you love your husband?" All the women raised their hands....
The women were then told to take out their cell phones and text their husband: "I love you, sweetheart."...
The women were then told to exchange phones with another person, and to read aloud the text message they received in response.

Here are some of the replies:

1. Who the hell is this?

2. Eh, mother of my children, are you sick or what?

3. Yeah, and I love you too. What's up with you?

4. What now? Did you crash the car again?

5. I don't understand what you mean?

6. What did you do now?

7. ?!?

8. Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need?

9. Am I dreaming?

10. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die.

11. I thought we agreed you wouldn't drink during the day.

12. Your mother is coming to stay with us, isn't she??


The replies really made me think.  I've been married 24, going on 25 years.  While I tell my husband I love him regularly, this experiment made me think about how many times I've said "I love you.......... and I found a new sofa", or "I love you...... but I closed the garage door on the car's liftgate again" vs. just saying those 3 little words with no condition attached.

As a wife, I've always tried to express my feelings regularly (and being a redhead I probably express them TOO regularly), but I felt the need to test this experiment out on my husband to see whether I was a member of the "conditions attached" club.  With great confidence that I wasn't, I texted the quote challenge word-for-word to my husband.  

Fully expecting to be able to gloat with great pleasure over how his reply would prove how much I have regularly expressed my love with no conditions attached, I eagerly awaited his reply.  Within seconds he responded............ "I love you too.  What's up?".

Hi.  My name is Christie and I am a member of the "I haven't expressed my love for my spouse without some condition attached" club........

Memory Lane

As my children get older and I see them interacting with their grandparents, I stroll back in time to my childhood.  I loved my grandparents dearly and looking back at the time and energy they spent to teach me about life means more to me today than it did back then.

Even though my grandparents have passed away, lately there have been many times when I can almost sense their approving presence.  Usually it's when either myself or my parents are in the middle of teaching my children something which has been handed down through the generations when the feeling becomes strong. 

There have been times when I thought if I turned my head, I might actually see them looking over my shoulder.  There have been other times when I can almost hear their voice and feel their touch as they instructed me so many years ago.  It is in these times when I feel so blessed to have had them in my life for the time God allowed them to be here on earth, and yet sad they aren't still here.

All of those years they lovingly schooled me in what they'd learned from their parents and grandparents.  There are many times when I wish I had listened more closely and asked more questions.  To have learned more tricks to sewing (like how to actually sew a straight line) from both my maternal and paternal grandmothers would be of such benefit to me today.  Oh, to have the opportunity to watch my maternal grandmother make her infamous gumbo just one more time would be the cat's meow.

I wish I would have appreciated my maternal grandfather more as he baited my fishing hooks when we'd go out fishing together.  Baiting hooks and tying hooks onto fishing line is definitely an artform.

 To have been granted much more time with my paternal grandfather is something I've longed for since he passed away when I was just 8 years old.  He was also a photography buff and oh the things I might have learned from him.  My memories with him though are of games, and tickles, and lots of horsing around.

As I look back through my life up until today, I think of all the people and experiences who have influenced me and made me the person I am today.  Unlike many who profess they are "self-made" men or women, I'm definitely not one of them.

No, I believe my life is a compilation of all those who have taken the time to be a part of my life.  When my grandparents were teaching me the things they knew, they were imparting a piece of them into me.  As I have grown up and matured, I have become like a puzzle whose pieces have fused together and created the zany, serious, introspective, light-hearted, God-fearing, crazy redhead I am today.  And I pray that I pass on a little bit of each one of them on to my children......

by:  Christie Bielss

Love One Another

I was in the fabric store the other day buying material to make my daughter a white angel costume for Halloween.  Apparently the stores have decided that this is the year for children to be the angel of death or the pink ballerina angel, but not a regular white heavenly angel.  Having my child dress up as the angel of death just didn't sit right with me so I tried talking her into being the pink ballerina angel at the store but all I got was an exasperated sigh and "Mooooom???  There's no such thing as pink angels in heaven". 

It's pretty hard to reason with that logic and no amount of encouragement on my part could get her to start a fashion trend by being the pink angel.  After hitting 6 other stores plus Goodwill, I finally gave up and went to the fabric store to buy some plain white costume fabric and a simple pattern for my little angel's dress. 

As I sat there flipping quickly through the pages of several pattern books at the same time (yes, I'm talented like that) looking for something acceptable (i.e. super easy and cheap), I couldn't help but overhear a woman speaking to someone she recognized.  As hard as I tried to ignore her, I couldn't.  Her voice carried to such a degree she could be a color announcer for sporting events and never need a microphone.

Before I knew it, the loud woman was asking her acquaintance (a younger woman) what church she was attending because she hadn't seen her recently.  Put on the spot in front of a store packed full of women doing last minute Halloween shopping, the quiet woman tried to quietly explain that her family had moved and were attending a church closer to their new home.  The brash woman blurted "Don't tell me you're going to blah-blah church?  That place is like Six Flags Amusement Park! HA!  That place has a bunch of people who are just too into Jesus for me.". 

The younger woman just stared at her and there was an awkward silence between them.  The older woman then picked up right where she'd left off and continued berating her in front of a store full of people "Oh my gosh! You're going to that church?! How can you handle being around all of those kind of people?!"

At this point my redheaded self was getting mighty peeved with this woman and I knew it would have taken every ounce of control I could muster to keep myself in check.  After a long quiet stare, the quieter woman spoke "I don't believe I need to continue this conversation with you, nor do I need to justify my choice in houses of worship.  Have a nice day.".

And with that the quieter woman walked off.  The loud woman turned to the fabric cutting employee and said "Ooooooo! I must've touched a nerve!".  The employee had her back to me but I heard her terse reply of "and how much fabric were you needing?".

This encounter really set me on edge.  There are over 2 billion Christians on this planet and with those billions come different worship needs and desires.  What right does one Christian have to denigrate another person's choice in worship? 

Maybe you like organ music, someone else likes a guitar, another person like a full orchestra, another person likes the rock band style, and someone else prefers no music at all.  Who are we to judge how someone else choses to worship?  Isn't the Bible clear on judging others?  Matthew 7:1-3 (NKJV) “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

As this woman demeaned the other woman in front of a store full of people, how many of those customers were non-Christians?  How many were just turned off from ever wanting to learn more about Jesus because of how rude, hateful, and judgmental this particular woman was?

I am by no stretch of the imagination perfect and make more than my fair share of mistakes daily. But people, we all need to stop and think before we act or open our mouths and do something injurious to another. Ask yourself "Is this what Jesus would want me say or how He wants me to act?".

There are enough things in this world for a Christian to get up in arms about, but someone's choice in a house of worship, as long as it falls in line with the Bible, should not be one of them.  Do you think this is how Jesus wants us to act not only amongst ourselves, but with others?  Is this why He allowed Himself to be beaten and crucified on a cross? 

Matthew 22:36-40
³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

by:  Christie Bielss

The Driving Force

Inspiration comes in as many different forms as there are people on the earth.  While many are inspired in similar ways, every person has a unique internal mechanism which gets recharged by a certain special experience.  That particular driving force creates a level of hope, calm, and understanding within each one of us which inspires us to do great works.

It is also that internal spark of resilience which inspires people after experiencing unthinkable injuries and tragedies to keep taking one step forward, when it seems like it would be so much easier to drown in a sea of anger, self-pity, and doubt.  That spark inside the deepest depth of their soul keeps pushing them to get back up, take one more step, and seek a new direction.

I felt that spark ignite inside of me after I was injured and the doctors explained to me what my future held.  That spark continues to drive me forward every single day.  A spark of determination which does not rely on anger or self-pity, but on hope.  A hope that cannot be denied, repressed, or quashed.

My hope and resilience, while it comes from a place within me, is not from me.  I've tried relying on myself, family members, and even close friends to bring forth that spark, but it never lasted long.  I've tried to force that spark to ignite and change me through reading books and listening to men and women speak, but they never sustained me.

It was only when the pain was unbearable and there was nothing left but the emptiness in my heart and very depths of my soul, that I came face to face with the force behind the spark.  It is the energy of the Holy Spirit that gives my soul life and my heart happiness.  His strength is what keeps me moving forward every single day when I could sit and wallow in self-pity and anger.  His love is what sustains me when the pain overtakes my body and my thoughts.  And it is His steadfastness which stands by and waits for my redheaded hard-headedness to get out of the way of His works.

Much like His servant Paul who sought healing from the thorn in his side, my healing has not been physical, it has been His grace which has been sufficient.  When the pain increases and causes my heart to get heavy while my soul grows weary, I am reminded of Isaiah 40: 29-31:

"He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might
He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."

One day I will have wings like an eagle and I will soar with no limitations.  Until then, I know this spark from deep within me is the driving force which keeps pushing me.  With every push I know I am not alone because He continues to carry me when I am weak and walk beside me when I am strong.  With all that I am, I know it is through Him that I am healed. 

by: Christie Bielss

What is a Dad?

What is a Dad? 

A Dad is someone who is your first hero.

A Dad is someone who will draw every animal you can think of on a restaurant napkin because he likes to see that twinkle in your eye as you try and guess which animal it was he drew.

A Dad is someone who stands with you when life is scary.

A Dad is someone who loves spending time with you, even if it means playing with Barbie's and letting you paint his nails with fingernail polish.

A Dad is someone who teaches you how to honor and respect others not just by his words but by his actions.

A Dad is someone who loves you enough to discipline you when you do wrong.

A Dad is someone who is the voice in your head when you make choices. 

A Dad is someone who cheers you on in your successes and helps pick you up and guide you on a better path in your failures.

A Dad is someone who shows you his strength by getting on his knees and praying to the One who is greater than he.

by: Christie Bielss

Weeds

Today, on Easter Sunday, my children went out and picked me a bunch of "flowers" out of our yard.  They were lovingly bunched together and presented with happy hearts, precious smiles, and loving hearts.  They had worked hard to scour our yard for these weeds because my husband does his best to prevent them from growing and being an unsightly mess.

As I helped the kids pick out a vase, fill it with water, and place the arrangement ever so carefully into the vase, it got me to thinking about the number of times I did this for my Mother when I was their age.  My brothers and I would pick "flowers" that were growing in a field owned by a local resident which was close to our home.  Never once did she say that we'd bestowed upon her a bunch of weeds that would make her eyes water, her nose run, and cause sneezing fits so frequent she'd require an antihistamine.  No, not once.  She lovingly accepted them and never brought up their past.

It occurred to me on this holiest of holy days, these "flowers" were not dissimilar from me.  I am that weed which is now a flower.  There were many things that I have done in my life which could be held against me but someone came along who saw me for my inner beauty.  Someone who could see what others discarded as being undesirable.  That person was Jesus.  He saw through my prickly points and my undesirable characteristics and spoke to my heart.  He picked me before something came along which would prevent me from blooming.  Just like the "flowers" my children picked for me today, my beginnings have been forgotten.  While my life before Him was that of an undesirable weed, because of His love I am now a bouquet.

by: Christie Bielss