Well...it happened :)
The very first lost tooth in our house!!!
I'm not sure you can imagine the level of excitement around here, but
I promised you the whole story and that's exactly what you'll get.
Throughout Christmas Break, Ryder had been wiggling his first loose tooth. His younger brother and sisters watched in awe at the sight of a wiggly tooth...it was our first time with one in our own house!
We arrived back home, had the first day back at school and Ryder walked in the house showing us all that his tooth was indeed MUCH more wiggly than we'd seen yet. It was almost more than I could handle. I have a very hard time leaving something halfway "undone."
Either in, or not...but none of this halfway stuff...that drives me crazy.
So as I was siting in between the boys working on homework with both of them, I kept glancing over to see Ryder working on this halfway "undone" tooth. Something had to be done. If for no other reason than to help him focus more clearly on his homework, (since the tooth was definitely getting the best use of his hands - and attention- at the moment), I needed to help my son with his wiggly tooth...permanently :)
So, after some wiggling with paper towels and determining that this tooth was indeed, READY to come out, I suggested the most tried and true way to rid oneself of a troublesome tooth...dental floss and a doorknob. :)
At first, Ryder while giggling said, "What? No way! I'm gonna cry!" But after explaining how gently I'd perform the procedure and that many a 6 year old had gone before him to loose their teeth in the very same way, he reluctantly agreed and even ran off to fetch the dental floss himself with a cute little skip in his step :)
One little slip knot and gentle close of a door later, our first loose tooth quickly popped right out of his mouth and onto the rug below. The sweetest thing is what happened next. The moment he held his tooth in his hand - the tooth he'd been gently wiggling for an entire month prior to that moment - he smiled at it and proudly announced, "Now we have to call everybody!!!"
And call we did...to the great joy of every family member who had watched that tooth be wiggled the month before! You would've thought we were announcing the birth of another baby! (Which we are not, by the way :)
That night, the "Tooth Fairy" visited, but before she did, Ryder wrote her a note saying:
"Dear Tooth Fairy...Please let me keep my first tooth! Thank you. Love, Ryder
To which the Tooth Fairy replied:
Dear Ryder...I will let you keep your tooth this time! Thank you for writing me a note. Love, the Tooth Fairy :)
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All this talk about teeth and wiggly, loose things finally making their exit got me thinking about this New Year. What a gift it is to live. I love serving a God of fresh beginnings.
What are some things that have been "loose or undone" in my life for a while that need to finally make their exit?
It was funny to me that I could barely handle that loose tooth in my son's mouth because of how I imagined it must feel to have something so loose - so ready to leave, remain longer than it was made to do.
New life was pushing through, but for fear of the pain, the old remained.
God says in Revelation 3:15-16
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Yikes. It sounds like a little like me with a loose tooth...if it's loose, let's get that thing OUT, not sit around wiggling it for years while new life is just waiting to bring more blessing than the old.
I don't know about you, but I sense all the way down to the core of my Spirit, that God is waiting to do a NEW work in this life of mine this year! I believe He's ready to do a new work in the life of my family too, and as a leader in my house, I want to CHOOSE new life for ME, so that the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life can trickle FLOOD across to my husband and down to my kids too as I interact with them as wife and mother.
New life.
Do you believe it's possible?
In our last post, I talked about how impossible it is to get comfortable in our brokeness. So I ask you today...What loose or broken places have you tried to find contentment in only to find that you can't? Maybe it's a habit you've been "trying" to kick for a while or one you've been "trying" to start but you just can't seem to find your groove for fear of giving up the comfortable.
Maybe there's a relationship you know you should end...or one you've been meaning to start with that neighbor no one seems to connect with down the street or a co-worker you know you've been called to show a bit more love to this year.
Whatever it is for you, I encourage you to tie some dental floss around the complacency or fear that's keeping you bound to that "loose" thing...tie it in prayer to the door of Heaven and ask God to once and for all, open the flood gates of blessing that abound in the promise He makes to those who seek Him first for LIFE!
What a promise we have in Matthew 7:7-11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Now time for me to answer my own question...
John and I have been praying for God to refine our use of time this year, realizing it is one resource we can never "earn" back once it's gone. For me, this has meant trimming down on my commitments outside of my home. I'm still a part of a small group of friends who are committed to journeying together through thick and thin but there were many other things I was a part of that diluted my time with my family and made it difficult for me to respond to God when he called me off my tightly wound schedule...because I knew if I dropped one plate they'd all come crashing down.
My list looks a little like this...
1. Saying "no" to more things I like to do, so I have room to say "yes" to what God's calling me to. Like, this blog! I love writing, and feel called to be more regular with it all :)
2. Saving any TV watching for the weekend :) Means more time to get ready for purposeful days with my kids, more face-to-face time with my husband, and you guessed it...more blogging :)
3. Bedtime and Wake-up time :) We're trying to go to bed early enough to be ready to wake up with the sun to spend time in the WORD before the world happens to our day :) And boy, do I need to be ready for that....
And with that I'll leave you...more on my morning routine in the next post.
Please share! What do you feel God calling you to "loosen" in the year 2012? I'd love to pray for you!!! Please comment so we can bear each other's burdens, taking them to the One who makes beauty from ashes for His glory! Love to you my friends, because He first loved us...and isn't He good!!!
