Apr 13, 2011 | Guest Posts, South Africa, Stories
O ne day back in the late 80s, the Lord was in an especially good mood, and He created my dear friend Agnes. He had it in mind to bless a lot of people with joy, sunshine, some good laughs, a sweet friend and a listening ear among other things. And one of the folks blessed with the gift of Agnes was me!
When my feet landed for a good stay on Scottish soil six years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Agnes. We began meeting up over coffee, and talking about God and life and faith, over tasty Scottish treats with occasionally anxious waitresses. I was especially thankful for her friendship when a lot of the friends I’d made on the church plant team started heading on to new adventures after the first year or two in Edinburgh.
Look, here we are, hanging out when I was pregnant with the Bear!
When Agnes touched base with the idea of coming to visit for a wee while here in SA, I was delighted. And when she shared the dates she had in mind and I realised I’d be giving birth while she was here, I was ecstatic. If she hadn’t been here this labour story would be very different.
Next Wednesday, we’ll be taking Agnes to the airport, and she’ll be making her way back to our beloved Scotland. It has been an incredible joy and pleasure to have her here — and there will be many tears when we have to say goodbye! I asked Agnes if she’d like to share a little something with you dear friends and readers in summation of her time here in Mama Africa, and I’m so glad I did. Without further ado, I turn it over to the Bear’s new BFF!
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Hey, this is Agnes here. I’m the Scottish/Danish girl who has had the honour of living with the Collies for the last three months and had a few appearances in the past few blogs of Caroline’s. You could say that I am blog shy. Instead of writing a huge post, I have opted for a short list of the Top Ten moments during my time here in SA while sharing life for the last three months with the Collie Clan.
My Top Ten Moments in SA
1. BLAKE DARROW COLLIE – Allowing me to witness and hold a pure miracle by God. You may have been overdue, but my boy, you were fast!
2. Directly after that- Learning that baby poo is a luminous yellow the first few weeks. (Changing that nappy put me off my favourite dish- Honey Mustard Chicken! Thanks for noting that Caroline!)
3. Learning the SA motto- TIA (This is Africa), that never fails when you find yourself in an unexplainable/crazy/ hilarious situation….pretty much an everyday occurrence
4. That after 16 years in Scotland/Britain, I’d be lucky if my skin got burnt or even a slight pale roasted chicken coloured tone to it.
5. Hearing Asher sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, after just a few minutes of teaching him! And hearing him spell “stop” the right way after months of correcting him saying P.O.P = Stop.
6. Asher- Although stinky, cleaning up Asher’s poopy after a wee toilet disaster!
7. Realising that God is God wherever you are travelling. Even when I doubt Him and His goodness — He is always good and never has doubts about me.
8. The many bright, intense and fluffy, marshmallowy sunsets reflecting on to the waters surface.
9. Watching the movie “Faith Like Potatoes†and the next week having dinner with the lead lady and her husband at the Collie Household- Awesome and fun!
10. Abseiling 200ft down Table Mountain with Alan and puking up on the hike back. I’d recommend it to anyone, not the puking up part but the abseil is a great way to put a real scare in to your boots and see an awesome view!
So there you have it.
The most amazing part of my three month journey, is that it actually happened! Before I landed in Cape Town I promised God to be a blessing to Caroline and her family, in whatever way I could.
Turns out I am not a blessing — God is.
He sent me to the Collie Clan and showered me with time and sun. Probably the two most needed things in everyone’s lives, I know it was for me.
I would have to say that when Caroline asked if I would write for her blog, it was a sweet enough request but still quite daunting as I know the skill and talent which she has for writing. She is in that respect the complete opposite from me, I find writing a challenge and at times it frustrates me to be unable to put in words the moment or thoughts I have. However in the kindness of friendship I have found to ASK.
Let others help and always ASK. Ask about everything, for learning is the sweetest blessing there is.
I would really like to end this with a request for you. Join me in praying for this full-hearted, quirky, kind family, for blessing to be a continuing cover for them to walk under in this next season. Ta, Love Agnes x
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How delightful is she?
Dear Agnes, this is most definitely my most favourite guest post ever. Thank you so much for your kind words and your wonderful heart! You have been an INCREDIBLE blessing from God to us as we’ve transitioned from a family of three to a family of four. The next time I see two little lines on a stick I might be calling you again! 😉 In all seriousness, it has been an overwhelming blessing to have you in our home. “Thank you” seems insufficient, but Thank You! We love you and look forward to being together again somewhere around this big wide world soon. You are absolutely one-of-a-kind!
Now does anybody know another sweet Danish/Scottish dancing lassie who’s great with kids that can come stay with us for a while? I kid. But pray for me next Wednesday.
xCC
Apr 11, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word
I played sports in high school, but I can’t particularly boast of great athletic feats from those days. I was at my strongest in the swimming pool — sprinting 50 and 100 metre freestyle, leading off or anchoring relays, and being urged by my coach to swim more butterfly than I cared to do. (It’s hard!!) But after four years on the team I was one of the fastest sprinters on the squad.
{Look at Hero Hubs doing butterfly! He was a really good swimmer.}
On the tennis court it was a different story. By my senior year, I barely squeaked into the top six. Where my brother and sister excelled with a racquet, I’m afraid even after four seasons I hadn’t the skill to move much past average.
I learned some completely different lessons when I took to playing soccer during my second year of high school. Where tennis and swimming and primarily individual sports, a soccer match is won or lost by a team — working together, or not. And one might not always get to contribute so much.
Up until my third and final year on the soccer team, I spent most of the games on the sidelines, keeping the bench good and warm on chilly spring evenings in North Carolina. Being more of a sprinter by nature, pushing myself for thirty minutes at a time on the field didn’t come naturally to me. I struggled to pace myself, always afraid to go harder. There were very few times when at the end of the game I felt like I’d truly “left it all out on the field.” And that wasn’t just because I wasn’t on the field much.
Ahem.
In one redeeming moment, during my last season, the coach put me on the field — perhaps feeling sorry for me, perhaps because the competition wasn’t particularly fierce, perhaps because he believed I had something to give. Even though I’d pulled my groin earlier in the season and had a bit of a funny run, my heart was hungry to excel and I finally wanted to push myself. As the game was coming to a close, one of the midfielders fed me a perfect pass and with all my heart and all my might, after three years of playing forward, I delivered a perfect kick and scored my first goal. My success was immediately followed by an almost Michael-Jackson-like move, where I reached toward my injury and cried out in pain — an incredibly unique celebratory move which some of my younger teammates continued to use when scoring goals for the next couple of years. Whoo-hoooo …. OUCH!
That perfect goal was the highlight of my soccer career, and for the briefest moment in time, I didn’t feel second string.
I’ve pondered the significance of benchwarming in the seasons since (though I can only say a soccer ball is at my feet these days when I’m playing with the Bear) and an encouraging thought has met me as time has passed:
God doesn’t have a second string.
There are areas in our lives where I think, especially when it comes to spiritual matters, a lot of us feel second string. We feel like we don’t have the gifts, the talents, or the abilities that God dished out to a lot of first string Christians. I can’t pray like her. I can’t preach like him. My singing voice should not be anywhere near a microphone. Scripture just doesn’t come to mind for me. When people need encouragement, I just feel like I never know what to say. {Pause here to insert your own inner voice’s mumblings.}
Some of us might even begin to think that for one reason or another, we aren’t good enough to receive spiritual gifts from God. I could never pray for someone to be healed and see it happen right then and there. God does sometimes give people “words of wisdom” to speak to others that they couldn’t have known unless it came from Him — but I am just not one of those people that He does that kind of stuff with.
Although Paul instructed us to “earnestly desire spiritual gifts” sometimes we aren’t really desirous of them, because we don’t think we are “spiritually good enough” to receive them.
But this is some Good News that I think a lot of us need to hear and take to heart (so I’m saying it again):
God doesn’t have a second string.
You — and I do mean, you, yes you — are an integral part of His story. Yes, you! He has gifts for you to bless other believers with. He has gifts for you to bless the world with. You might not be able to sing like a Disney princess or preach it like Billy Graham, but you might be in the right place at the right time to bless someone with a simple word of encouragement, with a listening ear or even with food you’ve grown in your garden. The prayers you pray behind closed doors could change nations. These are all worthy gifts. Someone had to be the person who shared Christ with Billy Graham — they planted a seed that has reaped ten thousandfold.
Whether you feel like it or not, you are a key player on God’s playing field. Sometimes you’re going to score the game winning goal. (Okay, in that instance we might’ve won by like six goals.) Sometimes you’re going to deliver the perfect assist to make that game-winning goal happen. Sometimes you’re going to be at the other end of the field, tending an unthreatened post with a hope and a prayer — but still playing a key role in winning the game.
I say it again because we all need to hear it again: God loves you. And you, yes, you, are an integral part of His story. Whether you believe it or not. {Even if you don’t believe in Him, He still has a plan He is hoping for you to walk out.}
If you spend too much time thinking about why you ought to be on the bench, you aren’t going to be ready when He needs you out on the field. So study hard. Read hard. Pray hard. Believe hard. Keep your eyes on Jesus and follow His lead. God created you for a purpose — and you will be more fulfilled than ever before, when you are ready and waiting, and you seize the opportunities life gives you to put a perfect kick through the posts.
xCC
Apr 4, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word
When I think back on the season where I worked in a Pawn Shop, I remember my time there with fondness. I remember the steep learning curve, beginning to try to think about reading people and not believing everything I heard. I remember marveling at all the important things that I learned that were not part of the curriculum of the Masters degree I’d just completed. It is easy to look back and smile — the season is over.
At the time, however, rainbows and daisies were harder to come by.
There were also those days. You know the ones. The days where you look at the clock and think your life is never going to change. The days where you feel a little bit like Joseph asking the Lord How did I get here? Why? I thought Your plans for me were different from this.
Mopping the floor of the store room in the back of the shop, I’d occasionally find myself fighting back tears. Magna cum Laude. Super GPA. Finished my undergrad a year early. So much promise. Now I’m cleaning chainsaws.
{Amazing how forgetting what’s passed to press on sometimes requires letting go of past achievements and successes too.}
After I’d been there a few months, when I was still learning the ropes, my boss called me into his office for a chat. He was disappointed with my performance. With my education, people skills and ability to speak Spanish, he expected me to bring some momentum to things. My performance was a disappointment.
A few moments later, I was in the bathroom weeping. What sort of failure was I — I couldn’t hack it at the Pawn Shop? Suddenly a question arose in my heart, and I directed it toward the Lord:
“Lord, what do you say about me? How do you feel about my time here?”
And I heard the Lord say He was pleased with me. In my heart, I heard well done.
That was all I needed to hear. I dried my tears and tidied my face in the mirror, and I walked out of the bathroom a different person from the one who walked in. I still had several months ahead of me in the furnace, but this was the beginning of a new season. Living in a way that would please God, even if it didn’t please others, became a part of my life on a whole new level. This somehow forged something in my character that I didn’t find in the classroom, or at the sandwich shop, in Media Relations or at a Bible study.
Though it was one of the most challenging seasons of my life, today I can look back and smile. Sometimes when you’re in the furnace, or the valley of postponement, hope isn’t easy to come by. But you can probably remember a time in your life where you were just ready for that season to end. And you can probably remember another time, when looking back on that season, you wish you’d given life a little more thought, made some decisions differently and treasured the good that was waiting to be found.
Every season will come and go. Some beautiful lyrics from Hillsong’s popular The Desert Song put it well. {These are two of my favourites:}
All of my life, in every season, You are still God I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship.
and
I know I’m filled to be emptied again. The seed I’ve received I will sow.
If you’re in the middle of the battle today, be encouraged. One thing we can count on is change. You’ll be out of the furnace when the timing is right. How you handle your time in the fire will determine what you bring out with you when the doors open.
xCC
Mar 28, 2011 | Stories, The Parenthood
We had an evening out.
Mommy’s milk in the fridge and I’m squeezing into clothes hopeful with a moment to touch up my face and at least my hair’s been brushed.
We struggle to remember the last time though it wasn’t too long ago.
And HH made the decision: just dinner.
Instead of rushing through a meal to catch a movie, we make the most of our evening by aiming to do less. We sit long at the table and thoughts and fears and feelings and how-are-yous have a good chance to unfurl…
Like our newborn’s tiny fists, so constantly clenched they collect lint and grubbiness and need to be unfurled and scrubbed at bathtime, so our hearts need this quiet unfurling, as we share an appetizer and talk about our children. I savour my main and we talk about our future.
Going slow to enjoy a great steak, going slow to enjoy a great evening, is going slow to enjoy a great moment that now is but won’t be tomorrow. We look up at the stars for a bit. We listen to the ocean for a while.
We talk.
We talk about being generous with our gifts.
We talk about the older one, still cheery and sweet, but also newly dramatic and occasionally fretful — longing for attention.
And I remark to the Hubs over a sweet little creme brulee — this was the best way. Not rushing to do more, but enjoying this. He already knew and that was why he made the plan.
And we think about each other, and the older one with needs and we know: this is how he spells love. And isn’t this is how we all spell love.
Sometimes my hurried heart needs reminding:
The future isn’t here yet. You only get one chance at right now.
Quality is often a much better goal than quantity.
There will always be laundry and dishes. Take the time to be still. Savour this moment.
For house guests and strangers, friends and family, spouses and children alike, we are better off trying to spell love generously, with the only thing we can never get more of. And love is so often best spelled T-I-M-E.
xCC
Mar 9, 2011 | Stories, The Parenthood
We bought the Bear these fridge magnets when we were in the Carolinas (they were only $1 or something). I had visions of him standing peacefully in front of the fridge, magnets collected in one tidy corner, me saying words and helping him to spell them out, him searching and finding and lining up letters, entertained and learning at the same time.
But he has other ideas.
He prefers to take each letter, one by one, say the letter aloud, and put it in line. He starts with one colour, and then works his way through, from red to yellow to blue to green and pink and orange, and once his line has made its windy way across the fridge, he begins to go down the side of it so that the work can continue. Twenty-six carefully-placed letters later, he is happy with his creation, and he claps and cheers at his accomplishment.
In big ways and small ways, I’ve seen that life has a way of happening differently from how it would have if I was always in control. And though sometimes the picture isn’t what I had in mind, at the same time, it very often seems, it is just so much better.
Is it possible that my way is not the best way? What beautiful food for thought.
Do you ever relinquish control and feel really glad you did?
xCC
Feb 23, 2011 | Stories, The Parenthood
Although the world thought Baby Brother’s appearance ought to be in close proximity to the 18th of February, 2011, it rather seems that Baby Brother forgot to check his email, and didn’t get the message.
So we’ve continued to have our cookies, and bake them, too, while we wait for this wee-lad-on-the-way to decide the time is right. As my Mom put it, as many folks put it to her when my brother was two weeks late, When the apple is ripe, it will drop from the tree.
And the Bear paused to consider the profundity of that axiom.
In the meantime, we found an adorable kiddie-sized apron ripe for the picking at a steal of a price at the mall a few days ago.
So we wait, and we bake. {And our happy new apron makes it even more fun!!}
Though it wears a thousand faces, it is all a part of life being created. Stitched together day by day, it is life, and it is good.
xCC
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