YVONNE&YVETTETIQUETTE: THE CURSE OF CURSING IN PUBLIC

YVONNE&YVETTETIQUETTE: THE CURSE OF CURSING IN PUBLIC

You are here, but not alone

"This is an enormous difficulty that has come into our lives.  This is not at all the way we had life planned.  It hurts, and it is hard.  But this is our life.  We will have to go ahead and live our lives as fully and as faithfully as we can and let God wring whatever good can be wrung from these difficult days.  By the grace of God and with the help of God, we will live into the pain of life, we will live through the pain of life, and we will live beyond the pain of life.  We will not let this diminish, embitter, and destroy us.  We will, instead, let this deepen and soften and enlarge us."  The Tug of Home, Charles Poole

Like Adam in Eden, we don't get to shape the animals; we only get to name them.  We don't get to choose the problems our families face; we only get to respond to them, call them something, and decide whether or not we will allow the pain to open us up to the presence of God.

Whatever your family is facing, the fact is, you are here.  This is your life.  Wherever you are, you are here.  And here, today, is where you will have to find joy, meaning, and purpose if you are going to find it at all.  You are here.  You can't rewind life and recover a happier, easier time.  You can't fast-forward life and skip over whatever you are having to face.  And you can't afford to waste your life by putting it on hold "until things get back to normal" or "until we can get on with our life."  You are "on with your life," because your life is going by, every day.  As the famous Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard once said, "This ain't no dress rehearsal."  He was right.  No matter how difficult life may feel, no matter how unhappy our circumstances may be, the fact is, life itself, the only life we will ever have, is going by.  This is not a dress rehearsal.  This is life, and it is passing.

Your family may be struggling with something you never would have chosen.  Your family may be bearing a burden you did not get to pick.  Your family may be feeling captive to something that will not budge, change or go away.  Your family may be living in a hard place or going through a long struggle.  You need to know that you are not alone.  We are never alone, abandoned, forsaken, or forgotten.  God is with us, and God somehow enables us to live through things that, if someone had told us we were going to have to endure, we would have sworn we could not have lived through them.  But we do.  By the grace and help of God, we stay on our feet, we keep moving, and we not only live through the struggle, but we might even emerge from it better than ever we would have been without it.  This does not mean that God sends the struggle to make us better, but it does mean that when the struggle comes, it is God's nature to resurrect some surprising goodnesses from some dreadful darknesses.

Wherever you are, "you are here."  But you are not here all by yourself.  You are here.  But so is God.  God is with you, God is for you, and God will never leave you alone.  Not even here.  Especially not here, where you are.

A daughter getting married

My beloved second-born daughter is getting married on Saturday, January 23, 2010.  It reminds me that from the moment of her birth, I am and always will be her parent.  Even though my daughters are "grown" they still seem to need the warmth, love and tea offered in my cozy kitchen.  I can look back over the years and ask myself if I have been the best parent I could have been.  But rather I need to ask if I am parenting faithfully.  Faithfulness is God's highest requirement for us.  Parenting is a labor of love, risk, perseverance and faith.  It is faith, grace and steadfastness that, by God's grace, we give our children to become the adults they will become.  Blessings Mab & Larry.  I love you.  Mum

Welcome 2010

Thank you for following my first attempts at blogging.  Stay tuned, tea lovers, exciting news on the horizon!

May you have a happy and healthy 2010.

Family Relationships defined

I am often asked about how to categorize family relationships, so I have attached a chart that will be helpful in properly addressing and introducing extended family members this holiday season.

Blessings!

Christmas Eve Grace

A holly wreath upon the door.
A fire burning bright.
A boldly shining silver star.
The gift of heavenly light.

Tinsel frosted Christmas trees.
Angelic choirs sing.
Hymns of joy and restful peace,
This blessed night shall bring.

Louise I. Webster

The Holidays are here! Practice Hospitality, it's Contagious!

"The atmosphere of hospitality is something very intangible, and yet nothing is more actually felt-or missed.  There are certain houses that seem to radiate warmth like an open fire."

Emily Post, ETIQUETTE, 1922