The only thing that is constant is change

We humans are such creatures of habit! I know I am. I have my routines and I keep them. There's my morning routine. Wake up, read my Bible, do my devotion, and have my prayer time. Then I shower, do my hair, brush my teeth, do my make-up, get the kids off to school, have my orange juice and go to the office. Even my weekend routine doesn't vary much. School is replaced with sporting events or church but other than that, it's pretty much the same.

Then, there's my early morning office routine. I come in and turn on the computer. Check my email, return emails, update the church's Facebook page and start in on the list of daily tasks to accomplish.

Routines are good. They ensure that we accomplish what we need to and that we do so correctly. And they provide comfort - a sense of knowing what we need to do and how we're going to do it.

But with comfort sometimes comes complacency. We get so used to doing what we've always done that we don't stop to think that there may be another - a better - way of doing it. We're afraid to leave our comfortable place - and so we don't. Ever! And that's not a good thing.

I had a conversation with a lady who is taking a class I teach at church. She was confused by a Bible verse she had read. It was Proverbs 25:2 which says, "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out." She wasn't sure what that meant.

It means that we are not created to remain the same. We are to search, to explore, to grow. God does not intend for us to remain stagnant. He wants us to change because through that change, we come closer to being the creation He intends for us to be.

I encourage you to be open to the changes God places before you. Don't be afraid to leave the comfort of the familiar. There is a saying that goes: When you come to the edge of all the light you have known and are about to step out into the darkness, FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen . . . There will be something to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. Trust that God will provide either way and you will be changed for the better. And be richly blessed!

In Him,
Amy

What goes around - comes around.

I just finished reading the blog of one my husband's employees. She has an adorable 6 month old baby girl. I've seen her twice - at Walmart which tells you something about the extent of my social life. Both times I've been told how good of a baby she is. And how she sleeps through the night. Well, it seems as if those days are gone!

Now that their daughter has figured out how to "break" her swaddle, she wakes herself up. And she's not happy when she does. Her mother's blog post is asking for advice to prevent this.

So what do I do after reading her blog? Come up with different ideas for her to try? Give her suggestions based upon my experience? No. Instead I begin laughing hysterically, thinking mean things and saying, "Ha! Now you get yours!!!"

Don't get me wrong - I don't have it out for this woman. In fact, I really, really like her! But I had to pay my dues and every other mother should have to pay hers, right?

Perhaps I'm bitter because I DIDN'T have a first baby who slept through the night. My daughter didn't have a problem with sleep. She just had a problem with sleeping by herself. She wouldn't sleep unless she was held. If we put her down, she immediately woke up and started wailing. When we first brought her home from the hospital our sleeping schedule went like this. I would stay up until 1 am, letting her sleep on my chest or stomach, until my husband got home from his job at the newspaper. He would take over at that point and stay up with her until around 4:30 am when my mother, who stayed with us for two weeks, got up and started her shift.

I wish I could say that things got better as she got older. I can't. This girl had to be rocked to sleep every night until she was 3 years old. Never mind the fact that I was hugely pregnant with her brother and she could barely fit on my lap. Each night we would rock until she fell asleep and then I would place her gently in her crib while muttering the prayer, "Please stay asleep! Please stay asleep!"

Which brings me back to the question of how to respond to this mother's question? The mean, evil-spirited side of me says, "Suck it up, Lisa! Everyone else had to!" However, I guess my best advice is this: Do whatever you have to do to get her to sleep and patiently wait until she becomes a teenager and you won't be able to wake her up!

Blessings!
Amy