Weirdness

I am currently reading Craig Groeschel's book Weird: Because normal isn't working and it has really made me start looking at areas in my life where I look like everyone else. The first subject he addresses is time and the million dollar question is "Do I spend my time like the majority of our population or am I weird?"

Let's take a look at normal first. You get up at the crack of dawn and move some laundry from the washer to the dryer, do some dishes, and get breakfast started. Get the kids up, dressed, and to the breakfast table. Turn on the TV to catch the news and weather. If you are technically addicted (like we talked about in my last blog), you get on the computer to check your facebook, e-mail, twitter, etc. Or maybe you are one of those that gets up at the last minute, shouts at everyone to hurry up, and flies out the door 10 minutes late while the kids eat a pop tart in the car on the way to school. After school, you take the kids to soccer practice, gymnastics, dance lessons, karate sessions or any number of other options that are available for our children these days. You drive through McDonald's, Taco Bell, or Wendy's on your way home, eat half of it in the car and the other half at home in front of the TV. Then it's time for homework, baths, and possibly more TV. You drop into bed at 11:00 or later, exhausted from the day.

Now, let's look at wierdness for a minute. You get up at the crack of dawn because that is the only time that the house is quiet enough to spend some alone time with the Lord. The routine is basically the same but without the stress, screaming, or rushing. You spend your day at work or at home being productive and looking for opportunities to share Jesus with whoever you meet. You always have a smile on your face and an encouraging word on your lips. The kids come home from school and go immediately to finish their homework without whining or complaining, then race outside to run and play until dinner time. You have dinner on the table at an appropriate time, there is stimulating conversation from everyone in the family, followed by group games or story reading before baths and bedtime. When all is quiet in the house again, you spend time reading the latest inspirational book while taking notes on how to apply it to your life. You slip into bed at 10:00, ready to face another day.

Okay, I know what you're thinking...be serious!! That never happens! You're right--that's why it's weird. But could it happen? I believe at least parts of it could. Or at least I could move toward making parts of it happen. And actually I know families that look very close to this weird model so it really can be done.

The book talks about a lot of other areas where weirdness can exist. It is making me more aware of my areas that don't really look any different than anyone else in the world. I've decided to make a concerted effort to look "weirder." How do you look?

Techno addictions

Wow, it seems like forever since I updated this blog. This is a really busy time of year for a principal but it won't be long before silence will take over these halls and I'll start wondering how long before my kiddos come back!

I want to take this opportunity to talk about this addiction we seem to have to our technological gadgets. John and I went to the movies the other night and after we found our seats, we pulled out my iphone and began to play Scrabble on it together. This is something we have taken up doing whenever we have several minutes to kill. It is a great way to keep our minds sharp--that's important you know, for us older people to do!

This particular night though, I looked around as I was waiting for John to play and noticed that about 75% of the theater goers had out a phone and were playing games, surfing the internet, checking their e-mail, etc. It occurred to me at that moment that we have become a generation that doesn't know how to wait. There is no such thing as just sitting and doing nothing in our world today.

We recently drove to Myrtle Beach for a family reunion and, in preparation, I packed a big canvas bag full of novels, puzzle books, movies, etc. to give me endless hours of things to do while riding. I found myself just sitting and watching the scenery but feeling terribly guilty for neglecting all that great stuff I brought to do! The idea of just doing nothing was such a foreign concept but after a few minutes I relaxed and just enjoyed myself. Since there were four of us in the car and no one liked the same kind of music, we didn't even have the radio on. Of course, I had my earbuds at the ready should I need to fill that void but slowly I began to embrace the silence instead of dreading it.

Is it any wonder that I often whine about how I wish God would just tell me what His will is when I'm so rarely ever quiet enough to hear Him? Oh, I have my hour or so in the mornings when I do my quiet time but what if He wants to talk to me at some other time besides 5:00 in the morning? What if I turned off my radio in the car on my drive to work? What if I left the television off when I get home instead of watching the news? What if I didn't spend every minute of my "waiting" time texting, facebooking, playing games, or some other socially acceptable preoccupation.

I'm not saying that music, TV, reading, or games are bad things. Those are some of my favorite ways to unplug my brain from the issues I have to deal with. What I am saying is that I am going to look for more times to just sit, quietly, and listen better. Maybe spend more time swinging in my hammock. Now if I could just get it to STOP RAINING!