Celebrate
Monday, April 06, 2009 Posted In Friends , fun , Vegas Edit This 4 Comments »
"Life should not be lived, it should be celebrated." Sandra Magsamen
I found a key chain at Wal-Mart with this quote, and it stopped me in my tracks. It isn't particularly profound, but it made me re-evaluate my life for a moment. I thought to all the times I've "just lived". I remember so many times waking up in the morning thinking that all I have to do is make it through the day so I can go back to sleep.
I've been on survival mode the past couple of years. I get up, work, take care of kids, clean house and go to sleep. It was about a month ago that I told Aaron that I can't remember who I was anymore. I felt like I was just going through the motions of life. I have several titles, but I longed to remember who I was.
Last week, I got a chance to celebrate and be me. Granted, this was a version of me that is rarely shown in public. It is the completely fun and wild-child Jessica. Not the tame and responsible Mother Jessica. Going to Vegas with my bestie will always be one of the most memorable times in my life. Not as memorable as getting married, being pregnant or birthing two children. It is memorable in the sense that I found something I lost: celebrating life.
Now, I know Vegas is known as "Sin City", and I'm not in any way encouraging everybody to go to Vegas to find yourself. That isn't what this post is about at all. I didn't "find myself" in Vegas. What I did discover was how to look at life as more than something to get through. I found that life can be done in two ways: Lived or Celebrated. I chose to celebrate.
I love Ecclesiastes 3 because it makes me aware that there are times we will just live...be on survival mode...and it is ok. God is still walking with us even if we feel like we are alone.
However, we are never alone. During all the times, emotions and experiences, God is with us. Even in Vegas, God was with me. He may had shook His head a time or two, but He was with me. :)
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I found a key chain at Wal-Mart with this quote, and it stopped me in my tracks. It isn't particularly profound, but it made me re-evaluate my life for a moment. I thought to all the times I've "just lived". I remember so many times waking up in the morning thinking that all I have to do is make it through the day so I can go back to sleep.
I've been on survival mode the past couple of years. I get up, work, take care of kids, clean house and go to sleep. It was about a month ago that I told Aaron that I can't remember who I was anymore. I felt like I was just going through the motions of life. I have several titles, but I longed to remember who I was.
Last week, I got a chance to celebrate and be me. Granted, this was a version of me that is rarely shown in public. It is the completely fun and wild-child Jessica. Not the tame and responsible Mother Jessica. Going to Vegas with my bestie will always be one of the most memorable times in my life. Not as memorable as getting married, being pregnant or birthing two children. It is memorable in the sense that I found something I lost: celebrating life.
Now, I know Vegas is known as "Sin City", and I'm not in any way encouraging everybody to go to Vegas to find yourself. That isn't what this post is about at all. I didn't "find myself" in Vegas. What I did discover was how to look at life as more than something to get through. I found that life can be done in two ways: Lived or Celebrated. I chose to celebrate.
I love Ecclesiastes 3 because it makes me aware that there are times we will just live...be on survival mode...and it is ok. God is still walking with us even if we feel like we are alone.
However, we are never alone. During all the times, emotions and experiences, God is with us. Even in Vegas, God was with me. He may had shook His head a time or two, but He was with me. :)
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
4 comments:
A time to party in Vegas...A time to repent after partying in Vegas...LOL Just kidding!
I'm glad you had such a good time and were able to be 'Jessica' again. It does feel like we move from one title to another, and each title seems to mean a different character part we play. I think that, as moms, we become so programmed to move around everyone else's schedules that we forget to schedule time for just ourselves--- our hobbies, our friends, our interests.
Of course, to me, you aren't Jack and Luke's mom or Aaron's wife; you're Jessica, that silly woman who signed up to head up VBS again.
And, really, that IS worth celebrating. It's a lot of work, but, really, when you think of the number of people who get touched by Christ in that week because of it, that's pretty darned AWESOME.
I am so glad that you had a great time in Vegas... I only wish I could have gone with you to rediscover that wild child myself!
I would love to tell you that you will only lose yourself once in a lifetime but unfortunately that isnt the case.
There have been periods in my life that I have felt the same as you. Going through the motions of life but being lost in them because they are so routine.
However, you will also find a time in your life when tragedy will strike and you will long for this period in your life again.
What you can always count on though is having good friends to pull you through ALL of the periods in your life!
*smooches*
Aaaah, yes, to find oneself. And by the way, can we go back to Vegas? I'm so ready. Girl, I don't have to tell you that I was RIGHT THERE, in the very same boat with ya, had no idea who Heather was, without being mommy, honey, whatever it was - I was tired of my "titles" that and all that they defined about me. I'm glad I got to be there and let our wild child selves play together for a few days. Did I mention I'd really like to go back?
You are my bestie... You make me laugh, you get me when I don't think anyone does, you understand me, you don't laugh at me when I cry, and you keep my secrets ;) what more could I ask for?
Love ya girlie. And next time we get lost again - b/c you know it will happen - I vote for another Vegas trip.
"Mother Jessica. . ." is it kind of nerdy that I chuckled to myself (and snorted while doing so) and thought it would have been funny if Mom and Dad named you Teresa??? Let's celebrate your Wild Jess with an idiotic tattoo on your back that the "Yogi" of tattoo artists can do to you. . .wait, wait that's the Wild Steph. . .my mistake. We can totally go skydiving though?!?
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