SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Month: December 2016

  • Breath and Life

    It just doesn’t seem fair…this whole death thing.  It doesn’t have favorites.  It isn’t particular to a group or even an age.  Death comes and takes those we hold so dear right from our arms…even as we cling to them trying to hold on…to their very last breath.  I read about a  16 year old that breathed her last breath after a brave fight with cancer.  I can’t help but think how unfair that is.  I think of a couple who recently lost a newborn…he didn’t have a chance to make his mark on the world.  I think of people around the world that are starving and thirsting to death…young people who deserve to live just as much as anyone else.  It just seems so harsh, cruel, and unfair.  And, honestly, it hurts.

    It is true that the sting is a little more noticeable this week than usual.  My Grandpa passed away almost one week ago.  He had lived what we consider a long life.  He had lived life well.  He was a wonderful example of a man that loved God and loved his family.  Personally, for me, he is an even better example because he didn’t pretend to be perfect.  He knew he didn’t always get it right.  But, he did the best that he knew how…and as it turns out…he did some pretty incredible things.  He loved others…he cared for others…he shared his gifts…he did what he was called to do.  And, he was okay with breathing that last breath.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.  It doesn’t mean I was ready for him to go.  But it at least seems to make some sense in my small, finite, time bound mind.

    So, I hold all these things in perspective.  A young lady who experienced 16 years on this earth…an older man who experienced almost 88.  Both have breathed their last breath.  Life as we know it has left them.  As I looked at my Grandpa after he breathed his last, his body changed.  His body changed because the very life that God had breathed into him was now gone.

    This reminds me that God is still breathing life into me.  He is still breathing life into you.  As long as God is providing life to us…as long as we continue to breathe…we have a life to live.  I’m not talking about a sentimental hallmark card moment with fields and flowers and a theme of “Go live your life…”  I’m talking about taking a moment to feel your breath and realize that you are given this breath so that you truly experience life.

    How many of us have breath…but we are not experiencing life?  How many of us go through our day…the same old patterns…the same work…the same scenery and miss the life we are to experience?  How many times do we miss a sunrise or not hear the birds that sing?  How many times do we fail to tell someone we love them with the idea that they will be here tomorrow?  How many times do we dread our day or resent having to get up in the morning…AND YET WE HAVE BREATH…

    I am jolted awake with a reminder to live life…to appreciate the gift of breath…the opportunity to live…the joy of a new sunrise…the beauty of a day…the song of a bird…and even the struggles.  For there will come a day when my breath will be no more.  I will value the gift until then.

    vinsonfamlake09-043

  • Christmas Do-Over

     

    img_0617
    Sights and Sounds of Christmas

    It is almost time for Christmas!  It is time for the last minute rush and the kitchen ovens to be fired up.  I love Christmas.  I love the sights and the sounds…the smells of food and Christmas trees bring me so much excitement, even now.  I look forward to time with family and an opportunity to see people I don’t get a chance to see often during the year.  Christmas is good…except when it is not.  Like when someone who should be sitting at the  table isn’t because they have died.  Or when someone you love so much is suffering in the hospital.  Or when there are disputes in the family over seemingly stupid stuff.  Or when you are alone and Christmas just isn’t Christmas anymore.  Those are the times when we long for a Christmas do-over…either to fix what we have or to go back to where we were.

    One of my favorite memories of Christmas time growing up was at my Grandma’s house.  She was, and still is, an amazing cook.  Christmas was a time of desserts…sweets…chocolates…pies…all the stuff I so enjoy…love…crave…seek.  There are special foods that she only made at Christmas.  Because she cooked so many desserts (like a whole buffet of desserts…it was amazing), she would start early and then would put the desserts that were complete in her back bedroom.  This was a spare bedroom and it was one of the coldest rooms in the house.  She would have desserts spread all over that room.  It was like Christmas when I would walk in her house and she told me I could go in that room (yes, I asked permission…I wasn’t willing to risk the chance of not getting to enjoy the sweets).  To see all the goodies wrapped up, smelling good, and calling my name.  I could tell that they were calling me specifically…that I needed to test them out and make sure they were good enough for the rest of the family…I felt it was my duty to check out the food just in case something wasn’t up to standards (As if that would ever happen).  So she would let me taste test a few of the candies that were in that room.  That was Christmas.

    I often think about if I could just go back…if I could just re-create moments like those.  Grandma still cooks and she still has that house.  She doesn’t cook that many desserts any more and doesn’t store them there.  But, she could.  The problem is that we don’t get Christmas do-overs or repeats.  Those were experiences of my childhood.  I can create some variation of it, but one of the things that made it so special is that it is from my childhood.  Memories like these are…just that – memories.  They need to stay sweet memories in my mind because they continue to bring me so much joy.

    So, I think that Christmas is still good – even when it’s not.  It is just that I am making memories as an adult now.  I am making memories with my kids and wife.  I am making memories with family and I am learning the value of treasuring each moment.  Next year’s Christmas won’t be the same.  This Christmas is what I have…as fun or as challenging as it might be.  So, this Christmas I hope to savor each moment…to breathe and look around…to take in all the sights and sounds (even if they include the beeping of machines in the hospital)…and I will treasure the blessings of this day…for it will not be like this again.

    May the sights and sounds of Christmas bring you much joy.  Merry Christmas!img_0623

  • Why aren’t you here?

    My Dad has been on my mind a little more than usual lately.  Here are my struggles with his loss…even now.  I hope that this helps someone else that may be struggling this Christmas with the loss of their loved one…

    Why aren’t you here?  My heart asks…as I search deep for answers.  I see struggles and conflicts…things you would have resolved.  Where are you with the advice that I seek and need?  Where are you with the help that I look for?  I miss the directions when I am lost (which still happens all too often).  I miss you being here to check out the boys that my girls bring home…to give them your third degree and harassment as you had planned.  And although it didn’t seem like I followed what you said (because you know I like to blaze my own path), I really did always listen.  When I see a picture or think of something you did, my heart aches a little.  Why aren’t you here?  You should be here.  I struggle sometimes because I think there is still work that you were to do and now you are not here to do it.  I see things left undone that you would have tackled and I wonder…am I really suppose to take care of that?  The thought of “God needed you more than we did” really doesn’t bring me comfort because I don’t believe that.  You are needed here…still.  I miss making fun of your sometimes tacky apparel (even though you were trying to be stylish).  I miss your denial that you were losing your hearing…knowing all the time you didn’t hear half the conversations that were going on.  I miss your kind heart and your gentle spirit…with a fight that never gave up.  It would be comforting to hear you say that you are proud of me…knowing that if you said it, you meant it.  We rarely saw eye to eye and disagreed about most everything.  But, we both enjoyed the challenge – and in the end, I grew because of those debates.  And my heart screams…WHY AREN’T YOU HERE?

    I don’t know the answer…I guess I never will.  What I do have though are the memories.  I have the advice that you did give stored away in my heart and yes, I even use it sometimes.  I see the fruits of your labor all around me.  I still talk to people who had their lives changed because of something you said or did.  I enjoy shocking people by how much I look like you.  I am trying to pick up where you left off…yet in true “Brad style”…you know the style that drove you crazy.  That makes me laugh a little…or a lot.  I love to talk about what a great man you were…and I even get a little enjoyment when my girls make fun of the way I dress.  While I will never be you…nor would you want me to…I want to continue on the ministry…blazing that trail…and thanking God that I am privileged to be a Mitchell.  I don’t know why you aren’t here…but I am sure glad God saw fit to send you here for the years that you were.  I am the man I am because of you….Thank you.

    dad-brad

  • Holiday Anxiety

    I always find it interesting how the holidays – the times that are meant to bring joy and excitement – often bring the most anxiety.  Do we have the right gift?  Have we remembered everyone?  When will we put up the decorations?  How many Christmas parties do I have this week?  How much more do I have to cook?  How much can I eat and still fit into my clothes?

    All of these questions and more bring us to a place of anxiety and prevent us from really enjoying this time.  Christmas should be a time of joy.  It should be a time of celebration and a time with the family.  It should even be a time of giving.  But we seem to be missing something in it all.  How did it become so stressful?  When did we get so caught up in all of the commercialism that we forget how to really even enjoy Christmas?

    Maybe it begins with a shift.  Maybe we begin to shift how WE celebrate Christmas.  Maybe we don’t wait for someone else to change, but we begin to change.  How about this Christmas, instead of buying for those who already have, and cooking for those who are full…we instead give to those who do not have and cook for those who are hungry?  Maybe the key is that we stop trying to make those who have plenty happy and start trying to help those who do not have at all.  It could be that our giving is misplaced and we should consider how to give differently.

    Now I understand this isn’t a new thought or concept.  Yet, I don’t really see anything change.  When I study the life of Jesus, he reached out to those who were the outcasts of society.  He loved those who were considered unlovable.  He touched those who were forgotten.  He fed those who were hungry.  He didn’t give to those who already had.  And yet when we celebrate his birthday, we give to those who already have?  Something seems out of sorts.  And that may be why holidays bring so much anxiety.

    This Christmas, may we begin to live as Christ – celebrate his birth doing what he did…Loving, feeding, giving…all to those who had none.