Pixie dust


2013 is just about done.  Only 1 hour to go.  The turning of the New Year always brings with it a time of reflection.  It makes us all stop and look back, remembering what the year held.  It gives us a chance to think back and evaluate the good and the bad.  The things we want to hold onto forever, and the ones we wish we could forget.  As usual, 2013 has come with it’s share of defining moments. Some moments were beautiful and some were hard. We said some hard goodbyes as Rob and I lost two of our grandparents this year.  We welcomed two handsome nephews and one beautiful niece into the world.  There were many, many blessings this year, and many hard moments.

I am a practical person.  Practical to a fault.  Always looking for what needs to be done and trying to finish it.  I enjoy doing things that make other people happy, but I have little personal use for “having fun”  I can always find something more pressing, more necessary, more useful then fun for fun’s sake.  I tire myself out sometimes with my inability to stop moving and relax.  But generally speaking I am most happy when I am getting things done.  I’ve always been a more serious person, but recent years have made that even more true.  Life here, while a grand adventure in many ways, has exposed me to some very hard truths in life.  Pondering those truths and feeling the urgency that comes of only having one chance at this thing we call life, presses me to keep moving and keep doing my best for Him.  For the most part I would define that as a positive.  Experiencing those hard truths has deepened my faith and given me an abiding peace and joy in the bottom of my soul.  I KNOW that my Father is trustworthy.  I KNOW He is working for my good and His glory.  I KNOW in the end He wins and the right will be made wrong.  All of this gives me courage to keep pressing on.


But in the meantime, in the midst of the harder moments, I have very nearly lost my child-like ability to just have fun. In recent days I have noticed that God has given me two special people to help me with this deficiency of mine.  One is the small pixie who He gave me as a daughter, and the other is a friend.  Both of these special girls have the ability to see the world in a much different way than I do.  I am almost always looking at the big picture, the long game.  Both of these girls possess the ability to see the small things, the simple joys in life.  They laugh in wonder at a pretty sparkling light, or a good piece of chocolate, or a few minutes of uninterrupted girl talk.  They notice the things that I miss.  They have the ability to just have fun.  Their laughter is contagious, and the joy the find in little things is infectious.  They still have a secret stash of pixie dust that they sprinkle at will on anyone who comes close enough to be captivated by the simple moments that bring them joy.  Despite myself when I am with them, I slow down, look at the little blessings around me, the pretty pink flower, the deep jumping puddle, the whipped cream on the coffee, the chance to laugh for no reason.  It’s as if they sprinkle me with a little bit of their pixie dust and in doing so remind me to not take myself or my life quite so seriously.  They remind me that laughter is good, that stopping to appreciate the scenery is refreshing, that relaxing a little rejuvenates the soul to keep on.  I closed out my year with these two girls and it helped me not take things quite so seriously.  Life can be hard, but life can also be very good.  So I look forward to 2014 and hope that it brings with it much laughter, sweet moments, and simple pleasures.  I am sure it will also bring hard moments.  But I will draw from the deep faith that He is in control and try my hardest to keep going while I take some cues from these sweet ones to stop a little and laugh along the way.  

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