18 May 2008

The Horoscope, The Bible, And Me - Sunday

Good morning! It's 8:10am and I'm curious to see what my horoscope and my Bible tell me today.

Today Hubs is speaking at a different church about his work with school chaplaincy - do I go to that church, or my regular church? Our usual church has forgotten I exist because I only attend when I'm teaching sunday school. All other weeks we seem to be going elsewhere talking about chaplaincy.

Advice for Goats: You may be temporarily released from a stressful work situation because your coworkers and superiors suddenly see you as more graceful and charming than before. You are eager to encourage everyone else and now your optimism is reflected back toward you. Don't dally; initiate action that involves groups, for your people skills are now supported by an acute sense of good timing.
By Rick Levine Sunday, May 18, 2008

Advice for God's people: The message at church was about children. They showed this great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0R6oAJCVvg and spoke about the important role children have in the world. Many great passages were read, but this one made me go "Aaahhh":

Mark 10:13-16 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

What did Today bring? Having to mop the kitchen before 7:00am is never a good sign.

One thing I realised today regarding the horoscope and the Bible was that the horoscope was really easy to come by. Click & drag; copy & paste. Hearing the message at church? I had to work really hard to even be present for it.

I decided to follow Hubs to his speaking engagement at the other church, and the only criterion for success I set for the morning was that I actually heard the message (for once). I rarely hear a message between teaching Sunday School at my own church and chasing my kids during Hubs' speaking engagements.

My best hope of hearing the message was to get the children into the programs that the church provided. Smoochy Girl was easy to take to the nursery, but Sonny Ma-Jiminy chose to stay in church rather than going to the Sunday School. Then it began: 'I want to go to Sunday School ... I don't like this Sunday School ... [Here I was encouraged to sit with him, and I grumpily wondered why my best efforts to HEAR a message usually result in me MISSING the message?] ... I want to go back to church ... I want to go to the nursery with Smoochy Girl ...'

We went back to church but Sonny tried to clamber up into my lap and stop me taking notes during the message, so I decided I could stop the Mummy Manipulation by sitting by myself at the back and leaving Sonny with Hubs. At least Sonny doesn't mess around with him as much as he does with me.

I heard the message, and it encouraged me not to see my daily job as futile. Kids are so important and even though I have ...

  • a large sticky patch on my kitchen floor
  • crumbs everywhere throughout the house
  • a large wet puddle outside the study
  • a bleeding dog (no - that's not an expletive! I have a dog who is in season and dropping spots wherever she goes)
  • terrible-terrible-terrible mess everywhere worthy of a Today Tonight Expose due to bedbug evacuation upstairs and Hubs' idiosyncratic tidying methods downstairs
  • etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
... I (home-maker, wife, mother, speech pathologist) keep the world running and it's a job worth doing. Today I am encouraged to keep on going.

So now that the Bible has provided a framework in which I can consider child-raising to be my most important form of 'work,' we have a starting point with our horoscope.

Apparently, I may be temporarily released from a stressful situation because my coworkers (Hubs? or the kids?) and superiors (my Mum? or maybe Sonny Ma-Jiminy?) suddenly see me as more graceful and charming than before.

Released from a stressful situation? Thankfully, my visit to the doctor yesterday was a release from the stress of my recent 'weird pain'. But the rest of the Mummy-Stress? Hah! I laugh.

Graceful and charming? Well granted, I didn't swear at church. But I did use the word 'tampon' (in relation to the bleeding dog of course!) I'd love to be considered graceful and charming, but I'm not sure that today was the day for that.

Also as a Capricorn, I should be eager to encourage everyone else (i.e., 'You really can eat it: it's delicious!' 'Oh yes, the poo can go in the toilet!' 'You really don't need to cry: you can be happy!') and now my optimism is reflected back toward me. I'm sorry, but this bit is rubbish. Need I post these pictures again?
My horoscope also told me not to dally (huh!); and to initiate action that involves groups, which I assume means to continue attempting to stagger through my day with Sonny Ma-Jiminy asking me to feed him/play with him/fix his train track/build a tower/watch him jumping on the trampoline/put something on TV for him while Smoochy Girl cries and raises her arms to be picked up. Okay, for the sake of my horoscope experiment, I will do that. Just for something different.

Finally, my horoscope said that my people skills (glad to discover that I HAVE them!) are now supported by an acute sense of good timing. Oooh, goody.

I assume an acute sense of good timing is more than just getting the roast lamb, pumpkin, potatoes, garlic bread and steamed veggies ready at the same time. It might even mean more than giving Sonny a smack as soon as he does something naughty, rather than half an hour later when I realise what naughtiness he's been up to. Or it might mean more than changing Smoochy's dirty nappy before it slips off her oh-so-skinny hips and she crawls out of it, leaving a terrible mess behind her.

I suspect that it means, in the context of today, that if Jesus himself said, 'Let these little kids come to me right now. I'm not too busy to bless them and give them a cuddle,' then now is the time for me to scoop them up into my arms and say, 'I love you, sweetheart. Mummy loves you very much.'

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