off the page.

It's finally here.

To me, nothing says, 'tis the season better than Bing Crosby singing White Christmas while decorating the Christmas tree.  A tradition I've carried from the time I was a little girl.  I love me some Mariah Carey Christmas, but still, those crooners blow her out of the water to get me in the spirit.

As we got the tree up, Jude sat in my lap saying, "No no!", because trees belong outside, of course.  And a boy who likes everything in it's proper place was not sure of this new addition to our living room.  He actually seemed somewhat afraid of it at first, but now he just runs over to it shouting, "Ball! Ball! Ball!".  And we tell him once again, that these balls are not for touching.  

I'm going to get off the page.

One thing I feel that I must confess here.  I can tend to be opinionated and stubborn.  I sometimes speak (and write) before I think.  And I sometimes hold too tightly to my own rightness as if it were gospel truth.  But it's not.  

I fear that there has been a time or two when I have expressed opinions here that have acted as a noose for those who don't share my own convictions.  I do not want this place to be that.  I'm about truth, not my own rightness.  I'm about encouragement, not condemnation or criticism.  And I'm about sharing, but only for the purposes above, not to offend.  

I respect and love the different families.  The different walks.  The different experiences.  The different traditions.  But we aren't to hold our life against each other's.  We hold it up to the word of God.  That must be our lens.  I am convicted and encouraged today to take and pursue what is mine, and to not look to the right or the left, but at Him alone.  

So, I must confess that sometimes even though I'm not looking to the right or left, I'm looking too often at myself.  My bubble.  My rightness.  And while this is MY blog, and I do write as an outlet, I also write for you.  To share life with you.  To encourage you.  To share truth that I am learning and working through, with you.  And I am sorry for the times that I haven't done that.  In life and on here.

So, there you have it.  The yuck of being a sinful human.

In the next couple of weeks I want to outline a true mission statement for my blog.  Because I want to be about more than me here.  There will still be a whole lot of me and my family, but I have a heart and vision and goals for this little space of internet.  So... stay tuned. ;-)

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

*linking up with Carissa for Miscellany Monday.