Lesson(s) Learned

Funny isn’t it, how life hands you stories, memories, trials, and lessons that you never fully understand the impact of until years later on in life? It’s kind of like getting handed a puzzle piece, and not having any surrounding pieces that match it, so you toss it aside and deem it as “insignificant” or “unnecessary” until – one day, it all makes sense. One such life story came to me when I was in the 8 th grade. It was the summer of 1998, and my church’s youth group decided to take a mission trip to Oklahoma to help with disaster relief from a recent tornado that had taken the entire city literally by storm. Everywhere you looked, there was darkness, destruction, devastation, and teenage kids from all over the nation. You see, this trip was huge, actually. Much larger than just my youth group, it extended its reach out to kids from all around the U.S. of A.  Even though we were from various parts of the country and had next to nothing in common, many youth...

Today, whilst my kiddos were busy learning math lessons about adding, subtracting, and planning out a Thanksgiving meal (on a budget!) from weekly Publix ads / Winn Dixie ads, I was busy learning a little life lesson myself. It all started earlier in the morning when the students were given an assignment to make an acrostic poem about another person in the classroom. Included with the acrostic poem was an illustration of the chosen person's talents, hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc. Oh, and did I mention? It was all to be done on colored construction paper. Why? More professional. Less room for error. Right? Wrong. Shortly after the students started on their acrostic-buddy poems, a student came to my desk and asked to borrow my white out. It happens all the time in fourth-grade classes worldwide. (Ok, maybe not. Maybe it's just my students that have a growing fascination with white out. My current class, and all the girls who shared the same 6th grade classroom with me at TC...

So, you want to change the world? What are you waiting for? I know you used to believe you could. So, what are you waiting for? I know life always turns out differently than you planned, but remind me, what are you waiting for? Waiting on…. enough time to save “enough” money? Time is more valuable than money. Once money is spent, you can always get more. Such is not so with time. Spend your time wisely. Rather, don’t spend. Invest it. (in others). Waiting on… enough “friends” to have a platform to speak? Platforms come and go, so do friends. Don’t cultivate your audience. Cultivate your character. Quality is better than quantity any day. Waiting on… more schooling? You’re already over-educated and over-qualified for a majority of jobs you would enjoy and feel successful at doing. Schooling isn’t a bad thing, but it could very well be a deterrent from the “best” thing for you for now. Waiting on… finding “the one” and run...

Today, in class, I gave my students the following picture prompt for part of their free writing/creative writing time.  When I walked around the room and started reading some of my kiddos writing masterpieces, I stopped on one that read something to the effect of "If I were very small for one whole day, I would climb inside Louis Armstrong's space suit and walk with him on the moon." The thoughts that filled my mind were exactly as follows: "Uhhhh..... where do I even begin to start explaining this one without sounding incredibly old?!" What I said aloud was this: "I love the idea of getting inside his  spacesuit. Very creative! Now, are you sure it was Louis  Armstrong? I think that sounds like the name of a jazz singer or someone...." My student's reply? "Ohh, you're right. It was L.... LANCE! LANCE ARMSTRONG! Thanks Miss Hill." By this point I was just humored. :) I said, "Ehhnk. Try again." S...

10/05/12 Roadtrips change me. The music. The quiet. The length of the trip. The brevity of life. The phone conversations. The prayers to God. All of it combined. It changes me. As I was driving home to Jacksonville from Lynchburg this past weekend, I heard Switchfoot's "This is Your Life" come across the radio. Though I'd heard this song too many times to count, the words actually "sunk" into my heart and mind this time. "This is your life.  Are you who you want to be?" If I were real honest, I'd readily answer "no." I'm a planner. That's just what I do. I. plan. things. And when things don't go according to (how I) planned, then discontentment and a bad attitude And no, I never imagined I'd be living in Lynchburg, teaching fourth grade, and coming to the end of -yet another- college degree, yet seemingly experiencing no "progress" in other areas of my life. I heard my students say, "When I ...

10/ 05/12 I teach little kids, so it's only natural for the phrase, "no one likes a tattle-tale" to roll off my tongue at some given point throughout the school year. Quickly following that phrase will be something to the effect of… "If you're minding your own business, then you won't have time to mind everyone else's." As I've thought about how these scenarios usually play out, I've come to realize that I am slowly but surely becoming my mother. haha. Seriously though, I have also come to realize that adults are often guilty of tattle-telling as well - only we somehow think we're more crafty with it. Adult tattle-telling comes out most in prayer circles, is mentioned only for the sake of "informative purposes," and is usually shared right before an echo-chorus of "bless his/her heart." The sad thing is this: it doesn't matter how old we get or how fancy dancy we try to dress up our tattle-te...

Quite a few years ago, I read a fictional book based on the book of Hosea in the Bible. It's written by Francine Rivers, and it's entitled "Redeeming Love." I read it at a time in my life where God was really using hard times to stretch my faith in His plans and strengthen my understanding of His love for me - especially when His plans and my plans didn't exactly jive. Thankfully, He loves me and knows me better than I know myself. :) Well, with all said, a friend from Bible study asked to borrow my copy of "Redeeming Love" the other day, so I went to searching for it amidst my collection of books. When I  found the book, I found a typed copy of a blog entry I had written years ago. Here it is in all its glory: The book "Redeeming Love" and the song "Acres of Hope" by Shane and Shane share the story of Hosea 2. In Hosea 2, the story of God's forgiveness to Israel when Israel played the harlot is explained through a married c...

Found this old writing of mine on my computer today, and it made me smile.... so, I'm sharing it here (I’m guessing I wrote it when I was about 26 because there are 26 things listed...Maybe I should consider doing a revised one this year for the big 4-0 😳) Quite a few years ago, I wrote a list of "things I'm learning…" It contained advice, quotes, and sheer observations about the life I was living and the life that was carrying on all around me. Well, today, I thought about that list for the first time (in a very, very long time) and thought perhaps I should re-create it, in a sense, based on where I find myself in life right now. at this very moment. Nothing came from quote websites or the like… it's all fresh from my little Rosemary brain. Hope you enjoy it, and it brings some encouragement and comfort and COURAGE your way - no matter where you find yourself along life's journey today. :) Things I'm learning... 1. Assume that everything ...

The verse that God brought to mind this morning on my way to work was this: "Love not the world neither the things that are in the world." He's actually brought this verse to my mind several times over the past couple of days. As I was thinking about this verse this morning, I noticed that God never said, "Do not love the people of the world." We are all people of the world. Some are redeemed, and some have yet to be redeemed. God makes it very clear that if we love the world and we love the things of the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. Yet, if we love the people of the world (not the things they do, or their worldview, or their selfishness and "me first" mentality), we are being Christ-like. When we love the people of the world, we are, in essence, acting on Christ's behalf as His hands and feet in this present-day world. Christ said we would know who his disciples were by the love they had. Mohammed ...

Candid Camera. Please tell me you've seen that show. (You know, the one where "unsuspecting people are placed in confusing, impossible, embarrassing, ridiculous, and hilarious circumstances, while their reactions are recorded on a hidden camera.") It's right up there with "America's Funniest Home Videos." Just the right amount of silly/goofy humor to occupy your mind when you're bored and have absolutely nothing productive to do.  Don't give me that look. You know you're just as guilty as I am of watching episodes of one or both of these shows. And - just maybe - laughed a bit at them.  In the show Candid Camera, after an allotted time has passed, someone calls out, "Smile! You're on Candid Camera!" And naturally, the crowd laughs. That's to be expected. They were in on something the "suspect" wasn't. They had information the "suspect" didn't. They had no surprises. They knew exactly w...

Change  Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you reckoned your plans with reality and said to yourself (maybe even audibly), "No, no, no! It wasn't supposed to happen this way"? I know I have.  Often.  Recently, even. I've heard it said, "The only thing constant in life is change." And boy-oh-boy is that true in my life these days. Change is all around me. Change is in my family. My dad now "works from home," sometimes. My mom is in the midst of "remodeling" our home. My oldest brother is now engaged. Another brother has twin baby boys! Another brother is pretty much traveling the nation this summer with his job. My sister seemingly gets promoted in the corporate world on a quarterly basis. And I just moved from Lynchburg, VA to Jacksonville, FL on a faith decision that God was going to work out the details of my life for His glory (job, housing, etc.) with no sight of what was and is to...

I never venture into writing poetry (simply because I'm bad at it); however, I just felt a little expressive tonight. This week has brought with it a lot of work, emotions, and plain-out exhaustion. I'm just so very thankful that I serve a God who sustains me through it all! So, without further adieu, I give you…. Rosemary's first (and final) attempt at poetry: To whom it may concern: Most things are better left unbroken, Most words better left unsaid. Most wishes left unspoken; off-course dreams, slain and dead. Some days come without sunshine, giving way to pouring rain. There is no success without trying; no love without the pain. What happens when you're intersected with pain that helps you grow? Blind-sighted by the change it's bringing; the hurting is all you know. Half-hearted commitments, relationships gone a-wry. Does the outcome really matter, or is the significance in the "try"? Remember ...

Broken Pencils, Boys, and Dating So it all started a day this past week when I was cleaning out my classroom to pack up and move all my teacher junk to Florida…. and I found a broken pencil on the floor.  then, another.  and yet, another.  Soon, I had a collection of broken pencils in my left hand and some building frustrations in my right mind. "Why so frustrated?" you may ask.  Because the pencils in my hands weren't just any regular broken pencils, broken by natural causes (i.e. the lead had broken off the tops).  No, it looked like they all had been karate-chopped directly down the middle of them for apparently no reason at all. Plus, someone had to pay a ridiculous price for all those brand-new pencils. (I did.) And someone had to clean up those pencils' pieces when they were broken and scattered all over the live-long day. (I did.) And, besides, shouldn't someone be teaching these kids the value of a dollar?? (Ohhhh, believe me, a...