35 on 35

Matt turned 35 today!

Here are 35 things I appreciate about him.

1. He is the smartest person I know.
2. But he's not show off-y about it.
3. He knows how to explain complex things in simple, non-condescending ways.
4. He loves plants and is really good at taking care of them.
5. He is teaching me how to take care of them too.
6. He loves animals.
7. But he is okay with us not having animals because I don't want to deal with them.
8. He recognizes and loves good music.
9. He regularly introduces me to this or that indie band,...which makes me feel a little cooler.
10. He patiently tolerates me listening to pop music now and then.
11. But we both agree on Adele.  She's amazing.
12. He plays guitar.  Really well.
13. He is honest.
14. He sees me.
15. He is silly.
16. He listens well....most of the time.
17. While I said I wanted to learn the moonwalk years ago, he actually learned it and practiced it and got decent at it.
18. Sometimes when I'm brushing my teeth, I'll see him moonwalking past the bathroom door then hear a crash because he ran into the vacuum cleaner in the hallway.
19. But he keeps right on going.
20. He's a voracious reader.
21. He had been quietly studying Greek (ya know, on the side during med school) for over a month before I realized it.  (see numbers 1 and 2)
22. He decided to learn Greek to read the New Testament with fuller understanding.
23. He is kind to outsiders.
24. He's an unapologetic introvert.
25. Who relates to people really well one-on-one and in small groups.
26. I love his thick, wavy hair.
27. He crushed his Boards in the midst of a season of personal pain and stress.
28. He recognizes that it was only Jesus who could have helped him do that.
29. He, like me, is a content homebody who enjoys an occasional outing.
30. He is committed to talking through junk.
31. He fights for our marriage.
32. He appreciates other cultures and loves getting to bust out a little Hindi when he meets an Indian person.  Which is usually met with a delighted smile.
33. He brought me flowers at work once...because I had been sad earlier that week.
34. If I brag to him about something, he will make a very realistic sounding "trumpet tooting its horn" sound with his mouth.  It's hilarious.
35. He will probably make that sound when he reads this list.

 Happy Birthday, Matt!!  You're the best!

How a bloody toilet made me love Jesus more

She came over and cleaned my bloody toilet after I miscarried.

How do I repay that?

I could never write enough thank you notes to that friend who willingly and lovingly entered into my mess the way she did when I was not well.

I told her I didn't know how to repay her, and she told me of the time others entered into and cleaned up her mess...when she so sick from the chemo treatments...

At first I was embarrassed to be needy, but now I'm grateful for that experience.  It has acted to me as a blessed reminder that this was the state of my soul before Christ came.

This morning at church, we sang "O Holy Night" and I stood, hands raised, tears streaming down my cheeks, thinking of that holy night divine....when Jesus left heaven where things are perfect and whole to willingly come to this earth where things are fractured and enter into our mess.

Why would he do that???

"Because of My great love," He whispers to me.

He is so other.  So different than us.

We seek and strive for recognition and admiration.

He made himself nothing, a little baby who would grow up to willingly be well acquainted with suffering and bitterest grief.  God's son, equal in power and glory with his Father, riding on a lowly donkey.

Maybe that's the thing about Him that most baffles me, most humbles and amazes me...that he made himself low on our behalf.  He, a king, THE King, made himself nothing because of His love.

...but [He] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name...

Phillippians 2:7-9

My heart bursts with joy at the thought of Jesus coming into our messed up world for us!

Thank you, Lord Jesus!