God, sex, and parachutes

Blogging is a strange thing. Sometimes I have so many things to write that I need to figure out what I should talk about, or I'll write many posts in a few days. Other days there's just nothing. I mean, Ava got two teeth and grew out of 6 month clothes, so I could talk about how quickly she's growing. Or, we've been shopping for the Dominican, and I still don't have my passport, so I could talk about how stressful that all is. But other than what I just said, there's just not that much to say about all that. Ya know what I mean?

But then last night I was talking with Abby, and church this morning was good, and so I planned to blog about both. But they go together kind of crazily, so try to stay with me!

So, I'll start with church. Sometimes I get a lot out of it, and some days, nothing at all. Those nothing at all days seem to correlate with the days I bring all four kids with me (Dave rarely joins us) and none of them want to cooperate, and then extra people sit in our pew who just don't fit, and I end up sweating bullets and hear nothing of the mass. But today was different. Today was me with Abby, Nolan, and Dave's parents. And Abby and Nolan were on their best behavior for sure (as were Dave's parents! :)). I actually got to listen!

From listening, I got two big things out of the sermon. First, the priest started talking about Charles Plumb, a Vietnam vet who was shot down, ejected, and parachuted into enemy hands. Thirty years later, after rescue and return to normal life, Plumb was eating in a restaurant one day when someone came up to him and said, "Hey! You're Charles Plumb!" Plumb had no idea why the man knew him, but it turned out the man packed his parachute for him, 30 years before. Upon reflecting on the man later that night, Plumb felt bad. He was sure he passed the man several times during a day, never once saying good morning. And yet, because of that man and his great work and attention to detail, he was living yet today. And so, the question is, who packs your parachute? There's a lot of people that help us each and every day--our family, friends, coworkers. Some in big ways and some in small. Are there people out there who you don't even think about, but yet make your day just that much better? I'm very fortunate... I feel I have a small army out there packing parachutes for me so I don't crash and burn. If you're reading this, I'm sure you're counted among them... Thank you!

Ok, then point two of the sermon (Dave keeps calling me too churchy lately. Maybe he's right. But whatever!). The gospel today was about the adultress and the angry mob who wanted to stone her, and Jesus told them that those without sin should cast the first stone. Now, instead of talking about the mob, and sin, Fr. Dan talked about the adultress. About how she did sin, but how in her heart she was searching for love in the wrong places (at which point he sang "Searching for love in all the wrong places, searching for love in too many faces... and I could only think of Eddie Murphy singing that on SNL, but that's a different story!). But anyway, he said how she could never find love in those places, and it was only Jesus who could fulfill that love.

And as he said that, it brought to mind my conversation with Abby last night about... sex. She asked again where babies came from, and I took a deep breath, and told her. Nothing too indepth, but she already knows the body part terms, so I just told her that one goes in the other, sperm, egg, blah blah blah, baby nine months later. She asked if grown ups have to close their eyes while doing this, because no one is allowed to see your private parts. (I'm so juvenile, it was so hard for me not to laugh.) I said it was private, but that with husbands and wives it was ok for them to see each other's private parts, but no one else. Then she asked if that's why Daddy and I do that in the garage. WHAT?!? (Ok, that one I giggled out loud.) Um, no. Really I'm not sure what she was talking about. But from sex we talked about sexy, and what sexy is in clothing and hair and style, and how it's ok to play sexy at home, but we need to respect our bodies, blah, blah, blah. And on her own, she said because God made us this way, and made us how he wants us, and so we can have babies. That's right! Then she changed subjects and we talked about books, and I took another deep breath and was SO HAPPY that was over.

But so, getting back to the sermon (are you still with me? More power to you if you are!). As Fr. Dan talked about the adultress looking for love, I suddenly realized how I need to talk to Abby about love and sex, eventually. How Jesus is the ultimate love story. We sing songs about us going to him just the way we are and Him--get this--accepting us! I mean, duh, right? But really? JUST the way we are? Don't we all want that? And yet, I can't believe anyone has that in their relationship. We all want to change something about the person we're with. And so I thought about that with Abby (and just because Abby is the first... it'll trickle down to Nolan, Max and Ava, too). How I need her to know that no one can complete her. The line from "Jerry McGuire" is a lie, and if you depend on someone else to complete you, you're going to be really disappointed. But, if you rely on your God relationship instead to complete you, whatever that relationship is, every other relationship will be rewarding in its own right, instead of disappointing.

Maybe I'm dumb. I mean, I've gone to church my whole life, and have heard a million times how Jesus accepts us just for us. Just like we are. No changing this or that. And if we complain about our troubles, he says, just give them to me. It's ok. But today, I felt like I got it! And it felt like such a gift, I just wanted to give it to Abby.

So that's it. It's how my weekend of God, sex and parachutes came to be. Pretty crazy, huh? Yup, that's me. But that's ok. :)