Bulbs, Binoculars, and Brandon Heath

It was a beautiful day today! And yesterday, too. Makes you almost feel like maybe spring (and summer) might not be so far away! In fact, my bulbs are starting to come up. Daffodils, I think. Which brings me to a funny revelation I had yesterday... I was preheating the oven to bake some chicken breasts for dinner, and had a few minutes to kill. I found myself out in the back yard, bent over the garden, clearing dead leaves off the flower bed with my bare hands. Then I wiped the dirt of my jeans, came inside, and started cooking dinner. I had this moment... I felt like a grown-up. Actually, to be honest, I felt like my mom. Haha! Not that there's anything wrong with that!! It reminded me of something Ingrid mentioned the other day on Facebook... that she and Chad had taken a Valentine's Day trip and that they brought binoculars... for bird-watching. Her comment was that she felt like she was turning something much older than 29! :) (Hopefully she won't mind me sharing the story here!)

Rob and I were talking last night about how strange it is to reach an age where you realize that, wait... this IS your life! It hit me last year. There's no more "check boxes" like graduating or finding a job or passing the next test. This is it. You wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, maybe watch some TV, and go to bed. Or whatever else you choose that day. This is life! I know this sounds kind of elementary, but it really is actually a pretty profound thing to have dawn on you one day. :) Kind of like the Switchfoot song says... "This is your life. Are you who you want to be?"

Speaking of Christian pop songs (like the terrible segue?)... I'm currently listening to Brandon Heath's "Give Me Your Eyes" on my iTunes. I will be honest. I used to HATE this song. Mostly because it is simple pop chords and was very overplayed on the radio! But then one day, I was at work, in the med room where there is a radio (which is tuned to any variety of stations during any given shift!). Apparently on Saturday mornings, the local pop/dance music station plays a nationally syndicated Christian songs countdown show... I guess they figure their prime audience is not listening since they were out clubbing the night before! Anyway, I'm in the med room by myself, and suddenly I hear that song come on. At that moment, in that shift, I was struck by the lyrics. Here I go to work every day, and it is my job to care for people. I mean, literally. I am paid to care. And it is so easy to become jaded and cynical. In fact, on our floor, it is a known fact that if you aren't a little bit cynical and sarcastic... you will NEVER survive! That morning I had a homeless patient who was really being difficult, and I was feeling pretty judgemental and self-righteous. Yet God used that song to really make me think about what I was feeling and thinking! At any rate, I went home and bought it on iTunes, and now actually like it. And I have never again heard Christian music in the med room.

Well that was a random digression. I suppose that is what a blog is really about, though. :)