Presence is the Present

Brene Brown writes today that: "Story Matters!" It is true that our stories matter. The experiences of our life have value. This morning I watched the CNN Student News with my son. We watch the news every morning. This morning they did a tribute to the victims of SandyHook Elementary.

I began crying after five minutes of the broadcast. Every few minutes the screen would go black and show a name and age. My crying became weeping when the number 6 kept flashing on the screen. My son looked over at me and said : "Mom are you crying?" My crying was unmistakeable. And he awkwardly put his arm around my shoulder, trying to comfort me! All I could say was: "your sister is 6!"

My story matters, last Friday I walked to the bus stop to wait for my 6 year old, kindergarten student to get off the bus. She bounced down the bus steps and handed me her backpack just like every other school day afternoon. I hugged her with renewed appreciation that God had spared my daughter and given me another day with her and her another day to be 6! Thank you God ! My prayers are with the family and friends of those lost last Friday at the SandyHook tragedy!

The Power of Presence

Webster's Dictionary defines Presence as "existing or being present in a place." During the Holiday Season we often become preoccupied with shopping for the perfect gift. It is easy to become consumed with giving and getting presents. This year my husband and I have come face to face with the reality of this tough economy. We have limited resources to buy presents. Over Thanksgiving break, we talked and talked about how to "do" Christmas on our new budget. After lots of long walks and talks my husband suggested something revolutionary. He said: "Why don't we give the gift of presence." At first I thought his suggestion was cheesy. I "tried it on" by sharing the idea with our Elementary age girls. They were very invested in receiving "furby's" so they were not so happy about the gift of "presence." But as the weeks have gone by we have become more and more creative as a family. Now everyone is catching on to the idea. In fact... my husband said for the first time in our 15 years of marriage: "I love Christmas." We are giving the gift of presence. When we talk to each other... we look in one another's eyes. We turn off our cell phones and watch Christmas movies together. We instituted: The Christmas Angel. The Christmas angel is watching as we are secret angels to each other. This Christmas - our presence is the present.