A Snow Globe Winter: Turning a SAD day into a GLAD day

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Donna Harris

Has the winter taken a toll on you? Feel like you’re trapped inside a snow globe? There is no escape from the harsh bitter cold winds. Is your life interrupted by the ice-covered roads, slushy parking lots and steady snow showers while you’re waiting for the warmth of bright sunshine to melt through the thick grey colored sky?

Makes me think of a snow globe, being turned upside down and back again over and over. In the beginning, it may look pretty and fun to play with, but after a while, it soon becomes boring, old and wearisome. Let’s put it on the shelf…let the snow settle and forget about winter.

For some of my friends, the winter season is taking its toll on their emotions and physical health. They feel SAD. It’s true that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can be a culprit of ill-health for many. I can understand why they feel as they do. As a gal born and raised in the deep South, I truly dislike going days without feeling the warmth of sun on my face and because of the bitter cold and wind chill, I miss the enjoyment of long outdoor walks or jogging on sidewalks through my neighborhood. There’s also the hazard of slipping on ice. I look forward to the simple joy of walking with a normal gait down the driveway to collect the mail.

So, in my personal goal of learning to enjoy living life in a snow globe (so to speak) I’m making a choice to wear joy like makeup…and it is turning a SAD day into a GLAD day.

What do I mean by ‘wearing joy like makeup?’ Try this on for size–make an acrostic out of the word, GLAD. For example:

G: Go stand in front of a mirror. Relax your shoulders, check your posture and smile back at your reflection. Hold that smile for a little longer and concentrate on the wonderful feeling of those joy muscles around your lips and eyes, working in unison to reverse the tired frown lines. While looking at your reflection, say out loud ten things that you are GLAD for. Do this several times throughout the day.

L: Load your refrigerator with fresh fruit and vegetables and refrain from eating sugary desserts and processed foods. For me, fighting the sugar craving during the cold months is harder to beat than hot days of summer. Because I know this about myself, I purposefully choose to have fresh produce or fruit to munch on.

Load your freezer with protein rich meals, prepared ahead of time. One of the best decisions I made this winter was adjusting my Saturday routine to include cooking several meals that would last us for more than a week. Because the days are shorter and the weather is brutal during the winter, I am more tired than other seasons and coming home from work to prepare a meal can be exhausting. It was easier to throw a frozen pizza in the oven than to prepare a healthy meal. Taking a few hours on a Saturday to make meals such as soup, beef stew, or white bean turkey chili keeps my family feeling quite glad and wearing joy on their faces!

A: Ask a friend to meet you for coffee or to visit a museum, go see a movie together or out to lunch. We need people around us for mutual encouragement and for a joy boost. Hire a baby-sitter for a few hours to get away with your spouse or a friend. Ask another family over to share a meal with your family and spread some joy from those meals you cooked ahead of time. And don’t be surprised when you discover that the people or person you reach out too is dealing with that same “snow-globe” winter effect.

D: Decide to make lifestyle changes, beginning with your attitude towards exercise. Zig Ziglar says it this way, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” Surrendering to the winter blahs is an effect of having a grumpy attitude about a situation (winter) that you have no power over to change. What you do have power over is yourself. For me, my altitude is usually correlated to my exercise habits. I feel better when I exercise and the better I feel, the more apt I am to have a positive attitude. Make a decision to exercise on a regular basis. Many gyms offer winter memberships at a reduced rate, community organizations always offer group exercise classes, and finding an exercise coach via a DVD or internet is not hard to do.

So that’s it…my simple acrostic for turning a SAD day into a GLAD day through this “snow-globe winter.” It has helped me to be intentional about wearing joy and to be glad for this beautiful season of winter.

What are some ways you overcome the blahs of winter or choices you make to be glad?

I Miss The Dog

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Donna Harris

Sometimes, you will always remember and you never stop missing. Like opening the back door to the kitchen, expecting to hear a loud bark and the sound of paws searching for traction on hard wood floors while toe nails, that are long over due for clipping, make another etch into the finished wood. “Welcome Home! It’s so good to see you!” is what those big brown eyes and wagging tail communicated every time I walked into the house

I miss that.

How quick to forget, however, the many evenings of nearly tripping over the dog while trying to cook dinner or sweeping up “tumble-weed” hair balls that collected in the corners of rooms or trying to avoid the dog from brushing up against me whenever I wore something black.

I miss that, too.

There was the yard to scoop clean from poo, the inspection of the soles of kid shoes for any signs of dog poo before walking through the house, and on those rainy days, cleaning four muddy paws before leaving the mudroom. (A mudroom is very nice when there are muddy paws or shoes with poo on the soles.)

I don’t miss that quite as much but I miss the sound of kids playing outside with the dog.

I remember those long walks and jogging through the neighborhood with the dog, holding the leash relaxed by my side…finding my stride and comfortable pace when suddenly I’m halted with a sudden jerk and arm whiplash because the dog had to stop and smell the roses. I always carried a bottle of water on those long walks. Not so much for me, but for the dog to have a drink.

I miss that.

The dog had no manners, though. He would pant his hot smelly breath on everyone he met or let loose a “silent but violent” odor in a room full of house guests. I think sometimes, one of my kids ripped their own and blamed it on…”the dog did it!”

I miss the dog and all of that smelly stuff.

There is no longer a need to fill a water bowl or hunt for an old tennis ball to play catch. There dangling from a hook in the garage is that old black leash that kept the dog close to our side, but was that leash really needed?

Perhaps the dog trained us to stay by his side and taught us how to be patient dealing with each others mess and to never take for granted when a family member comes home.

Good ole’ Doc! I miss that dog!

“Doc” The Dog

What She Needs Most

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Donna Harris

I have a friend preparing for battle. Actually, it’s the same type of battle she has fought before but this time it’s different, because she is already tired from fighting it for a long time already. Previously, she had enjoyed a lengthy respite with joy and hope that the good health would last and last and never stop. What she needs most is not to lose her grasp on hope but even more importantly she needs to know most that God has not loosened his grip on her.

But the respite did cease. The ensuing battle has caused her to suit up again with the armor she has worn many times before, so many years ago. Not quite as shiny as the first time she put it on, but still ever so beautiful and true to fit…in perfect design by the one who made it for her. There are some battle scars on the armor, which I hope and pray will remind her of victory and not defeat. If truth be told, she has never taken that armor off. But perhaps it had felt lighter during the wellness years and may seem quite heavy and difficult to wear right now. I want her to believe that the armor is light while resting upon her yet heavy enough to protect her from stinging discouragement and fatigue or the feeling of hopelessness or to be tempted to doubt the promises of God.

I want her to be brave, once again and suit up in the protection of that spiritual armor. Putting on spiritual armor simply means that she continually clothes herself in the Lord, relying on His gifts and graces through this trial. What she needs most is for her friends to stand firm with her, to help hold the armor in place through prayer.

She is one of the strongest women I know. Perhaps her strength has come from those previous battles and dark storms…her leaning into God, listening to his voice to calm anxiety. No, anxiety sounds too simple of a description. It’s more like a tsunami of everything difficult. I don’t think of God’s voice as being soft and quite, otherwise, how can we hear him over the chaotic noise and pain of the battle rushing and overwhelming us?

God speaks with words and remarkable things happen. What she needs most is to hear God’s loud words, his voice to speak into her storm. For her to know his presence with her and to have an unreal, supernatural peace from the gospel of grace in her life. What she needs most is to know she is treasured.

She has been a voice of grace words and peaceful comfort to so many in need, reminding them of the strength they have through Christ. What she needs most is the relentless prayers and grace words from friends to lift her up.

She is a warrior. She has hidden so much of God’s word in her heart. Memorized it. Feasted on God’s word and experienced the sweet satisfaction of God forever keeping his promise to give her what she needs most…at the time that she needs it.

What she needs most is not to forget that it will be so.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

The Whole Armor of God: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God… Ephesians 6:10-18

The Rough Edges of a Smooth Life: New Year’s Eve

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Donna Harris

It’s New Year’s Eve! It’s that time of year again to focus on the events of the past…those good and bad things that naturally happen to all of us and so we begin to plan new year resolutions to not repeat the bad things that we made a mess of and to aim for more of the good things. But not the same good things, definitely better and much greater! We want to forget the messes we stirred up and the mistakes that we made.

Frankly, I’m done with planning New Year resolutions. In the past, I’ve written grand lists of self-centered improvement tactics that only infuriated me when I continued to do the things that I wanted to stop doing. I kept getting in my way of being successful. I need to continue to plan today to be productive tomorrow.

Secondly, bad things and messes and mistakes will always occur. There will always be rough edges of a smooth life. While I don’t wish for anything awful to happen or to experience difficult situations, I know for a fact that I will, because every smooth life is designed with rough edges.

It is the rough edges that add the character development for self-improvement.

What I enjoy most about New Year’s Eve is reflecting on the year that is coming to its end. I like to think about the year in reverse. Instead of beginning in the winter of January 2013, I begin with September and the first beginnings of autumn. A family birthday celebration at the beach and early morning walks along the shore before the sun announced the new day.

Remembering the season of red and orange leaves and the glorious days of family outings at a pumpkin patch, watching our little one march happily from pumpkin to pumpkin and climbing over hay bales. With each little foot step our little one takes or the squeeze of a tiny hand in mine, I am reminded that God has gone before us on the path our family has journeyed and he is holding us firmly in his strong right hand.

I remember a chaotic and exhausted feeling from fighting the never-ending bout of nerve pain. Those peaceful walks along a wooded path under the beams of sunshine cascading through golden leaves reminds me of God’s presence then and to celebrate that he knows the pain of those rough edges I felt and he did enable me to be vibrant through the rough.

After autumn, I have a flashback to the hot days of summer and those oscillating fans blowing on my legs and face. I ventured on a missions trip that stirred my heart to move out of my comfort zone…to search for rough edges in the deep of another’s person life–to help them experience a smooth life, in some kind of way.

I am thankful that God has placed this longing in my heart to venture into the rough of an unknown community. It was good (and still is) to feel the sharpening of the Holy Spirit on those rough edges in my heart, melting them away, smoothing the edges with more mercy and grace.

When I think about spring, I remember having a new appreciation for the handiwork of God, the creator. I learned to have a consistent time of personal worship. I remember wanting more of Jesus and praying for God to change my heart. It’s good to look back through the year, as now I can understand that those rough edges in my life were being formed and shaped by the one who loved me the most, God. I was running four miles almost daily and felt like my space in this world could not get any better than running with worship tunes streaming through ear buds. My smooth life as I once knew it was soon going to change.

Through daily personal worship, I began to see God in the smallest of insects or in the buds of a tree about to burst in color. I think back to those lonely days of adjusting to being alone yet being completely filled with joy and peace in the Creator, thankful that he sprinkled a bit of his creativity onto me through watercolor painting. God was beginning to show me more of the rough edges in my life that only he could smooth out.

Watercolor by Donna

And now, here we are at the winter and the close of a new year. A year of surrendering to the handiwork of God, creating and shaping my soul to want more of him, to want to be changed because of his grace alone.

It would take a year feeling the tenderness of more grace in the rough edges for me to surrender my strength and become even stronger through weakness and to know that a smooth life can still be smooth through the trials when it is God who is giving the strength to keep going. There is a void from a loss of a family member and we celebrate that God is making all things new.

I did something completely different this Christmas while celebrating Advent. While wanting to take the time to focus my heart on the fulfilled expectation of Christ’s first coming and the glorious expectation of His second coming, I also wanted to focus on the freedom I have in Christ to overcome an obstacle…a very rough edge. So, I began a “Lent in Advent” with the purpose of giving up something for the 25 days of celebrating Advent….a self-inflicted rough edge that controlled me. While focusing on the one…God’s Son, the one God promised to send to rescue me, I struggled through the Lenten process of giving up, running away from it and running into the fulfilled expectation of Jesus first coming and all that he accomplished for me (for us) on that cross. It is day 31 in “Lent for Advent”.

Looking back through the year shows me how God has kept his promise to love us no matter what. He has given us a gospel-centered community to intercede for us in prayer, encouragement and friendship. He is constantly rescuing us. Revealing his story to us when we need him the most. The storms and trials are rough yet Jesus is in the boat too. The storm knows his voice and life becomes smooth. Without the rough edges, those hard trials, I would not have been able to celebrate real joy and victory through Christ. I would not want a smooth life any other way.

I am eager and excited to welcome 2014! I can’t wait to live the better story God has for us!

Happy New Year!

The links on this page will take you to posts that I’ve written this year. Move the curser over the link for the title of the post. I hope you will be encouraged by reading. -Donna

The Last Santa Dance

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Donna Harris

In Memory of Pop

We are mourning the passing of Dad, a husband to one wife, fondly called Pop and Grandpa. People knew him as Bit Harris. His given name at his birth is not important right now. People bought a car from Bit, not the name on his birth certificate. That’s what he did for a living…he was a self-employed car dealer that people could trust.

He laughed a lot with his sons and spoiled the grandkids. The yard and shrubs were always groomed with perfection and he kept the backyard swimming pool sparkling for weekend family fun, birthday parties, and ready as a vacation haven for out-of-town relatives.

He rarely slept apart from his wife expect for the last week of his life. There were a few weeks apart during short stays in a nursing home for physical therapy, but I’m not counting those weeks. That last week occurred when he moved into the bed provided by Hospice. Even then he asked his sweet wife if there was room for two in that bed.

What they had going for them was long-suffering and a commitment to each other for better and for worse. What I find most significant is the most gracious and merciful woman who was his wife for close to 69 years and the mother to their six rowdy boys. The one that managed their household and kept their lives steady all the while working full-time for thirty years or more to help support the family. She is a saint! She is a role model for me.

Their marriage was not perfect by a long shot. All of us that are married will admit that marriage requires hard work and a lot of forgiveness and grace. The kind of grace that is desperately needed and should have been asked for years earlier. You can’t ask for something when you don’t know what you don’t know. Bit didn’t know what he needed.

Somewhere along the way, God arranged a meeting between Bit and a Pastor named Jack. There were a lot of pastors along the way that may have tried to have influence in Bit’s life, but Jack was different. Jack was a friend that accepted Bit “warts and all” with plenty of messes and dysfunctional stuff that every family has…and many are afraid to admit for fear that they would be rejected. Soon after meeting with Jack on a regular basis, Bit learned what he didn’t know…God’s love and grace for him.

I once wrote a post about a rhythm of cluttered memories in their home. All of the clutter of things kept for years, each holding a special story and memory. Like the small white wooden stool that my husband’s grandfather used to sit on while fishing in a pond with his grandson, my husband.

It’s the small things that become the big things in memories. Such as every year one of the boys or grandkids would give Pop another dancing Santa or some other animated Christmas toy that everyone found ridiculously silly and belly laughed with each flip of the switch to make it light up or dance or make a rude noise or say words that only boys could appreciate. Last week, one of the sons bought a new Santa toy, expecting Pop to laugh one more time. Batteries were never put in so it was never turned on and never danced, but it was left in a memorable place.

In Memory of Pop

It’s also the big things of God using small happenings in the heart of Bit that will leave an etched memory, too. I began to notice a God size change in the life of Pop (that’s what I liked to call him) when he would drive with his wife more than an hour every Sunday morning to hear Jack preach and to be with new friends in this church community. He started reading the bible every day, too. I noticed his consistency and daily routine to have a personal devotion first thing in the morning before breakfast was served and there was no more coffee in the pot.

For that precious saint of a wife and caregiver for years, the first night alone could possibly be the hardest following the death of her spouse, after living together for nearly 69 years. But I suspect it will be living alone through the months and maybe years that will bring back the small things, those memories, once forgotten and buried by time, to the surface to be relived and clasped tightly to.

God is in all of that. She has been a giver for so many years and humbly kept going by the grace of God. He will forever keep pouring more grace into her life.

I think this quote by Ann Voskamp (A Holy Experience) is a wonderful closure for this story. We are experiencing abundant joy and wonderful peace this Christmas season.

“He did not abandon you in the ultimate storm of your soul. He will not abandon you in the immediate storm of your now.” -Ann Voskamp

Hope in the Season of Advent

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Donna Harris

I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord. Psalm 121

How I love the season of Advent! I love preparing to celebrate Christmas with my family. The delicious smell of sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven and everyone wanting to be the first to sample a cookie or unroll a cinnamon bun dripping with gooey sweet icing.

I love to light candles around our advent wreath, celebrating the promises of God, and to see the glow of tea lights shimmering through colored glass. One of my favorite activities of Christmas past was decorating ginger bread houses with my children. I remember their giggles and delight with decorating a gingerbread house and displaying it as a center piece on the dining room table, nibbled on everyday so that by the end of Christmas, the only thing remaining were pieces of broken gingerbread. I remember one year when a few of us volunteering in children’s ministry at our church decided to plan a Gingerbread House party for the kids attending a mid-week program. I don’t know what we were thinking! We were amazed and delightfully overwhelmed by the number of kids that came…maybe 80 or more! The gingerbread houses turned quickly into gingerbread huts constructed with four graham crackers, with each cracker glued to a side of a small milk carton, with that wonderful white sticky miracle icing that would chip a tooth if you took a bite of it once it dried and hardened. It was a crazy wonderful messy event with every child proudly carrying their creation home on a small plastic plate…each hut covered in colorful skittles, cinnamon drops, sprinkles, licorice twists and sugared gumdrops, soon to become a center piece on their kitchen table.

Ah, the sweet memories of Christmas past! We are creating new memories this year, even through topsy-turvy unexpected life changing events. There is some unrest, unknowns and a lot of “what ifs” trying to rob our first love of focusing on God’s promise that we have been rescued from fear and doubt and so much more than that!

How we delight in the promises of God, asking for his help to focus our hearts on the fulfilled expectation of Christ’s first coming and the glorious expectation of His second coming. God made a promise to rescue us and he keeps it perfectly…confirmed the promise by his oath. God’s unchangeable character is guaranteed by his promise and his oath. It is impossible for God to lie. We pray for his help to find refuge and a strong encouragement to hold fast to this hope. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of our soul. (Hebrews 6)

There is great hope in the season of advent! God wants you to have the full assurance of hope—no weak and flimsy hope, but a strong, full, confident hope—lest you become “sluggish” or “dull” and begin to think that the Christian hope is not as real as the hopes offered by the world.

And God intrudes in our story. He is making all things new. He has made all things new. Even though our tummies aren’t filled with sugar cookies, we are filled with the forever sweetness of God’s grace that pours over us regardless of the condition of our heart. On the outside, we may resemble a lopsided and pasted together gingerbread hut but we are securely held tight on a strong foundation built on God’s promises.

Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: “It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I’m going to do battle against the snake. I’ll get rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here. I’m coming back for you!” And he would. One day, God himself would come. (The Jesus Storybook Bible)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Our help comes from the Lord! This is our hope in the season of advent! Merry Christmas!

Halloween, the Princess, and Four Ways to Help your Child Build Self-Esteem

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Donna Harris

Halloween

When this Halloween arrived, I recalled childhood memories of walking the streets in our neighborhood with my friends, running up the front lawns instead of using the walkways, racing to the front porch and ringing the door bell…waiting for the door to be opened by someone holding a hand full of candy to toss in my bag while I shouted, “Trick-or-Treat!”

I look at her face glowing with kindness and I smile back at her big smile that is as bright as that carved jack-o-lantern on the front porch. “Here you go, Princess!” she said, while handing me several pieces of candy.

The Princess

I remember wearing a princess costume that my mother had sewn for me. It was a pale pink color and really puffy…made with yards and yards of itchy tulle that scratched my legs whenever I moved. I disliked the itchy tulle but I loved the feeling of being a princess and felt beautiful and special while wearing it…over a pair of thick tights! Mom made a princess crown cut from poster board and using a plastic bottle of white glue, sketched a design of swirls and diamond shapes onto the crown. She quickly sprinkled multi-colored glitter all over the shapes of glue. Mom said every princess crown should have jewels so she added a puddle of glue at each point of the crown and then poured on red, blue, and green glitter creating sparkling ruby, sapphire and emerald jewels. I thought the crown was beautiful and perfect and I was very pleased. I couldn’t wait to wear the gorgeous princess crown. It seemed to take forever for the glue to dry!

A Child’s Self-Esteem Fluctuates

With rosy cheeks and blue eye shadow, I thought I was dressed in the perfect costume for Halloween. I was having a lot of fun collecting candy from neighbors and everyone told me I was a beautiful princess. I was feeling very princess-like. That is until I met “Mr. Grumpy.” There he was, standing under a dim front porch light that cast grey shadows over his face, which only made his snarling expression look very creepy.

With his hands on his hips and with a gravelly voice he asked, “Who are you supposed to be?” “I’m a princess,” I bashfully answered. “Bah! You’re no princess!”, He said looking down at me. “You’re a mean queen! He tossed some candy in the bag I was holding and I quickly turned to run away. “There goes the mean queen!” I heard him shout with more laughter.

Feeling bruised by his words, I became irritable and disliked the man for ruining Halloween for me. Even though just a few minutes before I had felt very much princess-like, those four words, “You’re a mean queen” was repeated over and over again in my head and soon began to make a negative imprint upon my thoughts and feelings. I returned home only to pout and fume and be grumpy and mean towards my family.

4 Ways to Help Your Child Build Self-Esteem

Identify your child’s irrational beliefs about themselves. A child’s self-esteem fluctuates and is frequently changed and fine-tuned through experiences and new perceptions. For parents, it helps to be aware of the signs of both healthy and unhealthy self-esteem in your child. When your child suffers a blow to his self-esteem, it’s important to validate his feelings; acknowledge that your child was offended by the comment. Be aware if your child has given others the power to shape his or her self-perception. It’s important for you to identify your child’s irrational beliefs about themselves, whether they’re about perfection, attractiveness, ability, or based upon another person’s opinion of them.

Authentic self-esteem should be shaped in the home. Children with a healthy self-esteem place value on themselves that is both positive, and at the same time, realistic. Children with a healthy self-esteem are also able to handle a reasonable amount of negative experience. While some amount of teasing is unavoidable, you have an opportunity to teach your child that their view of themselves should not be shaped entirely by outside forces. An authentic self-esteem is not determined by an outward appearance or by hearing praise or compliments from people.

If a child doesn’t feel accepted by their parents, they’ll look for acceptance from their friends. Dr. Kevin Leman says, “Your unconditional acceptance of your child means everything in her development.” If you want to send a strong message to your child that he/she is accepted, listen and ask questions to show you care about their interests and feelings. It is the parents who create the foundation for a child’s sense of self through all of their experiences, especially words and actions. Children are far more motivated to learn, cooperate, and be loving when they feel connected, cared about, and valued. Pediatrician and author Dr. William Sears said it best when he wrote, “What children believe about themselves is at the heart of what they become.”

Tell your child on a regular basis that God loves them unconditionally. And tell your children on a regular basis that you love them no matter what. As parents, we are able to stir a change in our child’s heart and thought life by teaching the gospel, modeling the gospel, and centering our homes on the gospel. Another great way to help a child to think differently, is to pray with your child. Talk to God together about the hurt feelings, pray for the offender, ask for God’s forgiveness for having a bad attitude, and especially thank Him that she is a child of the King, a real princess!

What are some ways you have helped your child develop a healthy self-esteem?

Helpful References: [1] kidshealth.org [2] askdrsears.com [3] focusonthefamily.com [4] Gospel Powered Parenting by William P. Farley [5] Building Up Kids Without Tearing Them Down by Kevin Leman [6] yeahyeahoutloud.com

An Unexpected Reunion that Rekindled A Promise

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Donna Harris

I just got back from a great weekend celebrating a 40th high school reunion. It was fun to listen to everyone talk about the crazy times they had together and allowing us a glimpse into their life stories since graduation…try to pack in 40 years of life stories in a few hours! You hear the best and worst…the stories that possibly had the biggest impact in their life. I enjoyed observing the camaraderie and friendships renewed. The laughter was contagious. I was glad to be a part of the reunion, even if it was not my own.

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever experience my own high school reunion. It’s unlikely because I attended three different high schools within a span of four years. I wonder if there are other people who fall into the “three-high-schools-in-four-years” category.

There is a good reason for attending different schools…we lived in a particular school district for freshman and sophomore years; in my junior year, segregation laws required that I attend a school on the other side of the city; and my father took a new job out-of-state at the beginning of my senior year.

If I had a choice, out of the three high schools to attend a reunion, I would choose the one that holds the fondest memories…freshman and sophomore years. My junior year was a brutal race to survive–I couldn’t wait for the year to end…it was a rough experience for a good many students. At the end of my senior year, I remember standing in line, alphabetical order, with people (that I didn’t know) with last names that began with the same letter as mine. I recall introducing myself to them before we walked onto the stage to receive our diplomas, but quickly forgot their names after throwing my cap in the air. I was relieved to get in my car and drive away from high school.

The memories of my high school years are a compilation of bliss and anxiety. Whatever joys or hardships that I experienced during those years of change, helped to shape and define my character and to mold a resolute will to stay the course. I can’t take for granted that God is the author of my story. What I didn’t know then, but do know now is that God was faithfully rescuing me with his generous grace. I wouldn’t trade my life with anyone else.

The best part about moving to a new city at the beginning of my senior year was meeting my future husband…that would take me to his 40th high school reunion one day! Honestly, I never expected this and for certain, my husband’s 40th high school reunion has never been written on my bucket list, but there it is checked off anyway.

While reunions are a lot of work to plan for a short-lived experience, it can leave a positive impact on those that made the effort to come. Besides making new contacts for business and new Facebook friends or following someone new on Twitter, this reunion unearthed many of the early memories my husband and I have of meeting each other as teenagers and eventually making a promise to one another that hasn’t been broken in almost 40 years.

We arrived together at this reunion with a lot of memories from the past but we left with a rekindled promise, a commitment to each other. We have been married all our lives, but not long enough.

My husband commented about a 50th reunion in the future. My answer to that was, “No thank you, we’re going on a cruise!”

Addendum: After my husband read this post, he said that he couldn’t believe I would choose a cruise over a 50th reunion. So, we’ll do both…especially when I just found out from reading a Facebook comment that I’ll always be a part of their reunion, an honorary “Wildcat!” (Thanks, Sally!)

Donna Harris‑More Grace

A Life Filled with More Grace is a Story Worth Sharing