Aaah... love

I showed up this morning to my church office after working out (today's experience at the gym will likely show up as a blog some day soon), opened the door to my office, and found that my loving wife and children had taken it upon themselves to both bless and ridicule me in one fell swoop.

On my office chair was my acoustic guitar with a sign hung on it that read, " 'Hold on to that six-string as long as you can' and have a rockin' good time at New Hope." For those of you who don't get it, see my earlier blog entry called "Six string blind spot" from 7/17.

In addition, there is a poster of a bald eagle now above my desk with the caption, "The Bald Eagle is Back!". I have the crazy fascination with the bald eagle and my family often gets my freedom speech when we see one (if you have been reading my posts, you know we have seen a lot of them lately while fishing).

Finally, covering my desk was an assortment of goodies including 10 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper stacked up, a bag of Spicy Nacho doritos, a box of chocolate covered cherries, and a 60-pack of Dentyne Ice gum. These, for the most part, represent my gluttony in all its glory.

Now, based on what I received, I could look at this as my family making fun of my lyrical blind spots, my over-fascination with an animal, and my joy of gluttony. OR.... I could look at this is just flat out love; the kind of love where we are free to playfully tease each other and not take life or ourselves too seriously. I could also look at this as a tremendous blessing that they would take the time to do this funny thing for me; that I mean enough to them that they would spend money and take time to give me a great start to a new week.

Yeah, I got issues like all of us, but it sure makes life more enjoyable when they can be talked about in the freedom that only a relationship founded on love can offer. So I'll walk through the next couple days enjoying gluttony and aware of my goofiness, but all-the-while with a wry smile on my face as I feel remembered and loved and free to be me. Love ya fam....