The Giant Kid at the Bus Stop

September 29, 2014 Diane Rivers 6 Comments

Do you remember junior high? Sorry, I know that was a painful question. We all remember those days (and not necessarily in a good way).

Here’s the thing: Where my house is located, I have a front row seat to the on-going pre-teen drama at the junior high bus stop . . . and frequent flashbacks of my own to that dreadful era:

How could I forget the kid with the unfortunate first name of Orville? No doubt his parents intended to honor some beloved relative by giving him that name. But Orville? He paid dearly for his parents’ choice to hang that one on him.
There was the overly tall, awkward guy everyone in the seventh grade called “Slow Monroe” and then snickered as though he couldn’t hear them. I hope he ended up a CEO somewhere.
I still remember Ellen in Mr. Hunter’s math class. She used too much Coppertone QT over the weekend and came to school with her face orange. Even the teacher had a field day at her expense. I’m not sure she ever lived it down.

Continue reading The Giant Kid at the Bus Stop →

Christian Life, Friendship, Single Parenting, Singleness, Uncategorized

The Lesson in the Peeling Wallpaper

September 4, 2014 Diane Rivers 21 Comments

Early on in my single parenting years, I bought a fixer-upper house in a charming neighborhood full of young families with kids. A few short months after moving in, I joined a singles group at my new church.

I don’t know what made me do such a thing. I mean, the house was an investment and a way of bringing stability to a wobbly life. That part made sense.

But the singles group?

It sure wasn’t because I needed more to do. I was working an all-consuming, often dangerous job that required me to be on call 24/7. And now I had a house in dire need of TLC, a lawn to mow, a temperamental car to nudge along, and a not quite 3-year old to raise on my own.

But for whatever reason, I decided to give the “kickoff” singles event a whirl. I hired a babysitter and then went into image-management mode. I wanted to project the together, professional vibe; to give off a self-sufficient, polished air. I couldn’t have people knowing how hectic and chaotic my life really was. Continue reading The Lesson in the Peeling Wallpaper →

Christian Life, Community, Faith, Uncategorized

When This Is the First Prayer of the Day

August 22, 2014 Diane Rivers 3 Comments

Some days are just hard. Then another one comes along just like it. Then another. And before you know it, they’re stringing together like the links of a heavy chain and you’re dragging the weight around, exhausted and discouraged and maybe a little (or a lot) angry at the unfairness of it all.

When I start to feel that heaviness, I find myself waking up well before daybreak and whispering, “God, please let today be better”. It isn’t a plea grounded in hope, as in I know God is with me and will make all things work together for good if only I will believe. No, usually it’s more of a desperate, I give up, I’m drowning here. I’m at Your mercy.

It’s not a time I need a sermon or a theological explanation about God’s grand designs for humanity and what a small part of it all my tiny life is. It’s true the big picture of human history is infinitely vast and knowable only to an all-powerful God. And it’s true I can trust Him to take care of me in the larger context of eternity.

But when I’m in pain or exhausted from too much drama and the frustrations of life, you know what I need? Continue reading When This Is the First Prayer of the Day →

Christian Life, Community, Faith, Uncategorized

Floating in a Sea of Icebergs

August 12, 2014 Diane Rivers 4 Comments

People are complicated. I’m sure that’s not news to you.

I think about my own life and the image I always try to project: polished, confident, intelligent. You know the drill.

icebergs - Alaskan Dude Flickr — Photo by Alaskan Dude, Flickr.com

But I’m an iceberg and so are you.

There’s what we let other people see, and then there are all those other layers and dimensions we keep below the surface: our past, our weaknesses, our fears. To be seen as who we aspire to be requires that those aspects of who we are remain hidden. But all that other “stuff” is still there below the surface.

Being in relationship with each other – unless we keep it strictly superficial – is going to be tricky, maybe even dangerous. We’re sure to bump up against each other and those layers we didn’t know were there for others will bruise us, while ours will bloody them.

The loss of comedic great Robin Williams this week really drove this point home to me. Here was a guy who brought so much joy and laughter to his audiences and seemed to always have a funny retort and positive outlook.

I think I could have been friends with him if our worlds had intersected in some way. No doubt I am not alone in that. He was a rare presence.

But he is quoted as having once said, Continue reading Floating in a Sea of Icebergs →

Christian Life, Faith, Uncategorized

Delighting in the Perfectly Imperfect

August 3, 2014 Diane Rivers 6 Comments

Over coffee recently, a friend intrigued me with her description of a relative we’ll call Jackie. Jackie, it seems, embraces the odd. If you were to go shopping with her, you might be flummoxed to discover she prefers the items with tiny flaws: the one blue vase with a splotch of orange paint where it shouldn’t be, the picture frame with a nick on the corner, the sofa pillow with a pulled thread. Nothing that renders the piece unusable or unsafe, mind you, just something perfectly imperfect.

Me? I’d be rummaging through the box or bin for the one object in the whole selection that WASN’T slightly crooked or smeared or cracked, but apparently not Jackie.

What’s more, Continue reading Delighting in the Perfectly Imperfect →

Community, Uncategorized

When the Circle Widens

July 29, 2014 Diane Rivers 2 Comments

I’m not kidding when I say there was a glow in the room. My neighbors had invited my daughter and me over to meet their new grandchild – their long awaited, breathlessly anticipated, deeply adored grandchild. They knew how much we had been looking forward to meeting this little one and it was going to work out perfectly. Their daughter and son-in-law would be there with the baby all afternoon. I could hardly contain my excitement.

She was everything we thought she would be and more. Beautiful, angelic, perfect. That is the absolute truth. But what impressed me even more than the preciousness of this child Continue reading When the Circle Widens →

Christian Life, Faith, Single Parenting, Uncategorized

The Tiny Pink Suitcase I Can’t Put Down

July 21, 2014 Diane Rivers 10 Comments

The truth is, I don’t really know what was going on. I witnessed a small drama and, as we are all inclined to do, I overlaid it with my own narrative, which may or may not have been accurate.

Here are the facts, no interpretation or assumptions. Just what I saw. You can decide what you think was going on: Continue reading The Tiny Pink Suitcase I Can’t Put Down →

Christian Life, Faith, Single Parenting, Uncategorized

A Question My Grandmother Probably Didn’t Ask

July 13, 2014 Diane Rivers 6 Comments

Miss Ruby – as my grandmother was known to her friends- was a hardworking, dignified Southern lady. Her husband (my grandfather) died tragically when their children were very young. She raised my Dad and my aunt as a single parent, working two jobs, opening her home to boarders, and selling cakes and pies she baked from scratch.

She had a lot of wisdom and wow, was she resourceful! But I can’t imagine she had the luxury of choosing the ideal timetable for any of the major decisions she had to make. She couldn’t take extra days or weeks to consider her options; she had bills to pay, repairs to make, kids to clothe and feed. I expect she was in survival mode much of the time. Continue reading A Question My Grandmother Probably Didn’t Ask →

Christian Life, Faith, Uncategorized

Are You Fashioned for Joy?

June 28, 2014 Diane Rivers 12 Comments

I came across a Gaelic prayer this week that began: “As the hand is made for holding and the eye for seeing, you have fashioned me for joy.” Have you ever considered that? That you are “fashioned for joy”? Is it really possible God intentionally designed and crafted us for joy?

Sometimes it sure doesn’t seem like it.

If the prayer were true, joy would be as foundational to our daily experience as our hand holding a morning cup of coffee or our eyes seeing the hour on the clock. Joy would be natural … and obvious … and so automatic as to barely require thought.

And yet.

There are people in my life – not just acquaintances but friends – who are battling fear-inducing, seemingly insurmountable challenges: treatment for a life threatening disease, a child’s mental illness spiraling out of control, deep betrayal, job loss, marital breakdown, incarceration. These dear people are experiencing life’s lowest blows and I wonder, how are they to find or exude this joy for which they were created? Continue reading Are You Fashioned for Joy? →

Christian Life, Faith

The common thread of a strawberry moon, good news, and playful orcas

June 21, 2014 Diane Rivers 4 Comments

It was Friday the 13th and even with all the lights out, the night sky glowed brightly. The moon – tinged a slight pink – had silently crept above the horizon. Its scattered light through the atmosphere at such a low angle made it look gigantic… and caused me to gasp. It was so astonishing, my first inclination was to call someone – anyone – on the phone and say, “Quick, look out the window! You have to see the moon!”

~~~

Three of my friends became grandparents this month – two for the first time, one for the second. With each birth, our social media network caught fire almost immediately with the good news of healthy babies and happy new parents. And the pictures – lovely, poignant images of precious new lives and smiling, exhausted young mothers – made me tear up every time. Within the circle of friends and families, the news went “viral” and we were all charmed.

~~~

My sister and brother-in-law went whale-watching in the Pacific Northwest this week. To their delight, two magnificent orcas breached right next to their boat and then swam under the bow and out the other side. A fellow tourist caught it all on her smartphone and air-dropped it to my brother-in-law, who emailed it to me that night. It was – in a word – spectacular. In the background of the short video, I could hear the people chattering excitedly and squealing with joy. How could they not?

~~~

In every scenario above (and others that may have come to your mind as you were reading this), the joy and excitement of something unusual, miraculous, or simply stunning prompted a desire: I have to share this. Continue reading The common thread of a strawberry moon, good news, and playful orcas →

Diane Rivers

The Giant Kid at the Bus Stop

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The Lesson in the Peeling Wallpaper

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When This Is the First Prayer of the Day

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Floating in a Sea of Icebergs

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Delighting in the Perfectly Imperfect

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The Tiny Pink Suitcase I Can’t Put Down

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Finding Joy in a Workaround Life

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