Marriage Counseling should teach...

you how to deal with the real issues of living with another person.   With the divorce rate steadily increasing, standard marriage counseling just doesn't seem to be working.  I realized that perhaps they are counseling us on the wrong issues.  They talk to the couple to advise them on how to nicely work through the major issues (according to them) of marriage such as where to eat holiday dinners, how you will spend your monies, how many children to have and when to start having them, etc.  But if you think about it, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinners come but once a year; children either arrive or they don't; and you either spend your money or save it. Period.  Now the day to day living, that's another thing.


Take for instance, do you like the shades up? or the shades down?  

Or possibly a little of both?

Both of these are varieties that my husband randomly uses; I myself prefer both shades up so I come along behind him and open them all the way.  This is a daily occurance in the Harding household!

Or if you have mini blinds:  do you open  them straight, slanted up, slanted down, or raise them?  (that's 4 choices for your window treatments.  With 365 days a year to contend with this issue, it is obviously much more important than 3 yearly holiday dinners)

Again, I prefer my blinds both up or at least both opened.  I like a lot of light and could give a hoot if someone decides they want to look in and see me in whatever attire I happen to be in doing whatever it is that I do all day long.   Therefore the blinds are opened twice every day in the Harding household - I wait until he is settled in his easy chair watching the morning show and then I go around the house and REALLY open all  the shades and blinds.


Do you squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom? the top? or the middle?  That is 3 choices x 3 times a day  x 2 of you x 365 days EVERY year - obviously the shear numbers of this make it much more important then whether you spend a few dollars on Starbucks coffee everyday when he prefers to save money).

I was horrified after he borrowed my toothpaste
and returned this mangled thing.  

                                                                                   

Yep, this is how my tube looks (all the way to the end of it) when only I use it.
Then I cut the bottom off to access the rest but alas that is a story for another day!!

 Do you like the toilet paper to roll from the top or the bottom?  (Not even gonna guess how many times a day this could annoy you)  Actually I'm just glad when he remembers to put a new roll out!!  Do you want the toilet lid/seat up or do you prefer it down at all times?  We have a double sink in the kitchen.  To me that means a clean sink (on the right) and a dirty sink (on the left).  When I wash a few items I place them in the clean sink to air dry while other dirty dishes go in the left sink.  My husband just sees 2 sinks....need I say any more?  But these are not the things you discuss in marriage counseling so we dig our heels in and let them know that our way is the right way and they need to change.  Instead of drying the few clean dishes and putting them away before he puts dirty ones on top of them, I  have to let him know that he messed up my clean dishes.  These every day, all day long, little nuisances that drive us crazy are so soon what we define our marriages by.  How do we learn to live in peace and harmony with our soul mates you ask?  It is a trick that I don't profess to have conquered yet; but I 'm trying.  I thank God for him when I am correcting or fixing what annoys me.  So when I'm opening the blinds, I thank God he got up before me to let the dog out; when I pick up the wet bath mat, I thank God he likes to be clean; when he asks to borrow my toothpaste, I thank God he still has his teeth and a cute smile and I give him his very own tube that I have stashed away, and when he puts the dirty dishes in the sink, I ... . shoot, I just said I haven't conquered all these annoying things yet!!  

A Lifetime of Wishing....and the Four F's.

I have spent a lifetime of wishing.  Wishing we didn't move every time I finally made a friend (every 3 years almost to the month).  Wishing my brothers and father didn't pick on me until I cried.  Wishing I didn't "think and process" things so differently from everyone else.  Wishing if I was just perfect, then everything would be OK.   Heck, that was all before middle school even hit!  Wishing my nose was like my brother's - the girls I thought were my friends told me (in the halls of high school, a little too bit too loudly) if I had his nose on my face, I'd be pretty.  When he wasn't interested in them, I found they weren't really my friends, but the message had stuck.  Wishing I made better choices with boyfriends. Wishing I had not made that painful decision at 19.  Wishing I had made a better choice for a husband, the father of my children.  Wishing I was more organized.  Wishing I could just "fit" into a group, any group, just once.  Wishing I had a bigger family.  Wishing I could have stay married to my 1st husband because he did have a big family - loads of aunts, uncles, cousins (they were Italian – what do you expect!).  Wishing that divorces never have to happen.  Wishing people didn't hate me "just because..." Wishing that learning disabilities didn't have to be passed on to the next generation.  Wishing the affects of emotional or physical abuse didn't have generations of affect.  Wishing I had gone to college.  Wishing that I wasn't so stubborn.  And most of all, wishing I had more...  More money, more house, more friends, more - well you get the picture.

Today I had a meltdown and as I call it, a God slap.  You know them.  He taps you, He nudges you, He whispers to you and you ignore it, until one day - BAM, right across your very soul - it happens; it hurts; you get it.  You get what He has been saying.  What He so patiently has been trying to get you to see, or learn, or do.   This week I was making the food for the Teacher's Appreciation Room and, boy, were they appreciative.  So the ego was swelling, the "I've got to top last night" was flowing, and my arm was breaking from the back patting I was doing.  And then right there, in my kitchen, it happened.   In the middle of the oven filling the house with smoke, the pasta boiling over on the stove, me realizing I was not going to be able to make the treats I had planned - 2 words in HUGE black & white letters in front of my face - SELF WORTH.  You see, I had been taking some pictures of the cooking messes for a blog and thought "Oh, I don't want to post pictures of my small kitchen, without granite countertops, or solid wood cabinets, or porcelain sink or upscale appliances or ceramic tiles, ...  Because what only a few know (because it would be just too embarrassing to voice out loud), is how inadequate "circumstances and things" make me feel.  In other words, where my self-worth gets all mixed up.

God has been patiently trying to get me to learn my worth in His eyes.  That He created me just the way He wanted and for the purposes He needed me to fulfill.    So remember the "wishing I wasn't so stubborn" comment above?  This is where that comes in.  I have been in and out of my "Job" mode for years.  I have identified with Job, lamented with him, cried with him, and found peace through his ordeals.  Each painful time, thinking I had learned my lesson.  But I hadn't.  God has spent years slowly peeling my layers of dependence on family, friends, and monies away.  Yet each time He lovingly gives me a chance to heal and hopefully have learned.  I haven't.  First the nice house went and we had to downsize when we moved to PA and then again to VA.  God did bless us with a nicer, albeit smaller house in VA, but could I be satisfied?  No.  Family that speaks to me? - down to Skip, Katy and my Dad.  (About 3 years ago He did bless me with a new mom and along with her came a sister I never had, a great brother-in-law and a just perfect niece)  Blew that learning experience too and now I'm 4 hours from the sister and family and over a 1000 miles from my Dad.  Finances?  Every time we get a nice nest egg, you got it, something major happens.   Friends?  Yep, over 4 hours from the first really good friends that I have had in many many years.   So, here I am, in rural Virginia with no neighbors (within hollering distance), no real shopping places (except Walmart & Food Lion – both places I was boycotting at different points), no real entertainment (except Friday nights at the Ruritan Lot in Callao for the church softball game!) and no boat (you can only enjoy all this water if you have a boat, have a friend with a boat, live on one of the rivers, have friends that live on a river, or – well, you get the picture).  God has me pinned and no where to turn but up.

But what I do have is Faith - and a giant helping of it too.  Faith in an awesome God that loves me and only wants the best for me.  Faith in Jesus, a man that thought I was worthy enough to hang on a cross and die for.  Faith in Grace, the grace God gives me even though I don’t deserve it.  Faith in the knowledge that as long as Jesus is personal to me, I will spend eternity in a place that nothing, nowhere, or no one on earth could ever even come close to.  And Faith in His peace, a peace that passes all human understanding.
 
I will cling to Job’s story – 42 chapters later, we learn that he was given much money, a gold ring, 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 2000 cattle, 1,000 donkeys, fathered 7 sons, 3 daughters, lived 140 years after his trial, and long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Personally I could skip the animals.  Second thought, I do love to hear a donkey bray, just not so keen on a thousand of them!  Well I don’t want to complain or tell the Lord his business, but I wouldn’t be so thrilled about 10 more pregnancies in my 50’s either!!

I said “I get it” but I am far from understanding it, personalizing it, and living it.  I covet all your prayers in this new leg of my journey.   I really want to get it this time.  I am down to the bare bones of family, friends, finances and possessions and don’t care to have any more layers peeled.   So I will cling to the end of Job’s story and all his blessings.  I will work hard on changing my mantra from “wishing and hoping” to more “trusting and obeying”.  God bless each of you that have been on, are now on, or will be joining me on another path towards my journey Home!!!   

If wishes were horses, beggars would be riders

words of wisdom from one of my soul-mates  - love ya Lisa!

You asked for it; you got it - my first ever blog!

Not having a clue how to blog, or why someone would want to read my blog (blog just reminds me of Charlie Brown's teacher talking) I still went ahead and created a blog.  Well, it's actually creating itself because I can't figure it out and my daughter won't stop laughing in order to help me.

Not having a thing to write, worthy of your time to read it,  I decided to Google my name.   I have never cared for my name and tried desperately all my life to get a nickname.   My best friend in younger years was also a Cheryl Lynn but she was lucky enough to have the nickname Cheri.  I tried hard for years to only answer to Cheri but it didn't work, they talked to me even if I wouldn't answer.  Our favorite pasttime in 5th grade Sunday School was to take turns answering to Cheri/Cheryl to confuse the teachers.  Ahh, the joys of being 10!!  I have had a few nicknames throughout the years but none that have ever stuck.  The first one I can remember was from my older brother and I won't be posting that one.  The next was from my younger brother and 2 of his friends and it wasn't much better.  They later became his wife and my first husband.  Thank goodness the name died with both of those romances as Dingy just isn't one of my favorite names either.  The other one I had for awhile was from my funny husband (who is also my present, last and forever husband) and it was Skeeter.  Aptly named because I was always buzzing around and annoying him.  Since he hasn't called me that for a few years now, either I'm no longer annoying, or he has gotten used to it (I'm pretty sure it is just the later).  He likes my name and thinks it's pretty (just like me he says!).  The way he says my name when he speaks it with adoration; is pretty.  Unfortunately I can't say it in writing for you to hear it and enjoy it also.  The next time you see me, if you really want to hear it, I will attempt to imitate him.  I can also imitate lots of things I have annoyed him with too should you need a few extra laughs.  However, when he is annoyed with me, it comes out completely different and I am back to not liking my name.   So by now you are probably tired of my ramblings about Cheryl, and wondering, just what does it mean.  Here you go:

1. French: Beloved
2. English: Bright
3. English: Charity

So I guess my husband is right, the name is pretty and it does have nice meanings.  It took me close to 50 years to stop trying to be a perfectionist and now that is all blown.  With a name like Cheryl to live up to, I'd better get busy and figure out how to be,...well, .....   Cheryl!  Or perhaps someone can just come up with a nice funny nickname that already encompasses who I am and I will be forever eternally grateful!