It\u2019s New Year\u2019s \u2014 my least favorite holiday next to Sweetest Day. The pressure for profundity is overwhelming, so I celebrate John Denver\u2019s birthday because I loved him and he fills me up with joy. And it\u2019s just too soon to talk about Carrie Fisher in public without becoming a teary and snotty mess.<\/p>\n
So, in honor of John Denver, I\u2019m thinking about the things I love this new year and there is no greater place to look than my refrigerator. We do not have a tidy refrigerator. Pictures, magnets, report cards and chocolate are scattered all over (don\u2019t ask about the chocolate, but it involves a sweet daughter trying to encase balloons in chocolate as a gift and surprisingly they exploded every time, so it\u2019s now a kitchen encased in chocolate).<\/p>\n
I love the pictures of family and friends who remind me on a regular basis that we are not alone. Even when dinner is late and the refrigerator seems bare, there are folks who surround us with their love and help us stay sane.<\/p>\n
I really love my magnets. Since most of them are gifts, they reveal the fact that my friends love me as my twisted, little self. There is a bumper sticker that says, \u201cJesus loves you, but I\u2019m his favorite.\u201d That is my favorite line when I am hot at cribbage. When I\u2019m losing I might say pastoral things like, \u201cEverybody hates you.\u201d <\/p>\n
The others are also filled with pithy wisdom:<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t had my coffee yet, don\u2019t make me kill you,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t scare me, I have children,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSpoiler alert: Everybody dies.\u201d<\/p>\n
And one of the greatest insight into my loves:<\/p>\n
\u201cI love poetry, long walks on the beach and poking dead things with a stick.\u201d<\/p>\n
I do love poetry; I just bought another collection of Billy Collins poetry and my beloved bought me a book of Jimmy Stewart poems. Wow. They all rhyme and make me smile like one does when seeing a doily.<\/p>\n
I love long walks anywhere, but beaches are fabulous.<\/p>\n
And there is something delightful about chasing children around with a dead critter. That is slightly different than poking it, but directly related. I have been caught inspecting dead varmints and scat with sticks. May I never be too busy or grown up to stop being curious.<\/p>\n
My list of loves would be long and weird, but that is what makes it feel like such a blessed life. My faith is not in beauty or comfort or fancy refrigerators, but my faith and hope is in the eternal love I see lived out in Jesus. <\/p>\n
I fall in love so easily. If it is beautiful or disgusting, complex or simple, scary or comforting, then a part of me has been brought to life that was dormant. I don\u2019t need New Year\u2019s to think about starting new; nearly every time I open my eyes, ears, nose, mouth or hands I am startled by a new love.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m starting to sing, \u201cYou fill up my senses …\u201d Be glad this is written and not radio.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tari Stage-Harvey is the pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s New Year\u2019s \u2014 my least favorite holiday next to Sweetest Day. The pressure for profundity is overwhelming, so I celebrate John Denver\u2019s birthday because I loved him and he fills me up with joy. And it\u2019s just too soon to talk about Carrie Fisher in public without becoming a teary and snotty mess. So, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32516"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}