Category Archives: Musings of a blonde brain

The hardest part about seasons is when they change….<3

Empty Nest, Encouragement, Musings of a blonde brain, Relationships

 I am writing to you from Atlanta, Georgia this morning…how odd is that?

Back when I was a young girl with all kinds of possibilities swirling around in my head for what I wanted to be when I grew up, I thought being a buyer for a store sounded like an amazing job. Being paid to shop?

Yes, please. 

I also thought being a stewardess sounded ideal because, again…paid to travel?

No brainer.

Or a teacher because my stuffed animals made great students as I stood before my little chalkboard in the basement and handed out assignments.

But my heart’s deepest desire was to be a wife and a mom and to maintain a home and God gave me that, while allowing me to work part time jobs here and there that have given me much fuel to entertain you.

He also allowed me ample shopping for groceries and kiddo’s clothes and such.

 And I have been blessed with so many travel opportunities without having to push a drink cart down a narrow aisle.

Although I still wistfully envy watching them gracefully point out the exit doors, emergency lighting down the center of the plane and demonstrate how to put on your oxygen mask.

All that being said; here I am, a few days away from turning 61, experiencing what it is like for someone to be a buyer for a store.

I have been given the opportunity, this late in the game, to accompany my dear friend and “boss” (she laughs when I call her that) on her annual buying trip to the Americas Mart. 

And let me tell you…

I thank the good Lord He didn’t answer my whim to do this full time for some department store many years ago.

He knows me and… while this has been a wonderful experience and so interesting and fun and yet definitely hard work… I think how much I would have missed as I watch full time buyers making selections for their stores and I think of the pressure this kind of career has brought on them.

God wired them for it, bless them…but this lady right here is thankful for her smaller town and time to ponder and study and the way God let me teach.

Not in front of a chalkboard in a school house though.

God allowed me to fulfill that dream on Sunday mornings in front of a variety of adults at my church for so many years.

And now that season has come to an end, my friends.

Last Sunday I let those who attended know that I will be stepping down from teaching our class as of the end of summer.

Years ago the pastors asked me to come up with a name for the group that showed up to let me facilitate their learning and since we were meeting in a room where the equipment for a renovations project was stored, I said we were the “Under Construction” class. 

I liked it because, while it did describe our classroom full of ladders and paint cans, it also fit my philosophy about this Journey…we are all works in progress…God is continually refining us and making improvements to fit us to look more like His Son. 

This little blog grew out of a weekly letter of encouragement I sent by email to a few people. It grew in number over the years as it would get forwarded and people asked to be added to the list.

Those will continue as will this blog, because I am not finished encouraging those who God might send my way <3

If you attend our class (or ever attended over the years)  and were not there on Sunday, please know how deeply loved you are and how thankful I am for each one of you.

You were more than just someone who sat in a chair for an hour and listened to me ramble…you are an extension of the Body of Christ and an answer to prayer that God could use someone like me and I am so thankful that you are part of my story and allowed me to be part of yours. 

You are my family and my friends, my brothers and sisters. 

Group hug and I will chat with you next week..

because for now…

I have miles to go…

literally…

before I return to this room tonight to sleep <3

If you struggle with analysis paralysis… <3

Empty Nest, Encouragement, Musings of a blonde brain
www.laurareimer.net

I am in the holiday mood, how about you?

I love the Fourth of July for so many reasons and the fact that we had a son born on it may just be #1 on the list. 

We have big plans to paint our fence and then grill out because nothing says celebration quite like painting a fence, right?

So as long as I am asking questions this morning to an unknown group of people who will not even be answering me back…do you have trouble making decisions?

I do. 

My indecisiveness can be paralyzing. 

Choosing a restaurant, an entree, a paint color for the fence…these are not life and death decisions and yet I can stew over them for far longer than the results merit. 

Often I google a menu ahead so that I am prepared when we arrive at the table to just order the thing and be done with it. 

I defer to others when it is a group selection by saying I don’t care, because I really don’t.

Please remove the stress for me and just make the decision and let me know where and when. 

But some decisions in life are ones I must make for myself and they do change the trajectory I am on and have a ripple effect on the lives to those interconnected with me on the journey. 

Knowing which direction to go involves a process of prayer and pondering and more prayer and more pondering and in this I have found a little life hack, I guess you would call it, and so if you are like me…here is my helpful tip gleaned as I get a wee bit wiser in my latter years.

When I am trying to decide what to do in a situation that calls for action on my part…after I have overthought every possible aspect of every single option…I allow myself to pretend like I made a decision. 

I choose one option and then I let myself be in that choice for a bit…kind of like acting like I have made this be my choice for the situation.

If you are one who struggles with severe indecisiveness, this is something you will want to ease into the first few times.

But just for a little while, act like you are committing to one of the scenarios open to you. 

Try it on for size and see how it would feel if you made that choice. 

I am not speaking of moral things here…I am talking about things like taking or leaving a job or making a major purchase or renovation or expanding on something you are already doing…taking the next step in a ministry…that kind of decision.

I find that this exercise helps me move out of fear and into a place where I can more realistically view the consequences of a particular decision. As I try it on for size, I often find a hard no or a feeling of peace that this is the way to go even as the challenges are still clearly seen as possibilities.

For those of you who are shaking  your head wondering why I even need to practice this, thank the good Lord for wiring you to be a person who can make decisions quickly and efficiently. And please, for the love of all things good, use your talents and gifting in this area to make life better for people like me. 

If you are nodding your head in understanding, God bless you. 

I feel you.

Maybe we could meet for coffee sometime…but you would have to pick the location…and time…and maybe order for me…

Bless you! 

Have a great Fourth!!!! 

Of baby birds and empty nests and such <3

Empty Nest, Encouragement, Musings of a blonde brain
www.laurareimer.net

We had a sweet weekend. Traveled to Des Moines for a wedding on Russ’s side. So fun to watch him reconnect with his cousins. 

In the midst of the reception, it was bittersweet as I realized we are the generation that is left standing. 

All of our parents are gone and it sure puts you in touch with how fragile life is when you realize you know how the game ends. 

This morning we got a picture on our family What’s App from John showing his ankle wrapped in a bandage. 

Turns out last night he had a spill on his bike and through texts conversations with his sister, who we all turn to for medical help, he ended up going to Urgent Care and got stitches. 

First I heard of it was the pic this morning. 

And it’s odd to know that all of this happened while I went about my business last night of pulling the house together to start a new week and brushing my teeth and doing my stretches, completely out of the loop. 

But isn’t that what we want as parents?

That our children can take care of themselves and that they have each other to reach out to when and if needed?

I don’t feel hurt or rejected or ignored. 

I feel grateful for how God gently pried my hands off of them over the years.

I feel thankful that He continues to teach me how be the parent of adults. 

I don’t always get it right. 

But neither do they. 

Nor does any of us. 

That’s what grace is for. 

Grace leaves plenty of room for us to err on the side of love and lots of space for growth. 

Happy Monday….what are you learning about grace this week?

What’s bugging you?

Musings of a blonde brain
www.laurareimer.net

We have had quite a summer.

Besides the erratic weather patterns that have ranged from cold and damp to hot and humid all sandwiched in between rain, rain and more rain, we have had more travel than usual and are experiencing the beginning of many a year of summers with a calendar packed full of ball games like in the old days of our own three young’uns.

I had forgotten how delicious concession stand popcorn and sour punch straws are. 

At the end of May I mapped out some goals for June, but as I look at the date this morning I realize I am having to release a sense of unmet expectations. 

I don’t do this easily, as my people who are closest to me are painfully aware of. 

I wish I was more flexible and easy going, but I function better when things go as expected.

Which happens rarely in life, or had you noticed…

This morning as I was trying to dry my hair and get ready, a huge fly appeared in the bathroom and began buzzing about.

It didn’t seem to like the confined area of the bathroom we were sharing and somewhat like a fighter jet, it zoomed around the room with it’s odd whirring. I got a towel hand so I could swat it when it landed.

We have all dealt with flies and so you can guess that this clever pest would only land in impossible to swat places. 

Every time the room became quiet, I would search for the tiny intruder and find him wedged between bottles of lotion or underneath the rim of the shower door. 

Satan is called the Lord of the flies and I certainly don’t have to ponder much to think why he would be given that title. 

This fly had no power to harm me and yet he was destroying my morning with his incessant dive bombing around my head.

He seemed to know exactly how to irritate me and lure me into thinking I could stop him only to cleverly escape time and again. 

Flies don’t really bite me and I have much more working to my advantage than a small black bug that I can squash with a piece of mesh stuck to a stick…but he certainly wreaked havoc on my mood as I tried to get ready. 

It took a great deal of effort on my part to just ignore him and complete what I had set out to do. 

Satan is evil and he is the motivator behind all that is evil in this world.

He hates God and so he harasses and abuses His children because as any parent knows…if you really want to hurt someone, go after their son or daughter. 

But he is smoke and mirrors. 

He has no power that is not under the power of God and nothing he hurls at us can remove us from God’s love, care and purpose for us. 

So if he is bugging you today, stop focusing on his distracting nastiness. Spend your mental energy on meditating on the greatness of your God, not on the peskiness of your nemesis. 

Blessings <3 

Maybe if we would all just slow down….<3

Cuba 2018, Empty Nest, Encouragement, Musings of a blonde brain
www.laurareimer.net

I know I am not alone in noticing something about our current culture because I have many conversations with people. People I know and total strangers because for some reason, I seem to be a magnet for people to tell me what is on their mind. 

There is a kind of accelerated pace in our world today and high levels of stress and frustration that are acted out in all manner of behaviors. 

And nowhere is this more evident than along the highways, interstates and even the streets we navigate to get across town. 

I spend a lot of time in the car, and more and more I am alarmed at the way cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles weave in and out of traffic and run red lights. 

It is nothing to see a light turn yellow a fair distance ahead and as cars slow to prepare to stop, another car coming from behind will gun it and pass under a fully red light. 

There are, I am sure, times in our lives that warrant speeding but I find it hard to believe so many people these days are experiencing increased urgency in situations to get to their destination.

On the interstate, cars appear out of nowhere and blow past us. God forbid we are only going the safe seven mph over the speed limit for they will ride our bumper in the passing lane until we can get around the car going fifteen under. 

So much anger and angst fueling vehicles that are propelling down roads at the endangerment of themselves and others. 

And it can make my blood pressure soar and my own heart constrict and yet, I know I appear the same to other more slow-moving vehicles at times. 

God calls us to be different and move through life in such a way that we stand out…not because we are faster and more powerful and wield the most intimidation. 

No. 

In the midst of all the forces that are exerting copious amounts of energy to be #1, we are to be quietly and purposefully exalting the Only One.

It is a temptation to try and beat, defeat, or at least compete with all those around us.

It is a grace gift to run the race at our own pace.

Take a deep breath. 

Live counterculture. 

Follow Christ with your whole heart <3