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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Living Free. (#Write31Days)

October 28, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 17 Comments

27/31 (#Write31Days)incourage_LetterpressBlocks_img17

In 4th grade, I came home breathless and excited, clutching a blank permission slip and desperately hoping my parents would go for the tennis lessons I wanted. It was the very first time I remember wanting to do something. My mom was hoping I would take piano, like my best friend Heidi, but she agreed to talk it over with my dad. I sat across from both of them feeling nervous and a little giddy that they might just say yes.

Finally my dad said, “Ok– but you can’t quit. Once you start, you have to finish out the year.”

I nodded vigorously and started to picture myself as the next Jennifer Capriati. (Minus the hours of community service she “earned.”)

My mom tried gently one more time, “Are you sure you don’t want piano lessons? Because we really can’t do both..” 

I shook my head no and a smile crept across my hopeful face.

“Okay.” Dad said. “You can do it.” And that was that, I jumped up, gave quick hugs, and excited “thank you’s” and ran off to locate my favorite scrunci and slouchy socks just in time for practice the next day.

****

If you’re wondering why I’ve never mentioned my tennis career, there is a very good explanation. It was terribly short lived. About 6 months later, the school had to plow up the tennis courts to make room for more parking and they never were re-built. So that was that.

So here I am, a non-tennis playing Minister’s wife– who consequently doesn’t know how to play the piano, either. HA!

At one point I asked my mom why she let me take tennis lessons on my own little whim, and I’ve not forgotten what she said, “Because we really didn’t know who you would become– and we wanted you to be free to decide. 

Free. That freedom means a lot more to me now that I’m 32 and a mother myself.

At the time, I was the 5th in a long line of sport-playing, tuition-check needing kiddos– and somehow they sacrificed yet again to allow me the FREEDOM to begin to figure it all out with a Jr. Tennis racket and a pair of shiny white keds.

And by the time those tennis courts were nothing but a parking lot– I had gotten it well out of my system, and they didn’t care one bit.

They let me stretch my wings a little, and it taught me a lot about freedom — and being who you are.

****

Fast Forward to a couple of years ago when our little family blog was the exact spot where I wanted to spend more time. I wrote as often as I could, and it made my heart beat fast to edit, edit, edit and then finally press– publish. The more I wrote, the more I loved writing.

And when I sat down with Lance and told him how I longed to be… an actual writer– he said this, “Go for it. I think you should.” 

And I felt it all over again, that exhilarating breath of air that comes when the people we love the most create the space for us to thrive. The space for us to continue growing, all throughout adulthood to change and become more of who God made us to be.

He is continually doing a new work in us, giving us fresh life and fresh opportunities to grow and serve Him better. That fresh bit of life brings great Freedom as the seasons of our lives change bit by bit.

I hope that our children grow up with the same space around them that I did. The same space I live in today– the space to become– whatever God has created them to be. 

So naturally, when Dayspring asked a few of us what “word” would be special to us as a family, I chose Free. Namely, Free Indeed.

FreeIndeed Letterpress blocks

Because, if the Son has set us Free–(and He has!) than we are Free indeed. Free from the chains of our sin and self– and Free to grow in Him and in this life He has blessed us with.

The gorgeous letterpress blocks can be completely customized to whatever word, phrase or verse is special to you and your family. The fun part is, you can go to their website and play around with the tool to see exactly what your blocks would look like!

incourage_LetterpressBlocks_img05

“The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8: 35, 36

 

**Dayspring is sending me a $25.00 credit in exchange for my honest and heart-felt opinion of these letterpress blocks. I actually won my words, Free Indeed during a Twitter party for #Allume, and the blocks are just as beautiful in person as they are on the site!!

Chicken & Rice and Post-Partum Depression
Allume Moments (2014)

Comments

  1. Blonder than I pay to be... says

    October 28, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    This really made me smile! I literally had perma-grin while reading…Ok so I have it a lot but this even made my heart happy 😉

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      October 28, 2014 at 4:30 pm

      Hahaha- you know what got me, your, “blonder than I pay to be!!!” Girl. Me too! <3

      Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      October 30, 2014 at 4:15 pm

      Remember, A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman— Read it girl!

      Reply
  2. Blonder than I pay to be... says

    October 28, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    This really made me smile! I literally had perma-grin while reading…Ok so I have it a lot but this even made my heart happy 😉

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      October 28, 2014 at 4:30 pm

      Hahaha- you know what got me, your, “blonder than I pay to be!!!” Girl. Me too! <3

      Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      October 30, 2014 at 4:15 pm

      Remember, A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman— Read it girl!

      Reply
  3. Amy W says

    October 31, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    Popping in from the link up…. Beautiful Word choice and love your back story.

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:34 pm

      Thank you, Amy!

      Reply
  4. Amy W says

    October 31, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    Popping in from the link up…. Beautiful Word choice and love your back story.

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:34 pm

      Thank you, Amy!

      Reply
  5. Lovely Letters says

    November 3, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    Cynthia,
    This is a beautiful and inspiring post. I can never be reminded enough that I am truly free. God loves us with no strings attached and will meet us where we are at. Thank you for that much needed reminder.
    ~Lovelle from DaySpring

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm

      Hi Lovelle,
      So glad you stopped by! Amazing how we all need to be reminded, and so glad we have this space to offer that remembrance to one another. It truly is a gift worth giving. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Lovely Letters says

    November 3, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    Cynthia,
    This is a beautiful and inspiring post. I can never be reminded enough that I am truly free. God loves us with no strings attached and will meet us where we are at. Thank you for that much needed reminder.
    ~Lovelle from DaySpring

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm

      Hi Lovelle,
      So glad you stopped by! Amazing how we all need to be reminded, and so glad we have this space to offer that remembrance to one another. It truly is a gift worth giving. 🙂

      Reply
  7. jo says

    November 4, 2014 at 10:21 pm

    Lovely post!

    Reply
  8. jo says

    November 4, 2014 at 10:21 pm

    Lovely post!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 31 Days of Writing Free in October | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    October 28, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    […] 27. Living Free […]

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will co Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will continue to sigh into in ‘21.
Baking sourdough, watching it bubble and rise and fill our BlueHouse with the scent of a good, long, posture of patience— I absolutely need a second serving of this.
While we wait, and whatever it is that we wait for— may the space between be made sweeter by the knowledge that we never wait alone.
You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapp You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapped this photo was somewhat of a regular day.

What looks like a winter beach vacation was actually the tail-end of a masked lunch stop in the middle of a pandemic road trip.

This sparkling moment of sun-splashed fun was sandwiched between brutal conversations about regular life, especially the hard parts.

And this is how it is. 
These bits of life that we never see coming, they are enveloped between all that makes us tired, weary, sighing pilgrims in a world that was never really meant to be hospitable in the first place.

This photo reminds me to look again at our year, our season, our circumstances.

To look a second and third time.
To keep looking as long as it takes to see that the joy of our right now isn’t gone, it just might be hiding in the shadow of all that’s hard.

Brokenness is never vague. And we don’t have to search very long to see it both within ourselves and around us.
Sometimes the weight of that fact is crushing.
And then, sometimes it reminds us even more clearly of the light shining in darkness.

Joy is an act of defiance against despair and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather defiant at the moment.✨✨✨✨

@hopewriters #hopewriterlife 
#feastingandforaging #hopelenses #getaftergrateful
Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially if what we’re called to be about is the same as yesterday and last month. 
It’s difficult to meet each day with the same fervor and joy for what we are called to do, especially when at present, the progress seems small and immeasurable. 
But even then, perhaps especially so — our faithfulness matters.

When we cannot yet see the other side, the light at the end of this particularly long tunnel, we begin again.

Not because we will always wake with fresh energies and bright, sparkling hope for what comes next, friend. But because the God of Endurance (Romans 15:5) dwells within us.

“It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what he calls you to be and do what he calls you to do between this moment and the moment when you cross over to the other side. When difficulty exposes the weakness of your resolve and the limits of your strength, you do not have to panic, because He will endure even in this moments when you don’t feel able to do so yourself.” — Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

#hopewriterlife
Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for paper towels... especially if the store is in convenient proximity to a quick date for croissants and dirty chai for two. Love my forever coffee companion even more at the start of this new year. Wherever he’s going, I’m riding shotgun.
We have learned... The inestimable value of a goo We have learned...

The inestimable value of a good camp chair, for they have been used for everything from soccer benches and coffee dates to theatre seats and church pews.

What our neighborhood streets can offer in the way of an outing—from the colors of spring to the sparkle of Christmas.

To hold plans with the loosest hands possible.

To rejoice in things found. Time. Margin. ...and enough toilet paper to share with a neighbor.

To give grace and accept it for ourselves.

The hilarious joy of a group text complete with “have you seen this meme yet?” 

To pivot. And then pivot again.

To find more joy in candlelight closer to home, instead of the bright lights of traveled cities.

To perfect our pizza dough recipe and truly learn to prefer it over dinner out.

To work with yeast and flour again and again— until the message of waiting for something really good dusted our apron fronts and kitchen floors.

And in our house, we learned how to be unexpectedly unemployed. We learned how to honor that new found space with needed grief and desired hope. How to be grateful for true friends who prayed with us, held questions with us, and hoped with us. We were reminded of our true identity and that it will never rest in a job. 

In a year in which we’ve all lost quite a lot, you and I have been given so much as well. Some of what we’ve lost we have learned to be without. Some, we won’t go looking for again.

In 525,600 minutes and in all the things, found and lost and found again— there is far and away more to be grateful for.

And we choose joy.

✨Happy New Year, dear friends!✨
Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Though the one in our rear view window is one we wouldn’t choose to repeat, still it was one full of God’s nearness.

One day I’ll write it all down.
But for now I’ll just say,
we were not alone. 🕯
“Once in our world, a Stable had something in it “Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Joy to the World, friends.
Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 desser Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 dessert ever. Made from a wonky gingerbread cake that did not cooperate.
We shall not go quietly into 2021.
We will fight back with beauty and joy and candles... and fresh whipped cream made by an eleven year old with sparkly green eyes. 🎄❤️✨
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