Madelyn came running into our storage-room-turned-church-office to let me know she was in the HOUSE. Her energy and excitement in the moment is on my daily to-do list. I want to live life with THAT passion wherever I am at.
I asked Madelyn what she thought her word for 2017 would be. We briefly talked about RDC’s series, “Word.”
*Take a moment at the end of the post to see more about our series and our awesome scrabble table in Cafe Red.
I used the example of the word, “joy,” which is written in unique ways throughout her home. I thought for sure she would say, “joy.”
She is her own person. Her word?
YAY.
Love it.
The thing is . . . she often asks me to tell the story about her “yay day.” Madelyn was only two; however, she had a definite opinion about how a day should go. The story revolves around a ten-dollar-kid-blow-up-pool. I had waited until July to buy one.
To know me, is to know that I’m not a shopper. Part of my problem may be the lack of strategy of the “when” and “where” to purchase items. Apparently, July is not the best time to look for a cheap plastic pool.
I would normally advise against taking a two-year-old on a shopping hunt, especially when it’s obvious the item will be hard to find.
BUT.
Madelyn was invested, withstanding the agony of shopping without results, pressing me to go further until we had a pool in our possession. She cheered me on by responding to everything with an enthusiastic, “yay!”
We finally found one ten-dollar-kid-blow-up-pool in the depths of the clearance aisle in the last of the three Walmart stores we visited. Madelyn led the victory chant of “yay” the whole way home. Her energy and excitement was more than contagious. I wanted to win the world with her.
My enthusiasm deflated somewhat when I realized there were three chambers which required air in order for the pool to be usable. It appeared to be a losing battle–one chamber would lose air as I attempted to pump up the other chambers with air from my lungs. Cheap is not always the best way to go.
Madelyn had the best idea ever.
Call Papa.
I called my “will do” guy.
As the Old King James Version of the Bible often says: IT CAME TO PASS . . .
“YAY DAY.”
The lesson of the story:
It’s important to live with daily enthusiastic and energetic passion, pursuing whatever needs to be accomplished with the wholehearted belief that it will come to pass.
I think a year of “YAY” is awesome–Kerrie
*The concept of RDC using one-word for 365 days is to be used as a key in strengthening an individual’s management of life, deepening marriage and family relationships, and producing discipline as well as passion. The one-word is a prayer in itself, one that leads to the best story, provides guardrails to what belongs and does not belong, gives reason to do only what matters, and produces daily inspiration.
We set up a “red-door table” across from the coffee stand in our Cafe Red with scrabble letters for a fun and unique experience to focus on a word as a take-home reminder. I think adults need to have some unique and fun moments at church. Coffee. Scrabble. Right?
Written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
