Madly in Love

Today Diva gave her peers a glimpse into our kooky family dynamic by leading a devotional that she authored entitled "Be the Ketchup."  Bless her heart.

Two-thirds of Team Moppins does not enjoy sauce on their food.  For example, I am the only one who eats salad with dressing.  The exception to the no sauce preference is ketchup.  Engineer insists that the only reason he eats fries is as a vehicle for ketchup.

Shortly after moving to Clear Lake, the three of us were in the car talking about our previous moves.  We were discussing how we could see why God had us in certain spots at certain times. 

Hindsight being 20/20 and all that jazz...

We could see how He impacted our lives directly, how sometimes He used others as His hands and feet to shape our circumstances, and how other times we were used to impact the lives of those around us. 

It was recalling the instances where we had been blessings to others that the idea of "being the ketchup" was hatched.

Engineer and I cited the many times Diva had been called out as a particular blessing to a child that needed a friend or to an elderly person who needed to feel loved and special.  Diva has a gift for befriending the lonely, for seeing the overlooked, and for embracing the quirky.  She has been a safe-haven and a source of joy for people of all ages since she was very young. 

Diva & Engineer continued with times where, looking back, I was the one strategically placed to be a blessing.

To those people, we were the ketchup in their lives - the extra ingredient that made their lives a little easier to swallow.

Engineer expressed that he felt like he was never the ketchup; he felt like his only contribution was that his job was the reason we moved every time.
 
He didn't see how important he was; but, how could he not know that he was the fries!  It was by his means that she and I were where we needed to be when we needed to be there. 

And besides, if there was ever a time when Engineer was most certainly the ketchup, it was in Bossier City.
 
After our conversation months ago, we have used the term "be the ketchup" as a call to action.  It is our reminder to be a blessing to those around us and to be obedient to the still small voice who gently nudges us in a direction.

As Diva gets out of the car every morning for school, I tell her I love her, to have a nice day, and to be the ketchup...which has caused more than a few strange looks from passers by in the carpool lane.

1-4-3 EM & DM for being my ketchup.