To Email Anything Less Than My Best: Part I

First things first: this was not the post I intended to publish in November. However, that original story is still days from completion — and, though I tend to finish these posts in the eleventh hour, I awoke this morning with the unfortunate certainty that I simply couldn’t get there from here. 

Several factors contributed to this failure:

• My normal procrastination of blog writing. (I rarely even start before midway through the month, so it’s always a race to the finish.) 
• My sudden contraction of a nasty cold, which has left me embarrassingly enervated and has only exacerbated my insomnia. (Needless to say, not the ideal writing situation). 
• My daughter’s awful sleep over the past several days. (She has the same cold — in short, when she’s up at 3am, I’m up at 3am.)
• Finally, a surprisingly large load of non-blog-related writing tasks, which all came due at the same time. 

That last one actually inspired this stopgap post. This morning, I wondered, What can I publish before the end of the month? What’s already written? 

The obvious answer was, Well, something that I didn’t originally write for the blog — which encompasses a lot of content. 

However, not all of that content is suitable for reposting on Trying My Breast. In fact, of my auxiliary writing jobs, only one fits the following criteria: 1) not overly specific, 2) written only by me, 3) lengthy enough to generate an entire post, and 4) interesting (ish). That one job is this: writing the emails for my local MOPS chapter. 

MOPS (“Mother of Preschoolers”) has a silly name but an admirable mission: to bring together and encourage mothers of children too young for elementary school (so, not just “preschoolers”, per se). I joined the Golden MOPS group in December 2018 (when Borealis was ten months old) and volunteered for the leadership team in March 2020 (right before everything shut down and made leadership a lot harder). I finally took over the email account in July 2020, and I immediately set about making my mark on our group’s communications for the 2020-21 MOPS year. 

Even within the first few months, I got a surprising amount of positive feedback. This was exhilarating, but also terrifying. It meant that people were actually reading my emails — an eventuality that I somehow hadn’t expected. (I had only ever skimmed the emails of previous MOPS years.) In short, it basically meant that this was another venue in which I would be judged for my writing — and that meant that every message became a serious writing assignment. 

Thankfully, I usually only send two major MOPS communications per month — but to meet my expectations, each of those emails requires hours of work. They have to be organized, but not too skeletal; funny, but not too extraneous; conversational, but not too verbose. Essentially, each missive becomes a mini blog post. Thus, as with [almost] every blog post, my MOPS emails start with some sort of cute/clever/creative anecdote. [Note: Because MOPS is a Christian organization, these introductions are heavily geared toward a religious audience.]

…which brings me to this post. In terms of quickly generating a stopgap piece, it’s hard to think of a better option than simply compiling a bunch of prewritten mini blog posts (i.e. the introductions to each MOPS email — specifically from this year, because they’re better than the ones from last year). Yes, this is obviously a riff off Blast from the Past… but along those lines, I feel like reposting this content is a good way for me to expand the audience of my carefully crafted MOPS emails, which are otherwise read by (at most) several dozen people. 

Call me narcissistic, or call me lazy — just don’t call me a bad writer. (At least, not to my face.)

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Summer 2021

July 30

First of all, I apologize for my tardiness in sending out this email, which has been on my to-do list (in some form or another) since February. Y’all should fire me as the email lady… although I have this weird impression that no one else wants my job, so I think I might be safe for now. 

Regardless, I am remorseful for the delay, and am reminded once again that we must look to God to “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom [and that we may send emails out on time]”. (Ok, so maybe Moses didn’t originally include that second part in Psalm 90:12.)

August 8

Is it just me, or is August 2021 shaping up to be the busiest month ever!? (Well… maybe not ever. But the busiest month in a while!) In between kid stuff, work stuff, housework, and yard work, I feel like I’m drowning in… work! 

So, it’s during these times that I’m comforted by the knowledge that God created work before sin entered the world — which means that “work”, in its purest form, is actually good! Of course, it doesn’t feel like that when I’m wet-vacuuming human poop off the rug. 

Nevertheless, at the end of days, Jesus will “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5), and that renewal will include my work… and hopefully also my rug. I encourage you to look forward to a time when all of your toil will be turned into joy!

August 20

Here’s a bit of personal trivia — today is my grandmother’s 81st birthday. If she were Moses, she would now be one year into a forty-year trek through the wilderness south of Israel. However, she’s not Moses, so she’ll just spend the day at her retirement home in Florida. 

Even so, her age is a reminder that God is never done with us — no one is too old (Moses, Sarah, Abraham) or too young (Jeremiah, Josiah, Timothy). It is a weighty thing to realize that God expects obedience at every age and stage of life!

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Fall 2021

August 28

I have an exciting update about our first gathering — but first, a brief word about the day on which that gathering falls. This year, September 7th also happens to be Rosh Hashanah — more commonly known as Jewish New Year or the Feast of Trumpets. In the Jewish calendar, this celebration kicks off the autumnal holidays (which also include Yom Kippur [the Day of Atonement] and Sukkot [the Feast of Tabernacles]). 

But as “ancient” as Rosh Hashanah is, it’s still important to understand its meaning, today. In Old Testament times, the feast was celebrated with joyful shouting, blowing of trumpets, and fellowship. Now compare that to 1 Thessalonians 4:16 — “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” 

You see, God has always urged His people to look forward with hope, and on this side of the Cross, we know the promise of that hope: a Conquering King, a renewed earth, and resurrected loved ones. And that is why Rosh Hashanah is important. That hope only becomes sweeter and truer over time. 

Whew! <wipes tears from face> Alright, back to MOPS stuff. 

September 5

Another piece of personal trivia: Labor Day is my family’s biggest holiday. We’ve attended the Labor Day Liftoff for as long as I can remember, and there’s a sad truth about viewing hot air balloons year after year: eventually, they get kinda boring. Sometime in my teens, the balloons lost their near-magical glamour, and they became for me just another fact of science. 

That is, until my kids were old enough to appreciate them. Now, as I see the hot air balloons through the eyes of my son and daughter, they are once again new for me. So big! So colorful! So magical! 

The kingdom of heaven is the same way. Over years, our eyes can be dulled to the glory and power of the Gospel. To renew our gaze, we need youthful wonder to supplant our “mature sophistication” It’s not for nothing that Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those with childlike faith (Matt 19:14).

Is there anything beautiful in your life that you’ve allowed to become ordinary? Reexamine it with the perspective of a child. God has given each of us more blessings than we could ever identify. [Note: This is an indictment of myself, not anyone else.]

September 20

It’s hard to believe that our first MOPS meeting is finally upon us — and on the final day of summer, no less! 

This season has been one of new growth for my family — literally. We finally installed aboveground irrigation, by which our longtime dirt patch magically burst forth into bloom! (As an aside — if you watched me sort through this packet of wildflower seeds last winter… it’s worth noting that I gave up and just sowed the mixture directly into our garden.) 

In addition, we removed a young linden tree from a neighbor’s property (since it was “blocking their view” and thus slated for destruction), and successfully transplanted it into our own backyard. We added to that a maple and pin oak from the end-of-season Home Depot tree sale, as well as numerous baby oaks that I salvaged from my favorite park in OKC and from a [different] neighbor’s property. 

And yet, despite all this life and growth, I know that winter — and the potential death of these plants — is just around the corner. Most of the wildflowers are done blooming, and bellwether trees are just beginning to change. It won’t be long before our yard is barren once more. Sometimes, there is nothing we can do to preserve life on earth… but that’s not the case for the undying word of God, which is preserved forever.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, 
But the word of our God stands forever.”
— Isaiah 40:8

My plants will fail, but His word never will! 

October 3

I hope that you all are enjoying the arrival of autumn! Our little family got to celebrate the start of this season in a very special way: all four of us were part of my brother-in-law’s wedding yesterday. (My mother helped — a lot.) 

Beyond my role as a bridesmaid, my (now) sister-in-law asked me to do a reading. I expected that they would choose 1 Corinthians 13, or even Ephesians 5 — so I was quite surprised that the section was John 15:9-12, which is part of Jesus’ discourse with His disciplines on the night He was betrayed. I won’t paste in the entire segment, but here is the final verse: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Now, admittedly, this sounds lovely in application to marriage — until I remember that Jesus’ love was sacrificial, to the point of death. At that point, this verse no longer sounds lovely: it sounds more like a standard to which I’ll never live up — especially since this commandment was not given in the context of marriage, but in the context of the Church in general. 

And, the truth is, in our own strength, we can absolutely not live up to this standard. However, we don’t have to do it in our own strength! This commandment is not couched in terms like “just try harder” or “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”. Instead, it’s preceded by this command: “Abide in My love” (v. 9). It’s not our strength or love; instead, it’s Jesus’ strength and love, flowing through us, when we remain focused and rooted in what He has already done for us — not what we “have to” do for Him. 

(I’m sorry, I know this intro was quite long, and I promise I’ll go back to shorter ones soon.) 

October 17

I hope that this email finds you well, and that your family is enjoying this relatively mild autumn. By now, the Colorado Front Range normally would have had its first fall frost — and I, for one, am glad of its delay. 

The extra weeks of warm weather are a boon for my first-year perennials, which are even now striving to put down roots and build up their crowns for next year. In a similar manner, we ought to take every opportunity to be “rooted and built up in Christ” (Colossians 2:7). Spiritual winters are not nearly so predictable as seasonal winters; therefore, in the spiritual “good times”, we should prepare our defenses for the spiritual “bad times”. Let’s be spiritual perennials, not spiritual annuals!

October 31

(Following our involvement at our host church’s Halloween carnival)

I am pleased to report that the MOPS station at FBC’s Treat Street was a rousing success — especially the “Free Stuffed Animal” table! Thank you to everyone who donated stuffies.

Droves of children entered our room empty-handed, but each left with a smile and a new (or gently used) cuddly toy. In so facilitating, we followed in the footsteps of the Early Church by coming together to share our possessions and “divide them among all, as anyone had need” (Acts 2:45)… although, admittedly, we have no conclusive record that the believers in Jerusalem were known for sharing their stuffed animals. (Ok, so maybe it’s a bit of a stretch.)

November 14

Here we are: after Halloween, in the last few weeks before Thanksgiving-Advent-Christmas-New-Year’s — which is, of course, more commonly known as “the holiday season”. (I swear, they felt like distinct holidays when I was younger!) 

This brief interlude can carry with it so many emotions: joy, excitement, nostalgia, sadness, stress, etc. For me, November is always accompanied by a feeling of preemptive defeat — but not for the reasons you might expect. I don’t worry that I’ll disappoint my family at Thanksgiving. (Because I already know that I’ll disappoint my family at Thanksgiving.) Instead, I worry that none of my newly-planted flower bulbs will bloom in the spring. 

I always buy my bulbs super late — because that’s when you get the best deals (if not the best selection). But, then I’m left rushing to stuff them in the ground before a hard freeze! I never plan my time quite right, and that’s how my last six dozen bulbs are still languishing aboveground halfway through November. (I’m gonna get them planted tomorrow… I hope.)

Ah well. Hopefully they grow — but if they don’t, then it’s just a reminder that “the grass withers, and its flower falls away [or completely fails to grow], but the word of the LORD endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25) How wonderful that we can build our lives on something more reliable than clearance bulbs and Colorado weather!

[Author’s Note: Oops — I totally quoted the same verse (but the Old Testament version) in my September 20 email.]

November 28

(One of the slew of writing tasks that made this stopgap post necessary)

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you thanked God for the many blessings that He bestows upon us. 

It’s impossible to be adequately grateful for all of those blessings — or, really, to be adequately grateful for any of them — but I’ve lately been meditating on the supreme grace and sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9, our salvation is an unearned gift; “not by works, lest anyone should boast”. (Or, as this Gen Z translation renders it, “Not by getting that bread so noobs can flex”… whatever that means.)

December 5

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, the theme for which is “love”. [Note: There is some variation in the themes, depending on the calendar. I’m going off of the MOPS International Advent devotional, which is definitely worth perusing.]

I think everyone agrees that the word “love” is overused these days — so much so that it’s hard to even come up with a good (i.e. Biblical) definition! That’s why I love Paul Tripp’s simple explanation: “Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.”

Who is the ultimate embodiment of this love? Jesus Christ, of course — the true reason for the season. In eternity, every believer will be fully conformed to this ideal image (Romans 8:29); but for today, let’s examine our earthly love relationships and see if there are any small steps we can take toward better living out this perfect version of love. Do I need to be more willing when I care for my children? Am I withholding affection from my husband because he’s not reciprocating? How can I better seek the good of my friends?

So, this Christmas, let’s ask Jesus to make our love look a little more like His. 😊

December 19

This is a friendly reminder that our MOPS group will not be meeting this week (Dec 21) or the following week (Dec 28). (And, in fact, we won’t be meeting the following two weeks after that either! But don’t worry, I’ll send a separate email to remind everyone of our January schedule.) We hope that you all enjoy a beautiful Christmas with your families, and that — surrounded as we are by holiday lights — you would be reminded that Jesus Christ is “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9).

On another note, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you find yourself in need of some extra support this season. Just because we’re on a break doesn’t mean that we can’t put together a Meal Train for you! As individuals and as a group, we desire to discern and meet urgent needs (Titus 3:14) — so please assist us in identifying those needs. 😊

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[Author’s Note: So there you have it — an entire semester of MOPS email introductions. They made for a halfway decent post… in my opinion, at least.

If you don’t agree, then check out the story that I had originally intended to finish this month: How Mario Boosted My Mom Game. I think you’ll find it to be a much more “normal” post — or, at least, as normal as this blog gets. 

Oh, and if you did like this post, then make sure to read its sequel.]