Notes from Nicole

In highschool one of my favorite classes was etymology. Etymology is the study of words; their origin and meaning. I have always found it interesting, especially when it comes to phrases that americans use often. Such as; "Don't put the cart before the horse" or "The early bird catches the worm." One phrase that I do not like to hear, especially if it is being used to desribe me is "worry wart." Now in my defense I come from a long line of worriers-if there was a desease or natural disaster about to occur then I guarantee you that someone in my family was going to be effected by both! I remember growing up and my mom would get so worried when one of us kids was sick. We were not only on a first name basis with our pediatrician, but also all of the staff that worked in his office! Now, I will admit that when I became a mother I did tend to worry more about my children if they didn't feel good, but I tried not to rush to the doctor for every ...

I sometimes help to lead worship in our church service and I am always anxious to see the expression on the faces of the people in the pews when I ask them to "Please stand and join me in our next song." Some of them look really enthusiastic and ready to sing God's praises and some of them look like they may be plotting some slow, agonizing torture for me if I ask them to stand up one more time. And some of them, believe or not look like they just can't get themselves excited about singing one more song for crying out loud! I can mentally hear them saying with that monotone voice of Fred the Baker in those old Duncan Donuts commercials, "Time to sing a song...." To be fair I think all of us have felt this type of discouragement as we live our daily lives. We could say "Time to get up again" or "Time to go to work again" or even "Time to go to church again." Anything that is routine can become monotonous, even worship. Oh...