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Susan B. Arico

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Embracing adventure; wrestling the soul

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Susan B. Arico

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Hard + beautiful = this life

May 10, 2017 Susan Arico

Hard + beautiful = this life. This is the equation that's been kicking around in my mind this week. Sometimes people project only the beautiful... especially in our shine-it-up, every-share social media world. And sometimes they feel quietly consumed with hard.

I thought about this as I read I Don't Want to Know, a post addressed to "moms of the internet" on the new mothering collaborative, Kindred Mom. (If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out- a site full of real, relevant articles by thoughtful moms.)  

"I don’t want to know how awesome your life is," writes Noelle Rhodes. "I want to know that your two-year-old had a tantrum after you told her she couldn’t eat the cookie batter. I want to know that your children read for about 5 minutes before one of them jumped on the other one’s head and tried to blame the whole scandal on the dog. I want to know that your living room only looks that lovely when you are taking a picture for your Instagram."

Man, does that resonate. I'm glad she said it. The curated images we see of each other's lives are gorgeous, and we can often feel a scrappy shambles by comparison. S c r a p p y.

I live on glorious Crete, and you'll see my Instagram feed full of pretty images. This is on purpose: I capture and share glory as much as I can... part and parcel of the beauty-seeking life. By searching out beauty, holding it close, praying thanksgiving for it.... I seek to expand it in my messy heart.

But I'm with Noelle; we also so much need realness about the hard. We need it for friendship and truth and encouragement. We need it more than ever, as the media-saturated world skews our sense of what's normal. We have to hold both realities in our hands - the hard in one hand and the beautiful in the other. We all get them both in this life.

You know something about my hard. Acclimating everyone to life in a new country. Wrestling front-end loneliness. Grappling with health challenges. Caught bewildered in the headlights of an unanticipated parenting challenge that's constantly taking the wind out of everyone's sails. The past year's certainly been harder than I expected, harder and scrappier. I write in part to be real about this stuff... because soul-wrestle, nobly undertaken, is the most honest form of living I know.

I'll skip pictures of my house at its messiest and my kids at their fighting-est (although there could be plenty of those, if I'm honest). Instead I'll post a few shots of Crete - not the "hard" exactly but basic, real, un-dolled-up. A snapshot into the daily. 

These moments of our lives, these scenes - in my place, in Noelle's, in yours - they're part of the fabric of glory. Even the part Noelle described (and I didn't show at my house, though I could have) of one kid jumping on another one's heads.  

The glory's the invisible but realest real part of the equation. Hard + beautiful = this life (and glory). Amen

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In Greece, Parenting, Culture Tags hard life, scrappy
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Hi! Susan here, writing from Greece about adventure (living it) and soul (wrestling it). On a journey to do both well. Thanks for joining!



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This coffee bar.
A lot of things happen here.
Free drinks are prepared for guests
Hands made of hospitality work the controls
And warm mugs of kindness are passed out.
-
Some offer a cup of cold water in His name; these people offer hot coffee.
And every week they come - to drink the coffee…
To take a shower. To charge their phones.
To wash their clothes. To pick up some new clothes. -
-
On the door sign: “Freely you have received, freely give.”
This what they do, day in and day out.
A rest stop for the weary. A modern-day watering hole.
-
Each week I leave inspired
To give as freely as they do. ☕️ -
#lovewell #justserve #faithjourney
The land is rocky, like it’s looking for the willing. The persevering. The sure-footed. 
Those that traverse her trails gain her tranquility... and her window seat onto the  beauty of the blue, blue Med. -
#greece #themed #wildandfreechildren #outsidefamily
In the early 1900’s, Scotland sent one of the first vessels down to Antarctica to explore and research. The ship was the RSS Discovery, and it sailed from Dundee with Captain Scott at the helm. -
-
Yesterday we visited the Discovery, now more than a century old, and studied these famous pioneers up close. It was a great spot for kids to catch the spirit, and to enact the bravery and adventures the explorers lived. -
-
And, bonus— dress-up included. -
#wildandfreechildren #liveyouradventure #travelwithkids #travelscotland
These two share a name (a name that means “light”), and too they share a contagious energy, a zeal for life. -
-
One of the absolute gifts in a traveling life is the chance to connect with dear ones in far-flung places... Often after many years apart. -
-
Until this week in Scotland, these two had never met. Now they are fast friends. And watching our old friends bond with our young children is a unique and precious joy. -
-
As reminisce with our friends about our times together and share stories about what God’s done in our years apart... His weaving through the fabric of our stories shows itself. In hints and strands. -
-
It’s so powerful. -
#travelingfamily #expatliving #tendthesoul #scotland_ig
Nearly 1,000 years ago this cathedral was built. And it’s construction took nearly 100 years. -
I first visited it when I was 21, a student for a year in the UK. Half my life ago... and yet a drop in the bucket for these ancient stones. -
And it didn’t fail me: it was as majestic, as moving today as it was then. 
I’m glad she got to see it.
-
-
#saintandrews #scotland #liveyouradventure #mothersofdaughters #instatravel #travelwithkids
Castle-dwellers. -
#stirlingcastle #scotland #travelscotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
You leave your beachside island home one evening, and the next morning you are walking across snow-laden heights in wintry Scotland. 
This is the wonder of the modern world, truly. 
#liveyouradventure #scottishhighlands #travelwithkids #snowkids
His body was broken for us,
His blood was poured out... Unto his death. 
But then—
He was dead no more. He rose!
And we with him. 
Hallelujah. 
#happyeaster
Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows... The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. -
~Isaiah 53

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