What did you just say? Mash-up?

Don’t you just love that word? Conjures up all kinds of mind boggles right….or not. I just love the sound of it, the inflections you can throw in there, how it just kinda rolls of your tongue. You tried it, right? Got ya.

I first heard of this word when listening to a post by Pastor Louie Giglio of Passion Church when he did this awesome science/creation piece based on one of the psalms that talked about the stars  and the animals of the deep praising God! It was amazing, listening to the recorded sound waves coming from those twinkling lights in the sky. Then he added the sounds of some whales talking, then dropped in a Chris Tomlin song on top of it all  and wow….just wow!

As explained in the dictionary: a mash-up is something created by combining elements from two sources…..such as a piece of music created by digitally overlaying an instrumental track with a vocal track from a different recording OR a movie or video having characters or situations from other sources.

I got thinking about us …. my kids, my dad and the uninhibited joy we all get from dressing up!  We can definitely “create some combined elements”.  I don’t know when it all started but as I look back through family pictures and look at the ones we post on Facebook there is always one of us clowning around …. bringing laughter to the environment we are in.  It’s the one thing that keeps us together, even though we live in different US states and other countries.

As far back as I can tell, my dad started it!  Come on now, he just won best male character dress up at a 60’s/70’s dress up party he went to at the retirement village where he lives!!

I followed in his footsteps and taught my kids to do the same. From impromptu dressing up as little kids, to vacation bible school, skits and just because we can and want to moments. It all lays in that innate ability to laugh at ourselves and make others laugh with us in the process. You should be with us when we have those rare moments of all being together – I promise you will hear the laughter being belted out and see the tears roll as I go into my silent, laughing to hard to breathe mode!  It’s the simplicity of  truly loving and enjoying one another.

It is an overlay of who we are as individuals and the combined element of who we are as a family …. one child who was adopted out, who found us and was embraced into our hearts and lives, one child who came from a broken marriage and who became the focus of doing life together as just the two of us,  one child who was adopted in and now lives nearby with his family,  and the two who came from a second marriage, that was founded on acceptance, love and a forever commitment.

As I think about that word mash-up, its who we all are.

Each of us created individually and perfectly from the combining of  two elements – the desire of our Creator to love and be loved.

It doesn’t get any better than that.