Snippets of life

"you can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you." — Frederick Buechner

This world is made up of little snippets of life....the life we live every day, made up of moment upon moment, memory upon memory. I look back at 20 years aghast, because I really don't know where it has gone. Time is passing by.......sometimes so fast it makes my head spin.
 
Writers and photographers feel a need, sometimes an urgent need to capture these moments of life, all the joy and beauty and pain, lest they be lost forever. Others live them as deeply as they can, so that the memory and the goodness can be taught and lived and passed on to others, like living beacons of wisdom, they catch life like a spark catches a dry timber. Others seem to glide by life and never notice anything....they remain untouched by it all.
 
Sometimes we think we see a glimpse of the future and we don't much like it, so we hastily immerse ourselves in the past or get real busy in the here and now. I got a little taste of this the other day at Border's standing in line along with all the other book lovers to cash in on their misfortune. I looked around and suddenly I thought of a world with no bookstores and I shuddered. Is this our future? Is Barnes and Noble next? A tremor went down my spine.
 
What kind of a world would it be? No public place to go to sip our coffee, cozy up by the window with a stack of books, sharing our treasures with friends. If that were gone, a very important part of our community would be lost. But then, a flicker of hope. Maybe this will be good for the little used bookstore on the corner.
 
Maybe this will bring the independent bookstores of my youth back. Well, I can dream can't I?
 
I don't think this would have impacted me like it did, except that I just finished a book called The Last Christian. The year is 2088 and everyone lives immersed in virtual reality, hooked up to what they call "The Grid." People don't travel much, they all schedule meetings in VR anywhere they choose. They don't read real books, the access them on the Grid.

They think this life is great, but they are all empty, joyless, for they have also eliminated God in this world they have created. They are much too advanced for God, you see.
 
Well happily, I can say that we are not there yet. Most of us are still immersed in the real world in all its glorious and living color. And God is still very much alive to many Americans, thankfully.
 
Yesterday was a strange day. I felt like I was walking around under a lid of oppression. I felt exhausted and mentally drained....worn out. I am worried about my Mom, who had another possibly cancerous growth removed from her leg. I automatically think the worst, knowing her brother died of melanoma. It makes me think of all the years I have been away from her and I wonder how much time we have left.
 
Yet I rejoice in what I know to be true, He has plans for us......and they are all good. "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

and not only that..........For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

I love that, only the King James uses the phrase "sound mind."
Hope is alive in me because God's promise gives me a whole future of sound minded days......starting today.

From Religion to Relationship

'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20

Christianity was never about religion but relationship. Even before Christ came to earth we had God reaching down to Abraham and Sarah, before that we had God creating Adam and Eve and placing them in the garden. It is always God who makes the first move.

There is a point where we stop trying to spin all the plates and live up to what we know we never can, apart from Christ. That is where we invite Him in........That's where it starts. So many times I ask Him to assist me in doing what I have no business doing. God doesn't want to assist us in anything...

He wants to live His life out in us..................Through the Holy Spirit! That's the Aha moment of the Christian life. That is what makes it so vastly different from anything else.

I can call upon my Father at any hour of the day or night and I know He is always listening......because I'm His child. What Father wouldn't?

This morning as I carried my coffee (His Blood) and my scone (His Body) out to my prayer room, I had communion of a different kind. Remembering what He did on the cross, that's what communion is. This is my body, broken for you......a prayer of Thanksgiving from my heart to His.

Sometimes the elements look a bit  different, but really, isn't it our intent He looks at?  

"But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Jesus valued relationships above all. He put people over religion every single time. That's what got Him in trouble with all those religious folk. Jesus broke molds right and left while He was on this earth. He not only broke them, He smashed them to bits.

He talked with women, met with sinners, ate with people from across the tracks. That's the God I love.

And if you answer His knock, I can promise you won't be disappointed.

photos taken in Twain Harte, California
bottom: My brother Ron and daughter Lauryn

Drawing from the Well

"But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

What a wonderful thing to have memory.......it is our well-spring that we can draw upon again and again. I think if we counted the times during the day that we dipped into it, we would be surprised, since it is not really a thing we count....

We think of times well-spent and our memory bank is always adding up as the new slide in with the old and they all become part of who we are.....the good ones tend to override the unpleasant ones with enough time and healing.

But if I lost every scrap of my memory today........God would keep me, I know that. For He has hid His Word deep in my heart...... I would have the wellspring of His water that never runs out to draw from. I have Very God living in me which will carry me into eternity, along with all that is me......

was me, and will be me.

Everything I am is kept safe in Him, for He has promised that, so there is nothing to fear, not Alzheimer's.....or cancer....or old age, or anything else........"and we have a priceless inheritance--an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay." 1 Peter 1:4

I really don't know how it would be to lose my memory, my mind.....living with someone with Alzheimer's has made me ask that question. It must be terrifying, I really can't imagine it. I hope I never have to find out. But one thing I know.

When I have the water that always quenches, it will be more than enough.

thankful for feeling better today, almost over my cold......thankful for two specific things that happened yesterday, one the direct result of prayer.....thankful for days off to re-energize......for God who never gives up on me, even when He sees my inside my heart, it still doesn't faze Him.....wonderful memories of a great Birthday week.....appliances that keep right on going through the stifling heat of summer....my first cuppa joe in the morning.....people who speak wisdom into my life....the memory of sand in my toes.....and being splashed my precious niece.....#701-711

Join the Gratitude Community here and add your list to Ann and others.......

All Creatures Great and Small

What a wonderful treat it was to come home from work last night and watch my first installment of this series that I remember so well. I used to watch it on PBS years ago. It is so very different from anything you see on TV now.......I smiled when I heard the theme music and saw the old clunky cars and English country roads.

The series is based on James Herriot's years as a country vet in Yorkshire, England. It was so much fun to see James bump into Helen, his future wife soon after he got off the bus after arriving at his new destination fresh from college.

I heartily recommend it! Pop some corn, get some drinks and settle in. You may have to turn it up a bit so you can hear what's said more clearly. Some of those accents are pretty thick, but you have to hear what they say to get the nuance of the humor.

Well, that's all I have for now.

Hope you are enjoying a blessed Sunday!

Lori

Simply Thankful

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15 

This little dove doesn't have to try to be a dove, she just is. She sat there looking at me as I rounded the corner one morning, just being herself, doing what doves do. I think she can teach me a lesson on just being. Being who God made me and resting in the Holy Spirit. With Christ reigning in my heart I don't have to work at getting peace, I already have it in Christ. I need to stop working at it and rest in who He is.


There are so many things trying to rule over our hearts these days, things that threaten that peace......but when I close my eyes and know, really know, that Christ is ruling my heart, I feel myself calm, then my heart starts to beat with His. I am seeing turbulent waters grow calm. I think of how He smoothed out the waves that early morning in the boat.....I hear Him say...."Peace, be still......" to the waves and to my heart.

One of the best ways to feel at peace and to honor Him is by giving thanks. When I give Him my gratitude, I acknowledge where the blessings come from. So today I offer up my list of little things, which are really not so little at all.

I have almost made it through the last of my 12 hour shifts this week feeling under the weather. That was my goal, to finish out the week. I have four days off to look forward to. I had a good night's sleep and that makes the day go much better. I know I will get better, and there are many who won't. I have food, and I have free fruit and drinks all day here at work. All these little blessings are what some would give anything to be able to give to their children.

I know God appreciates it when we stop and realize how rich we really are.

I think of the conversations I have had in the past two weeks, some with family and some with friends who are going through very hard things. One thing stands out. One very important common denominator.

In spite of everything, they hold fast to their gratitude. They are thankful because they know that with God they have it all, but without Him they have nothing.

The Human Condition

I was swept along by a terrible dust storm last night after fighting through my 12 hour shift with a head cold. I was literally running down the hall trying to make it to the bathroom to the kleenex box by days end. Then, I had to go back in after I got all the way out to my car because I forgot something in the fridge at work. Part of dinner, actually. The picture above is one that was posted all across the country after our "big" storm on July 5th. I found it on a Google search, and it turns out this one came from "The Ecuador Times," of all places!

Last nights storm wasn't nearly as bad since I did have visibility on the freeway, but you have to be aware of debris hitting you. Birds were trying to fly and being carried off course....and when I was almost home I noticed a dust cloud, we call them "dirt devils" touching down on the freeway, right in my path. I watched the other cars (Yes, I realize this is faulty logic) as they cautiously drove through, and so I figured it was safe enough for my little bug, which holds the road like a tank. I gripped the wheel, all the while visualising my bug and me being sucked up into the vortex like Dorothy.

Once on the other side of that, the rain started along with the wind......along with a healthy amount of lightning striking all around. Meanwhile, I had used the last of my Kleenex and was resorting to my sleeve to catch drips....Ughhhh!

I looked to my left off the freeway and noticed smoke. I followed it down to ground level and it led to flames which were shooting through the roof of a house! I could see them even from the freeway. I assume it was started by the lightning. I could see the lights of Emergency vehicles already on the scene. I said a silent prayer, hoping that all had gotten out safely.



I was starting to feel like I was driving home in the middle of a disaster movie!

I thought of it all, the little and big things we go through in a day and how much of it would really matter if someone told me I was terminally ill. I also thought that I would probably treat the people in my life better if I were terminal. See things a bit differently.

So many times I feel like a kid trying to work up tears when I commune with God and tell Him I'm sorry for mistreating one of His people. I want to be so sorry that it motivates me to change.....Sackcloth and ashes kind of sorry. The kind that leads to repentance and doesn't ring hollow.

This is the human condition. The thing we all have in common. And the things that we have in common, also have the power to bring us closer together.

Help me Lord, to treat my friends, my family, myself better. To treat my friends like treasure instead of trash, knowing that each one you brought into my life, you brought there for a reason. Help me to love more. Turn my heart of stone into one of flesh. Help me to treat others as better than myself and to not be afraid to be honest. To myself, and others and You. And help me to remember that we are all weathering storms of some kind, help me to be sensitive to that and keep my heart ready to listen. Amen

Fig Leaves and "Jersey Shore"

"This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:22-24

I kept seeing snatches of things on the internet yesterday and I didn't know what it was all about. Then the Christian radio station was talking about it as I was heading in to work this morning. From what I gathered, Ambercrombie and Fitch is a bit nervous because they feel that a certain star might taint their image, and they want to pay him off to stop wearing their clothes.

"Abercrombie & Fitch, the clothing company, is offering "substantial payment" to Mike (The Situation) Sorrentino, of the show Jersey Shore, if he will stop wearing A&F attire on the air. "We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image." Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/

Now, I have been in Ambercrombie and Fitch before and I have seen the ads. They do have a really great fragrance there that I have bought several times. But they don't exactly send forth what I would call a "wholesome" image on their billboards and commercials, so my question then is this: "Just how raunchy do you have to be to have Ambercrombie and Fitch reject you for fear of sullying their image?" I have never seen "Jersey Shore", but in light of what I have seen on TV lately, nothing would surprise me.

The radio commentator had a good point and that is my whole reason for bringing this up, because I loved what she said. The gist of it was this, "Aren't you glad that God didn't say to us what Ambercrombie is saying to this actor?" In effect:

"You are just too rauchy for us! Go somewhere and disappear, in fact, we will pay you to do just that!"

Instead, He sent His Son so that we could attain righteousness through Him. Christ has become our righteousness! We don't have to bother holding up our fig leaves to God, no matter how beautiful or elegant or creatively we make them look. He always sees right through them.

I still try to trot them out once in a while, wave them in front of His face...... But no matter how much I try to fool Him, I realize again that He sees my filthy rags for what they are, an effort to save myself.....a poor substitute for Jesus, my bread of life. What beauty is in this plan......Only God could initiate such terrible beauty.

Over and over again, He brings it home, and home is always Jesus.

Over and over again, I celebrate the joy of this Communion here where I sit, where I walk, where I drive.  I don't need the elements to be thankful, feel the magnitude of what He's done.

Like a gift that we lift out each day, still shiny, still new.
 
Like stepping back into Eden all over again.

Image of fig leaf from google images