Holiday Speed Bumps

"Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, 'I can't help it. I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.' Jeremiah 2:25

Every year it happens. Either I am driving on the freeway or in a store and there will be a moment when I make a conscious decision not to join in the madness that seems to be picking up tempo all around me.

My heart beat slows.... I take a step back. It happened this past weekend when I was driving on the freeway and I had to slam on my brakes because people were driving even crazier than usual. I realized the fever pitch had started. Speed bump number one.

Then at the Mall, it happened again when I saw Santa's Village already set up taking pictures of the kids. I don't remember them starting that early last year. I saw Santa sprawled spread eagle in the chair looking bored to tears while the "elves" were like circus barkers trolling for customers. Really? I asked the same question I ask myself each year.

This is Christmas?  Speed bump number two.

And last night I had the mute button all ready for when the decibel level went through the roof on the commercials.

Don't get me wrong, nobody loves Christmas more than I do. I totally get into decorating the house and doing the baking, and I do love to buy gifts, but I don't go crazy.  And I will deck the halls and love every minute of it. There will be a tree in every room. In my bedroom, the tabletop Victorian, and in the office, the Southwestern tree. And Elaine has an ocean tree, decorated with while lights, mermaids, and shells. 

And in the kitchen, a tiny tree with plastic snowmen and snowflakes and other Christmasey type things. Have to be careful with that one, the lights are old and very hot and if it fell next to something flammable it would be a tiki torch in no time.

And then there is the main tree, which is a pre-lit 8 foot we found in a Costco return line one year....I am always amazed when the lights come back on each year. One year I threw my back out trying to stuff it back in the storage container. The first two sections were no problem, it was the last (fat) section that did it.

Never again will I try to do that alone.

Advent is coming.....I feel it in my heart. I am slowing down. I will make peace with whatever doesn't get done. I will not succumb to the alien gods of commercialism run rampant. I will however, enjoy every little moment God gives me before the calendar turns over yet again.

It will be over all too soon.

The Gift of Laughter

A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Have you ever seen someone sitting together in a restaurant and they look like they never ever laugh? I was blessed enough to have been raised in a household where laughter was always present. I truly believe it is one of the best gifts a parent can pass onto a child.

My Dad and I got in trouble for laughing when we weren't supposed to. My Mom used to separate us in church. Invariably we would see the same exact thing and that would start an avalanche of uncontrollable laughter. We went to a very somber Baptist church. I think they really thought laughter was a sin, and especially laughing in church.

The church I attend now, actually sometimes uses props and videos from comedians.

Sure there is plenty to be serious about these days. But there are plenty of things to laugh at as well, just look around!

My best friend and I laugh at something just about every day, though we disagree just a bit on what is funny, and I admit, my humor could be considered sick by some. I think it's funny when people fall down or trip over carpets. But only if someone doesn't get hurt. I figure if someone is doing a stunt on their own volition, then I have the right to laugh at them. Hey, I laugh when I fall down too.

Let's face it, Charlie Chaplin didn’t get to be a star because he shot out one liners, but because he fell a lot.

Humor is one of the greatest gifts God gave us. To be able to laugh at ourselves means you can shrug off the stuff that you shouldn’t waste time on, so that you can take the really big stuff that happens seriously enough to be able to get through it with grace and God’s help.

My folks have been married for 62 years are are still laughing.

I called them from work the other day and they were just coming home from having the car fixed. Instead of their Minivan they were in the old Bronco. My Mom had nothing to hold onto to get in the car so my Dad was trying to push her from behind. He was laughing, and I could hear her in the background, “just get your hands off me, I can get in just fine.” Then I heard her start to laugh. They both started laughing so hard they had to hang up.

This is why I love them, and one of the reasons they have been together so long. Young couples starting out could learn a lot from them.

Many people in the Bible laughed, and there are references about God laughing. I think Jesus must have found humor in many things on this earth. I love to think what His laughter sounded like.

Laughter is the best gift.......Share it with someone today.

Then pass it on. Counting the gifts and the promises today.......

#933-945......Laughter, birds out back in the fountain, a new artichoke, okra reaching toward sky, peace in the garden, cloudy arizona skies, watching wimbledon on a lazy morning, fresh coffee brewing, full-bodied praise, upcoming trip to see family, technology that allows face to face conversation, all my blogger friends.....

The Joy of Being Found

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

Sometimes, when I am in a forest, I like to hide behind a tree and remember what it was like to play hide and seek. The excitement of being found.........The years fall away and I hear someone say, "I found you!" We all want the joy of being found, that is, by someone we want to be found by.

Today, try being a kid just for a few minutes. Play a game of hide and seek with someone. For those of you without kids it may be a challenge, but you can do it. Let the adult world fall away for just a moment......

Rediscover the wonder of the world. Hide behind a door and close your eyes. Listen to what's going on around you, the sounds of your home. And if there is silence, breathe it in and imagine being found. Count to 50 and hear the voice you had as a child, or remember the voice of a childhood friend, brother, sister, cousin.

Then imagine being found by God.

Imagine, He seeks us. All day, everyday. Just like he met Adam and Even in the cool of the evening. He wants us to find Him, and He's not hiding behind a tree, He's closer than you can imagine:

From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:

My niece loves hide and seek now. Sometimes she forgets the rules, she wants you to hide over and over again, and it doesn't matter, to her and to me, it's the joy of the game.
 
I hope I never get so caught up in rules that I lose sight of what God wants me to know. That He loves me, and He loves being found by me, always.
 

A Roomful of Royalty

“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:18-20

As my feet hurriedly slapped down the stairs after work last night I was thinking about where to go. I had destinations in mind. Birthday business. Tomorrow is the Birthday of my very best friend, and as all best friends, I wish I could give her the moon. I know how tough this past year has been for her. There are so many things I wish I could do for her, so many things I wish I could give her......And she would deserve every one.

I thought.......She deserves a roomful of Royalty. A party to end all parties, a true celebration of her. Then I remembered that there will be a very special guest indeed. He is already making plans to attend. How could I have forgotten?.......Oh, Lord. I never want to forget you, please forgive me. The Holy Spirit, ever a gentleman, stands back and waits until I remember that He is the highest court in the land. Who else do we need?

It's gonna be quite a party indeed.

Invite Him today, into whatever you are doing. He is there in the midst of it, my friend. He is the third person at your table for three, you business meeting, your commute, your life.......

Thank you Lord, for everyday with you is a celebration.

Morning Prayer

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open  and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55,56

From my prayer journal:

Lord, how I love my time with you. Sometimes I sit out here and I feel only myself, all my thoughts, rattling around in my head in knots of confusion. My fears jangling, the world's emptiness weighing down my soul. Its hard to see you then, but I know it's all okay. I know you're still there. It's the trust you need to build in me, and the trust I need to see in myself.

And without those times of trust and patient waiting, despite how I feel........the sweetness of this fellowship wouldn't be nearly as sweet, the joy not as complete. What a reward when you meet me!

How I love to sit at your feet and dream of how it's going to be that day when finally we meet face to face. It occurs to me that maybe this enjoyment, this sweetness is all an allusion. Maybe I just don't know any better---like if I realized just how Holy you really were, are.....I could never be here like this. Then I remember what you did to make this all possible.

I remember the cross.

And I imagine what Stephen saw when He saw the Heaven opened as he was being stoned to death. Or rather, stoned to life. I think of the joy I'll feel when I look at you. My first response will be to fall at your feet in reverence, even fear. Overwhelmed by your Presence......your beauty.

Then I will hear that voice of many waters. The one I have imagined ever since I met you. I will hear the love pouring out, unbelievable love for me. And what wonder, what unbelievable rapture when I lift my head expecting judgment, yet seeing more love in your eyes that I ever knew was possible.

"The one thing I ask of the LORD--the thing I seek most--is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple." Psalm 27:4

A Song in the Night

It was one of those tossing and turning nights. I seem to have a lot of those lately. A bleary glance at the clock told me it was 2:30 AM. And faintly I heard something that sounded like a bird singing.....Singing, at that hour! At first I thought it was one of those alarm clocks that sound like birdsong. My Dad had one that went through the whole repertoire of a mockingbird. Incredulously I staggered outside into the cool night.

The stars were bright overhead and it was so quiet, except for the unmistakably loud sound of a real live mockingbird singing its heart out in my neighbor's lemon tree. It was so early the morning commute hadn't even started yet. Don't birds only sing at sunrise? This one's internal clock was surely off, I thought.

Every morning since, I have heard it. The earliest recorded time was 1:30 AM.

At first I was a bit ticked off. I get up at 4 on my work days and every hour of sleep is precious.

But today, God spoke to me as He often does in that still small way He has. He said:

This little bird is singing at my own direction, and who are you to tell it that its not the right time? When is it wrong to sing of My glory, to sing just for the sheer joy of singing. Don't I welcome any prayer, any song, day or night? Am I ever too busy to rejoice when one of my creatures is singing, do I ever turn away from your song?

And I don't know if there is such an expression of a heart that pangs, but my heart did pang as I rolled down the window this morning in the dark just to hear my little friend sing.

A tear threatened, when I thought of all the times I have squashed another's enthusiasm.....a song they longed to share, because I was too busy wallowing in my own problems to open up my heart, my ears, and truly rejoice with them.

And I thought....how I stifle my own song, how I rob someone of the joy of hearing it. Me, for thinking it's not worthy of singing. Then, and this one last thought is painful......of voices long stilled, and how I would give anything to hear them again, no matter the day or the hour.

Thank you little bird, and thank you God. For using one of your creatures to instruct me once again.....

The enjoyment of being found.....

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3:8,9

I found you! I said as I chased her around the tree and she shrieked for joy......I was playing with my niece when I was back home last. Her new game is hide and seek and she loves being found! She hasn't quite gotten the hang of tag yet. When she talks on the phone, she walks around the house and thinks I can see what she's holding up, maybe that's because she Skypes with her Mommy and sissy......And she doesn't like saying goodbye......we have that in common. She comes with the joy that is unique to special needs kids.

She is like anyone else, she loves being found, and belonging to someone. Isn't that what we all want after all? We want to feel that feeling of seeing the one we love winding their way through a crowd to meet us, just us. And then the scrape of the chair when they pull it next to you.....they are there, you are no longer alone, someone has claimed you. They know things about you that no one else does....

Sometimes we even seek to be claimed by those who really don't have our best interests at heart, but their own.

When Jesus claims us, we can be sure that He has our best interests at heart always. And He will never lead us down a path of destruction, but life, and peace. And because of our relationship with Him, we are also claimed by the Father and the Spirit!

Jesus endured that long, lonely 40 days of temptation in the desert so that we will never have to be without Him again....and those of us who live in the desert know just how bleak it can be, especially in the summer.......He endured the cross so that we can say with the unbridled joy of a child peeking out from behind a tree....."You found me!"

He rose from that awful death so that one evening not so far in the distant future, in a another place, we will be walking in the cool of the evening in a place we can can only dimly imagine, and He will be there to meet us and say, "There you are, I have been looking for you, just you."

And that time, we won't be hiding behind fig leaves........

Impossible Joy

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37

The past year is fast receding, along with all the events, challenges, joys and sorrows along with it. As I look back along the 365 days worth of everything that made up 2011, I am once again filled with thanksgiving of what He brought me through. I reflected on this one thought this morning on my 30 minute commute, as my car idled into the parking lot and came to a stop.

That in every seemingly impossible situation during the past year, impossible joy came along for the ride. In the moments of hysteria, sometimes laughter rose up beside it.

In helping my best friend deal with both parents, one with Dementia and one with Alzheimer's, I learned many things about myself, some things which were not pleasant. I learned how easy it is to love the lovable, and just how difficult it can be to love the unlovely, the unlovable. It stretches you like nothing else. Several times a day I fail miserably. But I am thankful for that too, for that is what keeps me praying.

I am amazed at what transpired, what we got done.

What He brought us through.

And I am amazed at how painful moments can recede in hindsight and the joys magnify.

Like stones worn smooth by a rushing river, He smooths us out. It is easy to forget that just like that mighty river that is flowing all around us, He is still and always, there.

Washing us clean, making us more like Himself.

All Creatures Great and Small

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” Saint Francis of Assisi

Today I honor our animal friends with a photo essay of "Briggs." I am so thankful for the joy and the laughter our pets bring to our lives, and for the comfort they so unreservedly give, expecting nothing in return. They leave their footprints across our hearts and change us for the better. I am thankful for all those who volunteer in shelters, giving their love and time and extending their compassion to all God's creatures who have been left behind and abandoned.

"Oh, no she has that black thing out again that clicks and flashes the bright light.........must you do that nooowwww?"

"Okay, if you insist on doing that, I will just do my best to ignore you and take a bath......"

"Doing my best to look thoughtful and pensive......how am I doing?"

"This is all so very tiring.....I think I will just lay here and guard my mouse."

"A cat's work is never done......"

Thankful today for all the ones I have held and known, run and played with throughout my life. Thankful for a loving God who saw fit to create them for us as wonderful companions in the journey of life.

Briggs is the king of the house and loves everyone.....Sydney adopted me as his own and follows me everywhere, flopping upside down in my lap every night.....

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Cecil Frances Alexander

In the Morning.......

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope. 

       Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not. 

     They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:21-23

I was thinking about how no matter how tired, worn out, exhausted mentally and physically we sometimes get, there is always a new supply of energy that comes with morning. Our hope is renewed during the night when thoughts are stilled and all is quiet.........we are restored once more.

I remember when my Sister in law found the "morning" of her life. She was at the very brink of death when she found it. Really, none of us knows how much time we have. We think we do. But those who are terminally ill have no such illusions. Cancer had made it plain that barring a miracle, she would soon be with Jesus.

She knew what all of us need to know sooner rather than later. Knowing Jesus is all that matters. In Him she found the peace and joy that people travel the world to find. They come up empty, but she was filled to overflowing.

Her favorite song towards the end of her life was "Give Me Jesus."

 

 

The halls of Heaven have been ringing with her most magical laugh since 1998, and sometimes I still can't believe she is gone. I know if she were here, she would wish for every single person on this planet to know her Jesus.

 

 

The time is so short........

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone
Give me Jesus

And when I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die
Give me Jesus

 

 

This song, according to internet sources, comes from an old Spiritual sung by slaves. Also, this more modern version has been attributed to both Fernando Ortega and Fanny Crosby.

News from my little corner

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4

What's going on in your little corner of the world? No doubt many things. Someone may ask you how you are, and you reply......"Fine." But you know you aren't. You know when someone is asking in passing....that they don't really want to know. But then there are those that when they ask, they look into your eyes and you know.....you really know, they really do care.

Sometimes all it takes is just the right person to ask and the dam breaks.

We all have things going on in our lives. Sometimes it really helps to hear about other's struggles and joys. It gets our mind off ourselves. So what is going on in your corner? Here is a little snippet of what is going on in mine:

An answered prayer from yesterday......My brother had a good talk with his boss, with whom he has had a very hard time lately. The talk was fruitful and ended well.

Old computer went where old computers go when they die. New computer came yesterday and now we have a HUGE monitor and very fast Internet. WOW, I must force myself to stay off of it!

Car went in to shop and what was supposed to be free warranty work turned into a broken belt which will cost over $500.00 count it all joy! I have a credit card I can use! All in all, it was a day that was a blessing. Elaine went with me and we made a day of it! As full time caregiver, she enjoyed the day of freedom and I am glad she spent it with me.

I am enjoying my new camera, though each day I learn more of what I don't know about the technical aspects of photography. I am also struggling with the Canon computer software. Got it to work last night, but all the pictures ended up on my desktop. I guess I saved it there inadvertantly??? I don't remember saving them there!

Elaine's garden is doing well. It is yielding fresh spinach like mad, and the tomatoes are exploding. Okra is coming up and so is the squash. I cooked a mountain of spinach night before last, and though a whole kettle didn't yield much, it was delicious! We also enjoyed some of our generous neighbor's home grown zucchini last night. Thanks, Bob and Eileen for sharing!

This morning as I made my way across the parking lot at work, the cat who I feed regularly as part of our spay and neuter program at Intel was meowing at me from under a shrub. She was very scared and upset. Her feeding station is all the way on the other side of the building. And it is a big factory. The landscapers must have been here. I have no idea how to get her back to where she belongs. I must leave her to her own cat resourcefulness in getting there.

Most of all, I continue to rejoice in God our Savior, for " in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." I can't imagine walking through life without His help!

Enough about me........How are things in your corner of the world? Please drop me a line or send me a prayer request and I will be happy to pray for you.

Every Day is a Grace Day

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.” Frederic Buechner

Ever wonder why some days you wake up and all through the day you have this wondrous sense of well-being? It is as if you are stepping in Grace, walking in Light. The normal things that bother you just can't touch you on days like this. You feel a strong sense of God's Grace surrounding you.....

You're walking through a primrose path......lilies strewn at your feet......tip-toeing through tulips, you are walking in the light and nothing negative can touch you.

And then there are those other days when you feel like the whole world is conspiring against you. As if the very forces of nature are working to make things difficult, like a cosmic battle that you can very definitely feel, but can't see. A black cloud seems to follow you like dust follows Pigpen in the Charlie Brown cartoon.

You are stepping in something alright, but it is not grace it's something else.

Yesterday I had one of those good days. I was walking out the door at the grocery store and this wonderful sense of well-being washed over me. It followed me to Starbucks, where I acted out of character and spoke to a stranger who was doing a beautiful pencil sketch, a copy of a photo.

I said, "That's gorgeous." Because it was. He didn't even acknowledge me......not a look up, not a thank you, not a grunt or a smile. He just kept sketching and looking down. Something like that would have ticked me off on another day. This day, it didn't even faze me.

I think sometimes God gives us those as wonderful gifts of grace, not only because He loves us, but because He knows someone else needs a blessing......someone we come across needs lifting up.....someone in our life needs our strength and encouragement. He blesses us and it spills over like sunlight onto anyone who walks in our path. I think these days are what carry us through the other days.

In truth, every day is a Grace day. However we wake, it is with the breath He gives us. We grumble, we groan, we give thanks, we bless others, we curse the traffic and gas prices, we laugh......

And it's all Grace.

God's Place of Rest

"These are the words of God, the God of Israel, to you, Baruch. You say, 'These are bad times for me! It's one thing after another. God is piling on the pain. I'm worn out and there's no end in sight.' Jeremiah 45:2 The Message

"Just how much more does God expect me to take?"

You feel out of control, like one of those plate spinners......one false move and they all come crashing down. "I've got it, I've got it!" you say.....but you know that just under the surface lurks an erupting volcano. You feel like any little remark can set you off. When you pass a Dunkin Donuts or In-N-Out Burger you feel the drive-through sweeping you in like the pull of the tides. (Or in my case, the local Walgreens for a bag of Whopper Malted Eggs)

Tears come easily, and so does unexpected anger. This is sometimes what caregiving feels like.

But God's place of rest is there in the midst of it. He is ready and waiting to do a work in you and me, but only if we release it to Him. He longs to take our burden, but He knows that sometimes He has to "pile it on" so that we will have no choice but to dump it at His feet.

We don't have to take it all on........He will.

It is so hard to tell someone that.
Someone who is trying so hard, dealing with so much.
It feels like one more thing they have to do.

It feels like we are saying, "Just tie a knot and hang on, sister....."

Except that they aren't just any old words, they are God's words, and His words are backed by His promises.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16

Lord, I pray for everyone today who feels overwhelmed and beaten up by the world. I pray that they will trust You with their every burden and care, and they will find that place of rest for their souls that you have promised them in Your word. Hide them under your mighty wings today, as the mother eagle shelters her young and give them the faith they need to release everything to You, knowing that You will give them peace in exchange. Amen

Great music in church yesterday, moments of refreshment and peace, little joys of flowers in the desert, singing into the phone and making someone smile, a good night's sleep, a refreshing rain on the roof, unexpected moments of exhilaration, a great lunch at Chilies, 39 dollars from coinstar I didn't expect I had, a time of peace at Starbucks while blogging.....
#668-#678

A walk through the weeds.......

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

We humans can turn on a dime. Yesterday I was counting blessings, participating in the One Thousand Gifts over at Ann's, thinking positive, counting blooms and blessings. Today on my walk, it seemed all I could count were weeds! I saw the brown trees this years freeze destroyed. I saw weeds in several yards.....My mind was like a ticker tape of negativity......"Why doesn't the park enforce their own rules?" and "Why do we even have a home owner's association?" I went on like this halfway around the perimeter until something strange happened. I got ticked at myself.

Something happens when you really start to count gifts. It changes how you think, and you no longer want to think the other way, the old way. We talk about paradigm shifts a lot at work. That is what happens in your mind when you cross over to living a life in gratitude to God, when you keep count. It not only changes your thinking, it changes your life.

It is a new determination you have......not to give in. So I walked on determined not to see the weeds or the brown trees this morning. I told myself and God that I was not going home until I started seeing beauty and blessings. I am kind of stubborn that way. Do you suppose that was God's plan for me today?

This is what I saw.......A dove nesting in a spiny cactus........groups of quail walking across the road. A bunny eating the veggies someone had left out. I heard the cry of a cactus wren, I call them all "Renny" for the one who lived in the cactus next door. Here is the thought that came to me.......These little desert creatures scurry about very happy to be what they are. They don't pay attention to the weeds unless they can find something useful about them. If they can't eat them, or use them for shelter they ignore them.

That was my lesson today.

I just had to laugh last night, as I picked up Elaine's Mom from the nursing home where she had just visited her husband of 60 years, "That man is the most negative person on the planet, he finds absolutely no good in anything." What?? This from a woman who is equally negative about anything and everything. Once, the three of us were walking along on an impossibly beautiful sapphire blue sky day. Elaine made a comment about how beautiful the sky was, and her Mom said caustically, "Well, Elaine the sky is always blue." We still joke about it.

Like she says......."Where did I come from?" She learned to count blessings a long time ago, against all the odds. Despite her surroundings, despite the people who raised her.

Yes, Lord......despite our circumstances, surroundings........we can be positive, it is possible, if we let the counting, and God renew our minds.

Photo credits: Public Domain Pictures
Weeds by Andrew Schmidt
Dandelions by Petr Kratochvil

Living Psalms

A psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. Psalm 50:1

Ever felt like a living Psalm of praise? When prayer turns to praise that's what happens. I found myself answering a question this morning that I didn't even realize I was asking.....:.."What does having a relationship with a living God mean to you?" This is how I would explain it. It is like going along with life and seeing things one way....thinking one way, living one way. Then, in one spectacular moment, or maybe years of little moments put together, someone comes along and throws the switch on a floodlight. You see things you never thought were there.

The backdrop of your life is lit from behind with Someone whom you know to be the source of all that light.
Your perspective on life, everything you thought you knew.......changed in an instant. Magnified. Every moment becomes a miracle and everything is suddenly colored with meaning. You see the sweep of God's Arm in every spectacular move of nature, you suddenly hear the symphony that has been playing all along. You realize there is a plan to it all, and you are part of it, were wanted, loved into being......not necessarily by your earthly parents, but by your Creator parent, the One who set the whole thing into motion. The One who keeps it all going.

You are struck with amazement that this is a God who wants to know you personally. It is a bit like falling in love, but better because this love will last forever.

You are lifted to the heights of Heaven and you want to tell everyone......You keep walking down the road but now the road looks different. Now you are aware that there is a God who walks beside you. You feel eternity coursing through your veins. You suddenly know how it feels to pass from death to life.

Here is the miracle. You go through the normal sorrows and trials and frustrations of life and you realize He is still there, He hasn't left. As you walk further down the path, you realize that sometimes He allows extremely painful things into your life, and you don't know why. Sometimes you cry out and He is big enough to handle that. For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:14 He knows better than anyone what we are made of. And He also knows that sometimes we need to grow. Growing doesn't happen without pruning........

The miracle continues when we find ourselves praising in the midst of the pruning sometimes, hard as it is. We make it through. We start to see our weakness as His strength. We come to know that God allows certain things in our lives so we can minister to others going through the same thing.

We hold joy like treasure bursting within us. He has made our bodies His sanctuary and we are breathless with thanksgiving at such undeserved Grace. We celebrate the manger and the empty tomb every day. We want to tell everybody, but we don't and we are not sure why, but it leaks because it simply has to. We are living sparks of His greater light but we know we are far from perfect.......We praise Him because He has brought us through so much and we know that He will be there waiting at our last breath.

Out of this world and into the next.......finally Home.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16,17

Good News for anyone with a need....

 "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written...."  Luke 4:17

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor......

Notably, he stopped before He finished the entire verse which ends with …..and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:1,2 

Why did He stop there? Because it wasn't the time for judgment yet, it was the time for open arms reconciliation for a people who desperately needed God's love and forgiveness. Although Jesus said that time would surely come, His first coming was to draw us close, back into the loving arms of God.

"Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:20,21

I can imagine the stirring and rustling, nervous clearing of throats. They knew Jesus, they knew His family, they knew what they expected of the future Messiah and this wasn't it. It was a huge stumbling block that they just couldn't get around, even though they were amazed at His authoritative teaching. This was not good news for them. Jesus kicked the gate wide open for everyone to be able to receive salvation. They thought God's favor was for themselves alone.

Jesus knew those words spoken in His hometown synagogue would be inflammatory, but He had to speak them anyway. Ever feel led by the Holy Spirit to say something that you knew would cause an unfavorable reaction?

He further incites them when He insinuates that it was because of their hard hearts that they refused to see who was standing right in front of them.....Their Messiah had come, but their own pride refused to let them believe it. "All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way." Luke 4:28,29

There are many people right up to the present day who refuse to accept who Jesus really was, but the fact is, Jesus is God. Not only that, He is the only way to Heaven. He is God with arms of grace, extended for all who call upon His name. He wants to draw us close. He longs for it more than we can ever know, and all we have to do is reach out and take it. But to some people this is not good news. This kind of thinking is not popular in our politically correct, inclusive world. If we tell people this we will be labeled narrow minded, bigoted, backwards, simple-minded and archaic. If that is true, then I guess Jesus is all those things too!

The greatest tragedy is that some will miss out on God's grace and forgiveness only because of the barriers in their own minds and hearts. Jesus removes walls. He removed them then and He removes them now. When He was on this earth, He systematically removed every single barrier the religious system of the day had set up. He took time for anyone with a need. He sat with sinners, the unclean, the broken, the sick, even with the ones who thought they had it all figured out.

He wants to draw you close today. Do you have a need? He stands ready to meet it, whatever it may be.....

I continue the counting of blessings today.....that I can recognize the mark of God in all these moments, #451 encouraging words from other bloggers, #452 the grasp of a hand across a table, #453 prayers that I know are heard, #454 the life in His words, #455 the kindness of strangers, #456 sunrise of pastels that change with each second, #457 the busy cactus wren outside my window, #458 talk of God between friends, #459 music that brings us to the throne #460 all who find rest from their labor today....

The Cup that Overflows

Ever felt like the whole earth is praising with you? Welling up and overflowing like a river that has spilled its banks; in the wellspring of your soul you echo His words, "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." That was me yesterday. It was the victory lap at the end of the week, Saturday, my last day of the workweek. Saturdays are usually that way. I get up and there is no traffic, the annoying hum is absent and all is silent, peaceful. I could have driven to work on the fumes of praise alone....He has carried me through another week. I had myself a little victory dance in the car, and it carried me all the way through the doors. It lasted all day!

Like David, I felt my cup overflowing, the cup of praise to a God that has done everything for me, is with me at all times, and at all times, "His praise shall continually be in my mouth," no matter what I am going through, because He is worthy to be praised! David understood that.  His life wasn't easy at times, but he knew where He could find refuge and strength, and he knew how to praise God! David did his own victory dance.

"David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets." 2 Samuel 6:14

Can't you just see him dancing for joy? I understand that craziness......sometimes I want to jump up and down on a street corner and call out, "Do you know what Jesus has done for me? What He can do for you, if you just let Him?"

I used to see a man on the way to church. The locals call him "Izzy." He is somebody you can look at and one glance will easily render a judgement of "crazy." He stands on a street corner with his finger pointing up at the sky, proclaiming Jesus to anyone who will hear. My church even did a segment on him once. When he was interviewed, he came off pretty rational, but it's tough to get passed his exterior. Long beard, unkempt, pushing a shopping cart, he looks like he may have been sleeping on a bench somewhere. 

Some of what he says is not rational at all, but if you pay attention and listen for a moment you will realize the part that is rational is full of praise to God!

Sometimes I wonder, who is the crazy one? We are the ones who have received the Good News, the best news ever to reach mankind, how can we keep from shouting aloud? All of creation sings its praise to their maker. It's only natural we do the same.

Izzy does.

Merry-Go-Rounds and Roads

Looff Carousel 1911, Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Many summer weekends were spent at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk when I was a kid in California. Disneyland had nothing on it as far as I was concerned. It was pure magic. Oh, the memories of that Boardwalk! Corn dogs, called Pronto Pups that seemed a foot high, entering the Fun house through the clown's mouth, riding the train and anticipating when that roaring dinosaur was going to rise up from the lake, standing at the fudge shop window watching the taffy pulling machine, mesmerized as it pulled and pulled and never broke. And the beach.....

Holding it all together in the middle of that magic, the piece De resistance was the Carousel. All I had to do was hear that organ music and I was over the top. Keep in mind, I camped growing up. We didn't stay in fancy hotels. We didn't have the money and also, my folks thought is was important to teach us about nature. I'm so glad they did. So this Merry-Go-Round was for me, the highlight of our visit. I had my favorite horses, always the ones with head reared back, teeth bared. (I must've thought those went faster)

I am happy to say that my niece has inherited my love of this Merry Go Round as well. I got to go on it with her one of my trips back home and I felt the same rapturous joy as I did all those years ago. My brother even caught the ring!

What started this whole memory was that my friend and I were talking after church Sunday and I asked her if she got excited about that Merry Go Round as well, since she used to go there as a kid too. I expected her to light up with the same memory I had. "No," she said, "I never really saw the purpose, you just go round and round and never get anywhere." Well, yeah, there is that.....Instead, she shared a special memory of her own with me. She said one of the highlights of her childhood was when she and her brother got a quarter a-piece and went to the store and each picked out a matchbox car. Back then they came in a little box. Her job was to build the roads.

They would come home and she would build elaborate structures out of mud, complete with bridges with support beams underneath, freeways, overpasses, and tunnels. Even back then, she had the mind of an engineer. Her parents never even knew it. When she went to high school and tested extremely high in math and engineering, the counselor told her she better think of something else to do with her life, "because girls just don't do these things." After that she pretty much lost interest in the whole educational system.

But God doesn't care about what some counselor says. Years later she ended up doing engineering work anyway at Intel, Corp. And she is still building things. She can visualize anything and build it, she is a project queen and should definitely have her own show on HGTV. She is a bridge builder between people, in every job she has ever had, she has been asked to be a mediator when situations needed smoothing out.

When God creates you to do a certain thing, it glorifies Him when you are doing those things!

I have always felt a compulsion to write, and I know that comes from God. That is how He created me. Sometimes I have no idea if anything I write makes sense but I still do it because I feel it's one of the things God made me to do. Sometimes I feel my prayers go round in circles because I still see so many things in me that need changing. But as I look back at all these quiet times of prayer, I see a closeness I have with the Lord now that I didn't have before. It is a beautiful sculpture that I can only see glimpses of, but when I close my eyes it comes into focus. I see and hear the music, the colors, the joy....and God behind it all. Sometimes life does seem like one big circle, but we can say, victoriously, this is a circle that has purpose. It has no end, and it only gets better!

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:12,13

The glory of being human

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! To think that such a common realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstakes.

I have the immense joy of being a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. Meditation from Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours

As awoke this morning at 4:00 AM I wasn't exactly glorying at being human. I would much rather have slept and gloried a bit later, but just the same, somewhere in my spirit I echoed these thoughts of Merton. What a miracle to be able to get up, live another day healthy enough to work, to praise God for the fact that I am even here....every minute we have on this earth is a treasure and a blessing because God holds us in His mighty palm. Whatever comes my way today, Jesus be my strength!

In spite of my weakness, my frailty and failures, help me be a blessing to someone today, Lord. Amen

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Prayer Thoughts.....

Greer, Arizona

The thought sunk like a stone in my being during prayer this morning. It was out of the blue, I was sitting there in quiet meditation and this thought came: "God is not all that concerned about your happiness." What?? Where did that come from? The thought hit like a minor chord and stuck in my brain. I stopped praying and asked God what He meant by that. I waited......

"I am not here for you, you are here for Me."

"But God," I thought, "I am an American, you know, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and all that."

"Yes, well that isn't in my Book anywhere, go read about my Disciples."

Ouch.

What does God want from me, from any of us? He deserves my whole self. A heart that is completely His. Undivided with the world. A world that everyday clamors for attention. It shouts, it screams, it jumps up and down and waves its hands wildly.

God whispers.

He cares deeply about me, but He cares even more about His lost sheep, those who aren't His yet. Today I got a lesson that I wasn't expecting. A thought that snuck up on me unawares. It made me stop, re-evaluate myself, pay attention to what God was trying to tell me.

I seek happiness. God says lose your life so you can find it. He wants me to be a light in the darkness around me, even if it means doing something that makes me uncomfortable. To my way of thinking God seems to do things backwards. But then I remember how much higher His thoughts are than mine. I seek happiness, and in the end I get something much better. When I seek His kingdom first, I get showered with the fruits of the spirit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22,23

Thank you Lord, for helping me to realize again that you have already given me everything I could possible need, want or desire in the person of Jesus Christ!