Walking with God

Lead me to the cross

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemption’s Hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as loss
As I was walking and meditating on this song this morning, I thought, this is what it always comes down to at the beginning and end of every day……We come back when we lay down to sleep and we do quiet our souls. We lay down and then we lay it down too. Then, at the beginning of the day we look up, we return, we say…….”It all comes back to You Lord and what You did, every decision we make, we hold up to the cross, in the light of Your grace.”
We are humbled because we know that no matter what happens, that is where it all leads….and ends. Everything in this life will ultimately come down to One Thing. What we did with the cross,
what we did with Jesus. No other decision in this life matters really unless we settle that one first. 
Lead me to the cross
Where your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to you
Oh Lead me, lead me to the cross 
Brooke Fraser, Hillsong United
Image from google 

The Beauty all around us

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:10

Imagine, that we can know the originator of all beauty, truth and everything good. Imagine standing in His eternal presence. Imagine the best of everything we have experienced in this life…….. magnified way beyond anything we can dream. Sometimes it is enough to burn a hole clear through my brain, if I think of it too much!

I think of everything I have seen, what a gift memory is, a reliving of every most beautiful moment in my life. To think that of all these things I look back on, there is so much more to come.

Things like the hushed, hallowed quiet of standing in a snowfall, how it’s almost Holy.

Those times when you feel like all is right with the world for a brief moment…..when you have felt so happy you want to break into song, and you do.

All this beauty, and we have only experienced a very small fraction of it…….of what’s to come.

Every sigh of the wind through the trees….woven together as a chorus of praise to Him.

Look around next time you are surrounded by loved ones, and everyone is laughing. Who but God could invent something like laughter?

I remember a Christmas service that was just the right amount of joy and holy.

The world is magic, and if you don’t think it is, you haven’t opened your eyes yet. Just think of the way a small child’s eyes light up when they see bubbles. In their eyes you can see the light of Heaven if you look.

There is a spark there that the world has not yet put out.

So many moments of such grand and wondrous beauty, I think in those best of times….what else can possibly be better than this. And yet God says…..

Just wait…..

picture credit: public domain pictures, Anna Cervova

Just today…..

“In the days before his death,his Aunt Louisa asked him if he had made his peace with God.
His answer was “I did not know we had ever quarrelled, Aunt.” Attributed to Henry David Thoreau
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Thank you God for placing me here in this world you have created. I could have been born anywhere or not at all, and I thank you that I was. Each day holds a glimpse of Your Heaven. Help me not fail to notice the small moments of wonder happening all around me. Too many days have passed when I haven’t.
Consider just one bird….the cactus wren, so busy, so industrious is this couple that they build not one nest, but two….one as a backup, or maybe a decoy to fool predators?
And when I consider the full moon hanging there just so, its own presence daring us not to believe. I wonder how anyone can deny that kind of majesty and say that it was not created…..
that….. it….. just….. happened
We are all born with a spark of Grace…..made for eternity.
No matter how bad I think things are, there is always so much to thank you for. Sometimes it helps to do just that.
So today, I pause.

God sees behind our windows

With all your science – can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul? ~Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes I like to imagine the life behind the window……who it is that lives there, what it is they do. I imagine all kinds of scenes. I see someone rising early before the world awakes, moving soundlessly on stockinged feet to start the coffee or tea. Arising to enjoy some solace, maybe praying, maybe writing in a journal and sitting behind this window watching passersby like me walk by.

Or maybe they are old and alone, hoping for a knock on the door. A visitor to swap stories with.

Maybe they wonder about me, the walker…….

God knows all of our stories, everything behind our windows.

He wants to open the window of your soul and let some light in. He wants to open the windows of Heaven and fill your heart to overflowing.

Jesus is that visitor who wants to come in and hear your story. He is knocking, oh so softly.

If you open the door, I promise you will never be the same……

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3:20

Remembering my gratitude

Psalm 26:7 “That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,and tell of all Your wondrous works.”

I momentarily lost my gratitude this morning, I awoke under a cloud. The heat is oppressive, and it has only just begun. But my desire to be thankful drove me outside……I needed to feel the air, however stifling. To be outdoors, to know that life was still good, very good. In fact, to feel a certain way is so much a choice. I chose again and will choose again and again……Gratitude.
I walked along and like a whispered breeze it flew through my soul as if through an open window……I thought of vacation just passed. The walk we took along the beach, peering through little alleyways. Feeling the ocean rush over my toes……It already seems so far away. Reality rushes in so fast. But I remember moments frozen in time. Held close.

It worked……my fog lifted once again. A bit of the gloom melted off and I could see the sun peeking out once more.

This freedom we celebrate today is born of many people making a stand……sacrificing so that we could, as a country, as a people be unoppressed by others. Freedom is an incredible luxury that must never be taken for granted. Sometimes I still do though……

I forget what Christ did for me……..what He set me free from. So today, I remember the many ways I can celebrate and be thankful for freedom.
#711-721
Time spent away…..relief from the heat of an Arizona summer for a little while….to enjoy open windows for a few days…..I am thankful for the freedom to feel, think and be a certain way, knowing that others have severe limitations on their choices……Freedom of the road, the joy of the journey…..Time together with friends and family, making memories……Thankful for a special person who took care of everything while we were gone…….Thankful always, for God who bestows so many undeserved blessings, even when I grumble and complain when I shouldn’t.

 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God…..1 John 1:3

holy experience
Happy Fourth of July everyone! We are free indeed………

What Lasts Forever

“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
There are so many warnings in the Bible about staying focused. God knows the world can knock us off-kilter. It has the capacity to swallow us up and spit us out whole if we are not careful. This morning I read, rather, listened to, the book of Jude. It was very sobering, and all the more when you realize it is written to and about those inside the church, not outside it!
I know the capacity of my mind to wander, leave the trail, go off in a different direction. I go after grass that seems greener, not seeing the steep drop off on the other side until it is much too late. 
Something can seem righter than rain to my own heart, my own intellect…..until I see it the way God sees it, and I can only see it the way He sees it when I am immersed in His word. It is my magnifying glass that allows me to see myself and the world more clearly. It settles me, sets me right again.
Since I started commuting, I have started listening to it on CD. I can’t express what that has done for me. As much as I love to read, usually 2-3 books at a time, I am extremely lazy when it comes to reading Scripture. But I can listen to it for over an hour a day and cover a lot of ground. I figure, this is one thing that is making a change in me for all eternity. It is the mysterious process known as the grafting in of the Word of Life.
This is a change that is not temporary, this is a change that will last forever.
The only single drawback to listening to Scripture instead of reading it is that I sometimes get sidetracked by how the voices sound. I loved the way the reader of the book of Jude sounded this morning. He had a good “Jude” voice…..thunderous and emphatic without being too dramatic. On the other hand, I find the woman’s voice who reads 1st, 2nd and 3rd John very annoying. I actually have to read those books because I find her voice so distracting.
The woman who reads 1st and 2nd Corinthians has a British accent and she is great. I tend to want to hear her again and again. She sounds like a combination of Maggie Smith and Cate Blanchett. Imagine Lady Galadriel reading Scripture!
See how easy it is for my mind to wander? I think I need to read more…..Hmmm.
“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.” Jude 1:24
Have a peaceful day everyone!

New Every Morning

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness………Lamentations 3:22-23
Four days……12 hours long…….working continually……..we made it. This past week we merged two giant factories automation systems and hundreds of programs that make everything work and dealt with the impending disaster that came with it. It was like trying to make fire and oil co-habitate. My part in it was small, but stressful, since factory managers and group leaders were hovering close by. At the worst possible time one of them came up and asked if I needed any help. He must have seen my glazed over look. I was overwhelmed.

Praise God, by the time we all left last night, my area was almost normal. No doubt there were sleepless nights for all involved. I can only praise God for the end of the week. He brought us to the other side, just as He always does.

I am sure there will be glitches, but there are people there working them out. Today is a day of rest for me…….I am meditating on the great old hymn this morning as I anticipate some much needed mental rest for a few days.
Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. “
Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
I love the line about no shadow of turning……..God never changes, and that is the one thing we can always count on.
Hymn written by Thomas Chisolm who died in 1960 at age 94. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 1,200 poems and hymns including O To Be Like Thee and Living for Jesus

Remedy for Regret

The way I see it, one of the best ways to minimize regret both now and in the future is to cherish the present.  Nothing makes you feel more acutely the weight and passage of time more than knowing that you weren’t fully living it when you were there. The thing is, it takes time to learn that. I think of times spend with loved ones and I want desperately to get that time back because I know where my mind was back then. Too many times it was distracted……or I was irritated by some small thing.
Or focused on myself. I wish I could go back……redeem it somehow.  
Now that I have reached fifty plus two, time feels like an out of control river rushing under a bridge, and me watching from above. Instead of focusing on what time I still have, I get caught up in time I see already gone. It’s like trying to drive by watching the rear view mirror.

I lose sight of what is still to come, and there is so much more.

I think it is a mistake to think that once you get a certain age, the best years are behind you. Every stage of life is important and necessary and of great value and each season carries it’s own unique lessons. And when I think of eternity, all I see is an ocean of time with an giant expanse of more joy and peace than I can possibly imagine. 

I am determined to live more right here in the present. I confess, this week my focus has been on just getting to the end of the week. I started the week already looking ahead to the weekend…..I wonder now what moments I stole from myself or someone else…….

That is the best way I can think of to let the people in my life, and God know that I truly cherish them……

Right now.

First two pics are from google
Last two were taken of niece Lauryn by her big “Sis”

Congratulations Graduate!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6 

Congratulations to one special graduate today…..
Cassandra: You came into our lives and hearts as a little girl with bundles of energy and giggles…….you brought us “older” folks some spark and light. A barefoot girl, you didn’t like shoes much, could barely keep a pair on you….well, that part hasn’t changed much! We marveled at how who loved to watch TV upside down. It seemed for awhile there, you were either running, screaming, twirling, or hanging upside down.
On one of our first introductions, we had a tea party and gave ourselves flower names. You made us laugh when you kept insisting we go back to the kitchen for real sugar, real milk, real tea. No pretending for you….I still have the picture of the three of us, you Elaine and myself, you with your pinky up and cup facing straight down.
In some ways I suppose I will always see you a bit like that, spinning around on the swing, hair flying. Making the neighbor boy sick when he tried to spin as fast as you…..Being pushed by Ivy the goat, also on the swing. I remember watching movies together and you falling asleep as I read aloud from whatever book I was reading at the time.
You passed me in height, which I realize is not saying much, me being vertically challenged the way I am. You grew into a beautiful young woman when I wasn’t looking, and I want you to know I am proud of you.
Proud of your work ethic, your sensitivity to others, your giving heart.
Hold your head high tonight, and savor the moment.
Realize that these are the times that we all wish we could go back to, if we only knew then what we know now. Pick a career you have a passion for, and don’t settle for anything less. When you love what you do, it won’t feel like work.
I will miss seeing you walk across that stage tonight, but I know you will have the love and support of friends and family to cheer you on. We will  be cheering too, from Arizona.
Remember us when you walk those halls in college, going about your day. Pause and remember when you feel a gentle breeze, that it is my prayer touching you on the shoulder.
The best advice I could give you to carry you through to adulthood is to hold God close and keep your Bible handy. If you do that, you will be at peace whatever happens. You will make mistakes just like we all do, but you have the character to get back up and keep going. And always remember:

“Angels on your pillow……………..Angels in your dreams!”
Aunt Lori

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.” Sandra Carey

Gratitude is Counter Cultural

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:20

I went on a walk last night, just before the last bit of light was snatched out of the sky. My mood was on the somber side. As I walked, however, I was keenly aware of one thing. That it was still cool. Something in my soul jumped up and said……”Remember this, remember this……” For soon, it will be so stifling hot we won’t be able to walk outside without suffocating.

I found myself at the community pool just as the stars came out……both pools were empty, both the inside one and the outside one. I missed my niece terribly just then. She loves to go swimming more than anything in the world. I could see her in my mind and hear her voice and I felt the regret of knowing all that I have missed with her being one state away.

At any given time in this life there are things to feel sad about. But living this way…..this way of looking back is not what God wants us to do. We have a forward thinking God. When we are depressed, we are off balance. Our vision is skewed. We think of how things were, and compare them to how things are now. When we fear that things will get worse, we assume we know what the future holds, but only God knows that. When I think like that I am playing God.

This is dangerous thinking because then, I forget to be thankful for all those things we can praise Him for right now.
 
I was given a great gift growing up. I was taught it by my folks, who thought it was a value to be passed on, and the best way I can repay them is to pass it on to others. I see this photo of my Mom’s table and I smile. I see in my own table, my own home a reflection of the joy within it. With each and every item on her table, there is a story……
 
The kerosene lamp that she has always had on her table 
 
The robin that has a special meaning of hope in the midst of sorrow
 
The mug from a favorite place, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite
 
My own prayer journal
 
In a world that says to always seek bigger, better, and more than what you have. I am so grateful for what I do have. For the love that resides in my home, the peace, the smile that greets me……. 
 
I am rich and blessed beyond measure.