Counting the Gifts

In that day— “Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. Isaiah 27:2, 3

I just finished a marvelous book called, “Halfway to Each Other,” by Susan Pohlman. It chronicles one family’s incredible life-changing experience after leaving their fast paced and stressful LA lifestyle behind and moving to Italy for a year. On the brink of a divorce, while walking along an Italian beach on a business trip husband Tim ventures that maybe they should move there for a year. At first the notion seems ridiculous and illogical. But at the brink of desperation to save their marriage, they do just that.

At times funny, sad, always heartfelt, this book will inspire you and lift you to the heights, and make you think about some of the ways the American lifestyle is extremely unhealthy for both mind, body and spirit. It made me think of what I already really knew. That the magic and memories come when you slow down enough to really get to know each other and God.

The good news is, while we can’t all move to Italy for a year, there are changes we can make right here and right now that will have a big impact on our lives. Slowing down……turning off the noise that constantly barrages our ears, our senses, our lives.

Cutting out activities, the running here and there. Keeping up with the Jones’es or in LA, The Kardashians! Taking little walks together, noticing things, taking the headphones off.

I will never forget one Christmas Eve when we lost all the electricity. We still talk about it…we lit candles and a fire in the fireplace, sang songs, laughed…..and we were all a bit disappointed when the lights came back on. We had captured a bit of magic that we weren’t ready to give up yet.

I was reminded of the joy of games on my recent trip up to the mountains. There in the living room of the cabin we rented, a little shelf was overflowing with board games and my niece’s eyes just lit up like she had just hit the mother load. Of course, she wanted to get them all out at once.

She decided on monopoly. With a special needs kid you don’t go by rules…..you improvise. I think that made it even better. Then I realized to my utter disbelief, that I had no clue what the rules were anyway? How could I have forgotten this game that I had played for so many hours growing up? My brother recalled how he and our cousins would play with a vendetta……sometimes holding games over for the entire weekend after falling asleep at the board.
That weekend, I felt like I had a gift……I will never forget Lauryn and I playing that game, and how she borrowed money “from the bank” to buy Park Place. I can still see her beautiful face lit up with excitement, and hear our conversations that night.

That’s what life is about……celebrating being together. Recapturing what we thought was lost forever……Simple moments that can’t ever be replaced.

Returning a bit of Eden to our lives……Celebrating thankfully today for all those, little/big moments…….

rediscovering games and conversation, drinking in nature, September which leads to October, which leads to cool weather, days off, laughter in the midst of stressful moments, clean sheets, furry ones that love no matter what, discovering a new restaurant yesterday, answered prayers for the end of a challenging week, beautiful Arizona sunrises, a bit of rain last night……#713-#724

Join the gratitude community here to count along with Ann and many others…….

God keeps a journal

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
I thought of this verse this morning as I rushed over to the golf course to get this shot minus the power lines that continuously block my view. Because I love the written word and everything about it, this verse holds special meaning to me.

The written word has power, tremendous power. It has power to start revolutions and wars, forge relationships, mend hearts and lives, and with the right person behind them, words can become laws.

Words can open up a whole new universe of ideas to someone who never knew such a universe existed. Philip Yancey, in his book “Finding God in Unexpected Places, tells of reading “To Kill a Mockingbird,” among other books, and discovering a whole different world and thought……ideas that were previously foreign to him, being raised in a very racist church. His world was changed.

There is one word though, that set this whole thing in motion………….God’s Word. It started it all, and it will continue throughout eternity. God’s Word is the final word. What is more, the Word is living breathing flesh. The living Word is Jesus.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

The more you read this verse, the more there is to wrap your mind around.

Before God even uttered one word, the Word was already there………

When we write, we take part in the creative process of capturing thought and bringing it to life on a page…….we have the privilege of joining together with God and doing something really good.

Words can bring life or death. They can be life affirming or spirit killing…….and the words you believe will make a difference in where you spend eternity.

“Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.” Malachi 3:16

Who’d have thought that God kept a journal?

Saturday Wonderings

If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference. A.W. Tozer

I sometimes wonder how much of what we do in the church today is just stuff. I think a lot of what goes on once we leave the building is church. The conversations we have or don’t have. They way we live within the walls of our own homes. At work. I guess you could say I am preaching a sermon to myself today.

Sometimes I ask myself why the person I see in my mind, the one I want to be,  is so much different than the living breathing version of me.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if all the churches emptied out and went out into the streets on Sunday mornings like a big flash mob of love.

I wonder.

“The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.”

Sometimes we need a reminder

“Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?” 1 Corinthians 15:34 The Message
You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.
You Are More, Tenth Avenue North
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God……1 Corinthians 6:11
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

 
“Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Amplified Bible
 
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded……..I heard the lyrics to the Tenth Avenue North song on the way to work and they really affected me. All too often I dwell on all my past mistakes and failures and begin to see myself that way. We really are so much more than that to God.
 
But God doesn’t……..”as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12
 
photo credit: from Nat Geo, and public domain pictures.org

What’s in your cup?

“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:5-8

What’s your cup full of today? Is it full and overflowing with salvation or does it feel like it’s filled to overflowing with stuff you never asked for? Stuff you never wanted. The cup was passed around the table and you wanted so desperately to say, “No, thank you,” but you didn’t because you knew no one else would drink it. Hopefully, you looked around for someone to share it, but everyone had disappeared.

You do anything you can to make it sweeter, you smile and say, “It’s not so bad.”

We all have our cups. Some drink deep from the cup of bitterness and resentment. They have drank from it for so long they have even acquired a taste for it. Some try to help them, even try to take it away, but they wrestle it back. They like their cup just the way it is.

Sometimes I don’t like some of the things floating around in my cup. I know that even though I am holding the cup of salvation, I put other things in there that don’t belong. I hate floaters.

I strain it, but there are still some there. There’s nothing else I can do but throw it out and start over, for “What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.”

I remember that awful cup you drank for me so that I wouldn’t have to.

And I lift my hands to grasp my cup of Salvation once again. Suddenly my little cup is one I can drink, for you have infused it with Your Life. I can drink this and get true refreshment.

Not only that, I know that I never have to drink alone again.
Though circumstances haven’t changed, what I’m drinking has.


“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.” Psalm 23:5

Louis and Jesus

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7,8 

When you spend any amount of time in a rest home, you get to know some of the residents. You walk the halls and notice things, people. You are grabbed by the desperation that seems to live and breathe there…..Many times the vacant stares we are greeted with make us want to dash out the door and take a deep breath of the fresh air of the living. We recoil at the bleakness of it all and none of us wants to think about the possibility of going there someday. I call it God’s waiting room.

It was on such a walk through the halls, that Elaine met Louis. He was sitting in the doorway of his room reading His Bible. It was the Bible she noticed first. She greeted him in the engaging way she has…..she is a real people person. He brightly said, “The book of Numbers!” She noticed his sweet spirit and the light in his eyes…..the gentleness in his soul. There was hope there. He said, “I read this Book everyday.” She told him how wonderful that was. His walls were adorned with Scripture verses, pictures and books. Louis was still very much in the land of the living.

She made a habit of looking for Louis every time she went in. One day she wanted to introduce me to him, but he was out. His family had come and taken him visiting. Louis told her that he came from a long line of Preachers. His Grandfather, his Dad and he were all Pastors, and so were both of Louis sons!

One day while they were having church in the main hall, we spied Louis sitting in back……his well worn Bible open on his lap.

After being gone for awhile, we went back looking for Louis but he was nowhere to be found. The nurse said that about 2 weeks before, he had died peacefully in his sleep…… Louis is with Jesus now. We rejoiced for him. He knew where his strength lay and where his hope rested. His happiness and joy didn’t depend on his circumstances. Instead of spending time wishing he were someone else, he communed with Jesus every single day in that rest home. Louis, like Mary, chose the better portion. He spent his days listening to voice of Hope.

So much of it is about choice, isn’t it? Life and death. Some have continued to choose life and some have given up and closed themselves off to it.

Louis chose life.

“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.” Deuteronomy 30:15
Each day brings forth the same choice, life and death. To dwell on all the riches of God’s blessings, or to dwell on everything we don’t have or feel cheated out of. To be grateful or miserable. Really, we are all in God’s waiting room, whether we know it or not. One small step away from eternity.

We will miss seeing Louis there reading his Bible. It was an encouragement to me, just to know he was reading those words of life, still trusting in His savior. But now when I think of Louis, I smile…..knowing that the waiting for Louis is over. He is basking in Godlight.

With every Monday that rolls around, I am amazed that I still have so much to thank Him for:

The best night’s sleep I have had in awhile…..fresh okra from the garden…..people who speak life to me everyday….hope for the coming cool weather….piles of books that speak encouragement…..shelter from the unbearable heat outside….the end of another week’s work…..time spent just hanging out, laughing, talking with my best friend who is so grateful for me, and tells me so often…..a beautiful awe-inspiring sky coming home from work…..being able to buy special things to send to my family, along with my love. #701-712

Soul Rest

Somewhere there is a quiet place to dream
To be still, and let the world drop away
You know that place
You could paint it on a canvas
it’s different for everybody, this place.
It’s like a familiar friend and you
always know it when you’ve found it.
It is the moment your soul has found rest,
safely landed….
when all the conditions are right and
you feel like everything in
the universe is working with you 
right then.
Every now and again it happens
in this life, and when it does
it is something like
a little miracle.
It’s not so much a structure
or building…..
You could find it on a street corner
far from home….
It’s that place you discover when you are
all by yourself
maybe rounding a hill
or walking through a clearing
or seeing a light shining through
a little alley way
No matter where it is,
you turn as if to say…..look! 
You want to share it
with someone close.
And then again you almost don’t. 

You want it

to be just yours……
and God’s.
I think this place is something we all
have in common, for is there anyone who
does not dream of such a place?
When you see it, something
in you wants to claim
it as your own
It feels like home
You breathe a little prayer of thanks,
because you just know that God
has dropped it out of the sky
just for you!
I found this little building behind the cabin next door that we rented earlier this month. I immediately claimed it as my own and dubbed it My Writer’s Shack. It intrigued me, stuck back there in the woods. One night I actually thought I saw a light on in the little window, but maybe I just wanted to. I had fun painting a little scene for myself there. I saw myself sitting behind that window, kerosene lamp lit in a comfy chair watching big flakes of snow coming down…books and journal at hand. I have no idea if that cabin was a rental or not. It could be that they used the little building as storage, but I had fun imagining what it could be.  
Be at rest sometime this weekend, and be blessed!

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

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