Dinner for Five?

Perhaps there are so many twists & turns in life so we don't have to see everything that's coming down the path. Have you ever wondered that? It's a great reason to live in the moment. It's wise to do some planning for the future... but, not at the expense of the present.

Sometimes things happen "to us" in life that we never really thought would happen "to us." In January, we will celebrate year two of having another family member. She wasn't planned or expected. But, she has proven to be one of the most delightful changes to our lives.

Seasons of Life - Stretching, Learning & Growing

I'm in the season of my life when I get to accompany a parent to health care visits. And, yesterday was one of those days. However, said "parent" is in a season of life where she does not want to listen to a thing I say - ha ha! The day was a little challenging... in that way. However, I would not have missed the time with my loved one. 

We laughed, talked, and reminisced. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at an old mom & pops restaurant located in a 100+ year old building which was former a bank. We strolled through a small shop along the main street of that town & talked about fashion trends these days. I shared pics on my phone of our son's recent engagement at the State Park where we'd taken her & Dad on his last Christmas. We looked at pics of my g'daughter -- HER GREAT g'daughter -- and the adventures of hiking, playing & meeting Peg + Cat and Bob the Builder at a recent costume party.

Shiver Me Timbers You Wretched Creature

September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I'm not sure I can come up with an inspirational thought to share with fellow Christians about being a "Christ-like pirate". But, I have a few pirates in my life whom I'd like to make walk the plank or throw overboard. Being tempted to do something & acting on the temptation isn't the same. Right? Right??

As a Christ-follower, I am trying to give the pirates in my life the benefit of the doubt. If I am what I say I am (a lover & follower of Christ) I need to ask for a burden on my heart to pray for God's children who cannot see their way clear of choices they've made in the past or poor choices they continue to make. It's so easy for me to think about the wretched creatures in my life and say...

AAARRRR, You wretched landlubber!

Sometimes I forget that EVERYONE if free to hear God's whispers. And, I forget how deeply God loves EVERYONE. I forget how God lovingly pursues every person individually. And, I forget that God loves EVERYONE unconditionally, right where we are, with no strings attached. 

There are some children of God in my world at this time who are struggling with choices they are making or have made. Do you have any of those wretched creatures in your life? I am trying very hard to pray daily that their eyes will be open to the LOVE OF GOD. It's all too easy for any of us to feel like we are unworthy & don't deserve to have communion with the Creator of the Universe. 

My prayer is that I be seen as a person of grace & not condemnation -- that I might be a better reflection of Christ. Because... all of us have sinned & fallen short. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous... through Christ Jesus.

"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin." Romans 3:22-25

Here's a just for fun picture of me & the LOML (with a pirate statue between us) in St. Thomas - when we were young &  love :) Now we're old & in love :)

Arrrrr... I love this matey!!

I pray that eyes will be opened to God's unconditional love through me each day!! May my words & deeds reflect my profession of faith in following Christ. We're all wretched creatures in Satan's eyes... but, we are BELOVED in the eyes of Christ!!

Want to know how to speak Pirate?  

written on 9/20/2012 - and LOST in all my unpublished drafts... Arrrrr!

Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels!

What do "dirty, rotten scoundrels" have to do with LOVE? And what do "dirty, rotten scoundrels" have to do with walking a tightrope?  

My words today are aimed at ME. I've consistently battled against being a black & white girl when it comes to wrong & right. I've had a tough time knowing exactly how to love a person (or how to appropriately to show my love) when I don't necessary care too much for the person or condone their choices & behaviors. 

I am "balance" challenged most days!

Does anyone else find it difficult to walk that fine line between helping someone & enabling them to continue on their path of poor choices? And, what about the fine line between showing love to someone & appearing to support choices & behaviors? 

God is showing me daily--often moment by moment--that UNCONDITIONAL GODLY LOVE has nothing to do with wrong & right! Completely LOVING someone doesn't have to mean that I have to COMPLETELY agree with their choices. 

The circumstances of my life in the past 3-4 years have been a great awakening for me about God's love. I've never had a problem with loving my own children unconditionally... but, that's a mom thing isn't it? Even when we feel like we could string our kids up by their toenails, we seem to giggle inside & know that we still love them no matter what they do. 

But, how do we show LOVE & ACCEPTANCE to those who just don't seem to deserve it? I truly believe that the only way is through Christ. It doesn't seem to be a humanly possible thing... on my own. It's a miraculous to find that you truly love someone you don't really "like" that much :) 

And, for me to base my love upon right & wrong choices of others is very detrimental to my personal relationship with God. By taking the name of Christ & calling myself a Christian, I believe that I am being called to be a person of LOVE! The more I read God's word & the more that I talk with Him, the more convicted I am about loving without conditions. I can't say that it's easy. But, my spirit tells me that it's the only way my heart can be clear in front of the Lord. 

It's easy to say that LOVE is my guide. But truthfully, sometimes life gets in the way of knowing how to best show love. For me lately, it's a constant act of discipline & obedience to my Lord.

His words: 

• "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Romans 12:9
• "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." 1 Corinthians 13:17 
• "Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works." James 2:26
• "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

I'm so very thankful for the opportunity I have to serve as a volunteer in my home church, Madison Park Church of God, through Worship Arts & Women's Ministries. This note was written as I was working on a weekly Worship Arts note for them.

Linking with Ann Voskamp - A Holy Experience today... 

Eat More Veggies...

Oh My Goodness... the amount of talking about Chick-Fil-A's executive's radio interview responses & the boycotts & the rallies (for eating more chicken & against eating more chicken)... the blogs from Christians supporting both viewpoints (pro & con eating more chicken)... the blogs from various non-church groups...

Eat more veggies... and more fruit too!

How could I resist letting you see my 2 cents (and that's what it's worth - from a nobody from Indiana ha ha!)...

• Hating Gay People is WRONG. Hating PEOPLE is wrong.
• Believing in what Christians term as "traditional marriage" is not necessarily hating gay people.

We should LOVE not hate.  "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

• Responding to a direct question when interviewed is a constitutional right - even if it's not politically correct.
• US Constitution Bill of Rights First Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

• A lot of companies support a lot of "groups" of which we are not aware.
• So, are we to thoroughly check-out what every company gives money to before we buy something from them?  Is that something YOU do... for every company you support with your purchases?

We need to seek truth in ourselves first.  "How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?"  Matthew 7:4

• Christ-like love is unconditional.
• Love does not always mean agreement with something. (Trust me, as a parent, my children have made & will likely make choices I do not support... but, I love my children UNCONDITIONALLY.)

Love people, regardless of their differences. "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."  1 John 4:9-11 

It's tough to navigate the waters these days.  I don't want to offend.  But, I don't want to have someone else define what is "truth" for me. I want to love unconditionally but, yet be free to state my view on issues.  For me, I have decided to pray before speaking as often as I can!!!  There's a great scripture in Psalm to that affect:

"Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips." Psalm 141:3  The NLT version puts it this way: "Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips."

I promise, as a follower of Christ, to commit DAILY to live by the words... 

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14

That's what I've decided to do... how about you?

Another's Treasure

5:47am seems like a good time to begin a blog post after having spent 20 minutes out in the cold rain BEHIND the porch swing on the patio rescuing plants... not my own plants... but someone else's plants... someone who's not around to help. 

What's that scripture?  "Greater love has no MOM than to climb behind a porch swing in the 40 degree rain to rescue potted plants of a loved one nowhere to be found..." 

I admit, I really love plants.  However, I'm not a fan of giving them extra-special care.  I don't DO "high maintenance potted plants."  I do the kind that can either survive outside pretty much on their own or the kind that you can water once or twice a week & throw some extra fertilizer in twice a year. I love fresh garden vegetables but, I loathe gardening. When God provided me with 3 "volunteer" tomato plants (coming up on their own each summer) at our country home, I was thrilled.  That's about the extent of my "gardening". 

I tried to ignore the little voice inside me that in the darkness of the early morning said: "That cold soft rain is going to wash those new plants right out of their new homes."  I tried to forget the words of the one who planted them: "Those pieces of pottery don't have holes in the bottom. So we'll have to spray them with water - not pour water in them."  But alas, at 5:15am my heart couldn't stop hearing the words of the one I love.  And, at 5:16am, I donned a pair of sweats & a rain jacket to climb behind the porch swing in the far corner of the patio and crouch down to rescue another's treasure...

What kind of sacrifice was it really... in light of the words spoken by Jesus in John 15:12 (NKJV)  - those were words of TRUE love... "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." That is REAL love - much more than just getting wet in a cool rain & to return to the comfort of a a warm home and write about the harrowing experience.

He told us how to love... "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." 

And, He let us know what we would experience when we unselfishly gave love... "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."   

I'm cold, I'm wet... but, I am full of joy.