Feeling Right...

Something doesn’t feel right.

That’s how life goes...some things don’t feel right ...and some things, feel just perfect. I talked to a good friend about this one day, just a heart beat ago, and its true...so true, about many things.

Some sin does not feel right. But some sin feels right and good and perfect.  The interesting part is that one can be moved easily from one column to the other...easily.

We are all sinners.

Yes, we all sin and believe it or not, God does not play favourites in this area.  One sin is not better than another, a sin is a sin.  Face it we are all sinners.  It’s a new revelation for me, not the sinning part or that we all are one, it is the fact that God does not play favourites.  I usually love new revelations of God’s love and grace and mercy, those that happen because of eventual goodness, seemingly deserved, goodness winning out.  But right now I am in awe of  the revelation that He can show exactly the same love and grace and mercy to those who seemingly do not deserve it...how could God love that sinner, the one who did that sin?

I love that about God, He can make it so that any sin is a blessing, something to be grasped and held on to, to turn over...to turn and sin no more.

Do not sink in your sin, God has grace and mercy for you, He can turn all things to good, for you and for me...especially me.

I don’t know who said it, or where I found it, but I am saving this little quote, I am putting it where I can see it and read it and take it in...

“It’s not about what it is, it is about what it can become...”

I love that.

Stepping Stones

It was my birthday today, I received notes from friends, old and new, words of blessings, words of wisdom, love and encouragement...all gifts of the heart.  I received a gift or two as well and maybe one more, given, poured out from the soul.  The givers in themselves gifts of God.

Years ago my Dad gave me a gift of words, he told me once, when I was just a girl really, I was stepping out into the world and he said ‘One step at a time Judy, first you crawl, then you walk and then, you can run...take it one step at a time.”

I have always loved that he told me that, that I have those words to fall back on, to slow down and measure my pace.

When we first moved into this home, John made a sidewalk part way around the house.  Embedded in the walkway are red stepping stones placed a certain distance apart, it is hard to walk at a normal pace if you want to step on each one, each step has to be measured.  Life is a maze of stepping stones, taking you in the direction you should go. The trick is to step on the right stones in the right measures.

A friend said to me the other day, be like a scale...balance everything, measure what is good. 

Yes, but in order to measure something you need to have something to measure against...hopefully it is something good.

Sometimes, I find that God gives you something, it is not yours to keep, it is given in order to see what is possible, to see a glimpse of what He has in store for you.  It is given as a means of measure, to measure all things against, to taste and see and know and wait for it to come for keeps...for you.  It is a stepping stone, a gift and God gives his children good gifts...I love that.

 I will be measuring all things against that gift...something good...a gift from God.

This is where I stand right now, I am on the road to enjoying life, stepping out and stepping on stones...one step at a time measuring and balancing good gifts.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above”   James 1:17

I love that.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

A man came up to my desk while I was on my shift at the Cancer Agency today.  He handed me a piece of paper, said someone must have dropped it, it was a boarding pass for American Airlines flying out of Chicago to Providence for a Ms Mcphail.  It was dated May 3, 1997. It begged to tell the story of a missed flight, perhaps a love lost, a rendezvous not met.  Perhaps they did meet and the pass was saved as a remembrance of that anniversary...but now lost.

Ahh a love story, who doesn’t enjoy a love story?

I shared and witnessed a few of them this morning... 

A little girl was coming off the elevator with her grandmother she seemed very happy and I asked her what she would be doing today.  She said she was going to be having a play date today, she had one yesterday and today she was going to have another one...”with the exact same person!” She was skipping with excitement and clapping her hands in joy, her grandmother smiling beside her.  Love, what a great expectation.

A little earlier two very elderly patients came out of the senior’s clinic in the office right next to my desk, I wished I had asked how old they were, but they were in love, no doubt. She was teasing him about being in her way, he turned slightly and said “yes dear”, she smiled and winked at me, he reached for her hand and held it, saying “put it into high gear mom” Now they both laughed, he with his cane and her with a walker. I stood and watched them walk down the hallway admiring them, hoping I will have that some day.  Love, such a beautiful time.

At least twenty people gathered at the elevator, they were subdued, some of them holding packages, talking quietly, looking for others, waiting.  I thought maybe they were going to a conference or a learning center, but no, they were all one family going upstairs to hear what the Doctor had to say about their loved one.  I heard later it was the largest gathering of support for one patient.  A dedicated family overflowing with love...love wanting more.

Today, a husband wheeled his frail, frail wife in a wheel chair up to the elevator, he took her just to the side of the door, came in front of her and bent down to kiss her, she ever so slightly lifted her face to meet his...it was the sweetest kiss. Then he went around, wheeled her into the elevator and the door closed.  My heart stopped and a tear fell.  Love still being felt and honoured and mourned.

I witnessed all these today and maybe more, yes there were more.  I was on the outside peeking in on love stories...they are all around us...I love that.

Love...the greatest story ever told.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  

But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

The Orange Wallet

I was in the grocery store standing in the checkout line, a man was standing behind me holding an orange wallet, obviously a woman’s wallet and I wondered about it.  I wondered why he had a woman’s orange wallet, I wondered why he didn’t seem to care and I wondered where his wife was, surely coming around the corner anytime.  He placed his bag of sugar on the counter, the bag tore open and sugar spilled out, he tried to brush it away but gave up on that.  Just like he didn’t care about the orange wallet, he didn’t really care about the spilled sugar.  He was opening the orange wallet; his cards slipped out and fell to the floor.  He reached down to pick them up and I wondered if I should help him or should I say something, a joke maybe.  

Somehow I thought, no.

Now I was paying for my groceries and about to lift the bags when he started talking, not really to anyone.  He said, 'my wallet was lost but it was found intact.'  

I thought, the orange wallet?  

He went on to say that everything was in it, all of his credit cards, all of his identification, all of his loose papers and all of his money.  One thousand dollars, cash.  We were all listening, the clerk, the East Indian lady behind him and me.

He was pretty comfortable with this orange wallet, was this the one lost?  At any rate the wallet had been found, someone had found it and turned it in completely as it was.  He wanted to give the person who found it a reward but they hadn’t left a name and the police didn’t know or wouldn’t say.  The person had found it in a recycling bin at the recycling depot.  I asked 'how do you think it got there?'  He said he thought it probably slipped out of his pocket into a bag he was taking to the road. 

From what I had witnessed earlier, I nodded in agreement.

 

How amazing that there are honest people, considerate and humble and willing to return lost items...people who are steadfast and true to others in their world, people who are not looking to their own gain at the expense of another’s loss...honest people, heroes really.

 

He was amazed, we all were, but here is the part that stood out.

 

When he realized his wallet was gone, he searched the house, looking everywhere, madder than a hatter.  His wife had asked him if he had prayed.  He said to us, that he told his wife, “Don’t’ be ridiculous, God does not care about some fool who lost his wallet!”  She had replied with “well then I will pray.”

Four hours later he got a phone call from the police, “Sir, have you lost a wallet?”

He didn't know any of us, he didn’t know how we would respond but he didn't care...he was ‘out there’ talking about God, talking about praying and telling us about answered prayer.

I love that.

Something to talk about

My friend sent out this quote this morning,

“Don’t judge someone just because they sin differently than you”

That’s an eye opener.

Then there was this warning I read recently in a book by Elsie H. R. Rempel,

“Because we see life most clearly from our own perspective, we can be tempted to consider our faith stage the norm, and use it to judge others.”

Judging, perspectives, being tempted, sinning, seeing most clearly...differently

...differently than you.

Really, it is hard to see anything at all in a different way because we are seeing everything through our own eyes; everything is weighed from our own experiences, our own perspectives, it is all weighed by what is going on in our own head. From our view, it seems that what we see is the norm whether it is in regards to our faith or any other occurrence in life.  And really what is going on in our head sometimes seems so simple, so straight forward.  Why doesn’t everyone see that? Well the truth is everyone does see that...from their own stage of the norm!  We are all going around looking out at the world from our own, simple, straight forward viewpoint.

It is hard work to turn and see the view from someone else; the possibilities of what could be a different view.

I want to see differently, yes I do think of glasses as half full rather than half empty, yes I do look to the positive rather than the negative but I want to see differently. 

I am also thinking that to see differently we have to talk about it...otherwise how will we know?

A Tear fell

Andrew shared a beautiful sermon this morning.  His words were filled with heart and soul, love and truth.  His words brought me to tears.

God was found in a gentle whisper... 1 Kings 18,19

I am sure that everyone in church this morning was going over their own mountain top-to-in-the valley experiences, moments of time filling their hearts and minds and souls, feeling the way I did. Thinking of their times in the desert, maybe still there, holding out for God, waiting for His gentle whisper.  

I heard a pin drop... a tear fell...and then, more.

In amongst the beautiful words Andrew shared this morning, one small thing caught my attention.  It had to do with imagining outcomes or reasons of events.  This is something we all are guilty of...putting our imaginations to things that happen in our lives.  Imaginations that have no basis for truth, but are thoughts of what could be, or what should be and maybe even what we should do about it, all blown up into such proportions that the truth itself becomes distorted.

 

How often do we get ourselves in trouble by doing this?  I know I’m guilty of it.

Or how often are we hurt by doing this, we come away feeling unloved, not accepted, maybe even abandoned.

On Friday night I was in a small book store, where I read an excerpt from a book, Wherever You Go There You Are, the author says

 “...we usually fall quite unawares into assuming that what we are thinking – the ideas and opinions that we harbour at any given time - are the truth about what is ‘out there’ in the world.  Most of the time it just isn’t so...we lock ourselves into a personal fiction that we already know what is happening- all the while remaining in thoughts, fantasies and impulses, mostly about the past and about the future, about what we want and like, and what we fear and don’t like, which spin out continuously, veiling our direction and the very ground we are standing on.”

Imaginations that cloud what is true; imagining that you are not loved, believing that you could not be loved, supposing this , thinking that...these imaginations hurt.  They hurt the heart and soul.  We should all work at seeing what is true.

“If I could give you one thing, I would give you the ability to see yourself 
through my eyes.  Then you would realize how special you are."  

                                                                                  unknown

Hmmm, I love that.

Things from life this week

 "Nothing is ever as it seems ~ every perfect picture hides a mess or two"

                                                                                                in a song by Rita Wilson

...so true, especially in these days, but conversely, inside every mess there is a perfect picture too.

My new word ~ epipipto ~ it means; to fall on you in embrace; to take possession of you.

the word is found in Luke 15:20 ...when the father sees his prodigal son returning home, he runs out to meet him and falls on him in embrace!

The Lord wants to fall on you in embrace, to take possession of you. 

epipipto ...I love that. 

If Jesus were on trial for being your Lord and savior, would you constitute enough evidence to prove Him guilty? 

                         You.  You are going to be the evidence that Christ is who He says He is.

in a sermon by Darrell Johnson

'When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." '  John 8:12

Intimidation  is something that  handicaps your ability to function normally; 

it prohibits you from being yourself.

                                             so you can see the world,

                  the mountain,

      Climb                                                                       not so the world can see you.

Dana saw him the other day, he was standing out in the yard watching Kevin levelling the ground around the site of the new shop...  and Kenzie was playing peek a boo with him out on the porch.  Devon was watching and asked “Kenzie who are you playing peek a boo with?” “With Papa” he replied, “he’s sitting right there.”

    The heart has its reason that reason knows nothing of.

I love that.

Hope Deferred

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.      

Proverbs 13:12

For just a moment, on Sunday morning, Pastor Larry Schram talked about this verse and I was reminded of a time not that long ago.

I remember.  I remember it very well.  The day the Doctor said to us that there was no hope.  Through tears I spoke up for John and I said ‘but there could be a miracle.’  She shook her head ‘no.’

Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

I’ve come to realize since then, that it is always better to give some hope...always.

Cancer is a scary word, true, but it is not a death sentence.  Today there are so many ways of treatment, new ways, better ways...there is always a way, if it is not a way out now, right now, there is a way to hope for the next day, the next way...always there is hope...even if it is the hope only God offers.  The blessed hope.

I read a magazine article the other day, where a woman was told by her Doctor, that there was nothing they could do for her, she was devastated. 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

The Doctor said they would go ahead with the treatment anyway.  Amazingly enough, it worked, the cancer shrunk, she was going to be okay.  But the Doctor had said nothing could be done? Really, nothing?  Wouldn’t it have been better to offer hope in the first place?  She said “What I still can’t understand is why they would take away my hope before the answer would be clear.”

There is a fine line between being real with the pain of knowing and being real with the hope of healing.  There is a fine line between being not unrealistic and being hopeful. It is true that it’s hard to know the difference, but, as far as it depends on you, always, offer hope.

Working at the cancer agency I have observed that it is not the patient who is down, in fact they are usually cheering everyone else up.  It is true that when you hear of someone who has been diagnosed, that your reaction is sadness...yes, it’s sad, but be careful; don’t defer hope.  Hope should always be conveyed, hope should always be realized and hope should always be maintained.

A friend of mine asked her friend who had been diagnosed with a form of lymph cancer “What can I do for you?”  His answer,  “The best thing you can do is to make me laugh; send me stories, pictures, movies anything that will make me laugh.”

So my friend looked for anything that was funny.  Along the way something happened to her, she cheered up, she found a way to feel better.  In the process of cheering up her friend she found herself looking on the brighter side, the hopeful side and she in turn gave him hope.

 

He was wise in asking for it, she was encouraged in doing it...offering hope.

Offering hope, Libby Znaimer, the author of the magazine article I had been reading called it, the audacity of hope.

      audacity, noun

      1.boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard 
       for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick...the audacity of hope, brings healing to the heart and soul...it is a tree of life.  

I love that.

Under construction, truly

It seems I am always under construction, being fixed, needing repairs...oh-oh, there she goes again!  I am God’s construction site...truly; He’s not finished with me yet.

I have just read a cute magazine article about a young woman who learned from her parents a myriad of fixing and making things better.  Doing and knowing, learning and experiencing.  She talked about building and repairing.  What got me was that she knew how to countersink a screw.

 

I can’t do that...well, yes I can.  I know the names of most tools and I have an understanding of what they are used for.  I can fix a lot of things; ask my daughters, my mom, ask my Dad.  Ask my friend Teresa, she bought one of my homes, she can certainly attest to some of my repair jobs...truly, don’t ask Teresa.

 

There are some jobs I am not proud of although they always served the purpose in a time of need, more like a time of ‘how can I do this now!’  Lots of my fixes were innovative and inventive and imaginative but not often by the book.  I can do most repairs, my Dad trusts that I can do it, my son and my son-in-laws believe that I can and John almost always let me do it.

 

John was not really into home repair, although he was attempting it, we were half way into renovating our home when he got sick. He was trying, learning, doing.  No, John was a road construction man, he knew straight lines, levels, slopes and grades, he understood them, and even though he told me often enough that he was getting tired of it, I knew he loved it.

Not that long ago I drove over the Port Man Bridge, through the impressive web of bridge building construction.  Although on that day, all the equipment was still, sitting alone in the places where men left them, cranes, loaders, graders...all the road building equipment that reminded me of John... still, quiet.

I felt like stopping right there, parking my car, getting out...truly, taking it in.

Reaching high, high, above were lengths and lengths of steel cable linking to steel towers poured with cement reinforced and held fast with more steel.  It was impressive.  It was beautiful.  In the background of this world of Man’s construction was God’s construction.  Amazingly beautiful; mountains, steel blue, cold, fresh snow capped.  The sky, intense, bright, bright blue.  The clouds, fluffy, white, light.  I was struck by the contrast and the comparison of mans cold steel world with God’s natural world; both strong, both massive, both bold.

The work that man can accomplish and the work that God creates, seen at once.  It was altogether beautiful.

Truly, it is a beautiful world.

      "... looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

Hebrews 11:10

A few things from today

"Do you agree with me - or do you think I am right?" 

Charlie Bentall 1970   ...hehehe I love that!

“May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing in your sight”  

 Psalm 19: 14

Dining well, but sharing little...

            Moved while here, but failed to stir after we leave...

                                         We take it all in, but do little...

 Jesus, the sermon on the mount, after all is said, it's as if He is asking, you have heard what I said, now what will you do with it?

                                                      What will I do?

We don’t change because we want to belong to Christ, we change because we do belong to Christ.

“You have heard it said God will only give what you can handle?  Well, I say God only gives what He can handle...I trust Him”      Thanks Patti, I love that 

Even though they are not with us, walking along side us, talking with us, even  though dying, many, through their faith still speak.

                                                                              

on my shift at the hospital...

Today I saw many who were weak but had someone close by to walk along side...hold on;

People who will never be alone...I promise you;

People who were tired...holding hands...being rocks...loving through it.

Today I saw tears.

But today I saw hope, I saw love, I saw life;

I saw God today.

In memory of my Buddy ...he is being honoured today by Devon,  who is walking all through the night in the Relay for Life,  far, far away in Ontario.

                                                                           I love that... 

                                                     Hebrews 11:4  

"...though dead, through his faith he still speaks."

More or Less

"Give me miles and miles of mountains and I’ll ask for the sea..."

                                                                                       in a song by Damien Rice

I am reminded of a friend from years past, from a time before either of us had families.  She confided in me that she wished she had what I had, I looked at her incredulous, because I had been wishing that I had what she had.  It happened to me again, just the other day and I was again taken aback.  A different friend, a different time, each of us wanting what the other had, wanting what the other has.  Mind you, neither exchange had anything to do with money, material gain or things, but they had to do with life, issues of the heart and soul, wanting less, wanting more.  These friends had the sea but wanted mountains and I...I had mountains but wanted the sea.

Here is the truth, we have so much, yet we want more, we want what is on the other side of the fence, we want to walk in the greener grass that lays there, sways there, beautiful, dotted with flowers and stirring with lovely birds and butterflies who want to live there.  We want that.  We fail to see that what we have is just as beautiful, just as green and lush and fragrant...just different.

I read a quote the other day, I was struck by it, it affected my thoughts and hung in my mind...it is there still.  This quote speaks to what the Bible talks about, you can find it in Matthew and Luke, and Paul talks about it in Phillipians. We talked a bit about the quote today during our coffee time...

 

“Everyone thinks life is about getting things and getting more money, but it’s not 

– life is about losing everything”

                                                                                    

I love that, it quiets the soul, it takes the pressure off, it gives permission to just be, to accept our losses, because that is what life is about, not more, not greener or more lush but about less, living with less, loving with less, accepting loss and surviving it, climbing the mountains and surfing the sea, despite the loss.  Life is about losing everything.

We are all different, some with more, some with less, some have mountains, others have the sea. 

Yes, I have miles and miles of mountains, but now and then, I find myself asking for the sea.

Sixty Years

When the hour is upon us and our beauty surely gone

you will not be forgotten

No, you will not be alone

My parents just celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary!  

Sixty years of marriage.  S  I  X  T  Y    Y  E  A  R  S.  Husband and wife...a  l o n g  life, together.

They can’t do everything they used to do, Dad sometimes...Dad often, gets frustrated that he can’t do the things that he used to do, the things that he loved to do, the things that he lived to do.  Mom is always nearby encouraging him to simply enjoy the fact that his time for doing is done, that now is the time for loving, not doing.

They are both still good looking, Mom always wears a classic sweater, accessorised with her favourite jewellery, earrings dangling, hair curled and combed just so.  Dad still impresses those that meet up with him, thick toussled white hair and a big, big grin...yes, still good looking.

They are always together, playing a game of cards, watching curling or the news...watching. Together, talking.  Listening to music, together, soulful country classics, even though Mom doesn't like it, she tries not to say so. Mom likes to do crossword puzzles, but Dad doesn't like that...and he says so.  Dad often talks about moving to Herbert, Mom refuses to go. They are often arguing about any one thing that has come about in the day, or that happened yesterday.  They are just as often laughing together at some old joke or at each other for some failed attempt at something, maybe even because of something they have accomplished. Really, you did it!  Surprise and pride at accomplishments.

They have struggled with health issues, heart and soul issues.  Blood, sweat and tears. They have overcome their trials and have continued on, encouraging one another and trying hard to survive, to just live.  To live with integrity and grace and peace...living life is hard.

They are enjoying the fruits of their labour, family dinners once a week, good food, love and laughter.  They love their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren...these children that came all because they fell in love.  They are honoured to know this family tree they have planted...to feel it, to water and to taste from it.

They have reached an amazing accomplishment, sixty years together.  They are a testament to love, joy, perseverance, patience, cooperation, consideration and survival.  When all else failed they showed persistence to love and dedication to one another.

We gathered, as many of us who could, this past weekend to share their accomplishment and to joy in one another,  it was beautiful...joy, from sixty years of labour and love...it was a celebration, it was an honour.

And when the day has all but ended and our echo starts to fade

you will not be alone...Let us hold to each other till the end of our days

S  I  X  T  Y    Y  E  A  R  S    with love, God Bless

The Blame Game

I have just finished reading a little book by Gene Edwards. A little book, but a powerful message, a message that will stir you to a new way of thinking or will confirm what you already think.  The Prisoner in the Third Cell, a telling of John the Baptist, his life, to his death; his life, served up on a platter.  The story telling gives way to a simple, quick and powerful read. John is the prisoner in cell three.

 

One of the threads in the story that stood out to me were the prisoners in cell one and cell two.  The one blames men for the fact that he is in prison, he blames his circumstance on Herod and he blames the others who conspired against him to take everything he had, he shouts “there is no end to the wickedness of the human heart”

The one in cell two blames God, he raised his face and spat curses at God “What kind of a God is it that will allow such things as we suffer now!  Is this the end for men who have loved God and obeyed Him? Has God no pity?”

The question then is who will John blame; man? God? Or perhaps his cousin?  Jesus could have saved John, He could have done something to ease Johns plight.  He performed many miracles, He healed many.  Who will John the Baptist blame?

A few months ago I read through Job.  The story of a man’s suffering, satan makes a deal with God, and God gives him permission to torment Job.  It is the telling of the powerful faith of a man who suffers greatly but never gives up on God.  His faith stands firm just as God told satan he would.  Job never blames satan. I love that.  

Satan doesn’t need any glory by any of us talking about the power he has over us...I’m sure you’ve heard people give the blame to satan for the troubles they are in.  Satan loves that, it puffs him up; he feeds on it, the fact that we are giving him any credit, he loves that.

This last week in our final study we talked a bit about trials and challenges and suffering, how these are inevitable...we will have troubles.  We went on to read examples of others who persevered through their troubles, they did not blame satan.  In fact through their troubles they gave the glory to God.  Their faith stood firm and God was given the credit, He loves that.

The blame game...who will you blame?

  

Who is going to get the credit; man? satan? Or will you give the credit to God?

"To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen"

1Peter 5:11

Washing feet

“What does the thing about you that annoys me say about me?”

I heard a sermon the other day and the pastor asked that question.  Profound, don’t you think?

It is so easy to be annoyed with what other people do and then think badly of them, even go so far as to tell others what annoys us about them.  We are really saying ‘Don’t you agree?’ ‘Wouldn’t this drive you crazy too?’ ‘I’m right, aren’t I right?’ ‘That is so annoying?’  We want others to agree to see our view but really, and I think this is true, although I don’t like to realize it; what actually happens is how we are seen.  These kinds of discussions usually end up showing what kind of person we are.  Easily annoyed, quick to judge, heartless, puffed up with pride, altogether righteous, without grace and without mercy.  Regardless of what the thing really is...it ends up being about us.

Yikes, I have been easily annoyed by some people, maybe not easily annoyed so much as being rubbed the wrong way, well, it’s all the same.  But the truth is there are some people I do not fit well with.  This is all well and good, how could we possibly get along with everyone, see eye to eye with everyone, be on the same playing field with everyone,  be compatible with everyone?  Right?

This same pastor said another thing, ‘righteousness is about ‘right relationship’ ‘right relatedness’.  Yes, with Christ but also with one another, showing the right kind of righteousness.  I get that, I do.  I want to be that kind of person, showing the right kind of relatedness.

I don’t know about you but I want to be less annoyed.  I am really going to try hard to not let anyone see that I am annoyed.  I want to show grace and mercy and not tell anyone that I am annoyed.  Not tell anyone that I have been annoyed or that I am prone to feel that way.  I want to try hard to be 'right related'.  I want to try not to point out the annoyances of others because it will come back to me; it will end up being about me.  Like the old saying ‘what goes around comes around.’

In this past week’s study, a particular fact stood out to me. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.  He washed the feet of all the disciples.  He washed the feet of Judas, his betrayer.  Judas, the one who was easily annoyed, quick to judge, heartless, puffed up with pride, altogether righteous, without grace and without mercy.  Jesus washed his feet.  

What does that say about Jesus?

"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

John 13:15

Sharing Words

“I wanted words but all I heard was nothing” 

                                                                                           ...in a song by The Script

I’m reading a book right now called “WORDS” written by Ginny Yttrup.  It is the story of a girl who has lost her voice but collects words; she keeps them in an imaginary box in her mind.  These words help her to understand things that happen to her, they help her to understand how she feels. Eventually she will say them and she will be freed to own them and to share them.

After having shared words with someone have you ever gotten nothing in return, no, nothing?

I have.   To me, that is so sad, I love words, sharing them is important.  I love saying them and I love hearing them.  I love hearing them said in ways that have meaning, depth and power. I love hearing them said soft and slow, whispered.  I love hearing a word and realizing it means something else to someone else; a different way of knowing a word, a different way of understanding that person.

Word …the dictionary definition:

Word (wurd) n 1. A sound or a combination of sounds or its representation in print. 

2. Something said; an utterance, a comment

3. An assurance or a promise

4. A command or direction

5. A verbal signal or a password

6. a. News. b. Rumor

7. a. see Logos. b. The Scriptures, the Bible

That is a lot of ways to understand Word; it is the spoken word, something said. It is how it sounds and how it is written, printed on a page. It is a promise, it is commanded, spoken, rumored. It is a password to life. It is proclaiming news and it is sacred.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"

Psalm 119:105

Words are meant to be shared.  Words describe things, they help to understand what is happening, they let me know how to feel.  Words can be measured too. Finding the right words, measuring them, knowing how to say them and being careful how I hear them.

Words mean more than you know, know them, read them, share them; if they are said to you they can lift your soul, if they are said by you they can lift another soul…

“Sometimes someone says something really small 

and it fits just right into this empty place in your heart."  

                                                                                                          words I heard somewhere...

and it fits just right...I love that.

Little things I learned this week

Heaven is for Real!  a little book by Todd Burpo

"I'm a broken stone, place me in the house you're building..."  

a song by Audrey Assad

Sitting down; royalty sits, subjects stand.  

I am the daughter of a King; 

He is waiting for me to be still.

'Jesus said " Have the people sit down."'

They sat in groups of fifty or one hundred...find someone to sit with you.


.Don't believe everything you think.

"You must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. 

 Don't give it the time of day.  

 Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life."

Romans 6:12 the msg

 ...running little errands?  ...giving sin a vote?

"...let's make a clean break from everything that distracts us, both within and out."

2 Corinthians 7:1 the msg

Be aware of your breathing. Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Just breathe...

"I say more: the man justices;

Keeps grace: that keeps all his going graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is...

Christ.  For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces."

                                                          Gerard Manley Hopkins

Right Now

I am remembering a lesson I learned not that long ago; be content, right where you are, in the life you are living right now.  Rob talked about that sort of thing this morning, not about being content but about saying yes, right now, where you are, despite who you are right now.

Sometimes days sneak up on me and I find myself not particularly liking where I am right now.  I want something else, if only this or if only that.  I don’t want to be who I am, I want to be her, I want to be doing what he is doing or wouldn’t it be great if I could do what she just did.

 

Sometimes lonely sneaks up on me and I find myself not wanting to be who I am right now.  I want to be doing this or doing that ...with someone.  Wouldn’t it be great if I was someone else right now.

Sometimes feeling sorry for myself sneaks up on me.  I despise that, what fun is that?  What good is that?  Well, the one good thing about it is that if I realize that I am feeling sorry for myself that means I can stop it...thankfully.  I am so happy when I realize that I have been doing it and I can get back to being who I am right now, with the life I have been given.  I can get back to the last thing God told me to do right now with who I am right now in the place where I am right now.

Right now; those are the words that spoke to me this morning.  Right now, I am waiting on God, waiting on a word from Him, waiting for when He will say, ‘Here is the way, walk in it’  ‘Here is the road take it’ ‘Here are the words, say them’ ‘Just go, I will be with you.’

Moses was concerned about who he was, when God asked him to go, Moses said “Who am I?”  God responded with “I will go with you...say it is I AM who has sent you”  God redirects Moses' thinking about who he is to who God is.  It's as if He is saying don’t be concerned with who you are right now, be concerned with “I AM”  I will be with you.

So right now I have been redirected from who I am to who God is, how great is that?  Starting from here, right now, just the way I am; I say yes, I’m in it for the long haul, I choose yes.

And right now He accepts me as I am... I love that.

"What You want from me I can do it right now. I can do it right now."  

Sara Groves

The Glory of it All

“Look, I see Heaven open...”  Acts 7:56

Heaven opening up.  And God’s glory showing.

While reading through Priscilla Shirer's book we've been talking about the glory of God; how His glory is all around us, even in the desert places.  How His glory exceeds comprehension, that His glory is reserved for His sake, for only One and that His glory demands a response.

 

God’s glory is all around us...His glory, showing.

Reminds me of something I shared with my children when they were little.  Sharing God’s glory; a bit of Heaven.

Sometimes, it happened when we were outside, walking, talking, sky watching.  Maybe we would be inside, looking out, through the window, over the couch leaning, sky watching.

Sometimes we weren’t sky watching at all, sometimes we were just doing life, and somehow though, there it would be.  The sky might have been a little stormy, but the sun would be there shining somewhere above the cloud cover, above the fray.

Just then the sky would move, the clouds shifting in the smallest most unassuming way.  Then an opening in the clouds, where a bit of blue shone through.  But not just blue, the brightest blue, reflecting the brightness of the sun and leaving way for the rays of its light.  Amazing rays of cloud shrouded light streaming down, rays of Glory it seemed.

 

Whatever we were doing I would stop and point it out to my children “Look ...a bit of Heaven!”  Then, all time would stop as we watched, we would melt in the moment and we would pleasure in the glory of it.

God’s glory showing...His glory is all around us.  I love that.

"You are here, with redemption for us all, that we may live, for the glory of it all."

                                                                                                        David Crowder Band