Just pray............

I have the list for groceries.  Check.  I have the list for what needs to be done around the house. Check.  I have the list for upcoming events. Check.  Now just to "check"  off each item on these lists  as they are completed.  Organization is a wonderful thing. Getting things done is a wonderful thing.

I must be careful that I don't relegate all of my life actions and doings to lists. What about people?  I have the list for that too.  Make the calls. Check.  Smile and nod. Check.......but is my heart and mind focused on them and the need that is crushing them at this moment. 

During my work years, I had a magnet that had a formula for being successful in people relationships to ensure business success.  After choose your attitude and make their day, the next principle was be there.  Be there.  Lay other things aside and focus your attention to the person in front of you right now and their concern as if the fifty things piled on your desk didn't exist.

Being there is an important part of many things.  This morning I am thinking particularly about prayer.  Am I being there during pray?  Do I just have a list of the various needs?  Missionaries, church family, physical needs, financial needs, family. Is it just a list that I feel like I have to say "check" to each one?  Am I standing in the synagogue and think how good I am by remembering everything on the list?  Is it like a Christmas wish list that I am wishing to be fulfilled? Or, do I humble my self and ask for mercy?

Lord,  help be to be there during pray.  Make my time of prayer a time of adoration to you. Help me commune with you so that by being with you, I am changed.  Help me to live so that every breath is a prayer of  praise and worship to you.  Change me..............

Spinning

If I were to have a word that described my life right now it would be "spinning".  Not that I am dizzy from medication or a physical problem. Or that I am creating some type of material.  Just that a lot of events are happening in our family right now and the effect is .....well.....spinning.   If I have left you with a sense of a bad or negative feeling, please let me say that it is most defiantly not negative in any way. 

You see, many happy things are taking place in the near future. 

1. A piano recital.    Not just your ordinary recital.  This is a graduate recital for a young man receiving his masters degree.  This young man is a dedicated, smart, hard working, talented pianist.  He will be playing some amazing pieces.   And the best part......he is my son.

2. A wedding.   Not just your ordinary wedding.  This wedding is of two special people.   The bride has chosen a beautiful organza covered dress with sparkles all over it.  Plans are being made for the ceremony and the celebration to follow.  What a joy to see God working in their lives even now.  And the best part.......the bride is my daughter.

3.  A move.  Not just your ordinary move.  This move is back to her first love.  After working for a year in a new climate, she is returning her focus on the little guys.  How privileged these little people are and how privileged the bigger guys were for having a little taste of her techniques.  What and outstanding educator.   And the best part.......she is my daughter.

So now you can see that this is a very happy time for me.  So, here I am enjoying life and seeing some miraculous things happening.  And I feel like a spring day in a field of daisies, picking flowers, enjoying the Son shine on my face and spinning.

God had such a wonderful idea when He made a day of rest. (Of course, all of God's ideas are wonderful!) However, it is good to have a day set aside for rest and worship. A special time to deliberately say, "Today, I will worship the Lord. Today is the day I focus on Him." I try in my daily tasks and work to reflect Him. After all He did say.....six day shalt thou labor. But the thought of a day for Him...... I love it!

We had a special surprise for church today. A concert pianist showed up to play for the morning service and stayed the day with us. He also played for the evening service and sang not one but two songs! If you don't know this person he has two sisters. Both are amazing teachers and all three of these people have a heart for God. Which makes this writer extremely proud, blessed, thankful and a little bit giddy.

BTW.......... it is after September 15th. the bugs have slowed down their endless zzzzzzzzz and the fall of the year is upon us. I think it is great that my least favorite time of year is followed by my most favorite time of year!

Well, summer is nearing an end. My family knows that the time from about August 9th to September 15th is my most unfavored time of year. The cool days of Autumn have not yet arrived and the summer days are old and tired. The days just don't have the strength to muster any more excitement and fun. They are just there - still being summer and looking a little old. The days give me the feeling of wanting to move on but just tired and unmotivated. Then there are the bugs......... How I am annoyed by the zzzzzzzzzzzz comes on many levels.
Wait. Stop.
Autumn will come with its cool crisp days. Soup, fires, and warm company will come. They will come. Looking forward to it.

Here is the lesson.
The old will pass. The new refreshing is coming. The annoying tired days (with their bugs) will come to an end, schedules will emerge and a new era will arrive.

Be patient.
Be calm.
Be ready.
Be watching.

The King of Kings....He is coming.

Wow! I finally am back. It has been over a year. Resetting the password is great. Now if I could only collect my thoughts! So much has happened in a years time. Still have the one goal in mind....further up and further in. Always learning about Jesus and His Love. Hope to be back soon. (I'm writing down the password. HA!)

There is a layer of snow on the ground. When it came yesterday and last night it was heavy, like a sponge full of water; thick and cold. Perfect for snowball making. It lay on the street in slushy form, as if everyone had just spilled their Slurpee before the flavoring got put in. Then the ugly side of the weather came and turned it hard and colder than it really needed to be.

But I felt it. Did you?

That first hint, when you remember something coming in the future. Maybe a birthday, Christmas, the kids coming home. The thought peeps in the door or you feel it at the window for the first time and the anticipation and planning starts. That first hint of SPRING!

Now I know it is a long time away from the actual sunny days of skipping through the green meadows. But, I you can sense it coming. Just a few more minutes of day light, a few more birds chirping in the morning, a soft breeze that touches you face without the bite. You start to think about gardening, outside projects and you may wonder "Where did that thought come from?".

It is that first hint and sure as the snow on the ground, time will pass and another joyous Spring will be ours to live.

Reminds me of another event I anticipate. Soon Jesus will come again. Do you feel the hints? Do you feel that cool breeze on your face? His voice whispering to your heart? It is Him reminding us that He is coming and when He comes He will take us to our home in Heaven to be with Him forever. Glory! Glorious Spring time!

Light is a wonderful thing. It bends, travels, warms and glows. It would be a sad life without it for me. I enjoy bright colors, sunny days and that "curl up like a sleeping cat" feeling when the sunlight comes through the window in winter.

The down side of light it that you can't hide things in the light. DUST! (Glares its ugly head) CLUTTER! (Go away bad dream, BOO!) I try to choose to enjoy the light and not let the other thing get me down until I can take care of the monsters.

I have been thinking about the fact that light bends. There is the spot light that obviously puts light in one spot. Hence the name. But even at that some of the light seems to seep out around the edges and nudge the darkness back just a little more. Light does what is is supposed to do.

Now for the applications. When light is shown on some big terrible thing, we look at it and say how bad, disgusting and horrible that thing is. But if we look at the nature of light, it doesn't just illuminate that one huge terrible thing we are all looking at and despising. Some of the light will spill over on us and press against that dark things that need to be uncovered in us. If we look, it will show us something about ourselves. Yes, the big terrible thing needs fixing and exposure, but maybe we should open our eyes to see what we can see about ourselves and other things around that the light exposes. Attitudes, lack of love for others and maybe more......

I don't want to shrink back into more darkness and away from the light. I want to embrace the light that comes my way.