Distractingly Perfect morning

While trying to read my Bible on the back porch today, I was driven away by the huge, black, jumbo jet bumble bee that lives in the hollow tree by my wicker chair. My Bible literally became my shield and then my sword. God can be so funny with the word pictures sometimes.

It is just one bee that hovers around that tree. I am wondering...do they live alone? Are there more bees in there? It was warm out there this morning and the sun was shining right on that tree. It seemed like he was not in a good frame of mind, so I came in. I gave up easily and retreated. Will he remember this tomorrow and buzz me again, knowing how easily I am driven away by distraction and fear? Insert life application lesson here.....and it's so true for me.

Settling back on the couch inside, away from anything unexpected, I open my computer to read the first chapter of Colossians in safer territory. But before I read, I notice my dog looking at me.

Ummm, my dog is holding a grudge against me. Dogs do that. I won't let her get up on my new couches in the living room. Yesterday we were in there all day setting everything up, reloading shelves and hanging pictures. Every time I sat on the couch she would jump up with me. At first I would pet her, then it would instantly dawn on me that this was my new beige couch and I would push her down and call her bad. She wasn't getting the idea, so I gave her a small swat, which was the final straw for her. Confused, she just sat on the floor giving me "sidelong glances that were vague but somehow threatening". She is part French poodle after all. (Don't worry if you don't understand that last part...my kids will. Google for explanation....this post is already A.D.D. enough.)

So here I am on the couch, and she is over on the floor glancing at me with a grudge in her heart. So distracting....I can't stand it when people are mad at me. (especially when the person is my dog)

Focus now, I can do this, I finally got to reading Colossians 1. It is perfect Truth for Good Friday. (What else would I expect from God's Word?)

For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.

He made peace with everything
in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Colossians 1:19-20

Earlier this morning as I drove Maggie to school, the morning radio show host was talking about the famous sermon, "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'" by Tony Campolo, since today is Good Friday. They were comparing, as we humans so inadequately do, Jesus' suffering on Friday and resurrection on Sunday to our suffering in life and how some Day Jesus is coming back to end all suffering.

Our lives do include suffering here on earth. I've heard of so much suffering lately in people's lives....so much.

...but Sunday's coming. Jesus is coming....and it's not so far away.

Don't let yourself be distracted. Latch on to perfect Truth and God's peace today as you remember. I am trying to also. I need to go snuggle my dog now.

Funny Honey

My husband is so funny...and it's usually my job to point it out.

1. We were outside today, sitting peacefully on the back porch, when a gigantic black bumble bee came buzzing by me. (I call them jumbo jets)

I screamed "BEE!!!!" (I think I was flapping my arms and legs at the same time too)

He just looked at me and asked "What???"

I said "It's a BEE!" and he said, "Oh, I thought you were calling me." Then he just shook his head like he was relieved that he didn't have to call the paddy wagon.

I do call him B, but I never shriek it at the top of my lungs while I'm sitting right beside him. I've been laughing over it all day.

2. I checked Facebook this morning and on his profile page, it said he had 666 friends. So I posted a comment that he should notice that and add another person to his list. He wrote back that he actually needed 111 more friends.

3. I have been carefully saving up money to buy a new couch, socking away money little by little in a certain hiding place. Lately he has taken to looking at guitars on ebay, so he suggested that instead of a couch, he could get a new guitar. He was teasing me but he has a certain look in his eye....

...and I changed my hiding place. :\

Thanksgiving Practice

Some dear sisters and I were challenged this week to make Mondays thankful.

We are taking Mondays just to thank God for what He is doing...not asking Him for anything, but thanking Him for working, for blessing, for leading in the lives of those we are praying for. For me, it is helping to remind me that He IS working because we are praying for people.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16b

Cool huh? (all of James 5, read it!)

Practicing this all day (trying to remember to practice it) really encouraged my heart and inspired such Hope as I thanked God for what He was doing in people's lives and for me. I never ran out of things to thank Him for either.

Ministry of silence

Don't you agree that ministry happens very effectively outside the church walls as well as within?

Like an evening spent on a back patio by fire-light....mouth shut, ears open, sympathy and love almost tangible. The darkness like a cloak of privacy and assured trust. A dear friend who has an ongoing, long term issue pouring out her heart. Sometimes we have heard it all before, but a person needs to process again, revisit thoughts, uninterrupted, no advice offered.

Just prayer and no other words. Just understanding.

It's a blessing and a huge ministry. This is why tens of thousands of women go to professional counselors every year. (and I am notnotnot saying they shouldn't) Could we just do that more for each other? We could save our dear friends thousands of dollars and help them to trust the body of Christ again if we could do this and then keep that cloak of privacy around that sacred trust.

...and for no reason break it.

Fragrant Life

While sitting out on my back patio today, the fragrance of orange blossoms kept visiting my nose. I love that smell...it makes me close my eyes and breath in deeply. It was like God was illustrating the passage I was reading right then,

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

I love it when that happens! I want to be an orange blossom...

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

Anxiety and contentment

I relaxed today. The tension went out of my jaw and I didn't look around with a panicky feeling (like someone is coming up behind me) once!

Charles got home from his trip to Africa this morning. So for two weeks I've been on alert, on guard, watching my own back. I can't help the natural tendency but it does bother me a lot.

I have already admitted it to myself in the past, but I have to say it out loud and type it out there to you. I think I put more trust in my husband than I do in God sometimes.....especially with daily, practical security. My feeling of contentment in life leans more toward my tangible partner.

I did stay all by myself in the new place one night while he was away. A few nights ago Maggie was spending the night with a friend and Bethany could not come over (even though I kind of whined to her) because of work. As it turned out though, I was glad I did it. The ladies in my Bible study that evening prayed for me and I gave my anxiety about being alone to the Lord before heading back to bed. And then I had to trust.....forced myself not to think about any anxious thought and went about my routine. The next morning I felt like I'd had a break through spiritually.....a small one, but it was significant for me.

I guess feeling incomplete when your husband is away is alright. It's kind of natural. And I am glad he makes me feel more secure when he's here. But I know I can do it if he is not. It was a step of faith to not let the anxious thoughts develop because I have a very vivid imagination and my mind can invent some scary possibilities.

I just thought I'd share my little faith/trust building event because I know it is a common problem. Trust Him and then squelch the chatter of the anxious thoughts.

The verse I have always gone back to for setting my mind straight is Philippians 4:6-9. Here it is in The Message paraphrase. I like it!

6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Excuses and stuff

So I guess you can tell by my last entry why I have not been blogging lately.

My husband left for a 2 week trip to Africa on the 11th and my life was complete busyness until today, when I finally had time to relax and do some things around our new place. Maybe someone was praying that I'd be kept busy so that I wouldn't worry or that time wouldn't drag by while Charles was gone.

Uhhh, thanks....?

blahblahblah: I had my own kids coming and going from Texas and California, my brother and his daughter coming for a rare visit from Maryland and Georgia, a wedding to go to, events to cook for, meeting one of my daughters' boyfriend for the first time, along with running realtor errands and emptying out our former home. Oh yes, and the kitchen sink fiasco....and figuring out how to move our old refrigerator to the neighbor's, which they bought from us. (Special thanks to friend Larry who helped me with both of those!) And while we were moving the fridge over, the neighbor said people had been at our old house and looked like they were having a party there, which explained why the doors were all unlocked.

So....very little time to process here on the blog. And when I did have time and came here to my blog dashboard, I would just sit here and go "duuuuuuuuuuh".

Yay: Charles comes home tomorrow morning *sighs of relief all around*, I met 2 of my neighbors, who were outside chatting tonight when I pulled into the driveway, and, of course, the shower curtain dilemma is over. I would jump for joy if I weren't so tired.

Laying it down

I think I've finally decided on a shower curtain. I am such a dork.

I promise you I have looked at every shower curtain on the internet....or at least all of them on Overstock, showercurtains.com, Linens and Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond,  Kohl's, Target, Walmart, Sears and Penney's internet sights. That is a lot. And I barely liked any of them! I finally went back to one that I liked and stood in Target looking at for an hour one day. It's a Shabby Chic brand from Target. The problem....is the jade green tile in the hall bathroom. An ugly medium tone milky jade. bleh. So I chose one that is white with some pink flowery design on it and has some green stems and leaves.

My life is so hard, I know but that is what my week has been.....endlessly analyzing shower curtains.

Two hours later: I picked out a different shower curtain.

My daughter Hannah influenced me. (I am easily influenced) So...no pink flowers/french country look. Now it's this curtain with these wall decals. It should be cute and different. It is ordered from Amazon and should arrive by next Wednesday.

My search is over.... This is big! Now I can move on.

Catching up

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month! Sorry mom...;)

We got our big move done and I feel pretty settled into the home we will rent indefinitely. So far the girls all feel like it feels homier than our last house. I have to agree. It's more of a have a  garden, bake a loaf of bread, open the windows kind of home.

The main problem with living in an older (built in the early 50's I think) home is the maintenance. You never know when an emergency home repair will be needed. Saturday night I had the kitchen all cleaned and ready for company that was coming the next afternoon. I just had to get the carrots peeled and onions cut and ready to accompany the roast in the crockpot the next morning. I washed the peelings down the disposal and turned it on. Wow, that was a mistake.

Water and bits of carrots sprayed violently all over the cupboard under the sink. The pipe had come loose. So I mopped it up and put buckets under all leaks. Sunday morning our friend Larry said he would come over and fix it. Charles is gone on a mission trip, of course. I have used that disposal several times since living there and it waits until the husband is gone to explode.  Murphy's Law or something I guess.

It is all repaired and the pipes are tight and non leaking now. I already had 2 buckets under there for various drips that we thought we could wait on....sometimes we are not so wise.

I put in some flowers under the front window. Hopefully the neighborhood cats who have been using that area as a sand box will move on now if I keep it muddy enough. (any suggestions?)

Maggie and Emma even helped me put in 2 tomato plants and 5 different herbs in the backyard. I love a garden and didn't have space for it in the last house. For those of you in cold climates, yes, it's garden time here....it's been in the 80's and even supposed to be up into the 90's this week before cooling off a little again. I even had to dig out my flip flops from my stored box of shoes.

Less than a week after we moved, we saw Charles off on a trip to Mozambique, Africa. He and David Johnson, seminary director for Phoenix extension of Golden Gate Seminary, are teaching pastor training classes there for the indigenous pastors the missionary, John Dina, has raised up. They are a great bunch of God appointed men who are serving the various villages and churches in towns there around Quelimane, Mozambique.

If you pray for them, pray that they will sleep at night. It's warm and muggy right now and it's hard to sleep, for strength and for God given understanding of Scripture foundations and pastoral care issues that the men are teaching. Thank you!

And if you want to read about our trip to Mozambique with David and his wife Diana last August it is here.

Past and present anticipation

There is a sad little corner in my house. Once upon a time it looked very festive and caused a tingle of excitement to come over my heart. Here it is, see if you agree:



I put up the set of little trees the day after Thanksgiving. Knowing that we wouldn't set up our big tree for 2 weeks, I did want some Christmas spirit around, so I set them up and carefully untangled the ornament hooks, little twinkle lights and hung the fun ornaments up. I faithfully plugged in the twinkle lights each morning and left them on all day, then unplugged the at night with a sigh. Sparkly, twinkly, shiny and sweet.....a hope of things to come.

It's all about the anticipation I've decided.

Once Christmas day has come and gone, the decorations, the lights and smells just do not thrill anymore. Around about November of 2011 we will break them out again and the anticipation will begin...it happens every year. But in February a little clump of trees only serves to annoy!

The anticipation of moving to another house is less than the thrill of Christmas, but it is still a bit exciting. The boxes and crates around those little trees are beginning to annoy also, but in two weeks the excitement of setting up house again will be overtaking me and I will bustle around making the next house a home. I do love that.

Today is a blustery day. I expect Pooh and Piglet to float by with the leaves and wind at any time. But it also stirs up anticipation in me that is hard to explain. Why does a day like this remind me of the Day when Jesus will return again? I do not know and can't possibly begin to analyze that...I have boxes to pack. But it does and it's giving me a thrill again today. Maybe it is that all of nature is rustling and dancing around in the wind....

  Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
      Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
      Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
 before the Lord, for he is coming!
      He is coming to judge the earth.
   He will judge the world with justice,
      and the nations with his truth.

Psalm 96:11-13 NLT