Thinking on these things . . .

I have this electric bluish teal wicker furniture. It's loud, it's ancient, it's decrepit, and it's not going anywhere. It spent last summer covered in sheets. Something must be done - something! Losing it is not an option, neither is painting it; it looks like putting up with it might be my only choice... So while I was moving it around trying to figure out if there was at least a better way to configure it I noticed something interesting...so I took some measurements, some very thorough measurements, and made some very detailed notes. Off to the local super Wal-Mart for milk and paper towels and a stop in the fabric department; if I could find the right fabric I might be able to make it look better. This is a temporary fix, and I don't even know if it will work so I can't spend a lot on it... And there it was , propped up in the front of the bin of fabrics marked $1 a yard, a fabric with tiny blue flowers the same shade as my bright blue furniture! If I'd...

I think it was Kathy's idea initially, this whole "everyone bring a box of cereal and we'll combine them", concept. Some college town had started a restaurant with this theme and the kids could come in their pajamas, make a cereal conglomeration and watch cartoons on big screens throughout the room. So, hey, why shouldn't we try it?! We were meeting for a very atypical Friday morning breakfast so we showed up with our cereal and discovered... that we are all very practical women. There was a special K, oatmeal squares, raisin bran, and a kashi cereal. We are all too boring! (and apparently healthy!) But I'd grabbed the captain crunch with crunchberries and it looked like sprinkles for breakfast cereal! Life is so often like all our healthy cereals; plain, bland, practical, quite roughly textured and hard to digest. But friends are the crunch berries in it all: they bring to our lives color and brightness, times of laughter and joy. There's no getting aro...

I grew up in a Christian home, a good church, went to Christian scho ols all the way through the university and then taught for a while in a Christian school. So what? (I know that's what you're thinking) So...my experience has influenced, as has yours, my "world view", or how I see things and as the years roll by I'm realizing some things are not as I've always believed them to be. At my church we'd have special services to which we were to invite our unsaved friends, of which of course, I had none. I lived and went to school in a Christian environment, where would I find unsaved friends? After I married I discovered a world outside of the one I'd always known, and found what unsaved friends looked like, and surprisingly, they looked and acted pretty much like everyone else I'd ever known. I wasn't expecting that. In the church I'd always assumed that everyone there is there because they love God and want to live their lives in a way that ...

It's almost the end of May which means there are lots of school year activities ending as summer begins. A month from now will be summer vacations. Four months from now we'll be in the midst of getting back into all the things that we're just ending now... Six months ago you were scurrying about getting ready for Christmas...do you remember that? All the things you had to do before the holiday? the presents and the planning and the concerts and shows and gift exchanges and cookies and... Now all that stress seems like a distant memory. Don't worry though, in seven months you'll be right back there again! A year ago, where were you? How about five years ago? Ten? Fifteen? Don't just read that last sentence, stop for a second and think about it. What was your life's situation one, five, ten, fifteen years ago? How was it different than it is now? What do you expect it to be like five, ten, fifteen years from now? It has been said that the only constant in l...

I took my coffee outside this morning to enjoy the spring day. A slight breeze rustled the brand new leaves on the trees against a cloudless blue sky. A variety of birds were conversing, as they were busy about their tasks. I could hear some children playing far down the block, and then there was the sun… The sun was brilliantly bright and warm and I just sat with my eyes closed and head back and enjoyed being covered with warmth and light. In about an hour, today will turn into a crazy busy, all day kind of day, but for ten minutes I did nothing but sit in the sun, quietly, peacefully...still. Sit with the Son this day. "Be still and know I am God" Psalms 46:10: you who are busy serving and helping and doing for your families, your friends, your church. Stop and just sit with the Son because here it is that you will be refreshed and reminded that we do what we do because we love him and we are caring for those He has brought into our lives. But it all starts with him. It is ...

I already know that when you read this you will shake your head at me like "duh!" But that won't stop me from telling you what you already know... I was unsuccessfully vacuuming today. The vacuum was just not doing its job - I kept pushing and it kept not picking up. Finally the light bulb went off in my head...I need to change the bag! Gingerly I pulled out the bulging disgusting bag of accumulated dirt and threw it away. Then unfolding the pristine new bag I installed it, turned on the vacuum and lo and behold, it was so powerful it just about sucked up my carpet off the floor. No matter how much I pushed, my cleaner did not have the power it needed for the task. Why? Because it had done so many other tasks already and the accumulated results of those tasks had now siphoned off its power. Where are you lacking power? In ministry? At work? In relationships? With your God? Life is messy and life is unfair and it hurts and we accumulate the dirt of walking through our day...

I wrote down this morning that it was April 31. It sounded strange when I wrote it, but I wasn't near a calendar and I did know that yesterday was the 30th. So imagine my surprise when later I realized that today is May 1st. MAY 1st! How did it get to be so late?? When it was April 31st there was a whole month of calendar pages between me and the next season - when school is out for the summer...(cue ominous music here). But now it was suddenly May 1st and the next page is (gulp) June and suddenly my days have become even more numbered. Now what's the difference you may be wondering? I bet you already know the answer... Typically what are your first conscious thoughts in the morning? Mine are, " What time is it? What day is it? What is going on today?" What would you do if you woke up thinking it was Monday and then realized it was Thursday? It could change everything right? That's how I felt about it being May 1st, because it made it that much closer to the chang...