Thinking on these things . . .

What a ponderous title! Let me simplify it before you stop reading...! I love Facebook. All of it. The pokes and gifts and flair and ridiculous applications, yep, I'm one of the ones who enjoys it more than is annoyed. But by far my favorite part is finding and being found by people. This week I chatted with a neighbor I used to babysit for when I was a kid, had a conversation with a manager from a college job, reconnected with two women from a Bible study group I haven't attended in years, chatted with a colleague, and found a roommate from my freshman year of college. And that's all just Facebook! That's not even email and phone calls and visits in person! We all have this wide range of relationships from past to present, acquaintances to BFF's. And in my opinion much of it is determined by these characteristics of character and commonality and...(you know, you read the title) There is no doubt that there are some friendships that are timeless, "kindred spir...

Lent. It's not found in the pages of Scripture. It's entirely man made. But it has worth, and its significance can range from simply following a cultural or religious series of expectations to a deeply personal spiritual journey. Through the years one friend's son in particular is famous for quipping about giving up brussel sprouts or salmon or even homework! (smart kid!) What's behind this giving something up? If done from the heart it becomes a very singular exercise in esteeming the lordship of Christ over our own desire to be monarch. If not it must reach the heart of God resembling the cacophonous piety of the Pharisees of the New Testament. John Piper in his book A Hunger for God addresses this concept in his discussion of fasting: " The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world…The greatest adversary of love to God i...

" It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them" -Ralph Waldo Emerson This is one of those great quotes about friendship! But I've always read this and substituted for "stupid" words like silly, obnoxious, ridiculous, goofy. And while all those things are true, the actual saying itself is also so true. With a good friend you can be stupid. We're never stupid intentionally. And when we are we typically feel, well, stupid: like "I can't believe I just said that maybe I can crawl under the table now". Do you have friends like that? Who look at you with that quizzical, "Did you just say/do that?" look and at your agreement then smile and all is forgiven? I think this is some of the thought behind the Matthew 5 directions for if you've been offended by someone, that you go to them and tell them their offense and seek to be reconciled. Sometimes we don't even realize how we have been offe...

to a comedian it's what makes or breaks the joke to a chef it's the difference between a perfect or a sunken souffle and to the bomb guys on all those TV crime dramas it's - the - difference - between - cutting - the - right - colored - wire - at - the - very - last - second...! (whew, that was close!) Timing is not as critical to the majority of us on an everyday basis beyond getting where you need to be on time but I was reminded how time is different when you travel. I've switched time zones and while I think it's 6 o'clock everyone around me is operating as though it's 7 , which makes a big difference when you're coordinating dinner plans - and if you talking several time zones as in someplace as distant as Hawaii, you'd easily be off an entire meal! Even though I feel one way about what time it is, the reality is that everyone else is on a different timetable. I could stick vehemently to what time I think it is but all i...

There are days that I am just assaulted by the things I've either forgotten to or not managed to do. It's 12:24pm and I just remembered that today is ice cream day at school and I was going to put money in the kids lunches...oops! AND it's even written on the calendar I look at constantly. Sigh...another tally mark in the Blew It! column... but everyone did manage this morning to get off with lunches and homework and all their school books so there's a mark in the Got It! column, so does that mean they even out...?! :) Maybe it's just me and my mind (that has a mind of it's own) but these are the thought processes I'm engaged in throughout the day. And I've got to say that usually one column ends up with many more marks in it than the other (and I leave you to surmise as to which column...). I am greatly comforted that God does not operate as I do! As for the Lord His way is perfect, all the Lord's promises prove true . Psalms 18:30 Then I wil...

I wore my son's gym shoes today. I don't even know when this happened but now we share a shoe size. As I ran around in his shoes all day, I realized that soon he'll be in my shoes. Adult, spouse, parent, Keeper of money, mortgage, and vehicles Faced with decisions with long reaching consequences... Before he gets into my shoes what do I need to make sure he knows? What things does he need to understand as important before suddenly the door closes and he is gone? Before I knew it his feet were the same size as mine. Just as suddenly I suspect, he'll be all grown up. It was a good reminder.

While I was preparing some stuff to be given away to a family with children younger than mine, I had a bag of puzzles and pieces that needed to be put together. I must say I was very glad that no one else was home as I was attempting to do these preschool puzzles... It would have been embarrassing to see how long it took me and it was only 40 pieces! I am not a puzzle maker, solver, puzzler (is there a name they have?). A beautiful scene cut into 500 random pieces does not say "challenge" to me but something more akin to "NIGHTMARE"! And those 3-D puzzles...Where do you even start with those? At least on a regular puzzles I know that first you find the corners and straight edged pieces, but once it gets to the inside parts I'm completely lost when trying to analyze pieces of color and where this tiny piece could possibly fit in the picture from the box. My life so often feels like a thousand random pieces. Somehow all these things are to fit together to make ...