Thinking on these things . . .

This woman keeps showing up in the ad bar on my email account. Isn't she beautiful? No, seriously, isn't she? I get it. Obviously you DON'T want to end up looking like this so you'll rush to buy the wrinkle cream but, you know what, it's not working on me. She sort of resembles my grandma, a woman who raised 14 children, nice, respectable, hard-working children. In a three bedroom house. From the 1920's through the 50's she had babies, with only one set of twins, while her husband worked hard for the railroad and not much around the house. By the time I knew her she was always in a bright loose mu mu making some kind of soup. My mom tells me there was always soup of some kind of soup on the stove. She still lived in the house she'd raised all those children in. They slept 3 to a double bed. The older girls dropped out of high school at 16 to work and the boys all joined the service during WW II. When I knew Grandma Vilcek she looked liked this having w...

You know this feeling - it's the one when you're all snuggled under your covers and conscious that you're just about to fall asleep. You are warm and weightless and so relaxed that even if the house exploded you feel it wouldn't disturb your peace. This is my favorite part about night - knowing that the day is done, there is space until the demands of tomorrow, and for now all I have to do is rest. Can we find this place emotionally as well? Is it possible to take a particularly troublesome area and rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret...? Psalms 37:7 I'd like to think so. Scripture is filled with verses about peace as in Isaiah 26:3 "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." The word for peace here is the familiar word shalom meaning: completeness, soundness, wholeness, quiet, tranquility, contentment. It's the perfect word isn't it? A soundness of mind with a contentment of heart. ...

I, like millions of other households in America, have a shopping list on my fridge. I dutifully note when we run out of milk, sandwich bags, or notebook paper for school. Sometimes I even remember to grab the list off the fridge when I'm going to the store! Well, sometimes... Inevitably though, no matter how many shopping bags have been carried into the house and in spite of how many stores I've left a substantial amount of money at; about five minutes will pass until there is an item that needs to be added to the list - yep, all of five minutes!! So in essence I never have an empty shopping list because there is always something we are in need of (and you do realize that these are things like shoelaces and q-tips. There is no "cute pair of new summer shoes for mom" on that list!) Always in need. Psalms 23:1 says "The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need" (NLT). (guess that rules out those new shoes...) There is this confidence that because the Lord i...

Did you know the word " eavesdrop " probably originated from " eavesdropper " literally one standing under the drip from the eaves? Of course along the way this word has picked up a bad connotation - but if you can suspend judgement for just a minute I have a new idea I'd love to slip into your mind. An eavesdropper is someone who is out of sight but well within earshot . Couple that definition with this old saying: Christ is the head of this house, The unseen guest at every meal, The silent listener to every conversation. And this verse - "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry" Psalm 34:5 Get the picture? God " eavesdrops " on our lives. He is out of sight but never out of earshot. The things we say are heard by Him (oh, that's back to that feeling like a negative thing - or would that be conviction?) but the flip side of this coin is that what things are said to us He also hears. If the eye...

My husband and son were hiking with the Scouts in Wisconsin over the weeken d and came back with some beautiful pictures. Apparently this was an actual "hike" and not merely a stroll through the woods as there was some elevation and rock climbing involved (now that could just be Robbie as well, never met a rock he didn't want to climb). I spend the weekend with some girlfriends at a women's event and in looking at the pictures realized that we'd all spent the weekend doing the same thing - scaling heights. The boys had it easy - their rocks were physical, as for the women, well it was various discussions about our metaphorical heights- trusting God for healing and provision, future good, clarity in confusion, and emotional strength in the chaos. In this picture you can see that Robbie has found a foothold that gave him a place to leverage his weight so that he could scale this smooth rock. It was just what he needed. What footholds does God provide for us? What ...

When we came to Christ as children we gave Him our hearts - these pure, whole, love and faith-filled hearts that were fresh and new. Our hearts today are not the same. They are battered; filled with holes and bruises, carrying burdens so heavy they are depressed by the weight. The hearts of children are resilient and strong. They are full of hope and idealism. They can be anything, accomplish anything, and nothing can stop them. Invincibility is assumed; with a towel pinned around their shoulders they can fly! But then we grow up and discover a towel is not a magic flying cape, that no matter how hard I work I can't do it all, and this is not who I thought I'd be when I grew up. Life is hard. It picks us up, swings us around until we're dizzy and then lets go, and we slam into the wall. We pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, square off our shoulders, and head back into it; only to have it happened again, repeatedly. Soon we're not so hope filled, idealistic and resil...

The trees are in the process of covering their exposed parts as they are donning a new coat of green for the spring. The stark intricate patterns of limbs and branches will soon sport a new shape; a rounded green leafy silhouette hiding the skeleton beneath. Every year when the leaves fall I am again struck by the complexity of the wooden network that's been hidden for three seasons. How limbs branch out and divide and split until they are but small twigs. There's a beauty in that underlying composition. What lies underneath in us? We cover ourselves with the leaves of positions, responsibilities, and general busyness but if all that were to fall away who are we under it all? Is all the greenery support by a strong heart? A solid spirit? A network of beliefs and convictions that make up who we are? Most seasons we are covered in our leaves but occasionally they are blown away – by some type of storm in our lives; then we see who are and the condition of what lies beneath. In al...

My eyes are telling me it is spring. Not because I see the green grass, unfurling baby tree leaves, or the blooming flowers but precisely because I cannot see these things because my eyes are swollen, itchy, and watering. Yep, it’s spring alright. I always forget I have spring allergies until I’m rubbing my eyes wondering why they’re so itchy. This is not a psychosomatic condition; it’s because the planet is “going green”. I wonder what other allergies I have – reactions to situations that are instinctual and not under my control. Is there such a thing as emotional and mental allergies? When we get into a particular situation and respond without conscious thought? Can we have allergies to a person, a group dynamic, or an environment? And if so, is there an antihistamine that can be taken? I love being able to take an antihistamine and then being able to focus my eyes but I find that the medication makes me less able to focus my mind and attention as it makes me really groggy. So during...

There are perks to being a parent... In the Fall it's the new school supplies - all those fresh notebooks and boxes of crayons. In the Winter it's the ability to fall on your back in the snow and make snow angels And in the Summer it's blowing bubbles and chasing fireflies. These are things I can still do without raising any eyebrows!  (Can you imagine seeing an adult doing these things without the accompanying offspring?!) In the Spring it's coloring Easter eggs. I love coloring Easter eggs. Even though I've been doing this for years I'm still mesmerized watching the dye swirl and disperse. Just one drop in a cup of water and soon the whole cup is blue and then so is the egg! All because of a 1/4 ounce of coloring was added to a lot more water! The tremendous impact of one small thing. Swirling, distilling, changing the entire environment . We are like that dye. We have the ability by our words or actions to drop something into a situation that will chan...

The wind is blowing and the air is filled with music; all because I pulled a set of wind chimes out of the garage and hung it up by the door. I bought a bundle of dry pack daffodils and after a day in water you can see how they have blossomed into a beautiful bouquet. Daffodils in a box, wind chimes in a building, a blind man… In John 9 there is the story of a blind man who Jesus and his disciples come upon on their way to the temple. The disciples inquired “Lord who has sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” It was a common assumption of the day. The answer was surprising “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." He’d been born blind for the purpose of God’s glory. Each of these three had a purpose that wasn’t realized until they were put in the right situation. The wind chimes had to be out in the breeze, the daffodils needed to be in water, and the blind man had to be met...