Thinking on these things . . .

"Standing here on the threshold of a new year, thank you Lord for all that has been in the year that is ending. Thank you for the trials that made me come to you as I would not have without them. Thank you that I come to the end of this year still here because of your constant gift of breath and life. Thank you for the opportunities you've provided and the experiences that now fill my hard drive with memories. Thank you for the Internet and the friends with whom I've been able to reconnect and even moreso Father thank you for the conversations with friends, albeit now typed and not spoken, as we are geographically far apart but still connected by heart. Thank you Lord for my near friends with whom I share coffee, news, and the gambit from sorrow and frivolity; I am so blessed by their physical presence in my life. Thank you for the abundance of good things that has caused me to resolve again to "lose weight" and "clear the clutter", and for the health a...

I have a friend with a broken toe and my first question was "Did you buddy wrap it?" Buddy wrap - buddy taping - it's the procedure of taping the injured digit to one next to it that is not damaged and therefore giving it support and protection. How good it is to have someone to buddy wrap yourself to when you are injured. There is nothing like having a friend who is strong when you are weak and whole when you feel fragmented. I find, in times like this, that the buddy tape that binds me to someone stronger can be made of email or phone calls or, most deliciously, with lattes at Starbucks. These are the times when you talk more than listen, ask more questions than have answers and see the glass not anywhere near half full. Here a buddy is solid, listening, asking more questions to better understand, providing solutions and/or just a shoulder, offering perspective and hope. There's nothing like it. This is an old idea stated by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4, "Two...

...that is was Christmas Day! Just TWO weeks ago!!! Is it just me or does it feel more like it's been a lot longer than that? Our tree is still up because after getting used to enjoying the lights in the early morning and evenings it's hard to take it down. But even so it still feels like all the magic and messages of Christmas were like last year... We move on. We cross things off the list and move onto the next thing, as we should, but there is a danger that we will forget the things we've learned and the things we need to remember. The children of Israel had an interesting practice of creating an altar or setting up piles of stones in places in order to remember what God had done for them there. When they crossed the Jordan river they set up a memorial so they would remember and so that it would be a catalyst for conversation with future generations when they'd ask, "What is that pile of rocks all about?". It's good for us to do the same thing. In o...

I love the Israelites. As a kid I couldn't understand what their problem was; here it is they see the Red Sea parted before them and their enemies drowned behind them and three days later, THREE DAYS, they're all whining in the wilderness that they're hungry and there's no food. I couldn't believe anyone's memory could be that short! As an adult I find I resemble them more than I care to admit... I don't think it's a matter of memory so much as it is of intensity. Life comes at you fast and we deal with stuff and then, bam, we're onto the next thing and by the time a week passes the thing that was so huge and important a week ago is practically forgotten. There's no time to sit on the couch and mediate on the good things, something else is pounding on the door for attention! That's why I love the Israelites because they never really seemed to get it. They'd praise, and then they'd complain and then He'd provide and they'd prai...

Mid November, 40 degrees Saturday, 4:30 pm The last errand after a day full of errands Milk, toilet paper, movie rental and we’re homeward bound. Walking out of the grocery store bags in hand, keys? Where are the car keys? Oh no, they’re still in the ignition… All day long I’d been sending my daughter back to the car to lock the door when we’d stopped. I wish I hadn't sent her back this time... She sang Christmas carols as we walked home, skipping and swinging the plastic bag. I was too busy being angry at being so stupid. Seriously I left the keys in the ignition!?! It doesn’t get much more stupid than something like that and now I had to walk home, get the spare key, ride the bike back to the car, shove the bike into the car and then I could drive home. The afternoon had been overcast and it would be dark in less than an hour so now I’ll be riding a bike in the cold and the dark. So stupid…! There was no doubt that this was all my doing, all my fault, my bed to lie in, my really ...

I just knit 126 knots. Can you tell? No? Me either... The 126 stitches I have added equal two rows of a project, that when complete will have approximately 260 rows. At 63 stitches per row that would be, wait let me get my calculator... 16,380 knots (give or take a few hundred) I just completed .7 percent of the finished project... No wonder the 126 I've just added don't make any discernible difference!! Do you ever feel like that too? Like all you're doing, no matter how diligent you are being, just isn't adding up to much? I think about the repetitive tasks that consume most days; preparing meals that take ten minutes to consume but that take all that planning and shopping and preparation and then, a mere four or five hours later, everyone is hungry again! How many times have I washed this particular t-shirt, or vacuumed this floor, or hung up this coat yet again? How many pencils have I sharpened and homework papers have I gone over with my children? How many times ...

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? well...? If a man speaks and no woman hears him is he still wrong? Of course! :) (sorry guys!) If a person forwards an email to exactly 11 people in the next 5 minutes, will they receive an unexpected blessing? Not a chance. If a person serves the Lord faithfully and yet sees no apparent success from their endeavors, is the Lord honored? Absolutely! Isaiah is in this very situation and he laments "But all my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at all." (Isaiah 49:4) Do you hear the slight whine in his voice masking his frustration and defeat? Sure you do, if you've been in that situation, you're hearing it just like I am. In many, many areas we labor and don't see the reward we expect to: we do the work and someone else gets the credit, we're faithful in our responsibilities yet someone who never seems to care lives an easier life than...

It was a beautiful 40 degree spring day. I'm on a chair lift surrounded by picturesque mountain beauty enjoying a smooth and easy ride to the top. Idyllic was the perfect word describing that moment. Three minutes later I had a new adjective: terrified. I am flying over packed snow on two thin pieces of, what are they, wood? plastic? what difference does it make - the point is, it's not a lot! My arms and poles are flailing wildly (aren't things that are flailing always doing so wildly? anyway...) Adrenaline, produced by pure panic is coursing through my heart that is way above an acceptable aerobic heart rate. I should not have come down this run (and that might well be the understatement of the year)! But this was the choice that I had made. Did I know what I was getting into when I'd made this choice? I thought so. Was my understanding accurate? Not at all. Was I experiencing the consequences of my decision? Absolutely. My beautiful, enjoyable, and easy ride had brou...