A Special Day

Tomorrow is a really big day for my 93 year old Dad. I'll let you know....


Blessings,
Linda

Dreary Days

 The clouds hung heavy for days - blotting out the sunlight. Rivulets of water ran down our cold glasses . The darkness closed in too early and I drew the shades against it. Trees seemed to droop under the weight of it all - as did I. The weather a metaphor for the state of my spirit.

I am apt to curl up inside on days when I have done it all wrong and the weight of it presses in. I long for the comfort of  my armchair - a cup of tea and endless word games - the minutes ticking into hours.

Just around sundown yesterday the winds picked up, driving the humidity away and the temperature down. The gray clouds parted to reveal what had been there all along. And the trees - the trees threw up their arms and danced. They swayed to the rhythm of the wind - bending low and anchored by roots that go down deep. It rushed through the branches whispering hope and encouragement.

My spirit longs for refreshment - and it comes on the wind of His breath. I bend to its rhythm and lift my heart to Him - the One who has been there all along. I long for roots that go deep - deep enough to make my spirit soar even on those days.

"Spirit of the living God,
 Surround my dreary world today
 And set my feet to dancing.
 The silent song of days gone gray,
 A heart that's heavy laden,
 Won't have the last, the final say.
 I know a song of dancing leaves,
 They swirl and twirl despite the gray.
 Spirit of the living God,
 Set my feet to dancing."

 Debra Klingsporn

Blessings,
Linda

AGAIN

What can you write in 5 minutes flat on the prompt “again”? 

start:

I lay in bed luxuriating in the knowledge that there is no where I need to go today. After days of running to and fro, this day stretches ahead of me - empty hours waiting to be filled in any way I choose. I make a mental list:
a few quick necessary chores
write
practice piano
work on Bible Study
take a long walk
knit

It all sounds so lovely. I imagine myself gliding slowly through the day - savoring the moments. Then the phone rings, and I see all my lovely plans dissolving like mist falling to the ground - again! There will be no writing or long walks. Instead someone needs us, and we must get ready to leave quickly. Or perhaps someone dear to me is calling and needs to talk - for a long time. Before I know it the morning is gone, and I am once again running to catch up with myself - again!

I am ashamed to say that my first reaction is usually a mumbling under my breath about never getting any time to myself and why does this always happen on the one day I could finally do the things I wanted to do....... A lot of "I's" in that mumbling.

I am trying, after the first ungracious reaction, to take a deep breath and open my hands to what the Father has planned for me this day. Invariable, when I do the necessary with a loving heart the day holds blessings I could never have anticipated.

stop

I just want to add this from my devotional "Jesus Calling" (Doesn't He always have a way of speaking directly to the point?)

"As you make plans for the day, remember that it is I who orchestrate the events of your life. On days when things go smoothly, according to your plans, you may be unaware of My sovereign Presence. On days when your plans are thwarted, be on the lookout for Me! I may be doing something important in your life, something quite different from what you expected. ... Don't try to figure out what is happening. Simply trust Me and thank Me in advance for the good that will come out of it all. I know the plans I have for you, and they are good."

Joining Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday 

 

Blessings,
Linda

Belonging

I put on my aged white ball cap, tie my tennis shoes and grab my spiral-ringed index cards - ready for our walk. I used to walk listening to music or talk radio but traded them in for silence when the noise in my head finally got to be too much. Then I discovered that sixty-ish year old minds can still commit things to memory (even though it sometimes seems my mind has all the retention capability of a  sieve). So I began carrying little bits of scripture, memorizing as I walked (somehow the walking seems to help - not sure why but it does).

This year the goal is the Romans Project, Romans 1,8 and 12 (whole chapters!) with Ann. There is a website, Scripture Typer, where you can join others who are doing the Romans Project. The idea is to type out the verses as you memorize them. Just when I think I'm getting fairly proficient on the computer, something new comes along and I realize my skills are sadly lacking. Could not figure it out.

So.....I copied the verses out on my trusty index cards and began to memorize Paul's words to the beat of  feet hitting  pavement. I think I may have moaned a time or two about Paul's penchant for very. long. sentences. I read the words and thought, "I will never get this!"

However, I have found, as I break them down into bite-sized pieces, every word has purpose and every phrase is chock full of amazing truth. The Holy Spirit seems to have a way of doing that. Still, those sentences are long! So I was thrilled yesterday when I flipped the card to the day's verse - "including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ," (verse six). Finally - something short and sweet.

As I said the words over and over, I was astounded at the depth of those simple words. We have been called to BELONG to Jesus Christ. When I come to Him in faith, I am signing on for the long-haul. I take all of my self, and give it to Him. I am His. It is what He has been speaking to my heart for weeks.

Jesus gave Himself for me. In return I take this one small life and give it to Him. This belonging to Him seems to run against the grain of our independent spirits. But, as with everything in God's kingdom, He has turned that notion on its head. When I belong to Jesus, I am truly free. I am safe. I receive all that He is, in the form of the Holy Spirit, living in me. I have hope, peace, joy - just to name a few of the gifts He brings.

I am His, and it is more than I could possibly ask or think.

Blessings,
Linda

Look Up

I had a shelf full of exercise videos that didn't make the cut when it came time to put our lives into cardboard boxes and move. They ran the gamut from Dancing with Richard Simmons to Yoga. I was faithful to each one for a time, but eventually boredom (and a touch of laziness) set in and I relegated them to the bottom shelf of the bookcase.

It wasn't until I laced up my tennis shoes and began walking our little country road that I knew I had at last found my thing. Fresh air and peace and quiet. It hardly seemed like exercise at all. I've been doing it ever since.

After years of walking and thinking I had it down to a science, I read something that changed it all rather dramatically. You are not supposed to walk looking down at your feet with your shoulders hunched up around your ears. No! You are supposed to look straight ahead - and relax those shoulders. I cannot tell you the difference it made.

Instead of alternating feet and pavement, there were trees and blue sky and birds. There were deer and rabbits and road runners. There were clouds sailing overhead. It was so much better. And yet I had to make a concentrated effort to keep looking up. It seems I have a tendency to look down at my feet.

It occurs to me I've been walking with a downward gaze and hunched up shoulders for days now. I have been absorbed with the "steps" of my life - discouraged and filled with a sense of failure. At times I've even tried walking backwards - looking with regret at a past I cannot change.

The Father calls me to move my gaze upward:

Isaiah 40:26-31 (NLT)

²⁶ Look up into the heavens.
    Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
    calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
    not a single one is missing.
²⁷ O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
    O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
²⁸ Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Blessings,

Linda

Come and Talk

"My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
    And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
              Psalm 27:8 (NLT)

Resting in the wonder of this.

Blessings,
Linda

A New Thing

Despair, I think, is the antonym for hope. I have been thinking about hope and as is so often true, I find it wherever I turn. I hear it songs and sermons, read about it in scripture, Bible study and devotionals.

Yesterday, in my devotional reading in Oswald Chamber’s “My Utmost For His Highest,” he wrote about despair. He used as his example the time the disciples fell asleep in the garden when Jesus had asked them to watch and pray. When they realized what they had done they were filled with despair. They felt, in that moment, they could never make up for what they had done.

“The sense of the irreparable is apt to make us despair, and we say – ‘It is all up now, it is no use trying any more.’”

I'm writing at Laced With Grace today. Please come join me there.

Blessings,
Linda