Little Cloud

From the beautiful imagination of my daughter.
She declares:
"I was kicking my ball outside. I kicked it high. It hit a tree. And caught a cloud and brought it back. It was small. So I threw it away."

Wow I am Weak

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family [3] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I sure do wish I were the person in Ephesians 3:14-19.

I am not as strong as I think I am. I am therefore not the person I think I am. In my youth I used to think I was strong and could handle anything that came my way. Really who doesn't? There certainly was Grace sufficient to sustain me during those struggles. The picture of that walk looked nothing like "being rooted and grounded in love". In my wiser years, you know after college, I recall even boasting in my ability to handle stressful situations. As if that was a job skill that would set me apart from others. Well, I landed that job. The first chance I had to get out of there... I took it! Because by no means did I "comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth". As I have reflected on these things, my current claim to strength is only in fleeting moments of intensity. So now, I am thinking only in emergency situations. Because they are usually brief! So reading this one might think that I am growing less strong in my faith as the years fly by. But really I am trusting more and more to "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge". And pretty soon, I'll be just as weak in a crisis as I think I am strong now! Maybe then I will be "filled with all the fullness of God."

Killing Two Birds and My Sin

I was struck today by the irony of me killing two birds in one week! And when I say "killing two birds" I am speaking literally! Although, the reason I post is because of the symbolism that it led me to reflect upon. The first murderous act happened as I was driving down a lovely road admiring the equestrian farms, blooming wisteria and the beautiful breeze that ever so slightly swayed the leaves into a dance. Then it happened. Just beyond the ridge. Approaching the horses on the right. And the house on the hill to the left. And there, in the middle of the two lane highway sat two little birds. Small birds. Finch-like in stature and nothing at all like the vulturous birds one normally sees feeding on carcasses in the middle of the road. It was their sweet innocent-like quality that caught my attention and pulled on my heart strings. The two small birds on a happy little excursion to gather food. And then for one, life was over and for the other, life was changed forever as they lost their little friend. This is the scene as it happened that sunshiny day. The two birds chose their escape as they saw my car approaching. The wiser of the two flew left to the hills and the safety of higher ground. The now deceased bird hesitated just enough in their flight straight up, to be clipped by the front of my hood. I thought for one fleeting moment that it had survived and would now take flight and fight for life. But alas it was not meant to be. I hit it with the hood. It floated up still flapping and then, with a definitive end met my windshield and that was its end.
So now I tell you of the second and perhaps more tragic death. Driving along the same sweet highway, a baby bird fell from above right in my way. Still learning to fly or perhaps this was its maiden voyage. I saw it tumble from up above. Struggle with all its itty bitty might to stretch out those wings and take flight. Then, as suddenly as the speeding truck missed it. And this may be the saddest point of all that only if only it had fallen a moment before it could be on an adventure in a red 4x4. Perhaps it would go to work at the office and get a chance at life once more! Instead, it fell to the ground in front of my vehicle and was flattened like a melted Popsicle!
I was woefully sorry and may have even shed a tear. That poor baby bird had become my second victim.

I would not have chosen to murder that day. But I did. I would not have wanted to hurt those two birds but it was unavoidable. There was nothing I could do to prevent it no matter how much I wanted them to live. And so it is with my sin. Not all of it of course. But recently, God has been revealing my sin to me. You know those sins that you never had a clue you had. Until someone ELSE points them out to you. And they just smack you in the face with the reality and truth of it all. Just like a bird falling from the sky. But these birds are no bearer of innocence. They are little sacks of dung. And the stench is now drowning out all those sweet spring time scents. With those revelations I can see how my heart has murdered. Even though I never would have wanted to commit these sins. Yet I do. I am much more comfortable with my "known" sins. I can see them in advance and make adjustments to avoid them. But these new ones falling from out of nowhere are... well.. new to me (not to those around me) and they really stink! Now this may seem disparaging but the hope that comforted me was knowing that God knows about these sins already. He knew I would murder these birds and there was nothing I could do. And so my sins must help me to know His grace even more. He has prepared a way for me to conquer them. He has conquered them already. His Son died for this unexpected sin. I am learning to love all over again.

A Multi-colored Morning!

Among the brightly colored baskets and pastel eggs that will be shared Easter morning in my home, we will continue the tradition my Mother started so long ago. We will have a very colorful breakfast. Every Easter my Mom would use food coloring to dye our breakfast food so that we had a rainbow of colors on our plates! It was quite the site. The meal would include Green Grits, Pink Scrambled Eggs, Ham (it's really hard to color ham) or bacon,& huge Biscuits. My parents would call the biscuits "cat head " biscuits. They were the best! I like to just call them huge because I really don't like the thought of eating a cat's head!:-) My Mom was a great cook and I will miss her a lot this Easter. I will think of her fondly as I color food for my own children and remember her standing at the stove with her hair a mess, a sink full of dishes from the night before, with my Dad on the couch watching TV and my siblings and I NOT waiting patiently at the table. The sounds of bacon frying and watching her in amazement as the grease would pop as if in a competition to see which pop of grease could land on the cooks arm, and she stood there carrying on the duties of cooking for her family as if there had been no attack. Her whole life could be summed up by those few words... for she certainly did go through life taking it all in stride as if she knew something we didn't. And indeed she did know something and that was her Faith that kept her eyes on those things that were heavenly and stood strong against the attacks of life. So this Sunday, I will read the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to my children and with my own hair a mess and most likely a sink full of dishes...color some grits green or even purple.
Happy Easter... my God lives

Testing out New Backgrounds for my Blog

HEY ! I am trying out new looks for this blog. please be patient as I figure this out!

A Hardened Heart

I pray this week for those whom I know have their eyes closed to the truth of the Gospel, for those whose hearts have been hardened. And I specifically am in prayer for one dear person I know. I used to read this passage and be discouraged and sometimes even angry that God had hardened the heart of someone that I love. But now I read it and see the hope that He has given and I do not give up hoping and praying for those I love to know Him. Please take a moment to read this passage.

John 12

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

The Unbelief of the People

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

March Madness?

So it appears I have not blogged once in the whole month of March. Could it be because I was entirely too busy with watching basketball on TV? No, I doubt it. The March madness I refer to is that of being busy with work, home, friends and family! And While I thoroughly enjoy a good blog. Sometimes I find that I am far too contemplative to post my thoughts or actually put them to words. I am, however, grateful that the Words of my Savior are written for me and that He wasn't too tired, too busy, too consumed with bringing people back from the dead to see to it that I have a Bible to read.
I wonder what the Bible would look like if Jesus came back today? What if instead of being written on stone tablets, or parchment paper... it was posted on a blog, or twitter (Jesus wept John11:35), or Facebook and people just chatted back and forth about all the He said. How cool that would be. Then I think, God is still inspiring people to speak His truth today and indeed He does use these modern forms of communication. Of course, it's not the Bible. I am thankful for these communicative resources to the extent they connect loved ones and promote truth. I hope that out there somewhere there are people seeking the Gospel online as we approach this Easter celebration and that they stumble on the truth.