Today I’ll try my hand at some poetry to thank God. Post some of yours, too!
Here’s a haiku:
Thank you, Father God
adopted, accepted, held
I love being yours Continue reading
Some thankful poetry
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Category Archives: Realizations & Ponderings
A week of giving thanks
I decided this morning that I need to focus more on gratitude and being content with all that God has given me – easy or difficult, what I thought was coming and what I didn’t expect, what I dream of and what I dread, what energizes me and what drains me. It’s all allowed into my life through His good, loving hands and so I must be thankful and content. I’m going to thank Him in a different way each day for a week here on my blog. If you have any ideas send them to me! Feel free to join me in this week-long experiment.
Today I’ll make a list from A-Z. Continue reading
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You can be sure
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind, “Pooh!”, he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing.”, said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you “.
– A. A. Milne
Today I find myself wanting to sidle up next to Jesus and take His hand, just to be sure of Him. The blahs invaded and I find myself feeling like I don’t really care about anything today. I’ve been thinking this afternoon about why I might be feeling like this, kind of drifting a little too far from God, far enough to disconnect from that lovely peace I have when I’m in close fellowship with Him.
I think part of the reason is fatigue – tiredness from not knowing what or when or where or how the next phase of our family’s life is going to unfold. At the same time I realize that I’m supposed to live in this day, Continue reading
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A couple of clips from my current cogitation
I learned a new word today, can you tell? I like it. Cogitation: thought or reflection.
- John preached a message yesterday about how we often say, when caught in an habitual sin or mistake, “I can’t help myself!” This can be an excuse that keeps us from really finding help out of those habits. The behavior on the outside of us is really only a symptom of a problem on the inside of us. If our heart isn’t pure or motivated by God’s Spirit then out come the boo-boos and trip-ups. When I consider that truth about our hearts, then the phrase “I can’t help myself” is spot on truth. I can’t fix my heart. I can’t remove the smudge of sin or human weakness, but Jesus can. Good ponder fodder, as I like to say.
- Our family will possibly be making a move out west soon to serve God in the great state of California. This isn’t a for sure thing yet, Continue reading
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Got Grace?
I made a big mistake at work today. It hasn’t happened for a while but it was bound to. I get lots of projects going and something will fall through the cracks of my brain. There are some pretty wide cracks and gaping holes in there, my brain that is.
To make matters worse, my error affects a friend of mine and he isn’t too keen on the situation. I don’t blame him. As I realized what happened I got that awful stomach-twisting, hard to describe nervous feeling go up the back of my back and neck and my heart started pounding a little faster. Continue reading
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I don’t want to think about that today
You may have noticed, if you’ve read my posts in the last few weeks, that my relationship with and parenting of one of my teenage daughters pretty much consumes my thought-life lately.
You know, parenting is really hard! I hear all parents everywhere shout “amen!” I have always loved being a mom and there have been other difficult times along the way, this is just a different type of difficulty. It’s new territory for me and for John but thankfully not for God.
After a particularly challenging day and evening yesterday, I drove to work this morning I talking with God, Continue reading
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The God of Open Doors
In a teenager’s eyes, sometimes the parent appears as a daunting obstacle to freedom, a task master laying down rule after rule in pure enjoyment of squishing every joy from her life. This definitely colors the relationship between teen and mom or dad. Her preconceived notions of automatic “no’s” and restrictions may cause her to just decide to do something without asking, ask with angry defenses standing tall, or buck and kick against it all like a wild bronco. In truth, the parents are laying boundaries out of love. They don’t enjoy holding her back from fun and friends. They want the absolute best for her. Helping her learn to live responsibly and submit to authority is key. Staying within those lines drawn by her parents, she will actually experience real freedom. It seems backwards but it’s true.
What if instead of thinking of God as a God of “no’s”, rules, and restriction we saw Him for who he really is? Continue reading
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Body Parts
Need some practical ways to live following God’s heart? Read Romans 12 in The Message. I love it! Today I was reading slowly and really only got through the first six verses or so. I was trying to digest what each verse was really saying and I had a new realization. Now it may not be new to you but it’s worth pondering anyway. Continue reading
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My Father, the Artist
My dad is an artist. He doesn’t paint pictures to sell or sculpt statues but he does tell detailed, captivating stories in a way that come to life in people’s minds when he teaches about Jesus. He doesn’t build things but he does craft their yard into a healthy, lush, manicured garden of wide variety. When he taught me piano lessons as a young child, he would draw pictures in my notebook each week so I could fill in little circles in the drawing with my practice times. While our girls were young he would decorate birthday cakes for them according to the theme of their party that would rival any professional bakery’s work. Continue reading
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Stay Squishy
…dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 NLT
My little brother, sister and I molded and created all sorts of silly stuff out of play dough together when we were little. My sister had this amazingly fun set of hard plastic molds we used to make all sorts of foods and play restaurant on little plastic plates. We’d end up pressing, rolling, pinching, cutting and flattening away for hours. To get the best fruit or pizza or cheeseburger you had to push the play dough really hard so that it filled all the little spaces of the mold.
When my girls were little we acquired our own play dough toys that introduced them to the fun of moldable squishy stuff. They even had a fuzzy pumper – do you remember those? Continue reading
Along the Narrow Path 