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| I love roses and my husband took this picture. It reminds me of a quote I read one day: [Not sure of the author] Some people grumble because roses have thorns~I am thankful that the thorns have roses. It is all in the perspective of the one enjoying the rose. How is your perspective today? |
I love being home…
Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind going away for a while for short trips.
But in reality I am a home body.
I will stay home before I will rush out and leave.
Especially since semi retirement has been a part of my ‘life’. This last year has been life changing and different. It has taught me to slow down, and pace myself. It has been good.
The new comfort zone is safe and peaceful.
We went on a canoe trip a few days ago.
It was a new experience for me… I don’t know how to swim and the water scares me.
Years ago we went with some of the same people but it seemed like the adventurous spirit that was with me back then some 30 years ago was gone.
This time I had new fears.
I could feel them close whispering their ‘chattering voices in my ears.’
The older I have gotten it seems that fears are often a part of my life.
Often times prayers are sent up …
“OH GOD protect us… Oh God give me a still quiet heart… Oh God send your angels… Oh God help me feel calm and peaceful.”
Arrow prayers sent up quickly to save the moment so peace and calm can quiet my anxious heart.
The canoe trip was nice once we were settled in the water…
as I sat on the hard seat the words to myself were… “BREATHE IN and BREATHE out…
Listen to the birds…feel the air and the soft wind…breathe.
Take hold of the boat and let the guide behind you do the work.”
It was actually peaceful once the canoe was floating and following the water.
The air was fresh… the wind gentle… we saw 4 bald eagles.
They were beautiful and majestic and so serene as they sat perched upon the trees branch.
There were deer along the waters edge…
mommy ducks with their babies swimming right next to our canoes.
It was very peaceful once I let go of the ‘what if this happens’ thought process.
God blessed us with safety and nothing went wrong.
It was fun and the fellowship with the others who went with us was good.
(The mosquitoes could have been out of the scene bug bites are no fun to deal with. We all came home with many).
Next year my husband said we will have a motor home for the tent camping days are over for me. I can truly say I have “BEEN there and DONE that.”
It was my last effort to go and do what my husband enjoys. As we were packing up to leave I looked at him in the freezing morning chill and said while holding onto my hot cup of coffee, “I deserve my good sport medal.”
The morning air temp was below freezing.
Next year a motor home will be our ‘home away from home’ with a furnace and fresh water and a bathroom with shower. A warm comfortable bed with flannel blankets.
We will go again since I really don’t mind going now.
But next year it will be in our home away from home.
God is our hiding place…
Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”
Dictionary.com says refuge means shelter or protection from danger or trouble. We really need to grasp how tangible this hiding place is for us. I am not saying we need to hide from responsibilities or relationships. Sometimes it just means to hide from the ‘world’ news, the events of the day to day routines that we all get ourselves pulled into.
If one would sit down and take note and view the world and all that is happening around us there would be reason for a deep depression or even fear.
The flip side of that is God is a refuge. OUR REFUGE ~ OUR strength.
We do not need to be overwhelmed or rattled by the days events.
We can run to the one who holds us up.
Many years ago we had a CD I believe it was by Maranatha song company and the name of the song was ‘You are my hiding place.’
You are my hiding place
You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance
whenever I am alone
I will trust in YOU
I will trust in YOU
Let the weak say I am strong
In the strength of the Lord… I will trust in you
Trust…. a word that might not be easy for some to say.
Dictionary.com says trust: the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety in a person or thing; confidence.
Confident expectation of something; hope.
A person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.
To rely upon or place confidence in someone or something; hope.
Trust implies instinctive unquestioning belief in and reliance upon something.
Firm reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person.
Do you get it yet?
Real trust in an almighty God who protects us and keeps us from harm brings safety.
We have a refuge. A hiding place.
A place of protection and peace. A secure resting place.
We need to ask the questions deep within ourselves.
Who are we trusting and where is our hope resting?
Can we say from our hearts “You are my hiding place” to a God who loves and wants the best for us?
I challenge us all to be honest and spend time with Him today.
The journey…
between vulnerability and realness has been slow for me.
I am by nature a private person.
And to share matters of the heart is only for one or two generally.
It took me years to even get to that point.
I have a good friend whom I am very open with and also my husband.
To share what was written in the last ‘blog’ was really hard.
I hesitated and wanted to delete it …change it and make it more ‘pleasing’ to read. Then I remembered my mantra for the year to be honest and real and share more openly.
Not so open that I hurt someone or risk being too ‘harsh’ or risk being too transparent.
The last blog was pretty transparent and very personal and that was my hesitation.
Some people don’t need to know your ‘heart’ condition today. Like the person who casually says, “How are you?” not really expecting you to go through a year’s story. They are being casual in a question and just want you to say, “I’m fine thank you.”
But sometimes we have to really say what is on our heart.
I hope for all of us that we have one person in our life who we can unzip the shell of the wounding of our heart and share openly and honestly without worry of their reactions.
Someone to just listen to us and to empathize and pray with us through our heart hurt.
Not judging our feelings but just listen.
I looked up the word friend in the Bible and there were 172 references to the word.
So it is important for us to have a ‘friend’ a confidant and a listening ear when our hearts are hurting. It is not good or healthy to keep in inside yourself.
My challenge today is: How real are your friendships?
Is there someone in your life with whom you can share openly and honestly?
If there isn’t anyone why not?
I pray that we all can experience the wonderful sharing of a good friend.
Today…
The Lord’s day
A day for worship and praise
To listen and be attentive
We came to hear
We came to worship
We came to experience
To be in tune to the words spoken from a Pastor
Who studies so he can teach the people who are listening and waiting
for a touch from God
Our Pastor spoke on the passage that says in Matthew 7:4-6 and in Luke 6:42:
“Or how can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck in your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Then the Pastor said, “Let me make it more clear”…
and he walked over to the other side of the stage and picked up a large plank and put it up to his face and said, “This is what it looks like, you are walking around with a large plank complaining about someone Else’s speck and when you get close to others because of your plank you smack them with it, telling them to remove ‘their speck’…all along not seeing your plank and the hurt you are causing.”
It was powerful…
Then he continued to move into the passage in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no wrong. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.
I felt my chest heave with heaviness and my eyes fill with tears.
I felt myself breathing slow and deep…
I wanted to sob and wail… and pray…
Someone in my life is doing just that…
and hitting me with the plank as they are doing it
they are justifying their behavior by accusing me
of having the speck
and in that process … failing to love me… failing to love me
Pastor was talking about marriage… but it didn’t have to end there
It could be in any relationship
My heart was heavy…
My grief up close and to the surface
I left with unfinished business to deal with in my heart
I left with deep sadness that this situation
will not heal itself without deep introspection
from the one who is blaming.
I left feeling emotionally open and incredibly fragile
My heart was heavy today
The speck has never been in my eye
I am feeling the deep intensity of the cord broken
And I am grieving a ‘broken’ relationship
Simplicity
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