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Resting

by | Jan 6, 2011 | Uncategorized

This is not a good way to start a new year.
I came down with a respiratory infection, bad cough and wheezing at times and fevers between 101-102 and feel like a truck hit me and left me along side the road.
Not a flu just head and throat stuff.
I may not be writing three times a week this week.
It is just enough for me to get a juice glass or feed my dogs and cat.
Haven’t eaten anything solid for at least three days.
Did try some chicken soup and that didn’t even taste good.
Had to muster the strength to shower and go to the doctor it was hard since I had a fever and felt like I was freezing.
Wish I could have stayed in my pj’s.
Even my morning coffee tastes awful.
Would appreciate some prayers.

Autumn time of life

by | Jan 3, 2011 | Uncategorized

I want to share something I found on a blog today.
The credit goes to a man by the name of Paul David Tripp.
Investigating who he is I think he is a pastor out of Pennsylvania and this quote comes out of a book of his.
I am not sure if it is it is proper etiquette to use a quote from someone else so long as I give him credit it might be alright.
Excerpt from “Lost in the middle” by Paul David Tripp:


Standing in a Pile of Your Own Leaves

You’re now in the autumn of your life, and you are quite aware the leaves are off the trees. You’re standing in a pile of the leaves of  your marriage, your parenting, your extended family, your friendships, your work, and your ministry. These leaves of the past have grown wrinkled and dry, and you know you cannot put them back on the tree. It’s tempting to sit down in the pile and examine leaf after leaf and wish you were holding a new bud from a new sapling, but you aren’t. The harvest has come in and it is what it is. Yet in all of this, there is hope because your Lord is the Lord of new seasons. With the new season comes the freedom to plant new and better seeds. With the new season comes the expectation of a new harvest of new fruit.
Stand up and walk away from your pile of  yesterday’s leaves. Take the seeds of a new way into  your hands, press them into the soil of your life and thank God that you will live to see a better harvest.
Isn’t this just awesome?
I feel like I am in the autumn part of life, turning 56 just a few days ago. Feeling a tad out of shape and old. Not so old that I can’t learn to forgive if it is needed or redeem a wrong or learn a lesson or two. Life is just as this writing says, a series of leaves that fall, and you rake them up and wait for another ‘tumbling’ of sorts.
Seasons change us.
They help us grow and restore ourselves.
They help us renew old thoughts and purge out the negative.
They help us strengthen our weak places and reinforce the strong ones.
Winter will leave us soon and this season of chill will be replaced with a bit of warmth.
Then one day we will wake up and spring will be here and new birth awaits the morning.
Birds will sing and make nests, and bulbs full of life will bulge from frozen ground.
I think I am ready for spring.
For the newness of life.
For relationships to grow deeper and more open.
For quietness in my soul to settle into the routine again.
I want to live to see a better harvest… of family and friendships and growth in God.
As we hold the new seeds of the seasons may we have a thankful heart for whatever is ahead of us.
(picture taken by Shelly Collis ~ Newberg, Oregon) 

The Eve of a new year

by | Jan 1, 2011 | Uncategorized

A new year ahead of us.
A time of change.
A time for new beginnings.
A time for new commitments or habits.
Eve… a Hebrew word meaning LIFE. ( also a threshold, verge or vigil)
The evening preceding something else.
Eve… the eve of a new year.
What will our year be like?
For us…
the last year brought many changes.
A death of a dearly loved mom,
death of relationships that shattered within the context of misunderstanding,
a birth of a beautiful grandson,
new thoughts processed about life and death and living and relationships.
A new year is ahead of us.
What will your new year be for you?
Will you allow change?
Will you allow new beginnings? 
Do you have old habits to break and new commitments to make?
On this eve of a new year…
what do you want for yourself and your family?
Are there new spiritual goals to meet?
Are there new plans and accomplishments you want to see fulfilled?
On this eve of a new year
I ask you …
What do you want to write
on your blank calendar or blank wipe on/wipe off board?

As a new one begins I pray this gives you something to think about.
(winter leaves picture)

A question for you

by | Dec 28, 2010 | Uncategorized

As the Christmas season winds down and the new year begins very soon.
What will you do with this Jesus? This babe in the manger… this sweet little Jesus child?

When we gather the boxes of ornaments and other decorations and put them away back in storage.
Do we wrap this baby delicately in bubble wrap and tissue to not let him break till the next season of display in December?
The box holds a figure, a resin like image, what does your heart hold?
Can you allow this babe in a manger who came to save the world come into your heart?
This real God who came as a gift of love for a world who would not often accept him.
The nativity story is not just for Christmas it is for every day.
That is why I leave a nativity up all year long so that I can remember… the reason.
What will we do with this Jesus as we hold the resin made cherub and marvel at the innocence of the painted face.
Do we remember that he lived 33 years to die a horrible disfiguring death?
Do we remember that the face we marvel at in innocence becomes horribly beaten and un-recognizable because HE chose it? Because He knew that was the only way… 

Because he loved us so much that the plan to come in a form we would know and understand was His gift for us. There are so many reasons to be thankful for the nativity. For the Love given. For the Love shown to us on that day in the city called Bethlehem.
God reached down and touched our hearts… so we could in turn could allow our hearts to turn towards Him.
What will you do with this Jesus? that is my question for you.

Christmas.

by | Dec 25, 2010 | Uncategorized

Our first Nativity set purchased on our first Christmas 37 years ago.
Simple yet very beautiful I will always put it out and alway remember the reason for the Season.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a renewed heart.

Mary’s heart ache

by | Dec 22, 2010 | Uncategorized

Very soon after the baby Jesus was born
Mary and Joseph had to leave Bethlehem in a hurry to avoid King Herod and his rulers.
Matthew 2:13-14
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up.” he said,”take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.
Can you imagine Mary’s heart?
A new baby is born and someone wants to kill him
what new mother wants to hear that kind of news.
This was a chosen child
the angel had told her he would be
I wonder what she was thinking as Joseph said to her “we must leave now.”
She had just given birth and her body was experiencing that recovery
and then she was told they had to leave quickly to travel nearly 200 miles on a donkey to Egypt. The road was not a paved road like we have it was rough terrain it was long and difficult and took a long time. As she traveled with Joseph her heart knew they were alone and they were running against the terror of a crazy man…King Herod.
Matthew 2:16-17
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ” A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
I cannot even imagine her fear
in the middle of the night in the dark with only lanterns
her fatigue so heavy as they hurried quickly
her body rebelling against every movement made by the donkey.
She wouldn’t be able to walk herself for she had just had a baby
and she was tired and worn out from the last journey to Bethlehem.
Holding her infant close as he nuzzled in the curve of her arms
I wonder if she cried tears of sadness for this baby born to her.
Can you imagine how she would feel when she heard the cries of the mothers who had lost their son’s because of hers?
It was a constant hiding for Mary and Joseph as they avoided the dangerous men.
Can you imagine trying to raise your son in a place you are not familiar with and where you had no friends or family or anything that was yours?
She knew her son was special and she knew God had blessed her.
She also knew the shepherds had found them but her joy quickly turned into sorrow for the mothers weeping for their son’s.
Mary’s heart ache was only beginning.
For in the process of giving birth to her child she also was also in the process of giving him up.
The Savior was born
and it wasn’t until later in her life did Mary fully understand what that would mean.

A baby was born

by | Dec 20, 2010 | Uncategorized

Mary became more uncomfortable as her round frame stretched.
She waited and hoped for relief just like any other expectant mom.
I am sure she had back aches and heart aches
no different than any other mom for the first time.
As she asked herself
how will I love this child,
how will I care for him?
So many questions moved across her mind
I am sure she was overwhelmed
after all she was only a teen.
Can you even imagine delivering a baby in a barn
where animals had slept
in the midst of odors that were unpleasant?
Perhaps Joseph found a clean stash of hay
to place in a well used water trough to use as a manger.
There would be no incubator or warming lights.
There would be no soft blankets or sleepers or diapers or booties
for the tiny legs that would thrash in the night.
Was it cold or perhaps it was very warm.
There were no midwifes to help through the labor process
or crushed ice or even water to wash the baby in the completed birth.
What did Mary and Joseph do?
Custom would say that Joseph had to stay away until the birth was over…
did he do that?
Was Mary alone in the barn laboring with every contraction?
Where were her parents or friends… did they care?
What did she lay down on
perhaps the blanket from the donkey?
So many things we are not told.
So many parts of the story are mysteries.
In the city of Bethlehem there would be a baby
born in the midst of a busy time
and because of that time the stable
was the only place given to Joseph.
Mary being round with child after a long donkey ride
needed a resting place.
I am sure she was so tired and so worn from the journey
a bed of straw might have been a welcome place.
So many things not told to us about the birth of this baby.
Do we care…
are we compassionate enough to wonder
how Mary gave birth to a son
in the city called Bethlehem.
so much to think about ~so much to process.
A baby was born.

Glory to God

by | Dec 16, 2010 | Uncategorized

The shepherds were a rough group of men
they had to be strong and able bodied to be able to fight off lions
or other animals that might come near the sheep.
They had to be not fearful of the dark or of the enemies
waiting in the dark.
They were not a highly respected group of men either.
They were dirty and the job they had was very dangerous.
They were simple outside rugged men
who would sleep on the rough ground and walk many miles
to get their job done.
They stayed with their flocks day and night and did what they needed
to protect them and keep them safe.

Isn’t it incredible that God would use them to be a part of the
‘nativity story?’
Isn’t it like Him to use a rough group of men who were so
unsuspecting and not likely to be placed in a story that would be
such an important part of history?
Kind of like a ‘virgin girl’ chosen to give life to a SON
and a common man choosing to marry her.
Luke 2: 8-13
And there were shepherd living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord
shone around them.
and they were terrified.
(Remember these men were not terrified of anything
this had to have been a miraculous and stunning moment for them)
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.
(Isn’t it interesting the angels always have to say ‘don’t be afraid’ before talking
to people?)
Do not be afraid.
I bring your good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
he is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom
his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.”
(Some writers actually said they left their flocks and hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and the baby in the manger. I wonder is that not too different from the fishermen leaving their fishing nets to go follow him later on?) Leaving everything they knew and everything important
to follow after the call of their hearts.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby,
who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word
concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at
what the shepherd said to them.
(Remember the shepherds were not necessarily anyone the people would listen to and yet they were amazed when they heard them share the story)
What they had to share was important and the people listened because it was life changing for them. I imagine they were excited and could not contain those emotions. What a difference that would be to see a shepherd who was once serious and task oriented talking about why they left their sheep and how come they did and why they had to go in such a hurry.
Their faces would show the ‘knowing.’
In the midst of the nativity story God revealed to them
the least suspecting
the least logical.
The shepherds, a rough and tough group of men tending their flocks
in the dark of the night just like any other night.
Only this night was to be different.
If God can reveal himself to them
do you suppose he can do that to us too?
Would we leave our jobs or agenda’s to follow in a new direction?
So much to think about and so much to ask of ourselves.
The nativity story was miraculous and the miracle’s were everywhere.
Isn’t it awesome that God uses normal every day people
to share a story for everyone?