Home for the Holidays #1

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One of my goals for 2014 was to get better at taking photographs.

Yeah….well….

So, one of my goals for 2015 is to get better at taking photographs.

However, there might still be time to squeak out an attempt at working on that goal, at least.

How about a photo a day to close out the year?

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Happy Holiday

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I’ve been taking a holiday.

December is a good month to sit quietly, sip something warm, and reflect.

I like to look back at the lessons and gifts of the passing year.

I like to think about what to pray and hope for in the coming year.

But mostly I like to listen.

To the quiet.

This Advent season, I feel a holy shushing.

So I’m taking a happy holiday from my words to hear the Word.

There has been the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.

Will I be prepared?

There will soon be the voice of one crying out in the manger.

Will I hear it?

Shhh…

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Soon

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soonI suppose every generation wonders — is this the final age?  Will we be the fortunate people who actually hear the trumpet sound, see the sky split open, transport to another realm?

Maybe it’s common for people my age — with children raised, careers winding down, youthfulness fading — to spend time considering eternity.

Perhaps in every century, believers have observed signs of a world “groaning as in the pains of childbirth”, waiting for its deliverance.

I just know that since meeting every Wednesday this fall with fifty beautiful women and studying Heaven in depth, I can’t stop thinking about it.  Heaven has become near and dear — a real place, a true home.

I don’t know the time or date,

but I do feel a stirring in the world and in my heart.

Could be soon.

This week, this is my story.  This is my song.

“Soon” by Hillsong United

The Faucet

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My sister has impeccable timing.  She knows when I need a shot in the arm, a nudge in the side, a kick in the pants.  After posting every day in October, I was ready for a break.  Lucky for me, my sister has cute grandchildren and a way of seeing God-moments in everyday moments with them.  Here’s a good one.  Thanks, Robin!

hoseOur 18 month old grandson, Ben, is a delight to watch as he learns how things work and how people do things.  A few months ago, while we were outside enjoying a summer day, he picked up the water hose and looked at the end, waiting in anticipation for the water (“dah’-doh”) to flow out.  When nothing happened, he toddled to the faucet on the side of the house, touched it, and then hurried back to the end of the hose fully expecting to see the water.  When he found nothing, he turned his palms upward and said in great bewilderment, “Where dah-doh?” He understood the basic process, but missed an important detail — he had not yet learned the connection of actually turning the faucet on.

We adults are sometimes a bit like that.  We know that God is there, ready to renew us with Living Water.  We may take a moment now and then to touch base with God, saying a prayer from time to time or going to church on occasion.  We wait for God to speak to us and become bewildered when nothing seems to happen.  But we miss the point of going beyond “touching base”.  We must spend time with God daily — searching the scriptures, praying, praising,  being thankful, and faithfully believing.  We must take the step to truly open our hearts to God, making his love real and active in our lives, and allow it to flow through us to others.  We must learn to turn the faucet on!

“You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”  Isaiah 58:11

“Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”   John 7:38

Good To Me

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When God called forth light, He looked all around and said,

“Good.”

When He separated the waters and put up the sky, He nodded and said,

“Hmmm….good.”

When the Lord brought up land from the seas, and caused plants to grow, He said,

“Oh…that’s good.”

When the Creator designed the stars, sun and moon, He smiled and said,

“Ah….also good.”

When He fashioned birds for the air and fish for the sea, He surveyed it all and said,

“My goodness, that’s good.”

When Jehovah formed creatures according to their kinds, He was pleased and said,

“Again, these are good.”

But when the Father made man and woman, He was especially delighted and said,

“Now…oh yes… This.  This is very good.”

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This week, I have been aware of God’s goodness following me everywhere.

Even when I’ve felt

completely inadequate, totally insignificant, and wholly undeserving,

His goodness hounds my steps.

As a child created in His image, I have the capacity to recognize goodness.

God is good.

This week, this is my story.  This is my song.

“Good To Me” by Audrey Assad

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”         Psalm 23:6

Election Day

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votedWhen the kids were little and we were homeschooling, I took advantage of a November election to teach about government.  We studied the three branches, the political parties and the candidates running for office.  We visited the state capitol and met our representative.  We wrote letters to the President and the Governor, assuring them of our prayers and asking for their pictures.  We learned the Pledge of Allegiance and said it together every morning.

The night before the election, one of the candidates made a stop in a town nearby.  We bundled up the kids and stood outside for an hour before finally seeing the top of the hopeful politician’s head.  In the distance.  For a split second.

But the atmosphere was electric — that political rally rivaled any big sporting event.  There was music and a cheering crowd and people holding up signs.  We got swept up in the frenzy.

The next morning, as the kids were eating breakfast, Sam asked who won.  When I told him that our candidate was not elected, he put his little head down on the table and started to cry.  PB and I looked at each other with wide eyes.  I guess we overdid it.  I had to convince the broken-hearted boy that the world was not coming to an end.

Smack dab in the middle of the Bible — the very center of all the verses in God’s Word — is this:

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.  It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”  Psalm 118:8-9

So I’ll vote today.

But my refuge is in the Lord.

I’ll watch the returns come in tonight.

But I won’t put my head down and cry if my candidate loses.

I’ll pray for those who are in positions of authority.

But the world will not come to an end until the Lord God Almighty says so.