It is time to pack and unpack. Have you ever moved? Some people never move. They spend a lifetime in the same place. It is strange to pack up everything you own and put it on a truck and take it to a new place. Sometimes when you get to the new place your things don't fit. It forces you to choose what you really love and either part with the rest or pay for a storage unit.
For the last five years we have had a storage unit. Seven and a half years ago our daughter moved out to get married. We kept a few things for her. We have gathered things, items we felt important enough at the time that they were given a place in our lives. Now we are moving only not changing addresses but seasons in life. Our son just moved to his first Apartment. The dog died three summers ago so now there are no extra feet at our house. No one extra to check on, to clean up after, to encourage, laugh with, cry with. Sometimes it is the extra stuff that brings us great joy. I talk with my daughter everyday in some form or another. I talk with my grandchildren several times a week. I talk with my Mom almost everyday. Now we Skype with our son and he has learned to like the phone. We must stay connected, it is simply not enough to intend to we must take action.
There are so many things that we can gather. The greatest of which is love. God gives us such amazing love. You hear a lot about "empty nest". This is a term that I am not fond of . Our home is not empty all the love and blessings that surrounded us all these years is still here. We will not pack it up and put it in storage. We will now have the opportunity to choose to invite others into our home to love them to serve them. The treasure of life is relationship and that should never go to storage.
We recently cleaned out our storage unit and we no longer have one. Whew....that was a great feeling. There has been a lot of shifting going on. Sometimes God shifts us just a little he always has a good reason although we do not always take it well.
The storage was full of decorations and coats. We do not use many coats in Florida but we keep them just in case. You may not have a crisis everyday and you may not feel like you need people but you never know and it is a really good idea to build good relationships for the winter. When we are hurting it is love that warms us.
I have a lot of holiday decorations some for home and some for the Air Force base. It is always exciting to me to see peoples' faces when you decorate. They get that little kid grin and act silly. They start talking about growing up and what the season means. I wonder how many of us carry our Bible as a decoration. It is the manual you know. All the answers are in there. We must seek God's word to guide us.
This week I have been giving things away. It is time, time to let go of things that no longer serve a purpose in my life. This will allow me to let new things in. I have been a mother for 28 years. I will not stop being a mother, I will just stop making the morning rounds. Now prayer takes on a whole new meaning. There is no seeing there is only faith. This is not a new concept to me it just takes on a deeper meaning. I have had to use this idea for my daughter and her family. For my parents. Now for my son.
We packed up his things and took them to his new apartment. His old room is now a music room for my husband. All the kids slept in that room at one time or another. So very fitting that the music of love will continue to echo from the walls.
I will have time to pursue some hobbies long forgotten. Time to spend writing and studying. My husband Paul and I are enjoying the time to visit and re-create our space and lives. It is a time of celebration.
It is true that I probably kept too many things for that much needed moment that never arrived. Possibly I put too many things on hold while I was enthralled with the journey of our family. These are all matters of opinion.
As I continue to sort it all out and go through all the emotions that this change has brought to us. There are so many things that I am excited about. Paul will now have his own place to play his beloved music and this brings such joy to his soul. Don't get me wrong I was not happy to see our children leave because they were a problem I was happy because we did it. We guided and released, by the grace of God. This is what God asked of us. Such a joy to my soul the memories that flood my heart.
Life is meant to be lived. We cannot not store people. We must treasure those that God places in our lives. Release with love those that are not intended to stay. But never pack them up as if they do not matter. Every person that crosses our path serves a purpose.
So in this new season some people and things did not make the journey. I will not dwell upon the absence but rather rejoice in what is to come.
My son is cooking every day for himself and managing his own place. This brings me joy. My daughter is getting her children ready for school she shares the moments with me and this brings me joy.
Don't pack up your joy...keep it out on the counter in easy reach.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
There is No Free Fruit
Seriously I am at the drive through window getting a quick lunch...are you kidding me right now it has taken 3 minutes for me to get my lunch. Does this sound familiar? Oh and by the way I hope that I am getting a healthy nutritious lunch since I order off the healthy menu. Alright let me get this straight, drive through, lots of preservatives, meals in minutes and I want healthy. NOT POSSIBLE. Truly healthy will take time, much more than three minutes.
I am in the process of a health overhaul. After getting two very interesting diagnosis and being put on medication I am finally realizing that in fact I have not lost my mind but just perhaps it is returning. I had so beaten myself up for things that I could not explain. This has caused me to sleep, and sleep and sleep and did I mention sleep? Well in this process I have had some time to truly think about many things.
Today we got some terrific news that was answered prayer. We say answered prayer because we asked God for something that has happened. We asked in accordance with God's will. You know God does things for us all the time that are his will and we rarely give him credit unless we have asked for it. How selfish we are. We should hit the floor in gratitude, spend the day in gratitude and go to sleep with gratitude upon our lips. Good, bad or indifferent we are to be grateful to God for all he does.
So God granted this prayer and it was huge for our family. And it occurred to me the amount of work that took place in order for this fruit to come forth. That all the prayer in the world with no labor was fruitless. We so grumble and complain about things both big and small. And we need to process things and get them off our chest, but then we must give it to God and be on about the solution.
Sometimes I think that we are all just clogging up the arteries of life. God has a flow for us and way in which we are to go in order to reach those he has placed in our lives and to accomplish that which he would have us to do. And yet, we are in the way, grumbling and complaining. Lord if I have to wash another dish. Really well if you have no food to eat you will have no dishes to worry about. Lord I am so sick of doing laundry, well if you have no clothing then laundry will no longer be a burden. Lord if my spouse does this or that I will well maybe we should just divorce. So if your spouse is taken away from you you will no longer have the love and joy the life partner you will be all alone, but no longer bothered by their problems. Lord if I had this or that!!!
We must learn to be content with what we have. Are you taking care of what you have? Are your dishes washed? Is your laundry done? Is your home clean? Are you spending time with your children? Are you paying attention to your spouse and their needs? Are you taking time out of your complaining to spend time with the Lord?
There is no free fruit. You must be willing to get out there and plow the field, prepare the soil for planting good seed, water the crop, remove the weeds(bad attitudes, toxic relationships)and prepare for a fruitful harvest. We do not get something for nothing.
Are you willing to put in some labor, some hard work? Are you willing to pay attention to the details?
God loves us each and everyone. You matter to God and to so many people. It is time that we stop complaining about our lives, the news, our neighbors, our friends, our situation.
When you can honestly say that you are doing all that you can do with integrity and excellence then you know that the harvest will yield you good and bountiful fruit.
God sent his son to die for our sins. He paid the price so that we could reap the fruit of his labor. The least we can do is to make the very best out of the magnificent gift that was given.
May God bless you as you labor in your field and grant you a bountiful harvest.
I am in the process of a health overhaul. After getting two very interesting diagnosis and being put on medication I am finally realizing that in fact I have not lost my mind but just perhaps it is returning. I had so beaten myself up for things that I could not explain. This has caused me to sleep, and sleep and sleep and did I mention sleep? Well in this process I have had some time to truly think about many things.
Today we got some terrific news that was answered prayer. We say answered prayer because we asked God for something that has happened. We asked in accordance with God's will. You know God does things for us all the time that are his will and we rarely give him credit unless we have asked for it. How selfish we are. We should hit the floor in gratitude, spend the day in gratitude and go to sleep with gratitude upon our lips. Good, bad or indifferent we are to be grateful to God for all he does.
So God granted this prayer and it was huge for our family. And it occurred to me the amount of work that took place in order for this fruit to come forth. That all the prayer in the world with no labor was fruitless. We so grumble and complain about things both big and small. And we need to process things and get them off our chest, but then we must give it to God and be on about the solution.
Sometimes I think that we are all just clogging up the arteries of life. God has a flow for us and way in which we are to go in order to reach those he has placed in our lives and to accomplish that which he would have us to do. And yet, we are in the way, grumbling and complaining. Lord if I have to wash another dish. Really well if you have no food to eat you will have no dishes to worry about. Lord I am so sick of doing laundry, well if you have no clothing then laundry will no longer be a burden. Lord if my spouse does this or that I will well maybe we should just divorce. So if your spouse is taken away from you you will no longer have the love and joy the life partner you will be all alone, but no longer bothered by their problems. Lord if I had this or that!!!
We must learn to be content with what we have. Are you taking care of what you have? Are your dishes washed? Is your laundry done? Is your home clean? Are you spending time with your children? Are you paying attention to your spouse and their needs? Are you taking time out of your complaining to spend time with the Lord?
There is no free fruit. You must be willing to get out there and plow the field, prepare the soil for planting good seed, water the crop, remove the weeds(bad attitudes, toxic relationships)and prepare for a fruitful harvest. We do not get something for nothing.
Are you willing to put in some labor, some hard work? Are you willing to pay attention to the details?
God loves us each and everyone. You matter to God and to so many people. It is time that we stop complaining about our lives, the news, our neighbors, our friends, our situation.
When you can honestly say that you are doing all that you can do with integrity and excellence then you know that the harvest will yield you good and bountiful fruit.
God sent his son to die for our sins. He paid the price so that we could reap the fruit of his labor. The least we can do is to make the very best out of the magnificent gift that was given.
May God bless you as you labor in your field and grant you a bountiful harvest.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It is never the right time...
If you had the opportunity to choose when someone close to you would die you could not do it. There is never a right time to say goodbye to those we love. This evening a long time friend of mine came home and found her 28 year old son dead in a chair. (probably a heart attack) Two things here, a 28 yr old and a heart attack are not usually in the same sentence, second this is not what anyone expects to find on an otherwise normal day.
It seems that there is a lot of death in my life these days, in the past few years three of my own family members have passed away. Two of my neighbor's family members have passed away and several friends of our family, and several others that touched our lives in someway.
The initial news of death is always very dramatic, then the phone calls, then the conversation always trying to figure it all out. We suddenly become aware of their life, the person who has passed. Oh how I yearn to be more aware of those I love while they are living. We take so much for granted. We just assume that tomorrow will always come, and yet the Bible does not promise us tomorrow.
Our day to day tasks eat up much of our energy, we have too many places to go and too many things to do. If we did not own so many items of clothing and linens we would not be such a slave to laundry. And so picky God forbid if we actually wore something more than one time without washing it. And oh no don't let us wear the same item to a special event more than once that is unheard of. Are you kidding me right now? We seriously need to pull our heads out of the sand and get with the program. We are wasting precious moments of time worrying about the laundry and what people think of us. Making sure that our lives appear to be just perfect. Making sure that we only wear designer clothing and only drive the best cars and eat at the best places.
What good is all that when your loved one dies. Can any of those things comfort you. The working long hours and never being with you family to buy more things! The telling your kids your busy right now playing games, talking on the phone to get the latest news? Spending more time giving to other people's families than to your own.
What kind of memories are we creating? We must truly begin to get a grip on the truth of our lives. We buy too much junk, no matter what it is we could all downsize. We are in too much of a hurry. We get mad when the drive through takes more than 3 minutes and then wonder why the food is not good for us. What kind of quality can you find in three minutes?
I know that you may feel like I am rambling and perhaps I am, but I am really upset with our world and the fact that we have lost touch. I mean true touch!! We do everything by electronic communication including what I am doing right now. We need human interaction. We must get back to the very basics of living and that is all about relationship.
Do the people you love know it? Are you more concerned with bragging about what you have purchased or where your next vacation is? Do you really know what is important? We live in a society that does not want accountability. We text and email and then wonder why we fall short in a face to face conversation.
I challenge you to do better. Be the one in your family to do it differently. Care about those you love right now, don't wait until they are dead and gone to "get it" !!
Each and every one of you truly do matter you are important to people right here in the kingdom of God. We must stop living life like it is pitiful. How does that honor God?
We really need to be grateful for each and every moment that we do have and not spend so much time gripping and complaining about what we don't that all our time is eaten up with, "yeah but what about me"?
I say yes what about you? What are you doing to make it better? How are you helping the people you love to find peace? Or are you burdening them with your expectations and your needs?
Reach to each other while they can reach back and touch you too. Love God's children all of them because we all rub someone the wrong way. None of us are perfect. I pray that your heart never know that pain of the regret that death can bring. Do it all now today with all the love you have.
May God bless you all with Grace, Mercy and forgiveness.
It seems that there is a lot of death in my life these days, in the past few years three of my own family members have passed away. Two of my neighbor's family members have passed away and several friends of our family, and several others that touched our lives in someway.
The initial news of death is always very dramatic, then the phone calls, then the conversation always trying to figure it all out. We suddenly become aware of their life, the person who has passed. Oh how I yearn to be more aware of those I love while they are living. We take so much for granted. We just assume that tomorrow will always come, and yet the Bible does not promise us tomorrow.
Our day to day tasks eat up much of our energy, we have too many places to go and too many things to do. If we did not own so many items of clothing and linens we would not be such a slave to laundry. And so picky God forbid if we actually wore something more than one time without washing it. And oh no don't let us wear the same item to a special event more than once that is unheard of. Are you kidding me right now? We seriously need to pull our heads out of the sand and get with the program. We are wasting precious moments of time worrying about the laundry and what people think of us. Making sure that our lives appear to be just perfect. Making sure that we only wear designer clothing and only drive the best cars and eat at the best places.
What good is all that when your loved one dies. Can any of those things comfort you. The working long hours and never being with you family to buy more things! The telling your kids your busy right now playing games, talking on the phone to get the latest news? Spending more time giving to other people's families than to your own.
What kind of memories are we creating? We must truly begin to get a grip on the truth of our lives. We buy too much junk, no matter what it is we could all downsize. We are in too much of a hurry. We get mad when the drive through takes more than 3 minutes and then wonder why the food is not good for us. What kind of quality can you find in three minutes?
I know that you may feel like I am rambling and perhaps I am, but I am really upset with our world and the fact that we have lost touch. I mean true touch!! We do everything by electronic communication including what I am doing right now. We need human interaction. We must get back to the very basics of living and that is all about relationship.
Do the people you love know it? Are you more concerned with bragging about what you have purchased or where your next vacation is? Do you really know what is important? We live in a society that does not want accountability. We text and email and then wonder why we fall short in a face to face conversation.
I challenge you to do better. Be the one in your family to do it differently. Care about those you love right now, don't wait until they are dead and gone to "get it" !!
Each and every one of you truly do matter you are important to people right here in the kingdom of God. We must stop living life like it is pitiful. How does that honor God?
We really need to be grateful for each and every moment that we do have and not spend so much time gripping and complaining about what we don't that all our time is eaten up with, "yeah but what about me"?
I say yes what about you? What are you doing to make it better? How are you helping the people you love to find peace? Or are you burdening them with your expectations and your needs?
Reach to each other while they can reach back and touch you too. Love God's children all of them because we all rub someone the wrong way. None of us are perfect. I pray that your heart never know that pain of the regret that death can bring. Do it all now today with all the love you have.
May God bless you all with Grace, Mercy and forgiveness.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
We will Never truly know
I have had many opportunities lately to share gifts that the Lord has given me. It truly is a humbling experience. I have the most amazing time watching people find great joy in the things that the Lord chooses to bless them with.
It is also very sad to me to watch how many people are unable to receive. They find it difficult to take what you are giving. It is as if the very thing their hearts desires now represents some sort of pain.
Why do we pray for solutions and then we we find one we send it back as if it is the wrong one? Why do we question so much? Why is is so hard to simply accept the things that come from the heart of the Lord? We are so judgmental of ourselves and then wonder why people don't want to be around us. Perhaps we have become too needy? Are we constantly complaining about the same old things? Are we ever willing to take the steps towards finding solutions?
As a Professional Organizer I see this all the time. People are so hurt and so buried in the world around them that they can no longer see the child of God that stands before the mirror.
The Lord loves us each and every one. He cares about what is important to us. Please the next time that you are complaining and there comes to you a solution. Think carefully before you brush it aside.
It is also very sad to me to watch how many people are unable to receive. They find it difficult to take what you are giving. It is as if the very thing their hearts desires now represents some sort of pain.
Why do we pray for solutions and then we we find one we send it back as if it is the wrong one? Why do we question so much? Why is is so hard to simply accept the things that come from the heart of the Lord? We are so judgmental of ourselves and then wonder why people don't want to be around us. Perhaps we have become too needy? Are we constantly complaining about the same old things? Are we ever willing to take the steps towards finding solutions?
As a Professional Organizer I see this all the time. People are so hurt and so buried in the world around them that they can no longer see the child of God that stands before the mirror.
The Lord loves us each and every one. He cares about what is important to us. Please the next time that you are complaining and there comes to you a solution. Think carefully before you brush it aside.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
It is nice to be back
I have been really sick. Actually since Christmas Eve. I have been on several rounds of antibiotics I had pneumonia. A huge amount of the time I was so weak I could not even talk on the phone. It is amazing to me how much happens and well what doesn't happen when you are sick. It truly is a time to find out just who your friends are.( And I will add here I have a couple that really do go above and beyond.) I mean I was out for six weeks and it was a true testament to who has concern for you or not.
It also gave me a lot of time to reflect on life. I looked back at where I have been and where God has brought me today. I have had the pleasure of looking into the future to see where we might be going.
I know that I am deeply blessed by the amazing family that the Lord has given me. My parents were here for Christmas and it brought such joy to my heart to spend time with them. Time has really gone by way too fast, upon their visit I became acutely aware of the passage of time and that we have no control over it's movement only conrol over the choices we make while it passes.
My husband and I are making some changes in our lives, long over do. We will no longer be doing things that just make "everyone else" happy. We are going to do things that work best for us that give us the greatest peace with the Lord. It truly is time to let go, let God and move on. We have spent so much time just waiting for the wrong things. We are already blessed with joy and peace, but to try to carry other peoples burdens, well that is a recipe for disaster.
I am really starting to feel better today after showering and getting ready I don't feel like I need a nap already.
I want to encourage you to stop compromising in your lives. Live your live as God wills you to, not as your friends pressure you to. Enjoy the blessings today don't pack them all up in storage. Tell the people you love that you love them. Mend your fences and embrace a new found peace.
Grace to you
It also gave me a lot of time to reflect on life. I looked back at where I have been and where God has brought me today. I have had the pleasure of looking into the future to see where we might be going.
I know that I am deeply blessed by the amazing family that the Lord has given me. My parents were here for Christmas and it brought such joy to my heart to spend time with them. Time has really gone by way too fast, upon their visit I became acutely aware of the passage of time and that we have no control over it's movement only conrol over the choices we make while it passes.
My husband and I are making some changes in our lives, long over do. We will no longer be doing things that just make "everyone else" happy. We are going to do things that work best for us that give us the greatest peace with the Lord. It truly is time to let go, let God and move on. We have spent so much time just waiting for the wrong things. We are already blessed with joy and peace, but to try to carry other peoples burdens, well that is a recipe for disaster.
I am really starting to feel better today after showering and getting ready I don't feel like I need a nap already.
I want to encourage you to stop compromising in your lives. Live your live as God wills you to, not as your friends pressure you to. Enjoy the blessings today don't pack them all up in storage. Tell the people you love that you love them. Mend your fences and embrace a new found peace.
Grace to you
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Words that Linger
This will be the first post on my first blog.
Words, our minds are full of them swirling around. There are so many that we can tune to. Perhaps a childhood memory or this mornings news. I have recently been given an award. The type is not important the commentary is. I had while at this ceremony the opportunity to congratulate someone else on their accomplishment. This person reminded me that they had been a part of a conversation with a group of people where I had been encouraging everyone there to hang on to their dreams. He said that those words prompted him to change the course of his life and that as a result he was standing there today.
Now you and I both know that the words I spoke to him did not make up the entire dialogue of his life and yet he chose to hang this accomplishment in it's entirety upon the words he heard from me.
Truly it is imperative that we all realize we are the sum of so much more than one sentence. And to look at the flip side of that we must stop being careless with what we say as in fact someone, somewhere may hang their very life on one sentence that you have spoken.
God gives us such a grand privilege and yet we as humans manage to muck it up quite often. This episode has caused me to pause once again and be acutely aware of the gift of language and the impact on the human spirit.
Words, our minds are full of them swirling around. There are so many that we can tune to. Perhaps a childhood memory or this mornings news. I have recently been given an award. The type is not important the commentary is. I had while at this ceremony the opportunity to congratulate someone else on their accomplishment. This person reminded me that they had been a part of a conversation with a group of people where I had been encouraging everyone there to hang on to their dreams. He said that those words prompted him to change the course of his life and that as a result he was standing there today.
Now you and I both know that the words I spoke to him did not make up the entire dialogue of his life and yet he chose to hang this accomplishment in it's entirety upon the words he heard from me.
Truly it is imperative that we all realize we are the sum of so much more than one sentence. And to look at the flip side of that we must stop being careless with what we say as in fact someone, somewhere may hang their very life on one sentence that you have spoken.
God gives us such a grand privilege and yet we as humans manage to muck it up quite often. This episode has caused me to pause once again and be acutely aware of the gift of language and the impact on the human spirit.
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