A factoid to start: Per my friend H who told me she recently read that eagles are the only bird who don't fear a storm?! All other birds will seek shelter but an eagle will use the wind and rage of the storm to soar higher and above the storm.
And I can add that the view from above the storms is breathtaking! I had the opportunity to sit in the jump seat of the E-3 AWACS on several occasions for take off/landing. On a grey stormy day it's kind of just blah on earth. Then you take off and for a few minutes I'd think "Yikes..." and as you go through the clouds you are thankful for air traffic control and a pilot who can fly "instrument flight rules" (though really not an IFR situation) because you can see nothing out the windows. The clouds are so dark and gloomy and you think "How thick are these clouds anyway? Will we ever get through them?" Then you break through the storm clouds and you know what? The sun IS still shining and the view from above is beyond words, inspiring and beautiful. From the flight line just minutes earlier the day seemed to dreary and blah only to break through the clouds and soar on wings like eagles!
So today Psalm 40:31 "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary ,they will walk and not be faint."
We have no idea how thick the storm is, but God promises us that we will soar on wings like eagles and you know what? The SON IS STILL SHINING on the other side of the storm.
Reminds me of a quite... Life isn't waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain :)
Running late this AM but felt like someone needed to read that, and if no one else it was me who needed to type and reread it!
What if IT changed your life? My challenge today is purposeful reading of His Word 7 days this week for 5 minutes. What do you have to lose?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Be here, now (Brennan Manning in "The Ragamuffin Gospel")
So "Be here, now!"
That is the recurrent theme of my life lately and woke up this AM and in my quiet time alone in my room, sitting listening, reading His word and praying literally on my knees I thought "Today could be the last day of your life?" What? Did I hear that right God? Not really today... really? I prayed "Lord your will not mine" and secretly hoped it was just yet again another wake up call, another eyes wide open moment for me to realize embracing each moment - rushed breakfast with R the grouchy patient who doesn't even want therapy, the long drive between facilities on a county road, little people with K when I get home and really would like to just close my eyes and call it a night, whatever that moment might be - is the only way it can be. I want to experience every second of it fully. I'm learning that I am sooooo blessed to be such a passionate person, life is so rich, so full of so much we miss when we get caught up by the things of this world.
Keep thinking of Garth Brook's song "Life is not tried it is merely survived if your standing outside the fire" and then a song by a band called Fee (song is titled "Blink") "It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash, it happens in the time it takes to look back. We try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time..."
So tonight my passion is this... Be Here, NOW!! No regrets. No second chances, unless God blesses us with another shot at it tomorrow and that's no guarantee.
A local church had this on their sign for weeks and I'd be almost past it before I'd think about stopping to take a picture and now it's changed but it said "We don't change the message, the message changes us."
I humbly ask tonight What if IT changed your life? And sit here tonight so richly blessed it blows my mind and say to you He has changed mine. Thank you God for eyes that see (figuratively as I'm legally blind without contacts and glasses don't even cut it anymore :)!!!
That is the recurrent theme of my life lately and woke up this AM and in my quiet time alone in my room, sitting listening, reading His word and praying literally on my knees I thought "Today could be the last day of your life?" What? Did I hear that right God? Not really today... really? I prayed "Lord your will not mine" and secretly hoped it was just yet again another wake up call, another eyes wide open moment for me to realize embracing each moment - rushed breakfast with R the grouchy patient who doesn't even want therapy, the long drive between facilities on a county road, little people with K when I get home and really would like to just close my eyes and call it a night, whatever that moment might be - is the only way it can be. I want to experience every second of it fully. I'm learning that I am sooooo blessed to be such a passionate person, life is so rich, so full of so much we miss when we get caught up by the things of this world.
Keep thinking of Garth Brook's song "Life is not tried it is merely survived if your standing outside the fire" and then a song by a band called Fee (song is titled "Blink") "It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash, it happens in the time it takes to look back. We try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time..."
So tonight my passion is this... Be Here, NOW!! No regrets. No second chances, unless God blesses us with another shot at it tomorrow and that's no guarantee.
A local church had this on their sign for weeks and I'd be almost past it before I'd think about stopping to take a picture and now it's changed but it said "We don't change the message, the message changes us."
I humbly ask tonight What if IT changed your life? And sit here tonight so richly blessed it blows my mind and say to you He has changed mine. Thank you God for eyes that see (figuratively as I'm legally blind without contacts and glasses don't even cut it anymore :)!!!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Two P's
With little one working on getting potty trained at my house right now that could be for poop and potty, which I prefer to take place in the toilet.
But this last week to 10 days God has really been speaking to me about priorities and perspective. Hmm...
Perspective changes everything. We go from a viewpoint of "look what I'm missing" or "look how bad this is for me" to "man I am so richly blessed it is unbelievable!" Like if you got out of bed this AM and grumbled about the noise from the alarm clock, got upset there was no milk for your coffee, moaned at the traffic jam on the drive to work, and quietly cussed your boss all day long that makes for a pretty lame existence. But what if you praised God for the electricity supplied right to your bedroom outlet that powers your alarm clock, thanked the Lord you had a fridge to keep the empty milk jug in and overly stocked grocery store to go buy more milk from whenever you want, sang praise and worship in the car in the traffic jam feeling closer to Him then you have in months with a thankful heart that you have a car, can afford gas, and a mind able to even go to work, and then prayed for your boss on your lunch break that he/she too is a man/woman of God so that the choices they make as you follow are those of God's will. Hmmm... perspective changes everything.
Priorities, what really matters? As you take your last breath nothing much matters. Not your custom cabinets, the leased car you drove, what select softball team your kids played on, who your neighbors were or weren't, etc, etc. What matters is like "Jesus said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39. Oops I think some things have been lost in translation as we go about living our own lives. Notice this is a commandment, not a suggestion, why don't you, or it's a good idea. And loving your neighbor as yourself... really like as in thinking of the needs of others as if they were my own. Changing your priorities changes everything as well.
I challenge you tonight What if changing your perspective and priorities changed your life? What if IT changed your life. And again I answer my own question with 'thankfully it has changed mine!"
Life is good, God is better!
But this last week to 10 days God has really been speaking to me about priorities and perspective. Hmm...
Perspective changes everything. We go from a viewpoint of "look what I'm missing" or "look how bad this is for me" to "man I am so richly blessed it is unbelievable!" Like if you got out of bed this AM and grumbled about the noise from the alarm clock, got upset there was no milk for your coffee, moaned at the traffic jam on the drive to work, and quietly cussed your boss all day long that makes for a pretty lame existence. But what if you praised God for the electricity supplied right to your bedroom outlet that powers your alarm clock, thanked the Lord you had a fridge to keep the empty milk jug in and overly stocked grocery store to go buy more milk from whenever you want, sang praise and worship in the car in the traffic jam feeling closer to Him then you have in months with a thankful heart that you have a car, can afford gas, and a mind able to even go to work, and then prayed for your boss on your lunch break that he/she too is a man/woman of God so that the choices they make as you follow are those of God's will. Hmmm... perspective changes everything.
Priorities, what really matters? As you take your last breath nothing much matters. Not your custom cabinets, the leased car you drove, what select softball team your kids played on, who your neighbors were or weren't, etc, etc. What matters is like "Jesus said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39. Oops I think some things have been lost in translation as we go about living our own lives. Notice this is a commandment, not a suggestion, why don't you, or it's a good idea. And loving your neighbor as yourself... really like as in thinking of the needs of others as if they were my own. Changing your priorities changes everything as well.
I challenge you tonight What if changing your perspective and priorities changed your life? What if IT changed your life. And again I answer my own question with 'thankfully it has changed mine!"
Life is good, God is better!
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