Seeing through the fog

There isn’t much in this world that turns my crank more than wandering charming old country roads lined with vintage fences complete with old barns, grazing cattle or best of all…. sheep.  And that’s exactly what we stumbled upon recently on a foggy morning near the California coastline.  The winding road was barely wide enough for two cars.  The fog was thick; but the beauty was clear. 

When we came over a hilltop I saw a group of sheep… including lambs nestled snuggly against a gate.  My heart about melted.  I was moved enough (risking life and limb I later realized) to hike back up that low-visibility road on foot, figuring I’d get a few photos. 

I huffed my way up the hill, stepping into a ditch while cars, giving me the “what-the-heck-are-you-doing-on-the-road-in-this-weather” looks, streamed by.  Apparently the sheep weren’t too impressed either, because as I neared my destination, the little ones got up and trotted over to the big ones (do sheep trot?) and they all filed away:  in the opposite direction.   So much for my photo shoot. 

It occurred to me as we drove away that these sheep were doing exactly what sheep are supposed to do.  They didn’t recognize my voice as that of their master and they probably couldn’t see who/what I was either in all that pea soup.  So they turned from potential danger.  Simply walked away.

* * * * *

I want to know my master’s voice that instinctively. 

I pray for the discernment to turn from all other voices.

I thank Him for searching for me during the times I’ve been lost.

* * * * *

I managed to get one good shot before these charming creatures disappeared into the fog.   Personally, I think it’s beautiful.  Beautiful simply for what it is… but also because I saw a message in it for me.  The same message can be for you. 

Thank you God, I love you too.

Gettin' some REST

No alarm had rung yet,  but I woke anyway. 

Woke… but didn’t move.

I had no interest in moving.  In fact, it would have been physically difficult.  The weight of my body on the mattress caught my attention.  It was that… odd.  I happened to be on my back with my arms at my side… and I felt as though I had sunk down several inches.  I was keenly aware of the mattress hugging every inch of my body.  The affect was soothing, relaxing… comforting.  At that moment, I honestly thought to myself “this must be what it feels like to TRULY rest in the arms of Jesus”.  I smiled once again at the nudge.

Same mattress.  Different posture.  It was a posture of surrender.  Surrender of muscles.  Surrender of breathing.  Surrender to a natural position.   Silly as it may sound - my body had surrendered to the mattress.  And I didn’t want to move.  Ever.

I lay there awhile enjoying the feeling AND… the thought.

I wondered how often (if ever) I’ve truly rested to that extent in the arms of Jesus.  How often have I assumed a posture of total surrender and simply rested in Him.  There was comfort in that thought.  And peace.  Peace in His promise:  “I will give you rest”.

After a bit, my day was calling and I knew I had to get up and get moving.  Life.  It’s always there waiting, isn’t it.  While the mattress hug had ended… the feeling I had about resting in Christ didn’t.  I'm thankful for the reminder that He promises me rest when I surrender ALL to Him.  NOT the elimination of life’s burdens.  But rest IN them.  By resting in HIM. 

There’s Beauty in that promise of Rest.

And there’s Rest in the Promise. 

Thank you Jesus… I love you too.

Simple as that

When, then.

When/Then.

When…. Then.

Seems to be the way the entire universe works if you think about it.

When the sun sets… then it gets dark.

When I cut my finger… then it bleeds.

When fall comes… then the leaves turn color.

When I eat too many cookies… then I gain weight.

When… then.

So… if that’s the way everything works, WHY has this one verse in the Bible been haunting me??? 

“WHEN you seek Him with ALL your heart… THEN you will find HIM”.

When… then.

It’s been there all along.  Repeatedly in scripture.  That verse.  The “when, then” effect. 

But I missed it. 

Overlooked the requirement.

Glazed past the promise. 

When… then.

I’ve been a believer all my life.

Professed my faith at the expected age.
Believed my sins were forgiven and I'd spend eternity in heaven.

Sang in the choir.

Led youth group and a few women’s bible studies.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

BUT, did I truly KNOW Him??  If I’m honest with you… no.  Not really.  Not like I do now at least!!  I had settled for less.   

If I wasn’t truly SEEKING Him with ALL my heart, though… why would I have found HIM?? Experienced Him??  Gotten to KNOW Him?? 

Why should I have expected the “then”… if I hadn’t done the “when”??

I’d have no right to.  It was part of the deal.  And I wasn’t living up to my end until now.  But once I did (seek, that is… with ALL MY HEART)…  I found Him.  I found Him as He promised, in new and real ways.  In ways I never knew possible.  And I can tell you that FINDING Him has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.  You see there’s this whole gap of time that gets overlooked sometimes.  The period between right now, today, your sometimes mundane-sometimes crazy busy life… and that glorious day when we see Him face to face (Hallelujah!!).  There’s the LIFE that He promised you right now.  ABUNDANT LIFE that only comes through knowing Him intimately.

PLEASE ask yourself this:

Are you TRULY seeking Him with ALL your heart?? Or have you settled for less.

Do you recognize His voice in your everyday activities…

Do you find yourself smiling at His humor…

Do you notice the love notes He leaves for you…

Do you sense Him waiting for you at your quiet time spot…

Does HE sometimes feel so close there’s almost a warmth to your skin??

If your answer to ANY of these questions is no, I encourage you… actually, more like plead with you… to ASK HIM FOR MORE.  More of Himself.

And then DO IT!!!

SEEK HIM.    

This time with ALL OF YOUR HEART. 

Make it the top priority of your life… to find LIFE.  The life HE wants to give you.  

Because nothing’s more important, you know. 

Nothing’s more important that finding HIM. 

And He promises you will.

WHEN you truly seek Him. 

When… then. 

Simple as that.

***

(If anyone reading this wants to discuss how to seek Him and get to know Him more intimately, please use the email listed in the contacts section)

A Bunch of CRAP (Renovation #5)

There's something about moving that makes you realize just how much crap you have.  There's a "weight" to it that goes far beyond the pounds in the boxes. 

And there's something about living with only life's bare necessities for 6 months that makes you question just how much of it you really need. 

Alot of it really is necessary. 
And some of it is treasure.
But a good portion of it is just a bunch of crap.

Doesn't it feel so good to let go of all that stuff??
Isn't it freeing to open your closets and cupboards and actually have SPACE??
You wouldn't think that things could add stress to your life, but I'm convinced they can. 

There's a song that makes me smile called "Suitcases" by Dara McClean.  It's come to mind often as I stare at the mound of boxes before me.  Here's a link if you'd like to listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdWO88ZVurU

Stuff.

We all got it.

Some necessary.  Some treasure.  Some just plain crap. 

Come with me into this visual of gathering all the crap that weighs you down... that clutters the very mind of your heart.  Box it up.  Seal it with yet another roll of packaging tape (insert here the oh-so-familiar-sound of the tape gun). 

Now let's go for a walk.  To the cross.

Some of you may be skipping along, lightly tossing your box up and down in one hand as you go.  Others may be down on all fours pushing, shoving, grunting, groaning, in an all-out sweat by the weight of what's in your box.

Either way, boxes of crap are welcome at the foot of the cross.  There's always room.  Just leave them there... turn and walk away.  Done deal.  Handled.  Forgotten.

Next time you open a closet and you find yourself sighing at the sight of too much stuff,  consider taking just a couple minutes to clean it out.  Keep the treasure.  Share the good stuff with others.  Get rid of the crap.  While you're doing so, whisper for the Holy Spirit to prompt you on what needs to be cleaned out on the inside of YOU. 

Christ wants YOU to be FREE of it.

OH GIVE ME A HOME.... (Renovation #4)

I am tired.

Not just tired.

T-I-R-E-D.

I’m tired of messes.

I’m tired of boxes.

Tired of packing and unpacking.

Tired of dirt.

I’m tired of being a vagabond.

Even though I'm thankful for a roof over my head, 

I'm tired of having no real home.

I have moved 4 times in the last 6 months.

I have slept on the floor on a blow up mattress for 4 of those months.

90% of the jewelry I own can be picked up in one large knot.

I may have forgotten how to cook.

And my car looks like I live out of IT.

If you inventoried what’s in my front seat alone, you would find empty egg cartons,
wine glasses, old sheets (clean or dirty?? don't remember), a bag of rotting tomatoes, 

a Christmas present for my son, towels, a lone earring, and some artificial stick things I regret buying.  And that’s just what I can see without moving anything. 

What I long for is a HOME. 

And don’t we all???

I’ll be moving into my new home soon.  
Yes, it’s pretty cool.  
And yes, I’m SO thankful for it.  
But over the past 6 months,
I’ve come to realize it’s just one more case of “temporary housing”.  

My real home after all… the one I truly long for deep in my soul… isn’t in Holland.  

Not in Michigan either.  

Not even in our beloved US of A.

It’s back in Eden. 

And it’s what I was created for.

 

(More later).

Keep Pedaling

The Tour de France has been on for the past several weeks and I will admit to finding it quite fascinating… in a boring sort of way.   Yet what other sport has a single competition that lasts for 3 weeks!!  Truly it is a physical feat to be respected even though it doesn’t hold the popularity of the NFL, NBA or even yes…. Nascar. 

Both of my boys have taken up biking in the past couple of years and more recently, my husband and daughter-in-law.  Through their stories, I have become somewhat familiar with what’s involved.   While watching one of the final legs of the tour this week, there was a spectacular finish (or at least as spectacular as biking gets).   The leader had broken away and was “going it” on his own for some time.   He looked good and really strong for quite a while, but as the finish approached another biker was creeping up on him.  Again, a solo.  They were neck-in-neck… bikes and bodies thrashing… giving it their all…  when out of nowhere came a rider that literally just FLEW right past them.  Blew them away.  “Slingshot” was the official term the media used.  He crossed the finish line, hands in the air in victory. 

I was talking to my husband about what that was all about.   He said he was drafting with another member of his team.  Drafting is when you tuck in behind the person in front of you – your front wheel riding in very close proximity to their rear wheel.  So close, that two bikes virtually become one.  The result is a force that literally pulls you along, making your use of energy more efficient.  Giving you a chance to rest a bit, recoup, and get ready for a dash to the finish.  I’ve seen the benefits of this time and time again in both bike and car racing.

As our conversation ended, I got up from the sofa to get a glass of wine and asked my husband “And are you drafting Christ”???  He looked at me and smiled.  He had never thought of it that way.

In life we face many hills.

Some headwinds seem too strong to bear.

As we look into the horizon, some roads (while flat) simply seem endless. 

BUT, my friends, WE WERE NEVER MEANT to travel this road alone.

Tuck in behind Christ. 

He WANTS to carry you to the finish… to victory… through HIM.  

Aaawwww..... NUTS!!! (Renovation #3)

When we started this renovation project, we knew we were bound to run into unexpected “issues”.  The unseen.  But little did I know the unexpected would come in the form of… nuts!!  Acorns, to be exact.  Typically, I like squirrels and chipmunks.  The nervous nature of those cute, furry little creatures really cracks me up.  Lord knows I’ve watched enough of them during my years in my hunting blind.  Even named a few.  But when a carpenter cuts a chunk of drywall out of your ceiling and down comes an avalanche of nuts, well… NOT SO CUTE!!  And when the electrician finds an area of chewed up, exposed electrical wiring in a wall cavity along with (you guessed it) more acorns… NOT SO CUTE!!  They (the carpenters) chuckled at my moment of panic.  They told me that they rarely ever tear into an existing home without finding SOME sort of hidden “treasures”.  

Honestly??  I’m tired of the tear down phase.  I’m ready to rebuild.  I think mentally, I know that when they start hanging that drywall… they’ve found all they believe there is to find.  All the issues have been exposed.  All the issues have been addressed.  And the experts are comfortable with zipping the place back up.  It’s a turn from the negative (tear down)… to the positive (rebuild).  Like I said, I am READY.

We had decisions to make along the way on HOW these issues would be addressed.  Choices needed to be made.  Settle for the less expensive band-aid fix and hope for the best??  Or do the permanent solution that will take time… and many more dollars.  The end result would cosmetically look the same.  

If you’ve been following my blog, you know my life, as of late, has been a time of renovation.  A time of asking God to reveal any and all areas in me that need to be exposed, that need to be addressed, that need to be repaired.  I expected to come across some things, since as scripture says “we ALL fall short”.  But just like with the house, at times I’ve wanted to scream “enough already!!”  I’m tired. 

And just like with the house again, I’ve been faced with choices on how to repair what God exposed.  I can apply a quick fix to these areas of my life and hope for the best.  Be a better person, give more, attend church more regularly, DO more for Christ.  Outwardly, I’m sure it’d look just fine.  Or, I can take the painful route and ask the Holy Spirit to show me more.  Dig deeper.  Expose the root of the problem.  And then allow Him to HEAL… and rebuild. 

We re-wired the entire house. 

We re-did the flashing around the atrium.

We tore down more drywall and foamed the walls, permanently sealing off access for those cute, furry little creatures.

With anything that really mattered, we chose the permanent, more costly solution.  Why?? Because when we live in our house, we don’t want it to look all pretty on the outside, yet still question what’s lurking behind the walls.

I will do NO LESS with my life. 

p.s.  Drywall starts tomorrow.