Good Afternoon!

I was out with a friend last night and as we were sipping our delicious drinks I noticed a firefly floating around our table. Fireflies are definitely a southern thing and I love to watch them light up and then slowly fade into the darkening sky. Many a moments have been spent watching these intriguing insects from my porch.

I’m sure there is a scientific reason why they light up and biological reasons why they fade but it got me to thinking about my light.

The Bible says we are to be lights..visible to be seen by all we interact with on a daily basis. I wonder if I was to speak to those who know me well, and those who see me on a regular basis if they see a firefly in me..all lite up. Just as the firefly, I know my light fades and some days depending on how I’m choosing to react in the face of my emotions I know I’ve snuffed my own light out. 

So my question to you is, when do you realize your light has faded?

Luke 11:33 (The Message)

Journey On

Good Afternoon,

In light of Father’s Day being celebrated this weekend and it is Donut Friday a tradition that was started by my dad, it only seems perfect to write about him.

I found this verse and I can hear my dad saying these words to me.

John 15:9 (The Message)

Good Afternoon,

 I read something a while back that stated that God is a God of process. Got me to thinking about process, the advantages and challenges that are inherent in process. The trouble is the way I would “do” process is very different then how the Lord seems to work us through his Heavenly processes.  What I appreciate about the human, man made processes is that there is a definite start and finish. The finish line is seen right from the beginning. In life, goals are decided on, actions taken, road maps and directions are all based on those goals. When the task is begun the deadline is understood. 

Funny how working through the Lords processes of our lives we have very little insight,  generally enough to get us to the next step. The conclusion to the process is often unseen. We move often in darkness. And the Lords timing well, He is never in a hurry so His heavenly clock does not tick neary as fast as I want. Waiting is calculated in human processes and yet in the Lords process’s we ultimately have very little control of timing.   And lastly being detailed deficient, God in his infinite wisdom is kind of picky. He knows what is best for me as his child and will persevere with me until I chose to learn the lesson and graduate from one process and very often move on to the next. The processes we go through are our biography of transformation. It is hard, it is time consuming and detail specific. Through the struggle this is what I know to be true. In my weaknesses, His strength is evident.  In my aversions to a life of transformation He loves me through it and at the end, I have yet another experience in which I can say without a doubt, that my God is faithful..have you experienced that with Him?

Good Morning,

We have been walking around outside looking at the after math of a storm that hit us last night. Thankfully we are all fine, our home is still standing but some of our trees have taken a beating. Our umbrella ended up pretty much in our covered porch which was a sight to see, but all in all no damage was done. 

As I looked at our inside out, upside down umbrella sitting at my door I thought back to Monday where I discovered around 5:00pm that I had been walking around all day with my shirt inside out. Yup, rather embarrassing as we had been to the dentist and then to get a wonderfully sweet treat after the dentist..I know not the best timing but it was HOT!

When I realized my top was inside out I tried to recall how that would have happened. I was not especially rushed that day, however after ironing my shirt I don’t remember looking in the mirror.

How many times do we not want to look into the mirror and see the reflection that is staring back at us. Can anyone relate?

I’m not talking about bad hair days, or those days where those pants just are not fitting the way they use too, I’m talking about intentionally avoiding looking at ones self to examine what is going on with our attitudes.

When we were starting at our umbrella out of its intended environment, it dawned on me that the Lord offers us so many opportunities through the storms of life to shake us up and cause us to think about what indeed is inside out, upside down and out of context. He has clearly outlined for us how we are to behave, treat others and respond to challenges in life and yet often times I ignore those instructions and find myself with self inflicted inside up and upside down attitudes.

Thankfully in those moments when the reflection is less then perfect, my God is willing and able to forgive and help me move past that moment. I am learning that avoiding those reflections dishonors my Father in Heaven as He is always waiting, willing and able to untangle the inside out and upside down twists and turns of the choices I make.

Proverbs 20:27 (The Message)

Journey On

Good Morning!

Happy Friday to you! I hope you are planning on some sweetness today. It is the beginning of another weekend, and I so enjoy the anticipation that Friday’s hold!

In my excitement this morning I threw open the drapes to find my beautiful blooming garden to have been eaten down to the bare stems last night. Ahhh, I could have cried. My children stared in disbelief as all our hard work in planting, watering, fertilizing and weeding is staring back at us without the beauty of the flowers we were admiring only yesterday. The kicker…it was stormy last night. Those deer they have a lot of nerve. In the midst of a storm decided they needed a quick snack and decided on “Garden A La Croft”. 

We are headed over to the nursery to find out if there is anything we can do to salvage what use to be a bright blooming garden. I even put out human hair to keep the deer at bay. Can I tell you I felt a little creepy doing so but it seemed to work…for awhile. 

Got me to thinking how my bare, ugly garden is a visual reminder that my heart and mind can become ugly and scarce when I choose to let the business of life take over and chose to not make the time to water and feed my spirit. Reading the words that my precious Jesus wants me to hear has been challenging when my youngest gets up before the birds, my schedule is thrown off and I am feeling the result of not watering and feeding my spirit, my mind, my heart. Without a doubt, my mind was becoming overrun with the weeds of the world. 

 As I look out from my porch I know my flowers will bloom again because of the magnificents of how the Lord created nature, and in that thought I am reminded through the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit that my heat and mind can continually be renewed through His power. I do my part…..He is waiting to rejevenate.

I love this verse in these two different translations. The reminder is perfect for today! 

Philippians 4:8 (The Message)