Divide Your Life Into Quarters and What Do You Get?

Some of us have "bucket lists." Some of us simply take it day by day, grabbing joy whenever we can. Some do both.

My father lived to be 99; my mother died at 85. If I average this, I could live to be 90+. Dividing my lifetime into quarters.... my timeline would look like this:



0-23 --The world was full of wonder. I learned to walk, talk... I went to college, I got my first real job, I fell in love, I got married.











24-46 -- I had four children, worked on and off outside the home, went back to school, moved four times, tried to survive financially, emotionally, physically, and, yes, spiritually.









47-69 -- Four children graduated college and became fully employed. Grandchildren arrived. Retirement opened new chapters of life: part-time jobs, travel, illness issues, time with parents who ultimately passed, new friends. 

70- ? --



My life has been very full. Knowing this, I should be awed by the on-going possibilities God holds for me. If one ever thinks, "Is this it? Is this all I have to look forward to--the same old, same old?" Then, perhaps one needs to change things or consider another way of thinking about one's life. We have to "keep walking" no matter what.

Why not keep walking in God's space? After all, that is all there really is.
Everything is HIS space. He is our lifeline. We are on His timeline.

Heavenly Father, life can be both wonderful and frustrating, disappointing, hard. Things are not always the way they ought to be. May we remember that we were created for a reason. We would not be here if it were not so. Giving you the glory, always. Amen

Hurts, Injuries, and Scabs--Why Do We Pick At Them?

As a child, I picked at my scabs. An infected mosquito bite, a scraped knee from falling off my bike, a wound of any kind gave me cause to consider it and pick at it. But each time I did so, the wound bled out some more, and the scab returned so I could pick at it again. If the picking became frequent and intense, it caused unnecessary bleeding, bigger sores, and scars.

I'm not sure if I picked at my scabs out of boredom, curiosity, or simply because during the healing process, they itched. Whatever the reason, I have stopped picking my skin scabs. However, there are other "wounds" I may have a tendency as an adult to pick at.

I don't need to be specific here. We're all human. Not validated for work completed? A sarcastic, hurting remark from a relative? Ignored by someone? One's own feelings of insecurity, inadequateness... The list gets long. These are places we "pick at" emotionally and mentally. We hate to leave them alone because they itch once in a while and remind us they are there. Sometimes, it feels good just to scratch and scratch until we bleed-- dwell on it, ponder it, have a pity party over the surmised "hurt".  

Whether you're picking your skin scabs or your emotional hurts, it can become so frequent and intense that it causes worse bleeding, sores, and scars. Scars don't go away; we don't like them; we sometimes try to hide them.

Segue here... Stop picking at your scabs and healing sores. God has given you a body that will heal your injuries if you let it be. Also, stop picking at those emotional wounds. God has given you a soul that will heal if you let go and let God do His work. All a part of His Creation.... Seems simple, doesn't it.

A Warm Blanket

1 Kings 1:1... When King David was old and well-advanced in years, he could not keep warm.....

Sometimes it is hard to believe that God is a personal God; after all, he is the Creator and Master of stars and seas, mountains and microscopic life, and humankind with all its idiosyncrasies.  So...I should really not ask him to take away my headache however annoying it may be. He surely has something greater to be concerned about, like world hunger, children being sold into slavery, and innocent blood being shed for evil purposes than the fact that I have a minor misunderstanding with my child. Aren't these BIG things what I should be praying about?

God cares about these big issues and He wants our prayers concerning them; however, the Bible gives us example after example that God cares about each of us on a personal level, too. The very hairs on our head our numbered (Luke 12:7).

Compared to Him and His glory, our whole lives are made up of “little things.” Psalm 139:17–18 says, How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them, Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand....

When in Rochester recently and waiting for a loved one's chemo infusion to be completed, I felt a wave of exhaustion. It had been an early morning, and I needed to be alert to drive home. I went to the waiting room. There was not an empty chair. I walked the hall and found a bench settled by a window in the elevator area. I lay down using my purse for a pillow, studied the clouds, and simply said to myself, "I need to rest"--too tired to care what others thought. Someone soon approached me and asked, "Do you need a blanket?"

I thanked her and said, "yes." She brought me a warm blanket, covered me, and left.

It was a God-like thing.
Although just a "little thing."
I didn't know her; and, yet, I will remember her.
She was an answer to an unspoken prayer.

Something Better Than Magic

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1
Magic? Of course not!
And if we read on, we learn that God gathered the water in one place and the land in another. Further, we read that God separated night from day, and marked seasons into days and years. Later, there were living creatures, and, then, God created man in his own image.
Magic?
Coincidence?
I think not.

Our grandsons visited recently. We fished, we swam, they rode a 4-wheeler through the woods, we stayed overnight in a cabin, and more.
One day, we hiked and they discovered a single leaf dancing in the breeze while attached to a spider web. The spider strand was not visible.
Magic?
Although it appeared to be so....
It was simply a part of an awesome creation that we take for granted each day.
They gathered a variety of woodland flowers and gave them to me--delighting in the discovery and color and variety. I put them in my pocket, and


we called them "pocket flowers."
Maybe, we need to see the world through the eyes of our children. And, then, give praise to an Almighty Loving God who created everything from the great expanse above to the seas with their mystery, to a dancing leaf, to a miniature wild flower, to the sweet children we are blessed to have in our lives.

Talk about awesome....

Walk Right In; Sit Right Down

I'm a child of the 60's, so when I read this morning devotions about Enoch who was a "faithful friend of God, in constant touch with God, in consistent fellowship with God, and walked with God"... I thought of a song from long ago by The Rooftop Singers ....

Walk Right In

Walk right in, sit right down
Daddy, let your mind roll on
Walk right in, sit right down
Daddy, let your mind roll on
Everybody's talkin' 'bout a new way of walkin'
Do you want to lose your mind?
Walk right in, sit right down
Daddy, let your mind roll on....

              Songwriters: GUS CANNON, HOSEA WOODS

 

Although when this song came out "the new way of walkin'" may have been an inference to drugs, rock and roll... why not think of a new way of walking with Jesus:

Let go and let God,

talk to Him,

listen to Him,

be your most genuine self with Him.

Talk about cool!
Proverbs 8:17 reads "I love those who love me and those who seek me find me."
What a better way to get to know someone--by walking with them, talking to them, honoring them, loving them, just being yourself....

When Enoch's life ended after 365 years, "He disappeared because God took him." It was as if Enoch was so close to God in his earthly walk that God just continued their walk right into heaven.
What a way to go....
What a way to BE now: close to Your Creator.
He's waiting to hear from you....