BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

I am on a frantic, frentic pace this week. I have been writing devotionals, packing, cleaning and making lists all prior to my departure Thursday for Lost Canyon. I will be gone 3 weeks as the Women's Summer Staff Coordinator. So I feel like life is just going by so fast.
Yet, I had the wonderful time remembering yesterday how just one year ago we witnessed the marriage of Katie to Nate. Our yard has never looked better than it did that magical night. We had lights twinkling throughout our yard. We danced under the stars and tried to keep warm (dancing and drinking wine helped me!!). But it was such the perfect evening to celebrate the newlywed Bruce's.
I am grateful to have the time to reflect on that.
This past weekend, we had the enormous pleasure and fun of watching our two grandsons.
What absolute joy they bring Scud and me. Kellen who is 3 was in little boy heaven. He played baseball literally for hours pretending he was Cody Ross and Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada. I seriously loved watching him. He truly has the potential, according to his uncle Todd, of being the biggest Giants fan ever.
Our dog, Cody, loves to chase and find lizards. Well one unfortunate little lizard tried to hide under a big rock. No obstacle for Cody...she just dug and dug and dug to get under that rock to catch the lizard. The best part for Kellen was that the dirt was red. Just like the infield of any given ballpark. So in order to truly be a baseball player, you must slide and get dirty. And slide he did. Over and over and over again. "Now I really look like a baseball player Grammy". I was a bit concerned that the red dirt wouldn't come out and would face the chagrin of his mother, but it did. Well, except for his socks. For some reason, red dirt never gets out of the socks, no matter how much bleach I use!!

And if he wasn't playing baseball, he was hiking around our yard. He took Gramps on a trail-going thru bushes and discovering all sorts of things. Grammy and Gramps' house is really an oasis for little boys.
And then there was Jax, who is 10 months old now and fast. Did i say FAST? Because if I turn around for just a second, he has moved so far out of my vison that its truly a sight to see. He is the happiest little guy. Not much bothers him-except if he sees his bottle or his food, he wants it NOW and lets you know in no certain terms. Oh how I love these little guys that I am blessed to be their Grammy. What a marvelous, wonderful amazing thing grandchildren are.

I do know why we have children while we are younger tho. These little guys keep me hopping. I am just as tired as they are at the end of the day. Kellen and Jax are non-stop busy and I get such joy watching them.
As I mentioned earlier, I too, have been extremely busy. Often when we get busy, we can tend to overlook the things that are truly important to us. Like spending time with Jesus. I have learned in my almost 40 years of walking thru this life journey with Christ, that the busier I am, the MORE I need to spend time with HIM. I need to get His perspective, I need to hear His Words. I need to be calmed by the promises of Scripture.
Yes I am busy. Yes I am tired and feeling a bit depleted. But oh how I need to find rest from my weary soul..and Jesus promises He will be all I need...if I just show up. I hope I am never too busy to be with Jesus. I need Him desperately. I suppose you do too.

FULLY PRESENT

I love being with people. Having meaningful conversations. I love listening to what they have to say -whether its just about themselves or their deep thoughts on issues of life. But I have found that in today's world, it is extremely difficult to have someone's full attention.

I so appreciate the advances of the technological age. To be able to send an email across the world in a matter of seconds is mind boggling. To let someone know by text, either a message of why I am tardy or that I am thinking of them is wonderful. And Google?? well it has helped me find information faster than I ever could. I remember going to the Library and hoping that I could find the info I needed: were the periodicals in?? Do young people today even know what periodicals are?? Probably Not.

And cell phones?? They are truly amazing. And how far they have advanced. You can get any information you want on your cell phone today that you can from your computer-that too is something that I cannot fathom how they made that happen!!

And then there's Facebook. What an ingenious thing that Mark Zuckerburg invented. How fun it is to find old friends from high school and keep up with my friends daily. I love it. But I have found FB to be both a curse and a blessing. Truly it is addicting.

But I believe we have lost the art of communicating.

Today's youth communicate more by texting, Facebooking than they do by actually speaking words to each other. Often they are in the same room with each other, on their laptops and they communicate via chat on their computers rather than speaking words out loud to each other.


So today I am going to let you in on my pet peeve: that today's technology and all its advances have hindered us from being fully present with others.

When we are with people, we constantly check our phones for messages or the latest on FB.

Are we that important? Are we the President of the United States, where we make decisions that can be life saving on a moment to moment basis??

We have become what used to be known as rude.

Some of Webster's dictionary definitions of rude are: lacking refinement, discourteous,unmannerly as in ill mannered.


Granted, I am guilty of this too. But I try not to have it be often.

How often am I in meetings, when numerous people are checking their iPhones or Blackberry's?? All the time.

How often do I meet with my college friends and they check their texts?? Constantly.

Why have we lost the art of being fully present to those we are with??

To be fully there. To listen intently. Or to enjoy the activities we are engaging in together??

Why do we check our phones at a ball game??? Haven't we spent enough money on those tickets to be invested in the game??

And for us, as followers of Christ? Can we not be fully present to HIM?

Recently I was at our Regional Staff meeting, and we were given the TREMENDOUS privilege of spending an hour in song worshipping Our God. And while I was singing, the person in front of me was checking their Facebook and one to the side of me was looking at their emails.

I wanted to scream. Cant you even be fully engaged with the LORD?? Can't you put down your phone to just be with JESUS?

How much time are we on Facebook, checking our emails, texting our family and friends?? How much time is that in comparison to the time we invest in our relationship with Our God?? with our relationships with our family and friends? When we are giving them our undivided attention?

When I am with my 2 grandsons, I put my phone away-in another room so I won’t be distracted. Why? Because I love these 2 little boys with all that is within me and I don’t want to miss anything that they are doing or discovering. And it is such a special time.
And when I happen to be with my friends in San Jose.? Well my phone plays no part in our time, because my time with those dear ones is so far between, that I just want to be with them and never even have to worry “than I might be missing something”. Nothing beats spending quality time with Mary Kay, or Ruth or Pam or Jean or Karen (if I’m lucky enough to see her!), or my dear June.

How much time do we spend on our phones. Interrupting our being with someone to take this call??

Again I ask, are we that important?

I know this might rattle some of you. But can I just encourage you to try for a day, even half a day, to put your phone down when you are with someone? To be fully present to them?

It might surprise you the joy it could bring you, seeing things you might have missed!

the Heart of Spring

It is finally spring at Woodleaf. It has been a very long time in coming.

We just finished the longest, coldest winter I have experienced in the 5 winters I have lived here. We had record snowfall and record rainfall. But hopefully it is over. But I remember last year. When we thought it was over and then on the night of May 22nd the snow came back.

You might ask how I know that was the date. Oh, because our daughter Katie was getting married here on May 23rd. Everything we had planned was for an outside wedding. We didn’t panic the night before, I actually laughed and wondered out loud “Really God?? at Katie’s wedding? After all she has been through?”

And the next day we woke up to blue skies and sunshine. It was a brisk day but it was beautiful. And I thank God for our many friends who prayed for a sunny day as they experienced the snow with us on the eve of Katie’s wedding to Nate.

I love springtime because it shows off the newness of life. When what has died in the cold realities of winter, begin to sprinkle the earth will beautiful greens and vibrant colors of yellow, pink, orange and red on the fields. Spring shows me that life has a way of starting again. That new beginnings are always possible. That the gloominess of winter bursts forth in the delightfulness of spring.

Wonderfully, it really looks like spring. The daffodils and tulips are blooming at camp. Yesterday I weeded two of the flower beds in front of the hotel.

And today I ate my lunch outside on my patio furniture that Scud had brought out yesterday. It was sunny and warm. I can’t tell you how blissful it was to feel the sun on my face and body and to be in shorts for the first time this year here.

I was delighting in the artichoke I was devouring. Its a California thing you know-these artichokes. They come from Watsonville and I wait for them each year and love peeling off the leaves and dipping them-today in a dill mayonaise.

As I was peeling them trying to get to the heart of the artichoke, I would cheat and pull away some of the leaves so I could be closer to the heart-the very most delicate and delicious part of the artichoke.

And then all of a sudden I had the realization that this is what God does with me. He pulls off the leaves to get to my heart. All the things that distract me, all the things that keep me from seeing Him in the midst of my everyday life. All the things that I think are important and deserving of my time. All the things that I want to give me pleasure. But often times, all the things that keep me from seeing who Jesus really is and what He is trying to say to me.

Its all about the heart. My heart. Your heart. He is trying to get to our heart so that we can see that He is really what is important. He is where we should turn, He is what should make our hearts beat. That the closer we get to Jesus, the more we should begin to pulsate with the heart of God.

Often I try to skip over the leaves of the artichoke to get to the heart. 

But always God goes directly to the heart because He knows that it is there that we truly feel, truly show our true selves. It is our heart that He can penetrate so that we see HE is what is what is absolutely vital to our existence.

And so as spring begins to show itself at Woodleaf, I am praying that God can begin a new work on my heart. A heart that is open to Him and all that He offers me, a heart that will let Him transform me so that my heart looks more like His.

A Very WISE MAN

Solomon is considered the wisest man ever to have lived.
I wish I could have had a few conversations with him over a good cup of coffee (with some flavors of course!).
Today I was reading in Ecclesiastes. I read thru chapter 6, but it really took me a long time cause there was so much to ponder. If I were to begin to write down all that I thought, you might have to read forever, and lets be honest: I am not even in the slightest near as wise as Solomon was, and you would get bored fairly quickly I would guess.

In chapter 1 he writes that
"No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are never content."

Can that really be true?? If it is, why are we  like that? I know that in my quest to know more and love God more deeply, this is true. What I read in His Word, or what I might read in a book, makes me want to know and follow Him more.

Then in Chapter 2 , Solomon concludes:
"So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. then I realized that these pleasures are from God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him?"

Wow. Am I not enjoying the life that God has given me? He wants me to enjoy this life because He has given me life.
Why is it then that I can complain, lust and want more? Solomon adds similar words further in Chapter 6

"Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless."

Enjoy what you have. Oh I want to enjoy every minute, but I don't.
BUT i do enjoy Scud and spending time with him. I look forward to spending any time that I can with my kids. And Kellen and Jax? Well I enjoy every moment with those 2 precious little boys-even when they are sick.
I enjoy seeing my friends immensely. Especially since my dearest friends are no longer close. Every single time with them is a treasure.
I enjoy living at Woodleaf. The spectacular beauty I see every morning out our front window is never lost on me.
But sometimes I wish I lived closer to my family and friends.
I just thoroughly enjoyed my vacation to Kauai...but wish it was longer.
I enjoy my work..both past and present.
What a privilege it is that I get to meet with college kids and share Jesus with them and try to encourage them to walk closely with Him. I enjoy seeing their zest for life and how much they enjoy life.
And yes, I still miss my nursing career. What joy and privilege it was to minister to countless patients and their families. And I loved learning about the human body more and more as each year passed.

And in chapter 5, wise Solomon admonishes us :

"Enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past."

That's what I want for today. To enjoy life.
That's what I want for tomorrow and the many days following.
To enjoy my work and to accept my lot in life.
Because this is the life that God gave me.
I want to enjoy all the precious gifts of people, places, animals, work that He has given me.
I don't want to brood over the past or what might have been.
I want to see life with my eyes wide open to what He has in store for me today.
I want to listen for Him and His leading. I want to love those He puts in my path today. I want to represent Jesus accurately. I want to enjoy all that He has blessed me with.
And I want that for you too.
So I am off to enjoy life today. How about you do the same?

SUNRISE

Habakkuk 3
His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise.

So I just spent 13 days in the beautiful island of Kauai.
Which happens to be my MOST favorite place on the earth.
What a tremendous gift it is to marvel everyday at the sunrise.
To see the clouds blowing into the island and then to begin to see speckles of pink and orange and crimson fill the sky.
Each day it seemed the sunrise would get more spectacular or maybe it was just that I looked forward to them more and more each day. I didn't want to miss a single moment of the glorious awakening to a new day.
One morning I saw this sunrise:

Then another day I saw this series of images:

Each different moment I witnessed stunning, almost indescribeable, breath taking beginnings of the dawn's early light.
And each morning the sunrise was completely different than any other days.
Multiple times my breath was taken away and I was imaging what it must have been like creating the world for God.
"do I want to start with this brilliant sunrise or a more subdued one?"









Oh LORD make your sunrises however you want them to. They are incredibly fabulous however you choose.
One morning after a night that had a continuous almost torrential downpour, I woke up especially early because I remember my dad telling me that those sunrises' were something you would never want to miss...and this is what I saw

And my quote at the beginning of this that the LORD's coming will be as brilliant as the sunrise has my imagination piqued.
Today is Easter. This is the MOST GLORIOUS day for all who call on the name of the LORD. Today is the day that Jesus Christ Rose from the Dead. He defeated sin and He defeated death. The GREATEST MIRACLE of ALL time!! It is the day that assures me that no matter what happens to me in this life, that NOTHING can separate me from His Love, from His Grace. That Resurrection Sunday can be everyday, because Jesus has redeemed my life from the pit...forever.
Easter is EVERYTHING that I base my life on. Jesus is the HOPE, and STRENGTH and PASSION of my life and I long to see Him face to face.
In the Bible , He promises that He will return to the earth coming in the clouds.
In Hawaii and now, I love looking at the cloud formations and wondering what it will look like when Jesus returns to the earth. I have certain days when it has rained and the clouds are drifting across the sky dancing merrily, and the sun is breaking thru and I think to myself "this is what I think it will be like when Christ returns", but that's just my finite imagination.
And if His coming is as BRILLIANT as the sunrise....I can't even begin to fathom.
All I know after witnessing the incredible beauty and majesty of the sunrises the past 2 weeks, is that I can't wait to see Brilliance of Christ's return.
HE IS RISEN.
HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

GRATEFUL

I have a young friend named Kyle.
He is someone I admire and respect deeply. And I'm in awe of him. I guess you could say he is one of my real life heroes.
I have known Kyle since he was born. His parents are some of our oldest and very dearest friends.
As a young boy, Kyle was all about playing army. He could sit for hours and play with his green plastic army guys with pretend rifles, guns , tanks etc.
As he grew older, he had a maturity about him that was unusual for boys his age. He never really knew his paternal grandfather but he admired him tremendously. You see, his grandpa was a retired colonel in the US Army-as was his oldest uncle.
Can you see where this is going? Kyle wanted to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. I think it was after his sophmore year of high school that he went to a camp at West Point in New York and then he was absolutely convinced that this is where he wanted to go , what he wanted to do.
So it was no surprise to any of us, during his senior year, that he applied and was accepted into the Military Academy at West Point. All of us were completely thrilled for Kyle. And so in the late summer of 2007, Kyle headed off to West Point.
It was at that time, they I made a commmittment to pray for Kyle thruout his stay at West Point. I confessed to him this March when he was home for spring break that I think I have missed 2-3 days of praying for him during his stay at West Point.
Why wouldn't I pray for him? Kyle is going to spend the next years of his life fighting for my freedoms. He is willing to do whatever it takes . This summer he will be in Alabama in some type of flight school. His years in the military are just beginning and I am so grateful for the men and women who fight for our freedoms.
I must admit that my mother's heart is scared for him. I don't want him to go to Afghanistan. I want him to be safe here. And I can't imagine what he must feel. He is willing to give his life for any of us if needed. Just like the thousands who have since our country began.
Kyle and the rest of all the military in the world have jets, submarines,aircraft carriers, fighter planes, and so much more than I can even begin to comprehend at their disposal to try and fight for ours and many others safety and freedom. I don't even understand it, can't fathom why we get into wars and why we win some and lose others.
But there are many Kyle's out there doing this for us.
So as Kyle waits for another month to graduate from the US Military Academy at West Point, I want to thank him for his selflessness, for his willingness to fight if need be, for all of us. He is worthy of the admiration,and respect I have for him. And although, I would LOVE to be at his graduation..to be a beaming proud friend, (money and a commitment to be at my job in AZ days later prevent this), I will celebrate him from a distance. Congratulate him and give him my gratitude, and yours too.
This morning I was reminded of Kyle while I was reading the book of Jeremiah.I read that :

But the ONE who redeems them is strong. His name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies. He will defend them" (see Jeremiah 50)

God who is the Head and LORD of Heaven's Armies, will defend them.
My God will fight for me, will do whatever it takes to redeem me. Afterall, His Son died for me in order to redeem me-to get me out of the clutches of the one who wants to destroy me, to keep me from knowing God's love, mercy and forgiveness.
I have been contemplating this phrase the LORD of Heaven's Armies off and on for about a year now. And I am not sure of what it really means. But what I do know is that the Army in heaven is massive. And God, being God has ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING at His disposal. Everything He needs to enable me to keep going. Everything I need to keep me from losing hope. He is the real COMMANDER IN CHIEF and HE has EVERYTHING we need to win the battles, to win the war for our souls.
So I have even more gratitude, respect and awe of the LORD of Heaven's Armies.He has truly given His Life for mine.

Thank you Kyle.
Thank you God. YOU are truly the LORD OF HEAVEN'S ARMIES!!!

DEHYDRATION

I take my dogs on walks often. Living in the mountains provides trails and jaunts thru unparralled beauty. But Cody and Riley don't see the beauty. They feel the freedom to run and explore; to sniff to their noses content. To try and figure out what kind of animal has been on this particular trail. To go in and out of bushes and water.
Cody is a yellow lab with the personality of "let me enjoy life to the fullest". She is exuberant and can't contain her excitement when I mention the work "walk". Cody literally jumps up to six feet high trying to get me to go faster to our gate. Faster to her freedom.
Riley, my sweet black lab tries to calm the younger Cody down- tackling her as she tries to what seems to Riley-attacking me.
I love our walks. The dogs love to roam and run to and fro all over the place. I am sure that Cody runs 2-3 times more than I walk.
When we get home, both dogs race to the water bowl. Completely dehydrated from the running and roaming that had ensued. I usually have to replace the water bowl immediately as they drink and try to hydrate their cute little lab bodies.

Have you ever been dehydrated? when you are so thirsty that all you want to do is drink glass after glass of water. To quench that extreme thirst you are experiencing.
And our bodies let us know when we don't get enough water.
Our friend Will found out what it was like to be dehydrated this morning.
Will is an athlete. He plays college soccer and is what i consider to be in excellent shape.
But will didn't know how thirsty his thin framed body was today. He told his friends at coffee that he felt a bit weak or faint or maybe his blood sugar was low. He went to get something to eat and then while talking to his friends, turned his head, fell off his chair and then began seizing. Will was rushed to the hospital and after a few hours of tests that included labs, EEG's and a CT scan of his brain, it was determined that he was severely dehydrated.
I mean we are talking severely dehydrated. 2 liters of IV fluids later, they discharged him home to get rest.
Why did Will not know he was so dehydrated? Did he miss the signals? His body certainly didn't.
WE NEED WATER to survive. 80% of our body is water, so YES, we do need to drink 6-8 glasses of water everyday to keep us hydrated.
I for one, don't want to scare my friends with a seizure, because I didn't know I wasn't drinking enough to keep my body flowing fluidly.
And then as I drove home from the hospital and was thinking about dehydration, I wondered how easy it is for us to be spiritually dehydrated and depleted.
When we don't get enough of our intake of GOD. When we let the busyness of life keep us from being replenished spiritually. And then how easy it becomes for God's enemy to come and tempt us with the lies he always does. And then we start believing them. And life begins to unravel, and we wonder what has gone wrong.
WE desperately need to hear from God. Most of us don't hear the voice of God audibly. But God does speak to us-in His Word. And we need to hear from Him each day. To get His perspective. To receive His guidance. To know His peace. To see how faithful and loving He is to us.

Psalm 42:1-2 says:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

For a deer to pant for water, it has been running and is probably dehydrated.
That's how we are to be : panting after God. Panting to get hydrated. Panting to stay hydrated. So that we can escape dehydration and not let satan throw us into spiritual seizures.
Drink your fill of the Word of God. Allow your spirit to hear His. Allow God to fill you up with every type of food and fluid you need to survive.
Your life literally depends on it.