Seriously.

Someone recently pointed out to me that I would enjoy life more if I would lighten up a little. Yes, I am guilty of taking myself too seriously, haha.

Two things that I read recently that once again spoke the same profound message are ones i would like to share. I think that they fit in nicely with what our Pastor was emphasizing about during Lent, "He must increase, that I might decrease." When I *do* take myself more seriously than I ought, things definitely get out of balance.

The first comes from The Message Bible (Micah 6:8)

But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously.

The second gem came from "Jesus Calling" which seems to speak to me every time i make time to read it.

"Don't take yourself so seriously. Lighten up and laugh with Me. You have Me on your side, so what are you worried about?...Anxiety wraps you up in yourself, trapping you in your own thoughts. When you look to Me and whisper My Name, you break free and receive My help. Focus on Me, and you will find Peace in My Presence."

Another friend recently wrote this line in her blog, and I thought it was quite profound as well. "The resting in Him is not with anxiety, but with abandon"

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a whole lot a dirt

i came across this today and thought it was such a good quote:

"If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there." ~Barbara Johnson

we hear talk of "blooming where you're planted" but i often forget about what it takes to get there!

last day of 2009

so my daughters comment this morning was...

i wonder what i should do today on the last day of 2009, because there'll never be another one again.

sounds like a good question for all of us to think about.

and wouldn't this be a great attitude to have every day...to want to make the most out of today?!


whatever YOU do, enjoy your day :-)

Our Christmas Cat

This poem and picture are in tribute to our childhood family cat Taffy who lived 19.5 years(May 25, 1990 - Dec. 14, 2009). My Mom wrote this poem about her after Christmas 2008. Taffy must have loved the items under the tree as much as i did growing up.


Our Christmas Cat


By Betty Lehman

What does she dream, our Christmas cat,
As she curls beneath the tree
To rest in peaceful sleep, content,
Beside the Christmas scene?

What does she dream, our Christmas cat,
As breaths come slow, with
Body still, she lies
At dreamland’s door?

What does she dream, our Christmas cat;
Of ribbons and paper,
Of Christmas past,
The chase, the hunt, the laughter?

What does she dream, our Christmas cat?
Only she knows,
As she rises and yawns
And stretches and turns.

What does she dream, our Christmas cat,
As she curls beneath the tree,
To sleep again and dream
The dreams that only cats can see?

© 2009

Our House Rules

Our House Rules

Love God and Love each other

Be Generous with Hugs and Warm Words

Be Patient and Respect each other

Practice Forgiveness
Be Kind and Tenderhearted

Pray Often Live with a Thankful Heart

YES

This is one of my favorite quotes by Ann Kiemel.
I have it hanging beside my bedside so that i can read it in the morning :-)

YES
to tomorrow.
fresh dreams.
higher mountains.
greater impossibilities.
wider sunrises.
stouter courage.
braver risks.

YES
because Jesus is the divine YES.
because He changes everything.
He is my highest fulfillment.
He made me whole...
He takes the bad and turns it to good.
He is my Song.
My Reason to live.
"for me to live is Christ"

Prayer for Parents

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me. May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power. Let me not tempt my children to lie or steal.

And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all that I say and do that honesty produces happiness. Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I'm out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue. May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgment of adults. Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions. Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm. Make me fair and just and kind and fit, O Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated by my children. Amen.

prayer by Fr. Anothony Coniaris from Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home

Gratitude Quotes

We all have within our grasp much to be thankful for. Gratitude fills. Discontent drains. The choice is ours. ~Richard A. Swenson

Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you. ~Eileen Caddy

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. ~Helen Keller

Creator God we sing

Creator God we sing
a hymn of joy we're making
our grateful love we bring
as the new day's light is breaking.
God made the sea and land
the sun and stars came rolling
from God's own loving hand
their Creator's love extolling.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Creator God we sing: Alleluia!

Creator God we sing
your power and wisdom blessing
our hope and wonder bring
admiration now expressing.
The universe maintains
that God in might is dwelling
and we, in humble strains,
of God's beauty here are telling.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Creator God we sing: Alleluia!

http://www.missionstclare.com/music/c39.html

IMPOSSIBLE

IMPOSSIBLE means that i,
an ordinary young woman,
can be something special and significant
in an enormous, hurting world.
i can be love where i live,
and that is Christ...

and He really does make ALL
the difference!

~quote from Ann Kiemel

learn to lament

Eugene Peterson writes, “Lament isn’t an animal wail, an inarticulate
howl.”

“Lament notices and attends…details, images,
relationships. Pain entered
into, accepted, and owned can become
poetry,” he writes.

read more at http://aholyexperience.com/2008/02/learn-to-lament.html

child's wonder

Rachel Carson wrote, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

In Christ Alone

"In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

I choose gentleness

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS…

Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle.
If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise.
If I clench my fist, may it only be in prayer.
If I make a demand, may it only be of myself.

Max Lucado

A mother's prayer

O Lord,
I need your help today.
I want to care
for those you've sent into my life,
to help them develop the special gifts
you've given them.
But I also want to free them
to follow their own paths
and to bring their loving wisdom
to the world.

Help me
to embrace them without clutching,
to support them without suffocating,
to correct them without crushing.

And help me
to live joyfully and playfully, myself,
so they can see your life in me
and find their way to you.
Amen.

http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/mother.html

do justly, now. love mercy, now

"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it." -- The Talmud (Micah 6:8)

forgetting what lies behind

a devotion from: Forward day by Day

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count
them as refuse.but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. I
press on toward the goal.the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:8)

How could Paul "forget" his previous life, his old friends, his
past pleasures? After his blinding conversion, he was at first
sure that he could reach other Pharisees like himself, sure that
these old companions would see the light of Christ and join him on
his new journey. Staying faithful to their own sense of calling,
however, they rejected Paul. How hard it must have been for Paul
to fail-and yet he doesn't allow himself to wallow in pity or to
exert energy in anger; instead he trusts God to care for them and
turns his face to the future, to the "upward call of God."

My desks both at home and at school groan under the weight of old
papers and books. My shoulders often ache from carrying old griefs
and guilt. My heart is heavy with unresolved sorrows. All this is
what Paul would have me lay down, forget, "count as refuse," in
order to respond with grace and agility to that upward call.

"Forgetting" this part of my past would free me to turn to our
Lord, with gladness and singleness of heart.

to whom can we go?

this is from the devotion: Forward Day by Day

Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John
6:68)

God loves us so much-trusts us so much-that sometimes some of us
long to escape the responsibility that comes with acknowledging
God's love. The psalmist, who tried, recognizes the impossibility:
"If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea," God is already there waiting. We cannot
escape.

We all have our own ways of trying: chronic busyness, television,
alcohol, food, sleep, sex, computer games, the internet. My
grandmother once wrote, "Books to me are like strong drink to a
drunkard," and I've inherited her tendency to escape work or
family responsibilities-even God-by losing myself in a book.

"Leave me alone," we sometimes want to say to God, but it chills
me to read those words because I really don't want to be alone. In
its deepest place, my heart knows its dependence on God and on
other people in my family and community.

It's not just his disciples that Jesus asks, "Do you also wish to
go away?" He asks us, too. And however much I sometimes want to
bow out, escape, renege on my responsibilities, I know that
Peter's answer must also be mine: "Lord, to whom can we go? You
have the words of eternal life."