April Gladness

"I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord." -Psalm 122:1

This verse from my childhood usually reminds me how glad I am to go to church and Sunday School, but at this time of year I take a broader view of the "house of the Lord".
I'm a gardener and can't wait to get outside to His really big "house" and start putting in vegetable gardens, and tending to all my flower beds. This will involve a lot of hoeing, shoveling as I move plants from one place to another, weeding and watering. The heat of August may dim my enthusiasm a little, but the fall plants will be starting then and fall mornings outside are wonderful!  I especially love to be outside in the Spring and Summer and putter in my garden.  My daffodils and hyacinths are beginning to bloom (although getting covered in snow and ice won't help) and they'll be followed by lilacs and iris, then the hydrangea and roses.  It's about more beauty than I can take!!  And the fragances..lilly-of-the-valley, roses, lilacs...who could have made plants with such an array of colors, textures, uses and smells but God? I continually marvel at His handiwork!
 I come from a long line of outdoors- loving folks, gardeners and farmers who took God's commandment to subdue the earth seriously.  When you visit one of my relatives at this time of year, the first thing you do when getting out of the car is not go inside to visit, but have a tour of the gardens to see what amazing things God's been up to with His plants!  Our calendar revolves around garden chores:  strawberry or tomato harvest, blackberry picking, putting up the peaches, gathering walnuts or pecans for the winter.
My earliest memories are of some of those things--gathering tubs of peonies and delivering them with grandma and great aunts to the cemeteries for Memorial Day, learning to drive in our farm lanes up to the wild blackberry patch, having bouquets of iris and lilacs Mom would bring inside and we would deliver to neighbors in May baskets.  The end of school always brought strawberry picking and jam making and we spent a lot of late nights freezing corn and tomatoes while watching "The Johnny Carson" show'.  We ate a lot of watermelons outside sitting in our yard swing and chairs, just enjoying being outside with all God had given us to enjoy.
There's an old hymn with the lines: "I come to the garden alone, when the dew is still on the roses, He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me  I am his own, and the joy we have  when we   linger there, no other has ever known"
I do feel very close to God when I'm outside and I get such enjoyment from His creation.  
  Another activity that fills my heart with gladness is reading, and  I wanted to share this except from Karen Scalf Linamen and her book, "Welcome to the Funny Farm, The All-True Misadventures of a Woman on the Edge". -
"You know , gardening can be enjoyable labor.
Or, it can feel frustrating and even futile.
A lot depends on whether or not you've got the right tools.
Resources like the right mower, a handy tiller, and adequate water can make a world of difference when you're in the process of nuturing tender growing things.
Cultivating soil with a weedwacker, for example is a recipe for disaster.  Cutting grass with cuticle scissors in a one-way ticket to the Funny Farm.  And planting bulbs with
 a kitchen spoon not only takes twice as long but can make your coffee taste kind of earthy the next morning.
I understand these principles when it comes or organic growth.   So why do I forget they apply to spiritual growth as well?
I want to grow, thrive and bear fruit spiritually.  But am I equipping myself with the right tools?  Or am I trying to do the job armed with a teaspoon and the Sunday funnies? *
What are the power tools of spiritual growth?  This list isn't definitive, but I've got a few ideas:  Prayer, Fasting, the Word of God, Praise and Worship.  Accountability to godly friends.  Confession. Bible study. Spending time in the presence of God.  
I don't know about you, but some days I think my backyard is a tropical paradise compared to my spiritual landscaping.
Spring is a great time to spruce up the yard.  But maybe it's a good reminder to tend to my soul as well.
I was going to spend the afternoon potting a few patio plants.  But before I head outdoors, I think I'll spend an hour in my favorite armchair with my Bible and a cup of coffee. It should be a rewarding time.
Even if my coffee does taste like dirt."

*A great gardening tip:  When you want to start a new garden bed, but don't want to go to the work of shoveling up the ground/grass, spread multi-layers of newspaper over the area as a weed/grass barrier and then spread bags of potting soil over them and plant as usual.  Over time, the newspaper layers kill the grass and decompose, leaving you with a new, weed free garden bed.  I've also tried poking holes in the bottom of bags of soil and then splitting them open on top, planting plants in the soil and then covering them with mulch.  Even easier, and the plastic kills the weeds/grass underneath as well.  At the end of the growing season, just pull the plastic from the soil and  ta-daaa!  Another planting bed for next year!
I wish you all April gladness and whatever brings you peace and joy with God, go after it!!
I'll be out in the garden with my shovel, humming praise tunes and my heart will be filled with gladness as I spend time my  Father, the master gardener who plants so many good things in and for us all!

March Madness

What will you be doing in March? I'll be watching the final moments of the NCAA Championship game not only to see what team wins but mostly to hear one of my favorite songs, One Shining Moment.  This is the highlight of the basketball season for me. (To refresh your memory and hear the song, click here: One Shining Moment 2008, the year KU won the championship.). The words and music are by David Barrett Hodges and some of the lyrics are:

The ball is tipped, and there you are ,  You're running for your life, you're a shooting star
And all the years, no one knows, just how hard you worked but now it shows..
In one shining moment, It's all on the line
In one shining moment, there frozen in time
But time is short and the road is long, in the blinking of an eye, that moment's gone
And when it's done, win or lose, you always did your best, cuz inside you knew
That in one shining moment you reached deep inside, in one shining moment you knew you were alive
Feel the beat of your heart, feel the wind in your face, it's more than a contest, it's more than a race
In one shining moment...

Pictures of the players, cheerleaders, fans, and bands are meshed with the song and the incredible energy, passion and hard work exemplified in the games touches something in me, too. Makes me want to lay it all on the line, to strive and give my all.  

It's a song that makes you want to get up off the couch and get busy doing something amazing.
There's something in all of us that wants to expend ourselves in a noble cause.  I think of how God has a plan and purpose for each of us that will call on all we have and even what we don't have so we have to lean on Him to accomplish His work.

We're reading the book,  When Women Say Yes to God, by Lysa TerKeurst, in our current Lovely Branches Bible Study.  Saying "yes" to the things God asks of us is like playing extreme sports..it gets your heart pumping, gives you an adrenaline rush, stretches your talent and faith, and can scare you to death. It may even seem like "madness" at times.

A 'simple yes' in response to God can also energize you to venture out into some wild territory, clinging only to God and His promises.  This stretches your faith.  Just like in the big games, you may win or think you've lost. The fans, your friends and family, may cheer you on, but often they will not be so encouraging  if you dare big things for God.  His approval and your obedience is the "score" that really matters.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to  have more than one shining moment when I say yes to God.  It may be as simple (!) as biting my tongue to hold back an uncharitable remark. It could mean surrendering my ways or notions of what my life should look like.  Even venturing out on a limb to help someone and putting my faith on the line to accept a challenge only He can get me through are big opportunities to have a "shining moment".  I've had a few of those shining moments.  They are exhilarating and humbling in that the God of the Universe would choose me to help with His plans!
As with Isaiah (chapter 6, verse 8), God may ask any one of us at any given moment, "Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?"  I pray you and I will respond as Isaiah did, "Here I am, send me."  A 'simple yes' will do.

Other types of March Madness I'm experiencing this month as well-

Cleaning closets and cabinets, trying to let go of more things.  When I got married 33 years ago, all my worldly possessions  fit in my little car--books, clothes, a coat rack, a rocker, and some dishes and pans.  Now I have a house full of things!  How did this happen?  A woman who says "yes to God" recognizes that all this worldliness is but "trash" compared to knowing God and doing His work.    
"This way lies madness"...is a quote I muttered to myself as I sat going through lists of things to do for my daughter's wedding in July.  Yes, my little girl is getting married to a wonderful young man. The "madness" part comes in as they decided to have a simple, country wedding in our country church.  We also decided it should be a DIY wedding, from making some of the reception food, and growing the flowers and making the bouquets ourselves.  I've made 3 wedding dresses to see which is best.  (My friends can attest that while I try to downplay all of this, the tic in my left eye during the wedding dress construction belied my "no big deal" attitude!)  As I talked to Laurie today about some detail, I told her I was using our wedding project as an example of DYI madness for my blog.  Laurie corrected me saying,"Mom, it's DIY..Do It Yourself, not DYI."  To which I replied, "Maybe it is DYI ...for Do Yourself In!!!    Actually, this wedding may be featured as "March Madness" and "April Gladness", next month's theme.
Finally, one last example of March Madness comes from a story of St. Patrick which Lysa TerKeurst uses in her book.  Patrick was an aristocratic young man from Britain who was kidnapped and made a slave in Ireland for six years.  In time, he escaped back to Britain, but then decided to return to Ireland as a missionary to win the country to Christ.  The world would see this as "madness", caring about the people who enslaved you. Christian history is filled with people who made God's love their top priority, despite the cost..Mother Teresa, Corrie ten Boom, Taylor Hudson, and many other heroes of the faith, with Jesus as the supreme example of giving His life for us all which certainly looked like madness..why die for people who reject, scorn and persecute you??
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by having scones or Blarney Stones(cookies rolled in crushed peanuts, recipe is one internet) and recite with your family the prayer from St. Patrick's breast plate:
Christ, shield me this day:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, 
Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, 
Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.
  
May you and your family have a blessed Easter, also.  For ideas to celebrate  Holy Week with children and family, see the Heart and Home blog archives in March/April.  

A Heart to Heart

Happy February!  This is women's heart health month so it's appropriate that our theme is the "Ups and Downs of a Woman's Heart".
This reminds me of a joke:
It seems a motorcycle rider was cruising along a California beach and suddenly heard God speaking to him.  God told him that He would do anything the man asked, just to show the man His power and love.  The motorcyclist was taken aback and blurted out the first thing that crossed his mind.  "Lord, it would be awesome if I had a bridge from here to Hawaii and could just ride my cycle on over."  The Lord answered, "That's a pretty tall order..do you realize how far that is and the engineering involved?"
The cyclist thought and said, "Well, if that's too hard, you could help me understand women.
 If you could just explain the workings of their minds and hearts, I'd settle for that.
The was a moment's pause, then the Lord answered, "You want that bridge with two lanes or four?"

We all know that women's hearts are complicated and even we don't understand why we feel the way we do.  For our heart health, we know we need to forgive others and ourselves,we need to let go of anger and guilt, and to "take a chill pill" sometimes to keep things in perspective. That will keep our blood pressure (and everyone else's) lower, too,  This will help not only our heart health, but the health of our relationships.

One of the things I am fascinated with is windsocks.  You know, those long, orange open-ended things mounted on a pole, usually near an airport to give a visual indication of wind direction and speed.  Our home backs onto a large open area next to a former hospital, and for years, I could watch the windsock for the helicopter landing area from my window at the kitchen sink.  I enjoyed watching the windsock as it foretold changes in our weather--I could always tell when the wind changed directions or speed and know that a  storm or cold front was heading our way. Wouldn't it be helpful if our hearts had windsocks so others could be forewarned that a change or a storm was brewing??  It would like the mood rings of the 70's, telling others the "weather" of our hearts....Take cover, she's going to blow!
The fluctuations of my heart have caused me and others no little distress over the years.  I would really rather have an unchangeable or steady heart and reactions. This brings  me to the topic of steadfastness .
 The word steadfast has several meanings: to stand "fast" or secure in place, to be firmly established or fixed, to be constant and unchanging, not fickle or wavering.  Much too often my heart is up and down based on my circumstances, instead of being secure in my faith and trust in God.  I did some research of the use of "steadfastness" in the Bible and these verses are the antidote to "ups and downs" of my heart:
Psalm 51:10 tells us, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Consider also, Psalm 112:7, "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord."

The book, Unglued by Lisa Terkeurst, deals with the ups and downs of our emotions or hearts, helping us to get a handle on them and becoming more steadfast.
A chapter I found particularly helpful is called, "I need a Procedure Manual".  Lysa describes an experience in which she was on an airplane before take-off and one of the passengers became completely unglued.  The woman ranted and screamed obscenities and the flight crew concentrated on trying to calm her down.  No matter how out of control the woman became, the crew remained calm, using carefully measured responses to the situation.  The woman was removed from the plane, and Lysa observed that we should all follow a "procedures manual." in dealing with the circumstances and people in our lives.  The crew had practiced a "default" plan that helped them to remain calm and in control.  She uses the Biblcal story of King Jehoshaphat as an example of steps for our own default plan:(read his story in 2 Chronicles, chapters 19 and 20.
Step 1. Alarmed, I resolve to remember who I am.
  Jehoshaphat received the very alarming news that a neighboring kingdom's army was headed his way to take over his country.  He immediately resolved to inquire of God what to do and to remember that he belonged to God and was in His care.
Step 2.  Redirect your focus to Jesus
  Jehoshaphat took his eyes and thoughts off the alarming news and focused on the almighty and all powerful God instead.  Sometimes we need to focus on Jesus because what we're coming unglued about isn't really worthy of a child of God. However, at other times our circumstances are so painful or tragic all we can do is cry out "Jesus".  My friend RoAnn gave me a book ,"The Power of Crying Out", as she discovered for herself the power of crying out to Jesus as her family took refuge in their basement as a tornado destroyed trees and buildings around them last spring. In His name is our refuge, our peace in the storms.
Step 3.  Recognize God's job is not your job
   These words were given to King Jehoshaphat: " Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army (coming against you-my words). for the battle is not yours, but God's." -2 Chronicles 20:15
Too often we're paralyzed by not knowing what to do..we need to seek God's guidance from His word, and then obey.  Our job is obedience, God's job is the results.  We stay in the flow of God's power by searching His word for answers--about relationships, money troubles, anxiety, or whatever concern we have and then obeying and letting God work out the rest--that's all we can do.
Step 4.  Shift from having an "attitude" to gratitude.
   King Jehoshaphat's battle plans given to him by God were to send out the choir singing praises to God in front of his small army to meet the oncoming enemy.  What a crazy plan!  In the midst of our problems and troubles, we are also called to focus on what is right and praise God for those things.  There is always something to be grateful for and that changes our perspective...our circumstances don't change, but our attitude does.
Step 5.  My reactions determine my reach
   Jehoshaphat's obedience and calm, trusting response brought forth not only the God-given victory over his enemy, but he was given peace and rest and his neighboring countries began to fear the Lord as well.  Our responses to our problems can bring us peace if we trust in God and we also can influence others to find God's peace and trust, and to have steadfast hearts as well.
I really do want a steadfast heart and need to commit these steps to memory.
This is also a good  time to improve your heart health by walking, eating right and reducing some of the stress in your life.  Laugh each day..spend time in God's word.  Take those vitamins.  Do those things you've been putting off that would give you more rest--I'm starting with cleaning out my sock drawer again! (From windsocks to sock drawers) I can't tell the difference between the blue and the black pairs and every time I get dressed, it takes digging through all the socks to find the right pair.  It's a small thing, but I get aggravated with myself each time because I haven't done what I can to fix the problem.  What do you need to "fix" to have less stress and more rest?  Let's get after it.
Celebrate Valentine's Day and the love God made possible for all of us by spreading His love all around--be generous in your loving!  That's good for your heart, too..and celebrate with dark chocolate, another heart healthy bonus.    
Here's one last verse to remind us to practice a default  plan to protect our hearts from being up and down and all over the place:  
"My heart is steadfast, O God, I will sing and make music with all my soul." -Psalm 108:1

Happy New Year--Make It a Good One!

Happy New Year!  I always enjoy January and its chance for new beginnings.  We have a brand new year and blank calendar pages waiting to be filled.
As much as I enjoy Christmas and celebrating our Savior's birth, I breathe a sigh of relief in January.  I make some hot tea, listen to the Christmas music and gaze at the lights on the tree one more time and spend time alone with Jesus reflecting on the past year.  It's sort of a personal mini-retreat.  I get out a new calendar but take the time to look through my old one, recalling special events of our year.  There were days of happiness, joy, sorrow, regret, gratitude, and just plain living.  Highlights and lowlights of riding around on planet Earth for one more year.  I thank God for all His mercies and blessings to me and mine, and ask forgiveness for the times I messed up as His child and representative.
My Dad and his father before him kept a little pocket notebook in their shirt pocket and wrote a summary of each day's events.  Now that they're gone, their notebooks are a little sample of the things they found worth noting each day.  In one of my Dad's notebooks, we find  he sold so many bushels of wheat at a certain price, we got a quarter inch of rain and a certain cow had a calf.  Every now and then he mentioned me or my sister, family activities, or world events.  He would refer to his notebooks to look something up when trying to recall events.  I washed out as a notebook keeper, but do write events on my calendar.  Over the years, I have purchased many attractive journals to try to get myself to be a journaler...without much success.  My son and daughter have kept journals for years, so maybe the journaling gene skipped me and went to them.I have kept prayer journals for years, however, and it is so amazing to look back and see how God has answered.
With a New Year, I have a chance to begin again keeping track of daily events and even more prayers and Bible study.  After looking back at 2012 and it's victories and defeats in my faith and actions, I pray for the new year.  I ask God to show me those areas (numerous!) where I need to improve.
Each year I try to set at least one goal in these areas:  spiritual, intellectual, physical and social. The thing about setting goals is making them doable, which usually means taking small steps or making small changes.
For instance,  here are some I'm working on for 2013-
Spiritual-journaling!!  I need to keep track of my Bible reading and pour out my love, gratitude, and feelings to God.  Memorizing Bible verses, one a week is a good goal  Being involved in a Bible study also helps with spiritual growth. I want to get serious about a gratitude journal like Ann Voskamp and her One Thousand gifts journals.
Intellectual-learn something new!  Last year I took 4 hours of college credit to renew my teaching certificate and I enjoyed it tremendously.  Being with fellow teachers and keeping up with new methods of teaching reading and phonics and learning strategies re-energized me.  I read that learning something new is as beneficial as taking a vacation in that it refreshes you in a similar way.
Physical--get healthier!!  Drink more water.  Eat an extra serving of vegetables a day.  Move more!!  I read that if you get up during commercials in 2 hours of television viewing and walk around or in place, it can add hundreds of steps to your activity level.  ( Have you ever worn a pedometer?  For good health and weight loss, you need to get 10,000 steps each day--most of us fall woefully short!)  Get a friend and get outside and walk.  Make it a prayer walk and pray for people as you pass by their homes or schools and businesses.    
Social-establishing and improving your relationships with others. For some people, setting a social goal may seem unnecessary. "I'm plenty social", you say.  So..are you making new friends or just keeping the old ones?  Are your friendships going deeper or have you stalled out?  Do you listen more than talk?  Do you push yourself to practice hospitality or to make others feel welcome, even people different from yourself?
Do you ever speak of spiritual things to your friends?  My dear sister-in-law, Mattie, is a master at this.  When we're together, Mattie dispenses with the shallow chitchat and goes directly to "What has God been teaching you lately?"  It's good to have friends who keep us honest and accountable!!
I also try to analyze our home and family life and ask God to help me change anything that would make life easier, simpler, and free up time, energy and money to spend in other ways instead of wasting resources because I don't manage them well.  This leads me to declutter our home again and look at ways to improve the way we do things in order to save time, money or energy.
Whew..looking ahead to 2013, I definitely have some issues to tackle.  Here's the thing, though--without any goals, we drift.  If we want to end up in a different place in some area of our life, we're going to have to do something different!  With God's help, we can make small changes and in another year, we'll be a lot closer to our goal.
Have a mini-retreat, get some coffee or tea, grab your Bible and a calendar or a journal and pray for God to lead and keep you and yours in the days ahead.  Pray to be a blessing, an instrument to further His kingdom here on earth.  Take some time to say good-bye to last year and welcome the new one.  Rededicate your time, energy and money to serving God and others.  Choose a goal in the spiritual, physical, intellectual and social areas and work toward it by making small changes. Thank God for the chance for a fresh start!

December--Christmas

December is the time we prepare our homes and our hearts to celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Immerse yourself and your family in the sounds, sights, smells and tastes of Christmas--those things that make the season special to you.  This is the time of year when our spiritual dullness is shaken off and our senses quickened by the music and wonder of the Christmas story. 

At top of your Christmas gift or devotional list, I recommend going to your nearest Christian bookstore or the internet and purchasing the book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, Every story whispers His name,  by Sally Lloyd Jones. I have several copies right now...to keep, to use with the kids in AWANA and children's church, and the rest for gifts for my kids and granddaughter .  The great thing about this Bible is that every story of famous Bible characters is linked to God's great rescue plan begun in the Garden of Eden after man's fall into sin.
Here's an excerpt from The Jesus Storybook Bible:

The Bible is most of all a story.  It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure.  It's a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne-everything-to rescue the one He loves.  It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life.  You see, the best thing about this story is-it's true.....all the stories are telling one Big Story.  The story of how God loves 
his children and comes to rescue them....At the center of this Story there is a baby....

Celebrate Advent, the coming of God's special baby or Emmanuel.  You can order a wreath from a florist, or make your own.  Traditionally purple and pink candles are used to illustrate the Hope, Peace, Love and Joy lessons of each Sunday before Christmas.  Gather as a family to make your Advent wreath and read the scriptures for each Sunday.  Again, Christian bookstores or even the internet can provide you with devotions to use for this activity.  (Ann Voskamp's blog, www.aholyexperience.com has some good information to use for Advent)

Talk to your children about the real meaning of Christmas.  Gather your family several nights during the season and make your manger scene interactive..only put out the figures that go with the reading of the Biblical account .  Begin with Luke 2, the angel appearing to Mary.  Add Joseph  later and then read the portion of scripture commanding them to travel to Bethlehem.  So far you have Joseph, Mary and the donkey. On Christmas Eve, they get to a stable and then you add the Christ child.  Add the angels, shepherds and sheep.  A day or two later, read the scripture about the star appearing and the wisemen coming to bring gifts to Jesus.  Go to www.familylifetoday.com and look at their Christmas manger scene with devotions called, "What God wants for Christmas."

Simplify your decor and gifting.  Tell the kids that Jesus got 3 gifts and that's what they'll get, too.  Give some other items or money to others..gently used toys and clothing, or contribute to Christian relief organizations. (See last month's blog for ideas). 

Use items found in nature this year to decorate...pine, cedar, pine cones,and holly.  Spray paint some tree branches white, silver or gold and display in a glass container with Epsom salt "snow" at the bottom.

Produce from the store is beautiful and edible!  Use red and green apples, cranberries floated in water with a pillar candle, and lemons and limes.

Simplify your schedule by deciding early with your family what things you really want to do, and what things can be eliminated so that you have some evenings free to be a family together and enjoy your decorated home.  Serve hot coca, read the Christmas story from the Bible, watch a Christmas movie or go car caroling.   Remember whose birthday we're celebrating and give Him gifts..of loving service to others, of a glad heart and of a contented, peaceful spirit.  At the first Christmas, people missed Jesus in their midst because they were so busy...let's make time to seek Him and to worship Him.  He is after all, Emmanuel, God with us. 

" there, in the stable, amongst the chickens and the donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night, God gave the world his wonderful gift.  The baby that would change the world was born .  His Baby son.....God was sending our Rescuer..... Because God loves us with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.  (from the Jesus Storybook Bible)
Merry Christmas!!

Howdy, Pilgrim!

This is not a blog about John Wayne! I couldn't resist using this title, however, as
each November, I'm reminded of a group of bedraggled, weary people taking a very dangerous journey and risking their lives to find a new home where they could freely  practice their religion.
  The very word pilgrim means traveler, or one making a journey .  We are all pilgrims trying to find our way back home, our eternal home, which is Heaven.  Along the way, just like the Pilgrims who landed in Massachusetts, we'll experience hardships, pain, grief, joy, contentment, fear and even some hard work and monotony.  We'll  have to weather real storms and circumstantial ones, we'll be blown off -course and end up in places or circumstances we never planned. The original  plan for the Pilgrims was to land in Virginia in a more temperate climate, after all. The harsh New England winter and no settlement near-by, plus not enough food and supplies, no shelter and a sickness that kills about half their number was not how they imagined their new lives in a new world.  They were not prepared but their stubborn faith and trust in God kept them going.  
 Just like the Pilgrims, our job is to step out in faith. Our life journey will be fraught with perils of one kind or another--our hearts will be broken at times, our feelings bruised, our wills and trust shaken.  There will be times of inexplicable joy and gratitude also.  But it will be a risky business and God will ask us to do some crazy things.
I'm privileged to know several risk takers who have decided  to put their faith to the test, and are doing some "crazy things". They include:  (Ideas inside these are given if you'd life to join in our craziness)
-My brother-in-law Mike and his wife Mattie and their family who moved to the Mid East to quietly show neighbors and friends what a life in Jesus looks like.

-Mission groups, who go into the worst poverty and health areas of the work to minister to others.  How crazy is it to give kids shoe boxes at Christmas??  Millions have received God's word and have been blessed by this craziness.  My daughter helped a mission group,  Hands At Work, who work with AIDS orphans and victims in South Africa. A lot of people think it's crazy to go to these places and attempt to help--but we know better. (Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan's Purse is in full swing--join us!  You can also donate to the mission group above or any or many who serve other in Christ's name)
-How crazy is it when you have a nice established family and decide there's room for one...or two more?Several families I know are making room for another child by foster care or adoption.  One family I know adopts special needs kids. The number of orphans worldwide is 17 times the population of New York City. You can help by financially supporting a family who is adopting, or sponsor children through Compassion International, or Samaritan's Purse.  You can even give money to help rescue children and women from exploitation.
 -My friends. the Lovely Branches Ministries ladies who went out on a limb (pun intended) when they started lovelybranchesministries.org and the Taste and See coffee shop.  This was a risk--a pretty big dream for our little town, but we have a big God!
-All the missionaries and their families who make so many sacrifices and endure hardships to tell others about Jesus and give them help .
-Youth pastors, Sunday school teachers, and other who invest their time and energy into the lives of young people and risk their sanity at times and their patience trying all manner of things to reach children and youth with the love of Jesus.  They also risk rejection!
-People who give their time, money and energy to further God's Kingdom when it feels foolish to risk what they have in short supply. (A Christian Radio Station is a great place to contribute,or Voices of the Martyrs who support persecuted Christians around the world)
In getting a jump on Christmas, giving to any of these groups would be a great idea for your family.  Even younger children can appreciate giving chickens, goats, food, shelter and even schooling to children who have none.
You can also do some other crazy things--
Speak up (gently and respectfully) when the culture around you is veering away from Godly things
Vote!!!!.
Speak up at school (we got the sex ed curriculum changed, and different books for students to read for assignments.  Friends helped students start their Bunch Of Believers (B.O.B.) club at school and meet over lunch with teachers being willing to serve as a host.)
Speak up in your community-I have friends who objected to the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine being displayed at our grocery check-out,and thanks to them, there is a covering over most of the front page.
We need to clash with our culture just as the Pilgrims did.  I have my AWANA Sparkies dress in loud, obnoxious, mismatched clothes when we talk about the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving and explain that they clashed with the people around them in how to worship God.  We need to stand out from our culture , too, by how we live, what we think, how we act, what we choose to see and hear.  We're to be salt and light!  
Risk being content in a world that tempts us to be discontent with everything...tells us we need more or better or newer.  Thanksgiving is the best time to count our blessings and be grateful for what we have.
You will be blessed by visiting Ann Voskamp's website, www.aholyexperience.com for her 1000 gifts devotionals.  Spend each day in November by counting the gifts God has given you and yours.  She
also has a new One Thousand Gifts Group Bible Study on DVD and you can watch the first session.  Her words on the difficulty of this project and the risk taking involved are wonderfully inspiring to all of us:
"We thought of you.  And we said God and His glory is worth it and you are worth it and by His grace we climbed high over our fears...and said yes."
What is God nudging you to say "yes" to?  You're a Pilgrim after all, and we're not home yet--there's work to be done.  Let's live and serve by grace in ways to take as many people with us as we can and lighten the load for others along our trip!

Now for the practical side of celebrating Thanksgiving with a heart of thanksgiving and thanks-living.
Remember Hints from Heloise?  This is Suggestions from Suzanne, or how to navigate your family ship through the waters ahead--the Holidays!!!  This can be a Perilous Journey indeed.  (My kids used to play a piano piece with that title--lots of crashing chords).
We need to plot our course, navigating through the storms of unrealistic expectations, steering clear of the rocks of too much to do, hanging on with a smile on our lips and gentle answers on our tongues in the rapids of too many people in a little space with not enough sleep!
-Plan ahead-what times are family times and put on your calendar early.  Decide what you'll be doing.
-Cook ahead--fill your freezer with cookies, easy meals, if you're hostessing Thanksgiving, cook your turkey ahead, remove the meat, boil the carcass with veggies for broth, and make gravy--and extra gravy.  The Norman Rockwell picture of the family admiring a beautiful turkey on a platter is great, but doing the bird ahead of time makes your life easier!!  (Or have roast beef instead)
-Use Crock pots--my life as a hostess improved greatly with this idea.  Put your mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey in crock pots and if your guests are late, it's no big deal.  Second servings are still warm, too.
-Set the table a day ahead of time--cover with a sheet if you want to protect it from dust.
 -Make a "Job Jar" of things that need doing at the last minute so people can help: ice in the glasses, pour beverages, set things on tables, clean up, take trash out, etc
-Make a hot cocoa bar for later in the day, after flag football or walks.  Have cocoa mix and marshmallows in mason jars with mugs.  You can make hot cocoa and hot cider in crock pots if you'd like.  (After you empty them of the potatoes and gravy, that is)  
Have fun--with the kids!
Make a relish plate of carrot sticks, celery sticks and peanut butter, cheese cubes, pickles, etc. for the kids to snack on while they wait for dinner.
Cover the kids' table with brown or white craft paper and supply crayons.  They can decorate their place settings--give prizes for most creative, most in keeping with Thanksgiving or whatever.
Go to wwwMomlifetoday.com (a sub group of Family Life Today) has some great ideas for a counting blessings wreath and other Thanksgiving traditions.
Get a big box and color it/spray paint to look like a ship in the water on the outside.  Attach a paper or cloth "sail" on a yardstick and tape to the side.  Let little ones in and rock gently to have their own Mayflower journey.
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to serve joyfully and give thanks--we're all so blessed, and as Ann Voskamp says, "All is grace".  Above all, keep reaching out to others in love --it's risky, but our Savior did it first and is still reaching out to bring all His children, we who are pilgrims, home.

Of Prayers, Pergolas and Potting Sheds

Whisper a Prayer in the morning,

Whisper a prayer at noon, Whisper a prayer in the evening, Twill keep your heart in tune.

I know there is another line to that old Sunday school song.."you'll have your answer soon", but I've been thinking more about keeping my heart in tune lately.  I read once that prayer always, always changes things--if it doesn't change your situation, it changes you! 
There are a lot of things to pray for in this life--protection, guidance, forgiveness,and wisdom for ourselves and others.    

 In our Bible Study, "Stuck", by Jennie Allen, we just finished a chapter called Mad.  Most of us Christian ladies thought that we didn't really get mad until we started discussing how we feel when our "rights" are trampled upon.  Hmmm...maybe we do get a little testy and resentful, even mad. (We think we have the "right" to be  happy, healthy, prosperous, comfortable, to be understood, to have an ideal family, etc.)  We may get bent out of shape when our schedule is interrupted or we're asked to do something beyond what we had planned.
So our study reminded us that we can pray to change our attitudes about our "rights" and put other people first as scripture commands us.  We can pray to have God's perspective on a situation, instead or our own.  We can pray that God will give us the strength to do what He is asking us to do with a heart of love instead of resentment!!!  After all, Jesus gave up all of His rights when He came to earth to rescue us from our sin. How can we whine and cling to having our own way in view of all He gave up and how He was we treated?
So....it was a great lesson.  We had a great discussion.  We went home.  And in 2 days, I had a pop quiz from God to see if I'd really learned anything!

I was cleaning out our garage, which had seen a long summer's accumulation of items. Our garage is large and doubles as my husband's woodworking workshop. He and my sons had built a pergola for our backyard in June, and there were a lot of wood scraps left that needed to be put away.  As I was cleaning, I realized that with the wood shop equipment, 3 bikes that had come home with college kids and 2 lawn mowers, there just wasn't room for everything.
The only option I could think of was to relocate a lot of the things to the potting shed, which I had just reclaimed for myself last fall.  (This picture is much cuter than our shed, but both are gray!)  It had been Don's workshop, and after he moved some of his equipment out, it became a dumping ground for all kinds of things. Armed with paint, cleaning equipment and sheer determination, I set out to turn it into a potting shed.  I got my husband to help take some loads of junk to the dump, and then began painting the never- before painted walls and ceiling shades of a nice green that reminded me of my Grandma Carnes' porch.  I loved that porch!  After 2 weeks of cleaning and painting ( in over 90 degree heat), I hung some thrift store curtains, moved my pots and garden magazines in, draped some  thrift store green sheets over the racks of wood that were still there and added an extra wicker chair.  I could open both doors and sit in my chair and survey the garden from a whole new angle. It was my new favorite place.
Now that the shop was cleaned out, my husband decided it would be the ideal spot in which to store our big riding lawn mower .  I began to sense a problem, but that was fine for the winter. Then my son had a huge trunk he needed to store somewhere, so guess where it went?  Yep, my potting shed.  It has once again become a storage area with little floor area to even walk now.  As I moved another lawn mower and leftover wood to the shed so we could regain ground in the garage, I got a little mad.  After all, no one would go near the shed until I cleaned it out and fixed it up, and now I was losing my potting shed to store other people's stuff.  Did I mention my daughter is moving back next spring to finish Physical Therapy school and will be storing the furniture from her apartment in.the potting shed? Sigh.  A smart woman knows when to surrender, for a time at least.  An even smarter woman prays to do it with grace.
Last Saturday, after making the sacrifice to give up my space to store garage stuff, I sat in my wicker chair (I could get to it because my husband was mowing the lawn on the big mower) and I pouted.  My husband drove by on the mower and stopped and asked what I was doing.  I replied that I was saying good bye to my cute shed.  He gave me one of those looks and mowed on.
I pouted because I had to give up my cute, hard won space and nobody seemed to care what it was costing me. I pondered what to do.  Then, I remembered our lesson on mad---oh, shoot, I guess God was testing me to see if I could really hold what He gives me loosely and give it back when I need to.  So, my options were to keep pouting and feel sorry for myself (as I have many, many times over the years) or pray to have a better attitude and accept this gracefully.  As I pouted and pondered, I looked out at the new pergola my sweet husband had built.  I thought about how nice it was and what fun the boys had helping him build it.    (This time, our pergola is actually better looking than the one pictured!)  I was also glad  to have the shop/shed that I could store the kids' stuff in while they're in transition so that we didn't have to move it into the house and have double rows of furniture everywhere.
After pouting, pondering and praying, I could pull myself together and let it go!         
It's hard to give up our "rights" and bad attitudes, but when we pray to see things God's way, and we are thankful, it does "keep our heart in tune" like the song says. When we give up our "rights", we gain something instead...like peace and the knowledge that we're trying to please God.   And in my case, a pleasant evening and weekend with my husband instead of continuing to pout.

On the Home Front:  I have been getting rid of things; still, yet and again.  I'm reclaiming some cabinet space and getting clothes closets in shape for fall.  I've taken several loads to our thrift store.  The big news is that I've actually gotten rid of about 40 books which is very hard for me.  I'm donating them to our library and church library, so that helps.  The fewer things we have, the freer we are!  I feel very tied down by all my stuff. Here's the kicker--as I'm cleaning out cabinets and closets, I realized that I am the one that hauls most of this stuff home!! Books, magazines, extra dishes, clothes, decor items--I am the one mostly to blame!!!  Clearly, I need to stop bringing stuff in because then I have to spend time taking care of it and moving it around until I finally go through it again and get rid of it!!This is crazy!   I need to hunger and thrist after God and His righteousness and not stuff!  This looks like another matter for prayer to me!
Enjoy the beautiful days of fall...plant some bulbs for next spring, clear out some clutter, go through some closets and share what you don't need, sip some apple cider, carve a pumpkin, and pray for God's grace to give up your "rights" when He asks you to.  Pray to be a blessing, and whisper a prayer morning, noon and night--in fact, pray without ceasing.