A Future Full of Hope...

"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, 
says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe!  
Plans to give you a future full of hope.  
When you call me, when you go to pray to me, 
I will listen to you." 
~Jeremiah 29:11-12

In his book, "Starting Your Best Life Now", Joel Osteen wrote "God has more in store for you!"

Sometimes we tend to forget this.  Sometimes we focus on our problems and not on God.  If we focus on God when troubled times or problems arise in this life, we would find windows that open when doors have shut.  We would see greater things happening in our life.  We would see the joy and beauty that God has surrounded us with every day.   Just like a winter landscape that at first glance may look bleak to some, there is beauty, hope and joy to those who focus on God. 

Patience....

"When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience" ~James 1:2


Patience - It is said patience is a virtue.  The Bible quote above says our troubles in this world test our faith and give us patience.  This is so very true.  

As an example, I recently was trying to download a favorite Christian song from Amazon.com.  It would not work.  The download said it did, but Windows Media would not recognize the file nor play the song.  Now you must understand that I am not a computer geek.  I can usually persist at problems I have on the computer and solve some of them.  And most of the problems I have solved have been due to my persistence and patience - there is just something wrong with being outsmarted by a machine and I know that patience with myself and the problem is what it will take to work through it.  I choose to be patient with myself so I can solve my computer problems.  However, I am not always patient with myself or with circumstances in other areas of my life, but I am learning to be.  I was born a perfectionist and have had to overcome this throughout my life, because life itself is not perfect.  I thank God for the situations he has asked me to work through or overcome that have taught me patience.  I thank God for the friends he has blessed my life with because they have helped me to see that I need patience when what I want is to have a problem situation solved "right now."  They have helped me to see that "right now" is not what I needed, but instead I needed to work my way through the troubles to become a better person and become closer to God.  They say hindsight is 20-20 and if I look at the troubles I have come through I can see the lessons I've learned and how each of them was a growing period in my life.  Patience can be as simple as waiting on someone to meet you or waiting for the sun to go down to get just the right light in a photograph.  Or, it can be as complicated as having patience with yourself or others as you work through a troubled time.  

I pray that I can remember to say "Thank you Lord Jesus" each time I am faced with troubles in my life.

Wings of Faith....

"How precious is Your love, O God!  We take refuge in the shadow of Your wings."  ~Psalm 36:8

How many of you remember the song "The Wind Beneath My Wings"?  When I hear it, I think of an eagle soaring in the sky, wings outstretched, catching the winds to go where it needs to go.   Another thought that comes to mind are the clouds floating in the sky and ever changing with the winds.  When this song came out it was used in so many different ways and with different interpretations.  Some were singing the song for family members, some for volunteer organizations and some in a spiritual way.  I guess the meaning would always be the same - that someone feels another is their strength, guide, protector and/or hero.

I have had family and friends fall into this category during my life.  People who inspired me, supported me and helped me along life's path.  People who brought joy to my life and helped me to be who I am today.  It was wonderful having them in my life when I needed them and so very, very sad when they were no longer there.   I know that change is a part of life, but having to change from having those who played a large part in my life  to not having those people there, has always been extremely difficult for me.   I cannot think of anyone who enjoys saying good-bye, be it to a way of life, a family member, a dear friend, or even a place where they felt safe and secure.  Most of us have said good-bye too many times already in our lives and I for one, would like more stability in this area of my life.  It is said that nothing stays the same and I guess this is correct.  I have had very special people in my life who are no longer there.  For some, it was their choice to move on and for others it was God's choice.  I have been on one path in life, feeling it was where I was supposed to be, but as suddenly as a storm blows through, the winds changed and I found myself on a new path with many unknowns in front of me.  

In the Psalm above, it states we should take refuge in the shadow of our Lord's wings.  For me, this is the only way I have been able to continue to move forward when these changes threatened to suffocate me in sadness or change.  I hope I, and you, will always remember this Psalm, remember that God's love is always there and seek to find refuge from these difficult times in the shadows of  the Wings of God.

 

Our Temporary Home....

"God has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; 

yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."  ~Ecclesiastes 3:11

If God hath made this world so fair

Where sin and death abound,

How beautiful beyond compare

Will paradise be found.

~James Montgomery

"This is My Temporary Home" are the words found in a song by Carrie Underwood - another song that inspires me.  Every day we can look around us and see the blessings of God.  Beautiful scenery, people who love us, both family and friends, beautiful music that touches our hearts, hope, the means to care for ourselves and so much more. 

For all the blessings and the beauty that God has put on this earth for us to enjoy, He will place so much more in our eternal home. My Mom used to tell me, "honey, when things get tough for you, just look around you and you will find someone else who is worse off than you."  During my growing up years, at the times in my life when I was feeling down and she would tell me this, somehow it didn't seem to help.  I was hurting and even though I could see others hurting for much worse reasons, it didn't take my pain away.  Don't get me wrong, I did feel bad for those others and prayed for their lives to improve, but I still had my pain and disappointments to deal with.   Even today, I sometimes remember to look around me and I do see others in worse situations than mine.  I try to put things into perspective and consider the blessings I have that perhaps they don't.  But personal pain is still pain and we each must work through it.  When I first heard the song about this being our temporary home it gave me a new perspective and a new way of looking at the difficult, and at times, seemingly impossible problems I was dealing with - The stresses at work that wear me down each day, attempting to hold on to a  friendship when the other person is pulling away and my not understanding why, personal dilemmas because of family disagreements and wanting to make things right, mountains given to me by God that seem impossible to climb and reach the top.  More and more as I face these difficult times in my life, I am going to do my best to remember the verse of this song:

"This is my temporary Home
It's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through
This was just a stop, on the way To where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know this was
My temporary home."
~

"Then I saw a new Heaven and a new earth.  The former Heaven had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I also saw the Holy City, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  I heard a loud voice from the throne, 'Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race.  He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God].  He will wipe every tear from their their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away."   The one who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."   ~Revelation 21: 1-5

Friendships....

Have you ever thought about the friendships you have had throughout your life? 

Some may have been the greatest of friendships at the time and then your life would take a turn and those you were so very close to would be gone from your life.  It's as if you walked together side by side and then came to a Y in the road and your path went one direction and your friend's path the other.  If you look at your life, these Y's in the path happen quite often.  Some of our "friends" may now just be a sweet memory of a season in our life and there may be a handful or less that we continue to stay in contact with.  Friendship takes work - it takes one or both persons to make an effort to stay in touch, be it by email, phone or in writing.  Without one person making the effort, the friendship will slip away into a memory.  I guess this is just part of the evolution of our lives while we are here on earth.  When I think of the friends I've known and the roles we played in each others lives, I realize how wonderful and necessary those relationships were at the time.  We each helped one another in different ways, but for us to become the people we are today, we needed to be in each others lives at that time.  Some of my friends taught me life lessons and some I was able to help in one way or another.  I think of friends as part of the growing process.  There are some I still wish were a part of my life today, but I am no longer the same person, nor are they.  We have each grown and followed different paths that were required of us, so the closeness we once felt cannot be duplicated today.  Others will come into our lives in the future and play important roles, but we shouldn't try to hold on too tightly, for they also will have to take a different path when we both reach the next Y in the road.

Sometimes our lives tend to get so busy that we put aside our friends and some of these are the people we care the most for in our lives.  We think that when we have more spare time, we can get back in touch with them.  We are often wrong.  

Sometimes we fail to say the thank you's we should - or the "I love you's" or "I care about you's" to the people who mean the most to us.  We forge through every day doing what has to be done, saying hello to those we see, but what happens to those we don't see?  They don't cease to exist just because we don't see them or talk to them.  

Friends, whether family or not, are gifts from God.  He brings these people into our lives for a reason.  He also chooses the times of our lives when we will need these people the most and He chooses how long the path is that we will walk together. 

Through out my life, I have made it a practice to contact friends from my past if for an unknown reason they are on my mind.   This has always proved to be just the time when they needed to hear from a friend.  A couple of years back, I looked up the phone number for a friend I had not seen or heard from since our paths went in different ways - more than 20 years before.  When he answered his phone and I told him who was calling, I thought he was going to crawl through the phone and hug me.  He was so very happy to receive my call.  We visited for 20-30 minutes and as we were ready to end the call he told me that I could not have timed my call better.  He said he really needed to hear from a friend that evening and at that point in time.  I don't believe it was a simple matter of timing.  I believe that God helped me to think of my friend and to feel the need to make the call when I did.  God knew he needed to hear a friendly voice.  Today, I called a friend I have not seen for more than 10 years.  His job is extremely demanding and I wasn't surprised when I had to leave a message on his phone.  When he called me back he sounded so overjoyed to have received a call from me - a friend who almost slipped into a memory.  

So, today I urge you to ask yourself, who needs to hear from you today?  

And why haven't you touched their heart by contacting them?

Take Responsibility for Yourself....

I ran across this cute story the other day,  It was among a group of humorous stories and quotes, but oh so true it can be at times. 

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." The woman below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." 
"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. 
"I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?" 
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is, technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip." 
The woman below responded, "You must be in Management." 
"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?" 
"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

~Received from Clifford Huntington as submitted to the Jim Huggins' Humor Page

In The Eyes of A Child....

 

When was the last time you watched a child at play?  A child being silly?  Have you ever really looked deep into the eyes of a child when they are playing and happy?  If so, you have seen pure, unadulterated joy that accompanies an unconditional love.  The joy that comes from being silly or playing a game either with others or one they play by themselves.  A joy that comes from deep within their hearts - A joy that comes from God.  Children have a way of finding enjoyment in life in the smallest of ways.  I've heard some adults  say they too can find happiness in the smallest of things.  For those, they still have their childish joys and how wonderful their lives are because of it.  My Mom was like that.  She would joke and kid with a stranger in the grocery store and then she would say "You don't have to be crazy to get along in this life - but it sure helps" and then just laugh at her own joke.  Her silliness and joy was contagious to everyone around her.  We all need to look deep within ourselves and find a little bit of that childishness that is still in us.  It doesn't matter if we are 9 or 90, a little bit of childish joy and child-likeness in our hearts is good for the soul.

"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven..."  ~Matthew, 18, 3-4     

Make a Difference...

In the song Three Wooden Crosses, Randy Travis sings the words, "It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go."   I fell in love with the words and message in this song the first time I heard it.  It reminds me of the family and friends I have known and loved who are no longer here with me, but are in Heaven with our Lord Jesus.  I can think of them today with a smile because of the wonderful memories I have of them and the incredible legacies they left behind.  The Christmas classic about Ebineezer Scrooge has been done and re-done so many times that I have heard people say "How many ways can you re-do the same movie?" Perhaps they are right, I don't know, however I do know the message in each version is always the same - our lives, the people we touch and the things we have done, whether big or small, matter much more than we may think.  When all is said and done it really doesn't matter how many times the story is done or re-done, what matters is the message it holds - we need to hear the message and believe in it.  

Emily Matthews wrote a poem that says - 

Some people make a difference

Just by being who they are,

Their inner light shines bright

and touches lives

both near and far,

And even when they're gone,

they still forever play a part

in the smiles,

the priceless moments,

that are treasured in the heart.

When others talk about a person's legacy, I don't think of the great deeds they may have done or not done, I think of how they touched the lives of people as they walked through their life.  Bringing joy to others, helping whenever they saw a need, reaching out to care for a sick friend, sitting and listening when someone just needs to talk, passing on their wisdom and life experiences, teaching others by their example of doing what is right because it is the right thing to do and the right way to live are what I think of when I think of a person's legacy.  

As I look around me at my circle of family and dear friends, the people I know, those I have known who came into my life for just a period of time and those I still have to meet, I think of how they and I touch each others lives.  Even a smile or helping hand to a stranger, a person we may never see again, matters and is a part of our legacy.  Think of the hundreds of people who have passed through your life - friends you grew up with, school mates from 1st grade and up, school teachers, friends and acquaintances who played an important role in your life at the time you knew them, but moved on as you continued through life, an older lady you may have helped to her car, someone you may have lifted the spirits of at that moment just by your smile as you passed them in a crowd - all of these and many, many more are part of our legacy.  I try to remind myself of this each and every day and say a silent prayer to God that I may touch someone's life each day in a positive way.  Sometimes that may mean doing something we really don't feel like doing at the time, including letting our inner light shine for others when we are hurting or not at our best.  I grew up reading the stories in the Bible, reading of the incredible people who faced some of the worst possible adversities with grace and were able to bring comfort or joy to those they met.  Those people lived hundreds of years ago, but in today's world we still find ourselves faced with adversities that are many times the worst moments in our lives.  Facing those adversities with grace and with God, helps us through just as it did for those in the Bible.  Someone once told me to live each day thinking of myself as God's light and to live each day by shining my light so brightly that any negatives I might be faced with will be pushed aside.  I love this.  So as we each begin each new day, I pray that we, both you and I, can shine our God-given light brightly, touch others lives in a positive way and make a difference.

Would you Believe...

One of my favorite CDs is one by Christy Lane titled "Footprints In The Sand".  The song titles alone could be used for meditation, not to mention the words of the songs.  "I Have a Dream", "He Sees My Heart", "The Last Word in Jesus is Us" and "Making Up For Lost Time".  The songs are all beautiful and the words to the songs can really touch my heart, but just the titles can start my mind working on many, many thoughts.  It takes a truly creative mind to put the emotional and pictorial together in just words and yet that is what song writers do every day.  Those of us who enjoy photography try to tell a story or share the beauty of the world with others through the photographs we take.  I have met people who would say to me, "I don't have a creative bone in my body", and I always disagreed with them.  We each have a God-given creativeness that we can share with others.  For some it may be song writing, photography, singing, painting or most of the things we think of so often as creativity.  However, think outside the box, if you will.  The ability to smile through adversity and bring joy to others during those times takes far more talent than what we usually think of as creative.  Delivering a speech filled with emotion and passion because a person believes in what they are talking about takes tremendous creativity to transfer those feelings from yourself to others.  I often listen to teenagers as they describe a dream they have or simply relating a story of daily happenings.  Many of them can bring the words to life as I listen to them and I can begin to feel their excitement, joy, fears or hopes.  The words we are given and the ways we express those words can in itself be creativity.  Picture a Mom or Dad telling a bedtime story to a child that they are making up as they tell the story.  I had a nephew who always wanted me to tell him stories when he was between 3 and 6 years of age, but he had rules - the stories could never end and I had to start where I had ended a day or two before.  The animals could talk and travel anywhere, from the earth to the heavens and back, into fantasy lands and back to reality.  I was never sure who was telling the story and who was creating the pictures we both saw in our minds.  Was it me, the person talking and stringing the tale or the young child who interrupted with his own ideas of where the animals should go, what they should say and who they should talk to?  In the song "The Last Word In Jesus Is Us" the first words are  "When all your dreams and hopes just seem to crumble to the ground... lift up your heart, open your eyes..."  and that is so true for each of us.  To anyone who thinks they don't have any creativity, my reply would be - Would you believe?  For those who believe, anything is possible because God is always with us in our dreams.   

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed..We who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."  ~2 Corinthians 4:8-11

Pass It On - What a Beautiful Way to Live.

 I have a cousin who signs her emails with "Its a Beautiful World".  What a wonderful way to view this life of ours.  If every day we all could see the world as a beautiful place, we would also pass along to those we meet the happiness we find by seeing the world in this light.  We would find that everything seems to be synchronized better.  Like the tides need the moon's pull to rise and fall as they do; Like the flowers need both the sun and rain to survive; Like we as humans need each other to get through our lives; and Like we each need God and our Faith to find true happiness.

There is a song that gives a story of a man changing a flat tire for a woman he had never met and probably would never see again. When asked what she owed him, he just said "Pass It On".  The lady stopped at a diner in the town close by and watched her waitress, a young woman who was pregnant, and although the young woman looked very tired, she brightly smiled at this lady as she took her order and served her food.  When the lady left the restaurant she did so when the waitress did not see her and on her table she left the money for her meal, a $100 dollar tip and a note that said "Pass It On."  When the young woman went home that evening, she went home to her husband - the man who had changed the lady's tire.  I love this song and the message it gives us.  We just never know how we may touch the life of another and what may seem a simple gesture of kindness to us could be something truly wonderful to the person we pass our kindness on to.

Henry Burton wrote a poem that shows us all how easy it would be to always live by "Passing It On."

 

Pass It On

"Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on.
‘Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on.
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
‘Till in heaven the deed appears
Pass it on.
Did you hear the loving word?
Pass it on
Like the singing of a bird?
Pass it on
Let its music live and grow
You have reaped what others
Sow
Pass it on.
‘Twas the sunshine of a smile
Pass it on.
Staying but a little while!
Pass it on.
April beam a little thing
Still it wakes the flowers of spring,
Makes the silent birds to sing
Pass it on.
Have you found the heavenly light?
Pass it on.
Souls are groping in the night,
Daylight gone
Hold thy lighted lamp on high,
Be a star in someone's sky,
Pass it on."

Henry Burton
(1840-1930)

I have met some wonderful people in my life and I thank God every day for bringing them into my life and blessing me with their friendship.  One thing that makes them so special in my eyes is that they live their lives as if they were following the words of this poem.  So you see, my cousin is right - It is a beautiful world!!

Two Incredible People...

One year ago today (April 8, 2009) my Mom joined my Dad in Heaven to be together forever in the arms of our Lord Jesus.  They met in 1943, married in 1945, raised 5 children and celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary before Dad passed.  If I could have chosen my parents from any of the people in the world, I still would have chosen these two wonderful and loving parents.  They were both hard working, caring and loving.  My Mom had a strong faith and made sure her children did as well.  She taught us to pray, laugh, to always do our best, to treat others as we would want them to treat us and to find enjoyment in every day.  My Dad taught us respect, to never give up - "where there's a will, there's a way" should have been his motto.  I watched him many times fashion a tool out of scrap metal with a cutting torch or his welder to accomplish what he needed to do, whether it was working on a vehicle, drilling a water well, working on the house or mining for gold in the hills.  They both welcomed any and all visitors to our home as if they were family.  They kept a fresh pot of coffee and often fresh baked sweet breads or pies and a pot of beans on the stove in case anyone dropped in.  Everyone who came to our house, day or night, was offered something to drink and something to eat.  No one ever left hungry - unless they chose to.  In later years, after I was grown they often felt more like my best friends than parents.  They were incredible dancers and when they danced it was like watching a couple gracefully glide across ice.  Quite often when they danced, especially a waltz, other dancers would stop and back away to the side of the dance floor just to watch Mom and Dad dance.  Through out the years, they both taught us to love life, love each other, as well as others and most inportantly, to love the Lord.  Now just 2-1/2 years after Dad's passing and 1 year after Mom, I can smile with love as I look at their pictures because I know they will dance together in Heaven for eternity.  
Mom and Dad, I love you!

Be Strong and Courageous

"Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  ~Joshua 1:9

I took this photo last summer and was able to walk slowly and quietly to within 30 feet of this beautiful deer.  She knew I was there, but was courageous enough to remain where she was.  Somehow she knew I wouldn't cause her harm.  When I am afraid and worried, I think of this wonderful verse from the Bible and I remember this deer, who was not timid or afraid even though most deer would have been.  She had the courage to face her fear and overcome it.  That's what I try to do each day.  If I am worried or fear something or someone I take a deep breath and remember that I cannot have fear or worry if I have my faith.  In the words of Psalm 27:1, 14 "...whom shall I fear?  the Lord is the stronghold of my life - Of whom shall I be afraid?..."

Life is an Adventure... Seek the joy and Beauty

Just like these beautiful wildflowers that grow on this rocky hillside with shining faces in the sun and smiling up at Heaven, we can find joy and beauty every day if we look for it and remember to smile while we thank our Lord, Jesus for all he gives us each day.

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law"  ~Galatians 5:22-23

"Dear Friends, let us love one another for love comes from God"  ~1 John 4:7