Be Still

It's quiet. Everyone has gone to bed. As I sit by myself, I feel the week's dirt and grim slip from me.

All the rushing and doing has stopped for a few hours, at least until morning's light slips through my window and it all starts again.

What would my life look like if the peace I feel at this moment enveloped me throughout my day. What if I simply refused to measure my step with the hectic pace that usually rules my days.

Would it really be terrible if I let a few things slip; if I said, "Sorry, but I just can't help you with that right now"? Am I as indispensable as I seem to think that I am?

What was that, Lord? What did You say?

"Be still and know that I am God."

I want to, Lord, I truly do. Please help me.

"The Service of Passionate Devotion"

Oswald Chambers' classic, My Utmost for His Highest, is part of my daily devotions every year. Today's lesson resonates with me each year, and the notes and underlines on the page are evidence of that.

The following excerpts from this selection titled, "The Service of Passionate Devotion," reminds us of what God truly desires from us.

"Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine."

"Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People don't really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord's primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people--the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yes, it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"--it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).

My penciled-in summation at the bottom of the page was this: "It's all about loving Jesus!"

Rain, Rain Go Away!

It's been raining. A lot. I thought it was time to paint my toenails and pull out my sandals. But so far, rain boots have been the more appropriate footwear. We are already into the middle of June, and have yet to see temperatures hit 75 degrees. And the rain just keeps on coming.

If I needed any confirmation that it's really soppy around here, I found it. You know it's wet when a pair of ducks moves into your neighborhood and takes up residence in the water filled ditches along the side of the road!

For the past week, I've spied Mr. and Mrs. Duck, happily lounging in their new puddle-pad and looking right at home. It's not that I want this feathered pair to leave, but I'm afraid that if the sun doesn't come out soon, I'll have webbed feet to match theirs.

The weather service is hinting at a little break in the rain for the weekend. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some sun to brighten Father's Day. I don't think that even the ducks would mind that.

Off to Haiti

It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was praying my daughter home from Russia. Today, I'm praying my son and daughter-in-law into Haiti. They will be there on a mission trip, working to help rebuild homes and share God's love with people whose lives have been shattered.

Over the past few years, as I have watched my children step out in obedience to follow God's calling, I have seen His faithfulness time and time again.

But the other morning, I was feeling a bit apprehensive about all that was happening with my children. That's when God gently reminded me of three things.

First, He knows. God knows every little thing that will happen in my children's lives. Nothing comes as a surprise to Him. Nothing.

Second, He is able. There is not a single situation that my children could find themselves in that God isn't able to save and redeem. He's got it under control!

Finally, He loves. As much as I love my kids, it's a drop in the bucket compared to His love for them. I can trust Him with them. His love has them covered.

So, as I sit in my little house watching my children fly all over the world to serve Him, I'm reminded that it's all good. God is with them and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Engaged!

Last night, God answered a twenty-four year old prayer of mine. Last night, a wonderful young man asked for my daughter's hand in marriage and she said "Yes!"

From the day that both of my children were born, I began praying for Godly spouses for them. And yesterday, God came through again!

Welcome to our family, Joel! We've been waiting for you.

Oh...and thank you, God. You do good work!

Scattered!

I don't know what was wrong with me today, but I worked all day on getting my house clean. I was so scattered, starting on one task only to leave it to do something else. I had half-finished projects all over my house! Not how I like to do things.

It started like this. When I got back from my morning walk, I was going to fix some breakfast and eat out on our deck since it was our first sunny day in forever...yes, forever. But before I made it into the kitchen to put on the coffee, I was sidetracked by the bedding which I had stripped off our bed before I went on my walk. I figured I'd better get that washing now that my daughter was out of the shower and the washing machine wouldn't scald her when it filled up.

Somehow, rather than heading back into the kitchen, I ended up upstairs where I started to clean one of the bathrooms. But I had forgotten to bring up the broom and dust pan so I had to go back downstairs to the laundry room. However, as I passed through the hall, I noticed piles of mail that had been collecting on the table all week and decided to sort through it and throw out the junk mail.

After creating my "keep" and "toss" mail piles, I noticed how late it was getting and figured I'd better grab some breakfast. By now it was too late for coffee so I just had a couple of pieces of raisin bread and a glass of milk. Instead of sitting down and eating it like a civilized person, I stood at the counter where I noticed that the flowers that we had given our daughter when she returned from Russia, really needed to be put in a smaller vase with fresh water.

So I took a gulp of milk and shoved the last bite of bread in my mouth and proceeded to snip off the ends of the carnations. However, while I worked on the flowers, I noticed that I should really "mix" the coffee since the coffee containers were taking up space on my counter.

"Mix" the coffee, you might ask? You see, we have this little trick at our house. We take some of the "good" stuff and mix it with the "not-so-good stuff" which makes the "okay" stuff that we drink every day. What can I say, we're cheap and it saves a few pennies.

Anyway, I ran back to the laundry room to get a smaller vase for the flowers and noticed that the sheets were now ready to go in the dryer. So I stopped and moved them over from the washing machine, grabbed the vase and headed back to the kitchen. However, as I passed through the hall, I noticed the two piles of mail I had sorted earlier and stopped to take the "toss" pile out to the recycle bin.

Then it was back to the kitchen where I plopped the flowers in the smaller vase and moved on to the coffee mixing. But before I did that, I finished the rest of my breakfast milk which had been sitting on the counter all this time and by now was warm. Yuck.

I probably don't have to go any further with this because by now, I'm sure you get the gist. Like I said, I was scattered. And I'm exhausted.

Hopefully, tonight I'll get a good night's rest. I'll need it because I didn't actually finish my housecleaning.