Work, Work, Work.

I subscribe to a number of blogs.  Most are artistic, many are money-saving.  One of the artistic ones today was about the loss of the "trophies" of life, those accomplishments and people to whom we can point and be proud.  All the "look what I did" things.  You can find it here:  Little Apartment on the Prairie

She referred her readers to another blog, saying "This post inspired and touched my heart this week: When Your Trying To Get Your Priorities Straight, in fact it's going on my fridge."

And here is that post:  Holy Experience

I was a young mom like these two women, and I remember what it was like.  My house was busy and loud.  There was laundry and housework and meal preparation and dishes and baths . . . this endless doing of the necessary things in my family's life.

"I was made for this," I thought.  And I was.  I was good at it, and I enjoyed it.  I still do. Having said that, I must admit that I am a horrific housekeeper.  I still love that old saying "Hush up, cobwebs, dust go to sleep.  I'm rocking my baby and my baby won't keep."

We are made and created to worship and love God.  We miss so much of the unseen world because we simply can't see it.  It is beyond the physical realm of the world in which we live, so the great challenge is to strive to see that unseen place.  We can only do that via Jesus, and this draws us back to Him over and over again.

It's easy to say that because these higher callings are so important, the work should usually go by the wayside.  By that I mean not that we let our homes dissolve into chaos -- rather, I just mean letting "work" take last place in our view of our priorities.  As usual, it's much easier to sway from one extreme to the other, instead of trying to find the balance between the two.

But I think work is right up there with those higher callings.  God gave us work; it is the thing that keeps us engaged and learning and involved and interested, and even connected to each other.  I believe there will be work in heaven.  The word gets such a bad rap -- "work" -- as if it's always hard.  But it can be incredibly rewarding.  I remember doing laundry in the basement of the house, folding and matching endless pairs of little socks.  And when it was all done, I had a deep, incredibly wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

I connect with God through worship.  He meets me there and fills me up.  I could never do without that, without pursuing a life of adoration and worship for Him.  But . . . I also glorify Him for giving me work.  Working with my hands and accomplishing something is simply doing what He has made me to do.  It's like a child looking up at a parent, and when we do it well, God is as pleased with us as we are with ourselves.  It's all good.

We must be careful because we are compelled to measure.  And measuring only gains us meaningless trophies.  I loved seeing all that laundry done -- but it wasn't really something I thought should be reported on the nightly news.  It's just laundry, after all.

But it was my work.  And I did it well, and God was just as pleased then as He is when I look up and praise Him or pray or ponder the unseen world.

Oh, the love of God and the balance to which it challenges us.  Talk about work.

xoxoxox

Operator, How May I Connect Your Call?

<sup>From II Corinthians 6:


11-13</sup>Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!


If ever there was a call to the body of Christ -- the Church -- today, it is this it.


xoxoxox

Hello, Old Friends Part 3

I saw a lot of old friends last week.  We were on vacation, and had the amazing opportunity to attend a reunion of the members of a single's ministry that Hunk O Man headed up for 10 years.

I smiled so much that day that my face hurt.  And it was totally worth it.

There was also a convention, and I reconnected with some old friends there as well.  I saw people I love from home, and even had coffee with the oldest friend I've ever had (and hadn't seen in 40 years).

All this reminded me of the precious, priceless value of the people I have had in my life.  Who gets this kind of blessing in their life?  I am grateful to the point of tears.

On this particular trip I also hurt some old friends inadvertently.  One was an honest mistake, and I tried to make sure she understood how sorry I was.  I'm waiting now for her heart to heal from the damage I caused.  It may take awhile.  I will wait.

The other was just a mindless comment -- one that sounded funny in my head -- spoken to an old friend who has been very sick for some time.  I thought he would laugh because of his wry sense of humour.  But as soon as I said it, I realised how completely insensitive it was.

Now this old friend has been somewhat distant for awhile.  There is a palpable gap when I see him; a coolness that probably has always been there, but that I completely ignore.  I do this on purpose, and here's why:

It doesn't matter if your friends love you.  It matters if you love your friends.

What matters is that I stand in the gap and pray for his sickness to heal.  What matters is that I maintain an expectation that no time has passed and no walls are there.  What matters is that we were, are, and will continue to be friends as long as it depends on me.

This is what God has taught me, an introvert who would rather live in a cave than deal with the difficulties of life in a human world.  People matter.  People were created to love and be loved.  And when my amazing Saviour is directly in my line of sight, everyone between me and him will be captured in His love for me and mine for Him.

Lord God, please make me remember this today.  I am sure it will be hard because of who I am.  I am sure I will fail.  And I am sure that You are in control.

xoxoxox

Hello There, Old Friend

<sup>From Proverbs 25 --

25</sup> Like a cool drink of water when you're worn out and weary
is a letter from a long-lost friend.

Do you use Facebook? I've found so many friends, from high school, college, places I used to work and live. Hearing from them is just like that -- a cool drink when you're worn out.

God sure knew how to sum up concisely.

xoxox

Hello, Old Friends Part Three

I have had the most wonderful June and early July! Here's why:

I have the best friends.

Now I'm sure you think that you have the best friends. I'm sure yours are very good friends -- but mine are the best. Seriously.

Years ago, mine had a baby shower for me, a huge one. And this after I had not been to their baby showers, because I was going through infertility and couldn't take the emotional stress.

Mine did not let me pay for one meal while I was visiting on my birthday trip -- because I was turning 50, and because, as they put it, "You don't have a 50th birthday every day." And this after I had moved away and wasn't there for their 50th birthdays.

Mine clear their schedules when I come to visit. They drop mostly everything and make time and room for me to visit and be with them. They spend endless hours listening to me drone on about life wherever I live, kids and husband and life in general. We go to the same restaurant and order the same food, year after year. And this after I have not been there to listen to them at various times, because I only visit about once a year.

Mine will tell me I'm whining and to get over myself. They will agree with me that yes, I am crazy, and I probably do need a change of medication. They will tell me when I'm wrong in no uncertain terms, and to straighten up and fly right. And this when they could really just give up and go on to an easier, less challenging friend. It is hard to be friends with me. Expectations are high, and they live up to them. Consistently.

They communicate my value to them in infinite ways. And this when I am very nearly an abject failure in communicating to them their infinite value to me.

I don't have a lot of friends. You can count them all on about a hand and a half. There are maybe seven at best. Probably more like five.

But . . .

Most people don't enjoy the kind of friendships I have. They are deep, they are long, and they are precious. Endless people have entire lives go by without experiencing the kinds of friends that I have. And I don't just have one -- I have several.

I am no gardener. But these relationships are like plants. You grow them over long years of time. It takes patience and strength for them to grow. Pruning is hard; sometimes you have to cut away the dead parts. But the blossoms that result are far and away worth whatever pain was suffered.

So today I am thanking God for these relationships on which I cannot place a value; they are irreplaceable and priceless to me. I'm not sure there are even words with which to thank God for these people; they are Him to me in this world. I see Jesus when I look at them.

Have you seen Jesus today?

xoxoxox

Entirely Too Busy

You know, that last chapter I read of Romans is a long list of Paul saying hello to various people. It reminds me of the fact that I haven't visited Ms. Myrtle in several weeks.

You know, I get so convicted when I don't 1-see people or talk to them on the phone or email them, and 2-pray for them. I am feeling pretty "holy spirit prickly" about Ms. Myrtle. I need to get over there. And I just got a call from what may be another best friend, Wanda, about walking with her just once a week. My mom is getting older, and I haven't seen her in almost 6 months. She lives 500 miles away -- but I miss her terribly. I haven't had Thursday morning coffe with Ms. Nancy in about a month.

I am missing my peeps.

I keep thinking about the fact that our lives are just a wisp of smoke in the entire scheme of things. Just a blink. They go so fast -- one look at my graduating high school twins reminds me rather painfully of that!

But people are eternal. When I lived in California, surrounded by all that material wealth, I used to remind myself that I had riches eternally in the souls of my five daughters. People don't end -- they go on and on to lives eternally. The question is only one of what the quality of that life will be: a life with or without the presence of God.

So the fact that people's lives here are brief and that they are infinitely more important than the "stuff" I have to do should be enough to get me out of this house and over to Ms. Myrtle's.

Gotta go. I need to call her right now.

xoxox

Dominoes and the Butterfly Effect

I spent most of the day today sleeping off a migraine. But the day started out very busy, and very much in keeping with what I had hoped would happen when I moved here. Once again I'm amazed at our glorious God.

I've always had a heart for keeping a home, the general nuts-and-bolts business of how you go about making your home run smoothly. And as I've gotten older, I've grown to have more of a heart for young moms who are struggling, feeling overwhelmed and drowning amidst diapers and sleepless nights. I'm not sure what to say to them -- except that I've been there, and it will pass.

So this morning I got a call from a friend to meet and chat over lunch, and I was glad to be free for that. She's a young mom who's really growing lately, and I am glad I got the chance to encourage her.

But right as I walked in the door from an earlier errand, the phone rang. Another friend -- also a young mom -- was in tears and needed me.

I find this especially interesting because of a discussion I had with the girls recently. We were talking about people we'd miss if we moved from this town. They commented that I really didn't have any friends.

Now I admit that I am not a person people readily call when they need a friend. I suppose that's because I don't generally call anyone else here -- but it was my dream to be this sort of a person when I moved here. I envisioned being able to counsel young wives and moms in the midst of trouble.

And this was just such a case.

So I dropped the phone and grabbed my purse and ran over to be there. And I prayed as I went that God would give me the right words and shut my mouth -- for the most part -- so I could be the best friend, the kind that listens.

And of course God used the time. I'm not sure how much help I really was -- but it was a chance to be a friend, a good friend. I was so glad she called.

I've never lived in a place where I have felt such purpose. In the book of Esther, that amazing woman who charmed a king and saved a people -- her uncle Morcedai asks her in 4:14 --

". . . Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this."

The economy of God is quite something. He never ceases to use an opportunity, which has a domino effect on several other opportunities. He is the Master of the butterfly effect.

And today I got to be not just one of the dominoes, but I got to see my place in the domino line. What a privilege! And I suppose that's the secret -- to just accept that you're a domino today, in the line, and your job is to just fall at the right time. God will give you the signal, and you'll do your part -- "for such a time as this."

And all this regardless of how many friends your children seem to think you do or don't have!


xoxox

Happy New Year

Best way to get your kids to clean up the house?

Let them host their own New Year's Eve party.

Best way to get your kids to trash the house again?

Let them host their own New Year's Eve party.


The Marco Polos are here and the fun is on!

They've Taken Over. Somebody Help Me.

Lord have mercy.

Makeup, toothpaste, squirt gun, hairbrush. Teenage girls have been here.

Tennis stuff everywhere. Teenage girls have been here.

Dirty dishes not done yet. Whose week is it? Teenage girls have been here.

Rock Band has overrun my living room.

HAS SCHOOL STARTED YET?

A Word about Being Healthy

I've been trying a couple of things I thought I'd tell you about.

When I was visiting in Indy, I had the pleasure of having coffee with my old friend Schmael. Schmael talked me into marrying my husband, and was always my run-off-and-have-fun friend during my college-ish years. He's a drug rep for GSK, so we affectionately refer to him as a Drug Dealer.

Schmael's wife is one of my good friends, and she has chronic migraines. So she's into all this health food stuff. She is my health food guru source. Also my homeschooling source.

So I was talking to Schmael at Starbuck's, and he told me that a long time ago he got rid of a chronic sinus infection with yarrow. Yarrow is a natural antibiotic, and has cleansing properties and is good for mucous membranes.

Apparently sinus infections are things you can have for years. Like, 20 years. Like, forever! Further reading on my part reveals that the Mayo Clinic now thinks that some of them are caused by fungus! But I digress.

So I got some yarrow capsules and am trying them. The bottle says to take something like 2 a day -- I'm taking about 5 three times per day. It will probably take several months, since I have had sinus problems since I was in my teens, and I am now 49. But I am going to keep at it.

The other thing I've been doing is taking Black Cohosh. I am just starting into that phase of life where unpleasant and uncomfortable things happen -- all assorted with that particular phase of life -- and Black Cohosh helps. I have some other things contributing to the symptoms I have. But the Black Cohosh capsules really seem to make a difference. They don't totally alleviate the symptoms, but I have to say that I'm noticing a marked difference in their frequency when I take the capsules on a regular basis.

All of these things I deal with work against me with regard to weight. I've had 5 kids, and I am the heaviest I've ever been -- I weigh more now than I did right after had my youngest child. You can say all you want about age putting weight on you. Folks, it all boils down to this: you gotta eat less and move more. And eat healthier. I weigh this much because I'm older, and not as active, and because I choose to eat the way I like to eat -- and not make the fitness of my body my main priority in life.

Plus I hate to exercise.

I bought Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" mainly because I am the chief picky eater in my household. I eat all sorts of things that gross other people out -- like broccoli, and brussel sprouts, and beets. But I hate lima beans and peas. And I love bread and sugar. I am hopeful that I will get myself and everyone else in this household eating healthier food with Mrs. Seinfeld's ingenius method of putting veggie purees into regular foods.

And this last thing will have you all laughing your heads off at me. I remember my grandparents having this stuff in the house, and everyone hating it, and me trying it and finding it not so bad.

I bought prune juice.

I actually like this stuff, and my digestive system is thanking me. I've always had trouble with digesting food because I like so much bready-sugary stuff. But the prune juice is a good things all the way around. So nuff said there.

I am desperately trying for this post not to be TMI, but rather helpful. So if you have any of this stuff, by all means don't go trying things without checking with a reliable medical source first to see if it will be ok for you to do.

Let me know if you try any of this stuff, and if it works for you. What else do you all do or take that benefits your healthy lifestyle? Do tell!