Do you occasionally emerge from a situation — a conversation, a class, a conference… an experience — and say or think: Well, that was sure a waste of time or that was a wasted opportunity or that was a waste of money. We do say or think those things, from time to time, don’t we? What keeps us from saying that was a waste — or — what would keep up from saying or feeling that was a waste? As I’ve shared with you many times, I write a lot… I write in journals, I write on scraps of paper,…
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I just heard that phrase. It has nothing to do with anything in particular, but I was just thinking: doesn’t just hearing that phrase lift your thoughts? Imagine if you were to be shopping for groceries this afternoon and you were to overhear someone in the next aisle say: Things are looking up! You’d probably smile and think, my-o-my… I wonder what’s happening with her? What if your husband were to walk through the back doorway this evening and exclaim, Honey! Things are looking up! Or, consider hearing your son strolling into the kitchen announcing: Ma, things are looking up!…
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I know. I’d probably grimace if one of my kids started an essay: “Stuff’s going to work out.” But, it’s on my mind today: stuff — and how it works out. But I want to begin by saying: stuff’s probably not going to work out how you thought it would — or even how you hoped it would — but, truly, in the end, stuff’s going to work out. Last year, the year you’ve heard me describe as the most sorrowful year of my life, I heard a song… it was one of two songs that so resonated with me…
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It seems that at some point in the life of every blog there’s a post about blogs in general, about bloggers and why they blog or, specifically, a post about that blog and its purpose. I don’t know why we do it, but every now and then we do it – we feel the need to amplify our purpose or we feel compelled to justify or defend our writing. I love words. I love writing. I write all the time. I occasionally post a few of the things I’ve written. I have journals full of notes. I have folders full…
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Browsing through a bunch of papers and stuff… a slip of paper… the quote: “It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and Gods greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you’ve been through. –Wintley Phipps The paper is yellowed, the ink is smudged. I mull the quote over in my mind – having done so many times before, I reflect on what it’s meant to me – what it means to me today. I know it’d be real easy to just think on the first part… the crucible part…
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I smile as I look back and recall a blog entry I wrote on the 22nd of March called Springtime… seasons. At the end of that post I wrote: “… And I can truly say that God has had the sweetest surprises in store for me following some of the seemingly most barren seasons. Praise the Lord. He only does all things well. May I never take this for granted.” Additionally, in that post I included the lyrics of a song Spring Time’s Comin’ that’s surely become even more meaningful to me since that post was written — because just…
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To my precious children… how strange it is to be apart from you this day. How interesting that the Lord would, in His wisdom, goodness and mercy, have us to be a million miles apart on this day. But as I have held you in my heart from the day you were born, so also, I hold you in my heart this day. And I am missing you terribly. But I also know that the Lord is in the details, having orchestrated this whole trip, this is His doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. I genuinely rest in…
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An excerpt of my reading today, finishing the book of Joshua… in light of Mother’s Day tomorrow and in my absence, praying for my children. Joshua 23.6-24.15 6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; 7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:…
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Pools are forming around every tree as rain pours from booming thunderous clouds and lightning flashes across the already bright sky. Again hammering thunder and lightning booms and cracks across the sky… more rain now soaks everything in sight. Flashes of lightning seem to introduce more striking booms of thunder, ushering in more showers of rain. The breeze is fresh and aromatic, the greens, reds, yellows and whites are more brilliant, more fragrant, than earlier in the morning sunlight. The sheer curtains are billowing in the strong breezes. We’ve just finished another lunch on the lanai and we’ve been studying …
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Thirty three and a quarter years ago today, Wes and I were married in SanFrancisco. The glow we had that 4th day of February truly was the glow of love, but it was also the glow of a high fever — a fever that led us to go to the doctor for meds and a fever that led to us to cancel our honeymoon plans to go to Hawaii — to Maui. We’ve often commented over the years that we knew the Lord was in control of those plans — those cancellations — and had a better plan for us…