Have you noticed........

The weather is beautiful ..........on the day I have to work.
Skinny girls seem to be able to eat all they want, I eat one piece of chocolate and it goes straight to my - well, backside!
When the last of the lawn is mowed the first part has grown a foot.
Your children cant hear their cell phone to answer when you call, but they respond to a text.
The vehicle that goes ten miles under the speed limit with no possible passing zones only gets in front of you when you are late.
A good hair day usually occurs on stay home days.
That stuff in the miracle little bottle that promises to fill in all your wrinkles IMMEDIATELY with pictures of real women on the box - doesn't!
Ice cream tastes best at 9pm.
Grandchildren run faster the older I get.
The hours in each day are shorter and my desire to accomplish things cant keep up.

The drive to work gives you lots of time to pray and reflect on the beautiful weather.
Skinny girls will never know the sheer elation of secret chocolate.
I praise God for a riding lawn mower and a husband who says he likes to do the riding of the thing.
My child, though deaf to my ring tone, is healthy and answers my text with a note that says he loves me.
I can learn to pray for the person driving the vehicle but not half as hard as I pray for a chance to pass (sorry)!
Good hair days are a reminder that I have great hair even when it has a mind of its own.
My face has earned every wrinkle and crevice but would gladly offer to allow a plastic surgeon to camouflage some of my experience.
Ice cream is its own food group and should be consumed daily. But it still taste best at 9pm.
If I cant run as fast as the grandchildren, I can either send the dog to fetch them back or pray they run out of steam before I do. Not likely but I will continue my delusions, thank you very much.
The shorter hours in each day and my list of things to try remind me to treasure each day and make wiser choices in how I spend them - I still want to sky dive but will save that for Heaven cause these knees - well, I better save them for chasing grandchildren, opphs, there she goes....see you later...............racing on........................

This mornings prayer

The Bible study I am working in right now has a focal Scripture each day and a prayer. The one this morning was incredible.

Dear heavenly Father, instill Your Word deep in my being. Let Your truth permeate my being and become truth and life to me. Let the words of Scripture bubble up in my thinking all day long and become actions taken and words spoken. Let all I do, and I say, and all that I am emerge from the ground of Your powerful Word at all times. Amen.
from Preparing for Battle: A Spiritual Warfare Workbook by Mark Bubeck

As I read and prayed this am I thought, WOW, can I be like this? What a miracle of grace that would be. For me, warts and all, to literally have God's Word so deeply implanted and growing that it spills out in every situation - WOW! Only a miracle of God's grace can allow a woman like me to bow at His feet and be used as His willing servant. May it be so! WOW!

What we have been missing

The past week has been an absolute whirlwind. After three long years I completed graduate school. No small thing at my advancing age (ok, Im not THAT old). The days leading up to graduation were a blur. So many things to get done, my program was on line so attending and presenting my gradute project was about an eight hour drive each way. Practicing the presentation, making sure that my poster was right and that I had a way to make it stand up - thank God for foam board and those handy 3M removeable stick on strips. It all went very well and then the let down........
Why do we do that to ourselves? WOW - I was so tired that I could barely put one foot in front of the other Monday. That is no exaggeration. Amazing what 9 hours sleep will do and knowing that at least for three days I didnt have to study. Only go to work. Still have to prepare for a national certification exam so there is probably two more months until we can say the magic six words we have been savoring for what seems like forever: when Mom gets out of school.....
The list is endless. The house needs to be painted, outside work abounds, so much has been left undone for three years.
Did I hear someone say that I should take the time to relax? Uhhh let me think about that. I like to relax, its really fun. My favorite spot is anytime I can sit and look at the ocean. Hard to do when you are land locked though. And I have paint chips to decide on, classes I really want to teach for our staff and things I havent done these years that are calling my name. So when I get to heaven, I will rest, and if that isnt the plan, I will have a new body to work in. That works.
In the meantime, can you take a look at those paint chips for me, I have to get back to the books for at least a few weeks longer............ Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

The girls in our lives

For years I worked with children in our church. Changes in my life moved me to a new church and I haven't gotten that involved in work there yet. But God has this interesting sense of humor. I've never really liked working with women that much - sorry ladies - but face it a lot of the members of our sex are a wee bit difficult a big part of the time. I am just not into drama and hysteria and irrational moments or whining (much) or yelling (I really dislike yelling) and so when God started moving all these young women into various circles of my life - I really like them and for some really strange reason they like me. I mean face it - I've already told you I'm not funny. I'm not thin and cute or even perky. But they like me, arthritic knees and all. How weird is that and how wonderful!
That a lovely young woman would ask if I could be her Mom for a talk or would I disciple her or can we talk about............. - that is huge. God is laughing but He is also watching. Who am I? The queen of having messed it up - more than once thank you very much!
What if I do it wrong? Say the wrong thing? Offer the wrong words or get tired and grumpy - I do grumpy real well.
God reminds me that He has called me to be faithful. In each situation, it is so much fun just to be with the girl or communicate on line. It is good medicine for me, actually manna for the soul. The lovliness of their hearts and the desire to make right choices - wow, find me faithful, Father.
Perhaps someday I can tell you about them all but right now let me share three: for a number of years I have prayed for three young women who are married to awesome young men and they have been unable to have children. It's the craziest thing - what incredible parents they would be! They have done the infertility thing, months have turned into years now - within the past three months, two of these couples have their first child!!!!!!!!!!! Rejoicing? Oh yes we are.
But I'm still praying and waiting for #3 cause I know that I know that I know - there is a baby coming and that is going to be a WOW day beyond WOW days!
I really am learning to like women -guess who has changed?
Change our hearts, Father, find us faithful to Your call and Your ways.
Rushing ahead................................

It is a beautiful morning on the Oklahoma prairie. The wind is blowing, it is cloudy, the trees are getting green and my flowers show promise of living past the storms of last week. Of course, in Oklahoma we know that can all change in five seconds and - surely there will be no more snow this year!!
My dog, that rascal yellow lab named after one of our favorite foot ball teams, Sooner, is treeing squirrels and barking himself silly. He stands at the bottom of the tree and barks like crazy then takes a break to look at the squirrel as if to invite him down to play. Sure!! They don't fall for it. Then its back to barking. Sometimes it takes him awhile to figure out that the squirrel has hopped branches and is in the tree behind him, laughing at the silly land bound creature.
I know there are lots of mental and spiritual implications in all of that story. But today, I'm kicking back, at least in my head, and enjoying the beauty of the day and the simplicity of home and life.

Raking Leaves With Grandma's Broom

Watching my grand daughter work so hard in my yard was a delight but she also made me think of how often we get stuck in a rut. Would you have thought to rake leaves with a broom since big brothers had all the rakes? Of course it helps that Grandma has an outside broom and is good with the idea. It is just a broom.
What is it I miss everyday because with age and routine I don't see that brooms can 'rake' leaves? Tomorrow I will try to see with her eyes and recapture the wonder of everyday things. Things like my dog - he can shake hands! The baby calf running in the pasture - all legs and awkward newness! As I drive to work - how does the traffic light know it's my turn to go? I know there are electronics and gizmos and such but it's fun to just pretend it knows that I am there and would change - just for me. Silly, yet simple. The delight of people we can watch, the stories we can concoct in our brains and perhaps, just perhaps you will rake leaves with something exciting like --- a broom.

I am hacked or maybe should say have been abused by a hacker

Can any of you explain to me how hackers do what they do? No, probably better for me not to know. It's way over my head and makes me sort of angry. I'm trying to remember to err on the side of mercy as I have been taught - but this one hit too close to home. I dont need to go into this too terribly deep for you to get the gist -but enough to tell you to change all your passwords especially if you use facebook. And go into settings on FB and make sure everything is marked so that only your friends can see anything. Not friends of friends or everyone etc. That will help a bit but in this case, not.

Long story short, someone became friends of a friend by looking at another persons friend list, finding her name, sending her a friend request stating he was friends with 'XYZ' who was her friend so he okey'd him. He hacked her personal email, facebook account, phone and has been harrassing her. Today he began to send messages to her friends that were very upsetting - it has been bizarre. It will get straightened out with the help of law enforcement BUT go check your security settings and passwords. And if you have kids, make sure they change theirs also.

It is a strange world out there. Probably good for me to be reminded occasionally that I need to be a littel more security concious. Not pretty. So I think this falls under the category of 'racing ahead' - sure isnt 'kicking back' is it?

Im sure there is a lesson of great importance in this for us. But tonight I need to pray and think on it. I feel a little like David facing Goliath. How do you deal with someone who is so irrational and twisted as to do the things this person has done. Some of the messages were very ugly. In I Samuel 37:45 David told Goliath, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javeline. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied". And you know what happened after that.
So perhaps we cant pick out five smooth stones, rock this guy and chop off his head but perhaps there will be legal connections that will put someone in his life to make a difference. I will pray and err in mercy in that direction. He is a sick young man who needs healing - mentally and spiritually.
To quote a wonderful friend, "Run to the battle". Tonight it will be in prayer.