Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I want Microwave Spirituality


Yes! That's right. I want Microwave Spirituality. I do not want to wait for the oven to warm up, the bread to rise, the dish to bake. I want to hit the minute button and I want satisfaction, fulfillment and peace, and I want it now!



It's a catchy phrase. I admit, I like it. But can you get it? Is that instant gratification available from God? I think it might be.




Outreach update: in very vague terms of course: "Small group of people" ~ rockin' the town! Saving 67 families in one way or another from the forces against them at the time and helping to hold them together. Again, I can't go into details but just know that my small group of people is changing the world, one person at a time, they are healing the world, one heart at a time, they are healing themselves through it all.



Maybe Microwave Spirituality is not so far fetched after all.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Uphill


This morning, Saturday, a day off, I awoke earlier than usual. I simply despise "body clocks"...they are evil! But again, it is beautiful and my annoyance quickly turns to delight when I open all the curtains and see (just like every day) the most beautiful landscape in the world. My delight thickens knowing I can at least stay in my jammies as long as I see fit today. My husband left early this morning for competition and left the coffee pot half full and hot, another delight. I went upstairs, the view is better from the loft, and quietly planned the day out in my head-"first, blog, you didn't do it yesterday." (I had writers block yesterday.) Anyway, looking out, I realize, the view never changes here, technically, but every day it does look a little different. Different clouds, different light, sun rising at just a slightly different place on the mountain than it did the morning before. I cherish these moments. Especially because you never know when you may wake up to nothing but white falling from the sky and piled three feet high on the ground. Those are wonderful days too, just a different sort of wonderful.

I initially intended this blog be about a "small group of people" in a "small land-locked town". I had a certain group in mind but I found yesterday that I will have to expand it here and there. Still within the town though, of course. As you may have noticed, hope what at a minimum for me on Thursday. But once again, just when I thought there was no hope, someone comes along and proves me wrong and makes me feel like a dummy for thinking so in the first place. And I will admit, that I am okay with that. In your darkest hour, help appears, in some form another. Little by little it is for me. The road ahead is always long, always rocky in places, has many uphills, but for every uphill, there is a down hill, and the rocks can't go on forever. It is sometimes hard to always do the right thing but I'm here to tell you, it's the payoff in the end that matters and it's not hard to get!


Whether you turn to the left or the right, there is always a voice behind you saying "This is the way, walk in it"

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Inventory


I cannot lie...today was a terrible day. For many reasons and from many directions, today was a terrible day. I spend an very unhealthy amount of energy today just choking back tears. I will not go into it too much but the fact is that life is not fair and things happen to us that are beyond our control, no one is to blame, but we are sometimes just left to pick up the pieces anyway.

"All things shall pass."

Today, I also took inventory. I took inventory of myself and let me tell you, there are some overstocked shelves, some lacking shelves and some just plain empty shelves. This is good though. I am thankful for my full shelves, for I can share with others and I am humbled by my empty shelves, I will make a plan to fill them up again. It may take a while but I know that everything I need each day will somehow be there on those shelves when I go to reach for it. Even when I doubt, even when I do not know how to pray, somehow when I reach, something or someone, always quietly appears.
"We have so much room for improvement. Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory... of how we are taking responsibility." 

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Whispy...



This morning, as the dawn broke, there were some of those "whispy" clouds on the horizon. That's one good thing about it still being dark at 6:30 AM. "Whispy" kinda set the tone for the whole day. Full, clouded, unorganized, ever-changing, whispy. It seemed to be effecting everyone else too. The school bus drivers, my kid, the traffic light, the elk taking their sweet time crossing the highway while some hurried drivers honked and other "touristy" drivers scrambled for cameras nearly killing the rest of us. My desk awaited me, clean, as always, and the phone blinked "messages". Others amidst their own whispy lives, in need of a long list of things. Volunteers fluttered in and out. A family's home was saved today, we gave their daughter a doll, handmade with love. Every stitch pulled tight with a warm heart knowing each the finished dolls would provide comfort to a little person who's family was in crisis....hopefully she doesn't know it-her parents do though, it's hard for them to hide it from me. It's okay though, it will all be okay.


There have been times in my life that, on days like today, I would have found it hard to find anything in life to be thankful for. Sometimes, it is still a struggle. After all, it does seem that the cards are all stacked against us all of the sudden.


But I have the most the rewarding job in the world, a job that makes me more thankful every day. What is more rewarding than that?


I count my whispy days as blessings as well, they are all part of the plan.