Playtime

Children learn by playing. They play out life situations and learn about relationships. They play with the materials around them and discover color, numbers, and letters. They learn engineering and physics though they won't understand it fully for many years, maybe never. They learn by playing with water, toys, dirt and food. They are amazed at our world and delight in discovery!

There are few people in this world that continue to play. They put aside play for the adult activity of work. Those who do play at their work love what they do and enjoy everyday playing for money. It is the envy of others to watch the smiles of those who love what they do! I wonder if it is possible to change our minds so that we can love whatever we do for work.

There is a scripture that tells us to do whatever we do as if we are doing it for the Lord. (see Col.3:23). Maybe in knowing we work for the Lord we can find excitement, joy and satisfaction that we found in play as a child. Certainly that would please God. He asks us to become like little children so we can inherit the Kingdom of God. Is He telling us to play for our inheritance? Maybe.

I have a wonderful cd with a recited poem that stirs a playful attitude in my heart. The cd is entitled City of Gold. It is all about heaven, and the poem I like best describes heaven as a playground. The last stanza speaks for all of us too proud to let ourselves become as one of Jesus' little children.

"I suppose I might be too tall for the entrance.
Ah, but Lord, chuck the rules in the bin.
If I am too large, tell the angel in charge
To let me bow down and come in."
by Adrian Plass (c)1997 Little Room Music (administered by IQ Music)

I suppose if we do not learn to work at our play and play at our work we will learn to do so in heaven. I look forward to that day!

Father of the little child within me, Thank You for encouraging me to play and delight in Your world. You have created a marvelous world to explore and enjoy! I am so sorry that I allow fear to rule my heart, stopping me from taking the risk of discovery. Though I know I might find You and even myself in the amazing playground here on earth, I am aware that my sin and the sins of mankind have polluted the experience. But I thank You for allowing Your light shine in this dark world. I want to find the joy and delight You have given for my enjoyment. Open my eyes and ears! Let me taste and see that You are good! Let me risk the touch of You in my life!

Cocoon Escape

I remember finding cocoons hanging from a branch of my favorite tree when I was young. I loved to tickle them and watch them squirm. I knew there was something alive inside, and I knew that if I was patient a butterfly would emerge someday. Recently I have witnessed the emergence of a beautiful butterfly in the disguise a friend.

I have known this friend for over fifteen years. In that time I have watched her struggle in her cocoon as a care giver for her husband. She was willing to die to herself so she could give him the care he needed. It is a beautiful love story. Her struggle was hers alone. I could be watchful and pray, but it was she, herself who was wrapped in the cocoon. As her husband walked closer to heavens' gate, she was changing, and I only hoped the change was good.

I wanted to help. I wanted to comfort, encourage and even understand, but like the butterfly in the cocoon, I could only see and understand a small part of what she was going through. Then it happened! In the release of her husband into the arms of God, she began to emerge.

My friend has struggled out of the confines of her bondage and has taken flight! She still misses her love and always will, but now her life is new! She learned to submit to God's will and timing through her confinement. She learned to allow His purpose for her life to be fulfilled. In all of the lessons learned she became a butterfly!

She now has a new purpose in Christ! She must fly and touch many lives with the message she was given in her cocoon. As I sat and watched, I have been encouraged that my cocoon will last only for awhile. Someday I will be released to fly and touch others for God in a greater way too! I must be patient! But I can't wait!

Mysterious Miracle Working God, You surprise us with resurrection power! You make Your ways known to us through Your creation! I don't like my cocoon. I have been comfortable here for awhile, but now I want out! I am trusting You to release me and help me fly! Thank You for Your wisdom and timing! Fill me with Your Spirit as I wait. I need Your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faith and self-control. Fill me! Use me!

Reflection

I have been admiring the moon these past few nights. It has been so beautiful! Lit with an iridescent glow, like a pearl sitting amongst diamonds on a dark blue velvet cloth, the moon slowly rolls up to the heights spreading the suns warmth into the darkness. Okay, so maybe it is beautiful all the time, but recently it has had an appeal for me that keeps me wondering and enjoying!

It is no mystery that the moon does not own its own light source. It is a simple orb gently encircling our earth. It is illumined by the sun and shines brightest in the dark starry skies of nighttime. Our moon was created to reflect the sun. Though it has little to offer in its own right, it has much to offer when revealing truth through its reflective properties.

We could learn an important lesson from the moon. We are created to reflect the light of Christ. We are meant to spread His light into a dark world. It is also true that when we allow the world to get between us and God we become caught in a shadow that lessens our impact in the nighttime darkness!

The moon has no choice in moving away from the shadow of the world. It repeats its lesson for us month after month, generation after generation. God reminds us continually about the shadows of the world and our created purpose of reflecting His beauty and glory so we will not forget. We do have a choice. Yes, the shadows loom large sometimes, but we can choose to stand in the light. We reveal our own truth in where we stand. I often told my children if they were sneaking or hiding what they were doing, it revealed that they knew they were wrong. In the same way when we hide away from the light by sitting in the shadow of the world, we are revealing the condition of our hearts. It is so much safer to be in the light!

Creator God, maker of our earth, moon, stars and sun, I praise You for the lessons You teach and reteach through it all! I forget so easily and fall into the shadows without thinking sometimes! Thank You for reminding me over and over that my beauty can only be revealed when You shine out to the world through me! Thank You for creating me to reflect Your glory! Continue to teach me through creation. I have many lessons to learn.

Message from God

Last week my dear husband, Patrick, had two encounters that were extraordinary. Twice he had complete strangers come to him and tell him that God loved him. No long conversation, just a simple statement that God loved him. These messages came at a time when he was down and needing encouragement and hope for the future. The messages were timely and certainly of God.

Could it have been angels who spoke to Patrick? It is possible. Were they simply followers of Jesus Christ who listen to the direction of the Holy Spirit? Again, it is possible. Whoever these messengers were, they did their job well.

The next question is could God use me, or you, to bring His message to a hurting, bruised or lonely heart? Yes, He could and does! The encouragement we receive from Him must be passed on to others.

How is God encouraging us today? Is He providing for our needs? Is He filling our lives with peace? Is He assuring us of His love? It is time to pass it on. It need not be passed only to a stranger. Families need God's message too. Children as well as adults and our seniors need to hear God's messages. Are we willing to be the messenger?

God, You are the Living Word and the Author of our faith! Our faith comes by hearing Your Word. You entrust Your servants to bring the message of Good News to the World. I ask Your forgiveness for the times I have been silent and kept the message to myself. Thank You for trusting me again with the message of Your love to the world. Teach me to be silent only before You, so that I might hear the Word You want me to speak. Give me boldness and may I speak with authority and truth to the people You love so much that You sent Your Son to die for them! I want to be Your messenger!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday! God has been pleased to give me another year of life on this earth. I am blessed to have 59 years of testimony of God's rich blessings. I pray that my life gives God glory!

This morning as I awoke to a new day and a new beginning towards another year of living, I thought that life is amazing! We celebrate each year heading toward a doorway that leads to eternal living! I am so happy to have Jesus' presence today and to be assured of His presence in the future!

Life is chosen. We choose life when we chose God's way of living. God gives and sustains life. We chose to receive and enjoy each day as it comes! For me there is no fear of death. Only life awaits for me when my days end. Today I will celebrate this day and all the past days I have been given. Today I rejoice in living and the blessings of lives that surround me with love!

Father of Life! Giver of breath and living water that sustains and transforms me, thank You for my life. Thank You for the lives of those who love me, including Your Son Jesus! I pray that my every breath will breathe in Your life so that I might exhale life into those who are suffering and dying without You! My life is Yours! In this I will be happy!

Rejection

Tuesday I attended the local National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) meeting. I am a member and proud to be a part of this prestigious group. The group is not just for writers. It includes musicians and artists. Our local group is primarily artists.

The speaker, Mary McBride, is a curator for a local art gallery. She shared her own creative talent for quilted crafts and her "Bear" poetry. She also shared some insight she has about rejection. Most art galleries accept submissions to be displayed through a process called jurying. A jury, consisting of various artists, will review the submissions and choose the ones that should be exhibited.

Mary shared that most jury members judge others work according to their own style and preferences. Prejudicial? Yes. For example, one juror she worked with chose only art work that contained circles and lines. Another would refuse any art that had purple in it because she hated the color purple. Mary effectively opened our eyes to understand that most rejection of our work is due to the prejudice of the one who is in the seat of judgment, not the quality of our work. Whether it be a written work, art, or musical score, we place our work before someone with a preconceived idea of what is good. The truth is we all look through prejudicial eyes. People judge others by faith, color of skin, education and a host of other prejudices. It is a human flaw.

In contrast to our human frailty of judging unfairly and with a closed mind, God judges rightly. His rule is true and honest. He includes every good work done for His glory to be prized in heavenly halls. We can trust Him with our honest efforts of creativity. It is only our rejection of Him that will be judged harshly.

God The Almighty Judge, you are truth and your scales of justice are fair and righteous. I want so much to judge others rightly, as You do. I find that I fall short of that desire when I look through prejudicial eyes. Thank You for revealing Your love to me and help me to love others like You do. Lord, I remember Amy Grants' song "Father's Eyes." Let me see with Your eyes and judge rightly or not judge at all!

Losing and Finding

It seems that our household is misplacing too many things lately. As we move things from one room to another cleaning up clutter we are moving things out of their normal, easy to find places. Not everything that goes missing gets found. When it does get found there is rejoicing.

Last night my daughter was looking everywhere for her ipod jack to sync her ipod on the computer. Her regular routine is to keep it attached to the computer until she brings her ipod to be rejuvenated. For some reason it was not where it was supposed to be. We moved furniture, looked through drawers, pretty much turned the room upside down looking for it! It was not to be found. We interrogated each of her girls but they insisted they had not removed it. Finally, Erin made her way to her husband and asked if he had seen it. Yes, he had. He had used it, wrapped it up neatly and put it aside where he knew where it was. Our rejoicing had a bit of frustration added in, but we were happy it did not need to be replaced.

When we live in relationship with others we often find that losing our things is a normal everyday occurrence. However, our possessions can be lost and replaced so much easier than our relationships! Losing a friend or a family member is tragic in that the unique person and their relationship to us can never be replaced. It is very important to keep our relationships healthy and if they become lost, to reach out and do our best to find them again.

When I lose my things I often pray and ask God to show me where they are. More often than not He leads me directly to them. He does care about our things. He cares about our world and wants us to care for our worldly possessions. He cares more, though, for our relationship with Him and with others. I must remember to pray when I lose a relationship too!

God went the extra mile to restore the relationship between us. He took the cross and made it the healing balm between us. Should we not do the same with those who have ought against us?

Forgiving Lord, You are our Savior. You are our healer. You are love! My flesh too often lets people slip away from me. I fail to humble myself to bring them back into right relationship with me. I too often want to be right! Thank You for Your humble example. Thank You for forgiving me! Thank You for restoring our relationship so that I can find what was lost through sin. Lord, hep me to lose myself and find the joy of togetherness!