Constructing the goal

Do you have a fun holiday memory?  Our trip to the Dallas area last month still makes me smile, yet maybe in an unsuspecting way.  We drove to visit family and offered to help assemble their new basketball goal.  Outside temperature was in the 30s, so we opted for opening the big box in the garage.  My brother led the charge, my husband collaborated on tools and problem-solving, and my nephews and I at different times stood near to await our assignments.  Actually the “stood near” part is a loose term because some certain nephews who remain nameless here seemed to have a knack for disappearing from the work site.  Nevertheless, this was the only time I could remember us building something together, so I was excited.  Soon I’m chuckling at how motley a crew we are.  Emanating from one side of the garage, distinct sighs of boredom set in.  From another direction, a complaint:  “It’s cold!”  With my brother staying studious to the manufacturer’s instruction sheet, my husband asked, “Hey, do you have a rat-tail file?,” to which one nephew answered, “I have no idea what these tools are!”  I then hear a reprimand to another nephew for playing on his phone.  An adult chimes in, “Uh-oh, we skipped a step.”  Another, “How far back do we need to go?”  And really I’m still chuckling today because the task blew everybody’s cover.  Beyond any dressed-up, cleaned-up holiday presentation and without the hype of any fancy vacation, this rather mundane task of assembling a basketball goal had opened a door that I loved.  To work alongside, to find common purpose, to realize in the end that you actually don’t want to quit, even lamenting “Oh, man, we’re just now getting the hang of this!” is a true blessing.  To have discovered each other’s mechanical talents (or lack thereof), to have trudged together through one of those beleaguered trips to the hardware store to buy an additional ¼-inch tool, and to have laughed at ourselves for the honesty that’s inevitable in daily chores is actually precious insight.  Psalm 84:10 reminds us, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”  It was a Christmastime gift I wouldn’t trade.  Thank you, Lord, for opening our eyes when You bestow blessings.  And thanks to my sister-in-law for hot chocolate, knit caps, and warm gloves that day.

Attention: Shoppers

How do you feel about giving gifts?  For me, it’s something I love.  It's also something that stresses me out.  Two weeks ago my husband and I stared down the task of preparing 16 gifts.  Though part of our family draws names for Christmas so that each adult gives only one gift, we still had a slew of birthdays to celebrate.  So I prayed, “Lord, show me through.  Lead me in this.”  After all, Christ tells us to not worry about our life and what we will eat, drink, and wear.  In Matthew 6:33, He says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  In case my family reads this, I won't give names of stores, but here’s the gist of what happened after I prayed.  On a Wednesday in the course of my usual day at a hospital, I stopped at a small shop.  To my surprise, I found 3 gifts.  The next day en route to visiting some pediatric patients, I came upon another small shop and happily found 2 more gifts.  Friday evening on a shopping trip with my husband, we found still 3 more, plus we ordered 1 from a bookstore due to a recent email ad I consider divinely inspired.  Then Saturday we found the remaining 7, all conveniently located in 1 store.  Add everything together, and within 4 days the Lord had pointed us to 16 gifts with very little effort outside the regular day.  Especially for anyone who stresses over gift-buying, this is an astonishing feat.  I kept hearing my own voice rattling in the air because it’s difficult to keep quiet when every bone in your body is utterly amazed.  In awe I stood and sat and knelt to pray, practically fidgety and unable to contain the joy.  It's an experience I love to relive, and so I pray for you too.  May the Lord give you His almost inexplicable joy for experiencing His presence.

Jesus & cookies

Today I’m so happy to host Christina Hoehn as guest writer.  I sat in her audience a few weeks ago as she shared these words at a cookie exchange.  Since then, she granted permission for me to post here, and I’ve edited only minimally in hope of you hearing her voice just the way she spoke to us.  The highlighting of verses and ingredients is simply to ease your referencing, in case you share with your group maybe on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve.  Now please allow me to introduce my friend Christina . . . **** You ladies may not know this about me but I love themes. For example if I'm making a meal, I think whats the theme? I'll decide on a picnic theme for example and start planning out the menu, burgers of course... In my world burgers can fit into any theme, I also need fries and fries fit any theme too... at least in my world. Now If I'm planning a party, I definitely need a theme, we'll go with Hawaiian, immediately I think cute little hula skirts, blue umbrellas, tiki torches. You see where I'm going with this. So when I asked to do the devotion for the cookie exchange, I immediately thought what's the theme? Of course it's cookies!!! Cookies...Wow, how in the world do I write a devotion about Jesus and cookies? This one ladies, had me stumped, maybe I could write about manna, that's kinda like a cookie, right? Well, I decided to keep praying and thinking about it for a few more days and as the days past the verse that kept coming back into my mind was PSALM 34:8 – “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We as Christian ladies know this verse, we memorize this verse, we can quote this verse, in fact a lot of us have this verse up in our kitchens, I know I do, it's right next to my spatulas. But the question I ask is, do we ladies live this verse? Do our lives make others want to taste God? Look at the cookies placed in front of you, how many of you looked at them and thought man that's a good looking cookie, or thought that chunky one, that's the one I wanna try, or, they smell so so good... Insert lip smack right here! Well ladies, we are like that scrumptious cookie sitting right there in that box and everyday people are looking at us and what do they see, what do they smell? Are we big and plump and smell heavenly? Or are we brittle and burnt and taste disgusting? Let's think about that while we talk about what it takes to make a cookie smell and taste so good. We all know that to make a cookie you need ingredients and guess what? Our lives need ingredients too! (1) First we need to pour in our eggs. Eggs hold everything together. COLOSSIANS 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” This verse tells us, God holds everything together. Do people see that in your lives? Do they see God holding you together when things get hard, when you get a bad report from the doctor, when you lose your job, when your struggling with your kids? Are people seeing you run to God or running away from God? Do they see you have your sufficiency and secure in the One who holds all things together? He makes the difference. We need to tell people and show people. It needs to be modeled in our everyday lives. Let us seek out others and tell them what God has done in us. Life will go up and down, the tide goes in and out but God remains the same forever. When we're under His care He holds EVERYTHING together. (2) After eggs, comes some sugar. With sugar you get two things, one you get the taste of sweetness and two, baking in the oven you get the aroma of sweetness. Who doesn't love that? EPHESIANS 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Some key words here are: be imitators of God and walk in love SO THAT we can be a sweet smelling aroma. And I'll add so we can smell like cookies... Personally I'd rather smell like a big juicy steak... But that's a whole other devotion. We need to be loving. We need to love the lost, love the broken, love the weary and love the lonely. We've all been there, we've all walked that road. We all have life lessons that we can share and relate to others with. Somewhere on that path God picked us up, dusted us off and put us back on our feet. It's time for us to help do the same for others, show them the love, someone showed us. When Wes Bentley was here he said something that struck my heart, let me share it with you. He said "take people into your lives, into your families, into your homes, take the oddballs, the ones that aren't so cute, the unloveable ones, look for the ones no one is ministering too." That quote right there sums up love. Our love to the lost world is the sweet sugar in our cookies. (3) Now it's time to add some flour. Adding flour to our mix gives our cookies substance. HEBREWS 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” How does our faith come across to others? Is our faith like that tree that's planted by the water? Strong and solid? Or is our faith like reeds that blow back and forth in the wind? Are we that wishy washy person that can't make up their mind? Our faith should not be blowing around at every thing that comes our way. Stand firm in your faith, stand firm in knowing all that Christ has done in your life. Live a life that shows others the solidity you have in Him. (4) After our flour we pour in a little baking powder, now baking powder helps lighten the dough, but for us it means we help lighten the load for others. GALATIANS 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” This verse tells us that we should be helping to carry each other's load. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means that we should be available to each other by making time to pray with someone, perhaps grabbing a coffee with a friend or even someone you don't even know, calling someone up to see how they are doing, or sit with a crying friend. It means sacrifice a little of your time to be like Aaron and Hur. Do you remember what they did? In Exodus the children of Israel went into battle against the Amelikites and God had Moses stand there for probably what seemed like an eternity but He had Moses stand there with his arms raised up. As long as his arms were up the Israelites were winning, but as his arms lowered the Amelikites would start to win the battle. Well Aaron and Hur went along side Moses and helped him by holding Moses's arms up, talk about a heavy duty task. They could of easily been like PSH, uh no, it's hot outside and there's flies everywhere and my arms and feet will get tired and I'm a little hungry. But they didn't do that. They stood right next to Moses and battled along side with him. That ladies is an incredible example of lightening each other's loads. Btw, this doesn't mean be a doormat for everybody. Pray, use discernment, and see how God wants to use you. (5) Time to add a pinch of salt. A pinch goes aloooooong way. Two things we know about salt. One its a disinfectant and two it's a preservative. MATTHEW 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Plain and simple, We need to be salt that rubs up against the broken flesh of this world. We shouldn't be distancing ourselves from people that need us. Ladies we need to be the light that is shining in the dark corners of the world. I heard it once said that "what we need is separation with contact without contamination." Let me say that one more time. What we need is separation WITH contact WITHOUT contamination. What does that mean? It means Be in the world but not of it... Be Set Apart but always be leading others to Him. (6) (7) We have two more key ingredients to add to our mix, vanilla and chocolate chips. I decided to put these two together because vanilla keeps our cookies from being bland and chocolate chips make cookies fun and both point to an exciting and enticing cookie or in our case an exciting and enticing life. PROVERBS 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” A lot of people live their lives thinking being a Christian is boring. Can you blame them? Look what they see on TV, read in magazines, see in some of our lives. But ladies being a Christian isn't bland or boring. Being a Christian is like those chocolate chips in a cookie, once you bite into it, you wish you had bit into the chocolate sooner. Show the world you CAN be a Christian and have fun, in fact it's like medicine for your body. Let the joy that's overtaken you ooze out onto them because Proverbs tells us a lost soul has dried bones. After all these ingredients have been mixed together our little dough balls get baked in the oven. Now ovens have to produce heat, in order to get beautiful cookies. It's the same for us, our lives are going to face the Refiners fire. But remember this... when the fire in your life is the hottest, stand still, for later on it produces a harvest and then we will be able to say with Job, “When he tested me, I will come forth as gold” (JOB 23:10). So ladies, as we go throughout the day, the week, the month and the year, let us remember to look at the ingredients in our lives and see where we need to add a little more to our mixture because we want to make sure that our lives are Taste and See.. worthy. ****

Radiant at Chick-fil-A

Question:  How does the Lord’s light shine through people?  Answer:  Visit Chick-fil-A.  One Saturday afternoon, the Lord introduced me to a man.  My husband and I entered the restaurant while this man talked at the door with some ladies.  Such contagious laughter drew me to glance a second time, and instantly I noticed his smile that beamed so far and so wide.  Even more, he seemed to honestly care for these ladies in a way that intrigued me.  Minutes later I saw the man more closely when he approached our table to offer a drink refill.  My husband handed him the single cup we shared, yet the man returned with 2 cups.  “My boss says people are important,” he grinned.  In that moment, my whole body paused to recognize the wisdom in his words.  Therein lay the reason his smile radiated so brightly.  So truly joyful was he in the moment and so content in his manner that I soon realized my eyes releasing tears, and I wondered why.  His thoughtful interaction with people and the ease with which he moved about—he portrayed a genuine love of life that lifted me out of our more commonly cynical world.  I regularly ask the Lord to impart to me His love of people.  I don’t know exactly what that love always looks like, but meeting this man gave me a good glimpse.  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  And  I welcome His light to shine in my heart, both for my sake and for the sake of those I meet.  I sit to imagine what God’s glory looked like to shine over Bethlehem all those years ago.  A star that led people to know the purest of love.  A star that shines still now in the hearts of men.  May He shine His light upon you today.  May He shine through you.  Merry Christmas.

The weight of holiday

My December 25 had a few hiccups.  Conversation was good.  Tamales and queso were good.  Laughter was plentiful and good.  But there were some moments when temptation pulled me back.  Glimpses of past sin ran amok.  On the outside, I smiled, and I truly loved every minute I spent with my daughters.  On the inside, doubt began to brew.  Doubt as to whether I had a right to any ounce of goodness in this world.  Doubt as to whether joy and laughter with my kids should be mine to experience at all.  Thoughts flitted and swirled and sucked me into a hurricane of guilt.  Slowly I sank underneath the weight of divorce.  But right there, the Lord came to my rescue.  He led me to Psalm 103:12, which says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  And His voice rang like a trumpet loud and clear.  The air became clean and crisp, and I could breathe.  The Lord won.  My sin would not steal my joy.  And this year how wonderful was Christmas Day to know the Lord’s love.

Cheated by a wife

“Ever since my wife cheated on me . . .”  That’s what this guy said yesterday as he entered the bus.  The guy stepped inside, paid his fare, and finished telling his buddy the story.  He made no attempt to gloss over the fact that life holds pain.  And hearing him talk made me think.  What do we do with our pain?  Even children on a playground don’t like to be cheated.  Somebody overstays their turn on the monkey bars, and the kids in line race off for a teacher to plead their case.  It’s like playing Monopoly and realizing the banker isn’t honest.  We scream, stomp, throw, and pitch fits, but in the end, where are we?  Psalm 68:19 says, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”  God actually invites us to lay our burdens upon Him.  Hand our pain to Him, and let Him carry the weight.  Even if my eyes shed buckets of tears in the process, I want to ask Him to cleanse me.  In fact, crying does wonders to soothe tension.  And if a hangnail can nag me into being mad at the cat and grouchy at my husband, then I can afford no room to harbor big pain, small pain, or anything.  Please know, dear reader, how I prayed for you today to find refreshment in knowing Jesus Christ in a new way.  May this Christmas be wonderful because we experience His power to heal.

Paper angels & a ukulele

A ukulele, a flute, a wooden recorder, and some songbooks.  My most portable, kid-friendly music stash, all stuffed into one of those pull-carts on wheels.  It’s funny that I can hardly play the ukulele, yet it still tossed into the cart.  All this simply because I was curious.  I had learned about the Strong Foundation through the church that I study with during the week.  Our group of ladies had been asked to adorn with paper angels a large wreath that would hang in the church foyer.  Each angel held the name of a child who temporarily lived at the Strong Foundation, and each was available to be adopted for Christmas gift-giving.  That was my first acquaintance with the name Strong.  At home a few days later, my husband called to me from the kitchen, “Here’s your flier from church about the Strong Foundation.”  Yet I knew the church didn’t give out fliers.  What he found was an info sheet that had come in a mailbox packet of ads mostly for lawn care and carpet cleaning.  The 3 words Strong Foundation Ministries at the top had caught my eye, so I kept the sheet to remind me to look up their website.  So twice now, on separate occasions, the name Strong had garnered my attention, and I began to wonder if the Lord might be at work.  The next Monday I dialed up the Strong Foundation to see if I could volunteer somehow.  In retrospect, I wonder now if at least subconsciously I may have doubted.  After all, what’s the likelihood the staff there would have an idea ready for some unknown lady on the phone?  But in reality the staff member who answered did in fact offer that I could come the next day to entertain the preschoolers while their moms unloaded a food truck.  Right there my heart did one of those ecstatic leaps of near-disbelief.  Tuesday came, and I wheeled in my music stash, and we sang and played and acted out songs.  The kids smiled to exaggerate the hand motions for “Deep and Wide” and somehow loved to pretend we were rowing a boat as we sang a whole bunch of tunes.  One little boy chose to stand in the center of the room in order to strum the ukulele and compose an original song about all the friendly animals painted along the walls.  Being there that day felt very much right.  I had dialed the phone because I didn't want to risk missing the Lord, just in case He had something in mind for me.  Following Him does indeed give the deepest and widest of joys, just like the song says.

Unblurred by Linus

Poor Charlie Brown.  He’s always in trouble with somebody.  People tell him he’s hopeless and dumb.  Lucy’s always calling him a blockhead.  The other kids chime in and laugh, and I feel for him.  At Christmastime, he’s on a mission to find a tree for the school play, and in frustration he throws his hands in the air and pleads, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”  Young Linus drags his blue blanket to center stage and gives answer by reciting from the book of Luke.  Having found new inspiration, Charlie determines that despite public complaint and despite widespread commercialism, his bare little tree with the falling-off needles can serve well for the play after all.  But his attempt to add even a single red ornament causes the tip of the tree to droop over and hit the ground.  And right there is where I love Charlie Brown.  He droops, and his tree droops, and I droop at times.  I love Charlie because we row the same boat.  Charlie and I walk the same road.  We both need Jesus, and we both have a lot to thank Him for.  I thank the Lord for giving us a clean lens when our vision blurs.  I thank Him for lifting us out of the holes we dig ourselves into.  I thank Him for adorning us with unique and undeserved ornaments that reflect the brightness of His light.  I thank Him for sending us people like Linus who encourage and remind and lend love all-around.  And I thank Him for loving us first.  And for the talents of Charles M. Schulz and the purity of his cartoon message that I’d forgotten until my husband reminded me this year, I thank the Lord as well.  Sounds like good reason to celebrate.  Maybe just for fun a full-fledged round of the Snoopy dance.

Dancing at Christmas inside my shoe

As I sat in the dining hall of an assisted living center last week, two ideas came to light.  First, the Lord does give rest to the restless.  Second, we never know exactly how our connections will connect.  Last Thursday, in the midst of a Christmas dinner that hosted all ages and all makes and models of dress, hairstyle, and humor, my role was simply to play oboe.  I had been invited by some friends who play violin and guitar, and every moment of the evening proved to be blessing.  We saw a little girl in a red velvety dress and white ruffly socks and chuckled over her constant voice that wouldn’t relent on seeing Santa.  I met a resident there who retold with fondness the story of her daughter playing oboe decades ago.  We smiled to reminisce with a man who wanted to talk '70s music and Jethro Tull and all his flute-playing.  And from across the room, I fell in love with a lady who paused from some scrumptious-looking potatoes on her plate in order to gladly give the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” her full cooperation.  Indeed it was a privilege to serve.  And though many thanked us for playing, I in turn was thanking the Lord.  The blessings were especially sweet because lately I’ve been a bit puzzled regarding some issues of music.  Bunches of ideas have bounced around in my head.  Yet in the midst of playing these Christmas carols, my heart held no room for anxiety.  No room for “Why this?” or “Why that?”  No room for question or doubt or any of those negatives that creep in and tilt us off-center.  Simply it was a fullness of heart that felt pure and right and of God.  And I was reassured and blessed.  And then came that second idea.  When recounting the steps that led up to my playing that night, I was humbled.  I first met my violinist friend more than 5 years ago through our previous Sunday congregation.  I met our guitarist friend a couple of years later while playing a Christmas Eve service.  Since then, we’ve played and sung a variety of weddings, receptions, and coffeehouses.  Yet in the beginning I didn't know we would ever connect beyond church.  It’s a reminder to take great care in the way we relate to people.  Don’t overlook anyone.  Could the new person I meet at the dentist office become a wonderful friend?  Could the Wal-Mart cashier become a ministry co-worker?  What about the lady at the bus stop?  The man on the street?  This whole evening, my heart brimmed with joy for having gained a fresh glimpse of the Lord’s larger view.  To ponder how intricately He orchestrates our comings and goings, my heart was content.  And though I stayed seated to finish playing the carols, a party of streamers and confetti was showering down inside my heart, and my big toe danced one of those quiet celebrations inside my shoe.

Mysterious & musical

It was a meandering path that began with a piano lesson. A friend came to the house and during his lesson asked for names of pianists to whose music he might enjoy listening. Because piano players are not always piano listeners, I couldn’t think of too many names to suit his listening, but as I talked later to another friend, she gave me the name Fernando Ortega. I ordered Ortega’s Hymns of Worship CD from the library and discovered some wonderful tunes, though I noticed more his whole musical arrangements than specifically his piano. Meanwhile I listened to another artist on a different CD whose one piano track was followed by an oboe piece that encouraged me to reopen my oboe case that had been sitting idle on the coffee table for several months. Returning to piano, in the course of renewing the Ortega CD at the library, my husband and I continued listening to it and began toying with a guitar/oboe/voice version of “Creation Song.” The more I listened to Ortega’s music, the more I did become curious specifically about his piano. And here I sit today very much blessed to play the piano accompaniment to “Sing to Jesus” because my husband gave me an Ortega songbook for Christmas. That’s an interesting series of steps, all rooted in someone else’s piano inquiry that’s yielding wonderful blessings to me. Once again, the Lord’s mysteries I do love.

More than Santa and cascarones

What a privilege.  I met some children who said the word Easter reminded them of eggs and bunnies, especially those eggs we call cascarones that are refilled with surprise confetti.  The occasion was an opportunity to talk about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  More than once, I’ve met children who thought Santa Claus was born at Christmas.  On those occasions, it was an opportunity to tell about Jesus’ birth.  Each was an unexpected conversation that brought the utmost delight. . .  To speak the name of Jesus our Christ is a humble honor.  When my heart flutters to realize an open door for conversation, I silently ask the Lord to lead. . . May you be blessed to seek His pleasures first.

Pure Jesus

A photo of a Santa hat.  A list of suggested amounts of cash.  “Holiday tip guide,” the headline read.  Then the TV lady said Christmas was about decorating.  And then there was the song playing overhead about sleigh bells and snow.  And still there is the steady stream of news reports concerning families’ crippling financial debt due to excessive purchases.  Ugh.  Sometimes I enjoy regular days more than holidays.  At Christmastime, the misguided aspects of our world seem to magnify, and I need to step away from it all.  So when intercoms sing about Jack Frost and chestnuts roasting, and when retail customers cram doorways and trample each other, and when choir programs highlight cute, little, red-nosed Rudolph instead of Jesus’ birth, I seek the Lord to impart His purity.  Matthew 1-2.  Luke 2.  They take me to Jesus.  It is for all our misguided notions that He came to this earth.