Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Today

Hello world! Sometimes I wonder if I am just cruel to have a blog and not get on as often as I should to keep those few dear folks who read my banter, happy. Life is what it is here on Haywood and I have to just roll with things as they come. Our computer cord gave up the ghost and gave hubby a jolt, (that was something!) and we were away for Teen camp for a week. We are presently gearing up for ANOTHER week of camp, this time with the juniors. Isaac and Abbs are campers this time and Joel and I have waited and waited for the opportunity to be their counselors so we are pumped.

This summer has brought the celebration of Anna's 3rd birthday, Isaac's 10th and Alayna's first. Sometime I will post on what a round of emotions that brought about for me, Alayna's that is. There were things from her traumatic appearance that still needed healing from the Lord, things I still physically am rebounding from, and things I will never have answers for until I see the Lord face to face.

Today I breeze through all of the things that I have wanted to blog about and never had time to and sum them all up in this fashion.

God is good and life is sweet.

It truly is all about enjoying the trip as much or more than the destination itself. How many times have you had your sights set on something, feeling like once you have obtained that item you will feel some sort of contentment, only to discover that it didn't give your spirit something at all. It was just ANOTHER thing, or idea, or place, or moment, or in my case, food item. And for that matter many food items like freshly made cannoli's are adding something to me somewhere if you get my drift..... I digress.....

For a long time I just thought that I would have arrived if I just had....



wait for it...



wait for it...


I KNOW you will feel the same...







a



juicer.


Yep, there you go. A highway to happiness right there folks. SERIOUS as a heart attack I thought I would just feel better having one. I would juice my way to happiness and lose 10 pounds just by lifting it from under the cupboard and plugging the silly thing in. And of course you just never seem to have some secret financial stash that is labled, "For those things that will just insure happiness and bring complete fulfillment." So years went by and we never got one.


UNTIL...... someone gave us one. That's right, gave it to us, in all it's 200+ dollars worth of glory. I smiled, I wept, I stared at it like it was some relative that had just been released from years of work at a forced labor camp.

I brought it home, I used it, I got tired of it, and now it collects dust.

Feel free to insert the similar story of your own choosing to play in your mind at this very moment.... I'll go use the restroom, grab a snack and meet you back here in a few.....

A few weeks ago I found myself in a negative rut, waiting for the proverbial train to arrive in my life. Our pastor preached a message on the "Days of our Lives." I KNOW, can you believe it? I had no idea he even watched soap operas!!!!

(Sorry, I have this crazy humorous bent on life.....I just cannot help it.)

Ok so the sermon was really titled, "Day by Day." It really hit home for me and my proverbial caboose. I like to think in terms of "years." THIS YEAR we are planning on..... NEXT YEAR we will.... even LAST YEAR we..... but God emphasizes the DAYS of our lives instead of the YEARS of our lives. Start in Genesis and just count all the times you see the phrase, "all the days of..." I believe God places an emphasis on the days of people's lives in order to get us to do something with our days instead of letting our years pass us by.

Psalms tells us in the last verse of Psalm 24, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

Ps 27:4 also stresses days, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple."

My life verses are found in Lamentations 3:21-23, "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD‘S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

The sweet phrase "every morning" has been a life long encouragement to me, and possibly some of you who share my zeal for a brand new day at about noon when the laundry is about to swallow you up and two children have written on the wall.

I am thankful that He did not say His mercies are new every week or month, but every day. Stop and just rejoice over that one friends.

The bottom line is that how we live our days is how we live our LIVES.

I want to be a godly wife and mother. I want to be a blessing to others around me. I want to teach my children how to love God, accept His love to them and let that love change their lives.

I can sit and plan and concentrate my focus on the future and miss the day I have been given toDAY. Don't get me wrong, I am all for plannin'. I have a plan for every ounce of ground beef in my freezer and for the last few ounces of ketchsup in the container in the fridge that people keep trying to throw away! Why is that by the way? Don't they know I have a plan for it???

Just don't get so caught up in the mindset that I fall privy to so often. Don't plan your life and watch your days slip away. Have goals, but allow real life to change them, sleal them, and downright drag them through the mud if need be. Allow God to have all of you each and every day. All of your heart and soul and your mind.

Slow down, enjoy the little things like a grosbeak at your bird feeder. Hug your kids more, encourage them more often, make homemade pizza because it is more fun and worthwhile even if it isn't easier. Pray out loud with your kids anytime, anywhere. Try this is the supermarket line....you might just be ushered to the front and not have to wait so long..... (Ok a little humor.......)

Tell yourself whether the train comes, never comes or comes late, I will be happy. No amount of juicing, eating, playing or shopping will add an ounce to my contentment or fulfillment in this short life I have been given. I will be grateful, thankful and any other "Ful" that God ordains for me to be.

The best years of my life are these DAYS. They are days filled with garden weeds, leftovers, missing socks, no radio reception, crumbs in the couch, chipped eyeglasses and not enough kool-aid to make enough for everyone.

These are the best days.

These are the days I am going to look back on and smile over. Days that will keep me company when the devil attacks us. Days that will make me cry with thankfulness to God.

So if you do not see me here, I am just out livin'.

I hope you are livin' too.

And if you see my train come in for me, tell it I am busy and will catch the next one, will you?