A Smattering of Thought

Wow…it has been a while since I’ve written a post, I am a huge slacker!!  I have started several times to write an update, pen something profound or even a try my hand at a limerick, but to no avail, nothing! I have recently been reading a book with some friends called Love Does by Bob Goff.  It is a very easy read with lots of stories and keeps you very engaged.  The premise of the book is really about acting out God’s love in the world around us, through involvement, relationship and interaction.  A life lived with large amounts of “whimsy”.  I love words!  For those familiar with the love languages, one of my main ones is words of affirmation.  I keep meaningful cards from friends and family, I like to speak truth into people’s lives and even write out prayers at various times in order to make them seem more meaningful or permanent.  Therefore, when I read books, I am all about the words.  I ingest them like morsels of food, chew...

A long hallway... Many doors... A variety of choices... Can I put my ear to the door to determine what could be on the other side? What if I lie down and look under the door, will it help me choose? Do I feel...    Restless?    Scared?    Confident? Or am I standing in the middle of the hall like this picture with my arms raised high to worship the One who placed me in the hall? In all honesty, I may be in the hallway a long time.  That time-frame is not determined by me.  The options behind each door are evasive and unknown, and there is a part of me that does not care.   If my heart is focused on worshiping and surrendering to my God and Savior,  does it really matter what's on the other side?  My response to the joys/pains/struggles/victories that are behind each door will be determined by my attitude while I stand on the outside. What about you?  How will you spend your time in the hallway?

Single circles. Intersecting circles. Combined circles. Circles have been on my mind for a few weeks. {No, my life is not running in circles, although I feel that way at times.}  We recently had a women’s conference at our church that used circles as its focal point as a picture of the beginning of revival…the individual.  If we want to see change in the world around us, we had better be willing to be the first changed.  Hard.  Painful.  Freeing.  Scary. This first step is so important regardless of the pain it may cause.  See, we are not supposed to stay the same as we were a year ago…we are called to grow, change.  To be transformed by God through the renewing of our mind found (Romans 12:2).  This transformation is unlike the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, it requires work, effort, tears, and surrender.  However, unlike the caterpillar, we are not alone in our cocoon waiting for transformation.  Whew!...

Life around us swirls with activity.  If you were to stand on a busy sidewalk in the middle of Chicago you would feel the rush of busyness.  The crush of people and the quickness of their pace will literally blow your hair back. Always something to do, somewhere to go, someone to visit/help, some organization to volunteer with, a blog to write, a craft to make, exercise, shopping, coffee dates, Bible study, church activities, school functions, etc.   Life is busy .  Striving to maintain a household is busy enough without having to add more (and I only have one person to take care of).  Many of these activities are worthy, important and necessary, however, there comes a time with a line in the sand needs to be drawn.  This little word with power has slowly crept back into my vocabulary has given me freedom again.  It is not lengthy and will certainly not gain you many points on Scrabble or Words with Friends, but it is equally liberating and scary. ...

As we approach summer, plants are nestled into the dark soil, seeds are pushed deep below the surface and pesky weeds are plucked & tossed.  Similar to this process, we were placed by God's design into the sphere {garden} of influence we now occupy. As followers of Christ we want to flourish and we want to grow.  Unfortunately there are times when along with the good seeds there are some seeds of dissatisfaction that get dropped.  We begin to see that the tomatoes have a trellis to climb or that the strawberries can fan out over the ground and here we {I} am just a carrot who gets to pop my little green sprout up just in time to be plucked from the earth. Often these seeds of dissatisfaction can almost look like good things.  The fact that I am unmarried when I desire to be married.  To be joined to another person so that life can be lived together, challenge each other, spur each other on.  The fact that I do not have children a...

View of women Today’s blog may be a little heavier than yesterdays…not really too hard to accomplish! Throughout the past five years I have been amazed as the view of women has changed and how it has been shaped mostly by media and popular opinion.  Both inside and outside of the church. The first question I hear is,  “why does it matter? Aren’t we supposed to be evolving with the culture?”   While these questions may sound innocent enough…the damage they can do to is enormous! This link is the True Woman Manifesto published by Revive Our Hearts Ministry.  The one phrase that speaks to me is … "As a christian women, we desire to honor God by living  counter-cultural  lives that reflect the beauty of Christ and His gospel to our world." The aspect of this statement I like and dislike is “living countercultural lives”.  I agree wholeheartedly with it, but there are days when I just don’t feel like swimming upstream anym...