Saturday, January 22, 2011

Life is but a breath of God

Life surrounds me.

Death surrounds me.

The presence of God surrounds me.

Then the LORD God formed a man 
from the dust of the ground 
and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
and the man became a living being. 

Comfort, comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
   that her sin has been paid for,

“All people are like grass,
   and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
   Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   but the word of our God endures forever.”

You who bring good news to Zion,
   go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
   lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
   say to the towns of Judah,
   “Here is your God!”
See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
   and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
   and his recompense accompanies him.  
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
   He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
   he gently leads those that have young.  

With whom, then, will you compare God?
   To what image will you liken him? 

“To whom will you compare me?
   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
   Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
   and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
   not one of them is missing.
 Why do you complain, Jacob?
   Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
   my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint. 

(Excerpts from Isaiah 40)

Life is but a breath of God.

Be comforted today by the One who is the very Breath of Life.

Monday, January 17, 2011

It the Tree's Knees!

Living in South Louisiana, I am constantly surrounded by some unique, beautiful, and intriguing creations of God.

One of these I have witnessed many times in several southern bodies of water such as lakes or even swamps.  But in my own neighborhood?  Not until now, at least.  (and I don’t live in a swamp…)

Ambling along through Narnia the other day with my five-year-old son…

Wait—did I throw you off with “Narnia”?  Yes, as in The Chronicles of Narnia.  Of course, where else would we be after we passed through an imaginary wardrobe and came out near a real lamp post along a path in our neighborhood?  See?

And you thought I was crazy…

To confirm that I really am not crazy, you can finish reading this post on Faithful Feet, the blog on which I posted it in its entirety. :o)  See you there!  And leave your thoughts on it here and/or there...would love to hear someone say I am not crazy...or maybe you think I am...oh well.  ;-)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

What if...God said it and it is true!?!

What is truth?

How can you be sure?

These are some common questions of our day.  We as humans often struggle with truth.  In reality, however, I think the reason we struggle so much with truth is that we don’t want to believe it.

Tough thought, I know.

If you want to know more about my thoughts on this, check out the rest of my post on "What If..."

If you do stop by there, leave me some feedback about your own thoughts on this.  You know I would love to hear them.

See you there!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Intentional

Be intentional.

Make intentional decisions, lest you inadvertently make unintentional ones whose affects on you can be devastating.

After all, to not decide...is to decide.

Intentional.

This word has been floating around in my head for several months now.

It first stood out to me when I heard Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine discussing "Legacy" on their radio show, FamilyLife Today.  Dennis said that when his son was asked what one word he would use to describe his father, his answer was "intentional."

How about you?  Can you be described that way?
At times, maybe I could be, but not as a majority.

Deep thoughts of this word resurfaced recently when I happened upon a blog post in which the author, Alece, is leading a second annual "one word" for the year.  This year is, of course, "One Word 2011." 

So, she put forth a challenge for anyone who wanted to consider it to come up with your "one word" for 2011.  Maybe what you want to be, what you want to do, but whatever the case---find and claim your "one word."

Immediately, I knew what my "one word" would be. 

So, here I tell you that, as of today, I plan to be INTENTIONAL in 2011.

No longer will I just do things, say things, spend time and/or money without a purpose or intention.

I want to be INTENTIONAL:
  • in my use of time
  • in the words I write and say
  • in the books and articles I read
  • in the love I give
  • in the way I relate to my husband
  • in the guidance and upbringing of my son
  • in the work I do for my job
  • in all of my relations and interactions with others
  • in the entertainment in which I partake
  • in the money I spend and give
  • in my thoughts and plans
I have made the decision to be intentional.

Only with God's guidance, support, and strength is this possible.

With Him, however, all things are possible.  
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26
 So---what about you?  What will be your "one word" for 2011?


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Life---in 3 Minutes or less

How is it that we have come to this?

We have so many time-saving, efficient devices and processes in our day, yet we constantly feel the need to rush around as if we cannot stop and savor what is occuring. 

That time that we have saved for ourselves with all of our gadgets and plans has not turned into something of worth.  It has not allowed us time to ponder and reason and just enjoy a few moments to ourselves.  No, it has caused us to have shortened attention spans, to the point that everything we do and view seems to need to fit into a space of three minutes or less.

We cannot begin to read an article or blog post that appears to have more than maybe five paragraphs.  We cannot take the time to watch a video when we see on the progress bar at the bottom that it is FIVE MINUTES LONG.  Oh, be still my heart! 

Yes, many factors play into this conundrum, but it is a sad one still.

When I consider this sad state we have allowed ourselves to get into, I always think of the lyrics to a song by county music's Alabama called "I'm in a Hurry."
I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why
That is just part of the song, but enough that you probably are either singing it in your head now, or you at least get the idea of why it often comes to my mind.

All of this to say that, as my head hurts from all of the random thoughts that are jumping through it right now, I think we all need to remember that time is one of the greatest gifts God has given us.  Some of that time needs to be used to be productive and even efficient, yet He intends for us to also wisely use some of it to just chill. 

Balance is not easy to find, especially when it comes to managing the gift of time.  However, we have a daily and even hourly opportunity to learn from our past mistaken imbalances and implement those lessons in ways that will benefit us in our moments and days we are currently living.

If this strikes a chord with you, I invite you to jump over to my friend Christie Love's site called Love's Notes and check out a new FREE online Time Management Bible Study she has just begun to lead.  You can jump in at any point no matter what you may have already missed.  I think it will bless you to have some guidance in changing your perspective on how you use your time as Christie uses her vast experience in time management coaching in order to lead this Bible study.

In hopes that you are still reading this and I haven't taken up too much of your precious time ;-) --- I will leave you with this:
"There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens..."  Ecclesiastes 3:1