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Change is in the Air

Posted in WONDER, tagged Change, change is in the air, final chapter, GOD, indispensible, job change, steve maraboli, Students on June 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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The final chapel for the school year reminded me that it was my final chapel at high school.

In September I will enter the doors of the Middle campus, rather than the high school campus. I will be working in grade 8, helping students prepare to enter high school, rather than helping them prepare to leave high school. I will be looking at students in-the-eye, rather than looking up to them … well, at least in September … by January, I will be looking up at them!

That final chapel seemed so … final. Each face on the screen (it was an awards chapel) reminded me that these students would not be in and out of my every day next school year. Each student in the row I sat … the homeroom of students who I have delighted in … reminded me of the great efforts (and vast amounts of candy) it took to get to know each … in those rare homeroom blocks, in the halls, in the classrooms, to earn their trust. Each memory of this past year refreshed as though I could almost reach out and touch them, as they had touched me.

I was feeling rather melancholy.

Had I made the right decision?

Had I thought this through?

Had I opted to give up too much?

Was I running away?

What would my students do without me?

And it was that last question to myself that was the head shake, the face palm that I needed.

I am SO not indispensable, SO not the only one able to meet the needs in the lives of the students.

I am the hands and feet of learning, of processing, of developing, of advancing and … of God. I am His instrument, His tool, and I work best with students when I acknowledge that I am in His control, and that I am fulfilling His plans … not my own.

I know with certainty that God loves these students, whether ones I work within on my schedule, ones I’ve gotten to know about in my home room, or just ones who I said hi to in the halls. And He loves them more than I do. His good will for them is not dependent on me sticking with them throughout their school years, it is dependent only on Him, and His plan for their life, for their days.

I was also reminded that He has a plan for me too. And that His plan is not dependent on what decisions I make, His plan is only dependent on His will … and I can rest in the assurance that He has the final word on my future.

“Change is in the air.
This change reminds us that we are made and beautifully sculpted
by the same power that orchestrates the change of season.
Let this be the season you embrace and align yourself with this change.”
Steve Maraboli

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I LOVE CRAIG(slist)

Posted in WONDER, tagged craigslist, I love craigslist, junk, renovation, reusing, selling, smart on June 19, 2013| 4 Comments »

It all started with a desire to purge my house of ‘stuff’ we no longer use … and now it is an addiction.

We had this delightful dining table and four chairs. About twenty two years ago I had purchased it at a yard sale for $80. Although I loved it, it got replaced, moved to our suite, painted four times, reupholstered twice, then moved to our living room for games and puzzles. I realized we simply were not using it, so off it went (within a day of being posted on Craigslist) to a new home … and I was $80 richer.

Then there were the two chairs that I had bought for $12, to go with that dining table. They were not a perfect match, but with matching paint and upholstery fabric they worked. The same person paid $10 more to take them too.

Then I sold our ten-year old sectional sofa. I loved its look, but the micro-fibre fabric was wearing very thin in many places, and looking so very ratty! So to Mr. Craigslist I returned, and in days it was gone and I had $100 in my pocket.

On the same weekend that the above items were sold I made a couple of great purchases via Mr. Craig; a leather sofa for $60 and a 7-foot Ikea desk for $60.

Now I am hooked!

To have gotten rid of the things we no longer wanted, and made money to purchase what we did want has motivated me to keep going (aka. the first part of this summer will be spent purging our household of what we do not need).

Not only do these purchases allow me to purchase desired or needed items at great prices, but the ‘income’ from the sales of our ‘unneeded’ items goes into my ‘summer renovation/home improvement’ savings.

This summer, with my renovation fund, I am hoping to replace flooring in a bedroom of one of our daughters, and redecorate it with board and batten, and a fresh coat of paint.

Actually I would love to replace the flooring in three bedrooms this summer … but Mr. Craig has not been that successful for me … yet!

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It Matters Who You Marry

Posted in WONDER, tagged choosing who to marry, dating, it matters who you marry, Rebecca VanDoodewaard, teen girls, Teens, the christian pundit on June 18, 2013| 8 Comments »

A number of weeks back I read an article titled, as this post is titled, “It Matters Who You Marry,” and as I read it I I found my head nodding in agreement with the message it presented.

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Working in a high school I see the budding of ‘love’ down every hallway I walk. I see girls admiring the guys who can entertain a crowd, who have fancy cars and fancy clothes, the guys who are amazing athletes and who are ‘cute.’ As an older ‘girl’ with a few more years life (and fat cells) under my belt, I find myself shaking my head as I view the sights. I wish that there were some way of communicating to these girls that the pattern of their interest in guys now, will create a template for their life partner choice later down the road.

But, I know that for most of us, it is experience that is the best teacher. And so I just hope that they learn it young, and that the experience does not break them totally. I hope too that for each one, there might be a person who will speak into their lives with love, and grace, and gentleness … and honesty.

I encourage you to click on the link, following a portion of the article, written by Rebecca VanDoodewaard (RVD). Maybe it will encourage you to be that person in the life of a young woman, who helps her through the minefield of choosing who to date … and why.

“My husband and I were once with a youth group. There were three kids sitting across from us at a meal: two guys and a girl. The one guy was a computer geek with glasses. The other one was a college student with slightly cooler hair and no glasses. The girl was obviously with him. But while the computer geek was busy serving everyone at the meal, clearing plates and garbage, the college student got angry with the girl for a small accident and poured red juice over her leather jacket and white shirt. She picked the wrong guy, and the juice didn’t seem to change her mind. She is in for some grief if that relationship continues and especially if it leads to marriage.

So to all the young, unmarried Christian girls out there, listen up: who you marry matters. You might think that the way he treats you isn’t so bad. It’s not going to get better after the wedding. You might think that he’ll change. It’s possible, but most don’t. You might think that you’ll be able to minister to him and help him. Possibly, but if you can’t now, you won’t then, and you will be at risk yourself. A husband should lead and cherish you, not need your counsel for basic personality or behavior issues.

Unless someone married is very frank with you, you can’t understand how much a husband will impact your entire life. Next to salvation there is no other long term event that will change so many areas of your life so deeply. Here are just some of the ways that marriage will impact every aspect of living.”

Click on The Christian Pundit to keep reading.

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A Prayer for Those Doing Exams

Posted in WONDER, tagged a prayer for those doing exams, exams, finals, Prayer, School, Students on June 17, 2013| 2 Comments »

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This is the big week for exams at the school I work, as well as for those living in my house.

In our house the stress of writing exams comes out in as many ways as there are individuals under the roof!

There is the chocolate-lover, the study avoider, the tummy-acher, the movie watcher, the mom and dad chatter, the bedroom-cleaner, the carb-eater, etc., etc,. etc.

In my job in a high school, I love when I get to supervise, read or scribe for a individual or group while they are doing their exam. For me, the best part of this task is that I get to pray for the students before they start their exams (I work in a Christian school, so I have the freedom to do this).

For so many (I expect for all) who are writing exams the stress can be overwhelming, and praying for those students is the greatest gift and assistance that I can give to them.

I believe that praying does not give the students a better ability to access the knowledge and facts that they have learned, it does not give them a magical power where the control of their pens is removed from their hands, and the right answers all get written on the lines. What I believe that praying for them does accomplish is that it sets the atmosphere for the peace, that only Christ can give, to allow them to relax and remember what is important, and who is in control.

As this week proceeds, this is my prayer for those of you who are about to sit at the seat of examination:

Lord God,

thank-you for this day.

thank-you for allowing us to have breath, and health.

thank-you for giving us the strength and ability to be here today.

God,

these students need your peace,

they need your comfort,

they need to know that you are here with them.

Lord,

help them to relax,

help them to remember what they have learned,

help them to have the time to complete this exam before them.

God,

I also pray that they would remember,

this is just one exam

two hours,

in their entire lives,

pass or fail, it does not determine their value,

nor will their mark change who they are in Your eyes.

Help them to exhale,

hold them close,

remind them they are not alone.

In Your holy name,

Amen

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The Greatest Sacrifice a Father Could Make

Posted in WONDER, tagged adopted, Father's Day, fathers, Memories, metaphor, Sacrifice on June 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It is Father’s Day today, and to my Dad I say thank-you for being simply the best!

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Father’s Day can be a great day of celebrating the father in your life, or it can be a day when negative experiences, words or actions (or a lack of actions) surface in your mind and heart.

I am so fortunate that my father is one I desire greatly to celebrate. He is a good and honorable man, who always made me feel loved and valued. Despite our not sharing a blood connection, it is through his legal and emotional adoption of me (almost forty years ago today) that I came to understand another Father’s love.

This video is a metaphor for that most sacrificial of all loves.

May you today know of the the love of the Father who is always there, always fulfilling promises, always loving you.

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Citizenship

Posted in WONDER, tagged Ann Voskamp, belonging, citizenship, Home, kingdom, passports, yearning on June 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“In Christ, you’re a native of heaven right now.
You aren’t a citizen of here trying to work into heaven.
You’re a citizen of heaven trying to work through here.”
– Ann Voskamp

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Where is your citizenship?

We all have birth certificates and passports that declare where our home is, in the eyes of our individual ‘Caesars,’ but this life is short, and those legal documents declaring our Earthly citizenship do not take us into Eternity.

The citizenship of our Foreverland is stamped, in blood, and we do not have to fill out forms to apply, we simply have to be willing to receive. And once we receive, we have arrived, safe in the homeland of the kingdom of God that exists here and now, that exists for all eternity with Christ.

We have all had moments in our lives when we have felt that we were not quite there yet, as though our new passport has not arrived in the post, or we, like in the following story, have arrived at the border, the airport, the train station, the boat dock without proof of where we belong. We have all had times when, sitting around the board table, the pot luck table, the family dinner table, we felt like an illegal alien who does not fit, who does not belong … and oh, how we yearn to belong! Oh, how we yearn …

The yearning is a gift, a reminder, that we were made for a garden … and a garden was made for us.

But …

even when the weeds seem to strangle,
even when the soil is no longer rich but dry like dust,
even when the rains are washing away our crop …

this weed-infested,
heartache-filled,
I-don’t-know-what-to-do-next citizenship on sin-filled planet Earth …

is also created by the great garden tender, who also created us.

This is the kingdom

We are the kingdom-bearers

Children of the great high king

Ruler of heaven …

and Earth.

Even though we sometimes say to ourselves, “I can’t believe they let you in.”

And here follows a reminder about citizenship, by Ann Voskamp …

“Someone has to be that Mother.

That mother who drives a full 3 hours to the border with a packed mini-van and anxious kids and creeps through a 20 minute traffic backup under the hot, beating sun, only to rifle through her wallet and look up feebly to tell the custom’s officer she doesn’t have birth certificates for 2 of her children.

So that would be me.

“Do you have any ID at all — for either one of them?”

The custom’s officer asks it gently. Like he doesn’t want to push the flustered and flailing over any imagined or very real edge.

He glances back at the long snake of vehicles behind me, waiting. In the sun. That’s not moving either.

“Um… no.” I shuffle through my wallet again. “No, sir — I don’t.” Does the earth open up and swallow the Abiram of mothers?

“I’m so sorry, sir. If I can just turn around?” I close up my wallet and I can feel it up the neck, the face — the mother shame burning like a red-hot brand. How in the world? What kind of mother…. ?

I’m already cranking at the steering wheel, trying to get this mess turned around, thinking that when you can’t swallow down any grace, you turn yourself back from the land of the free.

“Just a moment, ma’am. Open up the door here.” He waves my passport in the direction of the van’s side door. I fumble behind me, try to unlatch it, still hoping the earth might open up instead. The officer pops his head in. “Birthdates, kids.”

Birthdates?

Joshua states his month, day, year and Hope leans forward and I’m the realist who doesn’t hold out much hope at all.

The officer taps it into his computer, glances over at me, “And are they Canadian citizens?”

“Yes?”

And I really try to say it like I’m not always a tentative Canadian, like it’s not a question, like I’m dubious, like I think he’s just gleefully extending the torture of my ineptness and embarrassment of not having one piece of paper to prove anything — because isn’t this the United States of America and when exactly did they start letting in hicks without a passport, without a birth certificate?

He looks up from the screen.

“Welcome to the United States, ma’am. Have a nice day.”

And he hands me my passport.

“Welcome?” Um … Really? “But if you let us into the States…” I stammer it out —”

And now click here, When You Sort of Feel Like You Don’t Belong, to read the rest. And for my family who knows they matter, there’s a rainbow at the end!

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Secret Shame

Posted in WONDER, tagged blessings, excess, gifts, GOD, hand of god, Home, house, James 1:17, secret shame, Shadows on June 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I have a secret shame … but, I guess it will soon no longer be secret …

It all started about eight and a half years ago, when we had company over for dinner in our new house. We had experienced quite an exciting process in the purchasing of this current house, and selling of our previous place (in the order … sigh), and we truly felt that God had provided this little piece of heaven on earth for us.

From the moment that the couple arrived, until they left hours later, the wife of the couple was constantly making comments about how big the house is, how excessive the house is, how extravagant the house is. By the time they left, later that evening, my joy of our new home had been popped like a helium balloon.

big

excessive

extravagant

For the thrift shopping, Scottish heritage bearing, tightwad in me those descriptors of our home were enough to make me feel shamed.

As I look back now, my desire to move, to downsize, started with that evening. I could not bear to imagine people thinking that I, that we, wanted to live in excess.

This story came to mind the other day when I was planning a party at our home, and I pulled one of the people invited aside and asked him to please not judge me on our over-sized house. Each word I communicated to him, I did so with the similarity of a dog with it’s tail between it’s legs after being caught ripping up the baseboards (not that that has ever happened with our beast). What I was really communicating to him was not humility, but shame.

But now, as hubby and I are looking at ending this season in this house I am remembering that, although I have referred to it as an albatross, although I have referred to it as the original Money Pit, although I have referred to this house as owning us (and let me tell you, it does), I am remembering how, originally, we looked at it as a blessing, from the hand of God …

It is what we have done with that gift … allowing it to own us, allowing it to dictate how we spend our time … our money, allowing the words of one person to cast a shifting shadow on the gift that God delighted in presenting to us.

May we learn from this secret shame … may we overlook the shadow to see the light of God in the blessings … all of the blessings … that He has given.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17

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On the Nest

Posted in WONDER, tagged 1 Peter 5:7, Creator God, dangers, do not fear, expecting, hebrews 13:5, his eye is on the sparrow, Jeremiah 31:3, laying eggs, matthew 10:31, on the nest, protecting on June 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

No, I am not pregnant! But someone is expecting!

Recently, as a gas fitter was replacing a part on our pool furnace, he discovered a nest of tiny little eggs in the bushes behind the pool shed.

Way down into the bushes, into the dried grass and weeds a momma bird had hollowed out a place where she could see the sun, and anything else that might peer into her nest, but deep enough that it would be out of the line of sight of any going by.

The gas fitter discovered it because th

ere was this tiny, very verbal, bird that kept yapping, flitting back and forth. He had the presence of mind to realize that the behaviors exhibited by this bird were protective, and that there might be a nest somewhere, so he started to look around, and eventually discovered what this mamma was protecting.

Into that hollowed out nest were five of the tiniest eggs possible.

And now we wait …

Mamma bird is starting to get accustomed to my intrusions … although I am not getting accustomed to her greeting. About every second day I crawl up onto the upper part of our back yard, perched precariously on my knees, then try to spy the spot where the nest is located. Each time I ‘get’ to experience deeper understanding of the element of surprise, when mamma bird comes flying out at my face, squawking to scare me away from the family she is protecting.

I have tried to assure her that her family is safe in my eyes, and that my hands will never touch her precious treasures, but I do not seem to be as good at communicating my intentions as she is at communicating hers.

As a mom, I have to say that swallow or sparrow mamma really could have chosen a better, more safe place to lay her eggs. If my beast was ever off leash, she could get her nose into that nest in no time, as could any other four-legged creature … and there are many of the feline variety who walk through our garden. There is so much possibility of harm that could come to she and her babes.

As there is to each of us.

We often live a little on the edge, with potential dangers all around.

But we have One who loves and protects us, because He made us. He formed the birds of the air, and cares for them … He formed man and woman, and He cares for us too.

We are His, and He sees we humans as his ‘pièce de résistance’. He gives us the promise that He will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5), that He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), that He has loved us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and that we are more valuable than many … sparrows.

the value He places on us is

“So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Matthew 10:31

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My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Posted in WONDER, tagged cornerstone, edward mote, Hillsong, Hope, hymn, Isaiah 28:16, my hope is built on nothing less, Worship on June 10, 2013| 1 Comment »

Well it’s time to share another worship song. This time I cannot call it a new song, because it was released almost a year ago … although it is new to me.

I do love it when a solidly written, biblically accurate, singable song from the past gets re-birthed into something more contemporary to the present day, and that is what has happened with the song Cornerstone, by Hillsong.

A cornerstone is the first stone, laid at the corner of a building, upon which the rest of the stones are set. It is also known as a foundation 800px-Hickman_Temple_AME_Church,_Philadelphia,_cornerstone stone. Historically, the laying of the cornerstone was often ceremonial, much like now, when we have a sod-turning photo opportunity. The cornerstone would often have an inscription carved into it (often with the date of construction beginning), and/or it would contain objects, acting as a time capsule.

The original hymn, first published in 1837. My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, was written by English pastor, Edward Mote. He was so loved by his congregation in Horsham that “they offered him the church building as a gift. Mote replied “I do not want the chapel, I only want the pulpit; and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that.”” The hymn was originally titled “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope” by Mote.

The cornerstone is often spoken of in Christian worship music, hymns, choruses as a reminder of Isaiah 28:16 :

“So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it will NEVER be stricken with panic.””

The Immutable (unchanging) Basis of a Sinner’s Hope … that is what Jesus is, our cornerstone, our hope … and our hope is built on nothing less!

(For those of you who love to check out new, or older, worship music, I highly recommend www.worshiptogether.com/songs )

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Love in Action

Posted in WONDER, tagged 1 john 3:18, i love you, incourageme.com, John 3:16, kristin gordley, love and cough drops, love in action, love is a verb, moments in the story on June 9, 2013| 6 Comments »

There is something about words in action that not only speaks to our hearts, but yells into our souls.

When our children were young and they say, “I love you,” they say it with their entire being, and the words would usually be accompanied by a big hug.

When our children would say, “I am sorry,” we would remind them that the words are good, but to mean them is to work to not repeat whatever they are apologizing for.

When it is Mother’s Day or my mom’s birthday, saying “I love you Mom” is heart-touching for my mother, but if I really want to fill her cup I send her a card, because she loves to see that I made that small effort to give her something to hold on to (and I sadly do not give feet to that love for her often enough).

Love is strongest in action. Even in the relationship with God and humanity, love was communicated in action :

“For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son ….”
John 3:16

Yet again my guest post comes from (in)courage (http://www.incourage.me/2013/05/love-and-cough-drops.html). This time written by By Kristin Gordley (Moments In the Story). I have included the completed post, and I pray that you will be encouraged to love in action.

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“The other morning I was rushing around trying to get ready while my four-year-old was standing in my bathroom, asking me questions. He watched me use my eye lash curler, and then he tried it himself. As we were chit-chatting about all my beauty products and what they do, he said out of the blue, “Mama, your eyes are pretty and your ear wax tastes good!” I tried hard not to laugh, because I knew he had just tried to craft his words into a statement of love. “Thanks, buddy, I really appreciate it”.

Lately I’ve noticed his efforts to connect with me. Recently when I got ready to go out with his daddy for a rare date-night, he said I looked “beauuutiful”. My son is very verbal. He has always been unafraid to talk to people when we are out and about. The first question he asks every morning when he wakes up is, “who are we gonna see?” The wirings God infused in him for enjoying people are already evident. He relishes creative conversations with his dad and I, and he longs for restoration with us when we have to correct him.

But the other day he brought tears to my eyes as I recognized something important he was learning, and in turn teaching me. I had been sick for a few days, and he was enjoying the novelty of playing with my cough drops. While I was getting him and his little brother packed up in the car for a grocery trip, he ran back into the house and stuffed a bunch of cough drops into his pocket. I was a little annoyed because I was trying to get us out the door. On the way to the store he must have asked a hundred times if I needed a cough drop. My repeated “no thank you” turned into, “I’m fine. You don’t need to ask me anymore!”

I got them in the cart, into the store, and we were finally making progress. And then I started coughing…..

“Mama, do you need a cough drop?”

I accepted it…..and yet another. And I realized how much I needed his little act of love. In my heart I stopped and thanked God for my son’s display of something God has been impressing upon me. Then I remembered the verse that just days before, I found myself studying in a coffee shop.

1 John 3:18

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue,

but with actions and in truth.”

I tell my boys how much I love them all the time. I tell my husband, too. I love connecting with people through meaningful conversations, and reaching out with my words is not a struggle for me. But putting actions behind my love is something I don’t always find easy.

Watching my son move from verbally telling me how he felt about me, to choosing to act on his feelings was one of the most surprising and humbling moments I’ve had as a mom. Active love stopped me in my tracks and it challenged me.

We tend to emphasize loving acts that are big, for all eyes to see. But sometimes the smaller ones are the most meaningful…..like a little hand holding out a cough drop at just the right moment.”

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