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Laughter is the Best Medicine

Posted in Hope, WONDER, tagged #ajourneyintomycolon, #bulletinerrors, #laughter, #laughteristhebestmedicine, #laughtertodestress, #mistakesthatmakeussmile on February 23, 2022| 1 Comment »

Wanna laugh?

I think that laughter is always the best medicine … except maybe in funeral homes, though …

As my mum, brothers and I sat around a table with a funeral director, organizing the final farewell for my dad, the director offered to play a music CD at some point. It was then that I got very … honest. “There is nothing worse than ‘canned’ music at a funeral. We do not want that.” All heads pivoted in my direction, eyes wide. I immediately knew I had, perhaps, been a bit too direct in the manner I responded. The director looked down and said, “but, I specialized in CD playing at school for funeral directing.” An awkward silence filled the room, followed by uproarious laughter. It felt so good to laugh in the midst of mourning!

I love a good sit down with cat and dog videos … seriously the best way to waste time and turn a bad mood into good.

Working in a high school, there is often laughter during the work day. What is fun is how students will either misspell or misuse words when they are writing assignments or on tests. In a Christian school, confusion between the words Gentiles and genitals makes for great conversations and laughter.

Then there are errors in church bulletins. Such as, some of the following :

“Applications are now being accepted for 2 year-old nursery workers.””The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.”

“Next Thursday, there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.”

“At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What is hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice.”

“Announcement to the Moms Who Care ladies group: There will be no Moms who care this week.”

“Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It is a great chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget your husbands.”

One of my favorite stories that makes me laugh hard every time I read or hear it is the story told by Dave Barry (click on link … it is SO worth it!) about a journey into his colon. Nothing like a colonoscopy story to give one a good ‘ol laugh til you cry moment.

People, I don’t know about you, but my need for laughter, for good ‘ol belly laughs, with tears pouring down my face has increased exponentially over the past couple of years. There has been so much to bring us down, to make our moods sombre, to steal our hope … to divide us. But laughter … it soothes the soul, lightens the heart and brings people together.

I hope this helps to give a smile to your day.

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Can’t Escape

Posted in Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #cantescape, #godisalwaysthere, #godstalks, #hope, #icantgetaway, #youcantescapegod on February 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10

Death and taxes … that is said to be the only guarantees in life. Sounds kinda grim and it is, if one lives without God in their life. For God in our lives guarantees one more thing …

hope.

The thing is that even for those who do not walk with God, he walks with them. I often visualize him as that shadow that is just on the edge of our periphery, that presence in an otherwise empty room, a whisper that is only heard inside our own heads, the sense of touch, of embrace when one is alone.

I kinda think of the Spirit of God like a stalker, who hovers, awaiting an invitation to enter into our life, to lead rather than to follow. His ghostly presence, causing the heebie jeebies for those who have yet to welcome him in, is the essence of peace for those who rely fully on him to do life.

For those in whom the Spirit lives, there is another reality …

you cannot get away from the Spirit.

There is no hiding, or ignoring or running away from him. He is simply always there.

Always near.
Always loving.
Always right beside.

His presence is comfort, peace to those who know him. The awareness of him in our lives gives hope for the future, whether it is decades of life on this soil, or hours.

The other day the song (below) started to play and was absorbed into my otherwise preoccupied mind and soul as I’d spent that day in constant prayer for another. My heart was heavy, immersed in the weight of those circumstances. Then these words pierced my mind:

You love me when I’m lost
You love me til I’m found
Your love it surrounds me
I can’t get away

I tell you, he’s always there, you can’t escape him.

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For After Valentine’s Day …

Posted in Love, WONDER, tagged #expectations, #february15, #foraftervalentinesday, #godslove, #greatexpectations, #hallmarklove, #lovethatexceedsexpectation, #theonewhoislove on February 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday was the day of love (does anyone else hear the voice of Barry White?). At least, the day of love, the Hallmark version.

So, I am thinking that the day after a day with so many expectations (and we have all had them at some point), some expectations that may have come to fruition, but probably many more that did not … and that is real life.

The other day, I was reminded by a poet about the love that

exceeds expectations …

every. single. time.

"He said love is patient, then He said: I am love
He said love is not not easily angered, then He said: I am love
He said love keeps no record of wrongs, then He said: I am love
He said love always protects, then He said: I am love
He said love always overcomes, then He said: I am love
He said love never fails, then He said: I am love"
- Unka Glen


As I read each line, I could (literally) feel the love.
The love of truth of those words. 

The love of One who is love.

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We Love Because …

Posted in Love, tagged #becausehelovesus, #galentinesday, #greekwordsforlove, #romanticloveisnttheonlylove, #valentinesday, #welovebecause, #whatislove on February 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, today (did you know?) is Galentine’s Day. It is the day to celebrate friendships.

According to Cosmopolitan magazine online, Galentine’s Day is worth celebrating “because regardless of whether you’re coupled up this month, romantic love isn’t the only kind of love that deserves all the attention.”

The Greeks had multiple words for love.

Philautia is love of self. Though it can become selfish, it is actually really important as a foundation for loving others (many verses in the Bible refer to loving others as self, so if we do not love self, how can we love others?).

Philia is the love of Galentine’s day … it is the love between friends who share mutual affection and devotion.

Ludus, or playful love is like the flirty interchanges between people who just meet.

Eros, or sexual love. THIS is what seems to be most ‘advertised’ leading up to February 14.

Pragma is the long-haul committed form of love.

Storge is love within families and/or friends who feel dependent on each other.

Mania is … not a healthy form of love. Think obsession.

Agape is the most unselfish, undemanding. There is NOTHING required or expected from someone loving in the agape way. Truly, I think it is other-worldly, for how can one love, and love, and love and never (not once) expect something in return, yet keep loving? There is only one who can love like that.

Jesus love is that agape love. He loves and loves and never, not once, expects anything in return. That is not to say that he does not hope for us to love him.

Whenever I think of agape love I think of the love a mum has for her newborn. That is full-on, full effort love. There is no payback, no guarantee of the love being reciprocated. It is just 24-7 work! And yet, mums do it. They love, because this child is theirs … irregardless of whether or not the child chooses to (ever) love back.

Love is … so varied.

My mind keeps coming back to the Cosmo quote,

romantic love isn’t the only kind of love

Don’t get me wrong, lit candles, sweet words whispered and spine-tingling touch are delightful, but love …

love is more than flowers and feelings. It is more than wrapped gifts and going to a restaurant.

It is more than receiving …

it’s giving, and hard, and for the benefit of another/others.

Here’s the thing …

We love each other because he loved us first

1 John 4:19

No manner of love, be it for ourselves, our family, our lover, our friends or neighbors …

none of it is possible except that the ultimate love was offered to us, at a cost, by the very creator of heaven and earth and us.

And so, as we stock up on Hallmark’s priciest greeting cards, and boxes of chocolates, and light the candles, and share heart-shaped cookies, this love of a day or of 365 days … they are all possible because we are loved, because He loved us, giving his best and brightest as evidence.

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What’s Your Main Thing

Posted in Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #fullofthespirit, #godiscenter, #howdowespendourtime, #keepingthemainthingthemainthing, #spendtimeintheword, #themainthing on February 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Numero uno?

Top dog?

Big cheese?

The main thing?

What’s yours?

Now, think about it … give it some time, thought.

What is the main focus of your life?

Got an answer for it? If not … keep thinking. If so … keep reading.

To know what is our main thing
is to look at how and where we spend
our time, our money, our energies.

This explanation of what defines our main thing is kinda clear in the Bible. Matthew 6:33 says it straight and to the point:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.”

Ugh! This is now humbling … agreed?

What I want my main thing to be is Christ.

But, if my main thing is defined by how I spend my time, money and energy, I am not sure that what I might say my main thing is, actually is my main thing.

So, we know the goal … for God to be the main thing in our lives … now, to live it. But, we cannot aim for such a lofty goal in a solo trek. This life isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. So, to make it through the long and winding race of life, we need help.

In Luke 4:1-13, Jesus was alone in the dessert … or was he?

The telling of this event indicates that Jesus went into the desert “full of the Holy Spirit” (V.1). Each time Jesus was tempted by something he humanly might have desired (you know, things that could have become his main things), he replied each time with “it is written:” (v.4, 8, 12). He knew the Word! Therefore we need to know the word!

Keep in communication with God … all throughout your days.

Spend some time each day in the Word.

Aim to make God your (my) main thing.

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Noises, Irritations and Struggles

Posted in Walking with God, tagged #compassionateirritations, #idontthinklikegod, #noisesirritationsandstruggles, #temporarystruggles, #thelumberjackandthenestingbird on February 9, 2022| 2 Comments »

Once upon a time there was a lumberjack who was hired to cut down several trees atop a mountain.

He went to the first tree and noticed a bird, building a nest.

Now, this lumberjack was a compassionate soul, who loved all living things. He knew that he would be cutting that tree down and he didn’t want the bird to build its nest there. So, he picked up a wooden mallet and hit the tree hard and loud. This disturbed the bird in the tree and she flew to another tree.

Now, the lumberjack knew that he would also be cutting that tree down so he walked over to it and hit it with his mallet. Again the bird moved further into the forest to another suitable tree to build a nest for her babes.

This process reoccured numerous times, taking the lumberjack further and further from where he desired to begin cutting trees. Each time the bird flew off, each time the lumberjack banged on the tree to discourage her from nesting there.

Finally, hours later, the bird was out of the area where the lumberjack was to cut the trees down. So, her turned and walked back to where he was to begin to fulfill his job.

I heard this story told this weekend and could see myself in that determined bird … maybe you will too.

So many times in my life I am distracted from what I want to do, what I hope to do … even good things, by irritations, noises and even struggles. So, I alter my course, but stick to my plan, getting irritated again by other irritations and noises.

Those are the times I often have words with God. Saying something like,

“what the heck?!”

“why is this happening?”

“why don’t you intervene?”

“why?”

“you are supposed to be good”

I bet all of these prayers sound like the angry, irritated chirps of that momma bird. I bet she had no idea that the irritating noises, causing her to move from tree, to tree, to tree were actually saving the life of she and her babes. That the temporary struggle was actually an act of compassion, of love.

“I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.”
Isaiah 55:8-9

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Closer than a Sister

Posted in Love, women, tagged #celebrateyourfriends, #closerthanasister, #davidandjonathan, #friends, #friendsareblessings, #friendships on February 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

One of the relationships between two people in the Bible, that I am most in awe of is the friendship between David and Jonathan. They loved each other as brothers (perhaps this is the relationship David’s son Solomon was thinking of when he wrote the Proverb about “a friend who sticks closer than a brother … though, I guess, if this was the case it was only so because of what he heard his father say of his dear friend Jonathan).

Their souls were knit together (1 Samuel 18:1).

At the death of Jonathan, David declared, you were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary (2 Samuel 1:26).

After Jonathan’s father, Saul, ordered all of his servants, including Jonathan to kill David, Jonathan warned him because he delighted greatly in David (1 Samuel 19:1).

The faithfulness of Jonathan to his friend had great weight when Jonathan was one of the names given to our son. My hope for him has always been that he would love his friends with such commitment.

I think part of my admiration for Jonathan’s friendship for David is that he was such a better friend than I am. He was committed, consistent, sacrificial. I can be inconsistent, selfish.

I have a wonderful group of friends. Some I see regularly, some too rarely. Some I met through work, or church or through my husband or kids. Some who I have known since children, when we attended elementary school together and some who I have met in recent months. Some who are my age, others who are a generation younger, or older. No matter the amount of time we spend together, the length of our relationships, our ages, or what/who brought us together there is a beautiful bond that, as I get older, grows sweeter, dearer, more important to me existence.

A friend is truly a gift in this life. They make life better … simply by being yours.

In this month full of chocolates and flowers and candle-lit dinners, may we not forget to express our love for those who are our friends who stick closer than sisters … or brothers.

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I Was Blind but now I See

Posted in Faith, WONDER, tagged #apostlepaul, #godmakesusright, #ihavekeptthefaith, #iwasblindbutnowisee, #notashamedofthegoodnews, #roadtodamascus, #saultopaul, GOD on February 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

As I get older, I have grown more and more fond of Paul. That once-Christian-exterminator, who was blinded by a bright light on a long a dusty road. The bright light, confronted (then Saul) personally and said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Three days later Saul was visited by Ananias, who had been beckoned by Jesus to open Saul’s eyes to the truth … The Holy Spirit arrived (because … Saul was praying for three days) and when Ananias said who sent him, Paul was cured from his blindness.

The rest, one might say, is history.

Paul, the great evangelist, the one who preached Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23), yet met Christ after the crucifixion.

Paul, the Jew, who preach(ed) in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20).

Paul, who was once blind, declared, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Paul, who as a new convert was rejected by Jesus’ followers (makes sense, since Paul/Saul had been wanting to kill the Jesus followers), was hunted by the Jews who had been his friends, he was imprisoned, and no, doubt lonely said, this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:5).

Paul, the preacher, who said, preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2

Paul, who clearly lived with some sort of human struggle, yet, saw God’s plan even in that, three different times I begged the Lord to take it (a thorn in his flesh) away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Paul, who, at the end of his could declare with confidence (2 Timothy 4:7),

“I Have Kept the Faith”

It is his declaration from Romans 1:16-17 that describes his purpose and his attitude towards it, in life. If, he was right, that this Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight, then it seems we ought to see this good news as worthy of dedicating our lives to sharing. For once we have been made able to see the truth of this Gospel, how could we keep quiet …

^“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

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DAILY Bread

Posted in Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #breadoflife, #contentment, #dailybread, #giveusourdailybread, #justfortoday, #relianceongod, #stalkedbygod, #sustenance on January 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Once again the stalking has been happening.

I go about my days, minding my own business, when, out of nowhere, there it is … a theme that has been popping up lately, again and again and again.

daily bread

well, actually, it’s more like

DAILY bread!

(because we all know that when something is written capitalized, it is being yelled loudly).

I blame God.

I know it is him, because he is, quite simply, relentless in his stalking.

It might be a verse, lyrics in a song, something said by another person, a portion of a sermon … praying the Lord’s prayer.

That is where it got me (again) yesterday.

give us this day our DAILY bread …

Over, and over, and over again, God has been stalking me with the idea, the message of DAILY bread.

not bread for the week ahead,
not storing it for a rainy day
not investing in it

but DAILY bread …

coming to him,
each and every day,
to ask for enough bread,

just for today.

It is a flashback to those wandering Jews … 40 days of daily bread in the form of manna, from heaven. It is what Matthew Henry says, “to be content with enough” … ah, contentment … that is a hard, life-long, lesson … one we must learn and then learn again each and every day.

This DAILY bread reminds us that we need to ask for it … every day. That we need to acknowledge that he give us just what we need.

Tomorrow’s bread is yet to be seen.
Yesterday’s bread is not longer fresh.
Today’s bread … that is what we live on.

Bread … it’s food, sustenance. We need it every day … like the one who is what bread symbolizes in the Bible … the body of Jesus. He too sustains us. He too is needed every single day.

And … he is enough for today.

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The Darkness Has a Beauty

Posted in Hope, Nature/Creation, WONDER, tagged #darkseasons, #hope, #lightinthedark, #nighttimeshows, #starsandmoon, #thedarknesshasabeauty, #theworkofyourfingers on January 26, 2022| 1 Comment »

The night is lit by the stars and moon and my how they put on a stellar show sometimes. The night sky is not static, it changes with the days and seasons providing an original performance every. single. night.

“When I observe your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars …”
Psalm 8:3

I find it impossible to look up at the dark night sky, illuminated by the moon and stars, and not thank God who created it all. It is an unnecessary beauty, for beauty is not needed for it to fulfill its function. Yet, God, in his wisdom and grace gives us this nightly display.

You know what I find interesting?

The light display is more glorious when the backdrop of the night is more inky black. It is, in actuality, the inky darkness that enables the moon to shine most bright.

And so it is when darkness seeps into our souls and minds. When sorrow, or grief, or sadness, or fear, or anxiety, or depression, or loneliness, or heartbreak or … you name it, for we have all been visited by a time of darkness … when the dark stops by and stays, when the shadows cast eerie images and feelings … that is when the little glimmer of light shines brightest, in the forms of connection, hope, delight, beauty, joy, good news.

While watching an episode of Call the Midwife (season 9, episode 8), recently, the monologue caught my attention … stayed with me into the next day :

“Welcome the darkness, embrace it as a canopy from which the stars can hang, for there are always stars when we are where we ought to be, amongst the faces we love best, each with our place, each with our purpose, as fixed and familiar as the constellations.
The darkness is beautiful, for how else can we shine?“

Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us that God makes everything beautiful in it’s time.

As we look up to the night sky, as we are treated to the beauty, may we not just thank God for the moon and stars, but also for the dark backdrop, from which their beauty shines best.

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