Month: June 2014

Vacation Reflections

Posted on by Wendy
Lighthouses were built to keep ships safe fro crashing into rocks.
Lighthouses were built to keep ships safe.

My family just returned from a week long vacation on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. This was a first for us. We are usually Florida people, but we were looking for something different this year. Now before you Gulf of Mexico purists start shaking your heads, I get it. The Atlantic is not nearly as pretty as the Gulf of Mexico. However, we discovered a natural beauty there, that is stunning in its own way.

Before going, I prayed that God would show himself to me on our trip. As usual, I found that when I earnestly pray with an open heart, for God to speak to me, He always does. There were so many ways that I experienced the beauty of His creation last week and I would like to share some of the life lessons that I learned with you.

First of all, I found it really appropriate that we were staying right across the street from a lighthouse. Lighthouses were built for two reasons, to aid in the navigation of ships, (in other words, here is safe harbor) and to warn of dangerous places, (in other words, there are dangerous rocks here; be careful!)

In spiritual terms, God is definitely a lighthouse for me. When I keep my eyes focused on Him, He will guide me and keep me safe. Seeing the lighthouse  was a pretty cool start for our trip.

Second of all, we spent the week on our bicycles. The place where we stayed was covered in bike trails. Whenever possible, we rode our bicycles. We biked to the beach, a few miles away. We biked to dinner. My hubby figures we rode close to a hundred miles over a week. I have no idea whether or not that is true, but it was flat and shady and everyone else was biking too.

There were older people. There were parents dragging carts with kids in tow. There were kids riding with training wheels. We saw families of ten or more and we saw singles. Large and small, everyone was on a bike. They even had three-wheeled bikes, trikes for grownups, I suppose. Everyone smiled and no one was in a hurry.

Here’s the coolest part, you see things on a bike that are impossible to see from a car.

We would have missed this guy if we were riding in a car.
We would have missed this guy if we were riding in a car.

I was lagging behind when I spotted him on a trail. I like to piddle when I pedal. My hubby and daughter had left me behind, but I called to my son as I burst out laughing and stopped to take a picture. Who knows who took the time to glue googly eyes on a tree, but it was hysterical. I love a little whimsy and there among the stately live oaks, stood a tree face. I was so thankful I was on a bike.

I thanked God for allowing me to see it. I pedaled on, thankful for this beautiful world that He created and ever watchful for more. I was not disappointed. When have you experienced whimsy in creation? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

Enjoying Family Time

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes, it's good to take a break.
Sometimes, it’s good to take a break.

I often write about treasuring the people in our lives. I try very hard to be present for the ones I hold dear, realizing that each day is a gift. With that in mind, I’m going to take this week off to enjoy a vacation with my family. I’m sure I’ll be inspired as we relax and I recharge. I hope to have new and uplifting posts when I return next week.

Have an awesome week!

Wendy 🙂

The Joy of Seeing the Fruits of Our Labor

Posted on by Wendy
As VBS comes to a close, this one will go down as one of my favorites.
As VBS comes to a close, this one will go down as one of my favorites.

I know I have been talking about Vacation Bible School a lot this past week, but honestly, it has consumed the vast majority of my physical and emotional energy. I’m exhausted, but my heart has been touched in so many ways. If you read this blog very often, then you know how strongly I feel about community and there’s nothing that brings a church community together like VBS.

It takes a village to minister to sixty kids for a week and our church didn’t disappoint. I got to talk to some of my favorite senior church ladies that I rarely get to see. They always feed the children with such enthusiasm. We had a family that hurried back from Germany in order to participate this year. I haven’t seen them in two years. It’s good to have them back. We had grandparents and teenagers all pitching in together like community does.

It’s been a beautiful sight to behold. We have had twenty-one youth helpers this year and they have been amazing. In past years we have had issues with texting or the youth interacting with each other and not the children. We have had youth that simply had no interest in being there.

But this year, well this year was a shining moment for our youth program. It didn’t look like it was going to turn out this way. Up to the week before we started, we only had thirty-five children signed up and very few volunteers. Now, God has always used Vacation Bible School to give me a small taste of His spectacular abilities. It’s always been a fish and loaves story for me. There never looks like we will have enough. Sometimes it’s supplies. Sometimes it’s volunteers. This year it was children and volunteers. He usually waits til the last minute, because that grows faith, but He always delivers in a unique way that changes every year.

This year, He has allowed me to see Him working through our youth. I remember when most of them came through our VBS program, when we hatched the idea of graduating them in fifth grade to the youth group, when we created staff shirts for them. We’ve been working on that idea for over six years now, waiting on God’s timing and praying for results.

This week, we hit pay dirt. We have a young youth minister now and she rolls up her sleeves and jumps right into VBS and our youth have followed her. They have been real leaders this week. They arrive everyday with a smile. They play with the kids. They take pictures with them. They are respectful. They are leaders and mentors. They have made the little ones want to be like them.

The fact that I have had a tiny part in planting the seeds that have produced this awesome fruit humbles me and makes me burst with pride at the same time. A few of us listened to a quiet voice that said, “Let’s build this program” and we tried to comply and this week we have been rewarded with beautiful results.

As I often tell my own children, God is good and Jesus loves Vacation Bible School. Can I get an amen?!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Even When You don’t Understand…

Posted on by Wendy
Two question marks make a perfect heart.
Two question marks make a perfect heart.

My friend asked me a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to hear a Bo story. The answer was of course, yes. Bo is a charming six-year-old who never fails to crack me up. She told me that he asked her recently what God looked like. She told him she didn’t know, but asked him what he thought God looked like. He told her that he thought God had brown hair and brown eyes. She asked him what else. He told her that God was small. She was surprised by this and asked him why he thought God was small. He replied that He had to be small if he was able to fit inside your heart.

Aren’t children awesome? They are so literal. But, Bo was obviously listening to the various people who have tried to teach him about God and he had given it some thought too. As parents, that’s all we ask; right? We want them to listen and think about it.

Our Vacation Bible School is in full swing this week. Today’s Bible Point was, “Even when you don’t understand… Jesus loves you.” The kids were asked to give examples of situations that they didn’t understand and they were written down on a question mark. As expected, the questions ran the gamut. “Why do people die of old age?” “Why do we have vegetables?” “Why do we have feet?” “Why do we have snakes?”

If you have spent any time at all with young children, their questions are endless, but some are very thoughtful; some will make you smile and some will really challenge you. Some of their questions are ones that we all have.

When we had our closing assembly, we read some of their questions aloud. Then we taped another question mark to the first. Any idea what it made? It made a heart. The point for the day was “Even when you don’t understand…Jesus loves you.” Then, they sang “Jesus Loves Me.”

It was a powerful assembly that brought tears to my eyes. We all have questions for God. I know I do. There are times when we simply don’t understand why things happen the way they do. Sometimes, down the road, we get our answers and sometimes we don’t. There are simply some answers we will never get on this side of eternity. Accepting that, is part of growing our faith, just like we are attempting to do with the kids who are attending VBS this week.

But, if we can remember and hold close to our hearts, that “Even when we don’t understand… Jesus loves us,” we have won the battle with doubt. The Bible tells us that he weeps with us. He’s sad when we are sad. He loves us unconditionally, no matter what, even when we have questions and that my friends, is worth celebrating.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Extending Hospitality

Posted on by Wendy
My parents always have dozens of hummingbirds. They keep four large feeders filled.
My parents always have dozens of hummingbirds. They keep four large feeders filled.

I recently attended a luncheon hosted by a delightful neighbor of mine. We have two families on our street who are moving. One is moving just one town away and the other is moving all the way home to Germany. My neighbor thought it would be nice to gather the ladies on our street together to say goodbye.

I was crazy busy that day. I was at the end of planning for Vacation Bible School and the house was a mess, but I stopped what I was doing in the middle of a Saturday and went across the street for lunch. Boy, was I glad I did. She had appetizers, (made herself, not the frozen ones.) She had Prosecco, tea, and lemonade. She had a table set with beautiful linens and she was using her good china.

The food was delicious and the company was superb. We were all mixed ages and backgrounds as neighbors tend to be, but we found plenty to chat about over lunch. We laughed at each other and with each other. We participated in community.

One of the ladies who relocated here from Las Vegas, was asking about hummingbirds. She wanted to know if any of us had any. I asked her if she had a feeder out. She said no. That lead us to talk about all of the squirrels that raid our bird feeders if we attempt to have one, but her question got me to thinking.

When I put a hummingbird feeder out in the late spring or early summer, I always have hummingbirds, always. If I put it out too early, I won’t get any, but that’s because it’s not the right season, not because they don’t appreciate the feeder.

How often are we like that? We complain or feel badly that we don’t have close friends or that we don’t know our neighbors, but do we ever extend an invitation or open our doors to strangers to make them friends?

If we have extended an invitation and we were turned down, perhaps it wasn’t a rejection. Perhaps it just wasn’t the right season. If I put out a hummingbird feeder in December, I won’t get any hummingbirds. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the feeder is. The birds just aren’t around in December. But, if I put it out during the right season, I always have visitors.

I will never have hummingbirds if I don’t put out a feeder. By the same token, I won’t get to know my neighbors if I don’t accept or extend invitations to or from them for lunch or dinner.

A little hospitality is an amazing thing. It can be as small as a plate of brownies to welcome new neighbors or an elegant luncheon using the good china. It’s almost always appreciated and I am always blessed when I accept invitations or extend them.

I think I’ll make an effort to be less busy and extend a little more hospitality this summer and see what happens. I’ll bet it will be a lot like the hummingbirds at the feeder. What do you think about hospitality? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Why Do We Bother With the Old Testament?

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes, to help you know where you are going, you really need to know where you have been.
Sometimes, to help you know where you are going, you really need to know where you have been.

I often have people tell me that they don’t like to read the Old Testament. They get bogged down in all of the names and places. “What’s the point?” they argue. “It’s all before Jesus, anyway.” People seem to prefer to focus on grace and that’s understandable. As Christians, Jesus is the center of our faith, but we still need to know where we come from.

There have been times when my children have questioned the point of learning history. It’s all just the past after all. Of course the answer to that argument is that if we don’t learn about the past, how can we learn from it? For example, the importance of learning about the horrors of the Holocaust and what lead to it, is so that humanity never allows it to happen again. We learn from our mistakes.

The Old Testament is full of God’s history with humanity and with His chosen people in particular. I just finished reading the little Book of Nehemiah. In thirteen short chapters, a man answers God’s calling to rebuild a wall. With deep faith, he boldly asks the king who he is in service of, for permission to go, as well as for assistance, in his journey.

Upon arrival in Jerusalem, he meets all kinds of threats and opposition. He soldiers on, knowing that this is God’s plan, not his own. God is with him and he organizes the people and the wall is built in a relatively short amount of time. God’s protection is on him. He talks to the people about repenting and returning to following God and they do. They are sad about their disobedience and they turn their lives around.

This is a success story and Nehemiah returns to the king. After some time, he returns to Jerusalem. What does he find? They are breaking many of the laws once again. They are not keeping the Sabbath. They are intermarrying with foreigners. He is furious. He calls them out and attempts to set them straight.

The book ends with Nehemiah asking God to please remember him with favor. It doesn’t end with a happy ending all nicely tied up with a bow.

What’s the point? Well, let’s see, people turn away from God and their world crumbles and they find themselves in a mess. God sends them a messenger or a leader of some type, to help them get back on the right path. They return to God for awhile. The worship wholeheartedly, for awhile. Everything is going well, for awhile. The messenger leaves or they leave. They stop worshiping and listening to God. They turn away. Their society crumbles.

Does any of this sound at all familiar? The Old Testament is full of these stories. If we focus on God, follow God, worship God as individuals, as a community, as a society, as a nation, God’s hand will remain on us. If we don’t, it doesn’t turn out very well.

The good news is, that it’s never too late. We do have the gift of grace and God always welcomes us back, but we have to take the steps to turn toward Him and not away. The Old Testament reminds us of this and I think it’s probably worth being reminded.

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Learning to Enjoy the Climb

Posted on by Wendy
It's really not about the destination. It's about the climb.
It’s really not about the destination. It’s about the climb.

My kids’ friends call our neighborhood, “the roller coaster neighborhood.” We have some crazy hills. When you are driving through in a car, you can get those butterflies in your stomach, like when you ride a roller coaster. It’s very tough to ride a bicycle on; but it can be fun as well. The pedaling to get to the top is grueling, but the ride down is like flying.

I walk for exercise and it’s really quite the work out. But, I was noticing the other day that as I was struggling to make it up one of those monster hills, when I finally made it to the top, the sun was really hot up there. As I made my way down the hills, the little valleys were shady and cool. They were momentarily refreshing before I started the next climb.

It struck me how similar our physical walk can be like our life walk. We get out there and we work so hard to get to the top. We sometimes ignore the scenery along the way. We sometimes ignore the people along the way and neglect the ones closest to us in our single-minded focus on making it to the top.

And what happens when we make it there? (if we actually do) What all, and more importantly, who all, did we sacrifice along the way? What does life look like at the top? Is it worth it?

I think maybe, we need to learn to focus on the journey instead of the destination. Maybe we need to learn to appreciate the scenery along the way and more importantly, the people who we are traveling with on life’s journey. The valleys may prove to be shady and quiet. The climb itself may prove to be spectacular.

I sometimes have a hard time remembering that we are all just travelers here. We have a finite time here on earth. If you knew when your last day would be, would you have chosen to spend today differently? Would you choose to laugh more and cry less? Would you choose forgiveness over anger? Would you pray more and worry less? Would you get busy working on that bucket list? Would you be more thankful for your many blessings?

I think our human nature is to be task oriented. I know mine is. If I’m going on vacation, I want to get there the quickest route possible, so I can start having fun. But, what if I were to embrace the fact that if I’m traveling with my family to a vacation destination, from the moment we wake up, until the time we arrive to where we are going, should be fun, because it’s about an adventure together. Those family adventures don’t last forever. Children grow up. Family time with our children is finite.

I want to really learn to embrace the journey, the journey with my family and the journey with God. I want to start each day  knowing that it will lead to some kind of adventure that God has ordained for me in advance. I want to appreciate it and enjoy it and be thankful.

That’s a tall order for this task-oriented, list- making, got- to- have- a- plan girl. But, I think it’s an idea worth pursuing. Care to join me? What do you think about enjoying the journey? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂