Author: Wendy

Kingsnakes not Copperheads

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes a second look shows us that we didn't need to be afraid after all.
Sometimes a second look shows us that we didn’t need to be afraid after all.

My mama was a city girl. She grew up in town and walked to school on sidewalks. My parents moved us out to the country when I was just learning to walk. Mama taught me as early as I could remember to run away if I ever saw a snake. My daddy and granddaddy felt the same way. I grew up with a natural fear of snakes, all snakes.

I married a man who grew up in rural Georgia who shared my healthy fear of snakes, but in the past few years, we have changed our minds about them.

Our yard is very wooded. We have lots of squirrels, birds and chipmunks and even though we don’t often see them, snakes. Several years back, a Copperhead snake bit our dog. We never saw the snake, but the dog required medical attention. She fully recovered, and I became very wary of poisonous snakes.

The snake in the picture above, is a Kingsnake. It was hanging out near our hot tub last weekend. My hubby ran up on it as he was getting ready to work on the tub. As I walked around the corner, he called to me that a snake was back there. I froze.

“What kind?” I asked with dread.

He said it was a Kingsnake and I breathed a sigh of relief. Those guys kill the poisonous ones. It would be really foolish of us to kill one. Still, old feelings die hard and I watched from a very safe distance filled with fear of it, even though I knew it wouldn’t harm me.

It made me wonder about what other misplaced fears I might be carrying around with me. We pick up all kinds of fears over a lifetime. Some of them are good and keep us safe. It was certainly wise of Mama to warn me and my siblings about snakes. It’s not like you want to trust a five-year-old to discern the difference between poisonous and nonpoisonous ones.

But, as we get older, I think maybe it’s incumbent on us to figure out what we should really be frightened of and why. Adults shouldn’t fear all snakes or all spiders either, for that matter. Christians aren’t supposed to fear much of anything.

The Bible tells us, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

What does that mean? Maybe it means that we need to ask ourselves what kind of fears are we carrying around. Unfounded fears simply hold us back from living in freedom. They imprison us. If we have needless fears, we can always pray about them and give them to God. He can replace them with peace and power and then we can live as we are supposed to, eyes focused on Him.

We may find through prayer, that most of our fears are nothing more than Kingsnakes, not Copperheads.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Honeysuckle Moments

Posted on by Wendy
What God plants is always so much better than what we can accomplish on our own.
What God plants is always so much better than what we can accomplish on our own.

I think May might be my favorite time of the year. It’s the time of year I can walk out onto my porch barefoot and have a cup of coffee. It’s not too cold and it’s not too hot. I can listen to the birds create their symphony and I can smell the honeysuckle.

I have really noticed the glorious scent of the honeysuckle vines around my house the last couple of days. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s stronger this year, but it smells fabulous. When my daughter joined me on the porch yesterday in her jammies and she mentioned how much she liked it too, we started talking about how much of it we have around the fence and trees near the house and about how much we love the scent.

Here’s the greatest thing about it; I didn’t plant it, not any of it. Not one little blossom came from any work I did.

I did plant some jasmine several years ago. Jasmine is famous in the South, for its sweet, intoxicating smell. It’s supposed to be easy to grow and it will cover unsightly fences. I bought it and watered it and hoped for the best. It did climb a pole. It also covered up a concrete pillar. It hasn’t bloomed even once.

The honeysuckle and jasmine comparison made me think about the things we plant and the things God plants. Sometimes we try our hardest to make something work that we think is best. Sometimes we can make it work, but sometimes we can’t. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, there are things or circumstances we just can’t make succeed. They can be almost anything from jobs, to relationships, to business ideas. Some things simply were not meant to be, kind of like my jasmine.

Then, at other times, things work out just beautifully, with almost no effort of our own. There are times when things seem to fall into place almost magically. It’s almost as if every light we come to is green, and a project, or a relationship, or a new job just succeeds almost perfectly out of the blue. These are our honeysuckle moments.

These moments are nothing we did ourselves. They are gifts from a loving God. I think the key is to recognize them and give thanks. I think we probably have many more honeysuckle moments than we realize; I know I do. Those vines growing in my backyard reminded me in a beautiful way that I am loved and blessed in so many ways and that I should probably look a little closer at all I have been given.

Maybe you need a reminder too. What are your honeysuckle moments?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Honoring Life’s Mothers

Posted on by Wendy
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother’s Day!

Sunday is Mother’s Day and thanks to the commercial world we live in, there’s a great push to buy the mothers in our lives everything from cards and flowers to diamond jewelry and days at the spa. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with giving tokens of thanks to the moms in our lives who we have been blessed with, but I think we should all go a little deeper on Mother’s Day.

Most women have been a mom in some way, shape or form in their lifetimes, even if they didn’t physically give birth to a child. Women tend to be natural nurturers. God made us that way, so most women mentor or mother many people during their lives who don’t share their DNA.

Sometimes our need to create life even takes the form of creating charities or writing books or movies that change people’s lives in some way. Creating and nurturing is something most women do well, which is not surprising, when we remember how creative our Creator is.

I think Mother’s Day is the perfect day to celebrate the women in our lives who have helped us along our journey. We should definitely celebrate the women who gave us physical life, but it’s a great time to remember all the ladies who have mothered us along the way.

It’s a great day to say a prayer of thanks for all of the mamas out there who make a huge contribution to the world we live in through the children they raise. It’s also a great day to remember those who are mourning the loss of their own mothers or those who may be mourning the loss of a child. We can pray for grace and comfort for those who mourn. The Bible tells us, they will be blessed and comforted.

I’m very grateful for my mama and all she’s done for me and I’m grateful for all those women who have mothered me along the way. I’d like to wish all the mamas out there a Happy Mother’s Day. You are all truly a blessing from God.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Heart Reboot

Posted on by Wendy
We can spiritually reboot our hearts and get back into perfect rhythm with God's plan.
We can spiritually reboot our hearts and get back into perfect rhythm with God’s plan.

My dad had to go to the hospital this week to have his heart stopped and restarted. Sounds pretty scary, right? Who on earth would agree to have their heart stopped on purpose? But, Daddy has a pacemaker that is supposed to keep his heart in rhythm and his heart was out of rhythm. That lack of perfect rhythm was making him tired all of the time with no energy.

The entire process took all of fifteen minutes, (although he did spend the night.) The surgeon basically rebooted his heart. It’s in perfect rhythm now and he is supposed to feel a hundred times better.

The entire process got me to thinking about how cool it would be if we could all get a heart reboot, when we get out of rhythm. Of course, I don’t mean physically, but spiritually.

There are times on our faith walk when we are just no longer motivated or so tired that we don’t want to continue anymore. We may get discouraged for a number of reasons from prayers that we feel are unanswered, to bad things that happen, to simply spreading ourselves too thinly and doing too much. Some of us are guilty of saying yes, too often.

Whatever the reason that we find ourselves out of rhythm, maybe we can reboot our hearts spiritually. If we aren’t spending any time with God in prayer, that’s a good start. But, possibly the best way to reboot, is to spend some time in His Word.

I often hear people complaining about not hearing from God or feeling His presence, but when asked if they spend anytime reading the Bible, the answer is usually, no. I bet if we would commit to just fifteen minutes a day to Bible reading, we may get fabulous results.

Prayers seem to get an electric charge when we are regularly reading the Bible. We learn to pray differently. The Holy Spirit gets really busy when we read the Bible. If the Spirit is the pacemaker; the Bible is His battery. We are granted wisdom and discernment. We feel a new peace. Our spiritual lives can reboot and we can take on a new rhythm.

There’s no magic number of minutes to spend reading the Bible or in prayer, but if we are out of rhythm, fifteen minutes a day may be a perfect place to start. Why not give it a try?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Been There Moments

Posted on by Wendy
Our been there moments have the potential to comfort others.
Our been there moments have the potential to comfort others.

When I got called in yesterday to sub, I had no idea why. It turned out that it was for a teacher who had to have her dog put to sleep that morning. As I shared in a post last week, I recently went through that myself. When she arrived at noon, we talked about it a few minutes and shared stories. I hugged her and offered her some comfort that could really only come from someone who had “been there.”

Later, in the car rider line, I was talking to a friend of mine who had a serious struggle last year resulting from the betrayal of a really good friend of hers. That same friend had brought her into the Christian faith, so the betrayal hurt her very deeply. She and I have discussed many times why God didn’t work it out differently. I always assured her that He does have a plan and His own timing even when we can’t understand.

Well, it turns out that she had coffee with another friend of hers a couple of days ago who shared some things that were going on in her own life and in one of her relationships and my friend got it. She said it was like a light bulb moment, when she realized that the only way that she was able to  help this friend was because she had “been there,” herself.

The bad stuff from her past, all of the pain, suddenly made sense. She said she felt an amazing sense of peace and relief.

When we surrender our stuff to God, He can do amazing things with it. When I say stuff, I mean pain, betrayals, disappointments, failures and heartache. He can use those things and create something beautiful to help others along in their journey. It doesn’t matter whether or not we can see it; He can.

But, we shouldn’t limit ourselves or Him to the negative stuff either. He can also use our successes, strong healthy relationships, and joy too. His power is limitless. He wants everything in our hearts, good and bad and all He wants from us is to give it to Him and to trust.

Wherever we are right now, whatever we are going through, we never walk alone. He can redeem any situation and He always wants to hold our hand on the journey. The question is, are we willing to reach for His?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Dandelion Faith

Posted on by Wendy
What do you see when you look at a dandelion?
What do you see when you look at a dandelion?

When children see a dandelion, they often see a wish for the making. They will blow on all of those little white seeds and make a wish. When adults see a dandelion, they often see a weed that must be killed at all costs. Beauty, I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder. The truth is, though, that we would usually all be better off if we looked at life through a child’s eyes.

Dandelions were actually prized until the 1800’s. People would pull grass out of their yards to make space for useful weeds. They are useful. All parts of them are edible except for the white seeds. They have vitamin A, C, K, potassium and calcium in them. They can also be dried and made into a tea. They can be used to make dyes and some cultures use them for medicinal purposes. Bees love them and use them to make honey.

Interestingly, when perfectly manicured lawns became the rage, dandelions became a pest to homeowners. People spend millions of dollars each year on herbicides to try to eradicate them. But, the dandelion is a formidable foe.

I think we might have some things to learn from this little weed. First of all, its roots can grow up to fifteen feet deep. Think about that for a moment. No wonder you can’t dig them up very easily. Most of them have about eighteen inch roots, but that’s still pretty deep. The other cool thing about their tap-root is that it’s very brittle and twisted, if you leave any of it at all behind, while digging it up, it will regenerate.

Then there’s the little white seeds. They can travel up to five miles away on the wind and create more dandelions. That’s a lot of dandelions from one original plant.

I have to wonder what our faith would look like if we took a lesson from the dandelion. What if we established deep roots through prayer, Bible reading and faith community? If our roots went deep enough, no adversity could snuff us out. If we came under attack, we would regenerate. The right root system would allow us to do that.

After establishing roots, we could feed many off of our bright yellow flowers. All kinds of people are attracted to bright and cheerful, just like the bees are attracted to dandelions. Just think of the sweet honey-like things that could come from our cheerful invitation to follow.

Then, of course, there are the white seed pods that spread everywhere with a little help from the wind or a whimsical child. There’s a lot of new life that can come from spreading our faith like that.

I think we can learn a lot from the dandelion. I don’t think I’ll look at them quite the same way anymore. Maybe you won’t either.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Obedience and Blessings

Posted on by Wendy
Obedience leads to beautiful blessings.
Obedience leads to beautiful blessings.

Last night our church improv group did a Sunday Night Live show. It was a variety show with short comedy skits and some music played in between. My family participated in one at Christmas time and we enjoyed it, but this one was an entire different story.

My hubby and kids worked together and wrote several of the skits for this one. We had a group of nine teenagers as well as adults. We had very few practices and many last-minute script changes. It was incredibly stressful. I found myself praying last week that God would calm my nerves and help me to see His plan through all of the chaos.

I had worked with young children and plays many times, but teens are an independent sort. Would they learn their lines? Would they even show up? Comedy is also a different animal than other plays. Would the show be funny?

Sunday morning came and one of our adult cast members had a fever. Would she be able to make the show?

Sunday afternoon everyone showed up on time. The rehearsal was horrible. We didn’t know our lines. We didn’t have the right props. We had technical difficulties. We all hoped to run through our show twice, but only had enough time to do it once.

Now I knew from every single play that I have ever worked with that a horrible rehearsal often leads to a beautiful performance. The other thing that we had going for us was that we had spent the past five months or so, learning to improvise, so when we flubbed our lines, we could often just work with each other. That’s what improv is.

But, probably the most awesome thing that God let me witness through the entire experience was a few minutes before the show started. The pastor wanted to round up the cast for a prayer, but when we went to find the kids, they were already joining hands for a group prayer of their own.

I was moved to tears. A group of teens pulling together on their own, to pray for a common goal is an awesome thing to witness. The adults joined the kids and one of the girls lead the prayer.

Of course, the show went beautifully. The audience laughed loudly at our shenanigans. The music was beautiful and the kids worked together like well oiled machinery.

God was there, just as I knew He would be. He was at work. He was at work as people laughed who desperately needed to laugh. He was at work as we all worked together. He was at work within the hearts of the teenagers who knew the importance of prayer. I’ve no doubt He was at work in countless other ways too.

As is usually the case, when I watch for God and I am obedient, even when it’s hard, He always shows Himself in unmistakable ways and I always end up feeling incredibly blessed. I’ll try to remember that the next time obedience seems hard.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Healing Power of Kindness

Posted on by Wendy
Kindness can help heal.
Kindness can help heal.

We had to have our dog, Sadie, put to sleep on Good Friday. It’s taken me until now to be able to write about it. It wasn’t completely unexpected. She was a hundred fifteen pound dog and she was fourteen years old. She had long outlived her life expectancy. Still, she was healthy and although she could no longer hear or see very well, she seemed to be chugging along just fine, until she wasn’t.

She had some sort of stroke. We called our vet and he was set to be out of town for the week, but would be in for a couple of hours that morning. He had always been Sadie’s vet, so we really wanted it to be him. We beat him there and had to wait for a while, but they got us in a room and checked on us repeatedly, offering us tissues and drinks. Their gentleness and kindness was unbelievably touching.

When the vet arrived, he actually sat on the floor with us as she drifted off for the last time and they made a little plaster footprint for us to keep. While the entire process was pretty gut wrenching, I was so incredibly moved by their kindness.

When we attended a Good Friday prayer service that night, we told our pastor about our dog. He was very sympathetic and was concerned about our kids. On Easter Sunday, I had several church members express their condolences too. I don’t know why I was so surprised. It’s a very small, close-knit community. If you have ever had a dog, you know they become part of the family.

The vet clinic is in a very rural county and they are always busy. They really didn’t have to go out of their way to be so incredibly kind to us, but they did. A couple of days ago, we got a sympathy card in the mail from them and everyone in the clinic signed it. Attached to the card, was an envelope of wild flower seeds. We can plant them in a patch and be reminded of Sadie every spring.

What a beautiful gesture, that again, was certainly not required or even expected from them.

Kindness is one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, one that seems in short supply these days if you watch much of the news. It often takes so little from us to extend kindness to others, but that effort can mean the whole world to someone who is hurting.

I feel so blessed by the kindness extended to our family over the loss of our dog and I am reminded to be ever vigilant to extend it to those around me who may be hurting. It really does help.

When my kids ask me if dogs go to heaven, I have to say that I can’t imagine creatures that bring so much love to humanity not being close to the heart of God. So, yes I suspect heaven is full of dogs.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

And a Child Shall Lead Them

Posted on by Wendy
There may be no more fertile ground on earth for the love of Jesus than the heart of a child.
There may be no more fertile ground on earth for the love of Jesus than the heart of a child.  Photo Credit: Bishop M. Cromartie

Facebook has been all abuzz with news of the rioting in Baltimore, Maryland. A suspect died in police custody and the streets filled up with angry protestors bent on revenge and violence. Houses and businesses were destroyed. Buildings were burned. Rocks and bricks were thrown at the police who were trying to keep order.

Monday night was a scene of complete chaos. All of the citizens of Baltimore were completely out of control. The city was being run by evil forces bent on destruction. But, then the sun rose as it always does and light broke through the darkness.

It’s amazing how the tiniest bit of light can shatter complete and utter darkness. It’s true; there are dark forces that are thriving in Baltimore at the moment, but there’s plenty of good as well.

The little boy in the picture above was at the local CVS that was burned. His parents and other volunteers, yes volunteers, were trying to assist in the clean up. The little boy completely unprompted, went to officer after officer and offered them water. This child was clearly not filled with hate or anger, not for police officers or white people, or any people. His heart was filled with love and kindness.

There are countless other photos out there of citizens getting between the police officers and protesters. There are stories of other citizens offering the police water as well as pizza. There are dozens of pictures of everyday citizens assisting in the cleanup, the cleanup of a mess they didn’t create. There is good going on in Baltimore. God is present. He is at work. There are pastors out there who have asked that we share photos and news of the community that is pulling together. I say that we oblige them.

I think we need to remember that chaos and hate do not come from God. They come straight from Satan. Righteous anger is one thing. There’s nothing wrong with being angry at injustice, but hate is something completely different altogether. When we take to social media and spread chaotic and hateful messages, whose side are we on?

There was a mama who was standing on the side with the police on Tuesday, when she realized that one of the hoodie-clad rioters was her very own teenage son. She stunned the world when she went stomping over into the group of rioters who were carrying bricks and rocks and she let him have it. She went off on him on national television and drug him away. Who knows what kind of evil her intervention stopped?

What would our world look like if all of the mamas and daddies out there weren’t afraid to call their kids out when they catch them doing wrong? Isn’t that our job as parents?

Please join me in praying for the citizens of Baltimore. Pray that peace will be restored there. Pray that evil will be crushed and let’s give a special thanks for the little boy who followed his heart and the mama who had the courage to do what was right on national television. May God fill our country with more people like them.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

 

 

A Technology Black Out

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes life without technology looks pretty good.
Sometimes life without technology looks pretty good.

Last night while we were watching television, our cable froze. It was a riveting show too, a Simpson’s rerun. I went ahead and did all of the troubleshooting tasks, unplugged the box, etc… and still nothing happened. I went upstairs and asked my daughter if her cable was working. It wasn’t. I was going to have to call Charter.

When I picked up the phone, it was dead too and we had no Internet either. Gotta love the bundle. After getting a nice lady named Wanda, on the phone, I learned that we had an outage in the area and they were working on it. Quite frankly, I was kind of happy about it. I find troubleshooting cable and wi-fi to be a huge pain. I have to find where things are plugged in which often requires moving furniture. At least I knew it was on their end not mine.

When I thanked her for letting me know. She paused a minute and told me I had been her nicest customer all night. Really? What would have been the point of yelling at Wanda? She was sitting at a desk somewhere far away. What exactly could anyone expect her to do about an outage? It wasn’t like she could climb a pole and fix it. I answered the annoying survey that followed and gave her all A’s.

Then I hung up my cell phone and something fabulous happened. My son put down his iphone. My daughter came downstairs and plopped down in a chair and we talked.

For whatever reason, my teenagers began reminding each other of learning games they played on the computer as little kids. They remembered little pieces of songs and would sing them. Then they began telling different stories from their kindergarten days. They talked and laughed with each other. We all asked each other questions and we would laugh some more.

This went on for a little over an hour and then the cable came back on. My daughter was done with her trip down memory lane and headed up stairs to watch “Fresh Prince.” My son became engrossed in his laptop while watching yet another “Simpsons,” episode. That show is always on.

I picked my Kindle back up, but I was incredibly thankful for the technology black out. Wanda told me that I could call Charter and get credit for the time with no cable, but I really wanted to call them and thank them for the time. Their failure turned out to be a beautiful little gift for me.

I’m trying to do better at recognizing little blessings along the way and to give thanks for them. I’m trying to do better at treasuring the precious resource of time.

Life these days is loud and busy, so when we are forced to have some black out time, maybe we should seize the moment. It’s fairly rare and usually needed and quite possibly a gift. Maybe we should just say thanks.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂