Author: Wendy

Making Space

Posted on by Wendy
When we made a space for bluebirds, we got bluebirds.
When we made a space for bluebirds, we got bluebirds.

I have often thought bluebirds were beautiful. I never saw them much growing up and they aren’t as common as they once were. So, when my son had to complete a project for an agriculture class at school, last year, I naturally encouraged him and my hubby to build a bluebird house.

They are apparently, rather picky about their houses. They like for the hole to be a certain size and for their nests to be a certain height off the ground. They found the perfect plans on the internet and he got an A on the project.

Low and behold, we had bluebirds, the first season we put it out. They are very shy birds and although I often see them, they flee the moment they see me. I was able to capture this one after returning from a recent walk and it made me think about other things that we could have more of in our lives if we simply made the space.

Having two kids that are very artistic, I have found that when I created a space for them to create and the supplies to do it, they were much more likely to be creative, than when I left their art supplies packed away in a box and had to make a space on the kitchen table for them.

Likewise, when I decided to turn a rarely used formal living room into a writing space for me, Graceful Gaines was born.

I am aware that space is at a premium in many homes, but even a little corner with a folding table set up can make all of the difference to someone who has an ability and a desire to create, but needs a little nudge.

I once read that Mary Engelbreit announced to her mother as a child, that she needed a studio space. Their house was small, but her mother cleaned out a closet and put a desk in it for her artistic daughter. A studio was born and so was one of my favorite artists.

I also use my writing space for my place to read my Bible and jot down notes and questions I have. I can certainly read the Bible anywhere, but having a dedicated space to leave it out, open and ready to go, along with a pen and a pad, just seems to make it easier to make it a point to read it everyday.

Even a rarely used chair in a corner somewhere can serve the same purpose. Inviting God in regularly, can make any place holy.

Perhaps Lent is an ideal time to prayerfully consider what things in our lives would we give much-needed attention to if we were to create a little more space for them. They can range from creative endeavors to more prayer time. God created each one of us with unique talents that we are supposed to nurture and use for Him. If we aren’t nurturing and growing them, then we aren’t serving to our best abilities.

What areas in your life need more space?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

It’s Only an Hour….

Posted on by Wendy
Lent thought for the day.
Lent thought for the day.

When we went to bed on Saturday night, we had to spring forward an hour on our clocks. Now, I don’t know about you, but Sunday proved to be a very long day for me. Not only was I exhausted all day, but every time I looked at the clock, it was so much later than I thought.

This happens to me every year and honestly, it takes me about a week to adjust. I have always found the same to be true with my kids, whether they were toddlers or teens; we will have a week of grumpiness. But, it’s only an hour. Should one little hour make such a huge difference in our lives?

Perhaps it shouldn’t. But, let’s ponder that for a moment. What would happen if we gave up an hour, (just one), daily, for exercise? Our blood pressure would likely drop, along with our cholesterol, not to mention our pants size. Studies have shown that our stress level would drop as well and our sleep quality would increase. That hour doesn’t seem quite as insignificant; does it?

What if we were to dedicate an hour daily to prayer time and Bible reading? Does that hour now, seem huge? That’s a lot of prayer; isn’t it? I wonder how much of the Bible we could read in a year’s time if we dedicated an hour a day to it. What would our faith walk look like? I wonder if our stress level and blood pressure would decrease in this scenario as well. I wonder if our sleep quality would increase. I feel like our level of peace would likely increase as well as joy and all of those cool fruits of the Holy Spirit, like patience, kindness and love.

We live in a busy and over scheduled world and we have the tendency to waste time and energy on frivolous things, or at least I do. Perhaps you do too? Things from playing on Facebook, to surfing the net, to checking Pinterest, can eat up an awful lot of time.

Daylight Savings Time has been a good reminder to me of the large amount of good that could be accomplished with only one hour a day. As I trudge through this week, getting readjusted, I’m going to take some time to pray about how I might better use my time.

As we travel through Lent and attempt to draw closer to God, maybe one of the best tithes we could ever give to God would be our time. Managing our time better to include more time with Him, could possibly be one of the best gifts we could ever give ourselves as well as to all of the people who happen to cross our paths.

Since time is one of those precious commodities that we never get more of, perhaps we should be more intentional with it. What do you think?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Dormant not Dead

Posted on by Wendy
My neighborhood trees appear dead right now.
My neighborhood trees appear dead right now.

On a recent walk in my neighborhood, I noticed that all of the trees look dead. There are no leaves and nothing green on the vast majority of them. It’s still winter time and I know that they aren’t really dead; they are simply dormant during this season.

When conditions get right, with warmer days and more sun, they will burst into life. Those stark, lifeless looking trees got me to thinking about other things in life that we think are dead, but are really just dormant.

Sometimes we have relationships that we think are way past repair and are surely dead. We may have dreams that we thought died long ago. Sometimes our faith itself can feel lifeless and dead for any number of reasons ranging from our own apathy or neglect, to a huge tragedy of some sort.

But, when Jesus enters the picture, everything changes.

I am reminded of a story in the Gospel of Luke. In Chapter 8, a man approached Jesus to ask him to heal his sick daughter. Jesus got caught up in the crowd and was delayed. Someone sent word to the father that his daughter had died and told him, “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Luke 8:49b

This had to have been devastating news. But, here’s the awesome part. “Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe and she will be healed.'” Luke 8:50

Think about it a minute. Jesus overheard this news. I picture him reaching towards this panicked father telling him not to be afraid and to believe. I picture him reaching for us in the same way when we desperately need redemption for something in our lives that we believe is dead.

When they arrived at the house and everyone was crying, Jesus told them that the child was not dead, only sleeping. Do you know how they reacted? They laughed at Jesus. He was undeterred. He took the girl’s mother and father and three of his disciples and went to her bed side. He reached for her hand and told her to get up and she did.

I’m not sure we do much better today than the crowd did. We are modern people of science, statistics, and numbers. We like facts and figures. We like sure things and we demand proof. We often leave little room for faith in our lives.

But, the truth is when Jesus says something is sleeping and not dead, then it can be redeemed. Our job is not to question how, but to believe, like that father did.

Lent is an ideal time to search our lives for relationships, dreams or anything that we may have thought was dead, but believe that Jesus may have a different plan. People may laugh at us. They laughed at Jesus too, but we can pray about those things and we may be pleasantly surprised.

It's possible that the things we thought were dead, were merely dormant.
It’s possible that the things we thought were dead, are merely dormant.

There may be some situations that are ready to burst to life when we introduce the Son.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

When the World is Foggy

Posted on by Wendy
When our world gets shrouded in fog, we don't have to fear. We can just slow down and trust.
When our world gets shrouded in fog, we don’t have to fear. We can just slow down and trust.

Yesterday morning, our area was under a fog warning. Every radio station was talking about it. The Weather Channel App, had a warning about it. My thirteen-year-old son finally asked, during our commute to school, “What’s the big deal about the fog?”

His artist mind thought it was cool to look at and I agreed with him. I explained to him that the problem with fog is that people don’t like to slow down. We don’t like to plan ahead and leave home early. We don’t like to be inconvenienced in any way. So, we leave for work at the same time and travel at the same speed, even though we can’t see clearly, and we crash.

That explanation seemed to satisfy him. When I returned home, I got my camera to try to capture some of the foggy images around me. They really were quite beautiful and the fog and its beauty as well as its inconveniences, continued to play out in my head.

Faith and fog seem to be close cousins to me. Both are a beautiful. Both require us to slow down and watch and sometimes wait. Both can cover all the imperfections in the world around us. Fog covers them physically while faith covers them spiritually. They both force us to keep moving ahead towards our destination slowly, even when we can barely see what lies ahead.

A few months ago, my hubby and I were having a really tough week. It was one thing after another. In desperation, I sent an e-mail to our pastor, asking him for prayer. I loved his response so much that I wrote it down.

“We can never travel though enemy darkness beyond the headlights shown by Christ. Deep breath of Holy Spirit. Next step. Just the next step. He is with you.” Dick Hoard

I immediately felt better. I think his message is perfect for foggy times too. There are simply times in our lives when we can’t see a thing. Our world is shrouded in fog. Whether we decide to let that fog be frightening like the fog used in a scary movie or more enchanting like fog used at a prom, is up to us.

We can slow down, breathe in the Holy Spirit and take one step at a time, staying within the headlights shown by Christ, resting in the knowledge that we are loved and there is a plan, or we can panic and hit the gas and take our chances.

Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think about the foggy areas of our lives. Where do we need to slow down and let Christ shine His light? I find that when we ask, He will show up and His light never dims.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Smiling in the Rain

Posted on by Wendy
Vacuuming this little pin up turned my day around.
Vacuuming up this little pin turned my day around.

It seems like it’s been raining here in Georgia forever. It’s been a very wet winter. My mama says she thinks we’re going to mold. Yesterday began wet and dreary. I had two teens that decided they would pick that particular morning to argue with each other and me and to complain incessantly about life in general.

I’m well aware that is perfectly normal behavior for kids that age, but their attitude along with the weather was on this normally optimistic gal’s very last nerve. Furthermore, I really needed to vacuum, (think over a week), but my hubby was supposed to work on our vacuum cleaner and hadn’t gotten around to it.

I know this all sounds like whining and truthfully, it is. I have so much to be thankful for. We are all well, and have plenty to eat, and a house to live in, and electricity, and hot water, and, and, and… But, I sometimes forget and I get lost in my own little pity party and moment of despair. Maybe you do too?

I sat down on the kitchen floor and disassembled the vacuum cleaner myself. It wasn’t necessarily something I couldn’t do, just something I didn’t want to do. I finally got it back together and up and running. I vacuumed and prayed. I find that God often shows up in the seemingly mundane.

I prayed about the crummy weather and my matching mood. I prayed about my kids and for guidance from God in guiding them. I prayed for God to show Himself, acknowledging that sometimes He doesn’t.

As I prayed, a scenario came to mind. Sometimes I feel like God is like a parent teaching a child to ride a bike without the training wheels. He runs along behind us, holding onto the seat. We pedal gleefully knowing He is there. But, at some point, He lets go because we have learned to ride on our own. He knows we can do it and He’s never far away.

In the beginning of our faith walk, we become frightened much more easily, and like the child on the bike with no training wheels, we may bobble and fall. He will always be there to help us up.

But, I think His goal may be for us to be able to walk in faith and not to need constant reassurance from Him. We learn to do that from Christian community, prayer time and reading the Bible regularly. That’s how we become strong. That’s how we help others along the way.

As the scenario worked itself out in my mind, during my prayer time, I felt much better. I knew a blog post had been born. Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner sucked up something big, under my daughter’s bed. Wearily, I turned it off and checked the receptacle.

In it was a smiley face pin and immediately a song from youth group camp fires, popped into my mind. “Smile! Don’t you know God loves you? Come to think of it, I love you too. Take the time to smile at someone else, before you’re through, someone will be smiling back at you! Bom! Bom! Bom!” Then it goes faster.

That song always makes me smile and so did that pen. There’s some simple wisdom there. God loves us and in the end, that’s all that really matters. Maybe you needed a reminder today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Seeking Answers

Posted on by Wendy
How often do we miss the answers to our prayers because we are too distracted to see them?
How often do we miss the answers to our prayers because we are too distracted to see them?

I have recently been struggling with how involved I want to be in a particular outreach of my church. It takes me out of my comfort zone and quite frankly, it’s called a comfort zone for a reason. Now, I’m not one who makes it my business to wrestle with God. I understand people who do and for many, their faith grows as a result.

But, I’ve always been more of a people pleaser, so when God calls, I’m typically on board. But, in this particular instance, I couldn’t really discern whether I was being nudged by God or pushed by people. If it was a God calling, I was willing to follow, however reluctantly, but if it was a people thing, I was planning on bowing out.

I was really praying about it on the first walk I was able to take in weeks, due to our recent stretch of horrible weather. I returned home with no solid answers, but then I checked my phone and I smiled and gave a prayer of thanks, not for answering a prayer to leave me in my comfort zone, alas, but for answering a prayer for direction.

The night before, while perusing Pinterest, I pinned a quote from Ann Voskamp that said, “You can’t be a world changer until you serve. And you can’t serve until your break free of your comfort zone.” It had a picture of a weathered door.

I don’t know why I pinned it. It just spoke to me at the moment. But, when I returned from my walk and prayer time, my phone informed me that someone on Pinterest had pinned my pin and when I clicked it, Ann’s message popped up.

There was my answer. It may not have been the one I was most comfortable with, but it was my answer.

As Believers, when we really look for God in the world around us, He’s everywhere and why wouldn’t He be? When we pray for answers, do we expect them? Do we actively look for them or do we hope for a text message explaining it all in detail? Maybe we hope for the burning bush answers.

I find that God most often answers prayers in quiet subtle ways, that could easily be missed if we weren’t paying attention. I wonder how many answers I’ve missed along the way because I wasn’t looking or fully alert. How often have I missed out on God communicating with me because I was too busy or distracted? Perhaps you struggle with this too?

During this Lenten season, I’m intentionally taking time to slow down and listen. I’m trying not to miss the subtle that would easily be missed in the rush of life. When we pray, we should expect answers, but maybe we are expected to actively watch for them. I’m going to try harder to be a better watcher and listener. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Living Out Faith is a Team Deal

Posted on by Wendy
Perhaps Lent is an ideal time to reflect on how and why we are serving.
Perhaps Lent is an ideal time to reflect on how and why we are serving.

Yesterday was a miserable, dreary, rainy day. It was also a Sunday. Getting out of bed took some discipline. I could have come up with a hundred reasons not to have gotten up and attended church, but I didn’t. I got up and I went.

The pastor reminded us that we had to make a tough decision to attend in the rain. We all chuckled. But, then he reminded us that throughout church history, people had been killed for all kinds of decisions relating to their faith.

The thought occurred to me that Christianity is not a spectator faith. It never has been and Jesus has always been a polarizing figure. While most of us won’t be called to physically give up our lives for following Jesus, we are all called to fully serve and participate. Yes, getting out of bed and attending a church service is a start, but then what?

When people join churches they seem to be in one of two camps. They either participate in everything or they participate in nothing. So, we often find a small group of people involved in many church activities and other groups simply attending church and maybe Sunday School.

But, here’s what happens; the word gets out that there are certain people who will agree to help with whatever they are asked and so they get asked to serve again and again and again. They sometimes get very tired and discouraged and sometimes they end up leaving the church altogether.

I kind of think of it as a relay race at a track meet. In that kind of event, each runner runs for a little while and then they hand the baton off to another member of the team and they run for a little while and then they hand it off. Everyone has a leg to run. Everyone has a part to play. Everyone is a part of the team. Everyone’s participation matters.

If one runner drops the baton or doesn’t do their part, the entire race is severely hindered.

Perhaps Lent is a good time to do a little service soul-searching. The season is meant for us to intentionally take time and make the effort to grow closer to God. Maybe it’s a great time to ask ourselves in what ways we are serving.

Are we serving at all? Are we serving in the same way we have for the past ten plus years? Should we prayerfully seek a different way to serve? Would a new type of service help us to grow closer to Jesus in our faith walk?

If we are serving in many places, perhaps we should prayerfully ask God if we are too thinly stretched. Are we serving because we are called or because we couldn’t say “no?” If we are serving for the wrong reasons, we may be taking someone else’s slot who could really grow doing that particular service.

As I observe Lent this year, it’s more about intentionally drawing closer to God than giving up some kind of vice, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just feel like it’s really important not to make the season about us and what we can or can’t accomplish.

It’s supposed to be about deepening our faith walk and I think that examining how we do or don’t serve and making changes may be worth a look.

What do you think? How are you observing Lent? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Seek and Show

Posted on by Wendy
Lent is the ideal time to remember to seek the Divine in the world around us as well as to represent it.
Lent is the ideal time to remember to seek the Divine in the world around us as well as to represent it.

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend of mine who happens to be a counselor, about my post that day. It was the one about talking to the lady in Wal-Mart. She made the comment that people are really lonely these days and need to connect more.

I told her that I connected with people fairly regularly when I go to Wal-Mart and I had actually written about it a few times. She told me that she thought a lot of “God stuff” went on there. Of course, being the curious individual that I am, I pressed her for more information.

She said she was in the produce section one day and was in a bit of a slump with her faith. She said a woman walked up to her and asked her if could she give her something. She replied, “yes.”

The woman handed her a New Testament. Is the hair standing up on the back of your neck?

The Gideons are men. She wasn’t with them. She wasn’t standing on the corner with a pile of Bibles to hand out. She sought out my friend. Why? Did the Holy Spirit nudge her?

It was just what was needed a that moment. Isn’t God amazing that way? The more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. Maybe angels hang out Wal-Mart. The Bible tells us, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained strangers without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2

Where would Jesus hang out if he was walking around in 2015? He didn’t hang out with the rich people on his first trip here, or the most educated people, or the religious people. He didn’t spend a lot of time with people who we might consider the cream of the crop.

When I really think about it, Wal-Mart would be a very likely place to encounter the Son of God. There are all types of people there. There are lonely people there. There are struggling people there. There are angry people there. There are frustrated people there. There are old and young and lots of children there. There are several different languages spoken at my location. One can encounter John Q. Humanity there.

I’m not sure we would find Jesus at Sax. I guess my point is, I think that Jesus would most likely be where people need him the most. Wal-Mart seems as likely a place as any. I often see a great need there. I think Jesus often shows up in the mundane. Maybe angels do too.

Either way, Lent seems to be the ideal time to be more on the look out for the Divine among us as we do our best to represent it to the world around us. Wherever we go, we always have the opportunity to seek and show.

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

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Finding God in the Everyday

Posted on by Wendy
When we honestly seek God, He turns up just about everywhere.
When we honestly seek God, He turns up just about everywhere.

I had to run into Wal-Mart yesterday. I was dreading it. I always dread going to Wal-Mart because there’s no parking, and the people aren’t usually very nice, and there are never enough checkout lines open. To add to it, we were expecting anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of snow which is a huge deal in Georgia. I braced myself for chaos.

When I pulled into the lot, the parking wasn’t too bad. The inside wasn’t too bad either. I was cheered. I was looking for a specific lotion for my son’s eczema flare-up and there was a well dressed, older lady in the same section. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what face lotion I used.

We had a short conversation about how she had just moved into assisted living and that she usually bought her skin products at department stores in the mall and she just had no idea what to buy. I showed her the product I use and she told me she needed one for morning and night. She was incredibly spry and I was quite surprised that she needed assisted living.

We chatted a few minutes about her grandchildren and then she thanked me and told me I had done my good deed for the day. I assured her that I was happy to help her and we said goodbye.

The encounter played in my mind throughout my day. It required very little of my time to talk with that sweet woman, but that small amount of time seemed to have made a big difference to her. It kind of bothers me that we have become so busy and self-consumed that stopping to talk to a fellow human being is considered a “good deed.”

I can think of many actions I consider worthy of the title, but polite conversation with strangers is not one of them. I have often thought that being distracted in general, is one of the biggest adversaries of our spiritual life. Running around from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed also leaves very little time for human relationships.

As Christians, we are called to love one another. How can we love others if we are too busy to make eye contact or to speak to each other? Talking to each other should be the norm, not the exception. I’m going to try really hard to remember that.

I really need to stop dreading going to Wal-Mart too. God has used my visits there on quite a few occasions when He wants to teach me something. But, then again, when you look for God, He’s everywhere, even at Wal-Mart.

Where will you find Him today?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Learning from the Wilderness

Posted on by Wendy
Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think of our own wilderness moments.
Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think of our own wilderness moments.

Right after Jesus’ baptism, the Bible tells us that God’s voice from Heaven said that Jesus was His son and He was pleased with him. That definitely seems like one of those mountain top moments to me. Jesus is following God’s will and God verbally recognizes him. It seems like peace and joy should commence, right?

The very next verse, has Jesus being lead by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted. I’ve always wondered why. He was God’s son. Why the wilderness trial?

My pastor said on Sunday that it was because Jesus had been a carpenter up until this point. He couldn’t go from being a mere carpenter to the person God meant him to be. He required some training and testing from Satan. If he couldn’t pass the wilderness test, then how could he pass the ultimate test of willingly going to the cross?

This was a bit of a light bulb moment for me. We have all spent time in the wilderness and we have all been tested or tempted in some way, on our Christian walk.

When I got home, I looked up the account in Matthew, Chapter 4. Our pastor was preaching from Mark, but Matthew’s account has may more details. As a writer myself, I’m always very curious about the details.

Matthew’s version says that Satan tested Jesus three times and each time Jesus didn’t take the bait, unlike Adam and Eve, way back in Genesis, with their run in with the him. Jesus stood firm each time. When Satan quoted scripture and attempted to twist it to his liking, Jesus quoted right back to him the truth in scripture.

Notice, that Satan didn’t leave after the first, “no.” He kept at it, but Jesus didn’t waiver. I imagine Jesus feeling a little stronger and Satan a little weaker with each refusal to go along with his plans. He began on the sneaky side, but finally came out and said what he  really wanted, which is the same thing he wants from us. He wanted Jesus to worship him.

That’s when Jesus quoted the perfect scripture, “Jesus said to him, “Away from me Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'” Matthew 4:10.

What can we learn from Jesus’ experience in the wilderness that we can apply to our own lives when we experience wilderness moments?

First of all, God is always growing us. As long as we are on our journey, there is always room for growth. When we find ourselves in desolate places, it’s important to remember that God is with us. We are never alone. Jesus could have called out for help at any moment. He knew it. He didn’t, but he could have.

Secondly, knowing scripture really helps with our strength and resolve. We have an enemy who is very familiar with scripture. Shouldn’t we be too?

Lastly, Satan will always come after God’s people, but we have all the tools we need to resist. Best of all, we have the Holy Spirit. We too, have the ability to tell him to hit the road.

Because, the really awesome rest of the story that unfolded when Jesus told Satan to go, was he was first attended to by angels and then he began to preach.

His wilderness time lead to the greatest three years in human history.

What if God has great things planned for us following our own wilderness moments? It might be something to think about.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂