Welcome Y'all

Hopefully the name of this blog speaks for itself. I envision it being one of humor, exhortation, random musings, theological discussion, sports, and things that impact my life and could bless yours. Sometimes it might be a verse or a funny story, a sports score that has me up in arms or a profound truth that has hit me. I pray you find your visit here blessing your heart.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Living Well or Waiting Until...

THE STATION
Robert J. Hastings
Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.
We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent.
We are traveling by train.
Out the windows we drink in the passing scene...
--of cars on nearby highways,
--of children waving at the crossing,
--of cattle grazing on a distant hillside,
--of smoke pouring from a power plant,
--row upon row of corn and wheat,
--of flatlands and valleys,
--of city skylines and villages...
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination.
On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station
Bands will be playing and flags waving.
Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the
pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle;
How restlessly we pace the aisles, cursing the minutes for loitering
-waiting
-waiting
-waiting
for the STATION.
"When we reach the station, THAT WILL BE IT!" we cry
"When I am 18!"
"When I put the last kid through college."
"When I buy a new Mercedes."
"When I have the mortgage paid off."
"When I get a promotion."
"When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after."
Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station,
no place to arrive once and for all.
The true joy of life is the trip.
The station is only a dream.
It constantly out distances us.
"Relish the Moment" is a good motto.
It isn't the burden of today that drives men mad .
It is the regrets of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.
So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.
Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, swim more rivers,
watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.
Life must be lived as we go along!
I love this piece! I don't even know where I got it but I have a thick green folder of poems, great quotes, especially timely sermons notes, profound discoveries and simple statements that it has been living in for quite some time. If I lost this folder, I would really regret having lost all these little gems collected along the journey up to this point. I pull this piece out from time to time to remind myself that life is indeed for living and for living well rather than getting through or waiting until... Life is what God ordained but it is also what you make it.
  • When is the last time you went to a triple A baseball game just for "funsies" and ate ice cream out of a baseball helmet?
  • When is the last time you took your journal to the top of the highest hill in your neighborhood park and wrote about the ways that God shows you He loves you..from the green prickly grass your sitting on, to the kids squealing on the slip and slide, to the vision of a blooming fuchsia hibiscus plant?
  • When is the last time you called your grandfather or your great aunt to spend time talking about "things that matter", though we might not yet realize how much that conversation really does matter?
  • When was the last time you put off taking care of something that you really thought you should do due to financial constraints or lack of time?

Time goes on and doesn't stop until there is no more time. Life is worth living and living well. Don't wait to reach the station. Don't wait until you have "enough" money (because you will NEVER have enough). Don't wait until you meet your spouse. Don't wait until you have kids. Don't wait until you have more time (because you will NEVER have more time than now).

Don't wait.

Live...
Reflect...
Grow...
Enjoy...
Take Chances...
Learn....
Change...
Go...
Embrace...
Teach...
Love...
Do all these things and do them well.
Do them now.
Don't wait for the Station because the train has pulled out.

Monday, June 25, 2007

True Friendships

WARNING: This could quite possibly be a very cheesy post.

I have had some very interesting things occur recently that have made me think very long and strong about a lot of the friendships that I have had through the years and those that the Lord has allowed to leave fingerprints on my life. One of these precious friendships began back to elementary school where we played with pottery wheels in the summer with faulty wiring and lots of electric shocks. We rode our bikes to school with each other and talked about the friendships pins we had made at school on the way home or when our "contracts" were due. We wore the rainbow shirts that stretched from sleeve to sleeve and collected smurfs. We even broke our ankles the same week just in time for pictures. And, man, did we have some BIG 'OL FIGHTS! Even still, I love these memories but they don't even compare with the friendship that I can count on even today at 12:45 PM in the midst of a pseudo-crisis from work. I can count on tough love and common sense wisdom and positive feedback and I love that. More than that, I love her.

I have friendships that began in college. Some of these friendships are specific to periods of time in college and have made their way back into my life "for such a time as this". (Esther 4:14) There are those that have seen me grow and likewise, I have seen them grow into women who enjoy the life the God has given to them and continue to promote His glory through their lives. For one of these friends, I have been lucky enough to now call her "family" as my brother also thought she was definitely worth keeping around. He was right. We are very different in many ways yet so very much the same in so many ways that matter. The saying goes, "you get to pick your friends, but you don't get to pick your family." In very special circumstances, you get to have input in both. I consider myself very blessed to have this kind of friendship and now, "sister".

I have friends that have been specifically prayed for in that, I prayed for the Lord to provide a certain someone at a certain juncture in my life who was a sweet Christian girl, loved to have fun and would serve in ministry together with me. This has happened in two special instances, both times in where I, too, was an answer to their prayers for a special friend that the Lord would provide. When the Lord brings certain people together, it is something worth more than "All the Gold...in Califor-nia" (Sing it, Larry Gatlin!! -- Love that song!) Those friendships become the pearls among oysters - ones where the value is probably not realized fully until you comprehend the overwhelming orchestration of details to coordinate this special friendship. They become more precious as time goes on because the Lord remains the center of the relationship and continues to bless it. Through boyfriends, weddings, mission trips with lost luggage, family visits over 4th of July, fishing together, card games, many bible studies, fellowships and prayers, these friends are consistent and faithful. Those character traits are priceless as are they. I pray that I can be the same for them.

And then there are friends that are more recent friends. Friends that have just emerged as encouragers, those that demonstrate care and concern, those that lift you up in prayer and those that are just plain fun! I don't know if these are friendships "for a season" but what a great season!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to know these women and their strength of character and comforting spirit. I so look forward to that paths that I know the Lord has directed to get us together at the same point in time and where the roads will ultimately take us. I hope that in 20 years, I can write about friends again and some of you will be among those that I claim as more precious that rubies. Already you are such gems!

I know there are several of you that I have neglected to tell how very much that you impact my life. I am so sorry about keeping those life-giving words to myself. I hope that you know by my actions, but I wanted to carve time out of the evening to write about how you have touched my life. I don't even have to write your names as you can probably recognize "our story" as friends. I appreciate you for being faithful and unflappable (that is kind of a funny word). I appreciate you for being honest and full of integrity towards our friendship. I appreciate your heart for me and how unselfish you are. I appreciate you willing to personally sacrifice for our friendship. I appreciate you being willing to go the extra mile and be uncomfortable, be inconvenienced and loving me in spite of my crazy and chaotic self. Please realize that it has not gone unnoticed by me.

I know, I can be, at times, a dramatic and passionate individual. You have all seen it (and heard it) first hand. Please don't think it is the drama coming to the surface when I say that I sincerely and honestly love you girls. I don't want to be someone who realizes the blessing and beauty of what they had after it is gone. Given my recent thoughts on what friendship really is and how is that played out in life, your specific friendships have become all the more important to me. You "shine like stars in the universe" (Phil 2:15) of selfish relationships and those that are strictly in it for what they can get out of it. Your fingerprints left on my life have taught me, encouraged me, characterized me, supported me and left me better for knowing you and who the Lord made you to be. I pray that I, in some small way, have be used by God to build you up as well. I thank you for sharing a little bit of your life with me. My life is richer for it.

One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:8 and it says:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable
- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy
- think about such things.
So, in accordance with God's word, I think about each of you.
May God bless you truly in everything He has set out for you to do.
I am rooting for you!!!