A Little Bit of Hope

The worst thing about losing your mother is all the little things you want to share with her. Daily, since January when she left for heaven, I have caught myself thinking Mom would love this...like this picture I took today. Emily Dickinson wrote that "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul." Sometimes it takes a little hope sent from heaven to remember that even with your loved one gone, life can be joyfull...now look carefully at the little bit of hope I found outside my kitchen window. Look it's perched in the grapevine behind the angel.

"Away in a manger..."

Every year I fill my manger scene with more images that bring a fuller picture of Jesus' life. It is not your normal Christmas display. I don't have a stable outside of an Inn, so I set it on a shelf beneath a light where an angel from my mom's childhood looks over the Holy Family in Bethlehem. In the background a book of watercolors painted in the 1800's of the Holy Land, give the shepherd and his flock a hillside in Jerusalem to graze on as he makes his way to see Jesus. There are gifts of Frankincense and Myrrh, olive oil from Galilee, stones from Jerusalem, water from the Jordan River, shells from the Red Sea and a worn smooth stone from the Emmaus Road. Among the gifts, there is an alabaster jar, and a wooden jar from Lebanon that holds a petrified pine cone from the Cedars that grew there. In the corner the wise men bring their camel past an Egyptian pyramid, and through a herd of African elephants.

A small olive wood cross stands silently reminding me that this is the destination of the baby Jesus, and a large square-head nail tells the story of pain our sin cost Him. At His feet a shekel points to betrayal, and next to it a widows mite reminds me that the little I have is a fortune when used for His glory.

A few years ago John added something else--green plastic soldiers in combat, a sad image of the constant fighting in the Middle East. Join us as we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for our soldiers far from home. God Bless you and Merry Christmas.

Helpful Hint

Woke up yesterday morning to find a swarm of ants in the plastic containers that we keep our cat and dog food in. We weren't happy to see them gorging themselves on the pet food we had just bought. As I put on my go-to-battle fatigues (plastic gloves and ant poison stick) I thought hopelessly about all that food the ant army had conquered. Would we have to throw it out, would we dump it in a pile and tirelessly pick them out one by one?? Then in a ah-ha moment of clarity I wondered if ants freeze. We took gallon size plastic bags and put the pet food, ants and all, in the bag and zipped it shut. Then we stuck those little creeps in the freezer. Today we dumped the food into a colander and shook all the tiny antcicles on to the ground. By golly it worked. Just thought you'd like to know.

Dry Land

Six weeks ago our well went out. We use it to water our yard. It is connected to our sprinkler system, and so we've been hand watering most of the summer. Right now the once green lawn looks like the hills surounding us; gold and dry. I noticed in the backyard big cracks where the earth has dried, and the wood around the raised beds has buckled and shifted. Too much sunshine and not enough water and everything is a little scorched around the edges. The only plants that are doing well are those with deep roots; they can weather this time of drought and still bear fruit. I want to be like those plants.

This morning during my time of prayer and devotions I read: "I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land;" Isaiah 44:3 Lord pour out your living water, make my roots grow deep fed by your word. Help me to bear fruit in this season of drought.

Saint Paul

Catholics around the world are celebrating the life of Paul for the next year, starting June 29, 2008 to June 29, 2009. It is a time of reflection and study on his many writings. He wrote one of my favorite scriptures, well really many of them, but this one is special to me.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Gal 2:20
In December 1981 I was in a hotel room with two men, I was loaded and had been up for a few days, and I was sick but didn't know it; for my body it was the perfect storm. I overdosed and the two men, who had been fighting with each other, walked out leaving me alone. For years I had tried to change my life, to stop doing drugs by using will power, cults the occult, my mind and anything new I heard about. Nothing worked for very long, and that day I knew I was going to die. But Jesus met me right there, in the hotel room when I couldn't breathe when I felt like my heart was going to explode in my chest and He gave me his breath and his heart and I left that room a new person.

In these chapters of Galatians, Paul is speaking about the law. The law is a stop sign that tells us this far and no farther. The law points out where we have gone wrong, but it can do nothing to save us. All those times I tried to stop doing drugs because I knew it was against the law of our country and the law that was written inside me; I couldn't do it. I thank God that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. When He died on the cross He took all our sins, all our addictions, all the times we broke the law and gave us the power to walk away and start over. By the power of the Holy Spirit I have been set free from drug addiction for over 26 years. Now I live by faith and I am alive because God came down from heaven to live as a man; to know temptation and not give into it and to conquer sin once and for all.

Happy Father's Day

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works.
Psalm 104: 31

Last year there was only one large bloom and a couple small ones...wow, what a difference some rain makes...

The News Blues

We were watching the world news and local news and it struck us again how many depressing stories there are right now. Gas is almost $5.00 a gallon, foreclosures everywhere, record amounts of people without health insurance, tornado's, earthquakes, war and rumours of war. Fear comes creeping in and hope is pushed aside. In the face of such overwhelming problems what can one person do? I know what I must do; stand fast and face fear head on. We are suffering along with alot of other people, I don't have health insurance, we didn't budget for these kinds of gas prices when we bought our house 30 minutes from my job, bills pile up, income decreases, and I know people in the service in Afghanistan and Iraq. I want to send money to China, and to other people who need food and housing, and it breaks my heart to not have the finances to do more. So when I say I must stand fast and face fear it is a reality in my life. We are in a battle to keep hope alive. To live hopefully in the face of fear. To point the way to the One that is Hope. Every time the spirit of fear comes, you must knock it down with the word of faith. Jesus conquered fear. God tells us to fear not. In Psalm 34:19 it says "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all."

The problems that are happening in the world are real, we are effected by them in all sorts of ways, but there is a bigger picture one that includes you and me. How do we respond to our circumstances? How do we reach out to help each other? How do we become God's hands, feet, and voice? I like this scripture found in 1 Chronicles "Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, my God is with you."