Change Me? I’m Okay

I’m okay

That’s what all the books tell me

Jesus loves me just the way I am

Right?

I want to be all that I can be…

Seriously?

Do I really want to CHANGE?

No

Not really

I’m pretty comfortable

Feeling mighty righteous and holy

Looking pretty good to all those looking AT me

But the One who looks INTO me

Knows

He knows the peel looks good on the outside

But the fruit inside is, well,

DRY

Tasteless

Lifeless

Matthew 5:6 NLT

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Yes!

I want to be hungry!

Not for physical food

But righteousness!

No more dry fruit

No more looking good on the outside but shriveled on the inside

Fill me up, Lord

Let the Spirit renew my thoughts and attitudes

I will put on my new nature

Created to be like God–

Truly righteous and holy

His Name Is Pastor

Never

Not once in 25 years

Did I ever entertain the idea

That one day

I would have to say

Good bye, Pastor

We were all gonna go together

Hand in hand

To meet Jesus in the air

That was the deal

His name is Bill Lay

Given by his mother, Miss Georgia

But we called him

Pastor

Given by his church family, Cornerstone

We have many pastors

But only one Pastor

The word pastor means

to shepherd or literally

to feed

The name Pastor means

One who worships God

And loves people!

And LOVE he did!

Each of us have stories we could tell

Of words fitly spoken in our time of need

Of wisdom given freely

Of hugs so heartfelt

Of a servant’s heart so big

Who taught us to hold on

And encouraged us to let go

Who dreamed dreams bigger than any of us could fathom

And worked right along side of us to make them come true

How he never expected more out of us than he expected out of himself

He beamed with pride when we caught the vision too

He fathered us all

And was Pastor Papa to our children

His door was always open

A listening ear always available

A true giver of grace and mercy

True leadership

True friendship

Pastor loved pasta

And soup

And peanuts

And peanut butter and crackers

And Excel spreadsheets

And reports

And order

And football

And us

And we love him!

He retired once

But said he flunked it and came back

I shared this poem with him at the retirement party

I have never called you Dad
And likely never will
But every time I say your name
The meaning is the same
It means I love you very much
And how proud I am to be
The daughter of the man
Who means so much to me

Pastor

We will continue on with the work of the ministry

For you have taught us well

There is work to be done

And people to love

And we too

Will spend our lives

Mending broken people

His hat says it all

HERE TO SERVE

Pastor

I just wanted to post this again

Not to cause pain

But to honor you again

We love you Pastor

And we miss you!

We are working in a different body now

But we are still following your vision for this area…

To worship God and love people!

I can’t believe it has been 4 years

Sometimes, the memories are so fresh that it seems like yesterday that

You hugged my neck and called me “Dear”

“C” you soon!!

Life Is A Flash Mob!

I’m not sure why it is

But every time I watch a video of a flash mob

I cry!

They can be dancing to Do Re Mi

or

Our God Is An Awesome God

or

Hallelujah Chorus

or

 Christmas carols even

Makes no difference

The waterworks will soon begin

Could it be I cry because I see

Seemingly unrelated, unconnected people

Working together for a common goal?

Or because I see the potential for an unconnected, unrelated person to

Jump right in?

I think it’s because it reminds me of this life we are living right now

Seemingly unrelated, unconnected followers of Jesus

Working together

Expanding the Kingdom

Sharing the Good News

Helping one another to walk

Another day

Sometimes side by side

 Other times from a distance

A constant ebb and flow

Encouragement and accountability

Laughter and tears

Hope and Friendship

Love

I’ve always wanted to be part of a flash mob

I guess I am!

Slow Me Down, Lord

Fast paced lives

Rushing here

Rushing there

Always rushing

Bolt your food and gulp your coffee

Throw some laundry in the machine

Toss the dishes in the sink

Dash out the door

Meetings, meeting, meetings

Lunch with clients

Then off to the next thing

Even stay-at-home moms are not immune

Get the kids up and out the door

Kiss the air by the husbands ear

Hit the gym

Go to the store

Visit the sick at the hospital

Back home to fix food for family and an extra for the sick friend

Boot and re-boot the laundry

Fix lunch

Wash the kitchen floor

Bake cookies for a teacher’s gift

Remember we haven’t had a shower today

Jump in for a 5 minute wash

And BOOM!

The kids are off the bus

Time for homework, sports and choir practice

No time to dawdle

Why do we do it to ourselves?

No white space at all in our frantic life

Where in all this frantic pace can we hear the Shepherd’s voice?

We say we have no time to listen

No time to tune in

No time

God will meet us where we are

Over the sink of dishes or sitting at our desk

But we have to shut out some of the noise

We have to create a white space in our lives

We can not fill every moment of every day with stuff

It is not what God intended

Even Jesus had to get away to pray and hear His Father’s voice

Slow me down, Lord

A friend gave me a magnet with this on it

A great reminder

So, as we rush through this life filled to the brim with good things and not so good things,

Let’s pause

Breathe

Listen

I firmly believe if God is in it

He will work out all the details

🙂

Have I Got a Story For You!

Everyone has a Story

Not everyone has someone who will hear it

Everyone you come in contact with during your

Everydaywalkingaroundlife

Has a Story

And they are searching for someone to hear it

Someone to really listen

Someone to take the time to

Stop

Listen

Love

Many times I’ve sat with a grandchild in my lap

Listening to the same story

Over and over again

Listening as if for the very first time

Or visiting with an elderly friend

And hearing again and again

The same story

I’m guilty of not listening too

My children will tell you of times

Multiple times

They would tell me something

And within moments

I would ask the same question

Because truth be told

I wasn’t listening

My brain was already a million miles away

Planning the next step in my already overloaded day

You know

Motherhood

Excuses aside

I truly hope my children felt

Heard

Acknowledged

Important

Because that’s what we all want

And we want to know that this Story

Our Story

Isn’t all there is to this life

That surely there is more

And that’s where we come in

Encouraging and reminding one another

That Jesus isn’t finished writing our Story

He wants much more for us

And through us

He wants us to share our Story of His Grace in our lives

So that others will know

There IS more

So today

As you go about your

Everydaywalkingaroundlife

Be sure to

Stop

Listen

Love

And Share

Your Story for His Glory

You Know What Makes You Specil??

I do
I know I know

Special is spelled incorrectly

But it was written originally by a 7 year old

She was entertaining herself one day this past summer

Doing as her Papa does

Drawing on a napkin

Must be in the genes

I forever will treasure this particular napkin

Not only because it was drawn upon by my granddaughter

But because it helps me see that she is watching me

And it reminds me that what I do or say matters

She is watching

She is learning

Not only what Jesus is doing in me

But

What I’m doing with Him

She recognizes that without Him

I am nothing

But with Him

I’m SPECIL

I need reminding

When life gets crowded

And I feel like I’m not contributing

When life gets rushed

And I feel like I accomplish nothing

I can stop

Breathe

And remember

Through Christ

I can do all things

Because He first loved me

I can love

You know what makes you Specil?

You are super nice

You love everone…and

You have Faith in

Jesus

Thank you, Dacey!

Thank You, Jesus!

Pete & Repeat Was Born & Reborn

Spent some time today

Clearing out a dresser to give away

It belonged to my Grandma

Then my Mom used it

It was in our guest/play room

It held baby doll clothes in the bottom drawer

Easy access for the grands

Anyway

I cleaned it out to give to one of our daughters

I found in the top drawer

Things from my past

The program from my Senior Recital

My college diploma

Some pictures

A coaster my daddy had made

A vanity mirror my grandma had decorated

My daddy’s billfold

An envelope

On it was simply written

Marijo’s Births

I wondered what that meant

I figured it was birth announcements sent to family members

Inside I found

My baby birth announcement

The surprise of their life

Was the Queen of their hearts

I didn’t know

And also inside I found 2 letters

One written by my daddy and the other by my mom

Both to my grandma

Telling of my re-birth

How thrilled they were that their prayers had been answered

I had given my heart to Jesus

I’ll keeps these precious mementos

A connection to my past

A glimpse into my future

I was born

I am reborn

Getting Dirty Leads To Getting Clean

Pulling weeds

There’s a lot to be learned while

Pulling weeds

One

It seems

The taller the grass

The easier it is to remove it

Roots and all

But should you only remove the big stuff

And leave behind tiny or hidden roots

It will all come back again

Two

Removing the tiny stuff

Roots and single blades of grass

Seems harder

More time consuming

It requires digging deeper

And getting dirtier

Hmmmm

Kinda like life

Those big blatant sins

Seem a little easier to uproot

When we first give our lives to Jesus

It’s those little hidden burieddowndeep sins

That are much harder to remove

We look pretty clean after we get rid of the big stuff

But if we’re not careful

It can come back with a vengence

If we don’t dig a little deeper

Get down to the roots

Pull up the hidden junk

Clear it all out

We get a little dirtier when we dig a little deeper

But then

We’re all washed clean

And we are prepared for new crops

Such as

Love Acceptance Forgiveness

Worshiping God

Loving People

Caring

Extending our filled hands to the needy

God uses us

If we let Him

Even if we aren’t totally cleaned up

But we want to get rid of the hidden dirty secrets

(which aren’t hidden from Him)

So we can be clean and ready for service

Song of Solomon 2:15

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁵ Catch all the foxes,
those little foxes,
before they ruin the vineyard of love,
for the grapevines are blossoming!

 

Somebody’s Prayin’

After my brother’s memorial service

My sister-in-law asked me if there was anything of his I wanted

I couldn’t think of anything except maybe some pictures from long ago

If she didn’t want them

I came away from her house with boxes of wooden items my daddy had turned on his lathe

He got that after he retired

He thought it would be interesting to learn

He made candle sticks and trinket boxes

Some coasters

So now I have those

Enough to share with my children

Even tho Bryan is the only one who knew Daddy

Barbara gave me a box of pictures

But I haven’t gone thru them yet

Not ready

She also gave me a magazine side table that my Grandma had by her bed

It looks handmade

Maybe by my Grandpa

I sure hope so

Adds to the character

🙂

Another treasure she gave to me was Grandma’s Bible

Large print

King James Version

It has a couple of bookmarks in it

And a few passages underlined

But what makes it even more special

Is the strip of cardstock that is covered in names

Family members and friends

Lovingly added to as time went on

Marriages and births

Children and grandchildren

Some names marked out

I’m sure because they had passed on

Somehow

It was very reassuring to see my name on that list

Knowing my Grandma lifted my name in prayer

She then added my husband and my first child

I remember Grandma sitting in her recliner every morning and every evening

Reading her Bible

Singing hymns

And praying

For us

How I loved that woman of God

How I miss her

How thankful I am for the legacy she left behind

Who knows where we’d be

If Grandma hadn’t prayed

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our garden is in the ground

Things are growing quite nicely

Including

The

Weeds

I ask myself

How can this happen?

When it was tilled

I threw out tons of weed roots

Grass roots

The soil was loose and ready to receive the plants

I thought this year

We had it made!

But

Sometime

When I wasn’t looking

Up popped the grass

Although not as thick as in years past

It was still there

Sigh

As I bent over the ground and pulled

And pulled

And

Pulled

I kept thinking

This garden is just like my life

I think I’m going along quite nicely

And then

Bam!

Weeds have taken root

Weeds of bitterness

Unforgiveness

Laziness

The list can be quite lengthy

And just like in my natural garden

I think to myself

It will go a lot faster if I just pull up what is seen

Not worry about the roots

At least it will look better

It will look like a well tended garden

Because no one can see the roots that are deep under the surface

For all intents and purposes

It will look great

For a while

And then I stop

Who am I trying to impress with my weedless garden?

I’m not out for show

I’m here to produce fruit

I want an effective life

One with good roots

Planted on good soil

With great outcome

So

Back to the weed pulling

In the garden and my life

We may not be perfect

My garden and I

But we are striving to be

All that God wants

And we WILL produce

A great harvest