Scarves

I have a plethora of scarves. I almost have one for every outfit/ color. It's ridiculous!

Why am I blogging about this? This seems like the mundane kind of dribble usually thrown on Facebook, right?

Because of my blog's title.

This morning I started singing worship songs out loud, full force. I realized there's nobody else here, I can do this! (I sound really good by myself to myself. I love that illusion)

But it began to lift my spirits. As I glanced at a picture of my grand kids, I began to see each beautiful face and thank Him for them. Which turned into thanks for my kids, and wonderful sons-in-law, and home, and work and weather, and somehow ended up on my scarves .I love them! I love the warmth, the style, the absolute beauty of many! One was even MADE for me- thank you, Rosie! Others brought to me, from Israel, from India-incredible, intricate designs.

To quote Princess Bride, "Let me explain, no, it'll take too long, let me sum up."

I realized that I have never bought a scarf for myself in my life!

Every one of these was a gift! That many people love me and care about me!

I am very grateful this morning! The wind is calling outside, inviting me to wear another scarf!

Yeah, God!

Share me

Share me

Grab Ahold of Hope

" I will give her vineyards from there.

And the Valley of Achor (trouble) as a door of hope;

She shall sing there,

As in the days of her youth,

As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." Hosea 2:15

HOPE: tiqvah (teek-vah);

Strong's Concordance: Hope; expectation; something yearned for and anticipated eagerly; something for which one waits. Tiqvah comes from the verb qavah, meaning , " to wait for" or "to look hopefully" in a particular direction. Its original meaning was "to stretch like a rope" Tiqvah occurs 33 times.

In Josh 2:18,21 it is translated "line" or "cord" Rahab was instructed to tie a scarlet tiqvah in her window as her hope for rescue.

Yahweh Himself is the hope of the Godly. (Ps.71:5) Here God's blessing on His land will transform the Valley of Achor ("trouble") into the "door of hope."

 This year, in your situation, in your life, grab ahold of hope and secure it to your heart.  Watch and wait for it, secure it. Wait for it.  Grab on, make it fast!

Lumbered

I lumbered today. Took forever to get ever so little done. It was a lumbery, lumbery day.

(For more clarity, though I don't promise a lot- see my previous post)

MY class

Me: The vocabulary word is "lumbered." To move slowly with great effort.

"The lion lumbered to his den at night after a long, hard day of hunting."

Child: My Dad does that!

Me: Does what?

Child: He lumbers!

To See Him is to See Love

Quote from a reworded part of the Love chapter, 1 Cor. 13:

"LOVE DOESN'T WANT WHAT IT DOESN'T HAVE.....

We don’t yet see things clearly. We are squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!

But, for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:

“Trust steadily in God;
Hope unswervingly;
Love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”

My revision:

"Love is so enamored with God and others that it cannot be jealous because it is so happy for the one who received the gift; and is so content in the arms of the Beloved that it can be satisfied within the wait for what the good Giver chooses to give."

Me quoting myself. Can you do that?

Beauty for Ashes

I'm sharing my morning devotion, hot off the press.

After my last lament, I pushed myself to do my daily reading. I'm in the gospel of John, chapter 16.

And what verses jump out at me there? Our dear Lord Jesus saying:

" Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your joy no one will take from you....

" Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you,

... Ask, and you will receive, that your joy will be full."

A verse I got when David died was, "Unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."

If we ask according to His will, He will do it. Father, I ask you to RESTORE.

I ask for resurrection to come and redeem the years the locusts have eaten.

You who are the resurrection and life, rise again. Give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

And make us repairers of breaches in other's lives. RESTORE O LORD, RESTORE!

Thank you for speaking to me this morning.

Sometimes a memory slugs you in the teeth...

And other times it ambushes you and knocks the air out of you.

Sometimes a blog is just a blog and the title of the site cries out for more.

So I stop and think. And there is more, thank God, there's more.

"You give and you take away and I will bless your name."

Overheard at CHP office

I don't know if you can plagiarize a concept, but if so, sorry to Josh Tate. He's the true inventor of the "overheard at" blog post.

Anyway, I overheard at a California Highway Patrol office these 2 gems:

" Now this is really a conflict of confusion here." Man arguing with desk officer about the handling of his problem.

Then, a woman to another clerk, " No, I just want you to throw him in the slimer."

Dec. 23- Christmas Grace

I did get my tree up. "Just so you know." ( Quote from Everybody Loves Raymond. Just so you know.)

No, actually, my tree-up day was amazing. Of course amazing as in filled with grace!

I was able to deliver an important gift in the morning, one of those gifts that is so perfect it seems hand picked by God, to one who is so deserving and appreciative that it makes giving a pure joy.

Then I had the rest of the day to: finish shopping for Christmas gifts, wrap 'em, find a tree, get lights on, decorate the tree, clean house, and bring baked item to Christmas program at church by 6:30.

I also played this game I like, called, "Make 'em smile." As I went, I said "Merry Christmas" to as many people as opportunity afforded. Seeing their smiles and return greetings is great. At one point when I jumped out of my car, a disgruntled lady was laying on her horn trying to get some people to move faster. Her window down, her face frowning, I went for it. I waved heartily and yelled, "Merry Christmas." It was delightful. Her look changed immediately from anger to confusion, to resignment, and then, the smile!"

"Merry Christmas, " she responded, grinning foolishly and shrugging her arms with a wave!

When I hit Costco, it was already 11 and I felt a little befuddled and tired. Lost my card, had to get another. Terrible, fuzzy picture. Oh well. Holding the card, I mumbled out a prayer. "Dear Lord, help me to use my time efficiently and get everything I need to done." Then I tried to focus on the 3 or 4 things I needed there. Driven by hunger, I quickly went around a few main aisles looking for a sample to munch on. Found it, then went to the lines.

Being the 23rd, the place was buzzing. But good ole' Costco was up for it, and had about 10 check stands open, each manned with a Checker and Bagger.( not a word?)

I picked one, plopped items on shelf, and went to pull out card.

Not there. Pocket? Nope. Wallet? Nope.

"Is this your card, " I hear a voice. I look up, and the Bagger was holding my card. "Yes, where did you get it?"

"It was over in produce, I found it on the ground."

" But...how did you know? You were here before me!"

" Yeah, and I just saw you looking so I thought it might be yours."

"This is a God- thing!"

And we marveled at the odds. Then I remembered my mumbled prayer and told them and thanked them and God.

Ran out the door, jumped in car and off to the tree lot. Walked in, and told the guy I needed a 5 foot tree, cheap. (Hey, it's for 1 week at this point, 2 if I milk it.)

Guy leads me to a tree, first one he picked is beautiful, "I'll take it. "

Paid him, then realized what had been a very long, painstaking process for me in the past had just been done in less that 5 minutes.

So, I told the guy my prayer and added. "What do you want prayer for, I'm on a roll!"

To which he smiled.

'NO, serious, really, it's not luck. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ and I'm so excited that He answers prayer and I really want to pray for you."

We had a great, but brief, conversation about his needs. I gave him some input, told him to watch what God would do, and how I would pray. It was really cool.

Then he says, "Where are you parked?"

"In the back."

"Bring your car around, I'll put it in for you."

I whipped the car around, he had me roll down a window, and I was off in no time. It was 6 feet but Ulisses managed. God bless you, Ulisses.

Home again, tree up and complete by 4, and I realized I had a plate of fudge leftover to take to the Church.

But one more Grace was poured out that day. In the middle of working on getting lights on my tree, I feel this small urge, a little voice saying, call your neighbors, invite them to Church.

"But I gotta get this done, "I argued. But I knew Whose voice it was. So I did. Almost 3, way too late, I thought. That night my neighbor sat next to me with her 3 children and mother-in-law. When it was over, she couldn't stop thanking me. The kids had a great time and her mother-in-law, who only spoke Spanish and cried through the service, kept thanking God and telling me thank you for the beautiful invitation.

THAT was a great Christmas day!

New Year's Quote

Latin: " Sub specie aeternitate" In the light of eternity, will this really matter?

Wrote it down in November, found it today, after a talk with my sister and a friend about having this little space in time in which we can offer Him our pain and praise Him. And in doing so, finding out that those adversities will make us better instead of bitter.'

May it be my question in this year.

"Sub specie aeternitate."