Simple Gifts

Sometimes I can get really down. I think, “No one likes me. I don’t have any real friends. I’m just too weird and talk too much and think way too highly of myself. No wonder no one wants to be my friend. I’m pathetic.”

I call it feeling lonely.

But then God talks to me. He shows me that what I’m feeling isn’t just loneliness. It’s pride. I want to be popular. I want to be well thought of. I want people to love me.

If that’s not pride, then I don’t know what is.

After He shows me my sin, God calls me to repentance. He tells me to get off my high horse and come down where I ought to be. He tells me I am forgiven. He tells me He loves me. He tells me its okay. He’s made it all okay. Jesus has paid for all my shortcomings. Even my vanity and my pride. 

Then He tells me…

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100: 1-3

This morning as I was praying about all these things I heard the following on my Christian Radio station. It’s pretty deep stuff, but I think I understood most of it. It’s by Oswald Chambers from this webpage: 

http://utmost.org/is-there-good-in-temptation/

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man . . .
 1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else–what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations–He sustains us in the midst of them.

I think what Mr. Chambers is saying is that everyone faces temptation. My temptation is pride. I’m going to want to be loved. And I’m going to get confused sometimes and think that I’ll find that love in the people around me. But when I realize that “looking for love in all the wrong places” won’t work, I’ll eventually see that God loves me, and that’s all that matters. 

And this journey…

from temptation…

to repentance…

to peace…

it's a gift...

A Blog For My Dad

One of my favorite sounds growing up was my dad’s whistle.

When I heard my dad whistling I knew for certain it meant he was in a good mood. And that meant I could maybe climb onto his lap. Or talk him into playing me in a game of Cribbage. If he was really whistling a happy tune, he might even be persuaded into telling a story or two.  Maybe he’d tell about the time he got a belly ache from eating a dish of ant poison, thinking it was honey. Or how his sister Louise could yell “Ruthie!” and sound just like their mom, to tease and confuse my Aunt Ruth.

My Dad is a really good whistler. He mostly whistles polkas. I imagine those polkas are ones he learned when he played lead trumpet for the Len Shimota Band back in his younger days. Dad can still play a mean trumpet. But now he plays in Community Bands instead of Polka Bands.

But he still likes to whistle polkas. And waltzes. When he’s in a good mood.

Two summers ago I got to dance the Blue Skirt Waltz with him at my niece’s wedding. My dad’s an excellent dancer.  Very smooth.

He’s a smooth whistler too. There are few people I know who can whistle as well as my dad.

But that’s not all Dad can do. He’s a fine craftsman as well. Several items in our home are things he has made: a little table, our bedroom set, the clock in the living room, a few nightstands, my box of little treasures...

As much as I treasure that little box and all those other items he made for me, I treasure my dad’s whistle even more. Because I know what it means. It means he's happy. Are you whistling today, Dad? I hope so.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD.

I love you!

My Top 10 Favorite Places

10. My Corner

I know it doesn't look like much, 

but this is where I begin each day...

meditate, pray, journal, and plan...

Everyone should have a place like this.

9. My Quilling Table

complete with scissors, glue, toothpicks and pins...

all within easy reach...

Let the creating begin!

 

 8. Our Back Yard

a place to sit and visit,

with family, friends, 

birds, butterflies, 

the trees, the breeze...
It's heavenly.

7. The Computer

it's where I'm at right now...

where I work, play,

check my emails and post my blogs...

 6. The Library

here's the thing about libraries...

 they have all these really cool books, and CD's. and movies...

and they let you just walk in and borrow whatever you want...

fer nothin! 

You can't beat that. 

5. Mom's House

the best food...

 the best hugs...

And the best company you could want.

 4. The Trailer

some people call it the lake...

some people call it the cabin...

I just call it the funnest place we go each summer. 

3. Flandrau State Park

and this spot in particular which I call

"Butterfly Avenue."

I almost always see butterflies there...

Except in winter, of course.

 

2. My Church

where I worship, praise,

and grow closer to my God,

and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ...

Wanna come to church with me?
We'd love to have you join us.

Here's what it looked like on Easter morning...



He is Risen!


He is Risen Indeed!

And my number one favorite place...

1. The North Shore
(Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota)

Gooseberry Falls...



 Grand Marais...

Temperance State Park...

Carlton Peek...

 the list of favorite spots up there is endless!

I'm hoping we can go back later this year...

in the fall this time...

we'll see...

Until then, I have lots of pictures
 to remind me

of past visits...

It's my very, very favorite place of all!

Blessings in Disguise

I just found out yoga classes are going to be offered again where I work. I’m very excited. I love the way the Julie, who teaches the class, does so with a Christian perspective. I also like how she slowly guides us from pose to pose, and lets everyone work at their own level.

I really enjoy the feeling of a good stretch.

That doesn’t mean I’m all that flexible. In fact, for years I wondered why I couldn’t more easily touch my toes, or do some of those other amazing poses the people in the yoga videos could do. You know the ones I mean…where they fold themselves perfectly in half, or straddle their legs as sharply as a carpenter’s square.

Even when I stretched twice a day I still couldn’t see the sort of progress I dreamed of. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do it. It actually bugged me - a lot!

That was until a few years ago when I was watching an episode of Dr. Oz. It was during the Q and A time near the end of the show when a young woman got up and began to talk about her hyper-flexibility. Dr. Oz asked her to show us, so she began bending and twisting her body into all sorts of crazy shapes. I looked on with both wonder and envy.

But then something unexpected happened. Dr. Oz asked the lady if she ever gets aches and pains in her joints. “Yes, Often,” the lady admitted. Dr. Oz then explained that this is common with people with hyper-flexibility. These sorts of people have to be especially cautious to avoid injuries like sprains and pulled muscles.

Hummm...

I thought.

I never get injuries like that.



I guess it's because...



my joints are strong.


That’s when it first occurred to me...

  
Maybe God made me this way for a reason.

 

I imagined God, knitting me together, and deciding it would be better for me to have strong joints, than to be overly flexible. Even though he knew I’d want to be limber, he felt it was better for me to be able to run, and hike, and play with my kids, and climb stairs, and do all the things I enjoy doing without ever having to worry about a sprained ankle or a pulled back.
 

He made me this way because he loves me.

I wondered how many other things about me that I don’t really like, are actually blessings in disguise. Could my big teeth and fat thumbs be a blessing too? Who knows? They could be.

How about you? Are there any things about yourself you used to want to change, but later realized were blessings in disguise? The size of your nose? The size of your yard? The size of your bank account?

As I get older I see more and more what a loving Father we have. He knows best, and his ways are so much higher and better than our ways.

Like it says in Isaiah 55…

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
 neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So the next time you’re thinking…

Why couldn’t I be more like this?

 or

Why couldn’t I be more like that?

…don’t be surprised if the answer is as simple as this:

Because God loves you.