Category Archives: Life

Five Minute Friday: Cherish

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Photography by Donna Harris

Photography by Donna Harris

Linking up with everyone for Five Minute Friday, where a remarkably encouraging and loving  community gathers to write for five minutes. This week’s prompt is: CHERISH.

This is my today…my Friday and the events that are cherished.

I wrap myself in the warmth of the sun on this glorious Friday.  The cold winter wind slapping my cheeks is suppressed with warmth and tender touches from the sun. This strange and unexpected day in winter is a kiss from God. He knows just what I need. I cherish this.

The laughter of a child swinging higher and higher and a grandmother’s smiles of delight embrace me with soft words, “Cherish this.”

A friend wants to talk about her stuff and needs me to listen and I am there for her. I cherish this.

Children are growing and their world is spinning…with work and family and fun and they call…to face time and I cherish this.

A wise one will meet with me to speak into my life and to show me things that I need to know. Mentor. I cherish this.

My family afar requests that I pray for them. A sadness with frustrating days await them and God’s grace is their comfort. I cherish this.

My husband wants to talk so we meet for lunch at our favorite restaurant to share words of encouragement to inspire and motivate each other through the rest of the day. I cherish this.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…” Ephesians 1.           I am cherished!

Five Minute Friday

The Saturday Assortment

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The Saturday Assortment

The Saturday Assortment is a collection of unrelated and random things that I find interesting, encouraging, motivating and sometimes quite out of the ordinary. It’s an assortment of things that caught my attention throughout the week. I bet you will find them equally engaging.  Enjoy!

The Cost of Neutral — “Not adding value is the same thing as taking it away.”  I read a post by Seth Godin everyday and this one nailed it for me. “If you come to my brainstorming meeting and say nothing, it would have been better if you hadn’t come at all.” 

13 Web Apps You Need to Start 2013 Off Right — Choosing the best tools to help us start the year off right, here are 13 web apps you need to get familiar with so that you can make the most of the year ahead. Evernote is quickly becoming my all time favorite!

A Lesser Communion — A shared meal around the dinner table has always been a priority as we raised our family and now even more so as empty nesters. “Yes, much depends on dinner because dinner deepens our dependence on each other. It binds us together for the long haul. And we need each other for the years ahead.” via The Village Church

Light a Candle Against Violence — Just weeks after Newtown, the top box office movies in America are two grotesquely violent films. That’s a problem.  Eric Metaxas, author of: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy…challenges us to make our voices heard. (BTW…Bonhoeffer is a good read!) via Eric Metaxas

The Five Greatest Predictors of Student Success —  When a student experiences these five realities they are most likely to graduate and excel in life. This quote is fascinating… “The reason emotional intelligence has become such a large factor in student success is that kids today struggle more with mental health issues than they did forty years ago.” via Tim Elmore

 

Five Minute Friday: Dive

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Linking up with everyone for Five Minute Friday, where a remarkably encouraging and loving  community gathers to write for five minutes. This week’s prompt is: DIVE.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and our families ventured to a water park complete with large inner tubes to float down the lazy river. Super size slides and water tunnels did not intimate the adults sliding down right after their children. The large swimming area with a few cascading waterfalls and smooth rock side finish gave the effect of a mountain pool. There were a few life guards but  with so many children and adults splashing and making happy noises, they did not see a child struggling  in the deep end of the pool, very close to the water fall. She was frantically trying to get to the side of the pool and the look on her face was that of fear and terror  She went under and kicked herself back up for air and struggled more. I shouted to the life guards to HELP but my voice could not penetrate through the noise.

The only voice  that was penetrating through the noise was that of my own voice…in my head that said, DIVE!

And I did. I swam to her and she saw me coming. When I was close enough she began grabbing for me for her safety. She was struggling and I feared we would both go under the water.

STOP FIGHTING ME! I shouted. TRUST ME! She stopped flailing her arms long enough for me to quickly turn her around and slide my left arm under hers and kicked and pulled through the water with my right arm…we made it to the ladder on the other side of the pool. I was breathless. Relieved. She was rescued.

Sometimes helping friends in need is risky. It may cost you something of great value. It may require you to DIVE into their mess and unknown struggles to rescue them from serious consequences. DIVE in and call out for God the rescuer to help you both find peace and safety.

Sometimes we struggle against others helping us. We fight against what is good and right. Sometimes we don’t trust our helper because we are drowning in fear, pain, worry and hopelessness.

Stop struggling against God. You’re gasping for air and Jesus says, “TRUST ME! I am the great RESCUER! I will DIVE in for you. I have already been to the depths for you. Stop struggling against ME…I love you with an everlasting love. I will rescue you!”

 

Five Minute Friday

The UnMaking of a Worship Disorder

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Good grief! What a week this has been! Topsy turvy, stressful, conflicted, heavy. I struggled to get a grip on my thoughts, my choices and emotions.

And there it is…the making of a worship disorder. I was so focused on the stressful situation to an exaggerated point that it began to consume my mind, will and emotions. That is a worship disorder.

Before you can understand what a worship disorder is, you  need to answer this question first, “What is worship?”   I like how Tim Keller defines Worship:

“Worship is an act of ascribing ultimate value to something in a way that engages your entire being.”

Obviously, I had ascribed to something of “value”… but in a very negative way, so much so that it was palpable in my home environment. I had amazing support, faithful prayers, and words of affirmation from my family but it wasn’t until I purposefully and with intentionality transferred all of that which was robbing my joy over to God that my entire being became filled with peace and equilibrium.

Psalm 95:1-11 is the coach that got me moving out of a worship disorder

Verse 1 of that Psalm spoke to my emotions: “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!”  It requires emotion to sing, to dance, to shout joyfully because God is the rock of my salvation. And God gave me a song.

Verse 6 spoke to my will: “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!” This took a humble volition, a choice to come, bow, and kneel before the Lord.  This act was the surrender.

Verse 8 spoke to my mind: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart…”  This meant I needed to actively listen to truth and choose to hear God speak through his Word. This is experiencing peace. This is experiencing forgiveness. 

Bit by bit by bit the more I worship, the more it changes where my  heart looks for peace and satisfaction.

The worship of the living God gives us peace and equilibrium to face the troubles of life. Worship engages our entire being in adoration and brings us to a sense of joy in God’s ravishing beauty. ~Tim Keller

 

FOUR Ways to Make Your Personal Worship Habit Forming

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Kickstart Personal Woship

Photography by Donna Harris :: Remember the Year

Kickstarting a personal worship plan typically happens at the start of every new year. And I do this quite well the first month of the year. The rub is the remaining eleven months!  Here are FOUR things I do to keep me in the habit of daily personal worship. Surely I can manage four things!

Personal worship is the daily time you spend devoting your attention exclusively to the glory of Christ and receiving the satisfaction he gives. That is why it is sometimes called “Devotions”.  ~Randy Pope

1.  Decide on a time: There is no right or wrong time but whatever time you decide on, do schedule it on your calendar and set a reminder alarm if necessary. You will be more consistent if you view your time with God as an appointment to be kept on your daily schedule. I’ve become a “morning person” after years of practice and have found that morning devotions {personal worship} strengthens me prior to the stress of the day. Try to find a morning time if you can. You’ll probably need a minimum of 20 minutes. I found this article about how to become a “morning person” by  Michael Hyatt very helpful. Check it out.

2.  Decide on a plan: It is important to have a plan for daily reading of the Bible. And there are hundreds of options to choose from so take time to discover what works for you and stick with it for the year. For me, reading the Bible in a year has always been a challenge, therefore, my new plan is to not to continue with my old plan which was the, “Reading the Bible in a Year for Three Years” plan.  Check out YouVersion for a reading plan that fits your style. I’ve been using “Eat this Book”…I do hunger for more!  You may find that you need a daily reminder, if so sign up for email prompts from Bible Gateway. This year I chose “Table Talk Devotions“  for the purpose of reading “on the fly” while waiting for an appointment or waiting for the crossing arms at the railroad track to raise. It’s refreshing to receive an email that compels me to step away from the harried pace. With a smart phone or tablet, you can access any of these plans with ease and flexibility to fit your rhythm of life.

3.  Use a translation you can understand:  My vote is to use the English Standard Version.  “nuff said.”

4.  You Do What You Want To Do:   “You do what you want to do”…words of wisdom that my husband shared with our children over the years and continues to say today. I do what I want to do…I have time to work out, to play, to eat, to watch TV, to be on the internet, to write this post…I do what I want to do. Is God Lord over what I do? Have I committed to spending time with the One who gave His life for me? Where would I be without His grace, forgiveness and freedom from addictions? (I hate to think of the options.)  To borrow from Nike…Just Do It! Make the commitment to spend time in God’s Book for 21 days. If you miss a day just start over. You will be more than encouraged after 21 days of personal worship!

Keep Looking For The Mission He Has For You

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Remember This

“Who will I serve?” Do you ask yourself this question? Do you think you’ll get an answer today, or do you think that answer is somewhere far off in your future? You do not have to wait until someone hands you a secret mission envelope or until you are hired for a job. You can start serving today, right where you are. The people you serve may be ones you know–your brother or sister, your mom or dad, or your teacher or pastor–or they may be strangers. Be on the alert! Whether you are rich or poor, tall or short, older or younger–God has work he has created just for you to do. He may put opportunities right in your path, or you may have to look more closely or walk a bit out of your way to find his clues. Just don’t forget to keep looking for the mission he has for you.

Beth Guckenberger, Tales of the Not Forgotten (p. 175)

You’ll want to read this book detailing the real-life stories of children and families across the globe. My heart was captured by the vivid and passionate imagery  and compelled to ask more questions…”Do I sit back or go ahead?” All great adventures have moments of conflict and suspense. God is indeed The Storyweaver! He is writing my story now and I can’t wait to live the next chapter!

(Also, the Kid’s Mission Resource, is also valuable to use in Children’s Ministry, especially during a focus on becoming missional.)

Tales of the Not Forgotten

There is a link to Amazon, but not an affiliate link. If you click through and buy, I don’t earn a dime.

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Opportunity: Go For It!

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A missed opportunity or an opportunity to go for it.

When you think back to the last ten years of your family life, career or personal business how much of what you haven’t achieved is due to missed opportunities and how much is the result of doing tasks poorly?  Do you like to play it safe and avoid all the risks that you can?

Be willing to step out of your comfort zone. You have the opportunity right now to trust God to give you strength and courage to do something out of the ordinary. Life is an adventure full of opportunities. You have the choice to go for it or cower in self-doubt and insecurity.

You have an opportunity to do something great for the Glory of God. Your work matters to God. When you perform poorly, you are not honoring Him because all that He does is good and excellent. When you are filled with more of Jesus and overflowing with more of His grace, you will have confidence to go for it…to perform with excellence for His glory.

So jump at the opportunity! Go for it!  Meet a new neighbor, volunteer at a homeless shelter, speak out against injustice, defend the weak, get out of debt, finish a degree, pray for your enemies…

Quit waiting for someone to give you permission or to say you are qualified or until you like yourself better. God has already confirmed all of that! He has chosen you. He will give you the strength and courage to go for it.

 

 

 

Develop a Habit of Change

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My one resolution for 2013 is:

Develop a Habit of Change

I don’t want to be satisfied with the status quo nor do I want to have a false sense of security with my worldly possessions…to become so blindly contented with my surroundings that I cannot accept change or that I would stop wanting to change.  And that is a scary thought.

Why do I need to develop a habit of change? Because I am easily distracted and truly fear that I will atrophy without a plan to develop a new routine, a new rhythm that will excite a movement towards change.

I recently read this:

“The way you spend the first 21 days of 2013 will set the pattern for how you spend the next 344 days of the year.” ~Carey Nieuwhof

That is really true. And from personal experience,  I know that I must be intentional about developing a habit of change and the best time to start is now.

Here are five areas that I want to improve in…to develop a habit of change:

Develop a Habit of Daily Personal Worship

Developing this spiritual discipline is crucial for becoming mature and equipped. It is not just a religious thing to do. It is a spiritual channel through which God’s glory, grace and truth continually flow into my life. To develop a lifelong habit of embracing Jesus in daily personal worship, I will do this for 21 days and will repeat for another 21 days and another…

Develop a Habit of Mentoring

Establishing a monthly routine of consistently meeting with one or two people to mentor. This will take discipline to set aside a few hours every month to meet with a friend(s). I like seeing the names of friends written on my calendar! On the flip side of this, I need to be mentored as well. I’m very encouraged and blessed to have a friend write my name on her calendar!

Develop a Habit of Organized Journaling

I keep a small notebook handy and carry it with me when I travel (a lot of great ideas come to mind when sitting in an airplane), I tend to clutter the top of my desk with post-it notes (creative ideas jotted down) and I always use the “Notes” app on my iPhone or iPad during meetings. I need a simple solution to stay organized in this area…so I will learn how to use Evernote.

Develop a Habit of Hobby

I will focus on improving skills in two creative outlets: water-color painting and photography. I’ve grown to appreciate the fact that God is very creative and the more I learn about Creator God, the more creative I become.

Develop a Habit of Storytelling

I want to be intentional about telling my children and my grand children wonderful stories about the history of our family. We have been rescued. We are continually rescued.

“Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4 (The Message)

“Stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother’s knee. We’re not keeping this to ourselves, we’re passing it along to the next generation–God’s fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done.” Psalm 78:1-4 (The Message)

How about you? What areas in your life do you want to change? What kind of habits are you developing?