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As September dawns and summer is quickly fading I am tempted to look back with longing and want to go back. I love summer with it’s warmth and carefree atmosphere. The days are filled with the lightheartedness of kids who are out of school and ready for adventure, the look and smell of freshly cut grass, beautiful flowers all around, and the sense of togetherness as families seek to spend more time together vacationing, camping, or just enjoying time tossing a ball around in the back yard. The thought of it fading into fall (which only leads to winter) gives me a melancholy feeling, and I will admit that this morning one of my first thoughts was, “I want a DO-OVER!!”

I was soon convicted however, that life should not be lived in a rearview mirror.

I’m not suggesting that we should not look back and remember or even evaluate the past. God equipped us with memories and He wants us to use them. He doesn’t want us to learn or experience something just to cast it aside with no more regard for what benefit we gained from it.

But at the same time, God does not want us to live life in a rearview mirror. Each day we are given is a gift from God, an opportunity to learn more and to touch the lives of others with the words we say or the things we do. God has a plan for each of us, and in order to fulfill that plan we need to keep going, focusing ahead of us and not living in the past.

In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul gives us an example to follow:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Whether the past has been filled with positive or negative things in your life, I encourage you to leave them in the past and look ahead to what is still coming. Seasons change, but God does not. God’s plans aren’t affected by the seasons of the earth, they are dependent on how much we focus on Him and look for Him in each day…pressing on to find the gift that is a part of today.

May you find the peace that is waiting for you today, and know that a glance in your rearview mirror is good, but to find where you are going you need to look ahead.

blessings to you on this first day of September!

Paula

One of the most wonderful things about God’s creation is the diversity. The contrast of the cool green grass against the warm blue sky, dotted with the fluffy white clouds and at times a warm colorful rainbow shows us His diversity of color in creation. 

In the midst of any group of people we see another beautiful palette in our skin colors – dark, light, and all shades in between. As we look into each pair of eyes we see not only the greens, blues, browns and hazels looking back at us, but if we look carefully we also see through the eyes to get a glimpse of the soul. The changing eyes of humans show our happiness, love, grief, anger and so many more emotions that are given us by our Creator.

God also knew with all that is to be done for His Kingdom we couldn’t have the same skills and passions, so within each of us He planted seeds waiting to sprout, then blossom into a ministry for Him. Some are speakers, some writers. He gifted some of us with a passion for missions, some as pastors, children or youth ministers and others as musicians and worship leaders. God also remembered that we need people behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.

Our diversity is very important for God’s work to be accomplished. But looking out the window at a rose bush I was reminded of the “catch” to diversity in God’s creation.

One color of blossom on a rose bush is beautiful, but this bush was uniquely created. It was designed to highlight not just one, but three bloom colors. Without all three colors it would not be all that it is meant to be.

1 Corinthians 12 reminds us of God’s desire for His body. He loves each of us as individuals and created each of us with a great deal of beauty. But combined with the other colors in His palette we become the complete picture of His creation. One part is not more important and no one’s importance is lesser. Just as we don’t look at the parts of our own bodies and say that the foot isn’t as important as the eye, etc. we should not look at each part of the body of Christ to figure out which is the most important.

If the peace in your puzzle is off kilter, look at your part in the body of Christ. Do you see yourself as lesser important in the midst of others? Or do you see yourself as better than the other parts? Either view can rob us of our peace and the beauty of God’s creation suffers.

I encourage you today to become acquainted with 1 Corinthians 12 and pray about your part in the body of Christ. Find the positive qualities of those around you, and of yourself. And remind yourself of the balance. God loves you! He created you as a beautiful piece of His puzzle. 

May you find your peace in Him today.                                                                                                  Paula

Some days the grace and goodness of God seem to rush over me like a waterfall. Life seems so full of good times and the promise of a rich and blessed future.

Other days are hard. Life seems to press in on me and the blessings are hard to see. The waterfall seems to have slowed to a trickle.

On those days I find comfort in knowing that Jesus had times like that too. Throughout the gospels we see times when Jesus was overwheled by crowds and pressed in by those who wanted something from Him.

What did Jesus do during those times? He found an opportunity, withdrew to a “lonely place” and prayed (Luke 5:16). These were His times of recharging and refreshing. He drew closer to His Father to be fed and to rest in His strength. Those times gave Jesus what He needed to continue on in His own ministry.

We need those times of refreshing as well. When we retreat to a place where God can fill us and strengthen us…even for a few minutes we will also be ready to continnue our ministries…at home, at work, at church, wherever God has placed us. In His strength we will have all we need, even when we don’t feel the rush we might be hoping for.

God promises to supply all our needs, and He is faithful to keep His promises. It may still feel like just a trickle, but we will find that trickle is just enough.

The other evening the movie Peter Pan was on in the waiting room of the clinic where I work. In that movie there is a scene where Peter’s best friend Tinkerbell is dying and Peter is trying to save her. He calls on all the children who might be able to hear him to clap their hands and say, “I do believe in fairies, I do believe in fairies.” Tink was saved and she could go off with Peter to rescue Wendy.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we believe in fairies, but I do see a parallel here to our lives as Christians. Tinkerbel was Peters best friend and was by his side to help him. All he had to do was believe. As Christians we are blessed we are blessed with a much more powerful Spirit – the Spirit of God.

Romans 8:26-27 tells us:

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (NIV)

The thing is, just as Peter and the children of Neverland had to believe in fairies to keep Tinkerbell from dying, we must believe in the power of the Spirit of God in order to be assisted by Him in our own lives. In the midst of a struggle or sorrow it can be very difficult to believe that we will come out on the other side seeing something good, either in our life of the lives of others. But God makes that promise to us in His word, and God is never slow in keeping His promises!

Romans 8 goes on to say:

 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)

All we have to do is believe…God will do the rest!

I have always had trouble being still. When I was little I had an uncle who would trap me as I ran around my grandparents’ home during holiday gatherings and make me sit still on his lap for a full minute. I thought I would die! Of course, if I wiggled or fought he would start the time over again until I sat completely still for the entire time. I guess I really haven’t changed much as an adult. I don’t run through the house at family gatherings anymore, but I am rarely still. I always have to be doing something. If there’s action, I am usually in the midst of it. God is revealing to me how dangerous that can be in my life. If I keep myself busy, there is no time to be lonely and I don’t have to think about the things I wish were different about my life. However, keeping busy shuts out the One who has the solution to the loneliness.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”       Psalm 37:7 & 23

If we never take the time to be alone, we will never see that there is a solution to the loneliness in the midst of being alone. God is waiting for us to be still long enough to hear Him tell us how much He loves us, or to whisper His promises to us. But he is a gentleman.  He rarely shouts above the noise and busyness of life to be heard by us, and unlike my uncle God won’t trap us and hold us on His lap until we stop struggling and listen to Him. He waits for us to come to Him and be still before Him. It’s more than reading His word or talking to Him in prayer. It’s becoming motionless and peaceful before our Lord, allowing Him to speak without expectations. It is only then that we can know the steps on the path He has laid out before us. And it is then that He can delight in his child and uphold us along that path.

Lord, too often I get so caught up in the busyness of my life that I don’t allow myself to be still before You and allow You to pour Yourself into my life. I know in my head that You alone are enough for me. But I want to know it in my heart. Teach me to be motionless and peaceful in Your presence. Teach me to be still before You, and to rest in Your arms.

Today is my dad’s 79th birthday. Dad never wanted much attention on his birthday. He always said it was “just another day”. The older I get the more I relate to that statement, but truly a birthday is not “just another day”. Birthdays are milestones, not only of another year of life gone by, but another year of accomplishments, opportunities and memories made, even if we keep them to ourselves. 

Dad’s 70th birthday was a memorable one. We threw him a surprise party (had he known about the bash he would have nixed the celebration!) and looking back on the photos from that day I see the joy on his face and the faces of family and friends. They are reminders of everyone visiting, eating and enjoying the time together, glad for the opportunity to show their love for Dad. It was certainly an occasion worth noting.

How many of our days are occasions worth noting? When your day is full of chaos and stress, is it a day you’d call noteworthy? Are the days that don’t go as you planned occasions worth remembering?

Actually I’d submit that they are.

These are the days that build us up and make us who we are. Perhaps they are not days worth hanging onto past a brief time of reflection, but they are tools for teaching us about the best person we can be. And when we present each day to the Lord and ask Him to use it for His glory, He will! We may never see how much our smile made someone’s day. We may not know how much the time we took to write a quick note to a friend or listen to a stranger was noteworthy to each of them. God can and WILL use our seemingly insignificant and frustrating days for His purpose when we trust them to Him.

My dad left us four years ago and except for a note in my blog and birthday napkins at supper his birthday this year will go on without celebration. But that doesn’t mean that today is not a noteworthy day. I know God used me today to make someone’s day a little brighter. And I know He used you too…if you allowed Him.

I challenge you as I challenge myself – begin and end each day asking God to make it an occasion worth noting

— even if you never see the results.

Blessings and peace to you!

Paula

>I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:12

Much has been written about this passage from Paul in the book of Philippians. It is a verse that I have tried to emulate as I have struggled throughout my adult life with a myriad of challenges, from being a reluctant single adult, to job struggles, to the state of friendships and the desires of my heart. This passage has frustrated me when I haven’t wanted to be content (but know that’s God’s desire for me) and when I have wanted to be content and it seems that outside factors press in on every side and make it seemingly impossible to be content.

Lately I have been challenged to examine contentedness from a different perspective. There are areas in my life where I have to ask myself if I am using “contentedness” as an excuse to allow complacency to creep in, forgetting to look outside of my comfort zone to see if there is something there that I should be pursuing.

I am finding that while contentedness with what God has put in my life is a worthy goal and pleasing to God, sometimes after a period of time He wants to move me from that place where I have become content because He wants to grow me and use me in a different way.

By allowing God to examine my heart and my life often, and praying for the wisdom to see the difference between contentedness and complacency I can move closer to the woman God desires me to be – His perfect creation. It’s sometimes uncomfortable, but there is always a reward waiting for me.

>Growing up with a dairy farmer dad it seems I saw a lot more of his legs than I did the rest of his body. Dad spent a lot of time underneath or inside some tractor, implement or other piece of equipment trying to keep it going (or “improve” it). There were plenty of things on the farm that could break, and not much money to hire someone to fix all of it. So my dad and uncle repaired, welded, unstuck and contraptionized (translated: making something work however you can) in order to keep things running.

It wasn’t uncommon for Dad to say, “Come on, help me with this” and I would hand him tools or fit my small hands into places where his big, calloused farm hands wouldn’t. Some of my favorite memories are times spent fixing or building things with my dad, and I always pictured myself marrying a man who fixed things like he did. I pictured myself with someone a lot like my dad, but God had other ideas.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
                                                                 Proverbs 19:21

The other day I came home to the news that the steering on the lawn mower was broken. The repairman had been called but there was no news of when he would arrive and the sky was about to open up and pour on us again. Since Dad’s not here with us and I had no husband to do it for me I decidedto give it a try. Crawling underneath I found that in fact the chain mechanism hadn’t broken, just come apart. My hands were covered with grease and my nail polish was ruined but it wasn’t too long before I had the chain on the sprokets and back together, thanking the Lord that we could get the mower back to the barn and out of the impending rain.

My plans of being married with a family were different than the Lord’s plans for me so far. It hasn’t always been easy, and I haven’t always liked it, but I have learned so much about myself and life in general that I am certain I wouldn’t have learned if the Lord had granted the desire of my heart 20 years ago. I have learned that no matter where I am in life the Lord will provide for me whatever I need, if I only ask…even fixing mowers.

The Lord will do the same for you, and you may even see your desires change as you allow Him to direct your paths. God is so gracious and wants us to draw near to Him to see the best He has for us.

What have you learned about yourself as the Lord has changed your plans?

>Last night I set out to rototill the garden. Getting the tiller out after its long winter nap is often a challenge and last night was no different.  After filling it with gas and checking the battery, etc. I turned the key and…nothing. I fiddled around a little, then tried the pull rope. One yank and the engine sputtered to life. Glancing downward I noticed that one of the tires seemed a little flat but I decided it would be ok until I got down to the front garden.

Excited to see that first turn of the soil, the tiller and I headed to the back garden. We hit the edge of the garden and I engaged the tines. “Here we go” I thought. “Finally time to play in the dirt!” As I eased the tiller into forward motion we set out, tines breaking the ground and turning the soil beneath them. Something wasn’t right. The tiller kept veering off to the right and I had to constantly fight to keep it in a straight line. I muttered and fought, but nothing I did seemed to help. Then I looked down.

The tire that didn’t seem so bad earlier was so flat that the rim of the wheel was down in the dirt. Since it was the tire on the right side and the left tire was ok the tiller kept going off course. After chiding myself for not taking the time before I got started to fill the tire in the first place I steered the rototiller (the best I could) towards the garage and the air compressor. After a little fill-up the tire was full and the tiller cruised back to the garden straight and true.

As I continued with my tilling I got to thinking about how poorly my life seems to go when I’m not “filled up”. It’s not the air compressor that is essential for me. I require daily (at least) filling with God’s word and a some quality time with Him if I want my life to be straight and true.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 (NIV) reminds us:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Just as trying to get by without putting air in the tire of the rototiller made me frustrated and kept impeding my progress in the garden, not filling my heart and soul with God’s word and listening for His direction each day puts me off course in life. I find myself frustrated and wondering why things don’t go the way I want them to. But when I take the time to submit to God and allow Him to fill me up my day starts with a sense of peace and I look forward to what it will bring instead of setting my agenda and getting bent out of shape when it goes awry.

Has the “air” gone out of your tires? Are you missing something in your day and can’t put your finger on it? Try spending some time with God and seeking His word. I’m certain you’ll walk away filled up and ready to walk in the peace that He has for you today.

Blessings on your day!