Love, Love & More Love

So this week, as you know, was Valentine's Day.  When my girls were growing up, we loved any excuse for making home-made cards, baking cute cookies and giving gifts so Valentine's Day was right up there with Christmas and Birthday celebrations!  Now that my daughters are grown with lives of their own, things haven't really changed that much. We still give little gifties and send cards to demonstrate our love to one another (even if at times, it doesn't get delivered exactly ON V-day).

This little jar of yummies was delivered to my office on Monday by one of our regular customers. What a way to start out a Valentiney week!

And I received this flower early on Tuesday morning from the older's fam and Little E!!  It made it's home on the corner of my desk all week! Flowers are just cheery all the way around!  Love, love posies!

Even though MY Valentine is far, far away in Florida, I still had a lovely dinner date with my favorite little darling!

And while Aunt B was home she made some of these tasty treats for some of her friends:

As you can see I sampled a little bite!

And, of course, no Valentine's Day is complete without making some really cool Valentines to send to, well, to whoever is on your list of recipients!

All in all I felt very "loved" this week with all our family traditions and little gifties exchanged! 

We love Him BECAUSE He first loved us!!

What is the difference?  Why do some families make intentional plans to show the people they love how they feel about them?  Why the need to express to others that they hold a special place in your heart, that you think about them, and care about what goes on in their lives?  That you want to"know" them?

We love Him because he first LOVED us!!

There are many people out there, in the world around us, who have no one to express to them that they are thought about and loved.  During this week of cards and kisses there are those who go without one Valentine, one person to express to them that they are thought of or cared about.

We love Him because he first loved US!!

 This week I happened upon (I don't really believe in such a thing) some words that were written from the heart of one friend to another, a consoling, encouragement for that one who doesn't have a hubby to share Valentine's day and express to her how special she is.  This is what I read:

Tonight of all nights, don't you dare forget how loved you are.

Don't you dare scroll through the mini-feed, looking at patched-together pictures from couples struggling to keep on giving in a world that rolls downhill to taking, and feel like you are the only lonely one.

Don't you forget that people rarely post their emptiness. They rarely post their fears and their doubts. They rarely post their fatigue. Sometimes they post trying to prove love to themselves as much as to the world.

So when you see that stuff, don't let it fool you.

Don't you dare forget that you are beautiful.

Don't you dare forget that you are funny, and tender, and smart, and how you bring life into the dark places of the world.

Don't you dare forget how you make me laugh, and how my life would be less without you in it.

I need you. I love you. I'm not the only one who does.

Tonight a lie will slither and bite, whispering that being single makes you somehow less desirable. When that happens, step on its head and crush it. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You are blindingly appealing. You are a vessel of light and love. How I love you for it.

Don't you forget that you are seen, and known, and wanted. And don't you forget that all of those hurts that you keep pushing down inside, that resound today like some sort of cruel clock striking, are held tenderly in the heart of the One who made you.

He will never stop chasing you. He has been writing a singular romance with your name on the envelope since time began. May you fall asleep tonight hearing that love whispered softly over your pillow.

Thanks to my sweet friend Gina for allowing me to steal from her Facebook!  Oh, to be a woman who could give such a wonderful gift of encouragement--to strengthen, and build up a friend who might be failing to see the real TRUTH.  This life is oh.so.hard and we have an enemy who whispers lies in the darkness of our loneliness with intentions to kill and destroy!!

There is ONE who thinks of us, even though we may not think of Him. And He speaks to us through His Word:

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! 

how great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number 

than the sand

 Psalm 139

By grace alone,

Lisa

Insta-Friday Pilot Episode

My daughters who blog here and here do all kinds of fun things on their blogs

and I'm NOT going to be out done in this arena...so here goes nothing!!

This is the view from my desk at work.  This cool van was parked across the street

and the special thing about this vehicle in particular is that my brother

used to work for Simplex Grinnell...so in memory of his very short stint of employment

there I took this picture.  He was just a baby then!

I LOVE target and was thrilled to find this little gem in my mail box.

A gift from my hubby in celebration of our 27 year anniversary...that was Wednesday!

I made two of these this week, and gave one each to my daughters to help

with their Valentine decorating.  I found the idea on pinterest, and I'd love to share

the link where I first got the idea, BUT I can't find it anywhere.

What can I say...

This cup represents one of my FAVORITE things---tuxedo mocha from a little 

book store/coffee shop down the street from my office.  Normally I don't buy coffee

because I have connections to Starbucks but, Thursday I decided to splurge!

I sat, on a church pew no less, with my coffee and enjoyed some

lively phone conversation with my daughters.   

The atmosphere is wonderful there with a large fish tank filled with interesting 

and colorful fish.  I wanted to snap a picture but

didn't want to interrupt the boy at the table right in front of the fish tank 

who was obviously studying or reading or something

equally important that probably shouldn't be interrupted

by some crazed middle aged women who wanted to take a picture of the cool clown fish!

So there we have it...my week at a glance.

Grace Treasures

One thing you should know about me; I like old things.  I live in a house that is old, it has lots of character.  I like antiques, things that hold memories of a bygone days or have a special meaning.  For this reason I didn't have pictures on the walls in my house for a looong time.  Whatever was going to hang there staring at me, had to mean something, even if no one else got it, I had to.

So it goes with most of my purchases.  When I am searching for just the right thing and I find it, it's like finding a treasure.  I've looked and looked at all different kinds of ________ (fill in the blank) and I find the absolute perfect fit, the "just right" for my need.

I've been looking for a ring for quite some time.  I knew I wanted a silver ring with a stone, preferably blueish in color and an emerald cut (square).  I had looked at several regular stores (i.e. Kohl's and Goody's) over the past few months, trying to find "my perfect ring".  Each time I would leave wondering if I would ever find the one, you know, the "just right" perfect fit.  The one that gives you the feeling when you find it that it was there all along, awaiting you, like a forever friend.

And then, unexpectedly, it happened!!

I walk into one of my favorite little shops around the corner from my office, really just to browse

and there among the other rings was my "just right".

Not quite the color I was dreaming of

but lovely in its own way

So happy with the way it looks

just perfect!! :o)

And the best part about this purchase was it COST ME NOTHING.  If I had found my "just right"
at another store, I would have had to pay for it.  You see, I had consigned a few
little bobbles at this shop and so actually this treasure was

FREE
 ~makes my heart happy every time!!

This ring is a wonderful example of how the lover of my soul orchestrates

the every day dealings of my life to demonstrate his care and love

in the little things, things that might not mean anything

to you, but speak volumes to my heart!!

Today, it's a jewelry trinket he graces me with!

Tomorrow it might be a scripture treasure I can tuck deep into my heart~

one that whispers truth that will strengthen and encourage

one that will speak to me of his Love and Faithfulness!!

I hope this post will encourage you to look at the every day little

grace treasures you experience and know they come from the

hand of one who Loves you with an everlasting love!!

Blessings,
Lisa

Speak the Truth

I just read the verse at the top of this blog and thought, "How do you do it"?...speak the truth to one another. That sounds rather odd. Why wouldn't we desire to speak the truth? But think about it a little. Do the people you relate to on a daily, weekly basis REALLY want to hear the "truth"? No one wants to be lied to, do they? or do they?!



TRUTH is a funny thing. People "like" it only when it goes along with what they're doing. They desire to hear it IF it doesn't rebuke them or stifle their actions or call them to face something they don't want to face. I know this because I see it in myself at times. I have this issue with the truth...I LOVE it and I have some disdain for it because it reveals things inside my heart that need attended to, worked on, weeded out, etc.



AND, face it, the TRUTH, the real TRUTH is hard. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life..." So Jesus embodied truth, was truth. How does that affect us? How should it affect us?

Do we love people enough to tell them the truth?

"...speaking the truth in love.." that is Paul's admonition in his letter to the church people in Ephesus. So the manner in which we speak is key to how we speak the truth.  So, as in every case, motive is everything.  Why do we desire to "speak the truth"?  Is it from a heart of love for that person?  Is it to expose something that will hurt them or is it to expose the truth that will "set them free"?  Sometimes those two things are synonymous!!  The truth that will set you free is painful.

Do we love them enough to risk hurting them in an effort

to help them find freedom?

The title of this little blog reflects the heart of the blogger...to tell the truth

the truth about THE TRUTH (Jesus)

the truth about myself 

and the truth about and to others. 

Remembering

The day is dawning, I sit in the semi-dark having coffee enjoying quiet and looking at the tree with all the ornaments we've collected over the years and remembering.  Remembering how every year I'm up before everyone else, stuffing stockings, and taking time to enjoy a little respite from all the hustle and bustle of preparing for this day.  I remember our family from days gone by, excited little early birds dressed in special jammies waiting at the top of the stairs so the video camera can be prepared before they descend to see what treasures await!  Packing dozens of gifts in our van and heading to another town to have special breakfast with one family and then breaking neck to get to dinner with another.  Although some family traditions remain, those days of having children here anticipating the day and running around like crazy are gone.  Our family is grown and making traditions of their own and it's hard, hard to let go of what used to be, the way we used to do Christmas. 

This Christmas is the beginning for one daughter's family, the beginning of their own family traditions with a little one!  Traditions that include running hither, thither, making sure everyone gets to visit with the babies and share in the joy that awaits as they open their first Christmas present from the grandparents!  Deciding who will spend time where and what time we'll eat and when are we doing presents with these...and on it goes when your family is young. 

Not so after the kids are grown...it's different...very different.  And, as I'm realizing a little at a time and rather slowly, it's time for intentionally preparing new traditions here as well.  Not sure what those will be, still in the thinking process.  But I'm mentally preparing myself and pushing myself forward...dragging my feet a little, I must admit, but time is moving forward.  I can move along with it and enjoy and change OR I can be dragged behind and struggle and kick and be miserable.  I chose the former!

Remembering Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future....looking forward with anticipation to what 2012 will bring for our family!

Stretching

When I type the word, "stretching" it conjures up a certain feeling in my heart...a hurt...because things are tight there.  Like all muscles the heart gets tight when it isn't stretched.  And so it begins continues, the process of stretching, pulling, tearing away the hardness the tightness, causing the heart to feel.

I read this during the past week and recognize what happens this time of year and other times when our regular schedule of events is "interrupted" by a holiday gathering or some other such event that is unusual in our day-to-day activies and requires more, more of us!  I read and I contemplate what it means and am reminded of what will inevitably come over the next few days.

I recognize what will come and what will be required but I really just don't want to go there.

It's like physical therapy, painful, tiring, weakening before stregthening...
WHY, why would I want to subject myself to that rigor? 

So the week passes and it happens and I fail miserably to be full of grace.  I am short-tempered, irritated, selfish and unloving in my heart.  Others can see it happening and call me out, but I don't want to see the ugliness of all that is there, just brimming at the edge, ready to spill over on anyone who "bumps" into me!  So I wrestle with the whys and the if-onlys and am reminded (when I ask of my Father) that the WHY is for me!  He desires to show me my need of Him, my utter dependence on Spirit dwelling in me to enable this grace walk I so desire.  And slowly the understanding of truth resurfaces and the ugliness pours out in prayer before the Throne of Grace where I beg for Him, knowing full well I cannot survive another minute with this poison spilling out.  And He comes and gives freely what I so desperately need..a heart full of praise to Him, thankfulness for Him and a knowledge that He knows what is best for me, what will stretch me, what will cause me to see HIM and know that nothing can compare with knowing HIM!!

He sacrificed ALL!

I am called to do the same, sacrifice ALL!!



New Tradition

This morning as I caught up with my Advent readings, I was overwhelmed as I read aloud the passages of scripture dealing with the promises of God to send Messiah!!  What a wonderful exciting tradition to heighten the coming of the celebration of Jesus birth!!  As I wasn't raised with an understanding of what it all meant, Advent, that is, I've come to appreciate it and even revel in the excitement of the daily Advent readings and the lighting of the candles at church on Sunday mornings!  I'm not going to go into a big litany of what Advent means but you can read about it at the bottom of the page if you so desire!

Today's reading was Psalm 2 and begins~

 "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 

The kings of the earth set themselves,

 and the rulers take counsel together,

 against the LORD and against his Anointed,

 saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us."

He who sits in the heavens laughs;

 the Lord holds them in derision.

  Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

 and terrify them in his fury, saying,

As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."

As I read this chapter, I was just astounded at the TRUTH it foretells!  Joy, peace and comfort flooded my heart as I was reminded of who REALLY is in charge!  For me, reading scripture aloud is a somewhat new adventure and I am enthralled with the experience itself.  As I sat in my "front room" (that's the best room in the house besides the kitchen) and read this chapter aloud it was such a wonderful worship experience as I acknowledged through speaking scripture-God's words to me-who the true ruler of the universe is!  A King of Kings who will indeed rule the earth one day in splendor and majesty never before seen!

If you are not familiar with Advent I encourage you to check out the link below.  Immerse yourself this Christmas season not only in the day we celebrate Jesus birth, but in the prophecy from the Old Testament, the promises of an ever faithful God who keeps His promises.  Some of the promises have already been fulfilled, like the coming of Messiah and some, we are still awaiting! 

This is an exciting, fun-filled time of year.  I'm so thankful for the exposure to some new traditions and the joy they have already brought to my sometimes anxious, stressed-out, striving, cold heart!! 

And, if you're never read scriptures aloud, you MUST try it!  Faith comes by hearing...and when you hear your own voice speaking the truth of God's word, it has a definite affect on you...just like everything we speak to ourselves, but that's a whole nother post!!

Blessings,

Lisa

Read about Advent by clicking this link