Category Archives: inspiration

Personal Patina…

Posted on by

0

fork

(reposted from my professional blog at http://www.lifelinesmobile.org/blog )

I’ve been given some lovely silver trays, bowls, and serving pieces that have been passed down through generations. This time of the year I begin to think how I would love to use them for holiday dinners…but then I think of the polishing…and the polishing…and the polishing and then it never really looking like the shiny version of what I imagine my great grandmother would have used.

What is it in us that always wants the shiny version?

Tarnish is a chemical reaction that can leave a dull finish on silver after being exposed to air. It is rather simple to clean. But the patina of the silver is a lustrous finish that well used, loved and cared for silver pieces develop over time. It is a living finish of sorts that reveals marks of history from all the uses prior. Just think of the personal history each silver piece could reveal…all the joys and sorrows that mark all the times families come together.

So, what is it in us that always wants the shiny version? …

Each of us is an accumulation of a lifetime of experiences and history…our personal patina is the wisdom we wear and share. Our personal patina is nothing to be overzealously stripped…it’s what makes each of us unique.

Are you striving to be a shiny version of yourself? …

Or are you allowing your personal patina to be the wisdom you wear?

“Let the beauty radiate from inside your heart to the outside world.” Imania Margria

Advertisement

Inhale…”Oh Come Oh Come”…Exhale Slowly…”Emmanuel”

Posted on by

0

037

picture credit: from the heart of j

There is an adrenalin stirring in the heart…

An advent adrenalin…an advent anticipation…

an awaiting of the light to come…the quiet, mysterious dawning of newness.

The inhaling of the mystery…”Oh Come Oh Come”…

The slow exhaling of hope…”Emmanuel”…

Inhale: “Oh Come, Oh Come”…

Exhale slowly: “Emmanuel”

“it is now the hour for you to wake from sleep for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Rom 13: 11-12

Ready…Set…Go

Posted on by

0

bik

Isn’t life to be a verb?…

Do you hide from the negative?…From the chaotic, messy of life?

Engage the world with the unique gift of You…

That one of a kind fingerprint of you can help to hold down the noisy negatives…

Engage the world with the unique gift of You…

The world needs you…

Ready to move?…

Ready…Set…Go!

“The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are.” Edith Stein

Grandmother’s Love

Posted on by

4

001

image via jjackson

 

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog…but the most wonderful news to share…

I am a new, first time grandma!

No one can really put into words the indescribable joy of being a grandma.

This precious new life…in all ways a gift from God!

Ansley Grace…you make me smile from the inside out!

It’s such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother – that’s why the world calls her grandmother.  – Unknown

Grandmothers hold their grandchildren in a special place in their heart.  – Catherine Pulsifer

When a child is born, so are grandmothers.  – Judith Levy

Chosen to Be A Friend…

Posted on by

0

friends

Jesus reminds us that He no longer calls us slaves, but friends…

Friends…

Therefore, is not our greatest calling…our mission in life…to live as a friend of Jesus?

He chose us to be His friend…

We may have memories of being chosen….for a role in a school play, as a member of a sports team, for a new job…

We also may have memories of not being chosen…a spouse has an affair, a friend betrays us, the loss of a job…

We have memories of being chosen…we have memories of being rejected…

But Jesus CHOSE us to be His friend.

Do we ponder this invitation?

Do we respond?

William Shakespeare states, “A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently, allows you to grow.”

Jesus CHOSE us to be His friend

Do we ponder this invitation?

Have we responded?

Impossibilities Turned Possibilities…

Posted on by

3

picture credit: julianne jackson

picture credit: julianne Jackson

I always love finding signs of the impossible in my daily life…like this blooming flower, with buds mind you, bursting forth from between the cracks of concrete. It seems fitting to begin my Monday week with this image. With God truly all is possible…His grace makes it so. May this day all your impossibilities turn into possibilities in Him…He is a God of Surprises!

Emptiness turned Openness

Posted on by

4

empty

As Lent continues, I am coming to a deep understanding…

the giving up creates room in my heart…

an emptiness…

So many of us live in a culture of such fullness within our hearts and minds…

Have we become like the innkeeper who shouts, “There is no room here!” shunning the Lord?

To know God requires an emptying of self and yet cannot emptiness become openness?

It’s in the way we envision it…emptiness or openness.

Emptiness transformed by grace becomes an openness in which the fullness of praise can erupt.

Lord, I seek you in my emptiness…and I find you Lord in the openness.

Restful Waters or Turbulent Tides?…

Posted on by

0

image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

“Beside restful waters He leads me…” (Psalm 23)

I like to close my eyes and imagine these restful waters by which the Lord leads me. They bring me to a place of calm in my mind. However, in real life, it seems I walk beside high surf and waves. The type of water that seems to draw you into the rip tides of busy–ness and self.

Perhaps this is what you long to reveal to us, Lord. With you there ARE restful waters…the turbulence of the crashing waves we feel as we sink in the midst, is our own stirring of the waters through pride, our “my way is the best way”, our sinfulness, and the echo of accumulated evil in the world.

You long to lead us by restful waters…those streams of everlasting life that flow forth from Your side…however we often choose the rip tides. Save me Lord from my foolish following of the high surf and lead me to that place of repose…restful waters and verdant pastures…immersed deep within Your heart and in align with your most holy will for me.

Ah…restful waters…a beautiful meditation for this next week of Lent.

Put Out Into the Deep…

Posted on by

1

image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

Jesus said to Simon Peter…

“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Isn’t Lent about deep water…the depth of conversion?

Putting out into deep water calls for a deepening of faith…a journey into the unknown…a powerlessness that leads to a more complete dependence on God.

And when we lower ourselves in humility into the healing presence of God…

we are caught into His loving arms and are more deeply connected to Him who is our Savior.

Lord, grant us the courage to head for the deep waters, the humility to be immersed into the depth, the trust that You are with us and long for us to be more completely in union with You.

This Lent may we all hear the call to, “Put out into deep water.”

In the Reaching Out…

Posted on by

2

image credit: from the heart of j

image credit: from the heart of j

The Parable of the Man with the Withered Hand has always intrigued me. The healing comes from Jesus’ directive, “Stretch out your hand.” How often we go through life with withered hands…hands that pull back in selfishness and self-absorption. What begins with withered hands soon affects our hearts and our minds as we shrivel into a “my way” view of life.

And yet in the reaching out there is healing. In the reaching out there is a  re-connecting…in the reaching out there is a re-attaching to the Body of Christ in which His love and strength infuses the souls of His people.

Yes, in the reaching out comes the healing from within.

We are meant to be a people connected.