DebraBee

Sports fans or rock concert fans, do you jump out of your seat and raise your hands in the air to celebrate a scoring of your team or a favorite song? I love a good celebration of joy that causes my whole body to enter into the moment with enthusiasm.

Not long ago I was up in the mountains to enjoy a most beautiful day. My husband and I were returning from a getaway at a favorite locale. The drive was breathtaking and at an overlook I asked to pull over. Getting out of the car I stood on the edge of the mountain to look deep into valleys. I was in awe of the heights where I stood. You could see for miles to other mountains. Looking up were blue skies with smatterings of fluffy white clouds.

In the background I could hear our car stereo playing a worship song, carried in the breeze. This beauty humbled me. I was so small in comparison to this mountaintop and the majestic vantage. My only response was to give in to what I was feeling in heart and spirit. I entered into a moment of celebration with all of my body. Lifting my hands to the sky I declared the greatness of my King. He deserves all of me, no matter where I am celebrating.

Security for each of us differs in many ways. For some it’s money, our looks, a job, a home, food, car, friend or whatever you can imagine. In many lives the ultimate security is to have a relationship. Understanding this thinking didn’t really sink deep into me until I had been in a relationship that mattered for a few years.

In years past, my own life was one of casual surrender to a desire, but I refused to acknowledge the fullness of my need. My marriage has been a teaching ground for what it means to trust and walk in the unknown of what surrendering all of myself looks like. To give anyone your complete trust is to hold back nothing of yourself or your own desires. You are trusting the relationship enough to understand a love so powerful, you have no hesitation to walk head on into whatever it may bring. You no longer control a thing….you are living in faith for what this relationship will offer.

We must choose wisely who we will be in relationship with.

Summer days are waning although the heat scale doesn’t relent to give up its place in the season. I have been looking at my calendar and noticed the months seem to be accelerating. I don’t mind this much, my time is often spent in wonderful ways and I have no regrets about what I am spending it on.

I was reminded of a classic story by H.G. Wells called “The Time Machine” where a time traveler explores the unknown realms of the future. Although this story did not have the utopian results one might hope for, it did set my own young imagination anew for other possibilities.

Years later my imagination is still dreaming of possibilities, but now my sights are much higher than the special effects which had been dreamed up by man’s limited imagination.

1 Col 2:9  However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”

I was laying here thinking about my family and friends this morning. How the circle of those who wear that label has grown. I can’t help but think about love’s attributes. When we have no one to care for, we can become self-absorbed in our own desires which can distort us to some degree. Our problems seem so important. I don’t make enough money, if I had a better job, if I had a better car, if I had…fill in the blanks…my life would be easier and better.

When we really think about it, all of these are traps to fool us into forgetting the beauty of what we have in our hands in this very hour. We do have money to buy food to eat. We do have a home to shelter away from the cold and the heat. We have mobility to get around. Our life is easier and better than literally 90% of the world’s population. When we allow ourselves to take our focus off the eye candy of the culture we live in, our vision comes into a place of reality. By tuning out the media for even a brief moment we can realize all that we have, rather than drawing our attention to all that we want.

Back to love though. Love is used to bring us into alignment with what truly matters. We forget ourselves when we begin to share our love with others. By giving our love away we can be filled with a joy forgotten. In love there is power to be truly free. What a beautiful gift that is!

We had all come together for one purpose, to celebrate the goodness of God with worship and praise. God came to heal…..

I watched her come to the front area and the young man gave her the microphone. In the background, all were still singing, “our Dad is the greatest Dad in the world”. Without skipping a beat she began to sing in sync the same words. Then she spoke of her life while she danced a beautiful dance before all of us.

“When I was 50 I couldn’t walk. I had to crawl to the bathroom. My x-rays said I can’t do this.” She began to kick up her legs as high as they could go over and over, and sang again about our Great Dad. “Now I dance, I am walking without any help. I am now 54! My Dad healed me!”

Matthew 9:35   Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness

I awoke before the sun could break the horizon and realized where I was. This wasn’t my home but I was comfortable here. I slipped out of bed and gathered my journal, a bible and my music player. Trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake my friends, I snuck out a sliding glass door where my faithful, furry friend panted, happy to see me up. He’d been with me many years and we’d become quiet companions.

My heart hurt when I looked into his warm eyes. Petting him, I called him to come walk with me one last time. We walked down the sloping drive to the gate and I had him come outside the fences with me to sit in the grass. I was still in my pajamas and my feet were bare so I didn’t wander too far, but sat alongside a pasture filled with huge oak trees and wandering cows with their playful young calves.

My companion lay down beside me as he had done for years. He moaned wanting us to go play, but I sat still and so he shifted some to find his own comfort spot. Side by side we sat alone and watched as the sun rose behind the tall trees, lighting up distant hills. I wanted to linger in this moment. The sun would not stay down and time would not stand still, no matter how much I wanted it to. Soon it would be time to leave, and I felt the moment slipping away. One last time I lay down beside my friend trying to comprehend when I would see him again, healthy and fit.

I took a walk this afternoon before coming home just so I could think for a bit. My favorite haunt was deserted, probably due to the heat, so I got to be alone without distractions. While I listened to the crunch of gravel beneath my feet, I kept thinking about Lot’s wife and wondered what she might have been thinking before she turned to look back, becoming a pillar of salt.

My wee little brain had often had superiority mentality, thinking often to myself how I would have never even been tempted to look back. Today I have been humbled in that thinking. For the first time I started to truly give more than a passing glimpse at this woman. I actually feel like I can understand what might have made her falter.

As the end of an era approaches and I am facing a changing lifestyle, my heart longs to rewind the clock a couple of years. I have to say this has never really crossed my mind before but when love is involved, an ache pulses within that I’d desire to assuage. This is where I started to wonder about the backward look of Lot’s wife.

Did she miss her comforts, her familiar home and friends? Was going into the unknown without any preparation too much of a faith walk? Did she simply think to look back one more time at “the way it was” before she could steel herself to continue to move forward? I suppose at the end of the day our lesson is to always be ready to move forward without second thoughts about it. I had wondered if I might put some salt in my pocket tonight in remembrance of how I want to end up in my own journey…

Pride can be defined in many ways and lived out as such too. Self-confidence, self-respect, self-trust and even self-worth are all synonymous with pride. None of these can be considered bad character traits given a healthy outlook. Where pride takes a left in most people is when the character trait isn’t so humble and more like a bully stick to others. Ego, self-glorification, self-love, self-regard. This side of pride has an outward effect on those nearby. For these left turn traits to be seen, it’s usually at the expense of another.

What would the headlines look like without the pride of self-serving attitudes? I’d love to not see somebody’s face on a magazine but hear through the grapevine how much they are serving the poor. Wouldn’t that be better gossip then any “entertainment” magazine could offer or do I dream of a better world alone?

Ever had something on your mind you would never give over to speaking aloud? Yeah, me too! There are a million reasons for me to hide my thoughts but only one reason to speak them. Go ahead and ask me what that one reason is?

Truth! There is virtually no one on this earth who hasn’t heard the phrase, “the truth shall set you free” but I have learned how few understand the reality of this statement. I have been living the reality of this statement and I no longer doubt its ability to break down the most elaborate of prison walls!