DebraBee

Song of Solomon 2:1  I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

I love to rise early when all is still and quiet; seeking my first love, my Lord, my King. I open His word and with anticipation I wonder at what He will speak to me. This morning I enjoyed the most intense love song I have ever read and realize its full meaning is yet to be revealed to me. I am left to ponder and meditate of the deeper things.

With a full heart of longing, I hiked in the lower hills of my city in the early breeze. An ache dwells within to be with my Lord. To be so close I can feel His heartbeat as one with my own. He loves me with a love everlasting. He draws me near. I am His.

Complimentary treats are something everyone loves; those special gifts of unexpected freebies. We can generally associate this with a material aspect, like the meatball on a toothpick at Sam’s Club or perhaps a crab cake delicacy at some high end restaurant.  Hey it’s free, so we take it and eat of it don’t we? It doesn’t cost us anything right?

Ever have someone give you an unexpected compliment treat? They just happen to speak to you with the right statement, flattering your ego. I have had a few of these, but I need to assess the cost. Is it an encouragement to go forward in my calling or is it an ego inflation to call me out? Going forward needs some strengthening and definitive help, but drawing me aside only has me turning my head in another direction. My eyes drop from the heavenlies to me, myself and I.

Sometimes I have to pass on digesting any complimentary treats because the cost is too expensive.

Taken once more into your quiet

Hidden, I am free to cry

Nothing more do I need to say

Your love is speaking over me

Hush daughter, be still

A famous Stephen King novel made into a movie starring Jack Nicholson, put forth a modern day idiom….”all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. I’m not one for scary flicks so the rest of the movie never caught my memory, but the sentence stayed with me.

Our society could use a readjustment for what work really is, an opportunity, and how we can do it better. Realizing we all need to be able to make a living is not a new concept, but a concept being drummed out of our reality is “enjoying ourselves when we work”. We may not all have a choice about how we make our living, but we certainly have a choice about enjoyment.

I have had some miserable days on my job but none of these would ever keep me from my enjoyment. When I remember I am not what I do for a living, I am refreshed in my real purpose for being where I am. While I make my wages, I have the opportunity to share the joy I carry inside with those around me who have yet to experience this kind of hope. By doing this, my wages are increased by heaven alone. It’s a good trade off!

My husband and I both have full time jobs and maintain a full time life in our off time so we try to purpose a getaway when we can. We are pretty low key people so it doesn’t take too much to entertain us. A cozy atmosphere, beautiful scenery and the joy of laughter in our conversations. These are our favorites.

We did a road trip this most recent holiday, staying at one of our favorite classic hotels in the Redwoods. In the early morning hours we sat at a corner table with fine white linen and beautiful flowers on the table. Everything available to make one feel spoiled. Not something we have in our lives every day and it was nice to enjoy this very special treat.

I am rarely (okay, never) without my journal and after taking in the view and enjoying the ambiance of our surroundings, I could only write of the simple things that mattered. I thanked the Lord for His love, beauty and hope.

No matter what beauty the world entices me with, nothing measures up to what He is offering me. Truth, wisdom, salvation and eternity; these really are the finer things in life.

We passed this remnant of a barn and by the time I hiked back to it I was starting to wonder if I was nuts. Why photograph a building that wasn’t going to stand much longer and would soon be rubble turning to dust? Perhaps that’s the fascination. It’s time was fading fast and in a few years there would be a new building in its place. “Probably a strip mall” I was thinking.

I miss the character of individual properties so I love getting away from tract housing and planned living spaces. It’s amusing what you will see when people are given the freedom to be creative. Don’t you long to let go of what the world tells you something should be and make it into what you feel it should be? Just a question is all….

We had been here in the Redwoods many times and were familiar with its offerings of majestic trees in whose presence our only response could be awe and wonder. As my husband dragged his camera gear about, I walked quietly behind him just enjoying the place, far away from our fast paced schedule and freeway commutes.

Going deeper into the park we started to hear a high pitched child’s cry and then others calling something back. We couldn’t make out what was being said until we crested a small hill. Children on bikes were spread out for a small distance both up a hill and on a flatter lower level. The high pitch cry we were hearing was the shouting of a young boy in obvious distress, tearfully wailing, “I can’t do it!” My husband walked toward him to offer help, but about this time his sister had come down off the hill to help him herself and told us they would be okay.

It made me wonder about the many times I have whined and cried out loud to my heavenly Father, telling him over and over, “I can’t do it!” What a noise I have made too. Still He is faithful and brings me sisters and brothers alongside to help me make that climb up my own hills.

My husband and I kept on the trail for a while and when we came back it was obvious all the children had made their way back up the hill to the top. I smiled once more thinking about these life lessons the Lord has me take notice of.

He’s a friend, I know this in my heart. I rarely get to talk to him or spend much time with him and his son. We are often busy working and go in separate directions when we leave for our homes. The few conversations I’ve had with him left me humbled. His gratitude for the smallest acts of kindness cut deep into my heart.

He came to find me today. He had a gift he wanted to give me. The gift he had was permission to share his story. I know the cost of this, I have witnessed his heart breaking as he opened himself up in an act of trust to share it with me.

My humility arises and I am feeling less than worthy of this gift. How does one go about sharing the heart of another’s story? Still, I know the preciousness of what he has just offered me. He is a man of value and desires desperately for his own son to be a man of worth. This is not a gift to dismiss and I know it, so I will be faithful to try and write it well enough to have it stand the witness of his own child. It may take me a while.

His heart in the matter was to share with others anything of encouragement he had to give, even in the tragedies of his life. A more noble sacrifice I do not know.

There is a term “shut-in” that Wikipedia defines as “a person who is either unwilling or unable to leave his home, often due to disability, or a mental disease”. A conversation I had took me back to some places in my life where I felt an incredible fear about leaving my house. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason for it since I had no physical or mental ailment. I merely suffered from an undefined fear and I would confine myself within the house for long periods of time, avoiding my phones and knocks at my door.

I am not living in that place of fear these days, but I wonder about the different ways I have seen “shut-ins” today. Those that have lost all interaction with live people, but communicate entirely via computer or texts. Even those who seem to be functioning on some level but live inside their televisions. Worse still are those who are locked up within, afraid to venture outside of themselves; fearful of new relationships or adventures.

What a tragic lie “fear” can be…..

“Tripping The Live Fantastic”, this was a title of a Paul McCartney album released when I was privileged to actually see one of the Beatles in concert. Have to tell you though, I didn’t really understand the thought behind the title choice.

It’s certainly been…hhmph…cough…a few years since that album release, but now I think I finally am getting it! Perhaps my thoughts are not the same as Paul’s but I can appreciate a new thought in my own thinking for what it means to me now.

Imagine living life as expected? Now imagine living the life beyond expectations?! What a trip that is, to live “the fantastic” life we are meant to have!