Carpe Diem

Sieze the day. Grasp life by the hand and live it. Enjoy the moment. Now. Today. Don't let time slip away. Enjoy the here and now. Tomorrow is not promised us.

Our days on earth are like grass; 

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

The wind blows and we are gone ~

As though we had never been here.  

   ~Psalm 103:15-16

Tis the season of Thanksgiving and thankfulness. I am thankful for this day. The day that I have been given right now. I shall enjoy it. For what it is.

I am thankful for this gorgeous November day that I have opportunity to seize and enjoy. The sun is shimmering in the bright Colorado sky. Wispy, white, feathery cloud tufts spot the beautiful azure.  I sit on my deck in the warming rays with my son. He is home from school this week with whooping cough due to an unfortunate outbreak in his high school. While I am sad that he is ill, I am ever grateful for a day to spend at home with him. We enjoy the fall breeze together and listen to the sounds around us. The crispy, brown and yellow leaves cling to the trees and rustle against the branches. I enjoy his teenage conversation and the sound of his laughter. His deep voice and changing facial characteristics captivate me. Where has my little boy gone? The day he was born is vivid in my mind. I sometimes call his phone just to hear his voicemail message that is yet to be changed. The squeaky little eleven year old voice speaks to me. I laugh. I cry. I am holding on tight to this boy turning into man. He is my youngest and I am not ready for him to grow up. However, he is quickly proving to me that time moves ever so fast. As if I didn't already know it with two daughters off in college.

Our days on this earth are numbered and we often move too fast to really enjoy them; too fast to count our blessings; too fast to take a moment and to enjoy it. To really soak it up by listening, feeling, seeing and experiencing the realm of emotion that we are created to know and experience. Scripture tells us that emotions are real and there is a time for them.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

~ Ecclesiastes 3:4

In the "busy-ness" of life I am trying to slow down and listen to the things that matter. To experience the emotion in all things. To feel what God has created me to feel. To take it all in. To enjoy just today. To enjoy the small things because moments slip away so quickly. They are here and gone with no thought of tomorrow.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

~ James 4:14

Today. I enjoy today. I enjoy my son. My time. The sunshine. The fall breeze. Our walk. Our talk. Our deck time. Time together. Tomorrow is of no concern. God has it. He has it handled. 

Enjoy today.

Tomorrow. God. Is. Already. There. 

Carpe Diem.

Autumn Renewal

Sitting here this morning feeling a little melancholy, but blessed. I am missing my two daughters who are off at college. Wishing they were here to share the morning with me. As I sit thinking of the memories, the rich, warm aroma of coffee soothes me and my favorite coffee cup is filled to the brim just inches from my hand. I sit here in the dark and gaze out my back yard window. I watch the early morning sky lighten as the sun comes up. There is no colorful, beaming sunrise this morning, rather the sky is heavy, gray and overcast. The sturdy, old cottonwood tree in my backyard hints of the season we are in. The ever fading green leaves are sprinkled with yellow and gold splashes. I watch individual leaves flutter gracefully to the ground in the still morning air and join the scattering piles that are accumulating beneath the towering tree and those that stand around it. The early morning air breathes of crispness and is filled with a hint of wood smoke and moisture as I watch tiny droplets pelt my window.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~ Albert Camus

Fall. Winter. Fall. Winter. October is in the air. The month that is ever confused about the season. My favorite season of the year. For me, autumn has a freshness to it. A calm, cool, rustic, earthy smell of change. A preparing freshness. Preparing for the blustery winter that lies ahead. A reminding freshness of what is to come. Plants wither, leaves change and fall, and the grass turns to brown. I am reminded of the newness that will come after fall has finished and winter has shared its wrath. The things of nature die and will be renewed.

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face.

~ John Donne

 Renewed. Restored. Revived. Reborn. The beauty of autumn is the reminder of the restoration that is yet to come. So very much like the restoration we have in Christ. What an amazing gift we have in Christ and the sacrifice he made for us. In Christ, we have newness of life. When we commit our lives to Christ, we are renewed, restored, revived, reborn and transformed in Him. Each day is a reminder of the newness we have. While we cannot undo what has been done in our past, we are forgiven. Each and every day we can start anew because Christ has paid the price for us. We are reborn and renewed through the living Word of God.

...he saved us, not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and a new life through the Holy Spirit.

~ Titus 3:5

Renewal. Restoration. Revival. Rebirth. While so many think of autumn as the death of a season. I think of it as a rebirth. A cleansing of what is old being washed away. A preparation for restoration and renewal to take place. A reminder of what the Lord has in store for us. As we enjoy and breathe in the blessings and aromas of this autumn season, I am reminded of the lyrics of one of my favorite Keith Green songs which are taken from Psalm 51. 

"Create in me a clean heart, Oh God

and renew a right spirit within me."

"Restore unto me, the joy of thy salvation

and renew a right spirit within me."

~ "Create in me a Clean Heart, Keith Green"

Renewed. Restored. Revived. Blessed. I am blessed in countless ways. I pray for blessings on all of you my friends as we breathe in the graces of this autumn season.  May you experience renewal, restoration and revival through this season and in our savior, Jesus Christ. 

Pray for Colorado!

Sitting on my deck enjoying a beautiful June morning. Baby bunnies in the grass, baby birds in the bird house, birds chirping in the trees, leaves rustling in the morning breeze, and a wonderful cup of coffee in my hand. Reveling in the fact that the air is still cool this morning before our arid, desert heat hits and the gusty summer wind begins to warm up our day to hundred degree heat.

This summer is giving me a sense of deja vu. Rain and moisture have eluded our state. I feel like I have been here before, on my knees, pleading with our God to have mercy on our state that is breaking out in wildfires. Nasty wicked fires rolling through our majestic mountains fueled by gusting winds, ninety to one hundred degree heat and low humidity days. Turning on the television brings one to tears to see the devastation being wrought on our beautiful state of "Colorful Colorado".

From where I sit, the Royal Gorge fire, 40 miles to my west, has burned 3100 acres and damaged a historical Colorado icon. Fifty miles to my north, another fire storms through the beautiful Black Forest. Over 15,000 acres have been charred and nearly 400 homes have been lost. To my south, a smaller, yet damaging fire burns as do many other smaller fires throughout our state. These fires rage on. Burning. Devastating. Incinerating. Wreaking havoc. On land. On homes. On families. On lives.

Where is God? Where is he in all of this? Where is God when tragedy strikes? When turmoil hits? We tend to wonder why God allows these things to happen. I turn on the news or open up the newspaper and I see negative statements being made about God allowing this to happen. Whether or not it just happens or is allowed to happen, the point is that God is in control. Perhaps he is keeping it from becoming a more tragic situation than what it currently is. It is not for us to know. God has a plan for us. A plan bigger than you or I. A plan beyond our comprehension. For each one of our lives. For our cities. For our state. For our nation. For our world. Trust him.

Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord.

I life up my eyes to the mountains ~ where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. ~ Psalm 121:1~2

I know my God is with me! He will not leave me nor forsake me!  God's love for us burns just like the fires that rage through our majestic state right now. He is our help. He loves us. Forever. Always. I am not a bible scholar and I do not have all of the answers. What I do know for certain is that God loves me. He loves each one of us. Through tragedy. Through trial. Through glory and good.  He is always there. Even when bad things happen.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. ~ Psalm 63:1

My God is right beside me. He is with me. He is with you. I pray to him. I pray for our firefighters. I pray for those whose lives are in turmoil because of the fires. I pray for rain. I pray for Colorado. Won't you please join me?

Be Still

"Be still," says God! My response, "But God! I have so much to do and so many things I want to do!" Again, God says, "Be still my child." And again, I run to do the things I want to do. I get caught up in the chaos and the madness and the selfishness of what I want and not what God wants. God knows what is best for me. You would think I would have learned that by now! Actually, I have learned it, but it appears I have trouble applying it!

I know that God doesn't deliberately cause bad things to happen to us. I do believe however that he does "allow" things to happen to us. Seemingly in my life, those things happen to me when I am not listening to God telling me to slow down, pay more attention and BE STILL!

I have spent the last three weeks being "stiller" than I have been for quite some time! I am trying to be grateful for this down time that has been given me.

Given. To. Me. In an odd sort of way!

You see, it all started with our family getting a new puppy a little over three weeks ago. At 5 a.m. one morning that puppy needed to go out.  I managed to miss a couple of steps going downstairs. The scenario that followed was not a pleasant one and the outcome is not so pleasant either! I managed to fracture my ankle and my foot and have been in a non-weight bearing cast since then. I guess God captured my attention. This is really not how I would have preferred he get it, but it worked. Needless to say, God and I have had an opportunity to spend a little more time together. He has made it known that he is God and he is good. (Of course I already knew that, but needed a reminder!)

I am seriously on the go 24-7, 7 days a week. If there isn't work, school, church or some extracurricular activity to attend, then I am looking for a trail to hike, mountain to climb or some way to totally enjoy the great outdoors. I truly love spending time with family and friends doing the things that I love ... outdoors. I do anything I can to make that happen and consequently my life is probably way more turbulent than it needs to be as I try to make things happen. I really think that is the bottom line that God is trying to get at for me! If I would simply be still and spend more time with Him, He will give me the pleasures I seek! In the right time. In His time!

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. ~ Psalm 37:4

Being still truly is difficult for me. While some people would welcome the down time I have been given, (certainly not the fractures) I don't like this kind of down time! It truly is a difficulty for me. A trial. At the one week mark after my little accident, I had truly descended into a pit of despair and depression over my current state. I was totally enveloped in my own little pity party of emotions and had a few minutes to spare that morning while waiting for my sweet friend turned taxi driver to pick me up to go to work. (Thanks Jules!) Those extra minutes and tears of desperation led me to pick up one of my devotionals and turn it to that days devotion. "Come to me," it read, "and rest in my loving presence. You know that this day will bring difficulties, and you are trying to think your way through those trials." "As you anticipate what is ahead of you, you forget that I AM WITH YOU ~ now and always." (Sarah Young in Jesus Calling) This hit me like a ton of bricks! It's not that I forget He is with me, it's that I forget to let Him have control. I forget to rely on Him in my times of discouragement and dismay.

Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. ~ Joshua 1:9

As I sit on the back deck on this gorgeous 68 degree January day in Colorado, it is very clear to see our great God is all around us. His glory abounds in the warm rays of the sunshine, in the deep blue hues of the sky, in the puffy, white, heavenly clouds floating overhead, the chirping of the birds, and even in the yipping of that sweet little puppy in my back yard. Yes, the same one who is semi-responsible for the cast on my leg and foot! I am trying to be positive, because normally on a day like today, you would find me on a trail somewhere, hiking! I wouldn't be sitting on my back deck with my foot in the air! But, this is God's plan for me right now. I am still and am soaking up the glory of God all around me.

God is with me. God is with you. He is with each and every one of us. He is good and his blessings abound in a world gone mad with activity and craziness and an inability to slow down. He really asks so very little of us. So little of me. The least we can do is "be still" for a bit, retreat and revel in the glory of a great God who is abounding in love, grace and mercy.

Be still. Be still my child.
I. Am. Still.