The Hard of Waiting

The time was right…

I had read this blog post years ago, and something about it resonated with me.  I remembered it.

(Truth is, there are often things that resonate with me in this woman’s writing.)

We were in a store when we noticed  the tulip bulbs and remembered the post. 

My husband knew as well as I did, that it was time… for us both.

We chose a box of bulbs.  

One box filled with beautiful shades of pinks and oranges…

a promise of new life.

Even though the promise was wrapped in something that looked kind of dead 

and very unpromising.

On a dark and dreary, cold November day after Thanksgiving was over, 

we took those bulbs outside and dug some deep holes in the ground, 

and buried them.

Because our hope is in the God who loves us more,  we remembered as we put the bulbs into the ground, that this hard we faced was something we did not control.  

That it had to be Him who brought life, or there was no hope.”

And because there is always hope, we can bury it.

whatever it is

And leave it in His hands.

We had no idea how He would move in the things that were on our hearts that morning.

But what we did know was that He would move.

Isn’t that what He is always doing?  

From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God
except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.
Isaiah 64:4 (HCSB)

Those tulips had great potential to grow and bloom. 

If they survived the dark.  

If those hungry squirrels did not get to them first. 

If there truly was life in them, 

Too many ifs can distract us from the promise.

So we walked away.

And waited.

Whatever happened with these dreams and our hopes, 

He was here with us. 

And in His presence all our hopes are met.

The hopes and dreams that were buried?

Our lives could go on without us ever realizing them as reality.

But we could not go a moment without His Presence.

And we had that.

Even when I go through the darkest valley, 
I fear no danger,
for You are with me
Psalm 23:4 (HCSB)

We waited for the bulbs to bloom

and looked forward to the spring.  

I wondered if maybe Easter we would see them appear.

It would have been a beautiful picture if that was how it happened.

But that was me again… 

trying to picture God moving and working in ways I planned.

In ways I directed or controlled.

In case you don’t know it yet, God doesn’t do that.  

He doesn't take direction from us.

And our tulips did not bloom at Easter. 

-and-

There were no tulips in Spring.

...

They bloomed before Spring.

They bloomed while it was still Winter. 

Before my expected time.

And at a time in our life where their appearance meant more than it ever would have meant had God waited until my idea of perfect timing.

This God of ours?

He moves in mysterious ways.  

In dark places where hope is not easily seen or achieved.

He is making things beautiful …

in His timing and for His purpose.

His dreams for us are so much better than ours could ever be!

So whatever it is that you are facing?  Whatever you are dealing with?

You will never put that situation in more trustworthy hands.

Leave everything to Him.

Even when the tulips don’t bloom…

Even when you bury your dreams and you do not see good in the situation.

When you see no reason for HOPE at all…

You can trust Him.

He is good.

And He loves you so very much!!

He loves you more.

For us? 

Those tulips were a reminder.

A reminder that even in our hopeless days... there is always still hope.

Because the God of Hope is moving in the stillness where we can’t see.

But sometimes He gives us a glimpse of what is waiting for us one day...

____________________________

The Rain Keeps Falling by Andrew Peterson

____________________________

Psalm 130:5-6
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

On Beauty in Seasons

The writer of Ecclesiastes said,
He has made everything beautiful in its time 
(Eccl. 3:11 ESV)




We just spent the last couple of days together in the car on the road to see some glimpses of a small bit of that beauty.


Leaves in glorious fall colors displayed in all the grandeur that we have come to expect from years of looking at pictures.


We were not disappointed...those colors showed up and showed off!


Myriad hues of reds and oranges, yellows and greens and browns - all that you could possibly dream!

A stunning display set in a garden near the foothills of the Appalachian mountains.


Just beautiful.


But this dazzling scenery is only there for us for a brief period.

Soon this beauty will be replaced with bare branches.

Winter brings a new and different backdrop.

The black silhouettes of empty branches will soon stand out against a brilliant snow covered background

... and we will be provided a new look in that new season.


And then spring will come... and summer.

Each season brings its unique kind of beauty.


This is true whether in seasons of nature or during seasons of life.

There is always some beauty all around us.

And like the foliage of this season, the beauty does not last long.

If you don't open your eyes to see it, you can miss it.


Look at that little one near you and you will know exactly what I mean.


Too often we can be blinded by the hard or the ugly in our seasons and miss the gloriousness in the moment.

Because honestly, there is hard to be found in this life. And hard does demand our attention.

Seasons of pain and suffering, disease or loss are hard!

Sometimes, just getting up and going through your day can be hard.

Talk to young moms in their often overwhelming tasks of keeping up with all that is involved in preparing little lives for future years.

They will tell you that they also know something else.

They know that the hard days are not all there is to this season.

There are also times of beautiful in the little voices learning to say I love you, and Mommy.  The little dimples on the backs of little fingers, and at the edges of little smiles. The snuggles and kisses. The twinkling eyes and the first songs sung... with so much emotion it takes your breath away!

They just open their mouth ... and let it go :)



The springtime of life does not hold the ticket to hard.

There  is also hard on the autumn side of life too.

The turning loose of hopes and dreams side of life.

The saying our goodbyes side as our little ones leave home.

The realization that winter is just around the corner side.



Spring's beauty is wrapped up in new growth but Autumn's is signalling an end.

I read some about autumn leaves to find out what is behind these gorgeous colors this time of year.

While the green is a result of chlorophyll in the leaves, as the tree prepares to shed its leaves, the supply of chlorophyll is slowly shut down.

And the colors of the leaves that we see in the fall begin to appear.

 As sad as it is to think the trees are preparing to lose their leaves for the winter months, God has created them to do it magnificently.

Every stage of their life is a beautiful display of His glory...

We are also created to give Him glory.  In every stage of our hard and beautiful life!

Fall can be a reminder for us to focus our attention in that direction.
To open our eyes to see His glory.
To live each day for His glory.

While it is easy to be sad as we watch days go by faster and faster,  we do have today.

And today there is beauty for us to enjoy.

For He has made everything beautiful in its time...

In whatever season He has placed us, we need to be looking for ways that His glory can be displayed in our lives.

By our actions as well as our words.

Because He makes it all beautiful in its time... and this is our time, where we are right now.

Where ever that might be.

-----------------------------

The pictures I used for this blog were taken by me in a garden in Georgia called "Gibbs Garden"
 You can read about it here:   http://www.gibbsgardens.com/
It is even more gorgeous than my pictures can show!

Thanks Teresa Thomas for posting your pictures and whetting our appetities :)
It was a journey we will not forget.

On Burden Lifting

Backpackers know things...



Like how to make it to your destination.

On foot.

And over mountains and rocks, through streams and in spite of PUDs .

For those like me who are not familiar with backpacker lingo, that means pointless ups and downs. It's where you think you are about to reach the top of a mountain only to find that there is another climb down before you can continue to go up.

Tough stuff that.

Very often, the conversations at our house are about the trips Bud (my Mr. Amazing) made to the mountains to walk along part of the mountain path known as the Appalachian Trail. 

This has been something that he took up for himself and did for many years.  While we both enjoy time spent in mountains and by the ocean, he really finds that his best times of soul renewal happen when he is in those mountains.

I need to state right away that backpacking is not, nor ever has been, an activity that we have shared.  While I do enjoy going camping, I am just spoiled enough to really need to have those hot showers and electrical outlets available nearby! 

My not going doesn’t mean that he goes hiking alone.  He has gone with family members as well as friends. On these trips, there have been anywhere from just two people to 20! 

I believe they enjoyed those trips, though "enjoyable" might not be the word they would use if you asked them when they first came back home!  But even while nursing sore feet,  I have seen this happen again and again, that after a few days pass by, the talk goes right back to the trail, to the next trip and how the next trip was going to be so much better.

When we were talking about all of this the other day, something struck home with me. 

I asked him what the hardest part of backpacking was, and he told me that it was carrying the weight.

That while you can prepare by taking walks carrying a full backpack on your back, it isn't until you are actually on the trail, day after day, climbing and descending, that you just really know how hard it is on your body and how quickly it zaps your energy. 

I watched him over time make little improvements to his backpack, going with lighter items and completely disregarding some great new gadgets that would only add to the weight.

Things that had proved unnecessary in the past.

I’m sure that this is what Paul had in mind when he said that we should “lay aside every weight” in Hebrews 12:1.

It was the next point in the conversation that the topic took on more meaning to me.

Bud told me that there was one time when he needed to carry a heavier load than he would normally carry, and how one of the men with him noticed.  Without saying a word, this good friend took items from my husband’s pack and added them to his. 

Never making a big deal about it, just stepping in and sharing the load.

I think this is a perfect picture of how we should be with each other's burdens in this life. 

There are times when we most certainly can make another’s journey easier when we take on some of the burden they are attempting to carry alone.

Galatians 6:2 (NLT) says we should: 

 “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”

We have been so very blessed in our life by the burden sharers God sent our way during the hard in our life. 

Family and friends who have encouraged us by cards, phone calls, Facebook comments, flowers, Bible promises and visits.  By numerous restaurant gift cards and meals.  By a getaway trip. By blankets and slippers and books and tapes and pink pens and so much more.

We have been amazed as God used some very special (actually beyond special) people to meet the bigger needs for us in big ways as well.  Bills paid, groceries bought, gas provided, cars loaned, and countless times of help.

So much more than we had ever hoped. 

At a time in our life when we could have given up under the burden we carried, 

their help made it possible to keep going.

It is no understatement to say that we are and will be forever grateful to them 

and also to the Lord for them.

I remember at the beginning of this, when someone was looking at our situation, being asked what we were going to do, and only being able to say, I don’t know.

By all standards, it looked pretty hopeless.

If you leave God out of it...

So here we are on the other side, and I can see how this happened because of the actions of each and every one of these people who put self aside and just showed up and helped us.

I am so thankful to have seen first hand how beautiful it is when it happens


and you are on the receiving end.

I want to be on the burden lifting end for others as well... 

______________________________

I could talk now about how life resembles those PUDs (pointless ups and downs)…

but that will be another post

another day.

________________________________

In the meantime,
if you have ever wondered about how to help someone in their hard place,

let me direct you over to the blog Mundane Faithfulness 

where there is a lot of talk is about a new book by Jill Buteyn.  

Written with Kara Tippetts, it's about stepping in to another’s place of need and sharing the load.

It’s called Just Show Up...

And it is really good!  

________________________________

Our God - Full of Wonder

I have been thinking about a lot of things these days,

and I have come to this conclusion...

I hope there are pictures.

Because there are some things I missed that I would love to see.

I want to know what it looked like to see the twinkle in Eve’s eyes before sin took away the delight of innocence.

What was it like to look down on the earth when it was covered with water, and only the ark rested on the surface.

And what was the scene when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood alone?

Alone, amidst a crowd of people with bowed backs and knees bent?

I wonder who and what Daniel prayed about?  

What activity went on in that den of lions the night Daniel was thrown into it?
Were the angels there armed with swords drawn and were the lions prowling about?
Or were those wild beasts sitting and purring at his feet, calmed by the presence of God’s messengers?

I want to see the earnest expression on the face of Hannah in prayer, and the change of expression on Eli’s face as he realized his error in judgment for the reason behind her behavior.

And I wonder what the scene was like when Elijah introduced his servant to the army of angels that were surrounding them, ready to take up the fight, and what exactly did that army look like?

Then Elijah prayed and said, O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.  (2 Kings 6:17 NASB)

I would love to see the handwriting of God.
Besides the tablets of stone, how did his writing look when it was drawn out by His finger in the sand?

Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger  (John 8:6 CJB)

What was it like to witness over a million men, women and children with livestock and possessions as they crossed a sea of water on dry land? What expressions were on their faces?

And what was the expression on Abraham’s face with his knife in his hand preparing for sacrifice, to hear the voice of the angel telling him to stop? And Isaac's reaction?

There are other things I would like to know. Things that can't be captured by a camera.

For instance, what did it feel like to walk barefoot in a garden created by God?

And what was that night like for those shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem as they stood surrounded by sheep with a sky that was filled with angels?

And what did their song sound like?

Were the sheep silenced by the grandeur?

Was there a stunned silence after the angels left them?

What was the reaction of the worshipers when the glory of God filled the house of God?

How does manna taste?

On the night of the Passover, did they trust God enough to ever take their eyes off their first born sons?

I am more certain than ever that I serve a God of wonder.

God who did these amazing things in the past is doing amazing things in the present.

Just ask anyone who has been caught up in a child's laughter or a child captivated by an ant, or a rainbow, or a dandelion.

Ask the doctor who can see no sign of the disease he was certain would still be there.

Look for it in a sunrise or sunset, a mountain top or a rich lush valley.  His wonders are everywhere.

In the hurry and worry that is all around us in this life, we can forget that the God who loves us is the same God who stilled the storms and healed the lepers.

We only need to be still to see His wonder surrounding us.

I know however, that there will be times when it seems that He is not involved in the happenings of our lives at all. 

Those times when the pain is great and the evil seems to be moving unshackled.

I know at those times it is easy to wonder where He is and what He is doing.

But I also know that He is doing. 

Take Esther for example.

This little book records a time when the annihilation of the Jewish people looked like a done deal.

Signed, sealed and just about delivered.

God seemed silent.  Absent even.

But He was not only present, He was doing.
He was moving.

He brought specific people into specific places to bring about a great rescue. 

Now there was a certain Jew at the palace named Mordecai... (Esther 2:5 TLB)

A coincidence? Not hardly.

God's name does not appear once in the whole book.

But our God... He is there.

And He is moving, He is doing and He is always working wonders.

He did then, and He is now.

_____________________________

Who else is like the Lord among the gods? Who is glorious in holiness like Him? 

Who is so awesome in splendor, 

A wonder-working God?  

(Exodus 15:11 TLB)

______________________________

What wonders trigger your imagination about the God we serve? Our God of all wonders?

How have you seen Him move on your behalf?

On Being Sisters

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; 

and His truth endureth to all generations.Psalm 100:5

Some milestones are made for celebrating and my youngest sister celebrated a milestone birthday this month!

You could say that we are all now officially “old” although I would repeat that at your own risk!

One might even say that I am the oldest. I choose to say I am the firstborn.

I am the firstborn of four girls in my family.

No boys, just girls. 

And everything you might imagine that goes along with that.

Even thinking about it is exhausting... four girls!

Various ages and multifaceted temperaments.

Yet we all made it safely to adulthood.

And we survived that journey in two bedrooms and one bathroom!

Don’t let that fact get lost.

We lived life from bobby pin curls in our hair to the much more comfortable sponge rollers later on.

We made the transition from baby dolls to Barbie dolls by recycling the same dolls from sister to sister.

Our dad built a doll house for our Barbie dolls once.  Mom decorated it.

It was huge; laid out on the floor like a blueprint with walls.

The house lasted until there was a fight and one of us ended up right in the middle of the house. 

One family car.  And one driver most of our years at home. And he worked an 8-5 job! So thankful for neighbors with cars who didn't mind adding a few more passengers on rainy days!

For 16 years there was a Taylor girl at our elementary school. The school was brand new when we started attending, and after 16 years, teachers may have come and gone, but those Taylor girls were still a part of the place.

For convenience, when there was a need to shop downtown, mom would load us all up on the city bus that stopped in front of our house, and we would spend the day with her.

Anytime we all went anywhere together, you could be certain that we got lots of attention. 

My mother was quite a seamstress, and made most of our clothes, as well as our dolls!

My father worked for a wholesale distributor, in the dry goods department.

He kept her supplied in fabric since the bolts of material with faults in them were given to him.

Our dresses may not have been the same style, but they were often the same fabric.

Four girls could be confusing enough to keep straight, but when the two youngest were dressed alike? Rely on it!

Four girls, one phone, and that one line was on a party line with our next door neighbor! 

Me:  Mr. A, I'm sorry but I need the phone.  It's an emergency.
(The emergency was trying to get a ride to some event at the school, and when Mr. A showed up at the door to find out what the emergency was, my parents were not amused)

All our names began with D, including the pets we took into our home.

And to continue the trend, we included our parents, Daddy and De-mama.

The differences in our ages were thirteen years, but because of the way we were spaced apart, our parents had teenage girls in the house for eighteen years!!

All of us played the flute.  All of us were in the symphonic and marching bands in high school.

That made thirteen years of high school football games and band concerts.

There was always a lot of activity going on at our house, from science projects to puppy births, our life was never dull (although I think I remember a lot of complaints of boredom just the same).

Female hormones pretty much ruled the day, and we all made our Dad feel very special for putting up with it.

I don’t think he ever complained about it.

Actually, I think he enjoyed being the only guy in the house!

Like any family, our lives were not picture perfect. 

There were some hard situations that we went through.

Thankfully we have grown up with an understanding of God’s love and forgiveness, and through the years, He has deepened our relationship with Him and with each other.

I am so grateful for these three special women, wives and mothers that my sisters have become, but I also am thankful that God has blessed us by giving each of us the husbands that we have.  So much like our own dad, they have all realized the unique connection we have and have celebrated our relationships along with us. 

We were all invited to share in honoring this milestone in the life of my littlest sister.
That night, we were given a very special surprise because this littlest sister had an old tape recording from a birthday party of hers.

A party decades in the past.

I did not recognize the voices at first.

My daddy sounded older somehow than my mind had remembered him.  And the Southern drawl we all had was almost shocking. 

Almost.

But the celebrating? Nothing unfamiliar there!  My, how there was so much talking!  So much joy!
Four girls can make more noise than you might think.

And with our Dad playing Master of Ceremonies, there was of course a lot of laughter!

At the end, there was one sister who had gotten her hands on the recorder after the party had ended.  

She was attempting to interview the birthday girl, and she asked in a very caring voice,
“How do you feel?”

Typical of the shyness that we all have, there was no response, to which the older one said, “She doesn’t like being recorded, but she likes the recorder. And now I’m going to listen to my voice!”

(shy, but a bit of a ham)

Oh yes, looking back now this was a good place where we grew up, surrounded by each other!

Very good.

This new milestone brings another new realization. 

We know that we can’t take each other for granted. 

We know that the years lived mean that there will not be as many years still to come that we will be together.

And we will face that time just like we have faced everything else. 

With God’s grace and love.

It’s good to have sisters.

___________________________

On a side note:
Sometimes we say the craziest things.  Things that make no sense to anyone else, but we all understand it completely.  We call it "D Dimension".
We now see it in our offspring... They will thank us for it years from now I'm sure :)

And... we have a mascot.  We decided that the Pixar character Dory fits the bill, and her name starts with a D.

Even in our old age...

____________________________

I love how God calls His church a family.  We have much in common that way.

Sisters might argue, even be mean, but they are a gift that makes it worth the effort to reconcile.

By His grace and with His forgiveness?  

It really is so good to be sisters!

Romans 12:5
So we, though many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of another.
_____________________

From four "flawless" sisters...

The Great Lizard Race

The Great Lizard Race is on!

And I am possibly the most delighted spectator.

The participants in this race are mostly little lizards.  Some of them are so small, they could barely have started walking much less racing!

About once a year this strange event occurs and I only have to take a few steps to observe. 

It takes place right across our front walkway.

I discovered it by accident, because the race has turned our front path into an obstacle course for

humans. 

There is no warning, no way to anticipate when and where the next little lizard will exit as it

darts out of the grass, across the walk and toward my house.

Their instructions, it would appear, are just to run, so that is what they do.

Curiously, each one always making the dash in the same direction.

I can see no cause, no reason to make sense of this madness.

No great predator to bring about such a reaction.

No rewards handed out at the end.

Just the run.

It makes no sense at all that I can see.

If I could get to their level, maybe then it would make sense to me.

If I could somehow see their situation eye to eye? 

Perhaps it is that my view of their situation is too large? 

Or maybe they run like they do because their view is so limited?

Sometimes I run through life that way, looking at my own situation with my perspective limited to

the only way I understand things.

The way I think things should be.

As if my perspective of a situation is the only one that matters.

Lord… help me remember that my view of things?

It is just the smallest part of the world that you see.

There are many people, many situations.

Many needs.

Help me not to be so wrapped up in my own views, opinions, needs and wants, my own fears and disappointments that I miss opportunities to help those You have placed in my path.

Help me avoid conclusions about someone else’s pain based on my experiences or from the small world of knowledge within which I move.

Help me remember that I am only a part of your huge plan.

However… I am a part.

And no part in your story is too small to you.

When my life starts to look like a lizard in a great race, remind me that I have a Guide.

Help me remember that you know everything about me and about this race that I run.

Help me look to you and Your Word for direction.

Help me refocus what I am doing.

Eyes off me… Eyes on You and eyes on the needs of others.

If I am running just to keep up with a crowd, even if the crowd is a good crowd, show me my wrong motives and help me change direction.

If I need to slow the pace down, show me that too.

But if I need to run like the wind?

Your grace? Your nearness?  Please.

______________________________

Psalm 105:4

Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence (continually) evermore.

Seek and require His face and His presence... 

_______________________________

When God gives a task, don't worry if the task seems small or unnecessary.

Just be certain that He is the one directing your steps.

On Seasons and Goings

This …

This is a time for babies coming in our family.  We all breathed sighs of relief and shared feelings of joy as we welcomed a new little girl into this crazy bunch just last week.

And some time in the near future we will welcome another little one!  Whether this one will be a girl or a boy will be a surprise to us, but we will be delighted to celebrate either way… because we are thankful for each one.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 

a time to be born…”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (ESV)

This is an exciting time for us all as we are welcoming Great Grandchild #20 and #21 into this world.

The counting of the great grandchildren is something that Bud’s dad started years ago. There are times when the names seem secondary.  He told us that he wanted 20 great grandchildren; and so the counting began…

At that time, the goal was years away. 

Now it is a reality. 

Time flies.

Babies grow up and move on… and out.

As if to prove that point, in my family, this season is also the time of moving out.  Two nieces of mine are starting college out of town right after finishing high school no less! 

(Aren’t they supposed to wait until their 70’s to do that?)

Time flies.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”

This is what’s on my heart as I am watching so many moms saying their good byes to their children.

 

But they aren't children, are they?

Well, how can they not be? 

Wasn’t it just yesterday you were teaching them how to tie their shoes, 

and they just weren’t getting it? 

How are you supposed to just transition into letting them leave? 

To be on their own? 

To find their way in this crazy world that just seems to be getting crazier?

This reminded me of that time when my own first born was about to finish school and I was already visualizing the moving out time to come. 

This child, the one I apologized to for the mistakes I would most certainly make, before we had even walked away from the hospital with her all bundled up in pink and smelling like baby powder on that evening in November.  I remember as if it was yesterday how the first stop we made was at a good friend’s house, where I delicately handed the pink bundle into her arms and timidly begged, “Tell me what to do now”. 

Apron strings? 

They aren’t meant to be cut.  They have to be tenderly untied, even while they feel like they are tearing at your very heartstrings.

So I did what I do when I want to work things out in my mind and in my heart.

I wrote.

Your Footsteps

I still remember the first time you stepped out on your own,

So timid, so unsure and for the first time really alone…

Or so you thought

Because in reality, we were right there, arms outstretched and waiting.

Knowing you could do it, but ready just in case you needed us.

Today you take a new kind of step.

Once again, timid and a little unsure and once again, alone…

Or so you think

Because in reality, we are still right here, arms outstretched and waiting.

Knowing you can do it, but ready to give the hugs just in case you need them.

One day you’ll take another step.

The one that takes you far away from our arms, and finds you really alone…

Or so you think.

Because in reality, there are the arms of the Father

Knowing you can make it, but always there to give you all you need.

And when the day comes that you need His loving arms to hold you?

You’ll find in reality, it was His arms all along.

So to all the moms who are facing the moving out days soon?

My thoughts are for you as you watch them take those steps.

The ones that lead away…

I don’t think you ever really stop being there for your children.

Even after they have left.

Because they never leave your heart. 

And the days of coming home?  

Well, that’s a whole other story.

And it’s a good one!