December Daily 1-- "PONDER"

Ponder.

 Have you ever stopped and 'pondered' that word? It is a word we don't use very often anymore. But it is a word that is rich with meaning. The dictionary says it means to think carefully about something before making a decision. But I like the old meaning which says to appraise, judge the worth of; weigh, reflect on.

Thats what Mary did when the angel of the Lord announced that she was going to give birth to Messiah. She treasured. She pondered the wonder.

And thats what I want to do that this month. This season. To ponder. Rest and relax. To take time to do what is important, and let go of the expectations, the hurt, the things I don't understand. And give in to the wonder that is Christ in me, the Hope of Glory.

My favorite book of the Bible right now is Colossians. It has been since I discovered so much of myself in the pages there. It has been such a comfort and reminder to me since this season of life began for me. And last year God planted the idea to do a "December Daily" from the book of Colossians. So what began last year as a seed will hopefully come to full bloom this year. There is so much richness in these 4 short chapters and my hope is to remind myself daily of these truths and perhaps encourage you too.

Many scrapbookers do what is known in their world as a "December Daily", where they take a snapshot of their life on that day, whatever they are doing and make a scrapbook page that reflects that. Or they take a memory or a tradition and each day throughout December and journal about it. 

So I want to take that idea, and spin it for our spirits. Each day I want to take a word, put feet on it, and walk it around in our hearts and minds for that day. We will do that for 7 days, then repeat. And take it deeper each week. And today we will ponder.

Colossians 1:1-2 says: 

Paul, and apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 

To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, most of the time, we just gloss over this part, so we can get to the meat of this book. But this jumped out at me the last couple of times I read it. So I pondered it.

Read it again.

Paul was sent to them, by the will of God. 

Who did God send to you?

Since you are reading this, I know He sent you to me.

Wow.

Ponder that for a minute.

Our meeting was not by chance. God, in his wisdom knew I needed you in my life. 

And you needed me.

And thats not all.

He considered them holy and faithful. And that only happens by the blood of Christ. And we share in that truth. By Christs blood, we are already Holy and Faithful. 

But there is still more.

Grace and peace to YOU from God OUR Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace.

Ponder those two words for a moment.

Are you living there?

It is extended to us, but are we really drinking from the fountain of His grace and letting His Peace wash away the grime of the world and wash over our souls?

I really have a hard time living in His Peace.

But to live there, I have to drink deep from the fountain of His glorious grace.

What a privilege that He

Has invited me

to participate in grace.

Ponder that for a moment. Or maybe all day. Put some feet on that and let it prance around inside.

Lets live there a while. 

Pondering the wonder of His Grace and Peace, dwelling in us in the form of His son, who brings to us the only gifts we really need this season. And we have the privilege of passing those gifts on to others he brings into our path. To make Him known by our honor of His name. By participating in 

His Grace and Peace.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD'

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself, where where she may save her young - 

a place near your altar.

Blessed are theose whose strength is in you, 

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 

Ponder. Let it fill your heart with awe and wonder.

And share His grace and peace with someone who needs to ponder, too.

Forever His,

Leslie

PS. And if you do it without telling them why you are extending grace and peace to them,

 it will really make them ponder!

Lesson 2 AKA Easy Come, but Time to Go!

Time for another lesson. Sorry I missed yesterday. Should have said in the first day that I would be posting periodically throughout the week, or maybe even sporadically, since I am not known for my routine schedule. In fact, routines scare me. I run from them like the plague. However, when I settle in them, I really learn to like them. But the commitment of a routine frightens me. I mean, what if I want to do something different instead? Anyway, I will post these semi-regularly. Which means, when I get around to it. 

Lesson 2

Easy Come, but Time to Go!

Interesting that I am talking about doing something regularly. But that is just how God is. This is something that has taken me years to learn. And I have not arrived, but I do have a measure of success in this area, after being force into it by our Heavenly Father. Mind you, I went there kicking and screaming, but now I have settled into a (gasp) routine and I can't go back. Not weeding the garden, mind you, but in my heart and mind spending regular time with Him. I need Him just to breathe right now. I am desperate.

In my garden, the weeds took root. In some ways, they were very easy to pull up because they were so big. But in other ways, it was so much more difficult. Let me explain.

When a weed is small, it lays just under the edge of the soil, right near the surface so it can absorb water and other nutrients that fall off other plants when it rains. But as it grows bigger, the surface nutrients are no longer sufficient for the needs of the plant. So it takes root, and it grabs into the soil to pull from the earth what in needs to mature and produce seed. The deeper it roots, the harder it is to remove the entirety of the plant. And the more it rips up the soil in the process. It also, if it has gone to seed, scatters its offspring into the newly churned soil, which allows for deeper roots and quicker reproduction. Which equals ugly, at an alarming rate! 

In my heart, if I take the thought captive before it takes root, then I am rid of it before it has a chance to sprout and do its damage. But if I take that little seed, and coddle it by thinking on it, mulling it over and holding it in my hot little hands and heart, I am tilling the soil to give it room to root itself fully. I am ever so guilty of this. I have been hurt by some stinging words recently, and my mind is constantly drawn back to the words. Actually it is not so much the words that hurt, but the heart with which they were spoken. Well, the words hurt too, especially since they were not true.

Now, it is perfectly ok, as we said yesterday, to be hurt by another person's words. But to grow them in our minds is not. But what if I do? What if I give life to those awful thoughts and let them consume me? How do I get my wonderful garden back? 

Get out the round-up. 

When you have to pull up those big suckers, you find other smaller weeds that were obscured by the big ones. They aren't really the main problem, but they will be if allowed to stay around. And since the big ones leave the soil tilled up, these little ones and all the other seed that fell when you pulled up the biggies are now getting great nutrition in that fresh soil, they grow really, really fast. And then they are deeper and harder to get rid of. So after getting rid of the big guys, you need to spray the entire area with weed killer. Then you spread fresh mulch around to protect that clean soil and keep the weeds from taking root again. 

The things that have transpired in my family recently have made a very fertile place for hurt to grow. And if I am not careful, I will find myself consumed by it, overcome by the despair of the situation, and thinking horrible thoughts about the persons involved. Then I will give life to those thoughts by retaliating or hardening my heart to the ones who did the hurting. And who does that really hurt? ME. Suffice it to say that when I said to take every thought captive yesterday, that is what I meant. And then I have to change my focus. But that is another post for another day. Back to pulling weeds.

When you are angry or hurt and you act on it, or you have some other habit that you just hang on to, or unforgiveness reigns in your heart, or any number of other sins have found root in you, as the Holy Spirit allows them to surface, it is time to take action. You must obey His voice immediately, pull up those weeds and cast them out by confessing and asking forgiveness. 

You are doing this for 2 reasons: 1. to agree with God about your condition, and 2. to humble yourself and place yourself under His control. 

Then, you need to ask God how you got here and where to go from here. You might need to go to the person you wronged and ask forgiveness. You may need to make restitution. And chances are, God will reveal more sins for you to acknowledge and confess. Because usually by the time we get around to seeing our sin, it is pretty grown up and we have a mess of things lurking in the undergrowth. Once you make the deliberate choice to grow this weed, and make no mistake, we have a choice, it is easier to let something else in, and then a little more, and a little more, until we are left wondering how in the heck we got here. I have personally experienced this many more times than I would like to admit! 

After the major weeds are pulled up, it is time to spray the weed killer. I really like a product called Weed and Feed. It is a great little product because it does two things: Kills the weeds (duh) and fertilizes the soil. In the heart-garden, the Holy Spirit helps us weed out the sin in our lives, and then the He teaches us to apply the Word of God as our fertilizer. He uses it to grow us through the pain to make us more like Christ. And the more we read, study and apply His Word the harder it is for those weeds to take root in our hearts. 

The final blow is the power of prayer. As we nurture our lives by spending time with Him, sin has a difficult time hanging around. We fall so in love with Him and realize our desperate state, that He somehow protects us. That doesn't mean we wont face pain and hardships. But we begin to see the difficult from his perspective and realize that "what others meant for evil, God has meant for good." When the temptation comes to feel sorry for ourselves, or any number of other temptations come, we are more able to recognize them because we are connected to the Vine and are under the control of the Master Gardener.  

So what is He doing? And why is it so difficult? And now that the weeds are all gone, what do I do? Thats for the next few installments. For now, rest. After all, that is what gardens are for. Find a quiet place and rest in His mercy and grace for you. I will too. 

Lessons Learned in the Garden

Most people who know me know I have a beautiful garden in my yard. I did not plant it, nor was the garden even my idea. I usually don't even tend the garden because we have a wonderful man from our church who has a landscape business and a very green thumb, so we pay him to tend it for us. It is a win-win situation. We help him financially, and he helps us physically. However, with the monsoon rains we have been having of recent weeks, he has been very busy trying to keep up with his many clients, while the weeds have been very busy trying to take over in my garden.

Now this garden has become an integral part of my life. Can't say I wouldn't be able to live without it, but it would not be pretty. It has become my spot. My place to rest my soul and refresh my spirit. To interact with my Lord and hear from Him on a daily basis. I love my little bit of heaven.
But for the last couple of weeks, my little garden has been sadly in need of some weeding. It was bad. Really, really bad. Dismal.

I had been procrastinating, hoping Mike would come and do the "dirty work" for me. And the longer I waited, the worse it got. And the bigger the job. 

So this morning, I could stand it no longer. 

I decided enough was enough, and I tackled the mess. 

Really, it only took me about 45 minutes to do the part that is in the photos. The part that I see when I sit on my bench and look out. But you know me, I God had some spiritual lessons for me tucked in those weeds. There were many, so I think I will share one each day this week. That way, you don't have to read all day to get to the end of this post. And it will force me to think about it all week, too. And maybe help me to attack the rest of the garden that is also being threatened by the weed monster. 

Lesson 1

Weeds are much easier to conquer if you get them when they are small and few. 

We have been dealing with some overwhelming family issues of late and the pain of it has shaken me to my core. And the enemy has tried to steal my joy in the midst. But just because I don't see God working doesn't mean he isn't. So if I let those thoughts of "what if He doesn't do something" or even the thoughts of "if you love me so much, why is this happening" take root in my heart, I will not be able to survive this. I have to remember my adversary is out to destroy me along with my entire family through this situation and if I give those thoughts root, he will bring other thoughts, feelings and seemingly harmless imaginings to validate my feelings and inhabit my mind. 

The temptation becomes sin when I give these seemingly harmless, self pitying thoughts life in the garden of my mind and heart, and they becomes rooted there. That is why Paul says to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." I have to uproot those suckers as soon as they come. That doesn't mean I can't be sad. Even Jesus was sad, and He knew the end of the story! Remember the shortest verse in the Bible? Jesus wept. Why? Because his friend Lazarus had died. He knew He was going to raise him from the dead, yet He wept over the loss. He even delayed in coming to heal him so that He could raise him. But it still caused Him distress in His heart. Partly because it caused his friends Mary and Martha so much sadness. And my sadness causes Him sadness, too. But I have to remember that my Hope is in the Lord. He is my living Hope. And being in His presence, not in the pit is what changes that. The situation may never change. But my perspective will. He is still sovereign. He still sees, knows and IS. He is still I AM. 

It is the same with other sins. If we nip them in the bud, we do not give them place to grow. We have to remember that for one thing to take root, something else has to go. For a sin to take root, a truth has to be uprooted. This is why Paul says we need to be "rooted and grounded in the Word of God". So that when a temptation comes, we can recognize it and pull it out before it blooms into sin. We have an enemy. A Hater. And hater's gonna hate. His goal for you is to destroy you. But God is bigger. And His goal is to mature you into the image of Christ. So in His infinite wisdom, He gives you a choice. And lovingly He presents you with the opportunity to define your love for Him in a tangible, and often difficult way. 

 It would be much easier for me to coddle these feelings I am having and just lay down and have a big ole pity party. It would be easier to hate the people who are hurting me and my family than to love them. And as I am finding out, it is true that there is a "fine line between love and hate". But I have to remember that THEY are not my enemies. And even if they were, Christ commands me to love my enemies. To do good to them who hurt us. Who use you and say hurtful and untrue things about you. (my paraphrase!) For in loving them, you are loving Christ. You are being obedient to Christ. You are identifying with Christ. Because it was for me He took upon Himself the form of a man, and was obedient to His Father, even to death on the cross. And if He did that for me, it is the least I can do for Him. And it brings me closer to Him as I choose to "Deny myself (my desires, my feelings that I should wallow in hurt and pain and let it swallow me into the pit of despair), take up my cross (and do what I cannot humanly do: love unconditionally) and follow Him (closely, desperately). And when I focus on Him and His Word, "renewing my mind" he changes my thinking, my patterns of thought that are ungodly to His thoughts And poof! I can see the temptation for what it truly is: an ugly weed that will give birth to something that will suck the nutrition from the soil of the garden that He has been tending in my heart. It will suck the life out of me. So as painful as it may be, when I recognize it, I must pluck it up and cast it and my real enemy, the enemy of my soul, into the pit where they belong.

Is it easy to uproot a sin that has taken root? No, it isnt. But for the sake of Christ, we must. That is why it should be done when the temptation is just a thought. And that is the subject of tomorrow's post. 

 

God is.

It has been my practice for several months now to go out and watch the sunrise in my front yard. I have a beautiful view, and it is very picturesque to watch it come up with palm cypress trees in the foreground. 

I go out to watch because I feel like it is better than the best movie. Every day it is different, and every day I sense God's presence in a new and tangible way. 

My favorite color is pink. And most every day, in my front yard here in sunny south Florida, I am surrounded in pink sky. As the pink hues of sunrise envelope my little world, I come face to face with the reality that I am loved so deeply by my creator, the God of the universe. I truly, with all my heart believe he creates these beautiful "skyscapes" just for me. Really. Because he can, and because he loves to show me just how much he loves me. I just have to get up in the morning and look for it. 

Anyway, the last two weeks have been particularly difficult ones, because of a family situation that is vastly painful beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I have been grappling with it and trying to see God's plan in it, but it has been so hard. And it has been rainy here, so the sunrises have been non- existent. They have really mirrored my emotions. Gray, and seemingly shrouded in sadness. Sometimes, it seemed that God himself was weeping along with me. Which is a great comfort to think that my sadness of heart could touch the heart of God. After all, what is happening in my family saddens his heart too. And the hard part is that I am helpless in this situation. I must sit back and watch it all unfold. 

But God has been faithful in reminding me that I am not without hope. Especially this morning. 

I awoke early and went outside, where the sunrise was just beginning. It was beautiful beyond words today. Pink was all around, and as I looked straight up, there were a few puffy lower level clouds that were pink. They were right over head. And as my eyes traveled around the sky, the entire horizon to my left and to my right turned a subtle pink. And I looked behind, and it turned pink, too. So I looked back up at the clouds overhead, and they had formed a circle of pink-ness. 

And thats when it hit me. 

God was surrounding me.

 As I watched, He was engulfing me in his presence and telling me, "You may not see me working, but I got this. You just need to rest and remain in me. See, I go before you, and I guard you on your left, and on your right. I have set my rear guard behind you, and I have covered your head. Don't worry, child. I am in The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I see, I know, and I AM."

I stood there, worshipping him with a grateful heart. And as I looked around, the sun was again covered by the clouds. And the sunrise, a brief interlude today, was over. The cloud cover blotted it out, and soon, it will begin to rain again today. 

But that's ok, because God showed up today, big time. And my joy cup is filled to the brim and overflowing because He came to me in my sadness and met me there. He lifted my spirit in the way that only he can. And although my heart is still sad and hurting beyond words, I am no longer overwhelmed by it. He lifted my head above the waters that were threatening to drown me, and breathed his breath into my lungs. And my strength is renewed. My hope is shored up again. And I can go on with great joy, because he loves me. 

The song on my heart today as I woke fit this, too. It was one the worship team sang this weekend at church. An old one, that I am sure now that was chosen to strengthen and encourage me this week.

Wow, God. You really want me to get this message today.

Strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord. 

We will wait upon you Lord. We will wait upon you Lord.

Our God, will reign forever. 

Our Hope. Our Strong Deliverer.

You are the Everlasting God. The Everlasting God. 

You do not fail, You won't grow weary. 

You're the defender of the weak. You comfort those in need. 

You lift us up on wings like eagles. 

Thanks, God. I am humbled and amazed yet again. I love you, too. And I will hope in you all the day long. I trust you. 

Being Thankful in the Midst

I am sick. Ok, I finally have to give in to it. This sickness. I am not sure when I came to this conclusion: Whether it was yesterday evening when I couldn't stop coughing and I felt like my lungs were going to explode, or at 2:00 am when I had to wake up my Dearest and have him get me a mug of steaming salt water so I could breathe enough to use my inhaler so I could stop coughing. Or when I woke up at 9:15 and realized that I couldn't muster up the strength to drag myself out of bed, so I just laid there trying to call for someone to get me a drink of water, but had no voice. And on top of that, I have a HUGE fever blister on my upper lip. And one on the edge of my right nostril. I have given it, and I am now taking otc meds and lots of vitamins, minerals and using my inhaler regularly. I think I am going to live. However, the jury is still out for now.

But when I actually woke up enough to realize it was 10:30, my hubby brought me a pot of tea. I was just mustering up the strength to drag myself out of bed to go fix some, and here he comes with a pot, out to the motor home for me. 

And after I finished it, he took it back in the house, and walked me up the driveway and made sure I made it in. When I got in, I realized my sister had done all my laundry. All of it. I didn't even have to ask her to. And she was fixing lunch for my family, too. 

Together, we made Ham and Scalloped Potatoes for everyone.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/04/scalloped-potatoes-and-ham/ 

It is wonderful to have someone finish what you start, clean up after you, and take care of your family. I never want to leave. I think this is kinda like what heaven will be like. 

We will  be serving our Beloved. I will not be a chore, but a joy. We will never get sick, never tire, and it will be with the people we love eternally. And we will all be working together toward one common goal: worshipping and loving our Savior. There will be no selfishness, no bickering, no waste, no pain, no end. We can't even imagine it, in fact, it seems almost impossible. 

Thank you Father, for what you have prepared for us. For those that you love and have chosen and called to your purpose. And thank you for what you have provided now, so we will have a glimpse of what is to come, and for those who serve us on a daily basis and we take for granted. Thank you for my Dearest Husband, and my sweet sister, serving me and making me feel very loved. Their simple actions spoke volumes of love to me today. 

In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Perfect Pancakes

I think I have found the perfect pancake recipe. Seriously, I think they will use this recipe in heaven. It came from my new favorite cookbook: The Pioneer Woman Cooks. If you have never been to her blog, it is time to stop reading mine right now and head over there. www.thepioneerwoman.com
Go now. Do not read any further. You will be hooked. You will forget all about my blog, and never return. But thats ok. She has that effect on people. In fact, I am going to take a little break now and head over there for a while. Oh! I almost forgot....the pancakes!

You won't find this recipe on her blog. Not there. Don't know why, but it is in the cookbook. And now it is going to be on my blog. Minus the beautiful step by step photographs. But thats ok. You can figure it out without pictures, right? So heres what you'll need to make these heavenly wonders:

1 C sour cream

7 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp bkg. soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

butter

chocolate chips if desired

Now, heres what you're gonna do: Get a griddle or pan nice and hot. While it is getting hot, mix up the batter IN THIS ORDER: 

1. mix the sour cream, flour, sugar, soda and salt GENTLY together in a bowl. You should not mix it together fully, but just almost. 

2. mix the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl.

3. mix the egg mix into the sour cream mixture, again, very gently. Don't worry about totally combining the mixture, as a little lumpy, swirly mix is fine.

4. melt some butter in your pan, and take about 1/4 cup of batter and pour it into the hot butter. Cook it for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, then sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips on top. Flip and cook another 45 seconds or until done. 

5. ENJOY! We don't use syrup, but you could certainly use some if you like. 

These were the last three on the plate. I made a double batch and it made about 24 pancakes. 

AND, since I am now gluten-free, I made an additional batch with gluten free flour, and xylitol instead of the sugar, and they were perfect, too!! So, go make some for yourself, your family and the world. They will love you for it. You will love yourself for it. And you will love me for sharing this perfect recipe with you. And you will do the Pioneer Woman proud. And you will love her too!!

Just a quick post today, since I am not feeling well. Haven't been sick in 3 years, since I've been going to the chiropractor on a regular basis. I stopped going (for a number of what seem like silly reasons, now) about 4 months ago, and I promise, Dr. Matt that I will be headed to your office as soon as I get home. I forgot how awful of a sickie I am. Brings out the inner selfish, bratty, only child in me. And did I say whiny? Brings out the inner selfish, bratty, whiny, only child in me.

So I've been poking around on Pinterest way too much....Don says he and the kids need to stage a "Pinter-vention", but I don't think I have a problem...do you? Wait...don't answer that. Anyway, today I found a website giving away a Nikon camera. So here is the link, and if you want one, go buy one because I want to win this one. Did I say demanding? The inner selfish, bratty, whiny, demanding only child in me. So I am posting this only because I get 25 extra entries by doing this. But don't go there and enter for yourself. I will hurt you. I will find out, and my inner selfish, bratty, whiny, demanding, and sometimes CRAZY only child in me will do something that I won't be sorry for.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


So if you love me, you won't enter. And if you love yourself, you won't enter. So for the love of all that is sacred, don't enter. Just let me win. OK?

(Disclaimer: any rash or unkind comments were made on a sick day, in which my inner selfish, bratty, shiny, demanding, and sometimes CRAZY only child was in charge. They do not reflect the true feelings of the author and will not be valid when the sickness passes. Which hopefully will be tomorrow. Or even later today. Or now. Whichever is soonest. So please go enter. But if you win, the inner selfish....etc. will stalk you down and have your lunch. Or take you to lunch to congratulate you. And steal the camera out of your purse when you are not looking. Go ahead....make my day....hehehe)