DO YOU SEE A STORY?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures can evoke such feelings: Joy. Wonder: Peace. Compassion. Fear. Anxiety. Sadness. Pain.

This picture was posted on Facebook (Phyllis's Art, fantasy and contemporary) and I was drawn in. It is so full of emotion. Usually I prefer the feeling of peace or wonder, but the pain in this picture made me want to sit beside her. Made me want to help her.

Can you see her pain? The young lady has her arms folded over her stomach and her head is down. Flowers from the bouquet have fallen onto the floor. Storm clouds cover the sky. She is alone. She looks so alone.

I wondered if she had just told a loved one goodbye. A black dress. Flowers. Hurting. And alone. She looks so alone.

She is safe inside but you can tell the storm has driven her to her knees. There is no shadow of someone standing close by to offer comfort. There are no hands gently touching her shoulders. She looks so alone.

Could she be praying? Could she be asking, "How can I bear this? The pain of this is ……." She looks so alone.

It would be great if life was always a picture of joy, wonder, peace and compassion. Life is not always like that. Life also comes with fear, anxiety, sadness and pain.

This young lady looks so alone. She does not have to be. You do not have to be alone when the storms come into your life. You may be on your knees, in a house by yourself and wondering how will I bear this, but you are not alone. You do not have to carry the burden by yourself or go through the storm alone.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Are you weary? Burdened? Do you need rest?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

CLEANING

Oh my goodness! If you ever hear me say I am going to clean the pantry, please do an intervention and stop me. Such a simple organize-those-cans idea can lead to ---

= a trip to the store to replace outdated spices,

= cleaning the kitchen drawers because when the pantry was cleaned there was shelf space for all those I-don't-use-often-but-do-not-want-to-throw-away things,

= cleaning the shelves because after cleaning the drawers they looked messy,

= washing the canisters, salt and pepper shakers and those measuring spoons that got put away with just a bit of spices on them (probably those outdated ones I am now going to replace) but now look dirty next to the clean shelves,

= the counter tops because when I moved the canisters I saw the flour and sugar hiding behind them,

= which then made the stove top look a bit less than sparkling

and

= drat; now I see the dust on those empty wine bottles that did look just fine before the sink was scrubbed.

HELP!!! Once started there is no end to cleaning. Each clean spot makes the next spot look dirty. Oh no! There is a cobweb……………………

CLEANING ME

All this cleaning made me think about my life. What do I need to clean?

I need to search out things that misuse my time and energy. My hubby would say I should start with those silly games on the iPad. He is probably right.

I need to throw away bad habits. Cannot think of any at this moment but I am sure my kids, grandchildren or friends would be more than happy to point out one. Or two. Or three. Why would Bill not point out my bad habits? He is smarter than that. : )

I need to restock my shelves with patience, understanding, compassion, gratitude and a listening Spirit.

I need to fill a trash bag with my temper, an unyielding spirit and the word but when I am talking to God.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

How is your life? Do you need to do a bit of cleaning?

WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT?

Sometimes the blog just seems to write itself. An idea pops in my little brain fully formed, flows from my fingers onto the keyboard and appears on the computer screen. Sometimes that just does not happen. Today is one of those days. I goggled "motivation" and up popped one site after another with quotes. Even that did not help. Until:

"Fashion is always of the time in which you live. It is not something standing alone. But the grand problem, the most important problem, is to rejuvenate women. To make women look young. Then their outlook changes. They feel more joyous." Coco Chanel

Let me tell you - that did motivate me, but not in a good way. IT MADE ME MAD!! Fashion! Rejuvenate women! Look young! Then women will feel joyous! Then I thought, "Well she lived back in the dark ages and was brainwashed by society." Look young? I have earned every wrinkle! Every gray hair! Every additional pound! The part that makes me really mad is that, unlike men, women are still judged by their looks. Guess we are still being brainwashed by society.

Calm down. Look again. Maybe ---

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." Audrey Hepburn

"I think the most important thing in life is self-love, because if you don't have self-love, and respect for everything about your own body, your own soul, your own capsule, then how can you have an authentic relationship with anyone else?" Shailene Woodley

These made me feel sad for Ms. Hepburn and Ms. Woodley. I do enjoy life. I enjoy my life, but it is not all that matters. Most of the time I like myself, but putting your body, your soul, your capsule -- making self-love the most important thing in life would make the world revolve around you and I just don't think that is the way it works.

Getting nowhere fast, but not ready to give up, I tried again.

"Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?" Mary Manin Morrissey

Finally! Some words of wisdom. Take your foot off the brake. Let go. Release hurt, fear and old pain. These make sense. Maybe I can find one more.

"The most important thing for me is having a relationship with God. To know that the owner, the creator of the universe loves you, sent His Son to die for your sins; that's very empowering. Knowing Him and knowing that He loves me gives me encouragement and confidence to move forward." Benjamin Carson

"There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer." John Wooden

Added bonus: I found two. What great quotes by Dr. Carson and Mr. Wooden.  These do motivate me.  Have a relationship with God.  Pray.  Yup.  I like these.

Where do you find motivation?

THE WEDDING BANQUET

Jesus responded by telling still more stories. “God’s kingdom,” he said, “is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn’t come!

“He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!’

“They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city.

“Then he told his servants, ‘We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren’t up to it. Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.’ The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on—every place filled.     The Message Matthew 22:1-10

Our Sunday School class studied this section and it made for some interesting discussion. I put on a sign saying: Most Important Person. Then asked what they would expect when the Most Important Person invited them to a wedding banquet. Would it be hard to decide if they were coming? What would they wear? What would the banquet hall look like? What would they expect to eat?

They quickly decided it would be elegant.

They also decided the menu would consist of hamburger, steak, asparagus, salad, lemon pie, loaded baked potato and chocolate cheesecake. Now who wouldn't want to show up for a free meal like this?

Weed the garden? Work in the shop? Is that the best they could do? And to beat and kill the messenger! Why didn't they just say no? But why didn't they want to go?

This is a parable and we had to dig deeper.

God is the King. Jesus is the Son. The wedding banquet celebrates the marriage between Jesus and the church (us). We are the "B" list of guests.

The next question was: How do you feel knowing you are only at the table because someone else refused to come?

The answer: THRILLED!! EXCITED!! GRATEFUL!! The class was all smiles to know they were invited to the wedding banquet and not by a human "most important person" but they were INVITED BY GOD!!

We do not know when the banquet will be, but we are ready. We do not want to miss this one. We do not know what we will wear. We trust that the proper attire will be provided. We decided that we have no idea how it will look? We did decide what we will fill our plates with.

Joy. Glory. Patience. Forgiveness. Peace. Hope. Grace. Oneness. Eternal life. Helping Spirit.

We know we will be in the presence of God and Jesus.

We know we will see the fulfillment of God's Word.

But why didn't they want to go? Why would anyone weed the garden, work in the shop and even beat and kill the messenger instead of going to this wedding banquet. Why?

Why? Because they did not realize the importance of the invitation. They thought they would only be eating hamburgers. Or steak. Or chocolate cheesecake. No big deal. Just another banquet.

But why didn't they want to go? Why? Because they did not realize the importance of the invitation. Do you?

BALANCING THE CHECKBOOK

Do not know about you, but I want my checkbook to balance.

If the amount is off by a "3", I know to check my adding to see if I hit the wrong number on the adding machine. Yes, I still have one and I use it. If the amount is divisible by "9", I know I have transposed figures. These two mistakes are usually pretty quick and easy to find. It is that silly penny I hate!

I will look for a penny. Knowing it must be there somewhere; I will compare the bank statement to the checkbook. I will add and re-add each column. Then, when that elusive penny is found, the world goes back into alignment. A smile comes back to my face. All is right for another month.

A LOST COIN

Jesus is speaking: "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10

Now that is a woman who would balance her checkbook.

NEWS FLASH!

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’      Luke 15:3-6

Are you ready? This is important! Pay attention!!

Are you sitting down? Are you all ears? This IS REALLY important! Paying attention now?  Ready?

WE ARE THE SHEEP!

JESUS IS THE SHEPHERD!

WHEN ONE OF US GETS LOST, JESUS COMES LOOKING FOR US!

Told you it was really important!