Author Archives: Denise

How to Begin Again

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The sun has yet to rise this morning but the dog is stirring.  I should get up and let her out but I lie here not yet ready to have my feet hit the floor.

Some days are hard to start.  Especially when the starting is admitting once again that the habit I had wanted to begin yesterday will need to begin today.

 I tried yesterday.  I failed yesterday.  Here and now I lie comfortably in my dilemma. 

In the dark not all things are quiet.

The Spirit begins to whisper.  “What you have planned is a good thing but is it the right thing? “

Like David who had it in his heart to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, I hold in my heart good intentions.   

In his heart man plan his course but the LORD establishes his steps.   Proverbs 16:9 NIV

Good intentions are not always God intentions. 

The prophet Nathan had to tell David He was not the one who would build the temple.   I may not have a Nathan but the Word speaks with clarity.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.  Proverbs 16:3 NIV

Begin here with Him.  It is where it all began and where it all begins again.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything and everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.  Don’t assume that you know it all.  Proverbs 3:5-7 The Message

This day – this very special day – the dog stirs my body awake and the Spirit, likewise, my heart. 

Feet slowly hit the floor but only to pause before falling to knees. 

This is how to begin again.

 

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Etchings of a Hyphenated Life

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Life etches rings around me.  Carving memories that seek to remain. 

Some days are monument makers, like birth and death.    Many pass almost unnoticed – a hyphen of life in between.   Yet, their markings carrying weight far beyond their significance and need to be remembered.

This weekend was the in between – a fitting pause between the long goodbye of summer and the incoming rush of fall.   

Summer did not hurry for me in haste but it burdened with a monument unwanted – a too soon goodbye to a faithful friend.  Now, in the too gentle, too quiet moments I breathe a pause of thanks for all creatures great and small. 

 

This life has afforded me much to be thankful for and yet I have allowed most to move past unnoticed like a string of “hyphenated” days.  Such moments have passed by far too easily and left far too light a memory when my neglect allowed.  

 It has allowed too much.

Now I seek to regroup and gather back to me these graces before they slip away forever unnoticed.  Like the quiet, morning walks with a faithful friend who mourns like I do a companion now gone.

 

 

The rain that hung heavy in the air and then later fell in drops long hoped for.  Life gathered in its mist and drank in the refreshment.

 

 

The Word that speaks when all else is quiet.  It is the refreshing fount of Living Water that drenched this thirsty soul.

 

 

The time off from schedules and commitments to just be present – no more, no less – yet all of what I needed.

 

 

Life lived in the hyphen.  Life etched soul. 

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On In Around button

Change Me

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Change me but don’t make me whole – at least not yet.

Fix what is broken but leave the cracks.  Through fissures You are seen.  Fractures show Your glory and tell of my weakness.  I need my weaknesses to be told because I don’t tell them often enough. 

I try to hide them with distance and a smile. 

When did I believe weak wasn’t worthy?  When did the Truth of …(Your) power is made perfect in weakness…lose to the lie that perfect is worth pretending to be?

Change me Lord, but don’t make me whole – at least not yet.

Mend what is broken but leave the cracks.  Their presence will be Your grace.  Broken will be my testimony. 

 

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Five Minute Friday

This is the place we write for 5 minutes – no more – no less – no editing. It might not be perfect but it is real!

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Beholding Glory

Soul Sisters

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Sitting here with the table decorated and the food in a cooler, I wondered why it took so long to come to this place.  Where I can linger in the summer sun allowing it warm both body and spirit.  Not that long ago, I was trapped in a mix of ugly and it isn’t a welcoming place.  When you are stuck in your own mire and the world seems dingy gray, it is hard to see the sunshine and feel the coming breeze.

Yet here at this moment, I was doing just that.  At this noon hour, I sat in the breaking shade and felt the soft breeze dance past my shoulders.  I waited to share my gratitude with three friends of the heart and caretakers of the soul.

We need people like this in our lives – friends who see into the dingy, sticky places of the heart and reach in to grab hold of you. Such people don’t mind getting dirty when getting dirty means getting you out. 

Not everyone will do that.  Not everyone wants to get dirty. 

Yet, as long as our feet touch this earthen clay we will all do a little mud wrestling of the soul.  We will find ourselves stuck the mire of our own making.  Mire making is what we do and when the quagmire gets to clingy – do you know who will rescue you? 

I am grateful for these soul sisters.  Each of them carry a gift far different than the other and yet we are all bound by one thread – God who gives us breath to love and live and get dirty.  When I was stuck and trying to figure my own way out one by one they came.  They spoke into my life Truth and love.  They reached in and rescued.  Through them God made a way for me. 

They got dirty and I got clean. 

 

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