~when it's best not to wait~

A few years ago, we enjoyed a wine tour with some friends.   It was one of those days you look back on with fondness.  We hopped into the Tasteful Excursions van and spent a sunny summer day winding up the highway and down little known country roads, being treated to a commentary on the history of the vineyards in our area. Great friends, inspiring views, fabulous wineries, and so much wine tasting! We frivolously picked up this special bottle of  "oak-aged port-like dessert wine" and talked about saving it for New Year's Eve and drinking it with our friends. For some reason, we didn't drink it on December 31st.  Maybe we thought we'd save it for our anniversary, who knows. So it sat in our cupboard for over a year, maybe even two, when I began having some health issues just before Christmas 2017.  Little did I know that alcohol, especially RED WINE would be off limits for me indefinitely, maybe even longer.

It took a few months before a naturopath helped to diagnose my condition, the main symptoms being facial rash and swelling (not fun!). I have what is commonly known as a histamine intolerance. Basically, for some reason, my body isn't doing a good job of ridding itself of histamine, so when I have too much, my symptoms show up. Anyway, I won't go into detail here, but if you want to know more about histamine intolerance and how to heal, check out these two highly recommended websites, Healing Histamine and FactvsFitness.com. The bottom line was to stay away from (quite a long list of) high histamine foods, of which alcohol is one of the main culprits.

Whenever I open the kitchen door to where we keep our alcohol, I see this little bottle back in the corner. And I think to myself,  Why didn't you enjoy it sooner? Why did you wait for the 'perfect' moment? 

This experience reminds me to stop waiting for the BEST time to do something. If it's a good idea in 6 days or 6 weeks, or 6 months, it could be a better idea now.  

So, I'm reminded to:

• Use the fancy dishes more than 3 times a year (even if I have to wash them by hand) because they were a gift to me and they are lovely. One day they'll be sitting in an estate sale in perfect condition and no one will be interested in them. 

• Wear that top I really love more than I normally would because one day it might be ruined or I might not fit it anymore! 

• Go outdoors regularly and get a good walk in because one day I might not be able to walk anymore. 

• Call my mom more regularly because one day she might not be able to answer anymore. 

• Spend regular time enjoying my kids because one day they might move out of town and I'll hardly ever see them. 

• Tell my friends I appreciate them, even if it's not their birthday, because they need to hear it and they're not getting any younger! ;) 

• Spend time pursuing my creative practices because one day my eyes and hands might not work as well!

What about you? What's one thing that might be a better thing to to do right now instead of waiting for the 'perfect moment'?

Hope of all the Earth

1. Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
   Born to set Thy people free;
   From our fears and sins release us,
   Let us find our rest in Thee.
   Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
   Hope of all the earth Thou art;
   Dear Desire of every nation,
   Joy of every longing heart.
2. Born Thy people to deliver,
   Born a child and yet a King,
   Born to reign in us forever,
   Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
   By Thine own eternal Spirit
   Rule in all our hearts alone;
   By Thine all sufficient merit,
   Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
3. Charles Wesley

The End is the Beginning

The end of autumn
The end of the days of shortening daylight
The end of Advent
The end of the year

The beginning of winter solstice
The beginning of growing daylight
The beginning.. celebrating Love come down, God with us
The beginning of a new year

As I get older
I get surer
Man's heart is colder,
His life no purer.
As I grow steadily
More austere
I come less readily
To Christmas each year.
I can't keep taking
Without a thought
Forced merrymaking
And presents bought
In crowds and jostling.
Alas, there's naught
In empty wassailing
Where oblivion's sought
Oh, I'd be waiting
With quiet fasting
Anticipating
A joy more lasting.
And so I rhyme
With no apology
During this time
Of eschatology:
Judgment and warning
Come like thunder.  

 But now is the hour
 When I remember
An infant's power
On a cold December.
Midnight is dawning
And the birth of wonder. 
 

 Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

The Advent--ure begins

Today is the first day of Advent. I purchased a wonderful book last year called Taste & See - Experiencing the Stories of Advent and Christmas by Jan Johnson. She encourages the use of our God given imaginations to place ourselves in the story as we do our daily readings. This book is written for small groups, but easily adaptable to an individual devotional time.

The daily advent opening prayer:

I will release the cares of the day, and open my eyes to the wonder of God,With an attitude of empathy to people of another time, I will open my heart and mind to God. I will prepare to experience God's Word to methrough the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

 If I recall correctly, my plans to read it daily last year didn't exactly materialize. Thankfully, the author wrote these wise words in the introduction, and I took them to heart:

Do the meditations as you can, not as you can't. 

I figure any advent readings, meditations, and journalling I do this year will be better than not starting at all.

This morning my church was decorated beautifully with lights and greenery and the advent candles were in place. I could feel myself beginning to anticipate Christmas, slowly but surely. I was disappointed that we didn't light the candles or sing even one Christmas-focused song, though. There are so many beautiful renditions of carols these days, both traditional and updated. Hopefully we will be singing those together more than just on one Sunday!

Thankfully, I have a wealth of Christmas CD's (I usually purchase one new album a year), and I will be playing them to my heart's content at home and in the car.  Come Dec 1st,  that is. That's when my celebrations officially begin--the tree goes up (undecorated for a few days) and the Christmas playlist begins. And on the first Saturday of December, we have our annual family brunch, tree decorating (girls), and outdoor light stringing (guys). I'm looking forward to that, although I will really miss two of my children this year who are too far away to make it. It won't be the same without them. *sniff*

Advent helps to bring me back to reflect on what really matters. Even if it's just a few minutes at a time, it is my way of being sure I do 'listen' to hear what God is saying to me this Advent season.

Hope your season of anticipating Christmas is meaningful to you!

When Life is a Roller Coaster

Life might be a highway, but it's definitely not a straight stretch of ribbon! It's sometimes more like a roller coaster moving through the dark--sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes high, sometimes low -  don't you think?

One day you wake up with a big smile on your face. Life. Is. Good.

Little, simple things bring you joy.

You received the news you had been waiting for.

You feel good. You have purpose.

All is well in your little world.

In fact, you feel on top of the world.

God is good! you say.

Then you hear that bit of disappointing or confusing news.

Or you read something tragic and scary in your news feed or in your local newspaper.

Or you wonder if your life is making a difference, because it sure doesn't feel like it.

Or your physical health isn't optimum, and productivity is a thing of the past.

Is God still good? you wonder

Or you just seem to be coming up against the same struggles and nothing ever seems to change, even though you have hope and faith.

And you start thinking about the future. Tomorrow and the hundreds upon hundreds of tomorrows which may follow and what they are going to look like. How uncontrollable the future really is.

You read more about horrible events in the world with no quick solutions in sight.

And you worry.

Is God still good? you ponder

Then you receive a hopeful word.

You have the most encouraging time with friends.

Their prayers are being answered!
Your prayers are being answered!

Changes are happening.

And the sun is shining again.

And all seems well with the world.

Isn't God good! you say

And then your heart breaks for your friend, who just shared something hard with you.

And there are no easy fixes.

It's complicated.

Tragedy strikes.

And  personal dreams shatter.

Is God still good? you ask yourself

And there aren't any wise little sayings or pithy quotes that are going to really make a difference.

All you can do is trust, wait and learn to see in the dark.

And believe,

simply (but often not easily)

believe

that

God is always good.

Oh, Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief. 

Target Practice

Yesterday my husband and I played disc golf for the first time. I'm not sure why we haven't tried out that sport sooner, because it sure was a lot of fun!

Enzo guarding the discs. Note how obscured the targets are..they are in there somewhere!

Preparing to throw. Note the heavenly rays of blessing streaming down ;)  

Enjoying the surprises along the way -
a carving of a bear, a beehive, and an eagle, from a tree stump

The big picture

Stopping to enjoy the view

 At first it took us some time to determine where each target was located. A lot of trees and brush obscured our vision at times. If we didn't keep a good eye on where our discs landed, we could have easily lost them. It took us a lot more throws than the 'par' suggested. And it probably took us more time than we figured it would.  But, ultimately, we did find each disc and we hit every one of our targets, with persistence, dialogue, and the help of  a few friendly young disc golfers who were happy to share technique and point us in the right direction.  

Our adventures in life are a little like disc golfing, don't you think? It's not a solo adventure and sometimes it seems we might be way off course. But with our goals on the prize, and with a healthy community around us who can walk with us and point us in the right direction, we are able to succeed. It just might sometimes take longer than we had initially anticipated! And it can be frustrating, especially when we compare ourselves to others or we only see the mistakes we seem to be making. 

Let us trust the One who has set the course and walks with us each step of the way. He is faithful to finish the work He has begun in us. 

God is with us all the way, and cheering us on.  

Seeing In The Dark

Someone once said that faith is not a personal possession until you have suffered. That person understood that the very nature of faith requires the grit and courage to be in the dark so you can eventually see in the dark. Then faith becomes faith. 

                                               
This is just one of the many of the underlined and starred excerpts  in the book Seeing In The Dark by Nancy Ortberg. This book is her long awaited sequel to Looking for God, which I have not read, but hope to in the future.


 If you've ever gone through a rough patch in life, and you wonder what God is up to and how on earth things will ever change, this book will be an encouragement to you to sit and wait until you can 'see in the dark'. Until you have done this, says Ortberg, you will not "hear the whisper or see the flicker".

It's where we actually are, not where we want to be or hope to be, that God works. His kingdom becomes real to us exactly where we are.

And Ortberg reminds me that although God sometimes makes His presence known in strong and unmistakable ways, other times it's in the quiet, little things. Some random 'coincidence', words of encouragement from a friend, being inspired by a beautiful sight that reminds me of how big God is, or a word read at just the right time.

There are a lot of jewels in this book, and it's definitely worth buying a hard copy, because no doubt you  will want to underline some of those truths and reread this book or lend it to a friend.

I received this book free from Tyndale House in exchange for an honest review.

It was a dark and boring night....

Near the end of our dinner last night, the lights flickered. Off. On. Off again. On Again. Then Off.  

We waited. 

Nothing.  

No power. 

And no hope for restoration until past our bedtime, it turned out! 

So, that meant my plans for getting some computer work done in the evening were dashed. (bittersweet, really)

There we sat, the 3 of us, as the room grew darker. We moved to more comfortable chairs in  our little sitting room off of the kitchen and chatted for a while. I lit some candles. I sipped wine. I shared some chocolate. We checked our phones on and off. I pulled out my Kindle, the one with the light attached.

 

Want me to read a story, I asked? (just like the good ol' homeschooling read- aloud days). I know I'm strange, but I LIKE reading out loud. 

They nodded.  Not excitedly (I should have noticed). 

Just..well... resignedly. 

I brought them up to speed on the story of one man's journey hiking the 2000 mile Appalachian Trail.

And then I began..

After about a half hour or so (maybe longer), I looked up at my quiet, respectful listeners and asked.. shall I continue to the next chapter? This was so good! 

Um.. I think I'm heading downstairs, said one.  

I think I slept through most of that, said the other. 

Oh, said me. 

Really? I thought to myself. 

I looked down at my Kindle, clicked to the next chapter and silently read on, destined to enjoy this book alone. 

To each his own. 

surviving a power outage 

The Waiting

The Waiting

autumn

cool, crisp colors of crimson and gold

leaves, grasses, sky

change comes, leaves loose, trees bare all

flowers pale, shrivel,

limp against the cold wind

tall grasses shiver

fog, frost, freeze

hints of lost life, hope fades,breath expires

snow falls

winter

all hidden under cold blankets of white death

the mystery of harsh beauty

long silence, wait, suffer,

complain, watch, breathless

peaceful pain,

breathtaking, shiver

snow covers

perfect reminder, death prolongs

dare to dream

breeze touches the face

a warmer wind caresses

first revelation

change, hope renewed, eyes seek

newness, fresh anticipation

movement,uncover, pushing against death

power contained,potential unleashed

green growth, new life,

touch the sun

born again

spring

Worth the Wait

Sometimes wait seems like a despised word, doesn't it? It's not too often you hear someone cheerfully say, "And I had to wait for 2 hours!!!"

I remember the words of wisdom spoken at a seminar I went to once.

"If it's a good idea now, it's a good idea 30 days from now!" 

That was to keep attendees from rushing into decisions and actions without thinking things through. It made sense to me.

I'm glad I waited to donate my giveaway bag!

The other day I was frantically looking for a favorite sweater but couldn't find it anywhere. I rummaged through my closet, my armoire, my little storage closet, even the laundry basket. Nowhere to be found. I couldn't have given it away... could I? How frustrating! Then I remembered..

Earlier this Fall, I had gone through my wardrobe and critically and ruthlessly eyed each item, determining if they would be allowed to return to their home. I then either put them back, put them in a black 'for donation'  bag, or tucked them away for next season. I wanted to keep ONLY the items I liked and really would wear again.

I then stored the clothes for donation downstairs, planning to call up my favorite local charity, once I had accumulated more household items destined for a new life.

I haven't called yet. The bag was still sitting there waiting to be donated....thankfully!

 I opened it up and sure enough, past an assortment of folded sweaters, t- shirts, jeans, and other accumulated clothing, was my sweater!  I pulled it out, along with a few other items I changed my mind about giving away...

Waiting can be a good thing!

Have you ever given away an item you wish you had waited a bit longer to decide its fate?