Did you catch that last image? Special glasses give her “eyes to see” the work that is being done. Look again. That’s me in the flame. That’s me; being tried and tested. Without the glasses, it looks painfully out of control. But through the proper lens, you can see a shape taking place. You can rejoice in the work being done!

Matthew 13:16-17 (NIV)
“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
“…When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

Do you have eyes to see the work being done? Do you trust that you’re not being burned?

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’

“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

When Jesus asked the disciples to become like little children, I wonder if he could have had my kids in mind. I wouldn’t mind sleeping until noon. I could obsess over the latest boy band and wish I had a wardrobe full of ‘skinny jeans’. I could whine when I have to take a bath and do everything to avoid having my hair brushed.

But seriously … what sets the children apart from the adults? First and foremost is their ability to love. Obviously. Even a child who is mistreated and neglected will not stop loving. They just won’t. To us, adults, it’s maddening – we want to withhold love when it’s undeserved. Not the children.

Secondly, children engage their senses. They don’t limit their connection to life like we do. They’re never done exploring. I remember holding a sea shell up to my ear and waiting for magic to happen. I remember being curious enough to stick my nose into just about anything if someone said, “Smell this!” I remember enjoying lollipops. Food, just for fun! And, every time I have to tell my kids not to touch something, I remember wanting to see with more than just my eyes.

How do you remember using all FIVE senses when you were a kid?

There are 3 parts of me; body, mind, and spirit. All with specific needs. All with specific jobs to do. My body needs nourishment, activity and rest. If I provide my body with those 3 things, theoretically, it should carry me well through many more days to come. Similarly, my mind and spirit have needs and when all three parts of me are in harmony, I’m more likely to be able to experience joy – whatever comes my way.

The only problem is, I tend to live in my head. I place a great deal of importance on work and accomplishment. Not bad things until some very specific memories came flooding back. Night after night I’ve spent hours - long hours – being “productive.” And in order to keep it up, my mind bribed my body with licorice. Or dark chocolate. Or potato chips and cold milk. Or pretzels…

And it didn’t stop there. Those late nights almost always included some sort of mindless television to placate my relationally starved spirit.

It was then that I realized my mind has absolutely been calling the shots, for as long as I can remember. It’s manipulation on the deepest level. To the strongest degree. My mind has been pimping my body and spirit out, in exchange for praise, admiration and empty calories.

It should be so simple. Three equal parts, each working to benefit the other. But my head didn’t understand my spirit’s need for companionship and gave it a cheap imitation instead. My head didn’t respect my body’s need for renewal and gave it additional fuel instead.

Being the leader that it is, my mind needs to learn to listen to the needs of the rest of this being or I’ll end up with a whole lot of ‘want to’ and nothing to help with the follow through.

Can you relate? What are some of the things you do to care for your whole being?

What would life be like if, like a child, I let pain confuse me for a time. What if, instead of labeling pain and putting it on display like fine art, I allowed it to sit with me. I could give it some undivided attention. I could even wrestle with it. All the while letting Love be the featured item on display. Isn’t that just like a child? How admirable, their ability to continue to love through all kinds of trial and circumstance!

What do you have on display? What’s the first thing people see when they look at you?

Are you holding onto pain asking everyone else to acknowledge it? Do you think people should treat you differently because you’re in pain?

Maybe it’s time to “clean house.”

Imagine an art gallery. A long room with benches running down the center isle. The walls are clean and neutral. But your artwork is dull from dust and neglect. And the floor beneath it is piled high with junk. As a matter of fact, no one even notices the masterpiece on the wall anymore. They haven’t see the real you in years. “It wasn’t always like this,” you sigh, regretful that it has gone this far.  Deep inside, you know that there is still beauty to behold. But the amount of work it would take to sort though all of the mess is overwhelming.

Where do you go from here?

Do you journal? If so, why?

It doesn’t seem like much – just paper and pen. Kind of like the ingredients for bread; water and flour don’t look like much on their own. But when you add yeast, something magical happens. Prayer is that magical third ingredient, elevating any mundane practice into an act of worship.

“Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Do you consider yourself creative? Why, or why not?

In The Soul Tells a Story: Engaging Creativity with Spirituality in the Writing Life, author Vinita Hampton Wright offers the following thoughts:

“In a general sense, every human being is creative. This trait is not always flashy. Often it’s not called by its true name.” She continues, “And so creativity is at work in the parent of preschoolers who must come up with ways of occupying their exuberance for hours, even days, on end. It is also at work in the entrepreneur who can make a buck before she even has a buck. Likewise, the person at the office or the church who never misses an opportunity to make a program or system more effective is exercising creativity. And it’s alive and well in the guy who, like my late father, works at a factory job all day and then comes home to tend a garden.”

Sometimes words aren’t enough. Sometimes there are no words. This is when Contemplative Art becomes your act of prayer. Prayerful art doesn’t ask you to produce a masterpiece. Through art, God asks you to recognize the masterpiece he created when he made YOU!

~

If you’re in the area, we have 5 more weeks of this Sunday School class and you’re welcome to attend whether you go to church or not. 8:00 a.m. at Hosanna! in Lititz, PA.

Taking all of that into consideration, the options are nearly limitless. Unless of course you have a family and you’re over thirty. Cause then you’re stuck. You might as well put everything you have into yours kids and hope they do better than you did.

People don’t really talk like that but they might as well, right?

I  recently had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of Building a Life Out of Words by Shawn Smucker. Thank goodness he didn’t get the memo cause in it, he describes the very personal journey of following his heart’s desire in a world that craves security. Yes, he’s a full-time writer now, but he wasn’t born that way.

As a matter of fact, just like the nest on the cover of his new e-book, living your dream is a messy business. It’s pieced together with every little thing you can find. Every last dollar. Every spare minute. Every hope. All of the strength a man can muster. There is nothing held back or set aside.

Thanks for sharing your story Shawn! If I didn’t already know you and Maile, I would want to.

—-

Shawn Smucker blogs (almost) daily at http://shawnsmucker.com. He is currently traveling the country for four months with his wife and four children in a big, blue bus named Willie, looking for service opportunities as well as other writers to meet up with. You can fnd him on Facebook (Shawn Smucker, Writer) and Twitter (@shawnsmucker).

I really don’t like sticking my neck out. It’s uncomfortable. I get anxious that things will go all wrong and I won’t be able to make them the least bit right. And yet … Experience shows me that regardless of mistakes and hiccups, things work out alright in the end. “The end” usually being a better place than the beginning had ever hoped to be.

This year started out with allowing God the element of surprise, and one of the biggest surprises so far has been that when I speak up, good things happen.

I recently had an idea to create a line of child-like books for adults. Even as I type that I’m thinking, “this sounds so stupid,” and yet… It was strong on my heart. So I opened my mouth and shared the idea with a few friends. I could not believe their response! They were supportive. They encouraged me and added dimension to it that I hadn’t even considered.

And you know what I learned? My biggest hindrance was myself. I have been judging myself right out of opportunities and growth.

“You can’t pull that off.” “People won’t get it.” “You’ll look ridiculous.” “That’s flaky.” “Do you want to be perceived as…”

You get the idea.

It’s taking such a long time to learn to trust myself. I’ve had a number of roadblocks. But what a surprises await when I do!

~~~

I’ve also started taking risks in business. For example, photography is a much  more comfortable hobby than income opportunity. Can I get an Amen?! But I’m working hard to take myself, and the things I love to do, seriously. What have I got to gain? [I could ask, "What have I got to lose," but I already know too many answers to that question.]

As you can see here –> I’m now a Sports Team Photographer! I can say that since I’ve done it twice, right? I can confidently say that I stuck my neck out. I spent hours searching for products to offer and vendors to supply them. I spent hours researching lighting and technique. I invested money in equipment. I invested time in testing the equipment.

And after considering all of that, it suddenly doesn’t sound as risky as it did before. Yeah. I’d bet on me.

When you adopt this way of thinking, you think you’re protecting your heart. You think its an insurance policy against O.P.S. (Other Peoples’ Stupid). And then, you feel it. The disappointment comes anyway.

I’m not sure when I started guarding my expectations. And, maybe some of you are just better at it than I am; but, instead of lowering my expectations, I ended up always expecting the worst.

I got to the point where my imagination couldn’t keep up with life anymore. Things got more complicated. And, just when you think you’ve prepared yourself for the worst…Surprise! It’s a health problem. Surprise! An unexpected expense. Surprise! A relationship lost.

“Well, that’ s my life. It figures…”

You can imagine my hesitation during a liturgical exercise at church, when we were prompted to say, “God, surprise us again!” Surprise us? I’ve been surprised enough. No more surprises. Please?

Obviously I don’t believe that God’s surprises are equivalent to all of the disappointments in life. Well, not in my head anyway. But somehow, I needed to explain that to my – apparently broken – heart.

God’s not in the business of breaking my heart. So what do God’s surprises look like? I realized that I was much more accustomed to looking out for unwanted surprises, than for anything that God would use to make me smile.

“Well, God, I’m open to being surprised by you now. Love, Becky”

Another beginning, is reason enough to quietly celebrate. Reason enough to smile fondly.

Outside, they chatter away. Just outside, I hear youthful squeals matched only by the experienced voices of their parents. It’s lovely; the excitement.

But my heart is too peaceful to muster much enthusiasm. Enthusiasm admires the peace I feel tonight.

Rest well into the morning, my friends!

Along with the seasons, our lives mark patterns of change.

Ecclesiastes 3

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Right now, I’m sensing that it’s time for quiet for me. A time to listen. A time to soak in and absorb the fullness of Christ in my life. This time will involve some writing but I don’t anticipate sharing much of it here.

My love and best wishes go out to everyone reading this, in whatever season you find yourself in. And feel free to contact me using the contact page – I’m still here … just not here here :)