Together

"On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write.
For fun, for love of the sound of words, for play, for delight, for joy and celebration at the art of communication.
For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not."

Today's prompt: Together

So this week the Lord has really brought the story of the prodigal son to mind. It started with me just randomly turning on Joyce Meyer, then the next day a Rembrant painting appeared depicting the story and then my daily devotional came up with it! It was crazy. I know I need to get myself in the WORD as fast as I can when the Lord has been speaking to me like this. I started reading. I started writing. My marriage came to center stage. The players started to deliver their scenes as the last couple months unfolded fast in my mind. I saw what the Lord was telling me. This is what they call a "breakthrough". I am the resentful, prideful older brother always keeping an account of wrongs. And boy do I keep some good accounts! Humbled. Sad. I asked the Lord to just give me sight, give me the words, and rid me of this vile hateful self that clings to me. I don't know how to be better. Then the Lord brings to mind a handful of people in my life who are there for me always; who represent God's love and counsel in different ways. The answers have always been in front of me.

Review: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The best parts of this book.

“In the barracks, one of the men in the pillow fight suddenly fell to the floor. He was dead, a three-inch hole blown through his neck. His friend ran to a window and saw a building heave upward and crumble down. A dive bomber had crashed straight into it. There were red circles on its wings. “

“It remains a mystery why these three young men, veterans of the same training and the same crash, differed so radically in their perceptions of their plight. Maybe the difference was biological; some men may be wired for optimism, others for doubt. “

“The same attributes that had made him the boy terror of Torrance were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life.”

“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.”

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.”

“ When he turned these memories in his mind, the only explanation he could find was one in which the impossible was possible.”

“What God asks of men, said [Billy] Graham, is faith. His invisibility is the truest test of that faith. To know who sees him, God makes himself unseen.”

“Louie found the raft offered an unlikely intellectual refuge. He had never recognized how noisy the civilized world was. Here, drifting in almost total silence, with no scents other than the singed odor of the raft, no flavors on his tongue, nothing moving but the slow procession of shark fins, every vista empty save water and sky, his time unvaried and unbroken, his mind was freed of an encumbrance that civilization had imposed on it. In his head, he could roam anywhere, and he found that his mind was quick and clear, his imagination unfettered and supple. He could stay with a thought for hours, turning it about.”

“When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.”

I don’t think I’ll ever be the same after reading this book. There are so many amazing tidbits of history, literature, and man’s search for meaning that I could write and write and write and still never touch the heart of this amazing story. LOVED this book.

Every so often a book comes along that grabs you, changes you and makes you a better person.

This is one of them.



Goodbye

" On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write.
For fun, for love of the sound of words, for play, for delight, for joy and celebration at the art of communication.
For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not."



 

Today's prompt:

Goodbye

Why does the Goodbye Love (RENT) song come to mind whenever I see this word? Sorry. I’m just going to sit here a spell and sing… Was listening to La Vie Boheme this morning from this soundtrack. Some of the best times of my day are me in my car with my music. Could care less about everyone passing me by. I don’t notice people cutting me off. I’ll get to my destination. Could care less about being in the left hand lane. I sit and sing and dis-engage from this world. Goodbye traffic, thank you for giving me a sweet moment to be still. Goodbye life outside this vehicle. Thank you for giving me peace in my soul. I get to my destination refreshed, joyful.. so happy.

Reflections on Easter 2012

I was so pleased to spend Easter with my own church this year. We’re usually traveling a couple states away and spending time with family. Those times are glorious and great, but I’ve been longing to have traditions with my own church just us three. I long to be the matriarch and cultivate my own traditions. Our church was having Easter service at a large venue. I was a little more than irate but I decided to let it go and support their vision. I’m so glad I did.

We got there fairly early and had some time for my little boy to play on every single stair, try to pet the horses, and chat with the greeters. We put him in the childcare facility and I was really glad to see LOTS of adults in the room managing the children. I always feel sad for that one person that has to take care of 12 small children for 2 hours.

We picked a prime spot in the auditorium and relaxed for a bit.

Then..

The music started. It was Handel’s The Messiah. I shot up and was thrilled to hear this gorgeous piece of music. The acoustics made it sound… magical. The last time I heard this piece live was at a Christmas concert at another church and was overcome with so much emotion at all the things that transpired since then. The Lord has seen me through all of it: the anxiety, the depression, the mourning, the celebrations, the joys, the daily angst of life. In this sweet moment, I got a glimpse of what heaven must be like and I just cannot wait to be with the Lord. For this short time though, I am charged with being a light unto this world. Most days I don’t do a good job. Some days I don’t even try. I could possibly be the worst Christian ever. But alas, it’s a new day, He is risen. I take a minute, bow my head and say a prayer of utmost gratitude and feel His presence surround me. Through all my mistakes and woe, He still loves me. ME?! And the music ends… and we applaud and prepare our hearts for worship and celebrate this day.

Gift

It's Five Minute Friday again!!
Yes... I realize it is Sunday..

Moving on..

Gift:
When I was little, I didn't get many gifts. Sometimes I would get a doll or tea set and not know that it was a gift for Christmas or my birthday.. That's just the way it was. I cherished my dolls. I cherished them until my mother would use them as leverage. She had a mean way about her. I was helpless and sad and oh so scared. I never talked or looked at anyone. I knew I'd just get a beating for something so I just hid. Me and my dolls. When I thought I was alone, my dolls and I had the best time with these wild eloborate lives and stories. Sometimes I would mimic my mother and berate my dolls just like she did with me. One day she caught me. She was so mad. And then there were no more dolls. I learned to never attach to anything that day. I learned how to hide. I learned that love is a weapon.