Morning Contemplation

The first thing I do when I get up on a summer morning is open all the doors and take in the sights and smells of our yard. I pour my cup of coffee, tune into my praise music, feed the koi, and begin to think about my day. The beauty that surrounds me reminds me that I am blessed to be living here at the Hacienda, surrounded by garden plants, flowers and trees.

 

 

This summer morning I have begun to focus (obsess?) on our upcoming trip to France. Smoldering beneath the excitement of traveling in a foreign country is a tiny undercurrent of fear: fear that something might happen, I won't be able to communicate, I'll get lost, I'll get sick, etc. Thankfully Dave is not that way at all - everything to him is an "adventure". I tell him that my worrying is just my way of processing and planning, I guess. Somehow I think that if I chew on it long enough I will have all the bases covered and be prepared for anything. I do try to shove them into the background, and contemplate instead all the wonderful aspects of seeing new landscapes, experiencing the culture, eating delicious food, etc.

Being a worrier is a bad habit and like all worriers, we do out best work in the early morning. Thankfully, it's never strong enough to overshadow the draw of traveling. Usually the minute I'm on the plane soaring skyward, I get over it. My pragmatic self shifts into gear and tells my psycho-worrier self "It's gonna be what it's gonna be, Laurel. So take a breath, sit back and hang on!" I think it's a God thing...whatever happens - good and bad - He's there. Trust, Laurel...trust.

And I get to see some of His best works of beauty...this time touring around the French countryside!

******************************************************************************

TRAVELING WITH GOD

From 2008, first published in Laurel's Quill

in February, 2012

Perched on a tiny pedestal near the cash register at Starbuck’s Kenneth/Madison store sits Stan.  Stan is a homely little man/doll with a bare chest and a big nose. Customers of the local coffee shop sign up on a schedule to take Stan on vacation with them.  Across the room is a bulletin board covered with pictures of Stan taken around the world – Stan on an elephant in India, Stan in Ireland, Stan swimming with Dolphins, etc.

Dave and I signed up to take Stan to Europe in May.  He probably had been there before but we hoped to show him new sights and experience new adventures together.  Three days before our scheduled departure, I went to pick Stan up, as he was supposed to be arriving back from a two week junket to the nation’s capital.  Alas, Stan had not returned to his perch by the cash register…sorry Stan…no Europe for you.

It would make a great story if I told you that I decided to take God with me to Europe instead of Stan.  You know…like I was immediately overcome with a sense of godly purpose, spreading the Gospel to strangers I’d meet in every sidewalk café.  Honestly though, I wasn’t thinking of God much during my packing and planning, like so many days that manage to slip through my fingers without so much as a passing thought of Him.

We left for Europe, full of excitement and anticipation, and though I didn’t put God in my plans, He showed up anyway. As we rounded the corner of a darkened Paris street, I caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower - twinkling, majestic and reaching for Heaven. I was overcome with thankfulness – many never see such beauty.  I felt the same way as I entered the room where the lovely Mona Lisa sat in gracious repose for the curious throngs – what incredible gift from God was given to the man who captured her likeness?

God was everywhere, every day. In a single twenty-four hour period I was awestruck by miles and miles of yellow flowered hillsides that graced the road to Berlin, only to be brought to tears by the letters and photographs displayed in the Jewish Holocaust Memorial.  That same quietness marked our visit to Omaha Beach, where surely God must have cried on that windy June day in 1944.

For every day that we were humbled by the history of Europe, there were no less than four or five that were marked by magnificent beauty, joyful sharing and adventure that surely rivaled our best attempts to conjure up Heaven! 

Just take a drive through the vine covered hills of Tuscany, swim in the crystal blueness of the Adriatic, loose your purse with passports and credit cards only to have them returned safely into your hands by two strangers and tell me there’s not a loving, gracious, generous and merciful God who NEVER leaves your side. 

 And Stan…well, he’s just a doll.

Best years ever...

Have I ever mentioned how traumatized I was in turning 35? When I was in my twenties, my friend's sister had her 35th birthday and despite the fact that she was great-looking, all I could see was her age.  It seemed so old to me at the time.  So when 35 came knocking at my door, I saw all my "hot" years come crashing down all in one day.

I swore I saw my first wrinkle that very day. It seemed that my bust line dropped an inch at 8 in the morning, my backside looked somewhat flattened by noon and my long legs developed cellulite at the dinner table. Luckily, I snapped out of it, as shortly thereafter I met Dave in a country-western nightclub - him sporting a white dress shirt and me rockin' my tight jeans, boots and silk blouse...we were ever so hot!

As my birthday approaches this weekend, all those body changes that were in my imagination over 30 years ago have, alas, materialized.  But what's different is that I'm finally "starting" ( I use the word loosely) to be comfortable in my own skin. I did have an brief foray into the world of Restylane, but it didn't last. I am destined to have my mother's face, lines and all.

What is beautiful about growing older, if it can be said that old is beautiful, is that your brain knows where you have been, how far you've come and it starts to honor life in a whole new way. My brain knows instinctively that all that I am today is a reflection of the collective wisdom stemming from my own experiences in the past...some horrific, some challenging, some exceptionally magnificent. I learned from my mistakes, got stronger in the face of adversity and most of all, learned to cherish what's here and now...today.

My mom is rockin' 88, looking trimmer and more healthy every year.  I guess that bodes well for me if heredity has anything to do with it. Her new-found healthy eating habits made a huge impression on me, as well as those of friends like Suzan, Peg, Cynthia, Denise, etc.  All these lovely women are focused on healthy lifestyles, good eating and being "all they can be"!

Though I'm not especially fond of the number 66 (one more "6" digit, and we all know what that is - LOL!),  I'm not overly bothered by my age. I appreciate and enjoy the blessings of life that have been afforded to me - my home, my creative endeavors, my good health and my wonderful husband. We will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary this August, and he still loves me in my tight jeans.  Who could want more?

Visiting Paradise...

I used to live in Paradise for a time. I migrated there from the cement jungles of Oakland back in the 70s. My son was born in Paradise, which is a little ironic since he's been in "paradise" for almost 20 years. But I digress..

The other day I picked up my Mom and we headed for this little mountain community in Northern California. She needed an outing and I knew Paradise boasted a couple of yarn shops that I wanted to explore.  It was a gray day and the drive up the Skyway brought back a lot of memories of trips back down the hill to Chico, aka civilization. Paradise is known to be a retirement community, so living there in my young adult years was less than ideal. But on this day with my Mom, we found it rather charming. The town has grown up...Safeway, CVS (go figure), loads of antique shops, and of course two yarns shops. But again , I digress...

As I drove through town, I wondered why the name Paradise - perhaps the city fathers thought the countryside was a little slice of Heaven. At the time that I lived there as a young mother with a toddler, a newborn and sporting a bad marriage, it was not paradise or anything close to Heaven. I wonder, was it the first snowfall in the winter, the Fall color of the poplars, or the soft mountain breeze in the pines that made it heaven on earth for the first settlers of Paradise?

It's funny how we humans conjure up ideas and images about what Heaven might be. It seems there is a never ending stream of people with near death experiences. Just yesterday Katie had some guy (Eben Alexander) who wrote a best selling book Proof of Heaven, so just like everyone else, I was sucked into watching the show just to see what his "proof" actually was. He had been in a coma for many months with meningitis and though he remembered nothing of his illness, he remembered every detail about his trip to Heaven.  His version involved flying on a giant butterfly with a mysterious youg woman whom he did not know. Later, when he finally hooked up with his biological mother after recovering from his illness, he saw a photo of his biological sister, now deceased, and recognized her as the woman on the butterfly with him soaring around in Heaven. He had never seen her in life  nor even knew that she existed. And that was his "proof".  I guess I will have to read his book to make sure I have that summary right, but that's what I got out of the short segment on Katie's show.

As a Christian, I have my own ideas about Heaven, but most of my conjured images don't involve flying around on a butterfly.  The Bible teaches us that we can't even imagine the riches that are in store for us in the hereafter, but we are taught that all of them involve being with God - "absent from the body, present with the Lord". 

Jesus was big on eating, so in my world, Heaven involves a marvelous feast where everyone I know is seated around a gigantic table filled with sumptuous foods, sharing laughter and love. They have saved a place for me at the table. My senses are heightened and I am perpetually in awe of the beauty surrounding me. I'm never cold. I walk with Jesus and we chat. I win at golf. I can sing like Celine. I am never afraid.

But let's be real - no one knows...really! So if Eben is indeed correct, Jesus, then I want a giant Cecropia Moth to ride, or one of those Avatar flying thingies...you know how I love roller coasters.  But if my version is right, then make sure You bring that special wedding feast wine. Now that's a Paradise I can hang my hat on!!

 

 



 

 Laurel.  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him." 1Cor 2:9

Sewing for a purpose...

Saturday was my third Dress a Girl Around the World SEWFEST at Bayside, and I am hooked - hooked on this ministry, hooked on the people who come to sew, hooked on creating these little dresses for girls everywhere! We learn a little more about this amazing organization each time we come and how it actually benefits young children in some of the worst countries in the world...places where women and little girls are routinely abused.

I hadn't really thought about the notion that when predators see a little girl in torn and dirty clothing, they assume that no one cares about her and thus she is a prime target for potential abuse. I, along with thousands of women around the country who care, want to change that.  And if a new little dress puts a smile on a girl and lifts her self image, then I am ALL IN!

I love the hearts of the ladies who come to the sewfests.  They love to sew, of course, but you can't help but feel like you are part of something special amidst the humming of machines, the laughter, the oohs and ahhs as women show their newest creations. I love is that you don't have to be an expert seamstress to join in...you just have to care.  I love seeing young teenagers show up to help - they iron, assemble, organize and seem to have a ball doing it.

Yesterday, we had several "newbies" at the monthly sewfest. 

It was my pleasure to come alongside Teddy to guide her through the simple pattern.

 

She heard about the Dress a Girl sewfest through a knitting friend and headed right for the store to get a new sewing machine...just for this ministry...you have to love that!
 

 

Teddy's first dress...I hate to sound all schmaltzy, but it gave me more joy just to watch her.

She may be blessing a little girl with her work, but I was so blessed by her joyful spirit .
 

 

My table mate Sue also helped a women who had come for the first time...

she was just learning to sew.

 

 

 

Our Bayside coordinator Sue spends a lot of time cutting,

sorting and generally getting the fabrics ready for the kit assembly.

There are piles and piles of little "soon to be dresses" in all stages of readiness. 

I volunteered to bring home a whole bin of fabrics to serge up the back seams,

before they are put in kits.

 

 

 

My homework...

 

 

I have added to my running total of dresses this month.

When I sew a dress I try to imagine what my own granddaughters might like to wear. 

The creativity that you are allowed in this simple dress pattern is limitless!

 

 

I had to add some red trim to this one...it was starting to look like a

University of Michigan cheerleader outfit with all that bright blue and yellow!! 

 

 

I love making the tiny dresses....

 

 

Details, details...

 

  

Who DOESN'T like Mary Englebright???

 

 

 

 

 

I tell you sincerely, it makes my heart sing!

 

 

Laurel. Dressing Girls Around the World, one little dress at a time:)

Inside Out...

You're making your way through a rack of clothes and you come upon a jacket labeled "Reversible".  Even though it's semi-ugly, the word triggers an automatic response - you can't resist taking it off the rack just to check out the inside. More than likely, if it's tacky on the outside, it's a given that the inside won't be much prettier. Perhaps it's the thriftiness in me, or the creativeness, I'm not sure, but I will always look at the inside, even though I have no intention of buying it. To me, "Reversible" usually means "bulky", "unattractive", or "I would NOT wear THAT on the outside!"

Some things are okay with their insides showing.  I spotted a knitted cowl in a yarn shop that I thought was kind of cute.

"It's reversible", the sales person said, like that fact alone was going to make me want to make it. I took a peak at the inside, and sure enough, the inside actually looked the same as the outside. Bonus! So I immediately purchased a nice soft turquoise wool and sure enough, it's going to be lovely...and reversible!

Some things are meant to be reversible...like a quilt.  When experts judge a quilt, they look at the back of it, just to see and judge the quality of the stitches. When you make a quilt for a bed, the back needs to be just as pretty as the front. I've only made one real bed quilt. I loved designing and sewing the quilt top, but hand quilting turned out to be not so much fun.  My Mom finished it for me. 

The back of an art quilt, on the other hand, doesn't usually show. It just hangs on the wall.  However, the art quilt aficionados will ALWAYS try to lift the quilt to see the back.  The intricacies of the quilted stitches and thread painting are what make art quilts "works of art".  I'm presently working on my second art quilt, inspired by the colors of New Mexico. I am using a multi colored thread in the bobbin, so the back of the quilt is quite interesting on it's own.  I have a long way to go!

Some things are not meant to show their insides...like drawers.

Certain things are sometimes prettier on the inside...like people.  Unfortunately - or maybe not - we often hide our "inside" self to the world, only trotting it out for special people. We are basically vulnerable people, exposing our underbelly to those whom we trust, those whom we love.  We live on the outside, editing our words and curbing our actions to fit in, to be liked, to be okay.

Often, who we are "on the inside" has far more value than we ourselves believe.  In truth, we are complex and messy creatures...a wonderful mish-mash of beauty and ugliness, intelligence and stupidity, grace and clumsiness, generosity and selfishness, creativity and indifference, calm and angst, confidence and insecurity. Inside and out, we are "fearfully and wonderfully made".

Praise the Lord...we are reversible!

Laurel.  Inside Out.

Sharing today with Best Posts of the Week

 

 

Morning start...

I hear the little voice in my head.  I try in vain to bury it beneath the warm covers...it's been a long night.  After its gentle nudging, its grown impatient and its yelling at me like a clanging alarm...

"Get up Laurel...you're gonna miss this!"

I dress, plug in my iPhone music and I'm off. And somewhere after the first hill, I see it.  Stephen Curtis Chapman is playing in my ear. I raise my pointing finger to the sky and sing my heart out.

YOURS

Stephen Curtis Chapman

I walk the streets of London

And notice in the faces passing by

Something that makes me stop and listen

My heart grows heavy with the cry
Where is the hope for London?

You whisper and my heart begins to soar

As I'm reminded

Every street in London in Yours, oh yes, it is

I walk the dirt roads of Uganda

I see the scars that war has left behind

Hope like the sun is fading

They're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing

Of a God who heals and rescues and restores

And I'm remindedThat every child in Africa is Yours

And it's all Yours, God, Yours, God

Everything is Yours

From the stars in the sky

To the depths of the ocean floor
And it's all Yours, God, Yours, God

Everything is Yours

You're the Maker and Keeper

Father and Ruler of everything,

it's all Yours

And I walk the sidewalks of Nashville
Singapore, Manila and ShanghaiI b

rush by the beggar's hand and the wealthy man

And everywhere I look I realize
That just like the streets of London

For every man and woman, boy and girl

All of creation

This is our Father's world
And it's all Yours, God, Yours, God

Everything is Yours

From the stars in the sky

To the depths of the ocean floor
And it's all Yours, God, Yours, God

Everything is Yours

You're the Maker and Keeper

Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours, God

It's all Yours, God

It's all Yours, God

It's all Yours, God

Copied from MetroLyrics.com

Laurel. Be still and know.

Ah Ha Moments

There are times in your life and travels that you come upon a person or place that is so captivating, soul wrenching or inexplicably joyous that you don't ever want to forget it.  You immediately try to encapsulate the experience, storing it away in some recess of your brain to be conjured up at your beck and call. If you are fortunate to have a camera, you try to seal the image by taking a photograph.  Usually our photos don't do the real thing justice, but we need something tangible to take with us. 

I've had many of these experiences in my travels and even in my own back yard.  You know the moment...you see something beautiful or moving and it stirs emotion somewhere deep within and you want to own it, savour it forever...transcend maybe. 

I had never been to Paris and from what all I had heard about it, I was expecting it be cliche, so to speak. I saw the Eiffel Tower from the airplane as we landed and I nodded my head in approval like an engineer admiring his work.  After settling in our quaint hotel, we strolled down a tiny street in the Rue Cler district to scout out the great French food we had heard so much about. 

We sat a tiny restaurant table, jammed with natives and tourists alike, all jabbering in French, English and all manner of language. Our table mates - I say that because the seats were so close together - were two women, who by coincidence had ordered the same dishes that we had on our plates.  Not being shy people, we struck up a conversation.  After brief pleasantries and lively critiques on the food, they learned that I had never been to Paris and that we planned to go directly to the Tower the next day. 

"Oh no," our table mates exclaimed, "you must go tonight!  It's lighted. And it's only a couple of blocks.  We will take you!"

Who ever said Parisians aren't friendly? We finished our respective dinners and headed off into the night. Chatting and laughing, we took in the moment - the smells, the stars, the people strolling arm in arm...everything.  It was magical and I felt my heart starting to pump a little faster. As we rounded a street corner lined with huge trees, we entered the plaza and there in all her magnificence was the Eiffel Tower.  sparkling like a heavenly Christmas tree.  Huge.  Towering.  Stunning.



My Eiffel Tower...manipulated to look like what my mind saw in Paris:)

I caught my breath and tried to speak, but not words came out. I just stood there, transfixed.  And then I broke.  The tears started to flow.  Dave grabbed my arm, encircling me, laughing softly (he loves it when I'm speechless).  I just couldn't get over the fact that I was actually standing there...in Paris...in front of one the most iconic images in the world.  Me. Country girl.

I feebly took my camera out of my purse and snapped some pictures.  We rode the elevator to the second level as the ride to the top was already closed for the night.  I bought a little Tower replica in the tourist shop and took in the beauty of the Paris skyline, trying to capture it in the recesses. It was a magical moment and I was thankful. Humbled.

I doubt we will see anything that majestic on our road trip, but there will be moments, experiencs and scenes to savor and file away.  I am sure of it.



Laurel. Take a moment to have a moment!

Heaven on earth...

There are two times a year that people who don't attend church come to church.  They call them Christers, because they come on Christmas and Easter.  All pastors know this, so in an effort to win them over in an hour or two, their words are usually, "safe" and not too churchy.  You know, you've been to that service...lots of singing, a nice choir,  a few special numbers, a few brief prayers...let's not forget to get the offering...everything cool and commerical, politically correct, upbeat and nonconfrontational.

Nope, not at my church...not my Pastor. He brings out the big guns on Easter. Me and all the captive Christers are settled in after singing way too many hymns and praises and he begins a 30 minute (30 minutes on Easter? Really?) impassioned message on Heaven and Hell.  Yes, Hell. Talk about your basic fire and brimstone...he even had me wiggling in my seat! But ya gotta love him (and I do!), there's no sugar coating the Gospel message, and if you didn't leave the service wondering if you might be going "down there", you probably fell asleep somewhere between Hades and Christ's resurrection.

But it got me thinking (again!) about Heaven.  As believers, we know that our time here on earth is limited and somewhat short compared to the infinitesimal lengths of eternity.  We bounce around down here, looking for parts and pieces of heaven on earth, knowing in our hearts nothing can compare or even come close. We covet, we envy, we plan, we groan. And yes, our doubts creep to the surface..what if this is all there is? I'm gonna be really bored if I have to sing on a cloud all day...

The truth is we don't really know what Heaven is or what it will be like, we "can only imagine", as the song goes. I read a book a few years back called The Sacred Romance.  The authors, Brent Curtis and John Eldridge, spend quite some time talking about how we have a stunted view of Heaven, and thus we live our lives here on earth constantly struggling to create it.

"When we do get a taste of what we really long for it never lasts.  Every vacation eventually comes to an end.  Friends move away. Out careers don't quite pan out.  Sadly, we feel guilty about our disappointment, as though we ought to be more grateful.  Of course we're disappointed - we're made for so much more, 'He has set eternity in the hearts,' (Eccl. 3:11)." 

If indeed we can't out dream God, then what should our vision of Heaven be? The authors contend that it will be something bigger than our wildest imaginations.  It will offer our hearts those things that we long for here on earth - intimacy, beauty and adventure. We are, after all, His Beloved.

"All we long for we shall have; all we long to be, we will be. All that has hurt us so deeply -

the dragon and the nits, the Arrows and our false lovers, and Satan himself -

they will all be swept away.  And then the real life begins."

Can I hear an Amen?

 Is your view of Heaven too small? Go ahead, little grasshopper...dream a little over that cup of coffee this morning. What will be in your view?

Laurel. Live large, dream bigger.

Amazing Grace

When you believe passionately in a social cause or religious theology, it is often difficult to verbalize your thoughts. Strong emotions often accompany our deepest convictions, and though we can mentally sort through why we believe or feel the way we do, words are often painfully inadequate and devoid of the message we want to convey.

As Easter approaches, I am reminded of the source of my Christian beliefs. My grateful heart knows the depth of my love, but expressing it in the written word is exceptionally difficult. Though I feel compelled to share it with you, trying to find some order in my thoughts escapes me, and you would certainly miss the message.

For this reason, music is so important to us all.  What we may not be able to express ourselves, some more gifted person was able to capture the essence of who we are, what we've experienced, what we are feeling or what we know to be true in music.

My humility could not be expressed more fully than in the lyrics and music of "Amazing Grace".  It is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world, and there is a reason for that: with a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit, our souls can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God.

The original lyrics were written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807) and published in 1779. The words are timeless. Most likely there is not an artist around today who at some time in their musical career didn't record or sing "Amazing Grace".

My favorite rendition of this classic hymn adds the "my chains are gone" stanza in between the original verses, such as the recent piece by Christian recording artist Chris Tomlin: it is me...it is how I think and how I feel. The words express everything I know to be true...I've nothing to add, nothing to wordsmith. My God is indeed amazing.

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing grace

Laurel. Happy Easter.

The Sunset...a poem

Most of the things that I like to do, besides creating stuff, are centered around enjoying the beauty of God's creation. I love sunsets - I snapped this one on the island of Kauai back in 2004...spectacular isn't it?

Back in 2001, I was sitting outside on my front steps one evening, sipping a glass of wine waiting for my hubby to get home from work.  And as I sat there, the crickets starting chirping and I could here the bullfrogs starting their night music in the creek across the road. The sun began to set in the west, and as I watched the sky change into so many colors I became "moved".  This poem began to take form in my mind and I had to go write it down that very evening.

The Sunset

Did you see His handiwork?

Were you humbled by the sight

Of reds and pinks in powder puffs

Across the deep blue night?

Did you think of Him as you watched

The colors fade to gray?

A sunset fit for angels,

Tell me, did you pray?

Did you thank Him for the day,

And how you felt so small

Viewing such a work of art;

His hand was in it all.

How can a God so powerful

Create desire, oh why,

To bow before His awesome throne

Because I viewed His sky?

Laurel Dismukes

2001



It's not always about me...

It's church day again, and I am hoping to be inspired.  Aren't we all so self-centered, like it's about us instead of God! I'm afraid to say that it's a consistent wish of mine as I drive to the edifice that has occupied my spare time for over 9 months. You see, I volunteer there.  It's what I do. Open mouth, insert foot. "No" is not a word that I am intimately familiar with, especially looking into the doe eyes of the women's pastor. Not saying no was certainly the cause of a major breakdown some years back when my limited "irons" were in one too many fires. But time healed that crisis of faith after several years of hiding from pastors, committee chairs, and other movers and shakers in the church body. My own personal sabbatical, I guess.

So nine months ago when our congregation started building an expansion to our Worship Center AND decided to act as it's own "General" contractor, I volunteered to be the project manager's administrative support for the duration. Why? Because I can do that sort of thing...I am thinking to myself. And doesn't God want you to DO for Him, you slacker?

Let me start by saying that though I was once a semi financial executive (I use the term loosely) of sorts in a multi million dollar corporation, creating budgets and managing health and welfare plans, etc., I had not one drop of experience in the construction industry. Nope, never built anything, never filed a permit, never dealt with an inspector. Who cares what OSHA stands for, anyway?

In the most dismal of economic downturns since the depression, we started a capital campaign and amazingly (miraculously!) God blessed our efforts.  People gave from their hearts and their pocketbooks, and we were able to finish it debt free, mostly under budget and generally on-time. We had a joke in the office about "the Schedule"...

"Are we on schedule?"

"Whose schedule? Yours or God's?"  We were always ON SCHEDULE.

I learned a lot about building that I never knew, and some things that I don't ever want to know or do again. When I was growing up, my Dad was good with his hands, a builder of sorts, and I was fascinated with how he made things fit together.  He also operated heavy equipment, so naturally I was transfixed with all the giant earth moving equipment that crawled around our campus, pushing piles of dirt and making giant holes. And who can fathom 60 foot steel beams fitting together like the pieces of a giant puzzle.  I was fascinated.

I also learned a lot about the people who work in the trade industries - the electricians, the plumbers, the drywall and cement guys. They work hard and for the most part, take immense pride in their finished products. And of course they like to be paid, and that's where I shined..sort of. Funny that when I had a whole bunch of accountants reporting to me, I didn't have much appreciation for the day to day stuff that it takes to keep a company working. So, big shot, let's see how you do creating your own vouchers, assigning account codes, keeping your own sub ledger, fetching proper approvals, filing, copying and all that other stuff you watched others do! After nine months of being a grunt, I bow down and cheer the clerks and administrative professionals of the world, for it would never run smoothly without you!!

As I worshipped this particular Sunday morning, I was humbled that God was able to use me. I prayed constantly throughout the project that it would not be about me or my giftedness, but about Him.  I wasn't always successful, to be honest, but I love that I kept trying to keep my focus on the One who made all of it happen. He deserves all the credit.

Thank you, Lord.

It is finished. 

 John 19:30

Laurel

Traveling with God

Perched on a tiny pedestal near the cash register at Starbuck’s Kenneth/Madison store sits Stan.  Stan is a homely little man/doll with a bare chest and a big nose. Customers of the local coffee shop sign up on a schedule to take Stan on vacation with them.  Across the room is a bulletin board covered with pictures of Stan taken around the world – Stan on an elephant in India, Stan in Ireland, Stan swimming with Dolphins, etc.

Dave and I signed up to take Stan to Europe in May.  He probably had been there before but we hoped to show him new sights and experience new adventures together.  Three days before our scheduled departure, I went to pick Stan up, as he was supposed to be arriving back from a two week junket to the nation’s capital.  Alas, Stan had not returned to his perch by the cash register…sorry Stan…no Europe for you.

It would make a great story if I told you that I decided to take God with me to Europe instead of Stan.  You know…like I was immediately overcome with a sense of godly purpose, spreading the Gospel to strangers I’d meet in every sidewalk café.  Honestly though, I wasn’t thinking of God much during my packing and planning, like so many days that manage to slip through my fingers without so much as a passing thought of Him.

We left for Europe, full of excitement and anticipation, and though I didn’t put God in my plans, He showed up anyway. As we rounded the corner of a darkened Paris street, I caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower - twinkling, majestic and reaching for Heaven. I was overcome with thankfulness – many never see such beauty.  I felt the same way as I entered the room where the lovely Mona Lisa sat in gracious repose for the curious throngs – what incredible gift from God was given to the man who captured her likeness?

God was everywhere, every day. In a single twenty-four hour period I was awestruck by miles and miles of yellow flowered hillsides that graced the road to Berlin, only to be brought to tears by the letters and photographs displayed in the Jewish Holocast Memorial.  That same quietness marked our visit to Omaha Beach, where surely God must have cried on that windy June day in 1944.

For every day that we were humbled by the history of Europe, there were no less than four or five that were marked by magnificent beauty, joyful sharing and adventure that surely rivaled our best attempts to conjure up Heaven! 

Just take a drive through the vine covered hills of Tuscany, swim in the crystal blueness of the Adriatic, loose your purse with passports and credit cards only to have them returned safely into your hands by two strangers and tell me there’s not a loving, gracious, generous and merciful God who NEVER leaves your side. 

 And Stan…well, he’s just a doll.

A Charmed life...

I'm thinking that I live a charmed life...not because I'm rich or have a lot of stuff. I get to do things that many in the world only dream of doing.  Again, we're not talking about traveling the world, staying in five star hotels, eating truffles or wearing Versace. It's just life in my little corner of the world.

It's about a cappuccino in the morning...

Wine tasting in the foothills on a Saturday afternoon...

Or just contemplating what to plant in my summer garden...

or being grateful for the freedoms we enjoy every day...

and just feeling...well.......blessed, today!

What are you grateful for???

Laurel, God Bless!!!

Beyond Basic Needs...

Some behavioral experts say that we operate out of one or two "basic" needs.  These needs go beyond the overarching human needs for survival, like food, clothing and shelter - we all need those.  According to one such expert, our one true "basic need" impacts the way we interact with other people, colors our perceptions of life and affects how we interpret the world around us and our circumstances. We act the way we do because it makes us feel good. It's a gut level response to everything and everyone, and though all four of the following basic needs apply to us personally, our inner being and resulting behavior is a result of our attempts to satisfy one or two of these needs:

1) The need to BELONG...to love and be loved, to cooperate, to be around other people,  for friendship
2) The need for POWER...to control, to influence, to win, to impact others in some way
3) The need to be FREE...to explore, to be ourselves, to choose, to express ourselves
4) The need for FUN...to laugh and play, to learn, to be entertained

This theory promulgated by one such expert, Dr. William Glasser, is centered on the lengths we will go to drive beyond these basic needs to achieve something he calls our "quality world". In his book The Quality School,  Glasser says our quality world contains "the very best or highest quality pictures or perceptions of the people, places, things or situations that we have learned feel especially good in the real world."

My quality world consists of people, places, things, and activities that are unique and special to me. Some are "wants", but most are what I would call "major needs":

Like the need to create beauty...

Or just appreciate it...

To be outdoors...

To Write...yes. And Make music in my heart...

And Enjoy food and wine...

To Give of my time in service...

Travel everywhere...all the time...

Or just rest...

To be around family and friends...

But most all, to Believe...

I find that most of what I do and appreciate in this life is centered around desire for my often elusive quality world. I see this as a yearning for some tiny replication of what Heaven might be like. Whether you "believe" or not, we are all born with this desire...God made us that way. Meanwhile, isn't life a great adventure?

Laurel