Touched my heart

Fired up the laptop at breakfast to check out my favorite online daily devotional and was rewarded with good words that went right along with what I had already read this morning. They so touched my heart I decided to use them here.

It may seem odd to think that God commands us to love. Doesn't love come naturally? How can we love if we don't feel loving?

These are good questions, but the answers we come to are more important. Consider now love, the way we love, and how we love as God's obedient children.

"You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

John 15:16-17

I wish it was that easy. Love everyone? There certainly are some people who I know don’t love me! Am I really supposed to love them anyway? Will that really bear fruit? Will that fruit really last?

Yes, it will, Jesus explains. All these commandments were chosen specifically for us by Jesus. His wisdom and love are exemplary. He certainly loved people who did not love him in the first place. He loved all sorts of people, and not just his band of disciples either. He loved mischievous priests. He loved possessed outsiders. He loved Samaritan women. He loved all of creation so much that he gave his life for everyone else. And then, to prove the timelessness of his love, he came back.

The end of today's text really sums this up, doesn’t it? God gives us all of these commandments for the sole purpose of directing humanity to love one another. Kinda makes me want to follow them a bit more closely, don’t you think?

Jacob Bolton

Lover of all creation, lead me in a direction so that I, too, will love on command.

You have instructed me to love others, and it is up to me to follow your lead.

Amen.

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Galatians 5:14

Being led to love,

jené

Time to get ready

For the first time in a long time I will need to purchase fresh hurricane supplies. The new season begins in just two weeks. I used everything last year and will need to replace it all. It was the first time I had no supplies left in my many years on the coast.

As I got to thinking about what I needed, I was struck by how often I would spend the spring drinking all the leftover water and eating the foodstuffs. Every year I make sure I am prepared for a disaster, and most years it never happens.

Ike demolished my hurricane supplies and made me realize just how important it is to be ready. Several of my neighbors hadn't been. Because I was, I was able to share with them. It was so gratifying to find myself able to help someone while we were caught in that season of difficulty.

I seem to be having my own personal season of difficulty right now. Just like I store storm supplies, I have stored up spiritual supplies as well. I nourish my soul with His word. I find comfort in His presence. I am encouraged by His unending love.

The fact I keep returning to is the fact there are so many around me who also find themselves in this season. I want to be just as open in sharing these supplies as well. In that I am so blessed. I have so many friends in various faith or lack of faith walks. I can share God's love with them.

I was talking with a friend earlier today and we compared how our lives are so enriched by having so many opportunities to spread God's love to those around us. On the way home tonight I felt such an overwhelming sadness for those who know of God's love but have no one to share it with. Those who only have friends of faith never learn what a gift it is to be used by God to dispense His grace.

It seems that all around me there are people who are hoarding God's love. They only interact on a personal level with those who are already on their faith journey. They may do mission trips or volunteer for a project, but never invest themselves daily in the life of someone who needs God's grace. How depressing! For as soul mending as experiencing God's love personally is, sharing it with others is soul healing!

So fourteen days from now when hurricane season officially begins I want to be ready for any season!

Getting ready,

jené

Can't get away

I am tired, overwhelmed and in a season of darkness. But it is here I am learning the true depths of the love God has for me. It is here that I know beyond doubt that there is nothing which can ever remove me from His love.

This morning I asked God to give me the grace to face the day and an old hymn popped into my mind while I was showering.

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
- George Matheson

I am grateful to know that nothing I can do or nothing that can happen to me will take me from His love. And keeping that in mind means I may be tired, I may be overwhelmed, and I may be in the dark, but He is here with me. Knowing that is what gets me up each day and helps me to sleep at night.

Resting my weary soul,

jené

The Prince's Rainforests Project Awareness Campaign Video

worth a watch.

Waxing philosophical

Got home Saturday night and found God had answered the little girls' prayers when I found a parking spot right in front of my apartment. I was overjoyed, home right at midnight and no long hike from the car! All of that excitement had me so off balance I decided to tackle a task I hadn't had time or energy for.

I had been unable to shave my legs while dealing with shingles. Now that I had finally recovered I went by the store to replace my razor. Standing in the personal care aisle at Target I recalled smooth weeks waxing used to bring. I had waxed all through my twenties and thirties. For reasons I cannot recall, I switched to shaving somewhere in my early forties. .

So with things going so well Saturday night, I decided it was time to return to the land of the hairless. Maybe my memory is fuzzy, or maybe biological changes came into play: but whatever the cause when I peeled the strip off I wanted to scream like a little girl! I don't remember it being that bad. I gave it a couple of more passes and decided to stop before I passed out! I have become a complete wimp!

I am firmly convinced that waxing should be added to the list of unacceptable practices covered in the Geneva Convention. If I had known any state secrets I would have spilled them.

So if in the future you hear of me waxing, it will definitely be of the philosophical variety.

Looking for a new razor,

jené

What a memory!

Last night is a memory I hope to carry with me for the rest of my life. It started around my table, soup & sandwich combo + best friend = fabulous time. It just got better from there. We headed downtown to see Seal in concert. Fun tidbit, Lee and I both saw Seal at perform at a concert in the early nineties. We were there separately and it was before we had met. It was such a special treat that we were going together this time.

We got there and found that we could sit together even though our tickets called for us to split up. We ended up in front of a mom and daughter. It was the daughter's first time to attend a concert and she was so excited. I was thrilled to see that Peter Cincotti was the opening act. I enjoy his music and knew Lee would too. He did!

When Seal took to the stage he was as good as he had been when I saw him all those years ago. He has a bigger repertoire to draw from now and sang from every stage of his career. His last song of the night was a cover of "People Get Ready." It has long been a favorite of mine, it has been around almost as long as I have. I have heard it sung by different artists. I have sung it around a campfire, on the beach, at a prayer march, and at a peace vigil. It never fails to touch my soul. I hope it touches your soul too.

People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's room for all
among the loved the most

There ain't no room
for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just
To save his own
Have pity on those
whose chances are thinner
Cause there's no hiding place
From the Kingdom's Throne

So people get ready
for the train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
you just get on board !
All you need is faith
to hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
you just thank, you just thank the Lord.


thanking the Lord,

jené

Saw this on another blog and just couldn't resist placing it here. She's is absolutely precious and makes it impossible for me to say memorization is too hard.


Smiling,

jené

Bright moments

There have been several bright moments this past week. Times that had my heart reveling in joy! Most of them make sense. My mom and dad were able to come spend a couple of days with me. That always brings a bright spot. Mom and I stayed up late into the night talking about everything and nothing. You know, the kind of thing you do with someone who will love you no matter what you say. There were silly moments of light too. Out in front of HEB singing "Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener." Who knew my dad knew the words? Later we went to see my favorite family and watched with great hilarity as three little girls performed their show for us. All of these moments shine brightly in my memory as I review the week.

On Monday my parents headed home and I headed off to work. I worked until early afternoon and then went to meet a friend at a funeral. We were going to support Keith who was burying his only daughter. The service was a spectacularly bright moment. We had gathered to commemorate what to most would seem a short life. Leigh was 29 when she joined Christ in Heaven. Instead we celebrated all she had done in those years. She traveled and lived around the world. She made good use of her creative skills. But the most important thing she accomplished was in causing everyone who met her to love her. She stayed very close to her family no matter how far away she lived. Everywhere she went she gathered people to her as friends. The only thing everyone at the service had in common was Leigh. See, she knew we need to take the light of God's love wherever we go. I hope when I am gone people will think of me the way I think of Leigh.

Appreciating the light,

jené

sensory overload

These last few weeks have been a mercurial journey from joy to sorrow and back again. The soul happy times of service in Project 180, supporting a friend as she completed a daunting task, the privilege of sharing the moment with one of God's children as she realized the need to give Him her all, brought joy beyond measure. Friends who lost their tiny baby, increasing pain and limitations, and heartache for someone suffering through a difficult bedside vigil ending with the loss of his daughter, brought the weight of sorrow.

In all of this there has been a great awareness of God's grace and mercy. I learned long ago life is better if I relinquish all control to Him. It doesn't mean a smooth journey is ahead, it just means there is comfort in the journey. I have been recalling my favorite Spurgeon Quote often of late:

"The shadow of God is not the occasional resort,
but the constant abiding place, of the saint.
Here we find not only our consolation, but our habitation,
not only a loved haunt, but a home.
We ought never to be out, of the shadow of God.
It is to dwellers, not to visitors, that the Lord promises his protection.
' He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'"
C.H. Spurgeon

Oh so comforted to live in His shadow,
jené

Loving God means loving my neighbors

This was the best way to spend a day off! I had a blast!

Spent a couple of hours Wednesday before small group stuffing Easter eggs. My assignment Saturday was to stuff hot dogs into buns and wrap them in foil. A big change from years past. I have shoveled dirt, dug holes, painted classrooms and moved furniture. I am so glad my limitations this year did not keep me from serving. Project 180 has been the highlight of my spring for 4 years now and I didn't want to give it up.

Grateful to love my neighbors,

jené