VALidations

We have high expectations for life, don't we?  But how much of what we expect is actually guaranteed?  We also expect a lot from the people we share life with...but how fair are those expectations?  We set ourselves up for a lot of disappointment when we put our hope in things that are not promised. Letting go of our expectations can be painful...especially when things change suddenly.  But over time it will produce a greater joy than we could have expected.  John Piper describes this transition as the birth of a new joy.  "The first joy dies.  It's a real death, and that death is painful.  That wonderful joy disappears.  It's gone.  All that joy is struggling like a little seed to push its way up through rocks of disappointment and fear and sorrow.  There are days, and weeks, and maybe months of transition from the death of one joy to the full flower of another joy, and those are not easy days.  They require enormous patie...

Oh Lord, you are the sea we are the shore your waves crash churning up hidden treasure. Lord, you are the sea we are but a vapor a shadow of you mist that will soon vanish. Can the sand contain the ocean? Who can number its depths or heights? Who can name where the sky touches the sea, where they meet at last and are one? Glorious are your tempests devouring the shorelines eating them away until your waves are grey with millions of grains of sand. In your depths they sparkle They dance, weightless twirling to the music of your currents at last one with the sea. God, help us to welcome your waves your terrifying, sanctifying waves condense the vapor of our lives turn the sand to diamonds...the mist to ocean. Set us free to dance to the rhythm of your breaking waves.

I am falling in love with paradoxes...A paradox is defined as "a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true."  What a perfect definition for experiencing life with God.  He's both loving and terrifying, both meek and majestic, both gentle and wrathful, the list goes on and on.  Looking through our limited lens it is often difficult to make sense of these attributes of God.  But with further investigation and explanation (and I would add experience), these paradoxes of God are proven to be  the only truth and the only reality; a reality we will all face someday. During the week leading up to Easter, some call it Holy Week, I stumbled upon a daily devotional by John Piper.  He wrote a beautiful word-picture of Christ that I would like to share with you. "A little lamb was born all wooly-white with skinny legs and a wet nose, pretty much like all the other little ...

I believe that all our problems stem from misplaced desires.  God has made us in His image...and along with that image-bearing comes strong desire.  Let's look at some basic human desires...the desire to be loved, the desire for comfort, the desire for peace, the desire for forgiveness, the desire for success, the desire for recognition, the desire for intimacy.  We seek the fulfillment of these desires...they drive us.  Desire is a good thing.  "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12  The problem, though, is with the source of our fulfillment.  If we seek perfect love in another person, or in ourselves, we will be let down.  If we seek success by the way of money or possessions, that can all disappear.  It doesn't take much for the house of cards we build through earthly relationships or material things to come crashing down.  Just a breath, and it's all gone.  That's the n...

I have two dogs, a lab-beagle mix named Penny, and a German Shepard-something mix named Lucy.  Penny, being part beagle, will follow her nose into all kinds of danger and no amount of calling can get her off the trail and back toward home.  Our yard is not fenced in, so we have to attach Penny to a leash every time she goes outside.  I am sure she would happily follow a scent all day and possibly find her way home eventually...that is, if she survived the busy road nearby.  So, for her protection, she is allowed only a certain amount of freedom.  We let her outside, but she can only go so far so that she doesn't get hurt. There are many ways to contain your dog.  A. You can let her roam free and if she gets hit, you are at fault.  B. You can build a fence around your yard, though she may find a way under or over if she is determined.  C. You can keep her on a leash and guide every direction she turns. Or, D. You can bury a wire and put a speci...

I am not God, I am your mother many mistakes I'll make So I pray that it will be His hand that you take I am not God, I am your mother though you cling to me So I pray that onto Him you'll cling more tightly I am not God, I am your mother And my love is fierce But greater love has He than I  for nails His hands did pierce I am not God, I am your mother You are His, not mine So I pray that you would know  that He is Joy Devine I am not God, I am your mother I make this solemn plea That we might be together with Him for all eternity

This is a good year for dandelions.  Lawns everywhere are sprinkled with their golden hue and dusted with their white tufts of seeds.  Every Spring our neighbor across the street takes his weed killer and sprays each dandelion individually.  This always makes me a little sad because each one of my girls has loved picking dandelions, bringing me the soft yellow blossom with its awkward gangly stem saying, "Here Mommy, I got you a flower."  Some wicked person, however, has told my oldest daughter that dandelions are in fact weeds.   Innocence lost.  Still, once the dandelions have seemingly overnight grown tall and turned to white puffs, she picks them and makes a wish before blowing the seeds away.  So as I watch my neighbor labor (probably in vain since my kids are little dandelion seed dispersers) to eradicate all the dandelions from his lawn I begin to wonder what a world free of dandelions would be like.  We love to label things...to classify...

There is nothing more wonderful this side of heaven than experiencing the revelation of God's nature little by little each passing day.  He will use anything and everything to teach us more about Himself, and knowing Him is pure JOY.  So, I had the idea to chronicle these wonderful revelations as God puts them into my heart.  I thought, "I'll start a blog!", totally forgetting that I already had one from several years ago.  Well, it has a new name, courtesy of my dad who is ever so good with words: VALidations.  My nickname is Val, and my initials are V. A. L.  See what he did there?  Pretty clever.  Validation.....that is what we constantly crave, isn't it?  Especially those of us who feel unseen and underappreciated.  I am a stay-at-home mom.  My daily life is one of very little glamour and even less praise.  Who will validate me by saying, "Hooray!  That's officially the one-thousandth time you have washed, folded, an...