Food for Thought

Today was "teacher service day" at the school where I teach. Our group chose to assist at a local community food bank. Listening to the director explain the many services they provided for families in need, I was surprised to learn there were no paid staff positions...every person serving was a volunteer. The efficiency I witnessed in organizing and distributing food and household items was impressive, with everyone working together like a well-oiled machine!
As I sorted through boxes of donated fruits and vegetables, tossing those that were badly bruised and no longer edible into boxes designated for farm animals, it struck me that there was no waste...every item had a purpose.
Some of those coming through the door today were bruised, harboring hurts, and needing to know that someone cared.
God created each one of us for a purpose. What is seemingly bad to us, God works for good. I'm so thankful He doesn't discard us when we are bruised, or deemed not good enough, but instead, by His grace, considers us each fruit worth saving!

Urgency

Couldn't sleep-exhausted in Him; His words quenching the core of my soul. If I fall asleep will I loose them? He gives me a Word, burning it in my heart for another...insistent.

Lasting joy comes from God. We are loosing it--too consumed with life--too absorbed with burden. Can the haze be lifted, can the stupor cease? Can we once again proclaim joy to a parched world as it was first proclaimed?
Can we bring back the music of joy to satiate the thirst?

E.T. phone home

I remember seeing Steven Spielberg's movie, E.T., in the early 80's with good friends. Our oldest son was just a toddler when the movie appeared in theaters, and to this day, it's still my favorite Spielberg flick! Watching it on DVD last weekend with my family was a treat. In one memorable scene, E.T. points to the phone and says to Elliot, "E.T. phone home," and of course this was not possible, since E.T. was an extra terrestial from a distant planet inaccessible to Pac Bell. But it got me thinking: back in the 1980's and 90's we were a world void of cell phones and blackberry smartphones. Back then, people actually memorized the phone numbers of their top ten friends, wrote important numbers in an address book, and never had trouble remembering their home phone. Yesterday I overheard a mother/daughter conversation taking place in a check out line at our local grocery store. The daughter, in her early teens, was on her cell, and had paused during her conversation to find her home phone number in her "contacts" list for the person on the other end. "You don't know our home phone number?," the mom exclaimed in a state of shock. "Well, I just wasn't sure of the last two digits," her daughter retorted.
So I'm throwing this question out into the cosmos: Have we become a world too dependent on iphones, blackberries, and the internet? If we misplace or heaven forbid, loose our cell phone, would we be able to find our way to a "White Pages" to phone home? (Using someone else's cell phone of course, since pay phones are now obsolete.) If the world wide web crashed, would we?
Call me old school, but I still prefer to memorize numbers (a throw back from years of memorizing play scripts), and I'd be perfectly content to go back to Big Chief tablets, typewriters, and snail mail. (I loved getting letters in the mail!)

P.S. My niece just asked, "What are White Pages?" Arrrgh!

Resolute

Lately I've had a restlessness... sensing there is something more that I'm to be about. I am certain change is in the air. God is preparing my heart-asking me to believe more, trust more, anticipate more! My time alone with Him increases my peace, but I find myself trembling at anomalous times throughout the day in great anticipation of what is to come...
For now, I wait, resolute in knowing that I will know when it pleases Him.

Such as These...

Children have such straightforward faith...pure and untarnished. Teaching them is a privilege, and more than occasionally I glean from them a wisdom way beyond their years! After singing, Jesus is the Rock, with one of my kindergarten classes, I asked, "What does it mean when we say Jesus is our rock?" A hand instantly shot-up, and before I could acknowledge him he blurted, "It means Jesus is solid, he doesn't move ...HE STICKS!" From the mouths of babes...sometimes I am totally astounded by what they perceive - just when you think you're not getting through!
On my drive home I was listening to a missionary talk about the amazing faith he has witnessed among the Haitian people during this most devastating time. You could hear the voices of children at play around him. "You see the children here playing among the rubble--they find a cheerfulness even in the most dire circumstances. They trust that things will be better."
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Just thinking how blessed I am to be able to teach such as these!

Shirts for Shoes...

There is an amazing ministry headed up by President, Tom Davis, out of Colorado Springs, entitled Children's Hopechest. You can follow the link below and choose from several T-shirts, designed by Kari Gibson, to purchase for you and/or someone you love for Valentine's Day. They are sincerely cool, and one hundred percent of the proceeds will go to providing shoes for children in Ethiopia. What a blessing..both ways! There's nothing better than helping children in great need...kids are the best part of this world...check it out!
http://www.mycrazyadoption.org/one-stop-shop/shirts-for-shoes-hopechest-project

Table Talk

It's cold outside--very bleak and dreary. I miss my husband when he is gone, and I so wish the sun would break through today. I often try to remember what I was doing on this same day last year, or five years ago, or ten. Ten years ago our two boys were just 19 and 13 years old: one in college, the other in middle school. Just ten years ago I would have been racing home from teaching to find our middle-schooler in his room--doing home work, snarfing down a snack in the kitchen, or getting ready for soccer or basketball practice. I'd give him a hug, ask how his day had gone, get into my favorite pair of sweats, and begin preparations for dinner. I'd call our oldest son in his dorm room( remember, this is way before cell phones!) and listen intently as he talked about his week, and coming home for spring break. I'd throw in a load of laundry, set the table, and look forward to sitting down to dinner. Do families even sit down for dinner together any more?
Well we did, and I miss setting a table for four, sometimes five or six or seven! I miss the conversation around the dinner table, the plethora of activities and the constant hum. Those days are gone in a moment, so seize each day you have with your kids while they are still kids! Sit down with them at dinner and cherish those conversations. Dinner was my favorite time during the week, even if it was hurried and brief. I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Right now, I'd settle for dinner for two!