TOO LONG

I love this clock with hebrew numbers.
Time never seems to long when I read
it in Hebrew.

I wonder.
It it too long between posts?
Does anyone really see what I write?
Are my journey-notes too lengthy?
Why are so many interested in my Daily Graces blog but so few look at the other blog sites?

I love the old adage, "It's not for me to wonder why but it is for me to do or die."
I think I have repeated this saying for years too long to count.
But it's true.

I'm suppose to do what I do when I do it.
And that's that.
If notes are too long . . .
Or, if it is too long between notes . . .
that's OK.

I read this before we began our long
trips.  My brother, the writer, makes
some long, hard trips seem so short
and easy.  I laughed for a long time!
You can find it on Amazon.com
You'll love it even if you know
nothing about the Lotus cars.

The blog is mostly for me, to express myself.
If someone wants to come along and read it, that is nice.
It's not bad to have a conversation with oneself.

I have been helping out a church a L  O  N  G  way from here.
With stops it takes about four hours each way.
That is a Looooooooong drive compared to our usual weekly route.

We wind up hills and down into lush valleys.
We see cows lingering and sheep grazing.
We silently slip through one tunnel and the next almost immediately.
Just a few miles down the road there is another tunnel.

The roads are good and traffic is minimal at the time we choose to travel.
So far the drive has not felt  'too long.'
So far, it is just right.

That's why, when I said, 'yes' to the one who called, it felt right.

These are NOT the tunnels we went
through but we saw one that was
a long way off the beaten path.

We wanted to explore a part of the state we had not yet seen.
We wanted to help folks who were in need for just a month or two.

We have renewed energy with limited expectations.
Yet, we have been pleasantly surprised by those who received us.
God's grace is flowing through us and through them and our time with them never seems long enough.

Maybe that is what God wants us to know.
When we follow His direction and say "yes" when God guides to do so, 'longness' does not matter.
If God is leading, the adventure is never too long.
It's always just right.

   I pray it is not 'too long' before I make more blog-notes.

This is one of many farms we passed as Spring peaks through soggy dirt.  We have so much open land dotting the long distances between towns.  That's why the highway is sometimes the only road we see for long distances.

NEW LIFE!

The past week has been busy as we celebrate the holiest week of the year.

I marvel at these bronze tabernacle doors

as I recall the washing of feet

and celebration of the Last Supper

as our Jewish friends celebrate the Seder Feast for Passover.

The endless stories I see in these faces.

Then "Good Friday"

I always murmur, "What's so good about it" when I listen to the story

of the gruesome crucifixion.  Yet, Jesus offered Himself as the very last 

sacrifice for all our sins ... everyone's sins.

His horrible death on a Cross enables any and all of us 

new life for our soul,

salvation, 

when we give ourselves to God through his Son, Jesus Christ.

The Rose, Mary, carried Jesus within herself and then 

watched the horrible death of her son.

She carried him, walked with him and part of herself

went to the Cross with him.
I wonder in my heart if I could ever be so strong
and selfless as Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ,
The mother of God in Christ.
The mother of God.

And then . . . after a time of emptiness . . . came resurrected life.

The Disciples saw the empty tomb and experienced the presence of Jesus, the Christ, in a new way.

HE'S ALIVE!

And Jesus walked among those who had walked with him before his death on a cross.

He reminded his followers that by believing in the One whom God sent to us in the form of a

man, Jesus the Christ, we also will have eternal life.

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God.
Jesus walked among the garden of followers who renewed their faith in Him.
They saw resurrected life right in front of their eyes.
Jesus walked among them for forty days
breathing new life into them.

New life is like this garden.
It blooms wildly
yet
with purpose.

As I walk through this place of beauty I think of the new ways I see things now.

I try to digest all I see in the garden in the same way I try to digest God's Word.

Each word uttered is to be chewed on, meditated upon, planted in the heart.

As I listen and look, I see new points of beauty in God's creation.

Human creativity, given to us by God, adds to God's natural beauty.

And God SAID . . . 

and it came into being . . . 

and it was good.

As I walk along the endless paths of foliage I am amazed

how a small seed or a tiny branch, when given tender care,

can BLOOM into such beauty.

That is what my life in Christ is like.

When I let God in Christ take my tiny seedlings of creativity,

when I hand them over to Him to help me grow them,

THEY BLOOM!

Some seeds take time . . . too much time for my lack of patience.

But if I remain focused on God's love and grace for me

 and let God help me through the muddle of things,

 I bloom with new life!

As I meditate on scripture I am reminded to remain right where I am.

Jesus Christ died but came alive!

He wants me to die to my pre-conceived ideas about how life should be and simply

LIVE!

Live today . . . in the precious present . . . letting God's creation envelope me.

ENJOY renewed JOY!

As I sit in new spaces I am nudged to simply bloom right where I am today.

Why would I want more than this?

Yes, it was simply a moment in my life when I drank in the beauty of the tropics,

But, isn't that life?

It's those moments, those precious moments of beauty, that catch us and hold us . . . 

for as long as we choose to remember them.

It's the remembering that holds us in the palm of God's hand.

Can I remember God's sacrifice, once for all, that I might live eternally?

I just need to hang on, like this tropical fruit.

As I bloom and grow bigger and stronger in my spirit . . . 

I want to let go.

But, if I just hang on to the 'vine', the One giving me 

all that I need to bloom, I will grow lush and 

fragrant and have the ability to spawn new life.

And maybe . . . 

my blooming will spawn seeds that are planted elsewhere . . . 

and new fruit blooms 

and does the same.

And it becomes like this waterfall.

God's love overflows and sweeps through new places.

Oh to bloom where I am . . . 

and be patient . . . 

and follow God's plan . . . 

and plant seeds that grow new life . . . 

and let God's grace in these seeds flow in abundance . . . 

in God's timing.
It's all in God's timing.
He died at the chosen time
so that I might live,
and have NEW LIFE
in the same way as a garden
brings forth new life.

The caterpillar dies back in its cocoon so that
new life can be born into a butterfly that freely
 flits about drinking from the fruit of the garden.
Oh to be a butterfly!