Monday Motivation: The Marathons of Life

With the Detroit Free Press/Talmer Marathon coming up, I admire those I know who are participating in one of the events. For various reasons, running hasn’t been something I’ve taken on for a long time. I’m just a boring walker. (Not of The Walking Dead zombie variety!)

{CC} license - free to share
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nbcornwall/8110812868/

I had been ignoring the weight gain of the last couple of years that is due to hormonal changes and stress, so I am now faced with the reality of changing some of my eating habits-- more vegetables for one, less on-demand chocolate for another. I’m also working on increasing my exercise, whether walking through the neighborhood, getting on the treadmill, popping a walking DVD into the player, or working out with weights.

Gone are the days in which I could work this hard and lose five pounds in a week. That’s been my problem lately, I want to give up too soon. I am trying to get it into my head and heart that lifelong fitness is a marathon, not a sprint.

Many other things are also like this in other areas of life. Broken relationships take time, love and patience to repair. Building a good marriage takes perseverance. Overcoming bad habits takes a relentless commitment to change. Writing a three or four hundred page novel doesn’t happen in a day. It can take months or years, but you have to take the first step by writing the first word, first paragraph, first page--and repeat.

Those preparing for the marathon this weekend didn’t start last week. They’ve been working at it for a long time. What might have seemed impossible at one time became doable, because they took the first step and kept moving forward.

What marathons are you facing in life today? Ask the Lord to guide you in your first steps to move in the direction He wants you to go.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

(Hebrews 12:1-3)

Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to trust You today. Guide me to take steps and move forward in the direction you want me to go. Help me to persevere and not give up as I take one step, one day, one moment at a time. Thank you that Your mercies are new every day!

Please leave a comment--share something you are learning about walking in faith in the longterm. We love your comments!

Worthy of Praise . . . and Trust!

Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness . . . I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor, and your wonderful miracles. (Psalms 145:3,5)

I remember when I was in my 20s and driving down the road after a storm. I was a young mother and feeling rather overwhelmed, so I was a bit down. It was one of those days you could smell the rain and the wet earth meeting together in the cool breeze. A beautiful rainbow appeared, arcing across the gray sky in well-defined, vibrant bands of color.

And I remembered the promise God made to Noah, telling him that the rainbow in the sky was a sign for all mankind that He wouldn’t destroy them again with a flood. I love the book of Genesis and seeing the rainbow made me feel closer to the Lord at that moment. I felt like the Lord knew I needed some encouragement and perhaps put that rainbow there just for me. At the time it seemed like a miracle.

Miracle is actually defined as “an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause,” according to Dictionary.com. The Lord may not have moved a mountain or healed anyone in my presence that day I saw the rainbow, but the cheer it brought my heart felt like a miracle, like the Lord was speaking directly to me.

Little finite me can see the wonder, the beauty, the splendor in creation, knowing that it takes an awesome God, bigger than anything He made, to put a rainbow in the sky or a majestic sunset. He’s omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent! Jesus is the Word who created the heavens and the earth, everything was created through Him and he gave life to everything living! In other words, everything God has done is doing or will do is beyond my comprehension. What is an every day thing for the Lord seems like a miracle to me.

If I look at my problems compared to the vastness and greatness of God, I realize that He can handle them much better than I can. Those thoughts don’t necessarily take away the pain or make things seem easier, but it may help me with the eternal perspective. Later in Psalms 145 it talks of God’s mercy and compassion, His unfailing love, the same love Paul talks about in Romans 8:38-39: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

A God of such holiness, greatness, glory, splendor and love has the power to forgive sins, to heal, to perform miracles, even if the miracle is the grace to endure the problem one day at a time, just as He showed me the rainbow when I needed it the most.

Father, thank You for the every day miracles and for loving us unconditionally. Help us to take our problems to You and depend on You for healing grace and mercy. Help us to have an eternal perspective.

May Saturday Spiritual Uplift - Ants in the Pantry!

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Eph. 6:13-18, NLT)

Something moved. I saw it from the corner of my eye. For a moment I excused it as a shadow, but I had a hunch it was more than that. After I had pulled a couple of napkins from their basket in the pantry I stopped and lifted it—and screamed. Jointed black dots on a hodgepodge of legs scrambled from the disturbance and the light—ants. I soon discovered they were actually foraging the honey, which had dripped onto the shelf in a couple of spots. One of those sticky places I had inadvertently overlooked.

I pulled everything off that shelf and the next. Soon my countertops were covered with bags and boxes from rice to cereal, canned goods, crackers and more. What a mess! I peeled fairly new paper off the shelves. I wiped down anything remotely sticky, tossed out anything that hadn’t been sealed properly and was sweet. I bagged up the remains and waited.

We had squashed as many ants as we could catch, but still, some hid in the crevices. I had scrubbed the shelves clean, and each evening a few less ants returned. After a few days of enduring messy counter tops, I was able to place clean shelf paper and rearrange the cupboards, returning the contents. Every evening I was on ant patrol. Each day I found less of them and eventually I sprinkled cayenne pepper on the shelves to keep them away, which seemed to help.

Me. Against. The ants. Though I have a bigger brain and more brawn, the ants had been a formidable foe, an irritation to overcome in their relentless pursuit of honey. Even the Lord told us in Proverbs 6:6: Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
 Learn from their ways and become wise!

We have a greater foe in the spiritual realm, an invisible foe: A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:10-12, NLT)

Yet God is so much greater than the devil and his army. We have an infinite resource in in the Holy Spirit. He battles on our behalf in ways we can’t even fathom. Invisible ways. Sometimes, when our prayers our answered, the veil is peeled back and we see the victory that Jesus has won. Perhaps someone we’ve been praying for many years comes back to the faith or newly finds it, loved ones are freed from the grip of deceit or addiction, marriages are restored; we ourselves, have our eyes opened anew to truth. Perhaps the Lord gives us supernatural grace to endure something in a way we didn’t think possible. Whatever it may be, we have a glimpse of victories in a holy, invisible realm. How much more haven't we seen of the Lord Jesus, commander-in-chief of His own army, winning on our behalf?

Don’t give up hope or quit the battle. The Lord’s power is so much greater than
the accuser of the brethren, infinitely more so than my power over the ants,
for which I am very thankful.

Lord, please help us to put on Your armor each day, to remember that Your power is beyond all others and to know that You are always with us, fighting our battles. Help us to rest in You. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Fixing Our Gaze

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

 (II Corinthians 4:17-18, NLT)

Does your gaze need fixing? Mine often does.

Sometimes life seems to be all mapped out and I’m comfortable with where things are. When my sons were little, they might have been underfoot quite a bit, especially with home schooling, but I knew where they were. I knew what the lesson plan was for the day and sometimes before four o’clock in the afternoon, what we were actually having for dinner. While there were days not enough seemed to get done, we had a routine of sorts. Yet life was never boring. We had plenty of  “interruptions." My parents needed care and we had to move them a few times. My husband, Jack, fell off the roof and broke many bones, landing in a wheel chair for six months. Later, Jack’s parents needed help. And in between there were the soccer games, art and music lessons, church activities, etc. Dogged by a lack of energy to begin with, I struggled to catch my breath and keep some semblance of order each day.

“Interruptions” can also take place in the lack of activity. As things seemed to be moving along in my career, I recently had a job with the right hours and the right distance from home . . . and then I was laid off. I had also felt plugged into a small spiritual community a couple of years ago, which was a great support to me, but I had to let go of when I returned to school and then again when I was working. Friends and family move away; we lose people we love. Life can change in a month or a moment. Suddenly we’re in the desert, when we least expect it—parched and alone.

Whether I was struggling to have enough energy to care for others, beyond the usual demands or being asked to sit still in the quiet, I am at a crossroads where the Lord asks, “Will you trust me for the answers?” Either I am leaning on Him for strength or wisdom—or both. I can choose to see such interruptions to my plans as mountains to climb in my own strength or I can see them as momentary troubles to help me focus on Christ and His will for my life. I can learn compassion and patience or give myself sleepless nights filled with worry.

The Lord allows for our best-laid plans to not always turn out for a reason. Our faith is
tested to help it grow. How we react and live through our troubles can give God glory when we do things right. We have an eternal hope in the unseen realm. Earthly troubles last for a short time compared to the eternity we will live with God in His glory. I don’t know just exactly what that will entail. Jack used to tell the kids when they were little that he was sure there would be ice cream in heaven. As much as I like ice cream, I have a feeling it’s going to be even better than that.

Lord, please help me to have the right heart attitude and to do a better job of waiting on You for guidance for the days ahead. Amen.

Saturday Spiritual Uplift - Advent Thoughts

Advent Thoughts - Week One

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!


She will give birth to a son,


and they will call him Immanuel,

which means ‘God is with us.’”

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25, NLT)

St. Joseph with the Infant Jesus by Guido Reni
(in the public domain, source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Advent wreath is out on the table, but in all my busyness I have yet to light the first candle. On top of that, I have been trying out an Advent experiment and have already fallen behind! I divided the verses of the Christmas story in the Gospels, so that I would have a short reading to meditate on for each day through Christmas Eve. The book of Matthew focuses on Joseph’s story, which I read part of earlier this week.

When God chose Joseph to be a stepfather to Jesus, He chose a man filled with mercy and grace. It must have broken Joseph’s heart to think that Mary had been unfaithful, but he chose to be kind, not shaming her with extra attention. He could have brought her forward and asked for her to be stoned, but Joseph had a heart of mercy toward his betrothed. He decided to divorce her quietly.

But then the Lord stopped him by sending an angel in his dreams to tell Joseph that Mary would bear the Son of God. So Joseph obeyed by taking Mary as his wife and by naming the child Jesus when He was born.

Joseph had a heart prepared to hear the voice of God when it came to him. He was attuned to it. He didn’t chalk the dream up to too much spice in his lentils the night before. He knew the voice of God, believed the angel in the dream had been sent from Him and acted on the commands given to him. What wonderful example Joseph is for us!

Father, please help are hearts to be attuned to hear the still, small voice of your Holy Spirit. Strengthen us that we might obey You each day. Please help us to be filled with your mercy and grace that we might extend it to others. Amen.

SATURDAY SPIRITUAL UPLIFT

Finding Time in His Word

About four years ago, we brought home a tiny gray tabby rescue cat that I named Lilybits. Having shared a home with two-dozen other cats, she was delighted to have the house to herself and starving for attention. She was the perfect remedy for the loneliness I felt in our empty nest.

Lily followed me everywhere like a puppy and she still greets us excitedly at the door when we come home. Most days I was at home with her and we were both quite content with the situation. But when I went back to school full time, Lily wasn’t too happy. At the end of the day, instead of hopping up on my lap, she would jump up on Jack’s lap and turn around to look at me as if to say, “Ha! You’ve been leaving me every day, so now I’m too busy for you.”

Well, yes, I am anthropomorphizing my cat, but don’t we all have moments we read into our pets or even other people’s actions or facial expressions, whose motives we don’t always know or understand? Perhaps I shouldn’t have felt slighted, but my feelings were hurt.

On Fridays, I am usually home and have a chance to play with Lily. She chases a red laser light dot Jack refers to as “redbug”. Or I may chase her while she runs to hide under the bed. But my favorite time is when I am sitting quietly, reading or writing, and Lilybits jumps up onto my lap.

For several months, while I was getting used to working outside the home and came home exhausted, I had been doing quick devotions in the evening. Without time for deeper study of the Bible I really missed hearing the Lord speak to me through His word. I finally decided that even 15 minutes in the Bible with the purpose of listening to what Jesus had for me was better than nothing at all. That first week, on Friday I had some extra time to dig into scripture.

Image of Gutenberg Bible from Wikimedia Commons and is
in the public domain.

As I sat with the Bible and a small notebook on my lap, Lilybits saw fit to make herself at home, curling up and snuggling down into my lap until she fell into a peaceful sleep for quite a long time. I thanked the Lord for the fact that my cat finally noticed me—the one who feeds her, fusses over her, plays with her and usually cleans the litter box. Then it suddenly occurred to me that maybe God, who gave His only Son for me, who cares for me every day and is no farther away than a prayer, probably sometimes feels like I do when Lily ignores me. He would be even happier that I was finally sitting still and spending time with Him. Though I can’t physically climb into his lap, He wants me to rest in Him. The depth of Jesus’ love for me is so much greater than the love I have for my cat or even my children. This definitely put things in perspective.

Was the Lord trying to tell me this all along? With mercy and love He can minister to me through the touch of six pounds of a furry gray creature with big green eyes. When I drive down the road behind our home and see the tree branches budding green I’m compelled at times to thank Him for the beauty of spring and how He keeps the times and seasons in motion. When friends or family members take the time to encourage me, He is reaching out to me through them. Always He is wooing me back.

Jesus is waiting for me. When He seems far away, I am the one who moved. He cannot be moved. He sends gentle nudges until His word calls to me and I know I must take time to be with Him. And again I start to read my Bible expectantly, asking for guidance and praying that I will know in my heart what He has especially for me that day. I don’t know how many times I will fail and have to start over again, but I know my Lord is the one who told the Samaritan woman at the well that He would give her living water which would forever quench her thirst. He has given me that water of eternal life and His Holy Spirit. And He is there for each one of His children—always.

. . . Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:39-42 NLT

. . . And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20 NLT

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NLT

Dear Jesus, we thank you that you’ve called us to yourself. We long to draw closer. Please open the eyes and ears of our hearts. Show us in your word what you have for us that we may be more like you and work channels of your love and truth in this fallen world.

MONDAY MOTIVATIONS

What is Writing, Whimsy and Devotion?

Simply a blog for readers, writers, people who enjoy literary reviews done by

cats and those who like a spiritual lift on the weekend. Your one stop for literature,

fun and faith!

Monday Motivations: Tips and commiseration for writers who need to get

the SOTP in the chair and get writing again. Whether you are stuck, in

need of inspiration or conquering fear to get your words onto the page,

you will find something here.

Wednesday Whimsy: My cat, Lilybits, will be happy to review books,

interview authors or comment on life--usually mine. Though I do reserve

the right to share my own humorous observations at times.

Saturday Spiritual Lift: Short devotional writing to help you look toward

the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ.

This week's Monday Motivation:

There are times when I’m really into my writing, joy flows through me as I place each word on the page and I can’t wait to sit down and write again. But there are some days I find it difficult to keep my derriere glued to the chair. I’m just sure the laundry pile can’t wait any longer and there are people I should call and the layer of dust on the dresser can be left no longer.

My inner editor is a difficult taskmaster, whispering in one ear that I need to write the perfect words. In the other ear she taunts me that I’ll never be great, followed by a sinister laugh. Okay, so I’ve exaggerated about the sinister laugh, but do you have any idea how many times I’ve already changed the previous sentence?

How do I combat that? By telling myself the truth: there’s no way I can write perfectly and that’s okay. I just need to write something—I can always spend time refining and rewriting later. There have been times I’ve used different books like, A Writer’s Book of Days, to help inspire me with ideas and writing prompts just to get things flowing. And prayer is an important element for the Christian writer. Focusing on the One who gives me strength and ideas takes the pressure off of little old me.

What about you? How do you get motivated and press on with your writing?

Okay, this week’s writing prompt picked from the folded papers in one of my currently unused bone china sugar bowls: Take 5-10 minutes to write about: Fresh-baked bread! Just do it! 

Please leave a comment and let me know if writing prompts such as the

one above help you to get started or if there are writing topics you'd

like to see covered.

When you leave a comment and/or follow my blog, you will be entered in

a drawing for an Amazon gift card! 

Thanks for stopping by!