Wish I could hear this teaching series ...



Your thoughts about their thoughts shared here? 

Waiting ...

Waiting is hard! 

And we need to wait in many areas of our lives. 

“Between the wish and the thing life lies waiting.”

- Author Unknown

Some of the normal, mundane waits involve traffic lights, check-out lines and doctor's offices. These we do often, the waits are relatively short - so they don't usually cause great anxiety or stress. We expect these waits and handle them with patience. (and if you don't - you need to work on that, because you will have to contend with them for the rest of your life)

Some waits are just plain annoying - like the waiting that has to happen when trying to loss weight. Lack of waiting ability is what screws up most diets. Losing weight is a major waiting event! When you decide you want to get to a healthy weight - you monitor what you eat and you exercise. You do this for a few days and you feel so good/holy/successful about yourself - but then you're sick of it! All 10/20/50 pounds should be gone by now - gosh darn it! You are tried of waiting for this new eating plan to do its thing. The reality is - it will cause you to loss weight, if you can wait patiently, while sticking to the plan!

Other waits are scary - unlike weight loss, you aren't sure what the outcome will be at the end of the waiting time. This would include waiting on applications or test results - could be educational, employment or medical. This type of waiting sends you on a roller coaster. You want the waiting to be over. No, you don't want the waiting to be over - because living in the land of uncertainty might be better than the yes, no or maybe answer will be.

The waiting I'm in right now is somewhat in its own category. I'm waiting on a body to heal. I know bodies heal. I've seen and lived it for myself. But this time its not my own body I'm waiting on. It's my child's body that needs to heal. His trauma, injury, surgeries are in the past - now we wait. 

At nineteen, waiting on your body to heal is hard. At forty-four, seeing him have to wait is hard! He has a full life to live and right now it's reduced to eating, sleeping and resting. 

I know healing is affected by what we do - rest, medicines, exercise and food. It all plays a part - for better or for worse. When it's my own body healing, I can feel where that line is. When it's someone else, I can't. I can watch, monitor and assume, but ultimately I don't know exactly how he's feeling. So the poor guy is constantly having to answer my "how are you feeling" questions. I try to walk the line of caring mother, but not smother. I encourage him that healing will happen, he will not feel like this forever and things will get better.

As I hear what I'm saying to him, I'm reminded how interwoven waiting well and having the correct perspective is - in any kind of waiting. 

The mundane waits - the light will change, you will get to part with your money and the doctor will see you - why cause damage to yourself by stressing?

When losing weight - keeping the vision of a healthy body in mind makes the waiting easier. Knowing someday you can have a piece of chocolate again gives you strength to wait until that day and not blow your plan today. 

During the uncertain waits - correct perspective is critical. Being realistic about the fact that you could enjoy major bliss or suffer major disappointment is wise, but understanding that God will help you whatever the result helps make the waiting tolerable.

And when waiting for a body to heal - whether its your own or someone else, the correct perspective can help you have peace as you wait. Healing will happen and things will get better or as my mother often said, "This too shall pass." 
  

"When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace." - Sir John Lubbock   

What type of waiting is hardest for you? What have you learned about waiting well? Would love to hear some tips!

Peace and Beauty - 12 Days of Community

Peace - Beauty

At first, I found it odd, but now it makes sense to me. I've found that if I'm missing either peace or beauty in my life, I'm probably missing both. And if I look for one, I usually find both. They seem to live close together.

 View from a bench at French Creek State Park -

a favorite place of peace and beauty for me.

There's many places I find peace and beauty if I am intentional. Outdoors in creation is my first choice - trees, plants, water, along with the moon and stars.  There's beauty/peace in words, art, music and delicious food. 

It helps to be intentional as I go through life, taking deep breaths and allowing myself time to think about what my five senses are absorbing. (I figure there is a reason I've been created with five senses and I try not to waste any of them)  And whether I see the beauty of the moment first or peace comes over me first - the other soon follows. 

Peace and beauty - I need both to be fully alive and thankfully I usually find them together.

Recently I found both in a new place - online at 

Just ... a Moment a blog by S. Etole.

S. Etole combines words with beautiful photos and whenever I visit her site, I come away breathing lighter. Thank you S. Etole - for the way you brighten my world with peace and beauty. 

Celebrating Just ... a Moment today in the 12 days of Christmas Community hosted by High Calling Blog.

Click the box below to find out more about celebrating others this season ... 

A Morning Like This ...

A morning like this has the potential to cure many ills, especially of the mind and spirit. Hopewell Lake is in French Creek State Park - this morning I watched the sun come up here. (a privilege owed to taking a son to work nearby at 5:30AM)

Walking at the lake’s edge, I discover I’m not the only early riser. There’s a unique joy in being there with others as the world wakes up. As the mist covering the lake evaporates, I watch three men set up cameras on tripods to try to capture this divinely created morning with man-made gadgets. As expensive as their equipment looks and as experienced as they seem (I overhear conversations about settings/numbers/exposure) I know their pictures won't be able to fully capture this morning at this place.

At the boat dock, a woman unloads her small fishing boat efficiently. After parking her truck and trailer, she gathers her supplies - fishing line, bait and cup of coffee. The surface of the water breaks only briefly as her electric motor pushes her quietly across the water.

“The best sunrise I’ve ever seen,” one of the photographers declares loudly, as if anyone there might be missing it. “I’ve set my camera to - blah, blah, blah.” Camera speak is a foreign language to me, but I’m sure the setting is the one he thinks will allow him to share the beauty of this sunrise with others not privileged to be there.

After staring in awe at the big orange ball climbing into the sky, I unload my bike, ready to involve my physical body in the morning. I planned to bike the local roads, but find myself not wanting to leave the lake and the park. I opt for a trail that allows glimpses of the water and circles around the lake to Hopewell Furnace - a nearby historical site. The roots and rocks of a few sections of the trail are more suited for hiking then biking, but with some pushes and lifts, I get my bike to the top. Biking through this restored "iron plantation" is worth the work.

The mist from the heavy dew lifting over the multiple layers of tree tops is peace - pure absolute peace. I hold my breath at the sight of three deer under apple trees in a stream of sunlight. I brake to get my phone to snap a picture, but they hear me and react. My chests hurts with beauty watching them run and leap away. The whites of their tails, their slender legs, the trees, the grass and the easy, effortless way they move - it’s beauty in motion.

After the ride - as the sun climbs into the clear sky, a shaded picnic table gives me a spot to write this. I watch a content kayaker fishing near the lake’s edge about thirty feet from me. His cigar smoke circles over his head and his relaxed manner shows he doesn’t have a care in the world at the moment. He watches with a smile as five geese come in for a landing nearby. They have perfect formation until a few feet from the water, then formation breaks as each lands at a different time or place.

It is a perfect morning - the birds are chirping, a slight breeze is stirring and the fragrance of nearby flowers drifts my way. (cliche intended) But real life intervenes and I almost jump at the sound of a weed-eater behind me. My perfect moment is the beginning of another workday for a park ranger and he has jobs to complete.

I prepare to return home, grateful for a morning like this - to help put the rest of life into proper perspective. The issues that seemed so big and overwhelming are reduced to a more manageable size. Life’s problems don’t disappear, but the intensity of them shrinks and I have hope again. Hope - not in me, not in mother earth, not in a person - but hope in the knowledge/feeling that it will be okay. I don’t know what okay means, but I know I like this feeling and I rest in the comfort that this feeling comes from the creator of all this beauty.

Life on Earth

"Walking on the turning wheel of the earth, living under the ever-rotating sun, man expects a peaceful life." - Hazrat Inayat Khan

We need to find the balance of trying to live in peace in all we do, but yet know that because this is earth, total peace will not happen. Something is always changing, shifting and moving (hopefully) forward. Thankfully there is help to be found in feeling peaceful by talking to our Creator.