Home is where you go to be Amazed and Changed...

Home is where you go to be amazed and changed…

Madison and I said goodbye to our last beach sunrise this morning…

I loved being with her in the stillness of the wee hours…

For a long while, it was just Madison and me…and God.

Few words were spoken…there was just a quiet gentleness between us, mother and daughter.

There are times in your child’s life where all you can do is walk beside them…when holding their hand isn’t even an option…when the time for giving advice is past…

There are so many things I want to say…so much advice I would like to offer…so many situations I want to warn her about.  But, I am just her mother.  What I truly sincerely sole-heartedly want for her is…

                    ………. to grow closer to God..to rely solely on Him.

I want her to draw closer to Him in prayer and confidence that  like the North Star we watched this morning, He is our only “true North”….the one who will never disappoint, never forsake you, never leave you.

And, while I could have taken time this morning to give her a “lesson” about all of this, I didn’t.  While I could have verbalized so many things to my daughter, hoping to draw changes in her life, I couldn’t.

For I have learned that all I can do is live my life in such a way that she will see God in me…in my behavior, in my actions, my words, my deeds.

Like all parents…mothers, I have succeeded at times in doing this and I have failed at times in doing this.

What I have learned and am learning it that is why it is important to “live in truth” with yourself, with God and with your loved ones.  For no one is fooled, least of all your children.

Your children have a peek into your heart which is unique only to them.  They come to know you in a way you cannot (and should not) want to disguise…it should be that you can lay bare your soul to your children and that what they see is love….kindness..gentleness…meekness..joy..peace…patience…self control.

I have not always been that for my children.  The pain from this truth is almost unbearable.  But, I aspire to live in this way, and in my aspiration to do so, I have found peace.

That is what I prayed this morning for my daughter, Madison….peace.

Peace which comes only from the one who knitted her together.

Peace which comes from freely giving over her heart to the One who loves her “most”

Peace which is elusive if you rely on earthly people, things to make you happy.

I pray for her heart to surrender to God….just as the clouds gave way in surrender to the sun’s heat this morning.

I pray for surrender….to the path that will lead her home.

I pray for surrender…of her heart to the One whose love grows and changes a person..

And, just as the sunrise we shared together…mother and daughter..this morning, I believe when she surrenders…she will find all she is seeking…

She will be Amazed….and, she will be forever Changed….

As will I,

Blessings,

Lesa

Through the Storms and the Sunrises comes Perspective....

I am amazed this morning at the beauty “after the storm”….because yesterday, our beachfront view was cloudy and gray and thunder surrounded us.  It was slightly frightening to be so close to the edge of the beach..to see the storm coming our way and to be helpless to stop it.

The sky which had been soft blue, rose pink and slightly yellow had turned into a swirl of dark black, gray and dirty white.  The waves which had once been friendly and bounding with playful energy were now large and frothy and angry looking.

Our safe haven on the beach had been replaced with an unknown bully of a storm.

It lasted only hours but it felt like forever.

We read books, napped, watched tv and discussed what we would do in case we needed to evacuate.

We played Phase Ten, Yahtzee and Backgammon.

We waited…

And, finally, we went to bed exhausted with “doing nothing” all day…

But, as surely as the sun rises each morning, so did the beauty of our beach sunrise ...

And, I truly believe that the sunrise this morning is even more beautiful than it was these past few days…or, is it maybe that my appreciation for the view been enhanced when compared to the stormy day before?

Perspective is everything.  I believe that.

I can fully appreciate the intricate stitching of the morning’s sky a little more fully today because I have yesterday’s stormy one with which to compare.

Like life, my view has been changed by comparison….by my new perspective.

The children and I talked at length yesterday about how perspective molds who we are....if your perspective is molded by love and compassion and heart, you are more likely to forgive, to let go, to assist.

If your perspective is formed by judgment, anger or dispassionate thought, you are more likely to become harsh, cold, bitter.

If you are able to put yourself “in the shoes of another”, you are able to walk beside them and to be their friend.

But, if you cannot, then you cannot.

I want my children to be compassionate.  I want them to use their life’s experiences in a positive way to assist others.

Rather than deny that storms have come their way, I pray they are able to learn from the storms and be more sensitive to the storms of others.

We are not there yet.  We may never get there, but it is a goal..

Just as yesterday’s storm frightened us and worried us and made us realize that there is a power greater than we are who guides our lives, the beauty of today which came after the storm reminds us that that power wants good and beautiful and lovely things for us.

It is our ability to perceive that truth which will mold how we walk our days.

I choose to walk mine in faith…and, with a positive perspective.

Blessings,
Lesa

Home....is where you go to find time with God...

I love the early morning…when everyone is asleep and quiet permeates the house, or in this case the condo on the beach.

There is something sacred about the early morning hours….the Holy quiet where you and your thoughts are alone. 

Where it is quiet enough to hear God.

I pray for each of us this early morning as I sit and watch the sunrise to find some time today to be alone…

Just us an God…

God and us…

And, in that time, I pray that we are changed…

Blessings,

Lesa

Home is where you go to be changed.....

I love the early morning…when everyone is asleep and quiet permeates the house, or in this case the condo on the beach.

There is something sacred about the early morning hours….the Holy quiet where you and your thoughts are alone. 

Where it is quiet enough to hear God.

I pray for each of us this early morning as I sit and watch the sunrise to find some time today to be alone…

Just us an God…

God and us…

And, in that time, I pray that we are changed…

Blessings,

Lesa

Home is where you go to fulfill your "bucket list".......

Each January 1st for 25 years, our family has filled out our "wish list"...later called our "goal list" and more recently called our "Bucket List".

The whole point of the "list" whatever it is called is to set goals for the year.

I have kept every single list for each one of us....

I cherish these lists...at four, the kids put things like...

I wish...

   for a dog, to become President of the US, to have my ears pierced, a pet turtle, to go to Washington DC

Later, the lists grew into things like this..

I wish...

    to make straight A's, to make the volleyball team, to make the baseball team, to go to Hong Kong, to go on a church mission trip…

And, more recently, their lists have included...

   to be baptized (all three have been), for Papaw to be baptized, to take a family vacation,  to go to Harry Potter World, to go on a cruise, for peace…for joy and laughter…

We have written out our lists for every year these past 25 except for last year (2010)….and, I confess, that year was a tough one.  I’ll always wonder about what if….But, we are back on track with 2011…and, while our “bucket list” write a little differently this year, re-kindling the “Bucket List”  has revived our spirit of fun and adventure…it has re-set the clock for our belief that “through God all things are possible”…..it has re-ignited our passion for pursuing things which matter in life to our family…different as we are now.

This year’s list included things like…

     Have a home we can be proud of and invite our friends over all the time, be the “go to” home for our friends, take a trip to the ocean, play more family games together, have a pool, sit in a new place at church,  work at the Hope Center every other month rather than every month, live in truth, be healthier, eat better, invite over to our home kids who would not otherwise be invited over, do some daring things such as jump the “Pit”, read our Bibles through in a year, eat breakfast for dinner on Sunday nights, get our driver’s license, go see our grandparents more, have our grandparents come see us more, have my brothers and I be closer and talk more, pray my daughter move back home and return to college, give back to others more than we take from them, be good listeners, have more compassion to the less fortunate, be real with our friends…don’t sit on the sidelines watching them struggle, go to them and be there for them…BE REAL like the Velveteen Rabbit..

I find it interesting as I wrote our Bucket List items above, just how many we have already accomplished…some purposefully, and some by God’s divine provision.

I have always loved our annual rite of preparing the “list”, whatever we call it because it is a written reminder of a purposeful heart. 

I like it even more so when my children have a purposeful heart…I think God does as well.


If a Bucket List assists us in having a purposeful heart for the future as it has in the past, we will once again be Bucket List writers….

So, as I head down to the beach, where the ocean waves are bringing in the new morning’s sunrise, I smile……joy comes in the morning, just as He promises. 

I claim that joy.

I claim it in my heart…I claim it in my soul…

And, I claim it in writing…from HIS writing to my family’s Bucket List.

Blessings,

Lesa