If it’s Wednesday instead of Monday, It’s Mama having a LOT of homework... 

F is for Farrow and Faith and Father 

A “Swine Song”……..

Years ago, I am not sure exactly how old I was, but I believe I was around 13-14 years old, we had some church friends who were pig farmers.  Gayle and Shirley Mattox, and Brenda, their daughter and my family attended church together.  We were a very small congregation, one where each person was important and generally did many church-tasks, so you got to become close…like family.

 

The Mattox’s had a sow who was farrow..meaning she delivered a new litter of pigs and invited us to come see them.  Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would fall in love with those little pigs, but they were so cute…adorable…sweet….if not a little stinky, muddy and noisy!  I really fell in love with the runt of the litter and had to have her.  Of course, you can imagine Poppy and Grammy’s surprise that one, I would even want a pig and that two, Gayle and Shirley would “give” me one.  I remember the Mattox’s telling me, “Lesa, we will give you this little runt pig if you promise to take care of it yourself.  Not your Dad, not your Mom not even your brothers.  You must feed it, water it and take good care of it.

“Oh yes, I promise…I will love it, take care of it, feed it, water it all by myself, every day, forever.”.  Those were my words and I sincerely believed I would do just that. 

I named that pig after Brenda, Gayle and Shirle thus “BeGaSha”…..and, once it was big enough, we went to their home and picked her up in Poppy’s truck.  In the interim, Poppy had me “help – and, I use the word loosely” him build a smallish cage for the pig so that it would stay in one place.  He taught what and how to feed it and water it.  “I can do this,” I remember thinking.  

Oh, at first, it was wonderful to be a new pig farmer-ette…..I told all of my girl friends about the sweetest, cutest, pinkest pig ever….and told the boys that I was a tough-girl farmer who was raising a pig – hog!  We did live in the country and they all seemed to appreciate my new farming opportunity. 

All was going pretty smoothly until it rained…and, then it rained and got cold….and, then it rained and got cold and got muddy.  I do remember going out a few times and feeding that dang pig...ooppss…I mean sweet, precious little pig.  I do.  I really do.  But, I have to confess, she didn’t seem so sweet and pink and precious in the rain and the mud…in the cold and in the damp.  She didn’t seem as cute either as she grew…B I G. 

And, then came the Pig…lesson.

Poppy and I were discussing my swine-situation….”well, he said, you can always let me take her to the butcher and our family can enjoy pork chops, and bacon, and pork roasts and all of the other good things which come from port.” 

“OMG….NOT BeGaSha!!...Daddy, I would…I could NEVER butcher my sweet, cute, pink little piggy girl.  NEVER”. 

“Oh well then, Poppy said….guess you will have to keep feeding her...as he kept strumming along, never missing a beat.” 

Out I would trudge to the barn and feed BeGaSha.  I know I fed her at least 1,000 times…well, at least a few weeks worth.  It was torture.  I think Uncle Chuck fed her mostly or Daddy….(I’m sorry, Dad and Chuck).

Feed her or butcher her. 

“Wait…where did that thought come from??”  Would I actually go so far as to actually butcher her?  

But, she’s my pet, my piggy, my pink little swine-ette…. 

Could I?  dare I?    

Then, Gayle came in and saved the day…he said he would take back BeGaSha and would trade her to us for another pig from which our family could have pork.   

Sounded like a good deal to me…HE takes back BeGaSha and WE get pork on our table from a different pig. 

So, that is what we did. 

But, I confess as I write this…I don’t remember eating much of the pig we received because I always wondered if it was BeGaSha or not?  Did they really change out my pig for a new one? Or, did they just let me think that. 

I did ask Poppy the question…as we sat there with pig roast on our table, and he looked me in the eye and said, “what did I tell you it was?” 

To which I replied, “a different pig.” 

“Well, that is my word.  This is not BeGaSha.” And with the faith that comes from a believing daughter, I grabbed a slice of the port chop and ate. 

But, I learned a few lessons along the way: 

1) Taking care of a animal is not for the faint of heart

2) Taking care of an animal means you have to “take care of the animal”….outside

3) Pigs live outdoors and in a pen because they are messy and when you take care of them you become messy, too

4)  Daddys that let little girls have pigs, build their pigs a pen and then teach you how to care for a pig really love their little girls

5) Daddys who then, when you the little girl, out-grow pig farming, allow you to take back the pig are being VERY generous in the lessons they are teaching you

6) Sometimes, our hearts take on more than our bodies can handle

7) Sometimes, when we take on too much, we not only hurt ourselves, but we inconvenience or hurt others.  THIS is an important lesson.  It is one thing to make a decision which affects you, but when you make a decision which others are forced to deal with….that is not good. 

8) THINK about what you are doing hard and long and consider the consequences…and PRAY before you act (I don’t remember praying about the piggy situation.  I confess, I don’t remember thinking about praying at all…NOW, I pray about everything…even piggy situations).

9) Be grateful that even when you take on more than you should have, God always can take your choice and make something good out of it…like pork on the table to feed a family of seven

10) REJOICE in the opportunities God provides to add joy and laughter to your days…sweet and tender memories to your life…king and loving lessons to your heart… 

D A N C E….even when your Pig Story becomes your Swine Song!! 

My Pig Episode taught me the power of faith on so many levels….faith that I could take care of a pig, faith in friendship that a family loved me enough to share their livelihood and then faith that they helped me out of a questionable decision.

Faith in a Daddy who walked me though a life lesson and did not quit on me until the end…just as he does not quit on me even today.  And, faith in a Daddy’s word…. 

Faith in a Heavenly Father…the creator of pigs, friends, Fathers, Mothers and.... 

 

because of a Godly, earthly Daddy...

 

God loves us even when we are messy!  And, so do our earthly Daddys!

 

Blessings on your day….

ILYAOYMC, 

Mama

 

 

 

 

 

“A Mama Moment”…..with Kenton                                                    February 1, 2013

….Kenton is my more reserved child; however, he is my hugger.  Daily, he will come up to me and say, "I need a hug".  Some days, he may ask for several.  Some days he senses I might need a hug and says, "Mama, come here, you look like you need a hug."  His are not the typical teen aged boy hugs...his are the arms around your shoulders, full on, bear hug of a man who knows the value of encircling a person with his presence.  His hugs are a thermometer of how he is doing.  Stressed out...more hugs.  Less stressed...fewer hugs or more hugs because I need them.  I love that God uses traits of our children to learn to gauge how they are doing...and, while not perfect, the "hug-o-meter" is a helpful way of keeping in tune with Kenton's great heart.

~A Mama Moment

May I never miss a single one…..

"A Mama Moment"…..with Johnson                February 1, 2013 

….Johnson, my extrovert and verbose child, loves coming into our bedroom and doing what he does best...T A L K I N G. I have learned a lot about my son during this season of "bedroom chatting" and will always treasure his sharing. He seems to come in with a purpose...to tell us about his date, what is going on at school, new happenings at work. Sometimes, you can tell he is stressed and just needs to get things off of his chest. Other times, he is there to share a joke or tell us of a funny happening in his life. Today, he was having us help him with an internet quiz he was taking....it took me 30 minutes to blow dry my hair in the bathroom next door because I had to keep turning off the dryer to respond to his "Hey Mama...what's the first thing you think of when you hear the name Elvis Presley?"

~A Mama Moment

May I never miss a single one…..

Pssstt....."polyester suits was the Elvis answer he needed....."

“A Mama Moment”…..with Madison                          January 31, 2013

….Sitting next to my daughter, Madison, in Madison County(her namesake birth place), in the Combs building listening to her sing “It is well with my soul” with one hundred or so of her fellow CRU students.  My arm neatly tucked into hers, she leans over and says, “Mama, are you cold?” and snuggles closer to me as if to warm me with her own body.  “No baby, I just want to hug on my baby and enjoy this Mama moment”.  ~Thank you Jesus, that you gift Mamas with those little moments not just when our children are babies, but also when the are young adults.  I pray I don't miss a single one!

~Richmond, Kentucky

It Is Well With My Soul....................

If It’s Monday, It’s Mama

E is for Elesabeth, Equanimity and Elephant

When I was young, way before I ever married, I told God I would really be grateful if He could find it in His heart to send a daughter to me.  I would be grateful for boys, but I really, really wanted a daughter.  And, God was good.  He sent you to me and I have been grateful ever since.  You were named Elesabeth (really Elizabeth) after Beth Morris, my BFF who went to be with Jesus long before you came to live with me.  “A gift from God” is what your name means, and I truly believe that to be a truth.

You are a Gift from God.

 

I don’t take that for granted.

Nor should you.

When life would try to pull you down.  When others would try to drag at your spirit.  When work wears you out.  When bills start piling high.  When school becomes a challenge.  When men are monsters and brothers are bears.  When parents are off-putting and friends put you off, I hope you will remember….

HE WILL NOT.

And, as a favored treasure of His, you have an obligation to live brightly….for Him.  The whole purpose of our life here on earth is to be God’s reflection to others so that they will want to come and know Christ as well.

Ask yourself?  “Does my life portray God in a good light?”

“Am I consistent in my Godly behavior? Do I give of my best first to Him?”

How you are able to answer this matters.  Noone expects perfection, not even the Perfector.

Don’t ask me how to do this.  I don’t have it all figured out.

BUT, what I have learned is that it does require some “EQUANIMITY”….some, “evenness of temperament”, even under stress.

One thing I pray you are able to grasp more of as you grow in maturity is equanimity. 

The ability to keep your temperament even…to think through things, to set goals and walk toward them, to make good decisions.  To guard your words, your actions and your heart. 

And, I can promise you this…there is only one way to do that and it is by following HIS WAY.

Do that.

Don’t just write that you are going to do it.

Do it.

Pray for strength to do it.

Write it on your hands, put stickies around your room to remind you…(like Sarah taught you).

Be purposeful!

Grow equanimity in your life.

And finally, your elephant story….when you were little, I took you to ride on an elephant.  You had to step up high onto a ladder to climb on its back and you didn’t want any help…you could do it “all by myself” you told me.  You giggled and laughed until the moment you got to the top of the ladder.  At that point, you stopped and turned around and looked at me as to say, “I am not sure I can do this….it is too high, the elephant is too big”….

You said out loud, “Mama, I might be afraid”.

Hmm….what does a mother say to that? 

I replied, “Baby, at some point, you have to decide, do I want to be afraid or do I want to ride the elephant?”

To which you very clearly said, “I don’t want to be afraid.”

My reply, “Then be careful, do what the elephant helper tells you and climb on it’s back”.

Never will I forget your getting on top of the elephant and the ear-to-ear “I did it” grin on your face.  You were so proud of yourself and so was I.

Don’t get me wrong, I always want you to be wise in your decision-making.  I want you to think long and hard about the consequences of the decisions you make, but I do pray you are able to walk through your fears and INTO your faith.  You can do that with confidence when you are living for Him and not for yourself.

When you remember whose gift you are….it is simpler to be the Gift you were intended to be.

Blessings,

Mama

I Can Pray….

                   And, So Can You….Let’s Do… 

 

As I sit here in my office, warming myself with a hot cup of tea and some soft music, I wait and I pray.

My children are growing to that stage where life is a constant challenge of “they are still young enough to need parental guidance (do you ever really outgrow that stage?)” to” they are getting old enough to make some of their own decisions.”

Daughter came in from school, threw in a load of laundry to wash, joined us in our bedroom for a time of sharing and laughter and of doing those private mother-ladder-daughter things which make a bond grow firm and tight and real.  I enjoy the relationship Ian and I have with Madison.  It was not one which came easy, but rather was one forged over time and up and down many hills.  I cherish the lilting laughter which rings from her as she pokes fun at our ways while sharing her heart.

Ours is a relationship built strong on the back of never giving up on one-another.  Mother/daughter both have changed a great deal over the past several years, and for the better, as God would provide.

When your daughter sits at your Poppy-made make-up table, using the last of your eyeliner, looks at you and says, “Mama, one reason I love you so much is that you never gave up on me, even when I knew you would have liked to, even when you were exhausted, even when others would have and did.”

I believe her.

My daughter is not perfect. Nor is her mother.  She is a mosaic of many beautiful and un-beautiful decisions in her life.  But, as God is my Holy witness, I would call her heart one of the greatest seeking hearts I know.  What she wants is to find a way in this hard world to live a tender life.  When you have a tender heart in a world which is hard and non-tender, you struggle. 

I realize that now.

I realize, now, that to mother her means to grow in her the ability to be strong.  There is only one thing a mother can do in that environment and with that hope…and, it is to pray.

So, I do.

I have always prayed for my children.  Always.  But, now it is different.  Now I pray with great surrender.  I finally understand that if I truly want my children to be who God intended, I cannot hoard them to myself like a hungry person in a famine.  I must surrender them wholly.

Surrender them to God.

And, so as I sit in my chair, listening to my music and wondering when my boys who spent the night at a friends house will be in, I pray.

I hate it when my children spend the night over at their friends homes.  Agreed.  That does not sound very friendly or faithful of me, but it is the truth.  I long for the days where a night over to a friend’s home meant parents monitoring the whole evening, pizza being eaten, bedtime being midnight in sleeping bags on the floor with a parent sleeping on the couch.  No matter which family they stayed with, I knew both parents, their cell phone numbers, their morals and their standards.  Most, were God-fearing, loving families who guarded my children as if they were precious treasures.

Now, a night over to a friend’s home means a night at a home where I might only know the parent’s from what others tell me or a shared sports experience.  While I still do the “standard” phone call to parents and checking out of where the parent lives.  I still check to see if the parents will be home and if they will be there all night.  I check out their views on alcohol, drugs and sex.   It’s different.

My boys will be eighteen in May.  18.  E I G H T E E N.

An age where everything you hoped to have taught them is being put to the test on a daily basis and in challenging ways you never imagined. 

The impact of that radiates on my heart in a way which I can only express in one way.

Prayer.

We have an open home where our Young-McKenzie family theme is, “better the ugly truth than a pretty lie.”

My children know that my number one non-negotiable is to lie to me.  True gut is a sacred phrase and a way of life at “112”.

As a result, I know things about them which I am proud of, which I am grateful for and even some of which has caused me to lose sleep at night and strands of hair on my brow.

They are good children.  I claim that goodness.  I repeat that goodness to them.

Often.

Because, I realize that it is a journey we are on in this life.  And, no one decision defines the man.  But, it can impact a life.

If you ask my children, they will tell you, “Mama prays that whatever we do is caught.”  I know this because I do and they have experienced it over and over again.  I pray that the good they do is “caught”….the times of sharing and caring and loving and kindness be caught and reflected and imprinted on their hearts so that they know they are doing what is good and right and can follow in that path.

Likewise, I also pray if they are in a situation where they could be at risk of making poor decisions, that they get caught…and, caught tightly. 

NEVER will I stop as long as I breathe….praying that their hearts are not this worlds, but are HIS.

I will never stop because I know that the only real and true and faithful thing I can do to love my children is to love them through prayer.  It is a mother’s journey and one of the greatest ways God has to make Himself real to a mother.

A child’s life is the humble lesson God teaches their mother.

A child’s life is God’s way of reminding a mother of who is in control, and that it is not her.

Surrender is what I have learned from the lives of my children.  Just as I could not determine when they were going to come into this world, I cannot determine how they will live while they walk on this world.  But, what I can do is surrender them in prayer to Him…

For them…

For Madison

For Kenton

For Johnson

And, as I wrote over a year ago, for your child.

If your child has ever crossed paths with mine, and I am aware of them, they are on my “list” of children from whom I pray.  That list is growing….I had to get a new book.

I used to pray for them by name, but am having to blanket them in prayer to get them all covered…

And, I ask that you do the same for mine.

Prayer is a parent’s greatest gift to give their children and to their children’s friends.  Prayer and the knowledge of the person to Whom we pray.

I believe this….there is no greater thing we can be doing….

Than to

PRAY.

Join me.

Blessings,

Lesa

Five Minute Friday: AGAIN

Again

There are places my mind goes to in the early morning, even when time is short and the day’s tasks are long.    Memory lanes, school trips, dancing the “peppermint twist” with my daddy.  People who have long since taken the stairway to the golden gates are with me and bring to heart fond joy and sweet laughter.  Grandmother Frances laughing in the beach water, Granny Perry wiping her hands off on her crisp, white apron as she hands me a homemade corndog.  My Papaw Perry is there kidding me for having a boyfriend when I am only a Kindergartner and Papa Millstead letting me sit on his lap as he rocks slowly in his green, metal lawn rocking chair.  My Aunt Linda brushing my long, brown hair and my Aunt Annie calling my code-name, “Sunkist” over the microphone of her harvest intercom.  Sweetness all wrapped up in yellow and blue memories take over me at times and always, it seems, when I need them the most.  Little gifts of memory-love which I draw from in today’s present to remind me that our lives do matter to those who would follow in our footsteps.   I pause to think of who do I take time to touch with these joy-moments?   So, I walk through my day, pausing, and causing my heart to beat faster and my heart to grow warmer as I take the moment to pause and to touch, to share a laugh and to offer a lap.  I use my technology to send love notes and my pen to ink well wishes.  I wrap my arms around a child and my heart around a husband.  And, I remember the gift of my memories, my senses all pulled into the tender reflections of people who walked before me and beside me and carried me along until all I have of them are the reflections of their spirits which greet me each morning.  I move on with my day with a smile and know that tomorrow, the sweet visits will return, again.

You Know You Are A Novice Hunter When…

Your husband asks you if you wouldlike to go hunting today to check out a new site and you say sure…anytime after  10 am works for me!

Your husband carefully and tenderly gives you all his best hunting gear to wear, including his $250 hunting underwear and you have to add your signature pink “gator” around your neck.

The only hunting boots you have to wear are rain boots with pink, yellow and green flowers on them.

You get all your gear ready and head to your Volvo SUV and don’t realize until your sweet hunting husband laughingly says, “Baby, I think it’s best we take the truck…what do you think?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you go…I am a novice hunter, wife to a very successful Big Game Hunter….I mean Cinnamon Black Bear, European mounted Elk, Turkey fan and beard, 8.5 Lbs Largemouth Bass, 10 and 12 point deer on our office wall hunting- husband.

 

 

And yet, he was very tenderly patient and kind as we traipsed at least 1,000 miles in the zero degree weather up MOUNTAINS, down ravines, through rivers  and in what seemed circles for no less than 12 hours today.  Okay, so it was only 3.5 hours, but all the rest I write is the truth…True Gut (which in our home is cause for penalty of death if you are lying….literally, you lying, you dying if you say True Gut and it ain't true).

There are Ten (10) Rules I learned today.  I am told there are hundreds more….Jeeezzzz

Rule Number 1:  The first thing you pack is toilet paper

Rule Number 2:   Never hunt without a current, valid license…NEVER

Rule Number 3:   Take water, a compass, your weapon and ammunition in that order

Rule Number 4:   Always consider that your weapon may have some recoil a/k/a “kick” for we novices.  I learned the hard way today, but that’s okay.  I am now a certified, true Huntswoman and have the fat lip to prove it

Rule Number 5:  Eat and go potty BEFORE you start out on a cold day…trust me on this one

Rule Number 6:  The best spots to hunt deer typically are where you find fresh “buck rub” and the more “deer trails” you find in one area, generally the better chance you have of finding deer (we saw ten)

Rule Number 7:   You MAY take photos only on non-serious day hunts a/k/a the first time you go out with your hunting husband

Rule Number 8:   You are only allowed to ask “How far to the truck?” one time per hunt

Rule Number 9:   You are allowed to make your husband proud when you hit the walnut target he sets out for you with his 357 Magnum and then hit it again with his 22 Rifle

Rule Number 10:  You must remember that your husband is never lost, he is only scouting a new area

So, it has to be obvious to even the very skilled hunter, I am officially no longer a “novice’ hunter….I have graduated to “novice once-removed” and I am told that to be any good at all (me being a girl and all of that) that I will have to go many, many, many more times and to many other states and even into other countries.  I am also told that until I drop at least $1,000 at Cabelas and another $500 at Bass Pro Shop (during one hunting season), that I have not even begun the journey to Huntress.

And, finally, my husband, on the way home,  said, “Baby, they’ll be no pink camo for you until all the above are met and until you field dress your first deer.”

THAT was the best news I had heard all day…..”dressing” a deer I am sure to be good at.  I know Macy’s and Kohls and Sacks will be as excited as I am.

That is what “dressing a deer means, isn’t it?” I ask my husband, who very wickedly laughs at me and says, “Sure baby, that is exactly what it means”.

Stay tuned for Huntress Lessons Numbered 11 through 20.

Blessings and Happy Hunting,

 

Lesa and Ian, Hunted (I mean huntress) and Hunter

 

 

If It’s Monday, It’s Mama........

D is for Quadruple D’s” (Yea, you read me right)

Sweet Madison,

As you know, this is week four of 2013 “If It’s Monday, It’s Mama” blog and thus, the week for “D”.  This year begins our fourth year of writing our blog…and, people are starting to ask me where I get my ideas each week.  The obvious is that I blog on things going on in your and my life (thus, the frank discussions about life), but ultimately, whatever I write comes from God or from someone God is using to grow me and through me, you.  This week is no exception. 

I Decided this week to solicit the assistance of my Facebook friends in giving me some “D” words to use for this blog and several were kind enough to share.  I appreciate those friends/family members….and their “D-words”…..all of them!  Yes, uh huh, I really do! 

From them, I received things such as: DING-DONG, DELICIOUS , DUMMY, DANDY, DIPSTICK, DORK....Determination, Destined, Darling, Devine, dainty, deploy, deceit, decoy, delectable, desirable, deliver, Daughter, dedicated, dependable, dear, divine, and if she is anything like my girl d-hardheaded, d-stubborn, etc. Dainty, divine, despair, devilish, dependable, daughter, danger/dangerous, destiny, dufus, damned, deranged, dear, daffy duck, dandy, dipstick, distinguished, delicious! Dork.

Which just goes to prove that I have family/friends with a sense of humor and a sense of what matters in lifeJ.  

All of these “D” words are frankly probably applicable to you and me and all of us if truth were told, at some point in our lives.  

While trying to figure out how to use all of these “D”-words from my family/friends, I ran across a video of a sermon from Southland Christian Church which says about the “D’s” in our live and I put it here so you can be blessed as was I. 

The gist of the minister’s lesson is this: 

“Your DECISIONS determine your DESTINATION; Your DESTINATION determines your DIRECTION; and your DIRECTION determines your DISTANCE” (THUS, the four D’s)

Decision

Destination

Direction

Distance 

Jon Weece, Lead Follower (a/k/a Senior Pastor at Southland Christian Church) brings to home the lesson of the “Ds” in a way which is powerful and true and more importantly… 

Godly 

And, it is likely that if you follow his instruction, which is really God’s instruction through Jon, you will likely become friends with all of the other “D” words mentioned above from my family/friends. 

So, this is your homework for this week of “D’s” 

Go…listen and more importantly apply his lesson to us from HIM   

You may have to put this in your address bar, but Do it!  And, Don’t DELAY!  You will be blessed, I promise. 

Go watch it NOW before you continue on in this blog: 

Ready, set, Go…..:) 

www.southland.org/assets/videos/walk-this-way-map-your-route.mp4 or if this does not work, try http://southlandchristian.org/series/walk-this-way/  or, if that does not work, Google Southland Christian Church and go to "walk this way - map your route".  You will be glad you did.
 

DIDN’T you love it?? 

Now, wipe away your tears and keep reading… 

We have a Father in heaven who understands how DIFFICULT it is to walk in this journey of life we are on….and, who does not want us to walk it alone…but with HIM and with the others whom He places in our lives to help us make it through, our “DIUS AMICUS”. (try Latin translations) 

But he requires of us….to DECIDE to choose the old path…the good way….Jeremiah 6:16 and it is there we will find “rest for our souls”…

Thus saith the Lord: “Stand ye in the highways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 

Madison…..DETERMINE in your heart that you will DELIVER your DEDICATED and DAINTY and DESIRABLE heart unto HIM….your heavenly DADDY, the DIVINE DAD of ALL who chose to seek Him with all of their hearts.  DEPLOY your feet onto the path which leads his DIRECTION.  Yes, you will run into some Ding-dong, delectable, dipstick, dorks on that path (for aren’t we all at some point in our lives?), but you will also meet some DEPENDABLE, DEAR and DEVINE people on your way who will make a Devilish, Deranged, Dufus and Damned life more bearable in that they walk with you and for you and loving you with each step you take, always headed toward your heavenly DESTINY….

Those DIUS AMICUS who God places DIRECTLY into our lives to help us on our journey.

Dancette’ yourself (indent HIM on your heart and soul), in a DIAPHANOUS (transparent) and DEVOTED way which is DURUS (enduring) and you will be the DELECTATIO (Delight) of HIS life…

And, in that DELIGHT, you will find all you need to not only have a good life, a DESIRABLE life, a DECENT life, but you will have a

DAUGHTER of the KING kind of life…

And, “DAUGHTER on loan from God of mine”,

THERE is no more DESIRABLE life than being HIS and letting him “lift you high” in surrendering your life, your heart, your ALL to Him, your Heavenly DAD. 

Blessings,

ILYAOYMC,

Mama

 

If It’s Monday, It’s Mama…

C is for Caesura and Courage

We are only 13 days into this New Year and already, so much life has happened. And death. It, too, has happened.

Thirteen days in and already we have buried your beloved Papaw, but you have grown closer to your Mamaw.

We have lost a dear friend, Ken Neller, but we have gained a renewed appreciation for the value of living a life for Christ.

You have worked and at times it has been HARD work, but you have learned that that is why work is called work and why applying ourselves to it brings joy to our souls.

You have returned to college after a long holiday with us, your family.  And, we enjoyed your presence in our home.  But, you also now can re-enjoy independent living as you return to your dorm.

Life fills and fills us up and if we are not careful, rather than us living our lives, our lives will live us.

That is why we need “Caesura” in our lives…

Caesura are natural breathing spaces in the lines of musical verse.  A quick respite to catch your breath and take in air.

My prayer for you as you live your LIFE-filled, activity-ridden, time-crunched life is to be sure to purposefully take a Caesura…..

Breathe in…

Excel out….

God did not put us here merely to exist.

He placed us here to LIVE and to live abundantly….

Fully…

Blessedly…

I’m not sure exactly how to do all God has for us, but He does, and I do believe it comes with pausing and breathing and praying and seeking Him….

Asking Him…

Breathing IN Him and OUT Him

In moments of our days….our lives

So, as you begin this new semester….the newest chapter in this musical called “life”, I challenge you to daily take Caesuras…….moments…..opportunities to breathe in and out….and discover not only what it is that God has for you, but more importantly, seek to know HIM….

And live….

And, within that living, I pray you find Courage…..

Courage in all aspects of your life…..in school, in work, in friendships, in worship, family, dating, loving….

In coming to Know GOD….

The campus minister of Southland Christian Church, Gary Black, wrote this….and, so I share with you….he says it well….

Have Courage….to seek to know HIM…..in your daily living…

Lord,

lately you're

Impressing upon me

that it's more important

to seek to know YOU

than it is to seek to know

Your will for my life. 

I've spent a lot of

sleepless nights

trying to discover

what it is that you

want me to do.

Perhaps I should've been

trying to discover

YOU instead. 

So today, Lord,

I'm seeking You.

I fully expect

to find You,

and when we connect,

each moment will

be very, very special 

There is a difference, you know, between seeking His will for OUR lives and seeking to know HIM.

The former (first thing) is wanting to know about US…what is going to happen to us…for us….what will our lives be like.  But, the latter (the second part) is wanting to know HIM…becoming aware of Him….living for Him.

The difference lies in the focus...

If you seek to know God....HE will deliver on shaping your life because that is what He promises.  The more you come to know HIM, the more His messages, directions, encouragements shape you and your life. So, ultimately, Knowing Him, will draw you to knowing "them"....the paths of your life and you end up with both things.

And, the end result is knowing HIM changes YOU into who you need to be.

I would still seek His will for your life....but, I would strive harder to come to know Him.

Be boldly courageous in living your life.  Be even more bold in seeking to know Him.

In my own life, it is during those Caesura moments that I take Him in.....

Make time for the Caesura....

And, live in courage....and faith that what you seek, YOU Will find.

Blessings,

ILYAOYMC,

Mama