Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

As I was making Valentine cards for those I am privileged to love, my heart filled to overflowing with the blessing of having ones to love. It really comes down to seeing the giving of love as thrilling as the getting of it. As I put aside thoughts that try to trouble me, 'what-if's' that want to distract me, let us look at what some others have said about this amazing grace, a thing called love.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." -Jesus
"Without love, the poor and rich man live in the same house."-unknown
"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit." Ustinov
"Love is the condition in which the happiness of the other person is essential to your own. -Moore
"Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world."-Dyer
"Love makes your soul crawl out of its hiding place."-unknown
Love doesn't make the world go around. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

"A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it.
Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay,

Love isn't love 'til you give it away." -Oscar Hammerstein

"Love is not love which alters when if alteration finds." -Shakespeare
"There is no greater spectacle than a beautiful woman cooking dinner for someone
she loves."
"I never knew how to worship until I learned how to love." Henry Ward Beecham
"Love is the greatest touch up artist of all." -Braun (ever grateful for that!)
"I love you not only for what you are, but what I am when I am with you." -Browning
"To illustrate the power of love is to set a candle in the sun."
"Hell is to no longer love."
"Love, like death, levels all ranks and lays the shepherd's crook beside the king's scepter."

My advice for the day? Fall in love with love, it never fails!
ever grateful for that!

When your hands are tied

"How reasonable to trust ourselves, our children, to infinite love, infinite wisdom and infinite power."
Have your hands ever been tied by total inability to change something that your heart screams to change? As I seek the Lord for comfort and assurance that HIS hands are never unable to move in behalf of those I love, I am prompted to remember....remember how He has never failed us. Like David, I cry "why are you cast down, oh my soul?" I know the answer. I am cast down today because my child walks around with a broken heart and I have a "fix-it" idol that has met its match. I cannot fix it. I cannot make her circumstances go away. I cannot even tell her they will go away.
We find ourselves in that place we have never wanted to find ourselves in. The place is called "helplessness." It is amazing how seldom I have visited this dreaded place. In my self-centered world where I can tweek most everything a bit to make it more comfortable for me, God, in His love and wisdom, has brought me to a place of complete and utter dependence upon Him.
I have no answers. I have no advice. I have no power. He reminded me today thru a dear friend to never look upon anything without looking at it through the filter of the cross. The cross is the final and ultimate proof of God's love. So, I remember His love. I remember His unfailing love and wait upon Him. He will do for me and my beloved family what we cannot do for ourselves.

Enter like a little child

Oh, precious carefree childhood! When Jesus said you enter the Kingdom of Heaven like a little child, I am just beginning to understand what He means. Children believe, children trust, children accept, children play, children don't hold grudges, children don't worry about tomorrow.

While on a retreat last weekend, a mother told the story about her little boy in his car seat asking when he was going to Heaven. "Not anytime soon," the mother explained. "Jesus is in Heaven making a wonderful home just for you, and when it is ready He will come and get you."
Her son replied, "Do you know what I'm gonna do until Jesus comes and gets me? I'm just gonna play."

Wow! Could we believe like that, entrusting all our cares to Him, and just be? Do we dare try to enjoy this journey down here, leaving all the big stuff to Him ? Could we, like little children, do whatever He asks without having to know all the why's of it all, go wherever He leads without always having to know ahead of time every step of the journey, how long it will take, and what the final destination is? Could we, with child-like faith, put our heads on our pillows tonight not fretting over what tomorrow will hold, how we might hurt, how much faith we will need, how we might fail? The answer is yes, we can. It takes deeply knowing who our Father is and how dearly He loves us.
That is the gospel, trusting God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and believing HE WILL!
Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children." Matthew 11:25
ever grateful for that!

The Saturday you've always wanted

Here at last! A snowy Saturday, everything, I mean everything cancelled because of the snow (with the just right amount of ice on top). No wedding shower to attend, no appointment to keep, no ballgame to cheer, no groceries to get, no NOTHING but the building of a fire, studying the Word, listening to music, eating taco soup and cornbread, watching the birds and writing in my little blog!
By the way, 2 comments on yesterday's blog broke my comment record -you know who you are so give yourselves a little squeeze from me.

Let's close with some lovely and true quotes about snow:

"Kindness is like snow-it beautifies everything it covers." -unknown
"Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery."
"Advice is like snow-the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"The Battle is Mine, saith the Lord"

Beware blogger friends. I was so excited to announce that I had a comment from someone in China, written in the lovely Chinese letters which, of course, I cannot read. Hoping to gain understanding and maybe see"love your blog", I showed it to Phil, and I clicked on the message--no, not "love your blog!" Up popped a PORNO KITTEN from China!!! So much for my ego!

Life so far this year has been a case study in "not what one plans" for the new year, or any old year for that matter. However, because of the serious illness of a beloved family member, I have had the privilege of going to the battlefield, serving the troops, and hunkering down in little foxholes with Jesus, our Commander and Chief. He is teaching all of us how to trust him, actually, that He IS our trust.
One of the most valuable lessons thus far is finally sinking in with this training--you do NOT run, there is no peace, no comfort, and no provision for a soldier on the run from the battle God has you in. On the contrary, protection and peace come from meeting your enemy head on, with the knowledge that, unlike normal warfare,we are strengthened by the surrender of our wills to the will of our Lord, and triumphant in the knowledge that God, our Sword and Shield, goes before us in every skirmish.
One thing for certain, in this battle with fear and "what-if", there is an amazing power available to battle weary soldiers. That power comes from trusting in the NAME, the name above all names, the name that has the power to become its name for you in time of need. A name that beckons us to look not at the circumstances of the battle, but look the character of our Leader. Let us learn to trust that name, Jesus, our Advocate, Jesus, our Hiding Place, Jesus, Our Chief Shepherd, Jesus, our deliverer, Jesus, our Shelter, Jesus, the Lover of our Souls.
We will have battles to fight all the rest of our lives. Let us never lose sight of the precious and life altering fact that God Himself, our Redeemer, has already won the War! In every grip of fear the enemy tries to hold you in, look up--God's banner over you is love.
-ever grateful for that!

hip hip hooray!

It may be a tad early for us to be talking about snow, but come cool weather, rain, sleet,or freezing nights, we are officially READY! When we looked for a new home one thing that was on the top of the have-to-have (Lord willing) list: a wood burning fireplace. Well, talk about "grateful", this girl was and is more than grateful to have found such a lovely one that works so well and provides the same exact coziness as our old one, the same exact comfort, and the same exact thrill. Now, if that were not enough, today we put together our wood rack and stacked our new load of wood on it. Honestly, as I think I said in a past entry, I almost have to call 911 when I see wood stacked, ready and waiting.

Is it the "ant syndrome," you know, being ready for winter? Or is it more the romance of cutting, stacking and working together that makes the enjoyment of a wood fire so lovely? Is it the warmth, the unmatchable smell, or the welcome it evokes that makes it so wonderful? I don't really know why a fire brings such joy, but I am ever grateful for it and a soul mate to share it with who seems to love it as much as I.

"the darker the storm, the brighter the fire," Jane Austen

the morning sun

This little entry is for you, Brenda, my most faithful and maybe only follower.
One wonderful truth God has taught me is to look for anything and everything that I am grateful for and take the time to ponder the nourishing effect it has upon my everyday life. There is a daily occurrence that has remained near the top of my list for years, the morning sun. It fills my house with early golden light, moving across the floor (revealing previously invisible dust) and highlighting objects that I love, giving them an ethereal glow for a moment. Many mornings you may find me slowly moving around the rooms waiting and watching for this momentary magic trick only the sun can pull off. I have taken so many pictures, but none ever do justice to the thrill if affords.

One reward I receive for early rising is to be met by long, bright rays of sunshine flooding the hall as I leave my bedroom. God's everlasting faithfulness is once again revealed by the constant return of the sun, a life-giving miracle that we often take for granted. I suppose that without realizing it, the sun has always carried more than warmth and light for me. It is a reminder of "new mercies" that always accompany a new day in Christ Jesus. New hope, new opportunities, a new way to see something......

"No matter how dark the night, somehow the morning sun rises over again and all shadows are chased away." David Click
ever grateful for that!