Best Day: Part 3

Have you ever experienced the feeling that God was talking directly to you? Well, I felt it the other day when I stopped in at a Christian bookstore and found this little book in the 1/2 price bin. (Meant to be!) Just the day before, and the post below, I talked about it being the "best" day ever for a lot of reasons.

It states on the back cover.....

The fact that God loves you, that He cares about you, and that He is on your side are three key reasons why today is your best day. "When your life if in God's hands, every day is your best day!."

I can usually find something to celebrate in each day. There is an occasional day when it is hard. Some days I feel like am being pulled in too many directions....and then it's so great to have a little book full of reminders to realign my perspective. It's not a great day because of what I got to do or what I had to do, but because of what God has done for me. Gotta LOVE it!

Another Best Day Ever.....

Many, many posts ago....the best day ever happened at our house. Today we are having another one! When Joe went to bed last night, he couldn't wait to go to sleep so that he could wake up for today. It is the best day ever because he played volleyball all day at the Woodstock District Christian School Tournament in London! Both the boys and the girls from Strathroy placed FIRST! It was such a fun day to sit and watch volleyball all day, chat with people you know from your present AND your past! This week someone said to me with a grimace on their face, "You have to sit there ALL day??" And I replied with my "looking-forward-to-it-so-much" voice, "I'm so excited to go and SIT there ALL day!!" It is such fun, but I guess it's not for everyone.

At the DeBoer house it has become a tradition to tune into the annual Lion's Club TV Auction and we often bid on a few things. Joe apparently thinks this is a lot of fun. Who knew?? It is such fun, but I guess it's not for everyone.

And last but not least....Joe can't wait to play hockey tonight! Fridays have been Joe's favourite day for a while now. Friday is band day, and he gets to play drums for the band, which he LOVES!!!! And today it had all these fun things in it....fun for us, but maybe not for everyone!

My Windows....

I wish you could see where I run. It is so quiet there, at least for my eyes. There are two "ponds", let's just call them that....surrounded by reeds and shrubs and the occasional tree. There is a gravel path all the way around with grass growing up through it. It is regularly mowed. An incredible variety of wildflowers and herbs grow here in this mixed habitat, some wetland species, some woodland species, and some that like to grow in disturbed areas like roadsides. It is awesome to witness how the seasons change here. You see the milkweed sprout and send out their big succulent leaves, then they bloom in the Summer. So many tiny miniature orchid like blossoms in one head, that eventually wilts and by Fall it will have formed a pod...3 or 4 to a stem. Inside the pods are rows upon rows of flat brown seeds with their white silky fluff. The seeds are designed this way to lift off one by one. I hope you take the time to open a pod sometime and see the wonder of the arrangement inside, and then marvel at God who created this marvel. A couple of weeks ago all the pods released their seeds at the same time, and I wanted to find one for a picture this week and there were none left, not a single dud that hadn't opened.

This odd area is also home to many species of wildlife. We've seen lots of groundhogs, rabbits, muskrats, deer, foxes, turtles, snakes, toadies and frogs....and lots and lots of birds. It is so cool when you are running in the fall, and wave after wave of migrating geese come in for a landing. It isn't unusual for there to be a thousand geese bobbing up and down at the same time. There are ducks, usually just plain old ducks, but the odd white faced one. Those are really skittish and I can never get close enough to get a good look at the markings to identify it at home later (it seems that they have a different comfort zone than regular ducks). The geese do not perceive me as a threat when I run by ( I don't go THAT fast!) but the ducks take off every time!

Today I saw a bald eagle. What a huge bird! It was on the right of the path, in the top of a tall tree, the water to my left and it took off without a sound....at least I didn't hear a thing from 100 feet away. So there it soars....and I just keep running, smooth path in front of me, eyes on the eagle....thinking all kinds of eagle thoughts.

It is very peaceful here. The sky is wide and sunsets are incredible. It feels like the wilderness, yet it is completely man made...except for the flora and the fauna. My brain loves the input I feed it here.

Maybe my eyes need this, it is said that eyes are the window to the soul. And as light pours out of a window when it is night, so light must pour in when it is day.

Yeay for Catchy Tunes.....NOT!

LOTD brought to you by Ray....

I was driving home from a run at the lagoons nearby and I was expecting another innocuous Aerosmith song to come on the radio. The tape that is currently stuck in the tape deck is a mixed tape from my beloved's highschool and college days.... Out pours a punk beat that launches into "Johnny B rotten tonight...." Thanks Hon, thanks a LOT!

An Apple A Day...

I was reading a devotional the other day that talked about the gifts we have. The entire book is about apples. This particular reading centred on the 1000's of varieties of apples that exist.

In a recent sermon, we heard about giftnedness, and how we use our gifts to serve . We ALL have at least one.

Just like there are many different kinds of apples, we are different people, created with different gifts, and because our gifts are different we bear different fruit. I thought that was sooo cool.

Sometimes we wish that we were like someone else, but God needs us to be who He created us to be. If you try to be like someone else, you will be an imposter. You have to be "true to your raw material" (John Ortberg). God created you the way you are, to bear the fruit that He created you to bear, to meet the needs in the circumstance He has placed you. No one else can fill that space but you.

You might not feel like you need to be in a certain place, but maybe someone in that place needs you....just the way you are.

Scars or Not

It so happens that I finished my book club book yesterday and while I read, I write down quotes. You know...sometimes somebody says something and you think...that's exactly what I mean!!! (We are meeting later this month to discuss "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. )

I am not a philosophical anthropologist by any stretch of the imagination, but I am fascinated by what makes people tick, and what's behind some of the things that we do and the way that we act. I'm sure that's why other people write....

This quote is near the end of the book.

"...And when I first showed him my scar, he said it was interesting. He used the word "textured". He said "smooth" was boring but "textured" was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever it was that tried to hurt me." p.286

Scars aren't always on the outside. Often they are on the inside. I just encountered a situation where someone looked at a scar on their heart and to them it captured the hurt that they were STILL feeling, after 2 years. Why do some people overcome their pain and others are held back by it? Why do some people move on and grow, and others don't? Do people look at their scars and see it as proof of being hurt or proof of being healed?

It's not something one sits around and dwells on...but it comes up once in a while.

I've always looked at pain and struggles as moments of great growth in my life. We all have times like that. There are scars that people know about and scars you don't show anyone. I acknowledge that they exist. Once in a while I wonder if people would understand me better if they knew about some of those scars. But no one knows about them, and I am thankful to be a product of Grace. It is enough that God knows. Scars are also a sign that you have experienced healing; A badge that shows that you are stronger than the thing that tried to hurt you. I have a scar on my foot from a burn, but I am no longer a burn victim. I love how many people were involved with the healing process...but what about the hurts that no one knows about? When no one knows, no one can help, no one can pray for you.... When one other person knows, two people can carry it. Imagine the weight distribution when a whole community knows! Awareness frees, and acceptance encourages and builds up. Awareness also creates sensitivity and possibly pain prevention.

I don't let my "scars" hold me back but once in a while I feel a phantom pain. Then I cling to God's promises to me, and He never fails. When you ask for healing, you have to trust that you will receive it. Rarely instantaneous, healing usually takes the scenic route, and when you take time to savour the scenery on the way out of the valley... bask in the Presence...it becomes a beautiful part of your healing journey, but you'll only see it if you cast that look over your shoulder to see what you've come through. This becomes the balm for the soul, and that's something to share with others and hope that someday, they too will feel okay about their scars.



PS I was just driving home from Nancy's and this song was playing...so you get a LOTD afterall:
"..., no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His Hand..." (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend), 2001 Thankyou Music. So even when you experience pain, it can never wrench you out of God's grip. He will hold you in the palm of His hand.

Cirque!

Cirque was awesome!!! Although, Alegria was not quite as good as Corteo. The theme, singing, music and costumes were better with Alegria, but the acts of Corteo pushed the envelope farther. Still an awesome show...and the clowns were soooo funny.

LOTD (Lyric of the Day)

I thought it was high time I update this spot... I've been thinking for a long time that I should add a new feature. Often I have a song stuck in my head, sometimes somebody puts it there (Don't you love it when that happens!!!! especially if it's "I'm a little teapot" THANKS JOE!!.), and sometimes it's from a CD.

Always a little behind the times, I recently got the new U2 CD "No Line On the Horizon". It's awesome!! Feels like vintage U2, just Bono and the boys. My favourite song is "Moment of Surrender". One line says, "I did not notice the passers-by and they did not notice me"...sometimes that's just the way we like it, sometimes not. Sometimes you're just aching for someone to notice that you're about to lose it.... Sometimes you're so caught up in your moment that you don't notice what is going on around you....it's neat when that happens during worship....

Last week I played an old Switchfoot album all week. "Oh! Gravity"has the most awesome drums intro, and I love "Awakening", oh and my most favourite "Twenty Four" from the album "Beautiful Let Down"(and that's an awesome song too....)

Leave me a note...what song were you singing all day?

Today is going to be a fun busy day. Last night we attended the Goods and Services Auction at our school. We raised over $33,000!!! This morning Joe is playing in a volleyball tournament, this afternoon Ray and I are going to Cirque du Soleil, "Alegria", and tonight we pick Craig up in Mt Elgin at a friend's house. They went to The Royal Winter Fair in Toronto.

Look for a new link soon! Joe's teacher Mr W is going to Kenya for just over a month, where his wife will be job shadowing at a hospital in Kapsowar, 6 hours outside of Nairobi! So...lets all check everyday... :):) No pressure Kevin!