I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me,  when I should ask what kind of me God wants for his mission.  Christopher J.H. Wright So often it isn't the mission that is God's focus as much as it is the people he's called to it.  God knows when each of us are ready for the mission he has in mind.  Problem is we want to push up that timeline - we focus too much on the mission and not enough, or at all, on the inner man.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that in order to set our hands and feet to the missions of God we have to have a healthy inner man.  We have to have integrity in our personal and work lives, we have to know when to speak and when to be quiet, we have to have an awareness of the culture we are in, etc.  I think you probably see what I am getting at.  The beauty of God is that he allows us opportunities to participate in his missions at all stages of our inner man development.  He doesn't say that we have to be "100%".  If that were the ca

We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.   Johann von Goethe Ever run into someone who has decided, consciously or unconsciously, to stay a certain way - whether that's an age, behavior, mindset, etc?  It's painful isn't it?  It's painful to have to live with this person - whether that is literally or in a setting like work, etc.  Not allowing change because of desire to "fit in" with the age group you wish you could be forever, or because of laziness about taking on life responsibilities, or because of fill in the blank is one of the most detrimental things we can do to ourselves.  And it is OUR choice.  Nobody else can own that.  People may try to control it or own it but we always have a choice.   What happens when we choose not to change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves?  We become hard in all the places being hard is damaging.  We become hard of heart, we become hard in relationships, we become hard-headed (ha, I totally ha

The only life worth living is a scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith. Let joy live loud in your soul. Ann Voskamp I love this quote.  I love it for the use of the word scandalous.  What a cool word.  Now if you look it up in the dictionary and see its meaning you might think I have gone off the deep end for saying it's a cool word.  But stick with me.  One of its definitions is this:  offensive to propriety or morality.  That's where things get cool when you combine faith and scandal. Jesus caused a lot of scandal in his day as he walked from town to town and offended the ideas, practices, and relationships that had been set up.  He offended a bunch of people with his lavish love, his unending mercy, and his talk of how to live in faith.  He was scandalous in all the best ways possible.  And here's the cool thing.  He calls me to do it to...and you!   And he gave us examples and equipped us.  SO COOL.    The second part of Voskamp's quote

Do not regret growing older.  It is a privilege denied to many.   Unknown I love growing older.  I do!  Ask people who know me well.  There is no age I dread.  Oh I don't necessarily like the part of growing older than includes aches and pains in the body in places you never knew existed.  But I love growing older.  One reason I talked about yesterday .  Other reasons would be the life experience that I have now feeds into my day to day life and I love that; I've also gained perspective on people, situations, circumstances, etc; I'm much more settled in my skin - in who I am and what kind of things I have to offer the people in my world.  All good reasons to love growing older. I'm sorry for those who dread the aging process.  I'm sorry that they can't appreciate the bigger picture and the wealth of life that growing older provides (and I'm not talking about material wealth!). When people moan and groan about getting older I think of people like my life

One advantage of growing older is looking back and seeing that God has not made a single mistake in my life.   Evelyn Christenson Some people, a lot of people?, are going to read today's quote and disagree.  They will pull up all their examples of mistakes  they think God has made in their lives.  I'm going to issue a challenge.  Do another inventory, take another long look at your life, consider carefully the things you think are mistakes - are they really?  And are they God's mistakes or yours ? I look back on my life - way past and more recent past - and can see the mistakes made were never God's but mine.  And I've got to own them.  God doesn't make mistakes but I make plenty.  In fact, I make quite a few especially when it comes to God!  It's MY mistake when I follow a direction I think he has pointed me in only to arrive at the dead end.  And he's so gracious to provide plenty of clues along the way but I'm bound and determined to see it thr

You find out if you understand the gospel when you fail. Approach the throne of grace with confidence? Or go away to “clean yourself” before going back to God? If we don’t approach the throne of grace boldly after sinning, we don’t understand or we forgot the Gospel.   Matt Chandler Newsflash:  you can't get clean enough before approaching God.  You can't.  So don't even try.  Just go. And go BOLDLY. Hebrews 4:16 tells us we can.  Actually Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us why we can go as dirty as we might be before God - because God gets it.  He's experienced all that we have but stopped at the point of sinning.  (He had to or else he couldn't be our Savior.)  So he gets the temptations, the doubts and fears that lead us down roads we didn't think we would ever travel, the moment of insanity in which we do something that leads us down a spiraling staircase.  He gets it and he doesn't condemn us for it...when we come to him.  But we can't get clean enough bef

Jesus Friend of sinners we have strayed so far away  We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing  Jesus friend of sinners the truth's become so hard to see  The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me  Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded  A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided  Oh Jesus friend of sinners  Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers  Let our hearts be led by mercy  Help us reach with open hearts and open doors  Oh Jesus friend of sinners break our hearts for what breaks yours  Jesus friend of sinners the one who's writing in the sand  Make the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands  Help us to remember we are all the least of these  Let the memory of Your mercy bring your people to their knees  Nobody knows what we're for only against when we judge the wounded  What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.   Mark Twain The thing about telling a lie is you have to remember what you've said so that you can keep up the lie and not get caught in it!  So Twain gives a piece of very practical advice, a memory tip.  Tell the truth.  Simple as that.  Tell the truth and you don't have to remember what you said.  Would you rather get caught in a lie or caught in the truth?  :)

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I don't have to do what everyone else is doing.   Unknown Today's quote challenges me in that place where I picked up people pleasing (fear of man) behaviors.  In my people pleasing days I tried to please everyone by doing what they were doing...even if it wasn't the right choices. I realized quite a few years back that by doing that I was acting like a cut out cookie.  Yes you heard me right - a cut out cookie.  See here's the thing about cut out cookies (which I love btw but I am dangerously close to digression again so we'll leave it at that), they are all the same.  They are uniform and exactly the same.  No individualism coming from a cut out cookie.  Now you see what I am saying right?  :)  I'm not a cut out cookie and neither are you!  And the good news is we don't have to be!  Oh there will be people in my life and yours who want you and I to be but we don't have to.  We can choose to be our our kind of co

You never really truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother.   Attributed to Albert Einstein Ha, I love this quote.  I love it because it is so true.  We over complicate things and then when we are forced to explain them to someone who doesn't have a lot of exposure to the thing we are forced ourselves to slow down, listen to what we are saying, and more often than not I find I gain a clearer way of doing or looking at the thing.  Sometimes even a better way of doing a task emerges from me trying to explain it to someone else.   I've had to explain several things to my grandparents (taking today's quote literally) and can you imagine how silly and even stupid Facebook (for example) sounds when trying to explain it to them? :) It's hysterical to me.  They just seem confused.  And they are right to be confused.  In the example of Facebook - since when is virtual connection better and more fulfilling than face to face and voice to voice

Ordinary work, which is what most of us do most of the time, is ordained by God every bit as much as is the extraordinary.  All work done for God is spiritual work and therefore not merely a duty but a holy privilege.   Elisabeth Elliot The CEO may think his/her job is more important and significant than the Janitor's but he/she would be wrong.  He/she is wrong.  God does not classify us.  He doesn't classify us according to sin (different blog), he doesn't classify us according to skin color (again, different blog), he doesn't classify us according to gender (yep you guessed it, different blog), and he doesn't classify us according to jobs (that's this blog). All work done, when done toward God and not man, brings God glory.  When we do it for any other reason it will fail on some level.   Don't believe me?  Okay.  :)  When we put our hands, and feet, to anything with the sole purpose of crediting God then it transforms into holy, sacred work.  Even t

Be careful with your words.  Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.   Unknown The tongue is one of the sharpest weapons we each possess.  It wields great power that brings life or death to the hearer.  (Read this for more about the tongue.) Our tongues deliver words but the words are born in our hearts.  One might argue with me and say they come from the mind but our minds and tongues are only a delivery system of our hearts.  Click here .  :)  So, yes, be careful with your words.  Before you speak them, think about them, and then you may need to examine your heart.  It's always wise to put ourselves in the place of others.  Think about the last time someone said something sharp and wounding to you.  Hopefully you've been able to forgive them and their careless words but I'm betting you haven't forgotten them.  I'm guessing that from time to time they echo in your head and heart and you have to do some work to put those hurtful words back

There's a difference between being drained and being poured out. One is exhausting and   debilitating, the other  is exhilarating and affirming. Pour into others and you'll fill up. I promise.   Jamie The Very Worst Missionary (Jamie Wright - find her on FaceBook or check her out here ) The only way to really fill up your life is to pour into others.  We have been created to be a relational people and the only way that gets fully satisfied is when we relate to others, i.e. pour into them.  I love Jamie's thought for today's quote.  She's right on the money.  And there's another side to it that she didn't point out but I will (although I am sure she would "hear hear" me).   The only way to fill up is to pour out or be drained.  You can't fill up what is already full.  And to stay full with no replenish of fresh resources means only one thing - you gonna get stagnant and stanky.  Just sayin'.  And you know I'm right.  In fact, as you

As we grow up, we realize it is less important to have lots of friends, and more important to have real ones.   Unknown This is a hard lesson to learn.  Our culture teaches us that more is the goal, more means you "win", more is best.  So when it comes to relationships we try to gather the most friends out of anyone else.  But let's face it.  Most of those friendships are surface.  They don't count for much.  Even most adults are still grappling with this lesson.  Most have not learned it. I'm still on my own journey.  I still have to fight the "but I only have __ number of friends."  Usually when I think that, when it sneaks past me in a weak moment, I then review the friends I do have - the ones that know me, the ones that have stuck by me through thick and thin, the ones that know how to pray for me without asking me - can read between the lines of my FB status updates *grin* - can read the expressions on my face.  The review usually leads me back

No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.   Aesop I now have that song running through my head.  I'm sorry are you asking what song?!  Haven't you heard this ?  Okay now that we've got that out of the way... :) Today wraps up a week at YLSC of Gratitude and Secret Gratitude Agents.  It has been such a fun week - full of secrets and creativity and covert ops.  :)  Being the Front Desk means my co-worker and I get to participate in a lot of the fun of the covert ops and we get to see a lot of what people are getting as their secret agent shows them some gratitude.  It has been a huge hit - I'm campaigning for it to be an annual thing! This week I have seen some "small" acts of kindness take people and their spirits a long way.  We all need a show of kindness and gratitude.  It's my soapbox - *you* may think it is "small" and not worth doing/saying/etc but small to you may be HUGE to someone else.  And no small thing is ever wasted

Only the curious have something to find.   Nickel Creek A lack of curiosity is a shame.  It leads to a life lived one dimensional, void of color, unfulfilled. Growing up I was always told, "Curiosity killed the cat." Basically I took that to mean, as did anyone else I know as well as I think the messenger of the phrase, that being curious was bad and would only lead to bad things (i.e. death - being curious KILLED a cat for heaven's sake!) and so squelch your curious nature, your inquisitiveness, your thirst to discover new things, and just play it safe.  Conform to the freaking box someone was trying to shove you in.  Huh.  I feel a lot more strongly about this than I realized. Until just now. There's so much out there.  There's colors that exist that Crayola hasn't thought of.  There's books to be read that could be your most favorite ever if you give them a chance.  There's puzzles (i.e. LIFE) to solve and a sense of accomplishment to wear prou

Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.   Robert A Heinlein Oh being a parent is not for the faint of heart.  Can I get an "amen"?!  And part of being a parent is that torn feeling.  Torn between sheltering them from everything bad and hard and between letting them go a bit on their own so they can learn and grow into responsible humans.  I understand that bubble we want to create around our kids.  I experienced it just today as I dropped the youngest off for her first day of middle school in a school roughly 10 times bigger than what she is used to.  I could have walked her all the way to the gym, I wanted to walk her all the way to the gym and then sit with her and make sure that someone talked to her and she was okay and and and.... But that would have been the easy thing to do.  And in the long run it would have ended up being her handicap rather than what she needs.  So I stopped at a certain point in the building and I said, "I can't go a

Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful.   Hazrat Inayat Khan Would you believe I think this is one of the most beautiful places in the world?  Oh sure it has it's ugly spots, it has its dark places, it has its grief but it also has great beauty.  Why in the world do I think that?  Why do I look at this and long to be there?  Because some of the people who live in this slum in East Africa (Mathare Valley, Kenya) have made this place beautiful.  They have walked in the dark places, they have touched the ugly spots, they have grieved with the sad and they have introduced beauty to the inhabitants of this place.  They looked for a beautiful place in this valley and couldn't find it so instead of moving on they began to introduce beauty.  They didn't give up on this place or it's people, they worked - they are still working! - to bring beauty and make it beautiful.   Can't find the beautiful place?  How about introducing beauty to

Start by doing what is necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.   St. Francis of Assisi The talk of "just begin" isn't new to this 365.  I've already talked about it quite a bit but us humans have the worst memories.  We just can't seem to remember the really important stuff for long.  So here we are again at a variation of "just begin".   No baby I know has ever started just walking.  There's a reason for the phrase "baby steps".  That doesn't apply to just babies, it applies to anything in life we are learning to begin.  We take small "baby" steps forward.  We learn to get our legs underneath us, our balance right, and then our steps get bigger and bigger as we practice.  We begin to walk with more confidence as we continue to be faithful to take the steps.  Assisi has it right - "baby steps" are what is necessary, getting our legs and balance working together are what i

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.   Albus Dumbledore (aka J.K. Rowling!) Ever been amazed at someone who able to be happy in the midst of really dark times?  It's because they flipped the light on.  It's because  they are privy to a secret that we need to know as well.  The secret?  Happiness is found in all places of life.  Even in hard, dark moments.  Maybe most especially in hard, dark moments.  Happiness without depth is fleeting but happiness that is deep is coveted.  It's the difference between two terminally ill patients - one who is at peace and smiling and generous with everyone around them and the other who is angry and mean to everyone around them.  The first flipped the switch to on, the second couldn't find the switch. Happiness is there.  It's yours for the taking. Just flip the switch to on.

If you aren't enamored, captivated, by Jesus then perhaps you should consider if you have ever really met him. Dan Jessup At Family Camp my friend Dan was club speaker.  This is what we talked about.  The person of Jesus.  Does he enamor you?  Are you captivated by him?  No?  Then have you met him...really?  I venture to say "no".  Dan is right.  If you aren't enamored by Jesus then you probably haven't truly met him, just a glimpse is all you've gotten and chances are good it wasn't an accurate glimpse.   See when I really met Jesus I became speechless, awed, humbled, amazed, and a crying mess.  Just the thought of him gets me weepy.  He is beyond words.  I've really met him and it wasn't on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night. It was in my life that I really and truly met him.  It was without a Pastor telling me what to do and how to do it.  It was without textbook answers and false appearances.  It was in the nitty-gritty of my life.  It was

The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.   Rainer Maria Rilke What we allow ourselves to see is important to what our hearts look forward to do.  But sometimes the images are hard.  And I've seen in many people an unwillingness, knowingly or unknowingly, to let what they have seen impact their heart so they can go do the heart-work necessary.   A couple of months ago there was a docu-film released called, "No Kid Hungry".  It focused on hungry kids in America.  I watched it and there were some hard realities about kids in America shared.  I wanted my oldest to watch it - I think it's important she understand and see what is happening in our local communities, never mind the world.  We'll get to that.  She won't watch it.  She doesn't want to see suffering, she doesn't want to cry at what she sees and hears (because she will and she knows it).  She is unwilling to even see with her eyes so that he

If you have room for pride then you do not have room for love.   Unknown Pride is that obnoxious guest that takes over the room with its "me me me me" behavior.  "Look at me, listen to me, it's all about me."  That's pride and it's personality.  Pride is so consuming that eats up consideration, kindness, gratefulness, and the point of today's quote - love.  Pride is an effective obstacle to genuine relationships which include some kind of love - whether that be philia (friendship) or eros (romantic).  Pride doesn't allow the heart to have a sincere affection and love for another because it is so worried about being fed.  Pride is obese and it's time to go on a diet.  Starve yourself of pride and you will find that you have the capacity to genuinely love.

What is the point of all of this if you aren't going to let it change you?   Francis Chan Today's quote and commentary is dedicated to one of my besties.  Sara "Sunshine" Pfaff-O chieng. If you are my FB friend then perhaps you've seen her and I together on FB.  Here we are a little over a month ago.  We are at the airport and I'm hugging her off to go marry her beloved, Paul.  He's a Kenyan and they married in Kenya since the U.S. was being stinky about letting him come for a visit here so they could marry in the States.  What's CRAZY about my Sara's story is this:  a short year ago, on this date, she had no plans to marry anyone and move her whole life.  Amazing what can happen in a few short months.   Sara went to Kenya last summer (2011) for a 7 week missions trip.  She met Paul in about the last hour she was in Nairobi and now they are married.  Paul, who is AMAZING, currently teaches and lives in Oman.  So Sara tried to get a job in

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.   Robert Louis Stevenson I'm a black thumb.  I always say that if it's not human I can't help to keep it alive.  :)  Seriously.  I follow watering and light directions exactly (or so I believe) and still anything I have planted (and I use that term loosely and if you know me well enough you know what I mean!) or anything given to me to keep alive I manage to kill off.  It's frustrating. Sometimes my life feels like that.  I imagine you might be nodding your head in agreement.  You know what I'm saying right?  We take time to till the soil, plant the seeds, water and we wait and wait and wait and get nothing.  It could be a relationship, it could be a dream job, it could be a dream, it could be just about anything.  I think part of our problem may be our patience - or lack thereof.  See, the Farmer knows that you plant but then you wait.  The Farmer knows that you can't plant se

Your clothes should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to show you're a lady.   Marilyn Monroe Too bad most women, and young ladies, don't think this quote by Monroe is true these days.   Except that it is.   Women of all ages - please please please respect yourselves enough to dress to be a woman and not a fill in the blank with your word of choice . And you know what I mean. Think about a woman you've seen recently that has been wearing too little and it has been too tight.  First thoughts about her?  About her self-worth?  About the kind of life choices she makes? Now think about a woman you've sen recently that has been wearing age appropriate and body size appropriate.  First thoughts about her?  About her self-worth?  About the kind of choices she makes? True that may be judging but we tend to dress according to what we believe about ourselves.  Really.  And if we don't take those thoughts down a condemning road then we aren't

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. Corrie ten Boom For whatever reason when I read this quote recently (I've read it before but it was re-introduced a few months back) I was struck with the simple truth of it.  If the matter is too small to pray about then why have I made it into this large load I'm now hauling around with me?  It's either a burden or it's not.  It's my choice. And if it's a burden then I'm better off laying it down at the feet of my Savior to pick up rather than trying to carry it with me.  If I have dismissed something as not worth spending time in prayer about then I should carry over that value and consider it not worth  carrying  around either!   I attach value to things - God does not.  I  categorize  my concerns and try to take care of the small ones by myself lest I "bother" God with such piddly matters.  Perhaps I think I'm doing him a favor by not bothering him

Live in such a way that if anyone should speak badly of you no one would believe it. Unknown Ever been in a conversation and between you and whomever else is speaking there's a lot of nodding and agreement over the words/behavior/attitude of someone that has been mentioned?  Usually it's negative*, at least in the scenario I just kind of described.  And that's a shame. What you really want is for someone to accuse "you" of something negative - a word/behavior/attitude - and the other person to be like, "No way!  That is not typical or like fill in the blank with "your" name  at all."  That's the desired response right there.  Now we all have bad and off days so all of us have behaved badly at some point but if we are known for consistently being negative, grouchy, angry, grumbly, etc then there's a problem.  (Yes I am so talking to myself right now!) How are you living your days?  Is the lemonade you are making sweet or sour?  If I

Never get tired of doing little things for others, sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.   Unknown Bigger isn't always better. (Don't you love how I'm working in a bunch of cliches this week amidst the quotes?!)  Acts that seem small and simple and fairly insignificant to me are usually the ones that mean the most to people.  I used to shrug my shoulders and think, "what's the big deal?" but as I observed and continued to just do what I do I realized that people just want to be acknowledged, valued, noticed.  And it almost always takes just the little things to accomplish that.  It doesn't need to be big and grandiose and spectacular.  But it does need to be sincere, genuine, and preferably heartfelt.  Those kinds of things usually come in the smallest of ways yet have maximum impact.  

Four Things You Can't Recover: 1) The stone after the throw 2) The word after it's said 3) The occasion after it's missed 4) The time after it's gone Deanna Wadsworth Sad but true.  Read the list again without the "But..." in your head.  Wishing to recover any of those things is not going to actually make them be recovered.  The opportunity is gone and in it's place may be some regret but another opportunity will present itself.  What will you do with the new opportunity? I like word pictures.  I like them even though I'm not great at painting them.  So forgive my weak attempt and try to follow along. The stone was thrown, the gash (wound) inflicted.  (Think in mental/emotional terms on this one will ya?)  What's the new opportunity?  Help clean the gash, apply the antibiotic ointment, and place the band-aid.  Do whatever the one you wounded will allow you to do to make up for the throw.  And remember what happened this time so the next ti

Never lie, steal, cheat or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.    Old Irish Drinking Toast - also quoted in movies like: Hitch, Leap Year, Love is a Four Letter Word, etc.   Here's the original toast from the Irish: "May you never lie, steal, cheat or drink. But if you must lie, lie in each other's arms. If you must steal, steal kisses. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink with us, your friends." I like it.  It's the best kind of "degenerate" to be.  If I'm going to be a liar then I want to be the kind that spends my life lying in the embrace of my husband.  If I'm going to be a thief I hope, I pray, I'm only the kind that steals away the negative and bad from the lives of others so that joy can replace it.  Cheating death is not reall