Content To BE Overwhelmed

This post is from a couple of years ago.  


Today I am joining friends over at The Loft for a Link-Up.  
Our Word today is Contentment.  Will you join us?

Today, I should be doing yard work, house work... there is much to be done.  I am overwhelmed at the thought of how far behind I have gotten over the last several years. 

OVERWHELMED.

To the point of distraction.  I can't seem to accomplish anything. This reminds me, just now, of Jesus' words to Martha.  "you are worried and distracted by many things." 

I want to choose the "better" that he said of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. I want to be contentedly overwhelmed by Jesus.  And I want to be overwhelming content in His presence.

So... I am.

I am sitting under the oak tree here in our yard.  I am not thinking of all the work I still need to do to make this the space I dream it to be.  I am simply enjoying the moment.

Emma is in the grass on her blanket, enjoying the sun and fresh air.
Birds singing all around. Children voices at recess nearby at school.
A lady bug on the arm of the chair where I am sitting.  An inch-worm just crawled by.
A red bird landed on a nearby branch and the leaves of the tree are clapping their hands.

And these words come to me from a heart that is thankful to just BE.

All Creatures of our God and King,

Arise to sing and joyfully sway

to the rhythm of praise and excellent joy.

Life lived well is a life lived as it was created to BE.

So do I, my God and King.

Arise to sing and joyfully BE

the LIFE you've created for me.

I will stand in awe of your excellent ways

Trusting you for all of my days.

The Word. Worship. Prayer.

These are my Roots.

You can also read great words at these blogs:

Jerralea’s blog

Christine’s blog

Live in Faith Everyday

Canva Design/De Anna Morris

 
 
A few years ago, my friend, Donna, introduced me to the concept of ONE WORD as a focus for an entire year! 

I was not in a good place at the time. I wanted my One Word to be

"Lord, I am sick of this season and I need you to change something before I loose my mind and do something weird!" 

Not really ONE WORD, I know, but life can be challenging at times.  I was over my challenge limit, or so I thought... until the Lord began to slowly and surely lead me through a valley of the shadow until I could lift my head on the other side of despair. 
 
Maybe you've been there too? 
 
The first ONE WORD that the Lord led me to during the season of darkness was COMPLETE. 

 

 Let perseverance finish its work so that

you may be

mature and complete,

not lacking anything.

James 1:4

 
I wanted a quick fix, however, I realized perseverance was the key and faith was at stake... I pressed on and into the Word of God and cannot tell you how amazing and tender He was to me during that time.  At the end of the year, Mike and I attended a Christmas service and the Lord whispered to my heart.
 

So you also are complete

through your union with Christ,

who is the head over every ruler and authority 

Colossians 2:10

 

Don't you love How gentle the Lord is? Even though He was reminding me that He was in charge and I am not, that I am called to trust His authority over me, He has already made me complete in Christ.

One Word themes of the last few years:

Complete

Chosen

Rest

Trust

This year, 2016, my ONE WORD is LIFE.  The Lord kept bringing the word LIFE to me during the last few months of 2015.  I have been asking Him to renew my soul and spirit along with a desire to be healthy and well.  Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength. 

I want to live well while living.

This will come as I allow His word at work in me to restore, heal and mend the broken places.  A work that will not be always pleasant but will be for my good in order to Complete the work  am Chosen to accomplish. As I Rest in His Word and Trust in His plan, true health and wellness will come and my LIFE will be abundant and vibrant.

The plan is simple. 

Live in Faith Everyday. 

Oh, how easily I complicate things! 

What is your ONE WORD this year?

 

 

You can join me and a group of bloggers over at The Loft to find courage, inspiration and hope. Please stop by and say hello!

{It's the Yeast Rolls Y'all} A Link up with The Loft

I am joining friends over at The Loft today for a link up. 

Today's topic is "pot luck" so I am pulling from a previous post to share a Grace Moment. 





It's the Yeast Rolls Y'all!

Mike and I were on our way out to dinner a while back, when we invited the boys to go out with us.  

Our schedules had gotten so varied and, in the past, we just didn't have the resources to do this often. 

So dinner out as a family was a treat!

As we were squeezing The Boys in the back seat (Cameron-20, Matthew- 19, and Kyle-17) we were already talking about where to go... O'Charley's it is!  As Matthew said,

"It's the yeast rolls, y'all!"

 

Off we go, conversation flowing, getting caught up on each other’s lives.  Cameron was in college, Matthew worked two jobs, and Kyle a senior in high school, you can imagine the random things that we talked about.  

These guys are so fun to be around. They are my favorite friends in the world. 

Dinner was good.  The company was great. We did, however, run into a problem with the check...you see, the server came and took Mike's debit card but didn't return...Mike gets up to go and look for her...comes back...didn't see her.  Uh-oh...She seemed really nice and everything...

Just then the manager of the restaurant comes by to tell us that our card had been lost and they were looking frantically everywhere.  Our server, who seemed missing, was actually out back digging in the trash to try and find it!  The manager apologized profusely and stated his embarrassment over the matter and tells us that our dinner was on the house.  Well, great, but what do we do? 

It was Friday night.  The place was busy.  Our server was pleasant and took great care of us during our meal and we had planned on giving a tip with our debit card.  We told the manager that we would wait a bit to see if it was found.  Meanwhile, we all looked in our wallets for any change, dollar bills, whatever we could find.  There was no way we were going to leave knowing that our server would not get paid for serving our table.  Let’s face it. Servers live off of tips.

As we waited, we noticed that other servers and managers-maybe even the bartender!- were walking by looking...down, under tables, noticing little details...looking for our lost card.  One young server stopped by to state that all the other employees were looking too.  Our server, well, she was still out in the trash looking...bless her heart.  She didn't want to face us and was quite upset.

Cameron, having been a server at a local restaurant, then told us how difficult that guests can be...over the slightest thing...and the worst patrons?  The church crowd!  Sad.

If we claim to be Christ Followers and dare to leave a mark on our world, let it be His  fingerprints we leave behind.

We told the manager to let our server know we were not upset...after all...why should we be?  Why would we want to make her night -busy and chaotic that a restaurant can be on a Friday night-miserable or cause her the stress or insecurity that mean-spirited words can leave? Our only concern was did we have enough cash on us to leave her a good tip for all her trouble?

In the end, our card was found. The card had dropped beside another table, the other guests turned it in and our card was returned. We were able to grace the server with words of appreciation, money for her service. We left full, blessed and thankful. 

Love and Grace are the fingerprints of Christ.

 

{Funny Stories} A Link Up with The LOFT

Today I am joining friends on a Blog Link UP called THE LOFT...  

I have shared this story before, but it is still funny to me how words can just come out of my mouth and sound so ridiculous!!!  My boys still tease me about this one!! 

Enjoy!

Going Postal

It happened. 

Right there in the basement one early spring day. 

It was everywhere. 

I have yet to see anything so horrific in my entire life and I am getting more life on me than I could see coming when I married Mike.

There I was in the middle of all of this splattering of trash-vomit, piles of refuse and debris.

The day had started so well.  It was a Saturday, I think, and while the weather was not warm, there were certain signs and scents of spring in the air.  I left my spot on the couch and drained the rest of my coffee to begin the weekend routine of cleaning house. 

The main living area of the house was in pretty good shape.  I have a husband who knows how to help out. Mike faithfully ran the vacuum, cleaned the bathrooms and cleaned the kitchen for me every Friday before I got home from the office in the late afternoon. 

My goal for this particular day was to clean the “Man Cave”.

“The Man Cave" (a.k.a. the Basement) was in need of some mom-cleaning. You know, the kind where things actually get moved and the showers get really good and scrubbed? That kind of clean.  The boys have been responsible for their own laundry and space for quite some time, but it was just time for Mom to and help out.

Please don’t get the wrong idea.  This is not a space where high definition monitors project high-quality technology over surround sound theater seating with a kitchenette and/or bar nearby.  There were no sports posters or trophies or other Pintrest Worthy ideas displayed this space.  

What I mean by Man Cave is that The Boys LIVED in the space.  Drums, sticks, guitars, amps, keyboards, sheet music, strings. Our boys are musicians and we have the BEST music in the neighborhood!

We have raised the most handsome, most intelligent, most considerate well-behaved young men on the planet.  They are absolutely perfect and have never done anything wrong. NEVER. Except for the day in question.

To help you, the reader, understand my perspective, our basement was once home to Mike’s parents.  When we moved to our neighborhood, we had a full basement put in so they could live with us and not be so far away. The basement includes a full kitchen and den, single car garage, two full baths, laundry room, master bedroom and an extra room for storage. When Mike’s brother Tim came over he stayed in the space.  Or Camille, our good friend from Cameroon Africa. And other guest that have stayed in our home over the years.

I know what you are thinking… It sounds like we put extra people in a storage area in our basement, but that’s not what I meant.  We use the space as a spare bedroom, not a storage room for extra people… please! I am not that bad!

I began to clean the kitchen. Sticky, overflowing, un-namable and crushed walked over items, left-over food and wrappers crumpled on the floor.  Forgotten cups, mugs, dishes lying around.  Ick was everywhere.  Then I began to clean the bathrooms. 

The more I cleaned the madder I got. I was so upset with how messy and dirty they had allowed the space to become... so I quit. 

I had already invested more of my precious day on this chore and I was furious! Madder by the minute- I did what any good mother of grown up sons would do... 

I posted a sign on the basement door that went something like this:

(no joke: I had to rewrite my sign three times to get the words just right and

to not use some words that preachers wives are not supposed to use…)

My oldest son, Cameron, was the first to come in and see the note. He promptly took the sign down and laughed and asked what was I thinking??? I told him I was very serious and he had better put the note back up and/or tell his brothers because I was serious!!

Matthew and Kyle came in right after and asked why I was 'freaking out'?? 

Oh, no they didn’t just ask me that!

"Because I am about to Go Postal on you!"

I had been thinking of that phrase the whole time I was cleaning and allowing my anger to flare... I had no idea what that really means.  So I said to them...

I am seriously about to Go POSTAL!!!

I am not sure what that even means…

but if it means getting

ALL UP IN YOUR ZIP CODE

then I am going there!!

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I couldn't help but to laugh. I laughed at myself and how funny my angry words sounded... after all, I am the Queen of Mom Jokes in this house!! And I have never been able to be really mad at these perfect sons of mine!!

I was suddenly no longer mad, but was laughing at myself as they LAUGED hysterically-AT ME!!

Mike and The Boyes_Photo by Tonya Johnson

Because I know you are wondering…

The Boys did, in fact, get the space very good and cleaned and Mike made an inspection before I got home that Wednesday and I didn’t have to get up in anybody’s zip code!

But they often tease me when I seem frustrated or aggravated for any reason... "Mom, are you about to go postal??” then they smile at me, hug my shoulders and I can't help but smile at how much they make my heart weep with joy.  

I love them so!

You can read more funny stories from other authors by visiting 
The Loft.  You will be blessed!

{BEST Vacation EVER!!!} A Link Up with THE LOFT

Today I am joining my friends over at The Loft to share with you my Best Vacation Ever!!!

Todays Topic:  BEST VACATION
It's a LINK Party!

September 16, 2014, Mike and I celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  Wow!  Time has passed like sand in a whirl of wind, yet stood still at times.  I still can't believe that after all this time, he still puts up with me!! Mike Morris is a man of great grace and patience.  

To celebrate our accomplishment of staying together and doing life even when it got really hard, we planned a trip to Costa Rica.  We went in May of 2014 and stayed in Playa Flamingo at a privately owned villa that a friend had recommended to me.  The owners names are Babe and Don Hopkins and you definitely want to stay in their property if you plan to go... Tell them I said hello!!

Casa de Serenidad

The country is beautiful and lush!  When we were there, it was the end of the "Dry Season" and all of the foliage was not yet in bloom, but it was still the most gorgeous landscape I have ever seen. No.  I haven't traveled all that much, but still... The place is breathtaking!!

Our hosts were able to arrange our adventures and outings and provided an environment of hospitality that was not intrusive either.  I felt like we were staying with friends and as it turned out... we were!!!  

One of the things I loved about Costa Rica was the sky.  Morning and Evening the colors painted on the horizon over the sea were glorious and inspiring.  Of course, the sun rose at like 5 am and set at 6, but it was so worth getting up to see each day.  Our view from the balcony provided the perfect spot to take in the wonder and beauty of God's Faithfulness each day.  OH, and we also had this GREAT!!!! wade pool under a cabana to relax in hammocks too!  Tropical Breezes, good book, cool drink... perfect!

Here are some of our pictures from this vacation.  Please.  If you decide to go to Costa Rica, consider checking with our friends to book your stay!  You will not be disappointed!

Hidden Waterfall

Sunset Catamaran Tour/Snorkeling

After our Sunset Tour/Snorkeling adventure... so tired, and thankful!

Not a great pic... White faced Monkey... so cute!

We went on a Volcano Rain Forest Tour, Rode Horses, splashed down the side of the mountain on a natural water slide, bathed in the Hot Springs, saw white faced monkeys that threw things at Mike, and - my favorite adventure- 

ZIP LINE!! 

Pic taken after our longest zip... I wanted to worship!  The beauty and majesty of God's creation was breathtaking!

This look is fear, wonder, awe... learning to trust.

My man!

Join us over at THE LOFT for more Best Vacation Ever posts to consider for your next adventure!