I am honored…. deeply honored

Tags

Christianity, God, Inspirational blogger award, Jesus, prayer, Religon

This morning I learned that I have been nominated for the very inspiring blogger award.  Grimmsfurrytail who nominated me said that my devotion to my faith has inspired his.  It is ironic that I found this notice today, because I had logged on to apologize for being out of touch, super busy workwise and getting ready to leave to visit my grandsons has taken up so much time….. and I was planning to say that I would continue the crazy joy project while I was a way, but that a 3 year old and a 1.5 year old are very busy people to keep up with, what with crafts and hugs, stories and kisses and I would probably not be regular about blogging my insights in the next few weeks.  This nomination has touched me more than you can realize.  I blog to help me on my faith journey and to know that I have helped and inspired others is so humbling and gratifying.  Thank you to all of you who read my blog and keep inspiring me.

In order to accept this award there are some rules that I need to follow.  

Rule 1:  link to and thank those who nominated you.  It is a pleasure to link you to http://grimmsfurrytail.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/aspire-to-inspire/  the exploits and antics of Grimm and his furry friends give me great joy and remind me to be thankful for Buster my furry friend.  If you are an animal lover you will really enjoy this blog.

Rule 2:  Post the award on your page.  

 

Rule 3:  Share 7 facts about yourself.  

Fact 1:  I am the daughter of immigrants from Holland, and from my parents I learned the value of hard work and determination.

Fact 2:  I am the mother of an extraordinary daughter.  Her grace and strength amaze me, she is an absolute delight.

Fact 3:  I am the grandmother to two delightful and curious grandsons.  That they are so different in personality amazes me, and yet each in his own way is perfect.

Fact 4:  I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature

Fact 5:  I have a Master of Divinity Degree and have been ordained into ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Canada

Fact 6:  I have served as a minister in congregations in Alberta, Nova Scotia and am currently the minister in a small congregation in Ontario. 

Fact 7:  I have recently needed to make some changes to my life because of a gluten allergy.  It is difficult and challenging and it seems like every day I learn about a new source of hidden gluten.  Life it seems is meant to keep you on your toes.

Rule 4:  Nominate other inspiring bloggers and post a comment on their blogs.

Wow, where to start.  I have discovered some very inspiring bloggers in this journey through the blogosphere.

I nominate Marie at denim devotion.  She has always had wise and wonderful thoughts to share, but most of all she provides a quiet calm balance for my life.  For example when I started 31 days to crazy joy, she started 31 days in the Quiet.  She shares some deep revelations about herself and her relationship with God.  You can check her out here…..http://denimdevotion.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/31-days-shut-it/

The second blog I am nominating is http://thebeggarsbakery.net  This is blog about the painful honesty of a journey with God and addiction recovery and all that it uncovers in regard to self revelation.  Ironically this blogger is currently on a vacation, but you will find many things to inspire you in the archived blogs.

There are no rules on how many blogs to nominate and I do read many others, but for now, I’ll leave you with these two…. and of course grimmsfurrytail… thank you so much for nominating me.

Again to all of you who read my blog, thank you.  You inspire me in ways that you’ll never know.  May God’s love fill all of your lives to overflowing.  

Peace, Ena

 

 

Communion Acrostic

Tags

Christianity, Communion, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, Spirit, spirituality

google images

I am preparing the liturgy for the communion service on Sunday and wrote this acrostic invitation to come to the table.  Please take it as your invitation to come to God, bringing him your whole love and devotion and receiving from Him, the glorious gifts of the Kingdom.

The invitation:

Come O People of God, Come
Open your hearts to recieve the grace of God
Meet him in the bread broken
Meet him in the blood outpoured
Unite your hearts in the love of Jesus, and unite your wills in the service of God.
Now is the time of salvation
Immanuel is with us here in his death and resurrection
Offering us salvation rich and free
Nudging us forth to meet him here. 

Crazy Joy, Days 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Tags

Christianity, Crazy joy, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

I know I have been out of communication for a few days.  On Sunday after worship I posted the Sunday acrostic and took off for a couple of glorious days with good friends, their whole family including their  daughter’s dog who is one of the few dogs in the world that I have not won over, (sigh) and all of their grandchildren who vied for my attention and told me stories, involved me in crafts…. and oh yeah we had a fantastic Thanksgiving Dinner….So that leaves me a few days behind (okay 5) on posting on my prayer challenge to give thanks for 31 days and discover Crazy Joy.  (see annvoskamp.com for more information on this prayer project).  Grab a cup of coffee and lets see what these five days have brought forth.

google images

Day 7…. It’s days like this that remind me that God has blessed me with marvelous friends.  The depth, breadth and quality of friends that I have is truly an amazing gift from God.  I traveled Sunday to see my friends and their family, grandkids and dog….. the things for which I was challenged to give thanks for that day are:  baked, stirred, eaten.  As I arrived at their home and everyone tried to talk to me at the same time, I was being ignored by my friend who was in the kitchen baking, stirring and preparing the Turkey dinner.  She was mixing up the flour slurry and making gravy.  Then she mixed up a cornstarch slurry and made a special gravy just for me.  She had baked the turkey without any stuffing and made stuffing in 2 crock pots.  The smaller crock pot had the gluten free stuffing.  All of that meal was baked and stirred with a lot of love and was eaten with deep appreciation.  I give thanks for the friends God has given me.

Day 8  Prayed for…Because I pray every day for the people in my life, for the issues in my life, for the world …. it’s hard to pick out what to give thanks for.  Not everything that I have prayed for has changed, not all the answers have been the ones that I have desired.  But I do give thanks that God has listened to everything that I have prayed for and about.  He has heard the desire of my heart.  He has prepared an answer and at the right time he will reveal the answer.  Truly the best gift of prayer is knowing that God listens, really listens.  The second best gift of prayer is that in the process I am learning to listen for the ways in which God speaks to me.  The third best gift in prayer is that God answers each prayer with the very best gift for me.  

Day 9  Things praised for:  It would be so easy to repeat day 8 above….. or day 7 above because I have praised God for all of those things.  But really what brings me great joy is to see how God has touched the lives of others.  When friends and I talk about our faith journey it is so great to see the unfolding of God’s hand in all of our lives.  When I see the changes in the lives of people I pray for then it is so amazing to see the gift of God in healing, both spiritually and physically.  When I see the ways in which the voices of strangers have joined me in my concerns for the world I am so grateful that I don’t walk alone…. God and that great cloud of witnesses are with me.

google images

Day 10  Hard to thank for…What is hard to thank for is the high levels of anxiety that I see around me.  People are worried about the congregations they are in and they keep turning to the Presbytery for help.  People are worried about their ministers and keep turning to the Presbytery for help.  Two of us (including yours truly) are planning to be away for 3 weeks this month and that is causing anxiety for those who want answers and responses NOW.  As much as I realize that I am not responsible for their anxiety, it is still hard to hear and hard to respond to.  But I know from my own journey of faith and prayer, that anxiety is the starting point from which we have an opportunity.  We can turn to God and trust him, or we can start running around frantically trying to fix things.  ……Let’s give thanks to God that he will take care of us and simply relax and trust him.  That is exactly what I am going to do…. get on that plane, relax and enjoy my grandchildren and know that God has it covered here.  My thanksgiving sermon was titled “Don’t worry, be thankful” and I addressed the issue of anxiety and how this was just an opportunity to trust God and build faith.  Let’s resolve to trust God and let anxiety go.

Day 11 change….None of us likes change.  Congregations complain all the time about change.  Those of us on facebook complain all the time about how it changes.  Even the administrators of wordpress keep making little changes that make me wonder…. Let’s face it change is all around us.  And I believe that change is necessary.  That doesn’t mean that I like it any better than you, or can cope with it any better than you, but I do accept that change is inevitable.  The past few days the autumn weather has changed, from cool,crisp and fresh to breezy, blowy, downright cold.  Today when I haul laundry down the stairs I am going to turn the handle and get the water flowing to the radiators.  Everything changes and we have to adapt.  What does not change however is our God.  He is the same yesterday, tomorrow and today.  When we can’t cope with the changes around us he give us peace and assures us of his presence.  To my way of thinking, the only way we can embrace change is to trustingly walk with the one who does not change.  God is good and he is always with us.

Phew, when you take a chunk of days at a time it sure makes God’s involvement in your life seem huge.  Isn’t that a marvelous thing?  

 

Thanksgiving Acrostic

Tags

Acrostic, Christianity, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality, thanksgiving

google images

Today is thanksgiving and there is so much to be grateful for.  May you all be blessed in your celebrations with family and friends.

This day reminds us to give thanks to you our Creator
Heavenly Lord, let us also remember to give you thanks every day, every moment
Announcing to you and to the whole world, God is good
Naming before you the breadth and depth of your blessings
Kneeling before you in gratitude
Inviting you into our hearts and giving you our devotion
Never forgetting our deep, deep gratitude for all your care
God all loving, all knowing, all wise, you do more than we can ask or imagine and we love you with all of our being.  Amen.

 

crazy joy, day 6

Tags

Christianity, Crazy joy, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

google images

Today we are asked to give thanks for three things redeemed….wow what an interesting topic.

1.  Facepaints.  These are not ordinary facepaints, they are professional face painting crayons and I have had them for about 25 years.  They have moved with me through four provinces, have brought joy to countless children at festivals and VBS and they never seem to get any smaller.  But with all the moving around they sometimes get stuck where they can’t be found….so a few days my daughter called asking me if I had them.  She recalled that there was a time when she had custody of the facepaints, (but that was two provinces ago for her too….) but she didn’t know where to look and she wondered if she might have given them back to me.  I said that if I had them, they might be in my office, but since it is half packed in anticipation of the day God announces where I am moving to next, I didn’t have any firm conviction that I would find them.  So today I started burrowing through the desk drawers and no facepaints.  Then on a whim I started rummaging through the books still on the book shelves and there they were.  They have now been redeemed from the chaos of my office and are ready to be packed for my trip to see my grandsons and used to transform them into a monster and a tiger for Halloween.  Finding the facepaints has made me very happy.

2.  Buster, my cat is redeemed from an animal rescue shelter.  His paperwork says that he was found wandering on a busy road and brought in to a place of safety, and he now lives the pampered life of an indoor cat.  He has been a source of joy as his antics make me laugh and brighten my day.  He also provides me with a stimulus to take my mind off of me and my problems and makes me realize that I have someone in this world that I am solely responsible for taking care of….. (a task I readily share with awesome cat sitters when I go to visit the grandsons mentioned above).  The best part of having Buster in my life is that he make me think of God.  What God went through to redeem us, and how we bring joy and frustration to God’s life by our antics and our disobedience.  The joy so readily overpowers the frustration and I hope that God can say the same about me.

3.  So of course the final thing redeemed for which I give thanks today is ME.  God’s plan for redemption is such a wondrous thing that he would spend millions of years planning and arranging things until the time was right to bring Jesus into the world that he might live and die and be resurrected for the redemption of me and you and all the people of the world… But when I stop and think about how living the redeemed life is such a blessing, as opposed to those days when I was tossed about in the storms of disobedience and rebellion I am grateful  That doesn’t mean that this redeemed life is problem free, just that I don’t have to handle those problems in my own strength.  It really is true:  The joy of the Lord is my strength.  Praise be to God.

Pseudo Nutrition

Tags

Christianity, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

google images

Because I have had to eliminate gluten from my diet, I have become so aware of the ingredients that are in our food.  Just cleaning out my fridge unearthed a bag full of condiments and other foods that had hidden sources of gluten.  I dread the day starting on the pantry, knowing that I’ll find all sorts of stuffing mixes, quick cook noodle dishes and other convenience foods that are heavily laden with chemicals, but are quick to prepare and relatively tasty.

I reflect on this because last night after I had written “toxic sludge”  I had a feeling that I had not completely said what needed to be said.  Just as the bees went to the colorful chemical laden sugar because it was less work than stripping pollen from the flowers, so too we go to chemical laden unhealthy food because it is less work that preparing meals from scratch.  (It isn’t actually but we fool ourselves into thinking that.) That same principle holds true in our spiritual lives as we seek out pseudo nutrition from a variety of spiritual sources.  To read last night’s rant, click on this link…. https://tryingtopray.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/toxic-sludge/

So because we fool ourselves and lie to ourselves and accept the lies of the advertisers we partake of the unhealthy.  What is needed for me for health reasons, and all of us for many reasons is to clean house, get rid of the junk and keep the healthy…. as long as the healthy still includes chocolate and corn chips, of course.

This same principle is at work in the church, where we lie to ourselves and believe the lies of the world.  It’s okay not to read the Bible.  It’s okay to miss worship.  It’s okay not to pray regularly.  It’s okay to only speak with God when you want God to do something for you.  It’s okay to make a dream board of the things you expect the universe to bring into your lives.   But it’s not okay.  We need to be honest with ourselves and get real before God, if we are going to be people of any worth in his kingdom.

Getting rid of the toxic sludge in our lives and in our congregations also requires a good house cleaning.  And as I pondered the words in 1 Corinthians 2 last night through a guided meditation it began to dawn on me what was missing in last night’s blog posting.  We avoid the hard work of Scripture, Meditation, Prayer, Silence and the other spiritual disciplines because they require internal housekeeping as we come to know not only God intimately, but also ourselves intimately.

The guide for meditation asked that I reflect upon the one thing that keeps coming back to mind as I read the passage.  What phrase or sentence did my eye keep going back to?

But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,    nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.

The context for the words that I prayed over through the night is important, because knowledge of God and knowledge of self are completely interwoven by our interaction with the Holy Spirit, and our openness to hearing the Spirit speak within.  The phrase that captivated me–For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within?

google images

The hard work of the Spiritual Disciplines demands a spiritual housecleaning as we work together with the Holy Spirit and clean out our hearts, our thoughts and our wills.  This is hard work, but it is necessary to clear out the toxic sludge from within our own hearts before we can even begin to work with our congregations, family members and friends to help them know themselves and God more fully.  What is that Jesus said, “you can’t remove the splinter from another person’s eye, without first removing the block from your own.”

When I first struggled with the call to ministry I identified myself so much with Jonah, running away from the Spirit of God, and being hauled back and thrown on the beach.  I think that is the reason why I avoided the Spiritual Disciplines for so many years…. they made me look at my own life and the storms of my own disobedience and that made me uncomfortable.

Yet over the years I have learned that uncomfortable is good, if it leads to an understanding of myself and of God and ultimately repentance and a change of heart.  As I have submitted to Spiritual housecleaning I have learned what behaviors push my hot buttons and make me have a knee jerk angry reaction.  I have learned the secret longings I have to be important and how I have promoted myself rather than God.  I have learned about my emotional neediness and how that rather than faith has propelled my prayer life.

Allowing the Spirit of God to interact with my spirit has been uncomfortable, difficult, revealing, and cleansing.  Now I realize that I am more like Isaiah…. “I am a woman of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.”  If I am going to be of any useful service to God here in this life, then I need to keep working with God’s Spirit to know myself and my besetting sins and to know God his grace, his will and his generosity.

I have learned not to be afraid of the hard work of Prayer and Study.  I have learned to be grateful for what it has revealed.  I have learned to rejoice at how it has brought me closer to God.

Darn hard work….YES…. but the benefits are amazing, truly amazing.

Toxic Sludge

Tags

Christianity, God, Honey, Jesus, Prayers, Religion, spirituality

REUTERS , National Post

This morning I woke up to hear the news report on the radio that beekeepers in France were mystified with their honey harvest, instead of sweet fragrant honey, they opened their hives to discover some green and blue inedible product filling the honeycomb.  Samples of that “honey” are seen in the photo above.

The Ottawa Citizen reports:  

MULHOUSE, France, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Bees at a cluster of apiaries in northeastern France have been producing honey in mysterious shades of blue and green, alarming their keepers who now believe residue from containers of M&M’s candy processed at a nearby biogas plant is the cause.

Since August, beekeepers around the town of Ribeauville in the region of Alsace have seen bees returning to their hives carrying unidentified colourful substances that have turned their honey unnatural shades.

Mystified, the beekeepers embarked on an investigation and discovered that a biogas plant 4 km (2.5 miles) away has been processing waste from a Mars plant producing M&M’s, bite-sized candies in bright red, blue, green, yellow and brown shells.

Asked about the issue, Mars had no immediate comment.

This evening I read a friend’s blog (http://thenext500years.wordpress.com) on which he commented on the state of the church, and that we allow toxic people and situations to dominate because we are afraid to speak the truth, and to challenge the words and actions of others.

This morning I read the blog by the leadership freak…. http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com, who reflected on the 12 behaviors that hold you back from succeeding.  #1 on the list is avoidance, which he calls the path to mediocrity.

These things, along with an ongoing situation that I am struggling to understand how to address, have been very much on my mind.  I and others have attempted to bring a resolution to the problem and have only made things worse.  It is time to bring the revelation of God’s Spirit and his power to prevail and quit being nice to avoid full out conflict.

This evening it is beginning to gel in my thinking.  It seems to me to be linked to what is called “cheap grace”.  We have taught and tolerated for far too long, that it is all okay, it’s all under the blood.  Cheap forgiveness is not real forgiveness, and it does us all a disservice because we begin to believe and act as if our words and actions don’t really matter.  The blood of Jesus covers all.

The real problem is that we have gotten lazy in our faith.  

Those bees in France had options.  They lived in an area that was known for its bounty of crops and blossoms that make highly prized honey.  Instead, they went for the easy food, the sugar and food color laden residue found outside the factory.

We, as Christians, have options.  We have been given everything that we need for life and for ministry.  We have God’s word, worship, and prayer, which under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will give us all the spiritual nourishment we need to have productive, faithful, fruit-filled lives and mission.  Jesus speaking to his disciples said, Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  Matthew 3: 8  (NIV)  The New Living Translation puts it this way:  Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 

People complain that they don’t understand Scripture and so for that reason they have stopped reading it.  Bible  Study has given way to faith discussion groups.  Prayer in the home too often consists of “grace” or bedtime prayers that we have known and repeated since childhood.  Even worse the world teaches that all spiritual practices are of equal value.  People are flocking to those spiritual practices that are easy and which makes them feel good.

Like those bees we have choices, and if we choose the easily available pap that the world offers us, we will have nothing of substance or value to share in the ministry to which God calls us.  

It is time for us to examine our souls, to deeply examine our souls, using the criteria of God’s Word.  In Proverbs we read:  The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.  Proverbs 20: 27 New Living Translation  

When we avoid the light and easy spiritual practices in favor of deep coming to know God, we grow mature spiritually.  Study and meditation on Scripture is crucial for our Spiritual Growth.  Time put into our prayers, where we speak praise of God, ask guidance from God, ask God to help us understand his will in relationship to our will and above all LEARN TO LISTEN FOR GOD is the spiritual work to which we are all called.  Sadly we have not all responded.  

The lack of spiritual maturity is a problem in the church that has long weighed heavily on me.  Prayer, Worship, Spiritual Growth, Knowing God in a deep soul satisfying way are those things on which I passionately preach and teach…. but as long as people think it is too difficult to practice the Spiritual Disciplines and prefer an easier path, we will never grow spiritually.  And if we never grow spiritually our congregations will be full of blue and green toxic sludge and we will not be the place of nourishment that God intends us to be. Instead we tolerate members and even leaders whose words and actions harms  the church and frustrates God’s Spirit.  

Cleaning up the toxic sludge begins with me and it begins with you.  We cannot allow the church to fail because we haven’t taught, haven’t called out those who need to be called out and haven’t disciplined one another in the Spirit of the Lord.  

What I pray for is a day when the church wakes up and realizes that they need to take up the basics of faith, be baptized in the Spirit and rushes out of the upper room to claim a new and exciting ministry.  Let us begin with our own hearts, our own acts of mercy and grace, our own words, and our own calling as ministers in the Kingdom of God’s Grace.  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5: 22

 

crazy joy, day 5

Tags

blessing, Christianity, God, Jesus, joy, prayer, Religion, spirituality

Day 5:  give thanks for 3 things returned.

Today has really been a day of blessing for me.  All of my encounters today have involved people returning to me grace, hospitality and affirmation.  God has been gracious.

My day began with a worship service at a nursing home.  Following the service there was time to have coffee with the residents before I had to leave for the next nursing home.  One of the spouses fetched me coffee when she brought some for her husband and we enjoyed a great chat.  It felt good to have someone take care of me and give me something, even something as simple as a cup of coffee.  It really is true that the little things done with love are what makes a difference in the world.

Then I went to the second nursing home.  It is an entirely different situation there, and often chaotic.  They don’t have an organist who comes to play for them, so the staff, in between bringing the residents to worship, searches through the stack of CD’s to find the ones with the hymns that I have chosen.  The discs are supposed to match up to the hymns in the hymbook the residents use, but often the hymn title and what the hymn is called on the disc, just don’t jive.  What I love about that situation is the genuine love and respect the residents have for the poor staff person who struggles to find the correct hymns for us.  They tease her, they poke fun at her and the joy and laughter just fill the room.  This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving, and so today I preached on Thanksgiving themes and the residents really got into it with overwhelming thanks for me and my words, and the for  staff person for her struggle with the CD’s.  I enjoyed being able to give to this community and receive their love in return.  What a blessing–full of laughter and genuine worship.

This afternoon I visited with a couple who have recently started worshiping with the congregation.  When I arrived the coffee table was full…. a carrot cake, a black forest cake, and a pizza, all of them homemade just this morning.  What a delight that someone would return love to me in that way.  What a disappointment not to be able to eat any of it because all of it had gluten in it.  But I appreciate it more than anyone can know.  As we talked today the couple mentioned how they appreciated how I made them feel warm and welcome at worship, well they returned that gift as the effort to prepare for my visit showed the depth of their warmth and welcome to me.

All in all, I have to say today I know that I am richly blessed.

crazy joy, Day 4

Tags

Chr, Christianity, Crazy joy, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

google images

I had to chuckle when I saw the thanksgiving task for today.  Give thanks for 3 things reaped.  By no  stretch of the imagination could it be  said that I have a green thumb.  In fact a person once gave me a plant and said, “don’t worry, I have already performed the last rites.”  But there are more things reaped than what we plant and nurture with our own hands.

1.  I give thanks for the reaping that is evident all around me.  While a lot of areas in Canada and the States have suffered severe damage because of the prolonged hot summer, where I live has seen a nice amount of rain.  Even an hour east of here, the remarkable difference in the health of the crop is disheartening.  So while I pray for all those farmers whose fields are parched and who may have lost livestock to the heat, I do also give thanks for the reaping that means the corn and the soybeans are coming safely off and being stored until the time of sale.  I also give thanks  that God’s hand is evident, even in the drought and the famine.  I will never forget the lesson I learned one day talking with a farmer who struggled to farm in the 1930’s in Alberta.  He said, “we knew we were blessed if we had enough crop that we could sow in the spring”.  Sowing and reaping are such an act of trust in God.  May all those who have sown, and those who are able to reap be aware of the blessing that God has for them.

2.  Farm stand tomatoes.  I am not really a tomato fan.  But as I wandered through the stalls at the market a few weeks ago I saw the biggest reddest beautiful tomatoes.  I bought 4.  Then I bought some slab bacon, and that together with a couple of onions came out in a dish of stewed tomatoes that reminded me of home.  When we reap that which brings us home, it is a true joy.  I am thinking not only of the joy that brought me back to my mother’s cooking and family times around the table, but I also am thinking about those things that we reap that remind us of our true home.  

3.  Those things that I have reaped that remind me of my true home with God are the amazing friends in Christ whom God has given me.  I am always profoundly grateful for them, and for the opportunities to connect with them.  Sometimes given our time zone differences we have to make appointments for a good long talk, sometimes we nurture the friendship with only a quick note via e-mail.  Through it all we have shed tears, spoken encouragement, made Ma Bell wealthy and grown into deep and trusting relationships.   I am reminded that we reap what we sow, and I am extremely grateful that I have sown seeds of friendships that have multiplied and returned a hundred-fold.  Thanks be to God.

4…..I know I know, I shouldn’t be such an overachiever, but this is pure whimsy and makes a grandmother’s heart happy.  My daughter, who takes after both her grandmothers, has taken up gardening.  She and my oldest grandson have enjoyed the time in the garden, uprooting the carrots (they ate a lot of roasted baby carrots) and learning about growth.  What he talks about all the time is the pumpkin that he has growing in the back yard and how it will soon be ready to pick and that then he will decorate it for Halloween.  Because I am going to be visiting with them at Halloween, when I asked him if I could help with the pumpkin he said in that voice of a 3 year old encountering an epiphany, “Yeah Grammie we can make the pumpkin together.”  I am so going to enjoy the reaping of my grandson’s pumpkin.

To learn more about the 31 days to crazy joy, see Ann Voskamp’s blog: http://www.aholyexperience.com/crazy-joy/ 

crazy joy

Tags

Christianity, Crazy joy, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

a holy experience.com

Dear Readers:  I you have been following this blog for a while, you will remember that in June I participated in the June Joy Dare, as found on the blog that Ann Voskamp  writes.  I found that joy dare to be an inspiring and fulfilling way to increase joy in God.  It was an awesome experience.  Then toward the end of August I noticed that she had posted another joy challenge for August, and I resolved then to check her site more faithfully and not miss the next challenge.  I checked her site all through September hoping she would outline something for October and the Thanksgiving season and saw nothing.  

Then in the craziness (how ironic) of this past week I missed reading her blog, and lo and behold, she has posted the outline for the October crazy joy.  Love it, glad I found it, and I will do my best to participate in it, and post for you my triumphs and challenges as I attempt to grow to be crazy with joy for my Lord.

If you want to know more about this project, I invite you to go to;  http://www.aholyexperience.com/crazy-joy/ and read more about the monthly prayer outline.

So of course I am beginning a few days late, but since you know that one of my challenges is a daily disciplined spiritual life, you will no doubt see more often through October that I will reflect on more than one day at a time. (Especially since I’ll be spending 3 weeks on vacation with my grandsons, enjoying a whole other kind of crazy joy.)

October 1:  give thanks for 3 things orange….1.  The leaves on the tree across the parking lot are beginning to turn orange.  What a reminder that God is a great creator, whose has provided us with a variety of seasons, each with their own joys and each with their own challenges.  I am enjoying the cooler weather and the riotous maybe even crazy colors that adorn God’s world.  2.  the orange cover on my Bible, which has become a nightly companion in a way that I could never have imagined in the days before I started blogging.  3.  The orange notification symbols that pop up when you like what I have written or comment on it.  Your support and encouragement mean so much to me in my journey of faith.  For these and all other things orange I give great thanks.

Oct 2  3 things falling.  1.  I am absolutely crazy with joy about the falling temperatures.  The heat and humidity of summer are over and the crisp cool fall air is a joy.  While others near where I live had turned on their furnaces I have yet to venture into the basement and flip the switch to open the radiators.  I am enjoying the cool weather, and with doors and windows open I may sometimes have to resort to snuggling under the afghan, but it is so nice.  2.  Falling pens, remind me that my cat  does bring joy into my life, and that he is still young enough to be crazy.  He provides distractions when I start getting too immersed in work, and that must complete this task mentality.  His antics keep me balanced.  Now if he would quit over turning the waste-paper baskets my joy  would be complete.  3. I am always grateful for the love of God which falls down in my life like the rain from the sky.

October 3:  caught….let go… midway….  I have over the years been caught up in the joy of the Lord.  I have let go of the joy God brings me and I have struggled in that midway place where I didn’t know how to find him.  In all of those states of being I have learned a lot about the love and grace of God and his tender and constant care over me.  I am crazy about the way God loves me… the real  me, warts and all.