Recently in Personal Reflection Category

Do you ever find yourself staring at a to-do list on a Monday morning and wondering where to start? Yesterday morning I was like a deer staring into the headlights of a Mac truck. I had two books to edit, a house that needed cleaning, a pile of laundry that looked like a bed for a horse and a son, still on vacation who wanted to go swimming. If I'm not careful, I can get so overwhelmed that it sends me into a semi-comatose state where I think to myself, "I know what to do, I'll take a nap." Now, I have nothing against naps, I am a big fan of naps, but I only got up two hours earlier. So, I took a deep breath, a cup of coffee and I slipped out of the house onto the back patio and sat in my Father's presence. Psalm 46:10 reads, "Be still and know that I am God." The Hebrew root of, 'Be still' means-Let go! I used to think that verse was encouraging me be still in perfect silence until I attained some mystical knowledge of God. I found that very hard. Now I consciously bring everything I have to do and everyone I love to God and I let go. I let go of the stress of getting it all right or even done on time. I let go of my desire to be perfect and I stay there in the love of God until that joy is greater than anything that needs to get done. I pray that for you today. I don't know what your to-do list looks like but I pray that it pails in comparison to the awareness of how much you are loved by your heavenly Father.

Do you ever have days when you are totally fed up for no particular reason? I'm having one of those today. It might have something to do with the fact that I am on my 9,640 diet but I'm not sure. The weather is nice so I can't blame that. I took our two dogs, Belle and Tink out for a walk at lunchtime and the sun is shining and the air is warm. Perhaps I'm fed up with myself because I haven't done any exercise today? I just find it very hard to believe that there is anything in the Bible about exercising on a Monday. I know that we are called to take care of our bodies but surely not on a Monday!

It's not as if I don't have things to do because I do. I need to head to the grocery store as our shelves are getting bare but the thought of pushing a cart up and down isles looking at the same stuff I looked at last week is doing nothing to inspire me. I could tackle the laundry instead but I'm sure I washed the exact same stuff a couple of days ago. It is amazing to me that one twelve year old boy can go through as many clothes as my son Christian does. He has an uncanny ability to implant stains on his white school shirts that no amount of every possible product advertised on television can remove.

I remember picking him up after his first day in kindergarten and he was upset because he had mud all over his pants. I told him not to worry that was a sign that he had a good day. Well, he took that one to heart and has been having good days ever since.

I'm watching Belle and Tink as I write. I gave them both a bone this morning. Belle ate hers and Tink hid hers until Belle was finished. Now Tink is sitting right in front of Belle savoring ever bite of her buried treasure. Belle appears to be muttering something under her breath and I don't think it's one of the Psalms! I'm laughing as I watch this little doggy melodrama and I remember what I know but often forget. It is good to laugh! Scripture tells us that laughter is good medicine. I think it's a vitamin shot, a pain pill and at times even a tranquilizer to get us though tough stuff. For me today, it's a reminder not to take life or myself too seriously and like everything else, bad days pass. I'd love to write more but I've got shopping to do and laundry....well, you know!