Inspirations

I was sitting at home cuddled in my jammies for the night just relaxing with a cup of coffee; when I got a call from a friend asking for a ride to the gas station.   Did I mention it was late?  When she called, the last thing I wanted to do on the planet was leave the comforts of my house to drive to the gas station.  I was in my "jammies".  I was in for the night. I wanted to tell them that I could not take them to get gas.  Then I heard a small voice murmur in my ear, "Do you love me enough to take her to get gas?"  “Of course I love you,” I replied.  “Take her to the gas station,” said the still small voice.  So I got dressed and took my friend to get gas.  On the way to the station, we talked of many things, and I realized she was in need of more than gas.  She was emotionally tired and needed words of comfort and encouragement.  I am praising God that he had given me the privilege of being ...

What God has made clean, do not call common What an excellent day quizzing!  I often say I learn as much as the children I coach.  Today was our last quiz for the season, so it was bittersweet.  As we were cramming between quizzes, hoping to get a few more answers, one verse jumped out at me.  “What God has made clean, do not call common.”  That’s it … just one sentence but today it preached a whole sermon to my spirit.  I have a hard time seeing myself as good.  In fact, most of the time, I tend to demand perfection from myself. It’s ok if others sin, I can forgive that.  What I can’t get past, are my OWN imperfections.  Sometimes I look at others and see this magnificent, amazing vessel that God is using.  Then I look at myself and see a pot that is dirty, scratched, chipped and not very pleasing at all.  As I was pondering this, it was like God said, “You’re my child! I made you clean! You’re not uncle...

In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good. I am a “project” oriented person.  I am not content to do just one thing.  I love writing, making things, photography, cooking….  Sometimes I feel like I have so many things I like to do that I can’t settle on just ONE thing.  I get bored  easily so, I like to stay busy.  I have often seen this as a bad thing.  I would love to tell you that I am the only one in my family afflicted with this problem, but, sadly, I’m not.  My father worked forty hours a week, sometimes more, and then he would come home and work on a farm.  By the way, a farmer’s work is never done.  He was always working on something.  Sometimes we helped him with “farm” chores, but not always.  He liked to have things he was doing.  What a godly example of The apostl...

I woke this morning with a heavy heart.  I was concerned for my children even though they are adults.  I want to be sure my children walk with God.  So, I was praying and asking God for wisdom.  I was sitting in MY chair and listening to the Bible.  When God whispered, “Rest.  Just sit back and let ME care for them.”   Sometimes in the Bible, God had the people fight their battle.  At other times, God said, “This is not your battle, this is my battle.”  Today God whispered, “Elaine, this is not your problem.”  I felt such peace knowing that my God, who loves me, also loves them.   He reminded me that while they were home, I tried to make sure they knew God.  Now, my job is to rest and trust God and them to live as God would want.   That’s hard!  I like to see the evidence and my children tend to be private.  I only get snippets of conversation, and it’s like seeing one piece of a puzzl...

Today has been a quiet, meditative Easter.  So I've been sitting here in my “comfy” chair and thinking.  I was reflecting on Jesus’ death and how it must have seemed so final.  It was the end.  They were beginning to trust this Jesus and then he died a horrible death at the hands of his enemies. They were just beginning to have hope and then “bam” it was snuffed out like a candle.   I was thinking of their confusion when the women ran in saying that Jesus was alive.  They wanted to believe, but the situation must have seemed so bleak, so unlikely, so impossible that it was just too much to think about right at that moment.   Then later, Jesus joined them in the upper room.  Imagine their joy!  As I was thinking about how overjoyed they must have felt, I couldn’t help weeping myself.   I was weeping for the unimaginable joy that they must have felt when they realized Jesus was alive.  I was wee...

It’s Easter Saturday the day sandwiched between “Good Friday” and “Resurrection Sunday.”   There are dinners being planned, Easter egg hunts, and all kinds of other plans being made for our celebration of Easter.  I imagine the scene the first Easter was quite different.  No one was planning meals; they were making burial plans perhaps they had even dispensed with eating.  The disciples were somber.  They had watched Jesus die a horrific death one day earlier.  They thought he was going to be a king, but now he was gone and for all they knew, they were the next ones on the list.  The mood was quiet, there was no busyness only uncertainty.  The uncertainty of what they had witnessed and what they should do now.  They had no grand expectation of Jesus rising from the dead.  What they had on Easter Saturday was the finality of death; just that and nothing else.  So as we think about Easter Saturday lets quiet out hearts and foc...

It's Good Friday.  The day my Lord was crucified.  Two thousand years ago, more or less Jesus was hung on a tree and killed and I am amazed.  What amazes me is not the amount of pain he suffered, not the way he died, not even the humbleness with which he endured shame and pain.  No, what amazes me is that he chose to suffer a cruel beating and death for me.   He didn’t have to die.  He had other choices.  What amazes me is that when he was dying on the cross, he was looking through eternity past, present and future and did not see a people who loved him but people who hated him. He saw sinful, stubborn, rebellious people; that’s what we all are apart from God.  If I’m honest with myself, I know that I’ve done things worthy of death. Knowing all that in advance, Jesus still said, “My child, I love you enough to die for you.”  I know how sinful I can be, so I amazed that the creator of the universe would die for me.  It...