Soar with the Eagles

"And Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God."  1 Samuel 23:16

At the right times in my life, different individuals have told me how important it is to surround myself with good people.   It started with my parents who impressed upon me the importance of having friends that would steer me toward good behaviors, challenge me to excel at school and would like me for who I was.  In my 20s, a few well placed people in my life gave me good advice about mentors and those that could help my career.  In early motherhood, being with other good moms made me want to do better.  Along the way, it became a conscious decision to keep negativity at bay by disassociating myself from people who never had a kind word or a positive thought.

No where along the line though, do I remember anyone encouraging me to surround myself with people of faith in order to strengthen my own.  Now that isn't to say that no one ever did.  I probably just didn't listen.  The same rule applies.  It just make sense.  "Play up" is a term I use with the girls when they want to get better at something.  Play with someone who knows more or can do more than you can and you'll strive to get better. 

What I won't do though is be around people whose faith has made them close minded or judgmental of others.  The stereotype of the ones we see on the cable news networks are the extreme example.  What I'd rather do is be around people who understand God's love for all and who, by their example, encourage others to faith based lives.  I'm lucky to have several of those people in my life right now.  It's easy to see how I will need to strive to "play up" with these folks.  I've seen what faith has done for them in their life.

Hmm, that's got me thinking too that maybe I need a life mentor.  You know, someone who is living their best life and could get me to "play up" (there's that term again) in my own life.

Can you advertise for that on Craig's list?

Have a happy Best Life day!

Let Faith Blossom

Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear."  Psalm 10:17

It's been several days since I posted a blog and that's mostly because life has gone quickly this past week.  My daughter played her final basketball game with her middle school friends at a tournament this past weekend.  As a few moms placed a rose on each 8th grader's chair, I was struck by the love we have for all of these girls and how much they really do care about one another.  I have sat next to one mom for three years and we've watched these girls grow into the women they are becoming and I couldn't be prouder.

God has surely heard the prayers of this humble heart and the days are nearly here for us to hear His word and try to understand His will for our family and our daughter's high school future.  While we have been praying that He will bless us with the choice we want, we also know that we will accept whatever happens and guide our lives accordingly. 

I didn't realize until this morning how much I have been figuratively "holding my breath" and that the day is upon us.  I lament that a high school decision should hold this much power over us or anyone in the country and I have been wondering what I might do to support the idea that everyone should get an equal (and excellent) education as was originally intended by our leaders so many years ago.  I guess I must first seek to understand what was originally intended before I could do anything about it but I do know that I can vote my conscience now.

Funny how no one else in the house seems to be anticipating this as much as I am.  Maybe I should take a lesson from them.  I might just sleep a bit better at night this week than I have.

Have a beautiful Best Life day!

Change Your Family Tree

"Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.  Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height."  Judges 6:25-26

You can affect future generations by the decisions you make today, says the author of today's devotion.  That's enough to keep me, the recovering perfectionist, paralyzed for fear of doing something wrong.  I've seen it happen with with other members of my family.  Every decision has to be carefully researched, every option considered and sometimes to the point that no decision is ever made or it takes forever to make what seems like a relatively easy decision.  That's a hard anxiety to fight against.  However, I think the author isn't trying to scare me but to encourage me to take a risk to positively affect the generations to come.

I often wonder what role model I am for my girls.  I'm not the same career-oriented person I was in my twenties but I still think of my life to date as pretty successful.  I wonder, though, if they do.  Do they really get that I've continued to work in many different capacities all under the guise of being a "stay at home" mom?  That somehow I have managed to juggle it all - at least most of the time?  I've seen women interviewed who say that the reason they are doing what they do is so that their children have the role model of a strong woman pursuing her dreams. Does that mean that putting some dreams on hold was a bad thing?  When asked, my girls still want me to be involved as a volunteer and don't care for the idea of going to before or after care in addition to their day at school, so maybe they do "get" why I did it.

What I do know, though, is that whatever dream or goal I pursue next will definitely affect not just me but my family too.  I want it to be a positive effect.  We all deserve it.

Have a forward thinking Best Life day!

Oceans to Enjoy

In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel."  Isaiah 17:7

The author asks, "Are you enclosed in your own little well?  Look out over the edge.  God has oceans He wants you to enjoy."  Some days it's hard not to go through life with the blinders on.  Some days you can't help but think, "I'd love to do that but..."  I admire those people that never add the word "but" to their dreams.

Two friends of mine ran in a race over the weekend in New Orleans.  I know they've had to sacrifice to train for it and had to make childcare arrangements in order to fly there and be gone for a few days.  The photo that was posted showed a triumphant woman who had just finished the race and looked as if nothing could stop her.  Another friend is leaving for a missions trip next week.  All around me, amazing women are doing amazing things with their lives.  I have such great role models giving me inspiration.

Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep? --Fanny Crosby

Begin Looking Beyond

"Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.  As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."  Hosea 6:3

Today's devotion is all about risk taking; being able to rock the status quo.  I can't say that I'm a huge risk taker but more of a calculated risk taker.  I'll ride any roller coaster that has an over the shoulder harness.  I'm looking forward to one day taking a zip line (with the appropriate safety gear) through a rain forest but stepping off a cliff with no safety net?  Not me.  Some things that others might think is a risk aren't frightening for me.  I don't mind public speaking where others might find it terrifying.

So thinking about taking a risk comes down to the risk/benefit for me.  What do I have to lose?  What do I have to gain?  What's the opportunity cost professionally, personally or spiritually?  If I rock the status quo, am I ready for the consequences?  Is there more to fear than fear itself?

Maybe life should have a safety harness.

Have a great Best Life day!

Stop Limiting God

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God In Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:13-14

Trying to look forward into next week or next month is tough.  I'm trying hard to figure out what to do but right now I just see darkness, no light at the end of the tunnel.  That isn't to say that I think things are hopeless.  On the contrary, it just means that I don't see anything...yet.  I have to remember that what I'm doing now, I never would have thought I'd be doing just a couple of years ago! 

If anyone would have told me that I would find myself substitute teaching, I would have laughed.  I never would have thought I could do it.  I can't judge whether I'm good at it or not...I'll let the teachers decide (and the parents and students) but I'm always mindful of the fact that I have an obligation to carry out what the teachers have planned, make my time there worth the parents' tuition and hopefully teach one thing that at least one student will learn for that day.  It makes me really mindful of a plaque that a friend gave me with this saying,  

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

Who knows?  One of these students might just be president some day!

Have a great Best Life day!

Good Things Coming

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Hebrews 11:1

I've been doing a lot of praying this school year that God would open the doors to the schools that our daughter could attend for high school and close the doors to schools that would not be a good fit for her.  God has been faithful to us and now we are in a final waiting period before we make our decision.  In some ways, my own life hangs in the balance between the ability to choose my career path for the next few years or doing something "to make ends meet".  It's a blessing to be in this position and with our frugal choices over the years, I have been blessed to be at home part-time with my girls for as long as I have.  I have earned money in some way the entire time (at least according to my Social Security report and my Income tax forms) but the pressure has never been on me to return to the work force in a substantial way.

I always wondered if I'd be able to make it as a stay-at-home mom.  It wasn't my original intention and I didn't think I could do it but God has a way of sending you down paths you don't expect (see yesterday's blog).  If I hadn't been home with my girls, my husband wouldn't have been able to start the non-profit that he continues to run to this day and it's obvious to me that God had planned that for him (and us) all along.  It's been a huge sacrifice but I know that it's his calling to work with these students.

So sometimes I struggle with the fact that maybe I was never meant to do something "great" but that God had always planned for me to be in the background.  That bruises my ego a bit.  Or maybe I am doing something "great" and I just don't think highly enough of it. 

At least I know that in the next three weeks, my life is going to be different when we decide on my daughter's high school.

Have a warm Best Life day!

King of Kings

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."  1 Corinthians 2:9

This excerpt from the Bible is the beginnings of a song that I love to sing at our church.

"Eye Has Not Seen"

When pain and sorrow weigh us down,
be near to us, O Lord,
forgive the weakness of our faith,
and bear us up within your peaceful word.

Our lives are but a single breath,
we flower and we fade,
yet all our days are in your hands,
so we return in love what love has made.

To those who see with eyes of faith,
the Lord is ever near,
reflected in the faces
of all the poor and lowly of the world.

We sing a mystery from the past
in halls where saints have trod,
yet ever new the music rings
to Jesus, Living Song of God.

Chorus
Eye has not seen,
ear has not heard
what God has ready
for those who love him;
Spirit of love, come,
give us the mind of Jesus,
teach us the wisdom of God.

This is big stuff.  I'd love to think that God has these great plans for me.  The author suggests that God's ideas are outside the box of anything that we could possibly imagine.  That gets a little tricky.  I've never been an "outside the box" kind of thinker.  Sure, give me the box and I can come up with something to do with it but step outside of it?  Much harder.  I'm more of what you'd call an "adaptively creative" person.  One step at a time.  So I really have to trust God to show me what he wants because it's pretty unlikely that I'll be able to come up with it on my own.  Or maybe that's the point?

Time feels like it's slipping away and I'm letting it go.  It's already February and yet motivation to move forward isn't there.  I guess I still feel like I'm in winter hibernation, just doing enough to get by every day and make sure that no one accuses me of neglecting my kids or my husband.  Or maybe I'm just in a cocoon, bundled up amidst the laundry waiting to be sorted or folded, waiting for the right time to emerge as a butterfly! 

Have a beautiful Best Life day!

Raise Your Level of Expectancy

"Set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on earth."  Colossians 3:2

"Keep your head down" is a common expression.  Sometimes we walk through life just hoping nobody notices us.  In order to see what is possible, we have to raise our heads up and look around.  Today's devotions suggests that I focus on the possibilities and follow my expectations.  The bible verse for today suggests that the focus should be on the higher things, God's things.

Interesting then, that I was working on the children's church lesson for tomorrow.  Twice each liturgical season, I prepare a lesson for the children of our parish.  I was reading the bible passages and the theme for the lesson is choice.  Making good choices.  Choosing the right path.  Following God's laws.  Choosing to be happy.  I'm very aware that God is using these messages for me too. 

I had breakfast this morning with someone who has become a good friend as our daughters have gone to school together.  She is one of the most Godly women I know and I am also fortunate that she says what's on her mind and doesn't mince words.  I just love being in her company.  She chooses God even when times get tough.  She uplifts those around her.  I aspire to be like her.  I will miss her sassy ways when the girls graduate in June.  She's a true gem.

I choose to surround myself with people who choose light, optimism, happiness, whatever you want to call it.  I am blessed to have a lot of people like that in my life.  Choosing to try to find the good and the happy in every situation is hard but so worth it when you do.  Maybe I need to raise the bar, raise my level of expectancy and choose to see my best life in the life I have.

Have a blessed Best Life day!

You Can Be It

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?""Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.  "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours - otherwise not."  2 Kings 2: 9-10

Any athlete that I have ever seen interviewed has talked about visualization as one method of achieving their goal.  The vision board I'm assembling is one way of visualizing the result I want.  Seeing it my mind is another way.  But if you're not sure what you want to visualize, you can't very well do it, can you?  How do you visualize something intangible?

The lack of a goal feels a bit like a boat that is drifting at sea.  The sails are drooping just waiting for the wind that will carry the boat to places unknown before.  If the wind picks up but the boat doesn't have direction, it will just go around in circles.  Ah, now there's a visualization!  It's making me a bit seasick!

I'm happy to let God drive the boat.  I'm just waiting for the winds to pick up.

By God's Power

"It shall be done to you according to your faith."  Matthew 9:29

Do you ever wonder if your faith is strong enough; faith in God, faith in yourself, faith in others, etc.? When one falters, do the others compensate?  If your faith is weak or being tested, does that mean there will be less of God's blessing or more because that's when you need it most?  "What He wants to do in your life is not going to be by your might or power.  It's going to be by His Spirit," says the author of today's devotion.  Good thing,  because there are days when my might and power feel like there's been a service interruption. 

I wrote a dedication this morning for my daughter's 8th grade yearbook.  We were asked to include a baby picture and keep our thoughts to 100 words or less.  I asked the question, "How do you pour so much love into 100 words or less?"  Eventually, I found this quote.

"What I wanted most for my daughter was that she be able to soar confidently in her own sky, whatever that may be.  -- Helen Claes

What I've come to realize, is that this is what I want for myself too.  There is nothing like the feeling at her age of the whole world laying at your feet and the possibility of everything and feeling totally invincible.  At my age, I need to peel away the layers of self-doubt and boundaries and open myself back up to the possibilities that God has for me.  It shall be done according to my faith.

Have a blessed Best Life day!

Expect Great Things

"Everything is possible for him who believes."  Mark 9:23

 As soon as I read this passage, the first thing that popped into my head is the Josh Grobin song, "Believe".

Believe in what your heart is saying,
Hear the melody that's playing.
There's no time to waste,
There so much to celebrate.
Believe in what you feel inside,
Give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need, if you just believe.

Children find it so easy to believe.  Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Fairy Godmothers are all part of many children's lives growing up.  At some point they stop believing but we don't have to stop believing in the one person that can make all of our dreams come true.  I need to keep reminding myself of that.  God has done great things in my life already.  I just need to have faith that all things are possible and then work towards that best life I'm seeking.  

We're home for yet another snow day today.  A little decluttering might be in order or maybe I'll finally get through those Christmas decorations on my dining room table.  Just one small step toward living the life I want.  Just believe.

Have a "snowy" Best Life Day!