the final straw, you know the one – the one that broke the camel’s back  . . .  that straw.  Now a single straw doesn’t seem all that substantial to me, doesn’t appear all that weighty, but apparently when put together with other straws – its weight becomes   . . .   well enough to break the camel’s back.  (or the donkey’s back, or the horse’s back, or the oxen’s back – why is it always the camel’s back that gets broken?  don’t other animals carry straw as well?)

But the point is, the weight of all those individual straws does add up.  A two-string bale weighs around fifty pounds unless wet, then as much as seventy pounds.  A round bale weighs between one thousand and two thousand pounds.  Definitely weighty enough to break the camel’s back   . . .

or a human spirit – which would explain how I came to be eating a large dish of frozen yogurt complete with toppings in the Verizon store while listening to the Verizon “music for those on hold”.  (they play this music because they value me as a customer and they care about my concerns – so I guess they want me to be entertained while I waste my time waiting to make contact with that ever elusive real person, otherwise known as a customer care representative)

It was a journey of many straws that brought me to this moment.  I had been sent to this particular store because the other Verizon store said they could not help me but the store at this location was “cooperate” and could help me.  (turns out they couldn’t help me, they couldn’t get a real person on the phone either, which is how I came to be waiting in their store while the music played as I waited for the next available “real person”)

Only a few days earlier my insurance agent was a no-show for a meeting and his phone number turned out to be no longer in service.  An unexpected turn of events for sure.  I believe it was that same day I received the news that my neighbor’s house had sold.  We have been friends and neighbors for twenty plus years, so this was a pretty big straw, as straws go.

In the not too distant past one of my high schools had closed, the other had become a middle school.  A bible study group I was part of had disbanded and a local college where I was taking some classes – merged, moved and changed its name. My grocery store closed and my bank went tellerless.  My favorite skin care products simply disappeared, they don’t exist anymore.  We were outsourced at work, which came with a pay cut.  And my favorite bookstore is closing!

Lots of straws – little straws, bigger straws – accumulating over time.  I hardly notice the toll they take, until one day I do.  And that day was the day in the Verizon store.  Faced with the prospect of spending an unknown, but predictably long period of time listening to the music while waiting for an agent to pick up, I informed the nice person assisting me that I was going three stores down to my favorite frozen yogurt place to reward myself for taking care of this business and I would be right back to continue waiting with my sweet treat of frozen yogurt in hand.  (which I felt I totally deserved at this point)

So you can imagine how I felt when I was told, oh this is their last week.  They are closing in four days!  No! not my frozen yogurt place AND my bookstore!  This is too much.  Am I going to have to do everything online?  (well, frozen yogurt doesn’t really work online, now does it?)  But there’s nothing like browsing in a bookstore, paging through book after book, discovering all those titles you didn’t even know you wanted to read.  You just can’t do that online, it’s not the same.

“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:18)  These words echoed in my mind as I ate my frozen yogurt and waited for the music to stop.  “at least I got one last frozen yogurt,” I told myself.  I would not have even known the store was closing if I hadn’t been forced by circumstances beyond my control to visit this particular Verizon store on this particular day.

What else?  what other straws could I give thanks for so that they wouldn’t break my back (or my spirit) with their cumulative weight?  I thought about the illustrator for my children’s book who had changed her mind after I had waited on drawings which never came, for several months.  I had just found someone new, perfect for the task, I can be thankful that the delay allowed me to find this person, the right fit for this particular book.

I am thankful God continues to provide me work in new and different schools, even though I miss the old ones.  I discovered my giving thanks to God in everything, really takes the weight out of all those straws accumulating in my life. Oh, they are still there, all those straws, forming into bales.  BUT  –  didn’t the Hebrew slaves make bricks out of straw?  and bricks are good building blocks for roads or buildings  . . .   could my burdens be turned into bricks?  into something useful?  into blessings?  giving thanks seems to be the miracle that turns burdens into blessings  . . .   straw into brick  . . .   transformed before my very eyes  . . .    my burdens grow wings and become weightless  . . .

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.”   (Psalm 107:8)

“I will sacrifice a thank offering to You and call on the name of the Lord.”  (Psalm 116:17)  

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.”    (Psalm 100:4)    

thankfully and sincerely,     Grace Day         

 

 

 

 

 

seeing the same things in a different way, that’s what my faithful friend, the all weather walker, promised me if I would just take her advice and do this one thing. what one thing?  what one thing could possibly give me a new perspective, a new way of looking at things, a different view?  walking in the opposite direction on my morning walk, that’s what.  This was my friend’s suggestion for me, more like her challenge to me –  that I walk in the opposite direction on my morning walk. Unthinkable! unheard of! revolutionary! mind-boggling! – that I should make such a drastic change!

After all, I am a creature of habit and old habits die hard.  So I continued in my familiar, comfortable walking ways.  Until today, that is.    Yes, today I accepted my friend’s challenge and did something different.  I walked in a new and different direction than before.  As my walk is a combination of walking the golf course and neighborhood sidewalks, I now found myself entering the golf course where I normally exited, and finishing where I usually started.

Very confusing.  But  . . .  the view was different.  My friend was right.  I noticed things I had not seen before.  And I viewed my still familiar surroundings from a different viewpoint, giving me a new perspective.  Particularly noteworthy was the fact that my big, bold, bright blue BUMP letters now came after said bump, so they served no purpose for me as I approached from this new direction.  The warning letters came too late – after I had already encountered the bump, and they were now upside down.  (that is from my new point of view)

I guess perspective is everything?  What had been downhill for me was now uphill and what used to be an incline in my path was now a descent.  I was entering exits and exiting entrances.  The end of my walk was now the beginning and the beginning of my walk was now my end.  I was confused.  I did not know the beginning from the end.

Fortunately, my Heavenly Father does.  “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.”  (Isaiah 46:10)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”   (Revelation 22:13)

I was seeing things differently alright.  My vantage point had changed, changing my point of view along with it.  I was seeing a long familiar landscape with new eyes because of my new perspective.  If only I could gain a new perspective on familiar people, situations and circumstances in my life – I might view things in a different way and gain new understanding.

If I could see things the way God sees them.  Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God’s view is so much higher than mine.  I can never attain to the position from which He views all things simultaneously.  My perspective will always be limited by my human constraints, tethered to the time and the place in which God has me living my life.  So I will trust Him.  His view of things is much broader, more inclusive than mine.  He has the advantage of Omnipresence and Omniscience.

God’s perspective is perfect.  Better I trust Him than to rely on my own incomplete understanding, which is based on my limited view of my surroundings and circumstances, a view which changes every time I change direction.  But I never see the whole picture all at once.  Every new perspective I attain is still a very limited one.

So I will continue to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding; in all my ways I will acknowledge Him, and He will direct my paths.”   (Proverbs 3:5-6)

sincerely,        Grace Day

 

 

 

no that is not a typo in the title – however it is another kind of weight, because waiting often weighs me down as I strive against it, wanting to make progress or to feel productive by whatever standards I have set for myself or those standards the culture has set for me.  In any case, for me, waiting becomes more than a minor inconvenience.  Instead, it grows as time passes into a heavy burden, weighing me down as I wait on answers to long prayed prayers.

During these waiting times I am called to continue walking in faith, carrying these burdens with me as I follow in obedience where God leads.  He will let me know when the time comes for me to lay them down.  He will let me know when my wait is over.  Until that time, my wait training continues.  (I must be training for a marathon)

Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Well, that may be true – that it is good to wait on God, but it sure doesn’t feel good while I am doing it, not in the least.  Still Proverbs 8:34 tells me, “Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My doors, waiting at My doorway.”

And Psalm 27:14 instructs me to, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  While Psalm 37:7 says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

So even though things aren’t looking good for me, as good as they are for others, I am to wait for God.  Wait for Him to what?  to show up?  to act on my behalf? Hebrews 6:15 tells me, “When God made His promise to Abraham,  . . .   saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’  And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”

God keeps His promises.  But Abraham had to wait in faith for many years to see God’s promise to him fulfilled.  He had to trust God, not his current circumstances. Abraham had to trust and to wait.  God’s chosen people, the Israelites, spent a lot of time waiting.  They waited 430 years to be delivered from their slavery in Egypt into the land that God had promised to them.  Then, due to their disobedience, they spent another 40 years waiting (and wandering) in the desert, before they could actually enter their promised land.

The Israelites would then spend the next 1,400 years waiting for the Messiah whom God had promised them, the One who was to be their Deliverer, Savior, Redeemer and King forever.  The One the scriptures foretold, who would rescue them from their enemies and reign forever.  Their wait was ended with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the One who fulfilled every prophesy of scripture and every promise God had ever made to His people.  Their prayers were answered, Christ had come!  They were no longer waiting on God, trusting Him to do what He said He would do, hoping His answer would come quickly.  It had come (although not so quickly)  God had answered with Jesus’ birth.  The wait was over.

But not for long.  Just thirty-three short years later, they would find themselves waiting on God again.  With Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven, waiting began again.  Now we are all waiting, waiting for Jesus’ return.

Jesus promises us in John 14:2-3,  “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.”

I have Jesus’ promise He is coming back, and He is coming back for me.  But for now I have to wait on Him.  Revelation 22:20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ ”  I might wonder about the use of the word ‘soon’, seeing as how it’s been over two thousand years now and we are still waiting on Christ’s return to earth.

But 2 Peter 3:8-9 reminds me, ” . . .   With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  Definitely something worth waiting for!

As are God’s plans for me, worth waiting for.  His timing – not mine.  No one knows when He will return.  “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”   (Matthew 24:44)

I want to wait well.  I want to wait with hope.  That requires that I trust the One who has promised to return.  I will trust Him with everything that I am waiting to see happen in my life.  Whether two thousand years or two days – I guess I can wait a little longer.  God give me the grace to wait on You as long as it takes for Your good purposes to come to pass in my life and in the lives of those I love   . . .

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”    (Psalm 130:5-6)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

walking or working out with weights is good for you – it builds muscle, the extra weight you carry is making you stronger, even though it is not easy at the time

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”   (James 1:2-4)

walking through hardships, adversity, pain, loss, trials and troubles of any kind weighs us down in our walk with Christ – but the extra weight of the burdens we carry with us is making us stronger – building our spiritual muscle –

that we might indeed be, mature and complete, not lacking anything.

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”    (Job 23:10)

in other words, my Heavenly Father knows what heartaches, difficulties, and circumstances weigh me down each day, but He has promised to be with me through them all – and that I will emerge stronger, purified like gold . . .

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it only happened because I was bored, well mostly bored but boredom born out of impatience that had given up.  Resignation turned to boredom.  So while I was busy being bored (I was sitting in stopped traffic) I read these words on the back of the truck directly in front of me, “wildlife removal and repair”.

As I had nothing better to do I began to ponder these words.  After all, inquiring minds really do want to know.  What kind of wildlife?  Removed from where to where?  And who or what gets the repair?  The removed wildlife or the home from which they were removed?  Can wildlife even be “repaired”?  At least the word “removal” implies relocation rather than extermination.  (meaning death)

I think the word “return” needs to be in the slogan as well.  It could read “wildlife removal, return and repair”.  The word return could, although ambiguous in that phrase, do double duty, implying two things at once.  First that the removed wildlife will be returned to their natural habitat and secondly that the people who did the removing will return and repair the home from which they removed the wildlife.

To me this slogan on the back of the truck appears to merge two very different fields of endeavor, wildlife management and construction/home repair.  The former are more likely to be biologists or naturalists, the latter to be carpenters or electricians, builders (and fixers) of buildings.  Do I really want a nature guy working on my roof or foundation or wiring or whatever the “wildlife” that invaded my home has messed up?

Maybe this slogan captured my attention because my mom could have used their services a few years ago.  In her old house she had some “wildlife” issues and she would have wanted “removal” that included “return” to a natural habitat and “repair” whether that applied to the wildlife or to her home.

Squirrels and raccoons were some of the most common culprits, taking up residence in her attic.  They can be noisy as well as destructive.  The moles in her yard were quite destructive, and there were opossums, bats and mice – but they stayed mainly in the barn next to the house.  (except for the mice who preferred her warmer basement)

But my favorite were the bees that took up residence in an unoccupied, upstairs corner bedroom from time to time.  Yes, they were seasonal bees, coming and going as they pleased.  When the bees were visiting, the door to that bedroom was kept shut, but the bees never seemed interested in leaving that warm, sunny room with all its windows anyway.  I think they, too, preferred the door shut so they would be left alone, undisturbed.

It was a relationship that worked, my mom and her bees.  Her house was a kind of B & B for bees if you will.  Too bad they never left her any honey.  My mom also acquired various stray cats and dogs over the years, not all at the same time but sequentially.  These, however, would not qualify as “wildlife”.

So I was deep into my reverie, when traffic started moving again.  None of my questions had been answered and I hadn’t thought to write down the number on the back of the truck.  I would certainly suggest they add the word “return” to their slogan and clarify who gets the repairs, the wildlife or the premises the wildlife has now vacated?

Historically speaking, I’m sure this is a relatively new kind of a business.  I can’t imagine the pioneers having a “service” to call to deal with the bears, wolves, foxes, squirrels, birds and other wild animals that ate their crops and threatened their livestock and chickens and such.  Even today, I wonder, who is invading whose territory?  I wonder if the “wildlife” wish they had a number to call for removal (of us humans) and repair of their beautiful habitats?

In Genesis 1:26 we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, (Hebrew – ‘all the wild animals’) and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ ”

Lord, help us to be good rulers, good caretakers of this earth and everything in it.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”   (Genesis 2:15)

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

so I’ve been thinking   . . .

Cinderella had her glass slippers  –

Dorothy had her ruby slippers  –

And what do I have?   . . .    I have my house slippers  –

Somehow I don’t think my house slippers are going to change my life the way the glass slippers and the ruby slippers changed the lives of the women who wore them –  I say this, because I’m pretty sure it would have happened by now as much as I wear my house slippers  . . .

I wonder if Cinderella ever wore any other shoes after the glass slippers came into her life?  Why would she?  I guess glass goes with everything and the life of a princess is pretty much non-stop glamour anyway, right?

Dorothy didn’t have her ruby slippers when she woke up back in Kansas  – but she didn’t need them anymore  –  those slippers had served their purpose in bringing her home after she danced her way down the yellow brick road   . . .

So what kind of slippers would change my life?  I ask myself  –  or maybe the better question is –  what kind of slippers do I need to fulfill my purpose in life?

I consider my calling,  ”  . . .  let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  (Hebrews 12:1)

So I need running slippers!   of course!     . . .

Because like Paul in Philippians 3:13-14; I, too, need to be “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

I need running slippers because I am in a race.  1 Corinthians 9:-24-27 makes that clear to me.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man (woman) running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

So my glass/ruby slippers aren’t actually slippers at all  –  they are running shoes! and like every good runner knows, I need shoes that fit my feet perfectly if I am to run my race successfully.

God will fit my feet as I wait on Him, like Cinderella waited for her prince.

“But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”   (Isaiah 40:31)

my slippers are running shoes, they are the shoe that fits  –  may I wear them well

sincerely,     Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

buy it!!!  own it!!!  if the shoe fits  . . .  wear it,  walk down the aisle in it and live happily ever after with your prince charming.  After all, isn’t that what Cinderella did when the glass slipper fit her foot?     but   . . .

what if the shoe that fits your bare foot isn’t the glass slipper that slipped so easily onto Cinderella’s foot?  What if it’s a work boot?  What if it isn’t a designer creation?  What if it’s a sensible shoe?  What if it’s corrective shoes?  What if the shoe that fits your foot is out of date and out of fashion?  What if the shoe that fits costs more than your mortgage payment?  What then . . . ?

shoes can help us step into our true identity, just as Cinderella stepped into her role as princess when she slipped those glass slippers onto her feet and stepped into a whole new life.

And let’s not forget Dorothy and those ruby slippers she wore so well.  They made her a target but they also brought her safely home.  Glamorous, glitzy, dazzling ruby slippers turned out to be the “shoes that fit” in Dorothy’s case, and the shoes that she needed in order to walk the yellow brick road successfully.  Those were some special shoes, for a special purpose.

I fear I am still looking for that perfect shoe.  The shoe that will fit me perfectly, be glamorous and comfortable (aren’t those two mutually exclusive, forcing us to choose every time?)  The shoe that will go with every outfit I own.  A shoe to wear as I walk through this world on the many paths I must pass over, paths I unexpectedly find myself on; much like Dorothy found herself walking a very different path than she had ever planned on walking.

Cinderella and Dorothy had their perfect shoes with their perfect fits.  But Cinderella had a fairy godmother and Dorothy had Glinda, the magical good witch.  What do I have?  What would my ideal shoes be anyway?  Maybe the perfect pair of hiking boots that never wear out and never rub blisters.  (because they fit perfectly of course)  Actually, for me, maybe no shoes at all is the perfect fit – barefoot on the beach would be my preferred way to walk through life.

The saying goes, “you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.”  Well, I think that is also true for shoe shopping.  You have to try on a whole lotta shoes before you find the shoe that fits,  the shoe that fits – You.

We often hear the advice, “walk a mile in my shoes”.  While this can help us to understand someone else and what life is like for them, we are likely to come away with blisters from walking in someone else’s shoes because – the shoe doesn’t fit.

Another expression I often hear is “those are big shoes to fill”.  I find walking in shoes that are too big for me hard to do and dangerous too.   It is hard to keep the shoes on my feet.  My feet often slip out of the too big shoes.  I stumble and fall a lot when the shoes are too big.

Conversely, when my shoes are too small they are confining, even crippling to my feet.  Walking is uncomfortable, then becomes painful followed by impossible as blisters develop.

I guess I need to find the shoe that’s right for me.  Trying to fill someone else’s shoes or trying to cram my foot into someone else’s glass slipper will only result in pain and loss of purpose.  My purpose.  I won’t be able to walk on my own.  I won’t be able to walk into my purpose or to walk with purpose, until I find the shoe that fits – the shoe that fits me.

Now I may not have a fairy godmother but I have something better.  I have a Savior, Redeemer, Creator, Sustainer,  who will provide me the appropriate footwear with the perfect fit because He has things for me to do and He will equip me in order to enable me to do those things.  Kind of like when Cinderella’s fairy godmother totally equipped Cinderella to attend the ball and meet the prince.  I mean, she thought of and provided everything – from the ball gown and slippers to a tiara and transportation totally worthy of the event.

It says in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ ”   The feet of those who bring good news are described as beautiful, I wonder what kind of shoes they were wearing? They were mountain climbing, so perhaps my coveted hiking boots?

When Jesus sent His disciples out to share the gospel with surrounding villages He gave them these instructions, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.  Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.”  (Mark 6:8)   So the shoe that fit for the disciples was a sandal.

In Ephesians 6:11-15 I read about getting ready, about being equipped, just like Cinderella for the ball.  Only this isn’t preparation for a ball but for a battle, a spiritual battle that I must fight every day.  My instructions are to “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.    . . . Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

For all this standing firm I am going to need the right footwear with the right fit or I will not be able to stand.  But what is it?  What does it look like?  I read on, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”  

So God Himself will fit my feet, which ensures that the shoes will fit.  He will fit my feet with readiness that comes from His gospel of peace.  Is it ironic that I am to wear shoes of peace as part of God’s armor to protect and defend and to fight against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms?

It would appear that readiness is the new Nike of the footwear world.  Wearing shoes chosen for me and fitted for my feet, for the paths God knows I will be traveling – I am ready to follow wherever God leads.  Ready to help anyone in need.  Ready to share the words of life, which are the gospel, with anyone who will listen.  Ready to meet hurt with kindness, deceit with truth, hate with love.  Ready to meet war with peace, the gospel of peace.

In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told His disciples,  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Jesus also said, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”  (Ephesians 4:32)

my marching orders, so to speak –  that is – if the shoe fits – if I want to wear the footwear of a follower of Jesus – He will fit my feet with the shoes He knows I will need for my life’s journey –

He knows every hair on my head – He knows my name – He has a pair of shoes with my name on them –  and they will be a perfect fit – enabling me to walk with Him  wherever He leads  . . .

“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.  He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights.”  (Psalm 18:33)

if the shoe fits?   thank You Lord that Your shoe for me does fit, perfectly!

I can stop searching, I never have to shoe shop again!

sincerely,       Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q.   back in the day, why didn’t people raise their hands up in the air while worshiping/singing in church?

A.   we were holding hymnals

(for full disclosure on this topic see the post “worshiping ways”,  archives Sept. 2018)

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.”   (Psalm 98:4)

sincerely,      Grace Day

Sounds like a very racy romance novel, doesn’t it?  Or maybe a reality TV show? Actually it is very real, it is my reality, it is my daily life.  I should know, I am one of them.  I am in fact (and have been for many years) a lady of the cul de sac.

You see, I’m fortunate enough to have some wonderful women as my neighbors on this cul de sac we all call home.  Now our lives may not be the stuff of TV primetime dramas, full of exciting, albeit questionable escapades and such.  No, our lives are something infinitely better – they are real lives.

And they are full lives.  They are full of the humor, the pain, the joy, the loss, the learning, sharing, striving, struggling, searching, persisting and prevailing that characterize our days.  (that’s a list just full of drama if you ask me)  No wonder we’re often exhausted, that’s a pretty intense list.

I think it all started with bible study.  We bonded over bible study, all sharing a common desire to know God more personally and more deeply.  We pray together and we pray for each other.  These deep bonds are the foundation of our friendships upon which we have built over the years.

We have added many things to that foundation.  One of us has a “fitness/yoga studio” in her home where she has us doing yoga or cardio on a regular basis.  She is looking out for our physical fitness and encourages each of us in this area.  We want to be physically fit as well as spiritually growing!  We have had/have a book club off and on, depending on our schedules.  Some of us are good cooks (we all benefit from that)  we share recipes and secrets as we share our daily lives.  (and sometimes secret recipes?)

We have parties to celebrate special occasions and parties for no reason other than to get together.  We have garage sales to get rid of stuff and we shop together to buy more stuff.  We encourage each other.  (like when we went shoe shopping and encouraged each other to “buy the shoes, you need them, they look fabulous on you, you’ll regret it if you don’t get them and (the clincher) besides, they’re on sale!”).

Life isn’t just parties though, not even for the ladies of the cul de sac.  We’ve shared funerals and the loss they represent in each of our lives, with each other as well. Truly we are living out, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  (Romans 12:15)

We have prayed each other through surgeries and illnesses.  Actually, one very adventurous lady of the cul de sac is currently in a cast as I write this.  However, nothing keeps her down for long – she will rise again!  (really, it’s not slowing her down all that much even now)

We ladies of the cul de sac bear one another’s burdens.  And that is a wonderful thing, to have someone share in your pain, to know you are not alone in your sorrow or your heartache.  We pray for each other and we pray for each other’s husbands, children and grandchildren.  We pray knowing the legacy of eternal life through faith that we each long to leave our loved ones with when we are gone.  “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  (Galatians 6:2)

For these sisters in Christ I am daily grateful even though I don’t say it often enough.  We pray together, study God’s word together, eat together, exercise together, shop together, party together, play cards together, laugh together, cry together,  . . .

Ladies of the Cul de Sac  —  so much more than a reality TV show —  it is real life!

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”   (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

I love you ladies of the cul de sac,   grateful to be one of you  –

sincerely,           Grace Day

 

 

 

no, I’m not describing a person, I’m talking about my tires.  As it turns out, the reason my tire pressure light was on all this time, was because all my tires were over inflated.  Yes, I finally had them checked out and this fact was discovered. It was corrected by letting some of the air out of each of my tires, bringing them all down a notch or two, so to speak, to their correct operating pressure.  Apparently, it is not good to drive on tires that are over inflated or under inflated.  That’s why the warning light comes on, so I will know when my tires are not at their intended, best operating pressure.

The irony is, the time before this when my tire warning light was on, all four of my tires were under inflated – air needed to be added, not taken away.  What is going on with my tires anyway?  What got them so puffed up, proud and over inflated? Don’t they know that’s no way to roll in this life?  Apparently not, because all four tires had become over full (of hot air) and needed to have some wind taken out of their sails, so to speak.

My tires have been taking up a lot of my time lately but they’ve been teaching me, too.  What are my tires telling me?  Well, my puffy, proud tires remind me we are not to go through life that way, over inflated and full of self (self importance and self indulgence) – that is not how God wants me to roll.  Matthew 23:11-12 is pretty clear, “The greatest among you will be your servant.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  (that was my tires’ problem, they had become too puffed up and needed to be humbled, taken down to where they were intended to be in order to function best)

Proverbs 29:23 reminds me, “A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.”  Paul’s words in Romans 12:3 ring true as he instructs me, ” . . . Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

I am warned (kind of like the warning light in my car telling me my tires were becoming over inflated) “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”   (Proverbs 16:18)

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”  (1 Corinthians 10:12)

I may have ignored the warning light in my car a little too long this last time, allowing my tires to continue to grow in their overly inflated state, unchecked.  I do not want to continue in prideful ways, ignoring the warnings in God’s word.  I want to take to heart the instructions Paul gives in Philippians 2:3-5,

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be that of Christ Jesus:  . . .  He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name,”

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.”   (1 Peter 5:6)

Lord, help me not to be like my tires were;  puffed-up, proud and over inflated.  I am not useful to You when I am in that state.  Humble me, so that I can serve Your good purposes.

another time I will write about living under inflated, as my tires were before they became over inflated.  God does not want me to live under inflated either, as I cannot serve Him well in that condition anymore than I can serve Him in my over inflated condition –  but that’s for another post . . .   until then  . . .

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

sincerely,         Grace Day