Category Archives: Love

The Cross

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Isn’t it amazing that if you are looking for a cross you can find one?

Look at a door, the beams on your ceiling, a window, telephone poles, electric poles, fences, bridges.  They all contain a cross within.

I think our sweet Jesus died on the Cross so that as the years went by and generations passed, reminders of His love for us would surround us.

Through it I think He is whispering, “Remember Me, I love you.  Don’t worry about what she said, what he said, what they did, or what you didn’t do, just think of Me and smile through your tears.”

Melting…

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This morning I woke up and remembered that it was our anniversary!  As I gazed at my sleeping love, he woke up, gave me a smile and then for a moment he became lost as he gazed into space.

I didn’t want to interrupt his waking moment, but I thought to myself as he became lost in thought… only God knows where he is right now.

In that moment, with that thought, I wanted to melt into our one true Love so that my husband and I could be lost together in His infinite ocean of love.  

By losing ourselves or melting into Him we are not lost, but instead find His buried treasure of knowing each other even more deeply. This hidden treasure is wonderful, but even it falls short of a deeper secret waiting for us.

I long to long to lose myself for Him alone.

A deeper love

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Last weekend I headed out to an overgrown portion of our yard with a saw in hand and planned to trim a few low hanging branches and cut down a few weeds that were becoming full grown trees.  As I started pushing branches out of the way and worked my way back to the fence I came across some dead branches/vines covered in 1-1.5 inch thorns.  I quickly recruited my sweet husband to spend the next 30 min braving the thorns while digging out this plant.  Unfortunately we did suffer a few pricks during the process and they really hurt!

The thorns and the pricks made me think of Jesus.  It reminded me of His crown of thorns and I tried to imagine these thorns pressing into my head… I couldn’t.

Thinking of this made me wonder why we have elevate the rose to such a high symbol of love when it too is covered in these merciless thorns which pressed into the vulnerable and precious head of our Savior and Lord.

Could it be that the young men of the past longed to present their dear ones with not only a beautiful, soft, sweet smelling flower, but also a flower that required them to brave the thorns before it could be obtained in order to deepen the love they were showing their sweetheart through the gift of the rose?

The soldiers could have mocked Jesus with a crown of twigs, but God placed a bush with thorns nearby to allow Jesus to show us yet another level, an even deeper level of His piercing love for us through His crown of thorns.

Jesus thank You for Your deep love that I don’t understand and cannot fathom.  You call to me, You wake me from my sleep and You long to be with me regardless of my disregard.  Please inspire me to long for You as You long for me, my Love.

He makes all things new!

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Since I first thought, prayed and wrote about Our Best Life, I have changed, I am different… I think I am becoming new.  I have told friends that I don’t know why this change has come about, but I am starting to realize that I  do know why… it is because of Him, and only Him.

When I first starting praying for Our Best Life, someone very close to me was going through two very difficult and life changing events.  Her suffering and pain finally opened my eyes to my own selfishness and allowed me to step outside of myself for a moment and begin thinking of and praying for others by praying for Our Best Life.

This changed my direction, but He in His infinite humility still didn’t step in until I invited Him in through a prayer to be the seed that has been sown on good soil.

He heard my prayer and came running to help me.  Regardless of how much work there is to do in me, He pushed up His sleeves and began working to make me new!  Anything kind, loving, patient, thoughtful, considerate, generous that I do is because of Him… it is NOT me!  There is still so much to be done, but He is here and my thoughts run to Him as I talk with my husband and my children, work on homework and play with my children, read, listen to music, wash dishes, fold and iron clothes, clean our home, make our dinner and even while kneeling on the floor a few weeks ago to clean up my daughters vomit.

Thank You My Love for being here with me… I do not just need You, I desire You from the depths of my heart.

Answered Prayer!

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I was looking back through some previous blogs I have written (I think I am my biggest fan… ha ha ha), and I came across a blog I wrote in July 2012 titled Betrayer and Beloved?.

At the end of this blog I asked our sweet Jesus, “Please help me to love Judas Iscariot as you love him.”

Guess what I just realized… I have fallen in love with him.  I fell in love with him during Lent 2013, and I have been thinking of him, crying for him, praying for him and loving him ever since.

I think our sweet Jesus answered my prayer and has shown me how much he loves him by opening my heart to Judas Iscariot and helping me to fall in love with him too.

Knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7)… ask Jesus to show you how much he loves someone you don’t understand, someone you fear, someone you dislike or might even hate and just maybe your eyes and your heart will be opened to how much Jesus loves this person and you too will begin to rise above your fear and hatred and will begin to fall in love this person too.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7), my sweet friends!

We thirst…

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I enjoy being a friendly person, waving to people as I drive by, saying hello to strangers and smiling at almost anyone.

A few months ago I said hello to someone as I was walking into the store and he was so pleased that he stopped to introduce himself and tell me where he was from since he had recently moved to this city.  About five minutes later in the store he found me in the soup aisle to ask if I was married.  Yes I am… Awkward!!!

A few weeks later as I was leaving the gym a nice guy held the door for me so as we were crossing into the parking lot I asked if he had a good workout.  He said, “It was fine… just like you’re looking, what are you doing here?”  Umm… thanks?… Awkward!!!

Once more, I was working out one day on a machine.  I get pretty pumped up while I am working out and I generally wave, smile or give a thumbs up to anyone I see walk by.  Well I waved at one guy who did a double take and then later found me while I was lifting weights and said, “I saw you wave at me earlier… I hope your husband isn’t here.”  Awkward!!!  I quickly explained that my husband doesn’t mind when I am friendly to others and he quickly bolted away from me… AWKWARD!!!

Now please don’t assume that I am only friendly to men, I am just as friendly if not more friendly to women, but women don’t usually misunderstand my friendliness as an advance or attraction.

Why is a genuine hello or taking a small interest in someone’s activity or a friendly wave being misunderstood as a romantic advance?

I just recently started a new book, Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire by Joseph Langford. Within the first few pages I read one of Mother Teresa’s quotes that brought all of these instances quickly flooding back into my memory.

Mother Teresa said, “In the west there is not only hunger for food.  I see a big hunger for love.  That is the greatest hunger, to be loved.”

Mother Teresa understood both sides of this hunger or this thirst and placed Jesus’ words, I thirst (John 19:28), on the walls of her chapels around the world.

Oh… how we are all craving, thirsting for love and not finding it because we are looking in the wrong places.  Lord please open our eyes to see that You alone can quench our thirst for love, and through coming to You we can quench Your thirst, Your desire for us to come home to You!

Wake up!

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God really wanted me to wake up this morning.  I first woke up at 5:40 am and thought to myself, I should get up and read the Bible or my devotional, but I felt too tired so I rolled over and went back to sleep.  I woke up again at 6:03 am and again rolled over to go back to sleep.  Finally at 6:10 am, I had to get up because the alarm in the girls bedroom went off and was blasting NPR all over the house.  I took this as a sign that God was not taking “No” for an answer this morning 🙂  Thankfully none of the girls woke up… I’m not sure how they slept through it, but they did!

I think what I took from all of this was a reminder not to get swept away by the wrong things this Christmas.  The last few days have been a little hectic as I have been preparing for Christmas, sending cards, shopping, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, etc. I haven’t found much time to sit in peace and quiet and just listen.

I want to listen during this Holy time.  I want to sit in peace and think of our Savior, His Mother, His earthly Father and His Holy Birth.  I want to be moved to depths of my soul as I reflect on Him.

Thank you my Loving and Heavenly Father for nudging me awake this morning.  Please help me to keep You always in my sight and to stay awake!

Listen carefully my friends, He might be trying to wake you up too!

Eat, drink and… be Mary!

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This is the time of year when we are celebrating, we are throwing parties, we are attending parties and we are being “MERRY”!

A few years ago we threw a Christmas party and our invitation read, “Come, eat, drink and be merry!”  I was thinking about this today because we wanted to throw a party this year, but I didn’t get around to planning it.  When I thought about the invitation we sent a few years ago, I paused on the phrase “be merry”, in my head I changed it to, “be Mary”.

Did “be merry” originate from “be Mary”?

Rather than research the actual origins of this phrase, tonight I would rather come up with my own story!

Maybe years ago when friends were toasting and celebrating together during the Christmas season, they really did use the phrase, “Eat, drink and be Mary!”, with the intention and the prayer that they themselves as well as their friends would live as Mary did, full of faith in God and consumed with love for Jesus!

I pray during this Christmas season and the year to come, that we will all “be Mary”, living like Mary full of faith in God and consumed with love for Jesus!

Be Mary, my friends, be Mary!

One moment at a time…

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The other morning I fell yet again.

It was the one day of the month when parents can walk their children to their classrooms, see their artwork and help them unpack and get ready for their school day.

The girls were eating slow, laughing a lot and having a ball at breakfast.  I interrupted their little party to tell them them to hurry up.  It didn’t phase them, they kept enjoying their breakfast and each others company.  I rushed them again and again they continued to slowly enjoy their breakfast and their sweet little jokes.  Then I continued complaining about the fact that we were leaving 10 min later than I wanted to leave while brushing their teeth, getting their socks on and urging them into their shoes.  At one point I asked my youngest to please put her shoes on and she started laughing at me and told me that I had already put them on for her.

When we finally arrived at school, I realized that we had forgotten their folders.  My sweet oldest was finally upset.  She is so studious and organized and was very upset about coming to school without her folder.  I felt so bad, but even in the midst of my guilt I didn’t say the right thing.

After getting them to their rooms, I ran home to get their folders.  I then waited at the office while my oldest came to pick up her folder and I finally apologized for being so impatient earlier that morning.

As we hugged she whispered “I forgive you” into my ear.

I think I have finally realized that God did not make me the mother of these three sweet little blessings because of anything I have done, but instead because how strong they are to withstand all of my mistakes and because of everything I still have to learn about patience, goodness, forgiveness and love from them.

God thank You for Your forgiveness every time I fall and thank You for these three blessings in my life who so willingly forgive me as You do!

Please continue to open my eyes to all of their wonderful teachings and keep reminding me to slow down and take everything one moment at a time!

Digging deep…

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We are becoming gardeners!  Since moving into a house I have wanted to plant a garden. Unfortunately I am a dreamer with very little follow-up action, but thankfully my husband is the one who gets things done!

This summer he picked a spot in the yard and we started clearing out the ground cover. Within a few weeks we had a nice little spot cleared!  I thought we would be ready to plant within the week so the girls and I headed out to buy some seeds, but wait a min my sweet husband is also very detail oriented and meticulous when it comes to projects!  We were not yet ready to plant, we had to clear out all of the roots.  While clearing the roots we came across some very large and deep cement bases from the old fence.  I was willing to work around them, but my love said “No, they must come out.” so we began digging really deep!   Four, fifty pound, cement bases later, our little plot had transformed into what looked like a miniature disaster zone with deep holes, dirt piles and lots of roots.

We are now about 2 months into the project.  Today I was out there filling in the holes, clearing roots, leveling the earth, and thinking.  I was wondering if my soul is being cleared out as I clear out this land?  I was thinking about my own roots that run deep, my own cement blocks that weigh me down and keep me from producing any fruit, I was thinking about the over growth within my life that distracts me from our sweet Jesus, and finally I was thinking of my husband and the beautiful life he lives.

Thank You Jesus for blessing me with my sweet and wonderful husband who understands Your ways and practices them.  I read Your Book, but he listens to You with his heart and acts on it.  He knows the land must be properly prepared in order to be fruitful, he knows that things must be destroyed to be rebuilt and he is patient!

I pray to continue seeing him with Your eyes of love so that I can continue to learn from his wonderful example!