daddy's prayer

Growing up my dad was always the one to tuck me in at night. He would make sure my closets were closed (so nothing creepy and strange could come out) and check all four corners of my ceiling for spiders - I had and still have this paranoid kind of phobia when it comes to spiders. We have all found a few spiders up on our ceilings, especially those "vintage" popcorn ones! I have found a few more than my fair share, almost developing a six sense for them. So after my dad had made all of the important checks that eased my mind, he would kneel next to my bed, palms clasped and would perform his final bedtime task that lastly eased my spirit. He would pray.

Now my dad's not one for change, therefore, never minding repetition. So evidentitly, our prayer together was always the same. Together we would recite the Lord's Prayer. To this day, I still don't know why we continually prayed that prayer. Maybe once he reads my blog, i'll receive an answer. That is, if he even remembers! Though I didn't know what trespasses were, let alone how to pronounce the word (dad always had to help me along at that point), it was still a beautiful memory that was filled with powerful words.

Today, I want to revisit the Lord's Prayer. It is often forgot about due to its traditional format. Often times it is looked upon as something mechanical and only recited out of tradition. As I can successfully comprehend this prayer, now in my late twenties, I read it with so much emotion and feeling. There is no doubt that this is a powerful and mesmerizing prayer. You cannot tell me that this doesn't perfectly represent our All Mighty God in the most tangible and fundamental way. Enjoy.

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

in a blink of an eye

Do you remember having "What it will be like..." thoughts? I sure do. I can remember thinking about what it would be like to ride a bike without training wheels. My curiosity eventually got the best of me after I commandeered my big brother's bike. I wasn't even out of the neighborhood yet before I fell off and onto one of the handlebars, knocking the wind out of me.

I also remember thinking about what it would be like to drive! In High School, driving was the coolest thing next to having a Letterman's jacket or for the most part, wearing a boyfriend's Letterman's jacket. I think the latter was actually the cooler of the two because you had a boyfriend (1 cool point) who also lettered (bonus cool points). But driving was a one way ticket to freedom and social attraction. I was a little extra cool in my days. I had a car my Sophomore year and and parking pass, illegally that is! I was the only Sophomore parking my car in the lot. Apparently only a select few could appreciate my coolness because I couldn't letter in it and didn't get to wear a boyfriend's jacket for it.

And then there was the "What will college be like?" thought. College was everything and more than I had expected. I guess I didn't really know what I was going to expect for college but it was a time full of late night food runs, cramming as many people as you can into a car and paying with change, long nights of girl talk, movie watching and dorm room pranks, and finally, early morning classes that you would attend in your sweatpants and sweatshirt (sometimes even slippers) while dozing off and comprehending nothing while at it, only to go back to your dorm room to sleep until mid afternoon.

Now my short point is that these life chapters felt like they were going to take sooooo long to get to. I remember counting down the years to when I would reach the end of each of my "What will it be like..." questions. And once they arrived, they seemed to be gone faster than I could ever had imagined! Don't let the years go by without making them count by fulfilling them with purpose. Without purpose, no direction can be taken, leaving us with just empty years ending in what will feel like a short-lived, shallow life.

Here are some lyrics by the band Revive that state this beautifully and will hopefully make you think twice about what you are going to fill your years with:

Teach me to number my days
And count every moment before it slips away
Taking all the colors before they fade to gray
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink
It happens in a flash
It happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink

When it's all said and done
No one remembers how far we have run
The only thing that matters is how we have loved
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink
it happens in a flash
it happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink

Slow down, slow down
Before today becomes our yesterday
Slow down, slow down
Before you turn around and it's too late

It happens in a blink
it happens in a flash
it happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink

would you rather...

There's this game I discovered in college one night while hot tubing with a group of friends. It was suggested after an uneventful game of Ten Fingers, where we got tired of holding up so many fingers for so long (we were all pretty much good girls, so we were all winners in that game). From there we started a new tradition of Would You Rather... This was a more captivating game because anything that could be imagined up could be used, which in turn promoted bursts of laughter and uncontrollable giggling. For example;

question: Would you rather have three eyeballs or three legs?

Yes, it was a bit of a juvenile game, but at the same time so ridiculously funny! We have created some good memories from our late night jacuzzi days. The game, however, would eventually come to an end when one of us would be so tired that their Would You Rather became so far detached from reality, others were at a loss of words, not having the energy to find more. That usually killed the game, when a player would take the silliness to an entirely new level that no one else could relate to.

Community comes to mind when I reminisce about our jacuzzi games. Like a group of jacuzzi girls in college, we all have our click of friends, our community. Usually a common direction is shared in your community of friends. Each individual is coming together through the same question, creating a foundation. And it's important to keep that foundation solid and sound, because once we allow it to deteriorate, even just a little, there is a chance of it ending.

Now chance is completely avoidable. We can refuse to take part in things that are detrimental to our foundation. This is just as much every individuals responsibility as it is the group's, as a whole. The lack of a solid community of safe people allows the foundation to become dry and eventually crack. There are times when we are going to get tired and silly in the way of the world. But it's important to remember that our decisions affect our community. They can be a catalyst for healthy living or for destruction.

So Would You Rather... make choices that bring life into your community of friends or taint it with unstable choices that bring faulty promises to a foundation that is suppose to support the people that matter the most.

where will we begin

"Everyone who got to where they are had to begin where they are" - Richard Paul Evan

A Facebook friend of mine posted this quote today. I like it because I think it's a really natural statement. We all have a beginning to how great we are going to be. It is that beginning that determines the extent of our greatness. I can remember prepping for the SATs, the most important but belittling test ever (still bitter, ten years later), and waking up the morning of to eat my big, hearty breakfast. Brain food was important as a test taker. I needed to fill my body with the proper nutrients that will give me the best chance of focusing and choosing the correct multiple choice answer, even though they all seemed to be the same except for the word than or then (the anxiety is coming back to me). The first meal of the day was the most important, even more important that last minute cramming because if you did not have a proper beginning to test day, you were probably not going to reach that above average score.

Everyone has a beginning to their journey in life. Mine is now. I am completely on my own. There is no dependency on my parents for my survival. I am independently living and caring for my own life. Influence of any kind - spiritual, political, emotional - isn't there. For the first time in my life, I have a chance to decide my future and how big I want it to be. This is truly my beginning and I want to do it right.

The foundation I lay now for myself is my beginning. It matters what I do because my actions shape my future. Now is the time to figure out where I stand in this world by finding my world view and what that looks like integrated into my everyday living. It's important to get it right, so that we can achieve the greatness that we are capable of reaching. It's almost as if we are accruing years and the more we have done right, the bigger our future looks.

A future in God's presence isn't going to be as fulfilling if we don't take His place in our lives seriously early on. Choices that we make when we are young eventually come back to us in the form of regret and resentment, leaving the lingering question of  "what if...". Life can still be good in the long run, but take the challenge of beginning now so that you can make it beyond great!

waiting for tomorrow

Why is it that we always want to start the diet, get our routine going at the gym, or get back into the Word tomorrow. What is so wrong with today? We are all guilty of doing this. We want our last hoorah before we buckle down and get our life together. And then when we do buckle down and start living with discipline, it becomes so important to ourselves to have that cheat day. For me, however, it isn't a day. My day turns into weeks and sometimes months. There's no telling how long I will be indulging the "sweet" things in life. After a while, I'll come to my senses, take a few last hoorahs and start back up again tomorrow.

This routine is not the best of lifestyles. It may be easier and feel great to live carelessly today but the end results are not all that desirable. It always ends in feelings of failure and despair. This goes for anything. If we eat poorly today, then tomorrow we will be heavier and more depressed because the number on the scale increased. If we don't exercise today, then tomorrow we will have less energy and mobility, maybe even an extra clogged artery. If we don't study Scripture today, then tomorrow we will not be prepared for what may come.

Now wouldn't life be easier if we took part in the positive things more consistently? We would be thinner, physically healthier longer, and better equipped for the hard times in this world and the temptations it brings.
A whole lot can happen tomorrow so make today count. Eat healthier, walk a little longer, and live out Scripture. Make the better choice every today you have.

you are beautiful

I can remember, in high school, driving to my local beach and being so frustrated that my radio would always lose signal through the canyon road I took to reach that beautiful, sunny location. I had to either be prepared with a good cd or roll the windows down in hopes another car was blasting something good to eavesdrop to. This was a big deal, because if I didn't have any interesting stimulation, I wasn't going to get through the lengthy, two lane road that was often backed up for a few miles.

Today, luckily I married a man that has no patience or acceptance for situations like this and gave me the wonderful gift of XM. Now there is no more static, or any silent moments in my car. Except for the occasional tunnel and parking garage, I can go anywhere with my satellite radio. However, I often times feel a little guilty about paying for the subscription because in all reality, I only listen to one channel! So here is some encouraging lyrics that pack an uplifting punch by MercyMe from my favorite, only ever listend to channel on my satalite radio.

Days will come when you don't have the strength
And all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart
They'd see so much

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

Praying that you have the heart to fight
Cuz you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
But they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to die!

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
In His eyes

You're beautiful!
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful!
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful!
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful!
You are treasured
You are sacred
You are His

the grand canyon

I've been to the grand canyon only once in my still short lifetime. It was a church trip, where I was a youth leader to way too many Junior High kids, a species of humans that will never be tamed. The view was amazing, practically unreal, until you peered down from the edge and realize that there is no mirage, just death, once you cross that threshold. I wonder how many lives are lost each year due to no guardrails! With as much dirt, and loose gravel along the edge of this great wonder, one wrong decision could carry you over the edge.

Often too many times, we let evil in so close that our judgment gets clouded and lost in its lies. Is sin really that powerful of a deceiver or are we that selfish with our desires that we make the choice to give into it? Evil is a destination, the fall to death from the edge of the Grand Canyon. It is so clear to us that we don't want to fall  but we get close to the edge anyways. Lies are believed and we convince ourselves that we can get closer and closer and will never fall. But people fall. There wouldn't be a Hell if people never fall.

Scripture is very clear about what is evil. It shouldn't come to us unrecognizable or as a surprise. If it does, then we need to get our head out of the clouds, find clarity through Christ and start preparing ourselves for what may come next. If we don't, that fall will come and it will be too late because we never thought to put up guardrails against it.

i see you

A coworker of mine has been putting off the fact that he needs glasses for months now and finally, today, he had them in hand, or rather, on face. Everyone affirmed his good looks and went on with their day. As I was walking back to my desk, Mr. Sophisticated, looked at me with his new frames and said, "I see you."

God sees us too. He sees us every moment we are in being, even prior to our coming into existence. We are the target and God is the arrow. He keeps coming back to us because He is always aiming at us. Think of Him as the Big Brother of the Universe. He sees all and knows all - not because he wants to make us feel suffocated, but rather because he loves us and wants to be our Rock and Provider. God's all-knowing doesn't have to make us feel ashamed but rather comforted and blessed that we always have someone on our side, rooting and directing us in this hectic world.

Yes, there will be times when he tells us the stay on base or to take the walk instead of the run. We are not always going to like the calls He is making in our lives but we need to bring our perspective back onto the truth. The fact that He knows best and has a plan, a purpose, for you and I. It's not just about our individual plays in the game of life. We are called the body of Christ for a reason. Everyone plays a part for the team. If we spend so much time dwelling on the "bad calls" we think God is dealing our way then we are going to miss out on our next move, the bigger picture, our purpose.

breeding new life

I just found out that my first ever puppy has been born. This brings me both excitement and anxiety. I never grew up in a house that had a four legged family member. All I ever had was an outdoor cat by the name of Licorice who only received affection from me when she needed her tangled fur balls trimmed from her coat. Then there was the pair of finches that never ceased to lay eggs. That was exciting at first but became anti-climactic very quickly. So when I married my husband that has no idea what a home feels like without a dog, I knew that it was inevitable that we would eventually start our family of course with a dog.

When selecting where to find our first dog together, my husband and I settled on a professional breeder located in Alabama instead of our local pound or the random neighbor's accidental litter. It was difficult for me at first to justify spending the kind of money that must be forked over for the highest quality of dog, in our case a chocolate Lab. But after speaking with the breeder, Doug, there is a lot that goes into producing a healthy dog. The parents must be trained physically and mentally. They are regularly ran and take part in frequent activities that insure healthy eyes, hips, etc. All of this is done to guarantee the most healthy birth of puppies. I was more content with our decision knowing that there was so much care and purpose involved with the dogs that were going to parent our first family addition, not counting our beta fish, named Mr. Fish.

Now we have six to 8 weeks left until we get to greet and welcome our furry friend into our home. That means there are only a few weeks left for me to stress and worry about what I'm getting myself into. But while going through all these emotions, I began thinking about when the time comes for me to have children of my own. You know chubby legged, goo gaa, kind of children. Not just the canine kind. I think that I would want to be so cautious and attentive to the health of my mind, body, and spirit so that I, too, can give my kids the best chance at life. Why should my husband and I  be any less serious about our own flesh and blood than we are about the dog. I want to be healthy in every area of my life so that I can give my children the best way possible of entering this world and developing in it. This includes, equiping myself and my marriage, with the tools that will bring about success, purpose and truth. Sound judgement is going to be expected from my children, to give them Godly direction in a world that is full of lies. So this is a new addition to my purpose, starting today - Obedience and faith in my plus One. So in all my ways I am going to chose to acknowledge Him, and He will make my paths straight.