Lamps

Lamps

Right before Easter, my daughter and I went shopping.  I didn't need a thing but there were a few things for which she was looking and I sure wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to shop -- and more importantly -- spend time with one of my children.  I always have a good time when I'm with my children.

So my daughter was looking for a lamp for the living room of their home.  She pointed out a few that she sorta liked -- but nothing was exactly right.  After looking at a couple of stores, I thought I had an idea of what she wanted.  She still hasn't found a lamp.  So a couple of weeks ago, we received a lighting catalog in the mail.  Knowing she was still looking, I perused the pages for lamps.  I found a lamp that might be just what she was looking for -- right color, right size and for a great price!  I snapped a picture with my cell phone and sent it to her with a caption..."These are cool!"  A little later in the evening, she answered, "Thanks for thinking of us mom but they're really not my style." 

Oh...

Now she didn't mean a thing by it...she was just telling me that it wasn't what she was looking for and I certainly didn't want her to spend money on something that she didn't like.  I've taught her to be a smart shopper.  I just didn't have a good feel for what she wanted after all.....She might have liked it...and boom...I would have been super mom once again!

Well the whole thing made me think of some lamps my dad gave my husband and I not long after we married.  My husband was working on his master's degree and I was working.  We lived in student housing -- a furnished three room duplex.  It wasn't much but it was enough.  Well my dad bought us these lamps -- I'm sure they had to have been on sale -- probably clearanced -- because they were the ugliest glass, harvest gold lamps you have ever seen!!  They were definitely not my style!  He was so proud of his purchase and proud to be able to give us something we needed.  We accepted the lamps in the spirit they were given and they filled our house with light for many years all because of the love of a father. 

Today is Father's Day.  I have thought of my dad most of the day.  I miss him.  He was a mess.  He was funny.  He adored our mother and I never doubted for one minute his love for me and my siblings.  Even in death, he still has an impact on my life. 

That makes me think of the other Father in my life.  He impacts my life every day and I have never doubted His love for me.  He also gave us the gift of Light...the Perfect gift of Light...the Light that gives life everlasting!

Love till next time,
Lanna

For your consideration:  John 1, John 3:16-17, Romans 5

What Season Is It Anyway?!

     Don't you just love the smell of a freshly mowed lawn in the spring?
I do...but it's October and it's still mowing season in Texas!
Don't get me wrong...I love to mow but I'm ready for that season to end. 
It's time for pumpkins, fresh mums on the porch and scents of the season like
cinnamon and cloves.

     Since I love to mow, it's been one of my happy household chores for years --
that is until my little accident.

     There's always been a method to my mowing.  It starts on the north side of the house -- then I move to the front -- then the south side and lastly the back yard.  I'm always careful to mow away from the flowerbeds to keep the weed and grass pulling down.  Oh and there's always a song going in my head as I go.  Because of the rocks that seem to grow in the yard, the first song that normally comes to mind is a children's bible class song --
    
          "If I had a rock, tell me will it grow?
           Oh no, no...oh no, no.
           A rock is not a living thing, it won't grow.
           God didn't plan for rocks to grow."
    
The next song is normally a favorite from The Message or a song from the previous Sunday's worship service.  I love music and I love to sing.  It's just best to sing in my head while mowing.

     On the day of the accident, I got off work, ran an errand and ran home to mow a few patches of blue stem grass in the yard.  now in a large pasture, there are few things more beautiful than a field full of tall, silvery blue-green grass blowing in the wind like waves on the ocean.  But in our yard, a few sparse patches of the tall grass among the Bermuda made the whole yard look bad.  My usual method was out today as a full lawn job wasn't needed. 
I ran in, changed my clothes and went out to jump on my little old faithful riding mower.  To start the mower, you put your foot on the brake and turn the key.  Once it's started, you keep your foot on the brake, move the gear shift to put it in gear, take your foot off the brake and you're off -- the higher the gear, the faster you go.  Well I was in a hurry right -- gotta get supper going.  So I had that little mower in high gear and I was moving!

     I was in mid-turn between the house and the drive way when the steering wheel came off!!  AHHHHH!!!  I was headed for the truck in the driveway when I managed to get the steering wheel back on.  Although I was feeling some relief, I was going too fast to calm down.  I continued mowing the pesky blue stem only to have the steering wheel come back off again in the next turn!   AHHHH!!!  Try as I might, I could not get it back on and I was out of control and heading straight for the house!  I went through the flower bed and WHAM!! I hit the house and came to an abrupt stop with a useless steering wheel in my hands.  Embarrassed and hurting, I looked over only to see my new neighbors.  I don't think they saw the impact...but they heard it.  I waved "I'm okay" and with my tail between my legs, went into the house.  I didn't want to call my husband yet -- this wasn't something to tell him over the phone.  I had messed up the mower and I felt badly.  So looking for a little sympathy, I got my cell phone and snapped a picture of my little mower against the house and sent it to my two kids.  In response, my daughter instantly responded with..."BAA HAA HAAAAA!!"  She was laughing so hysterically that her co-workers had to know what was so funny.  My ever level headed, straight-thinking son answered back..."Mom, if the steering wheel came off -- did the brakes not work either?"
THE BRAKES!! Why didn't I think of simply hitting the brakes?! I panicked! 
It was the steering wheel's fault. 

     After calming down a bit, my leg still smarting from the collision with the house -- guess what song came into my head?  Carrie Underwood's recording of "JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL"!  Now wouldn't that be great...Here Lord, you take it -- I know you would do so much better -- I can't do this on my own -- You do the driving.  The more I thought about it, I could just see myself in the passenger seat and Jesus behind the wheel...my feet up on the dash and hands raised high...WOOHOO!!!  This is great.  No responsibilities -- just sit back and enjoy the ride!  But the Lord doesn't drive us anywhere.  He gives us choices.  He wants us to make a willful decision to follow Him.

     Throughout the gospels, Jesus simply says, "Follow Me" -- not scoot over, I'll do the driving.  He leads and we follow. It's that simple. You know sometimes we get so wrapped up in this fast paced worldly life and forget to simply follow.  Things get so crazy that before you know it, we're out of control with no steering device.  We're going so fast that we forget the brakes and it ends in a disastrous crash!  After we've crashed, then we remember the Lord.  HELP ME LORD!  I could have avoided the crash and life's crashes if I had just remembered the brakes!  It would be a whole lot less painful.

     I need to remember with the start of every day that I am a child of God.  I need to willfully follow where He leads me and trust that He will protect me every step of the way.   When I do, I'll be reflecting His light -- and that light may guide someone else to follow Him too.  You know, someone is always watching...no matter the season. 

For your consideration:  John 10:27-28, Psalms 23, Psalms 25:4-5.

Love till next time,
Lanna

Do I know you?

Do I Know You?

Can you remember a time when something totally unexpected happened to you?

Almost exactly 4 years ago, while babysitting my grandson, we made a trip to our favorite fast food chicken restaurant.  Of course the chicken wasn't the only draw...it has an indoor playground!
After eating, we headed to the play area as promised.  Because he was only 2 years old at the time, I went inside the glassed area with him.  We hadn't been there long when three children and what looked to be a teenaged babysitter came and sat down at a table on the other side of the glass.  The youngest of the three children was the cutest red headed, freckle faced boy -- I guessed him to be about five or six years old.  Catching my eye, I returned his gaze with a smile.  He was such a cutie! 
With my attention focused on my toddling grandson, I didn't notice that the red headed boy from the other side of the glass was now sitting at my feet.  He caught my attention and asked, "Are you my nana?"  Awww!  My heart just melted.  "No honey, I'm not", I told him.  And with that, he was off to play.  Immediately thoughts started swirling through my head...

My first thought was, "Why did he think I might be his nana?"
Why didn't he KNOW I wasn't his nana?  Did I look like his nana?  Did he want a nana and thought I might look like a good one?

My second thought was, "WHY DID HE THINK I MIGHT BE HIS NANA?!"
If he thinks I might be his nana, I must LOOK old enough to be his nana!  RATS!!!
I still feel younger than the age posted on my birth certificate!
Oh well...guess I needed a frank discussion with Mister Mirror Mirror! 

In the book of John chapter 4, we read about an encounter Jesus had with a woman who had come to draw water from the area well.  Jesus had traveled through Samaria and had stopped at the well to rest.  Now traveling through Samaria was something Jewish people did not do.  Samaritans were considered half breeds to the Jews -- so when traveling, they would go around Samaria to avoid those living there.  Not Jesus.  When the woman arrived at the well, Jesus asked her for a drink.  Because she was a Samaritan and he a Jewish man, she was surprised at his request.  This leads into a discussion of living water and how HE could provide it to her.  Up to this point, the woman thinks that she is just talking to a crazy, misguided Jewish man -- that is until he starts telling her everything about her life.... that she had been through five husbands and was now living with a sixth man.  He knew her!  She knows that a Messiah is coming but she supposes him to be a prophet.  Jesus revealed to her that he was in fact -- the Messiah.  At that, she left her water jar and went back into town and told the people there about meeting the man at the well.  She asked them, "Do you think he might be the Christ?"  Well they all came to see for themselves.  Scripture says that at their begging, he stayed an additional two days.  Many believed not only because of what Jesus taught but also because of what the woman had told them. 

So to me, the best part of this is -- Jesus knew the woman and saw her value.  And better still -- He knows you and He knows me and sees value in all of us -- no matter what.  Isn't that awesome?!

Read Romans 3: 22 and 23 with me.
"God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same:  Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift.  They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ."   (New Century Version)

The woman at the well and her entire town experienced the grace of Jesus that day...and we  experience that same grace today. 

Now back to the red headed cutie who haunts my memory bank...
He needs a good nana...everyone needs a good nana.  But more importantly, we need a savior...every one needs a savior!

Love till next time,
Lanna

Wow... that hurt!

We are fearfully and wonderfully made -- aren't we? 
Did you know that drinking water -- 16 ounces or more -- before going to bed will most assuredly wake you up before the sun rises? 
With a 50 something year old bladder and that much water, who needs an alarm clock?

A couple of weeks ago, my body's alarm clock went off around 4 a.m.  Not wanting to be awake yet, I rolled out of bed and shuffled off toward the bathroom.  Cutting through the darkness of the room is a night light that shines whether there's electricity or not.  I refused to open my eyes thinking that the least bit of light would really wake me up.  I was hoping to get at least one more hour of sleep before the real alarm announced the start of another day.  Why open my eyes?
I've been walking this same path for many, many years.  I know the way.  I can do this and go back to sleep.
Urgently closing in on the doorway to the toilet -- I was unaware that the door had been closed.

WHAM!!! 

My bowed head hit the door! Instinctively my hands flew up toward my head and I slammed my hand into the knob of the closed door.  I hit my head so hard against the door that the clock on the wall fell from the nail on which it hung.  As it fell, it knocked the night light out of the socket and then hit the faucet handle on the sink below causing it to turn on at full force!  The commotion of the room made my husband jump out of the bed as if he had been hit with an electric cattle prod!

I'm awake now.

Now I realize that I'm not the brightest crayon in the box but I could have avoided the knot on my hard head and the bruise to my hand if only I had opened my eyes to the light that would have guided my way. 

So this little night time trip made me think of a few spiritual things...
     1.  Why walk in the dark if you don't have to!  We have Jesus!  He said, "I am the light of the world.  The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life."
(John 8:12)
     2.  Without the Lord's light, I don't know the way.  In John 14, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  The only way to the Father is through me."  It should be the goal of every soul to seek His way, glorifying him as we walk through this life and into the next.
     3.  Even though this world can at times seem very dark and scary, the Lord's light is always there.  Light shines through the darkness -- but never can the darkness overcome the light.  "The Lord is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear?"  Psalm 27:1
     4.  Thankfully, his blood covers our daily sins as we ever strive to walk in His light.  "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin"  I John 1:7. 
Awesome, right?

Uh, one more thing... Just in case you were wondering...no, I didn't have to change my pajamas! ;)
Love till next time,
Lanna

New Year

Wow!  It's the beginning of another new year!  Can you believe it?!

As a child, it seemed like FOREVER from one Christmas to the next.  Now, at my age, time seems to pass faster and faster.  Is it just me, or does it seem like we were just putting away the remains of Christmas 2014?!  The phrases "fast as lightning" and "slow as Christmas" are becoming synonymous for me!

So did you make a New Year's resolution?  I did....the same one I made last year...and the year before that...and the year before that.  My resolution is to keep my mouth shut.  I have put my foot in my mouth more times than I care to count.  I've chewed more than enough leather to furnish shoes for everyone in the state of Texas.  Someone once said, "The Lord gave you one mouth and two ears so you can do twice as much listening!" 

Within the first week of the new year, I'd already blown my resolution...again.

Thinking about my failures and short comings make me even more thankful for our Lord's grace and mercy.  I really love what Paul has to say about grace in  Romans chapter 5 through about the 14th verse of chapter 6.  It assures us that a life in Christ gives us the gift of grace -- so that even when I mess up -- His grace is more than adequate to take care of my sin.  What an awesome, undeserved gift!

For Christmas, I received a beautiful new winter white sweater.  I loved it the moment I took it from the box.  I couldn't wait to wear it!
Grace is a gift we should wear like a badge.
In response to this wonderful gift, we can resolve each day to walk confidently in His light and in His service. 
 
So while serving our Lord, I'm gonna smile, stand tall and when appropriate...KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!

Lamentations 3:22-25
II Timothy 1:7