On Hallowed Ground

Sometimes I need to unplug, back out of the busy-ness around me, and just be in silence.  That's not easy to do in today's world, let me tell ya!!!

The other day I thought I'd managed to escape the insanity as I sat at the little pho restaurant by my office, but nope... in walked some pretty loud customers and out walked my peace of mind.  I tried losing myself in my book again (on my kindle -shhh! don't tell!) but it was a futile effort.

Wednesday was another one of those days where I just needed to be.  Silent.  No chance of being bothered by anyone.  I was feeling the Spirit call to me, and I just needed to listen.  I needed more than just the silence of my car in the parking lot.  I needed to just find Peace.  Quiet.  God. 

I found myself at the local cemetary.  It was a beautiful, warm Fall day, the sun was out, the wind was tickling the branches of the trees that stood watch over the 100 year old head stones, and it was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  Stepping foot on hallowed ground, I swear I could feel the Spirit fill me from my feet up to the top of my head.  I righted some of the flags and flower pots that had been toppled over by wind, and brushed off piles of leaves from the headstones, saying a little prayer for each person as I walked by. 

God didn't tell me any deep secrets or bless me with any profound epiphanies.  He didn't solve world hunger or give me the healing touch to cure all cancer.  He was just present.  With me.  In peaceful silence.  It was so humbling, so fulfilling, so.... *sigh* perfect. 

I promise you, cemetaries are not always creepy.  I encourage you to spend some time in one.  (I know that sounds creepy, but I promise, it's not)

"For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him." ~Proverbs 62:5

INVASION!!!

God wants to invade your soul - with His love. 

John 17:26 says "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Tricky guy....

This has actually been my philosophy on His love for a LOOOOOONG time.  Unfortunately, I don't have a moment in time when I ever said "Oh, I like what John wrote, I'm gonna practice that..." no witness testimonies, nothing special that happened... it's just a part of me.  A fabric of my being.  "If I show someone unconditional love and acceptance, then eventually they'll see that it's not really my love, it's God's Love!"  No spectacular "ah-ha" moment, just me. 

Let God invade your soul.  Let the Holy Spirit guide your path towards others, so that you might show them the love Christ had for us, the love God has for us.  You don't have to preach or pass judgement; actions speak louder than words.

Counting Your Blessings, Not Crying Over Spilled Milk

So, for those of you who don't follow me on fb, I'm wearing a heart monitor again.  Joy.  I've been whining about it since I got it yesterday - it itches, it pinches, it's annoying, I get tangled in the cords, it leaves little round rashes that make it look like I've been wrestling with an octopus....

And then today I found out that a dear, sweet, sweet friend from college had a mastectomy yesterday.  I found this out when I went to her fb page to wish her a happy birthday today.  That's one hell of a birthday gift - let me take your boob to try to save your life.... ??? 

Makes me realize that I should be thanking God every single day that I have to wear this heart monitor, that it's not something worse.  Yes, it's my heart, but it's nothing fatal.  It's inconvenient, but I don't have to have anything cut off or cut out, I don't have to undergo any major medical treatments - although ablation is something that I would do if it was proven to work. 

Two of the sweetest people I knew in college have faught cancer so far.  Crystal is a survivor, an author, an amazing woman of God, and she and her husband are raising three wonderful boys and work in youth ministry world wide.  Becky just had her surgery yesterday, and has dedicated her life to service through LDS, her passion is bringing the Word to the far corners of the world. 

Compared to cancer, my inappropriate heart is something that I will give thanks for, and use my energy that I've been spending on complaining to pray for those less fortunate. 

Both ladies blogs are public, so please, take a peak, and say a prayer.

Think... Think... Think....

I know there's people out there reading my blog, I see the stats every day...

What would you like to read about?  I've hit a bit of a dry spell & could use some suggestions....

As always, praying for you, my gentle readers!

~ Melinda <><

Mother, May I?

We all remember playing that game on the playground, right?  "Mother, may I ___________?" and you fill in the blank with whatever request will help get you to the finish line fastest.....

What do we ask for in our everyday self-mutterings that we think might get us to our hypothetical finish line faster than the next guy?


"Please let me make that green light" 
"Please let that car accident be on the other side of the freeway so I'm not late"
"Please let me be the next number they call"


Do you realize that, as trivial and/or exasperated as these requests might be, they're still a prayer of sorts?  Whether or not you intend to talk to God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Mary, or any of the other Saints about what's going on in your life, when you put that up to the universe, someone's always listening. 

October is the month of the Rosary, and I challenge you to be a little more deliberate in your requests.  Make it a little more formal, put a little more thought into it (and I mean, like, 3 extra seconds - doesn't have to be a disertation!).  Ask Mary to pray for you, thank her for being with you through the day... (it's called secondary mediation, and it's the same as if I asked you to pray for me, only Mary won't forget because she's not distracted by worldly things!)  Rather than worrying about the car accident affecting your commute, say a prayer that the people involved are alright, and give thanks that it's not you!  Rather than stressing out about not making the green light, thank the Spirit for keeping you on the path that was intended for you that day.... catching on?  (sorry about the earlier typo, no- I was not speaking ubonics!)

Try to take those little irritations and ask Mary to give you the Grace to find them as little blessings in your life.  It's not easy, believe me, I struggle with it too. 

I leave you today with a Hail Mary.  Don't just breeze through it, say it like you would a conversation... "Hail Mary" is a greeting, and start from there...

Hail, Mary, full of Grace!  The Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Forgiven

What does it mean to be forgiven?  Can we just say "I'm sorry" and be done with it?  Do we deserve to be able to say "I'm sorry"?  What does it mean to you when someone asks you to forgive them after they've wronged you in some way?  Is it easy?  Can you really forgive, forget, and move on? 

It.is.not.easy.  It's not easy to forgive or to give forgiveness, and for a lot of us, it's not as easy as we think to actually be forgiven.  To be absolved of whatever wrongs we have committed is pretty hard - not because God doesn't forgive us, but because we don't always forgive ourselves.  We don't always think we're worth it.  That little pang of guilt hits when something reminds you of your wrongdoings. 

What we need to realize is that we can be forgiven, NO.MATTER.WHAT.  Now- it doesn't mean I'm going to go out, steal a few shirts or drink just to get drunk, and say, "Oops, I'm sorry, Lord, forgive me," be forgiven, and go through the whole routine again the next weekend... You have to really and truly mean it in your heart, and only God knows when you're there.  What we need to remember is that, when God forgives us, we also need to ask Him for the grace to forgive ourselves. 

I'd like to share a song with you - of course *grin* - called "You Love Me Anyway", from Sidewalk Prophets' album Three Simple Truths.  I encourage you to read the lyrics a few times before listening to the song, that way you really do hear them.  Unconditional Love.  Forgiveness.  Putting all of our sins aside, God loves us anyway.  The bridge is what really gets me, where the song talks about how we are every person who did Jesus wrong, and yet we are still loved.  We betrayed Jesus in Judas' kiss, we shouted & chanted for His blood to be spilled, we are sin, and God still loves us.  Even when we choose the easy way out, even when we tell that little white lie, even when we have hurt one another... God gives us the grace to be forgiven, the opportunity to love Him back, and in choosing to do that, we forgive ourselves. 

"You Love Me Anyway" ~ Sidewalk Prophets

The question was raised

As my conscience fell

A silly, little lie

It didn’t mean much

But it lingers still

In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk

On the edge of this world

To spread my dreams and fly

But the future’s so far

My heart is so frail

I think I’d rather stay inside

But You love me anyway

It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known

You love me anyway

Oh Lord, how You love me

How You love me

It took more than my strength

To simply be still

To seek but never find

All the reasons we change

The reasons I doubt

And why do loved ones have to die?

But You love me anyway

It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known

You love me anyway

Oh Lord, how You love me

I am the thorn in Your crown

But You love me anyway

I am the sweat from Your brow

But You love me anyway

I am the nail in Your wrist

But You love me anyway

I am Judas’ kiss

But You love me anyway

See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd

For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground

Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face

With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace

And then alone in the night, I still called out for You

So ashamed of my life, my life, my life

But You love me anyway

Oh, God… how you love me

You love me anyway

It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known

You love me anyway

Oh Lord, how You love me

You love me, You love me

You love me, You love me

How You love me

How You love me

How You love me

Still Listening...

Following up with my last post, I'm still listening, not quite ready to publish anything just yet.  And I'm okay with that. 

Actually, God's okay with that too, I'm pretty sure - taking last week's song choice as His approval....

Word of God Speak

I'm finding myself at a loss for words

And the funny thing is it's okay

The last thing I need is to be heard

But to hear what You say

Word of God speak

Would Your pour down like rain

Washing my eyes to see

Your majesty

To be still and know

That You're in this place

Please let me stay and rest

In Your holiness

Word of God speak

I'm finding myself in the midst of You

Beyond the music, beyond the noise

All that I need is to be with You

And in the quiet hear Your voice

Word of God speak

Would you pour down like rain

Washing my eyes to see

Your majesty

To be still and know

That You're in this place

Please let me stay and rest

In Your holiness

Word of God speak

I'm finding myself at a loss for words

And the funny thing is it's okay

Verse of the Day

James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.

We've all done it... gone to church, listend to the Word, and on the way out the door done or said something in sin.  Even something as little as stubbing your toe in the parking lot and saying "Jesus!" or forgetting you needed to get groceries on the way home and let a curse word drop nice & loud as you turned the car around.  Or this one.... I know we all do this.... while greeting people & watching the crowds exit church, we start thinking, maybe saying something to our friends or family there with us, about how so-and-so did such-and-such, and can you believe it... passing judgement. 

We're human.  We make mistakes.  That's what forgiveness is all about... But it's not an excuse to not be diligent about living God's words in our day-to-day lives.  As you prepare yourselves for church this week, or weekend- rather, I challenge you to not only be receptive of The Word, but hold yourselves accountable to it.

Flabby Faith & Spiritual Love Handles

I recently joined the worship team at church, and realized that I do not know many of the contemporary Christian songs... DOH!  While I enjoy the challenge of sight reading every Sunday, it's better to actually know some of the music, especially when you're on a mic in front of the congregation...  So I've been listening to the local Christian Rock station, Spirit 105.3.  While I tend to get incredibly sapped-out by some of the "feel good" stories and DJ's, and while the "family friendly sound" of the child laughing makes me think more Children of the Corn instead of Children of God, I really enjoy the music. 

Today they were talking about giving thanks, and what were callers thankful for.  And I'm not quite sure how this story ended up there, but the morning DJ was talking about someone who had been in a 2nd or 3rd world country, spreading the word of God, and when he left the people hosting him said, "We're praying for you."  He turned to them and asked, "What are you praying for?"  And they were silent... eventually, they answered him that they were praying for persecution, so he could become stronger in his faith. 

That almost seems like a completely horrible thing to do, pray for hard times so someone can become stronger!  But then the DJ said something along the lines of how, in America especially, our Faith was flabby.  Indignantly I said to myself, "Ha, my faith isn't flabby, look at the personal struggles I've survived over the last 15 years!"  But really?  I think all of us have our little flabby-faith "love handles". 

Just like any other workout, start simple- a little prayer here & there.  Start with a new routine- give thanks as you brush your teeth every morning, say a prayer for a safe commute as you buckle your seat belt.  Eventually you'll find that you don't have to remind yourself to do these things, you'll just do them.  Then step up to the next, Spiritual-Cardio.  Be there for someone else while they're having hard times... ask if you can pray with them, pray for them, and commit to doing it every single day.  Even take it a step further, see if there are any peer-support programs in your area!  By helping others to carry the load they bear, you're helping to strengthen your faith and love for God, and God's children! 

Be that spotter than helps someone lift their new max-weight on bench press - quite literally help to lighten the load on their heart!!!

Understanding How to Heal

By now, we've all heard about the Colorado movie theater masacre.  I try to actually not watch the news much or read all the commentary about why someone did something so horrible.  Doesn't matter, it's still horrible. 

Dozens of peoples lives were changed, and they will never, ever be the same.  Ever.  But slowly, eventually, they will begin to heal, and find that it's either easier or harder than they thought it would be.... everyone heals differently.  Everyone processes things at different rates, in different ways.  There's no formula.  It's not like a recipe. 

The most important thing to realize is that every single feeling and emotion that you go through in this process is valid.  It took a long time for me to accept this, when I had to learn how to heal after losing so many loved ones in my life. 

"Healing does not mean going back to the way things were, but rather, allowing what is now to move us closer to God." ~Ram Daas.

Glass Half Empty

Easter Sunday we went to church with my brother & sister inlaw, and it was absolutely wonderful.  The homily was about how most of the time we want things to be full, or filled, whether it's our bellies after a good meal or our bank accounts, we want it FULL.

Easter is a time for those who are seeking to be filled- for those who's souls are empty, yearning for more God.  (as I type this, I hear "MORE COWBELL!" ringing through my head)... so, yes!  MORE GOD! 

This is one place where I hope that - while I feel completely filled with the Holy Spirit - I may remain empty, constantly yearning, constantly seeking more.