The Overstuffed Chair

In a new book I received in the mail called All the Way to Heaven by Elizabeth Sherrill, the story is told of a conversation the author had with Dale Evans Rogers. For those of you too young to know (and there’s probably at least one of you), Dale Evans was the wife of Roy Rogers of cowboy fame. Both of them were strong believers, and Elizabeth Sherrill was interviewing Mrs. Rogers to find out how she managed a household full of seven children balanced with the work she did with her husband.

She wanted to hear about Mrs. Rogers prayer hide-a-way, and was taken to an area that was hidden from the house. Mrs. Sherrill commented on how appealing it looked and remarked that Mrs. Rogers must spend a lot of time there.

The response of Mrs. Rogers rang so true to me. Apparently she rarely used her hidden spot, being too busy. But went to a women’s retreat in an attempt to find out how to have that regular quiet time. She said that the Lord clearly spoke to her and here’s what He said:

“Don’t look for me here. This is where I am for those I’ve called to be nuns. For you, I am in the noise and the bedlam and the peas on the floor.”

I’ll tell you—those words did a great deal for me in putting my life into perspective. Wonderful for this mother of 8 who can’t fit in a word edgewise either.

Hope it reaches you too.

“Wash your face every morning in a bath of praise.”–Charles Spurgeon

Don’t have a clue as to how the Lord will answer our financial needs for next week. Faith. Trusting and not becoming anxious. More faith. Turning away from frustration and being joyful about what we can’t see. Gosh, it’s hard. I want to be able to see what’s going to happen, but that’s not the way it is.

For those of you wondering what’s around the corner, just hang on. You’ve not been forgotten, nor have I. Surely the Lord is well pleased when we believe what we pray about. Don’t you think?

I believe that faith and praise go together, so thought this quote worked well.

“Because if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”–Matthew 6:14

The pastors of our church have talked about forgiveness lately. And one thing they both reiterate is that forgiveness takes time. I think I was used to believing that once we forgave a person, we figured our work was done. The hard reality is that we don’t always get over it when we forgive. That old feeling of hurt sometimes continues to rear its ugly head. We seem to have to forgive over and over. And from what I’m learning in church, that’s just the way it is.

Allow yourself time.

In lots of ways, life in the modern world encourages speed at all costs. I was out running errands and noticed at how rushed the drivers seemed to be. Understand, I rarely get out, and usually only for the grocery store, drugstore and church. Truly, with gas prices up, I don’t get out as much as I used to. Anyway, even folks in the stores were hurrying, and I have to wonder why. It reminded me of that forgiveness situation. We want it NOW, and doesn’t matter what ‘it’ is, we’re rushing about, ready to go to the next thing.

Give all things the time they deserve. Change doesn’t happen instantly, and we sometimes have to teach ourselves that even forgiveness can be hard won.

“The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.”–G. K. Chesterton

I admit it. I find it hard to do fun things. Chores I can do for an undetermined period of time, but when it comes to playing—I hit a brick wall. Must be that I’ve categorized life as being one big pain in the neck. I work, get results and then do more. And it’s not that I’m yearning for a vacation. That’s never been, what I call, a joyous undertaking. Means more work and in a different city. That’s definitely doesn’t sound like fun to me. But for me to take time out of an ordinary day and play—well, my children always act shocked when I do, so it must be a rarity.

I challenge you, and myself also, to fit in some smiles today. Doesn’t matter what it is, but you’ve got to enjoy it. It shouldn’t require any expense, but just the time to make it happen.

And being that I don’t have a clue as to what I’ll do, I’d love to hear how you fulfill this task. Email me back. Give me some ideas and let’s keep the fun mindset a daily one. I’m game!

“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.”–Abraham Lincoln

We’ve in a bit of a financial tight spot just now. I got to re-reading my handwritten journals the other day and found that June is typically a slow month for my husband’s shop. Why, I don’t know, but that’s the pattern. But to my own despair, my faith sometimes doesn’t appear any more mature this year than last. Well, maybe it is a little bit. I don’t seem to get all twisted out of shape as badly, but I was pretty cranky to the kids yesterday. They weren’t to blame, but my fears were. And one thing I realized tonight was that my joy shouldn’t be determined by circumstances. My joy should be decided by my faith.

Besides, what sort of message would I be sending our children if I was only deeply happy when there was money in the account? That my happiness was dependent on what bills were paid? This faith walk is larger than that. And while I cling to those verses in the Psalms about God having his hand on the faithful (oh, that I can be counted in that group), I have to remember that my financial circumstances aren’t the center of the situation. It’s all about God. All of it.

I’ve got to be able to look past the temporary inconvenience of a slow income to the lesson I’m supposed to be learning. If it’s painful, then it’s just got to be that. But if I can learn enough so that this can be repeated less, then all the better.

Just what’s going on here.