My kids are on Spring Break this week & we’ve had some really great family time together! We skied a few days & have totally enjoyed some mountain get away time. At the same time there have been a few hotspots & some things with my job that are diecy. If I’m not careful, I could let my mind get focused on the hotspots & work issues but one of my friends gave me some good advice: discipline your mind to be present with your body. For me, this is really good advice & maybe for you as well so that we can fully enjoy what God is doing where we currently are 
Posts Tagged 'celebrate'
Enjoy now
Published April 4, 2013 enemies to intimacy , family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer 3 CommentsTags: celebrate, family, joy, now, present
You are TOTALLY cool!!
Published March 1, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 7 CommentsTags: celebrate, genuine love, honor, talent
I have some amazing friends who could take virtually anything & make it beautiful. They’re amazingly creative, resourceful & have the most beautiful way or decorating & arranging things. Me, not so much. When I paint at our house or try to do something “craft-ish”, there just aren’t words to describe how bad it usually turns out. But I do have some things that I’m pretty good at – I enjoy cooking & I’m pretty good at picking up different languages (and a few other things).
But here’s what’s totally amazing & fantastic about you (and its not just about your talents or abilities): you are intensely, deeply & infinitely loved by the Creator of the universe, Who knows you better than anyone else & Who loves you more authentically than anyone. You are important, valuable & significant because your Creator loves you & this is what makes you TOTALLY cool!!!
My great “Aha!!”
Published January 18, 2013 enemies to intimacy , family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 4 CommentsTags: celebrate, different, learn, reveal, understand
This school year, my daughter signed up to play her first year of basketball & to say that I was happy would be a massive understatement! Elated, excited, thrilled, joyful, exuberant & more would be more accurate
As the season has progressed, even though I didn’t want to admit this to myself, her interest & enthusiasm for playing basketball has waned, and this week, I had to have a stern conversation with her about finishing what we start & not quitting when we make a commitment (integrity 101). I hated having this conversation w her because I was very different than she is, in the sense of totally enjoying basketball. I was on the other end of the spectrum, shooting & practicing by myself just for my sheer enjoyment. As I’ve been thinking about this difference, I’ve also noticed that she really enjoys her piano lessons & practice – she will take her own initiative & practice even extra piano. For me, piano practice was a slippery shortcut from purgatory to hell ,)
Having said all of this, I’ve come to the happy conclusion that we are different & that’s totally wonderful! God has made Isabell different than me, in the same way that I am different from my mom & such differences aren’t bad – they are divinely inspired! So, my lesson is that God has lots of ways to express majesty, beauty & splendor, using amazing differences to catch our attention
My dad was cool :)
Published January 10, 2013 family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living 8 CommentsTags: celebrate, death
I haven’t talked much about my dad on this blog, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking if him. Of course I thought of him over the Christmas season & at various times with church & family stuff. So here are a few things from my dad that I miss:
*most of all I miss his faith strength – I never knew him to be negative, to give up or lose confidence in God
*his love for people – he genuinely enjoyed people
*good food – especially very good green chili
*strong coffee – he would always say that weak coffee makes you sick
*encouragement – my dad always told me that I was going to make it
So I miss my dad & I’m extremely grateful that my Heavenly Father is enjoying my dads company
You’re really cool!
Published December 14, 2012 Christmas , enemies to intimacy , family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 2 CommentsTags: celebrate, cool, distinct, unique
When I was a teenager, I wanted to fit in & be cool. If I’m honest with you, there are times when I still want to fit in. But alas, I’m unique & from God’s perspective, that’s wonderful! When you look at the world in which we live, it is filled with individuality, distinction & uniqueness. Think about snowflakes, flowers, zebras, clouds, etc.
So if you ever have those insecure moments when you feel like you don’t fit, be sure to turn your thoughts to the immensity & intensity of God’s love for you because you’re really cool!!
Is there a problem with Thanksgiving?
Published November 21, 2012 cooking , family , Holy Spirit , living , relationships , spiritual 2 CommentsTags: celebrate, enjoy, enjoyment, thanksgiving
Tomorrow is our wonderful American holiday of Thanksgiving, the day when we do some of these activities: overeat, watch football, enjoy or tolerate family & cook boatloads of food, among lots of other things. Generally, Thanksgiving is perceived as a nice holiday & to be really honest, I’m close to deciding that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
With all that being said, here are a few problems that we can work on to make this an awesome holiday:
*culmination rather than celebration: lets aim to make gratitude a lifestyle rather than a 1 day event
*just like turkey & stuffing make a nice complement, so do thanksgiving & forgiveness
*fellowship trumps football – ‘nuf said ,)
Happy Saints Day!!
Published November 1, 2012 enemies to intimacy , family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , saving moses , spiritual 3 CommentsTags: celebrate, comparison, distinct, individuality
My dad was a really unique man & he didn’t seem to have any frustrations with his individuality. Thankfully, both of my parents have passed this along to me – they’ve always encouraged me to be myself & true to what’s in my heart. Now that I’m in my 40s, I believe that one of the best ways that we can honor God is to be true to God’s design & schematic outline in our lives. Trying to be like someone else is like slapping our Creator in the face. Comparing ourselves to others puts human limits on our Divine design.
So lets allow the genuine love of God to shape us into who God has made us to be – not quagmired or mired in human comparisons or confinements. Let love help you to be good at being you
my dad passed away this weekend
Published October 22, 2012 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 23 CommentsTags: celebrate, dad, family, passing
My dad died on Friday evening, having struggled with Alzheimers for a few years. Here are some great things in my life because of my dad:
- a love and respect for the Holy Spirit: my dad has always been super keen to be around the Holy Spirit and had tremendous respect and honor for what the Holy Spirit does and Who the Holy Spirit is
- a love for beauty and creativity: my dad has always been super creative & loved art and creative expressions in almost all ways. To this day, my house is decorated with art that he passed on to me
- respect for people: my dad has always loved people and could chat for hours with all kinds of people – people at garage sales, people who would refinish furniture, people in restaurants, at stores, etc; even if people were grumpy or mean, it didn’t phase my dad because he just liked people
- hope for the future: my dad has always been optimistic and had killer strong faith regardless of what he saw or experienced; he confronted fear in my life when he saw that it was going to debilitate me & he challenged me to not let fear control me or my decisions
There’s TONS more to my dad – way more than a simple blog could express. But this is a really small glimpse of a really great man. Thanks heaps and heaps to my church family for being so supportive, gentle and kind to us through this experience. If you’d like to join us when we celebrate his life, we’ll be having a celebration service on Nov 11 around 6pm at Orchard Road Christian Center
We are back to that time of year when the Halloween decorations come out – cobwebs, ghosts, skeletons, tombstones, witches, etc. I remember when I was growing up that there was the razor blade in candy or apples scare & I remember being too scared to go trick-or-treating beyond like 3 houses from my house. So this is my problem with Halloween – why do we celebrate a holiday devoted to fear, creepiness & even death? What’s good about any of those things?
Being afraid & creeped out in my life has done more damage than good. So while I’m probably a lone ranger & politically incorrect on this, I don’t like this holiday & see no redeeming value in the current expression & celebration of this holiday. With that being said, please be encouraged that tomorrow’ blog will be more uplifting 
3 cheers for freedom!
Published July 4, 2012 enemies to intimacy , living , relationships , spiritual , travel 2 CommentsTags: celebrate, choices, freedom, independence
Happy Freedom Day! Here’s an interesting experience I had that was an eye-opener: During the Cold War, I went on a Summer missions trip to Eastern Europe & it was still heavily under communist control. Before we crossed from West Germany into the Eastern Bloc, we went through all of our luggage to make sure that we didn’t have any kind of “contraband” that would be considered anti-communist. At the time, I was taking a correspondence course on US History & my leadership informed me that I wouldn’t be able to take my text nor course work with me because it presented a different view of history than what was politically acceptable in Communist nations. Of course this threw me for a loop because I had to hurry up, finish everything & mail it back to the States. This experience gave me some unique insight into the significance & power of freedom that we celebrate in the US every year on the 4th of July.
Here’s another thought about freedom: everyday we get to celebrate freedom in our choices & decisions. Consider what Viktor Frankl had to say about freedom: Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Viktor Frankl was a concentration camp survivor. His thoughts about freedom can be very insightful – we carry with us everyday the freedom to chose our actions & attitudes
Recent Comments