Kindness and the Burrito Kid!

We finally have a snuggler in our family. It took 3 took get one, but we'll take him! Little Zach loves to be held, sit in my lap, or get under a blanket with a Curious George book and just snuggle. If he wakes up early enough, he will stumble into our room, all bleary-eyed, shaggy doggy in one arm and an angry bird tasseled toboggan on his head. He crawls up into the bed, repositions the covers just right to turn himself into a burrito and snuggles into a space carved out for him. With a big grin, sometimes he'll say, "Mommy, I just love you!" Ahh, it's a beautiful picture. Even though the moment can also can be followed up by screaming minutes later, due to some simple annoyance, I still cherish those words. He's also been known to throw that line out when I offer him some warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies, or other favorite snack at just the right time. "I just love you Mommy!" Whatever the reason, this is a fact: Momma's always love to hear their little ones say "I love you".

I believe Jesus also loves to hear us say "I love you." During a meal at Simon the Leper's house, while the teachers and chief priests were anxiously digging up any reason to arrest Jesus, we find a beautiful story of love nestled amongst the commotion. We have Jesus, reclining at the table, probably surrounded by men, when their conversations is interrupted by a woman. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazaraus, comes in and breaks an alabaster jar of pure nard and pours it over Jesus' head. Can you imagine what the room, previously filled with the aroma of sweaty, dirty men, would smell like now? Well as the smell of lilies penetrates through their senses, the men's indignant voices scream out at the unashamed act of pure love and devotion. I imagine Mary blushing, embarrassed  not meaning to make a scene, just expressing her love to Jesus, when Jesus quickly silences them, "Leave her alone," he says. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me." (Mark 14:6) Before He was to pour out His love for us on the cross, Mary of Bethany poured out a year's worth of wages on Jesus. "I just love you, Jesus," she said. And her deed did not go un-repaid. To this day, we are still reading about it "wherever the gospel is preached." It meant something to Him.

"I just love you" comes without strings, "buts," or lists attached. Just pure unconditional love, as Jesus has for us. As Zach displays to me. I'm challenged to love Jesus like that today ~ I think those around me will appreciate it!

Night Vision

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower;the righteous run to it and are safe." Proverbs 18:10


I'm going to diverge from writing about a quote this week. This past weekend our family went to visit my parents in Arkansas where we hiked, had picnics and enjoyed God's beautiful creation. The first night we stayed, the Lord interrupted my sleep with three dreams I will never forget and believe I'm supposed to share. It was more like a vision - as intense as real life. You may want to take a deep breath, sit down and ponder this yourself. Here we go...

I all started by me taking out a piece of meat from the kitchen. It was wrapped in white butcher paper and not even cold. I took it back into one of the kid's bedroom, which in my dream was my room. Now, in this dream, everything about my house remained intact, except that my bedroom was switched with Mackenzie's. It was night and I was home alone. I sat the wrapped meat on the bed and immediately the house was illuminated as with a black light. Things normally light turned dark and the dark world came alive. An image, resembling the "dark lord" from "The Lord of the Rings" movie appeared in the corner of the room, dressed in black. He (it) had no defined features - only holes that seemed to go on into eternity filled his frame. Out of him came shrieks and fire. This person personified evil and anything evil in the room became seen. I immediately ran out of the room, searching the living room for any other evidences of this evil. I saw none- although darkness covered the house. I crept back into the room and faced the evil once again, my heart pounding. When I hear an inner voice say, "Just say the name of Jesus." I raise my hands, close my eyes and whisper "Jesus". To which a white light, whiter than the hottest fire, begins to consume the Evil One in the corner and completely quenchless any other evidence of darkness. Now the room has turned to a brightness like the Morning Star! I look on the bed, and I'm still hold this meat. I began to cut it into pieces. I hear a voice say to me, "You have nothing to be afraid of. I have overcome it all. You are safe by the power of my name."

Here's where I wake up. Adam's still beside me at my parent's house. I almost wake him up and tell him the story. But I don't, and I drift back to sleep and into another dream -


This time I'm working at a gas station. As a carry-over from the previous dream, I'm still carrying the butcher paper wrapped meat, that doesn't require refrigeration. But now, I have been given a heavenly vision to see whether people are followers of the wicked prince or the Lamb of God. I see seals on their forehead or flames like the one in the corner of my room. Anyway, all the people I worked with were evil, wicked people. Their laughs rang out in my ear and I constantly tried to get away from their lure. But I realized, they weren't trying to get me - they were trying to steal my meat! I constantly had to "shoo" them away from where I kept my prized possession. A fellow church friend pulled into the parking lot for her daughter to sell some tickets for a fund raiser. I walked out into the parking lot to visit with her. After a minute, I felt this tug on my heart telling to go back inside. Upon entering, I find all my co-workers huddled around my meat - "NO!" I shout as I'm breaking through their circle. I grab my meat and run.

The third and last dream is simple. I'm sitting at a small, two person table in a restaurant sharing this whole experience with a close friend of mine. I remember trying to carefully re-tell the events as they happened, but I just keep crying. I mean, the tears will not stop. Then, when I've come to the end, the person I'm sharing it with begins to cry in great sobs.


So, what is my conclusion to the matter? Well, after the shock of what I just went through, and also feeling honored to have the Lord speak to me in such a way, I began to pray for clarity as to what it all meant. Dream #1, I believe to be a picture of what Jesus conquered on the cross. He overcame the Evil One and His light consumes the darkness, so we have nothing to fear! As to the meat, I believe it represents my children specifically and can include our whole family.

In the second dream, the gas station and those who worked with me represent the world and those who choose to turn away from Jesus' words and salvation message. I also see "good" things like church ministry, activities and other commitments pulling us away from what God has entrusted to me and us..."the meat". It was like in the first dream God gave me this precious package saying, "protect this" and in the second one, I see the world grasping at every straw to pull me away from it or out right steal it. My next thought was, how do I protect this meat (my children)? To which I concluded, it's only by the power of His name. That's the only way we're safe! Proverbs 18:10  says "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe." So we call on Jesus to protect us, but also of utmost importance, is teaching God's Word to our children. That's the only other way to keep them safe in this world who hates them and wants to steal them away. We must spend the time, protect our schedules and be diligent at teaching our children the Word of God!

Finally, the third dream I believe told me to share this story anytime I can. God is always calling us to himself. I pray we are listening.

Joyous Living Meets Trudging through Daily Life

     Yesterday I truly thought life was going to smother me it seemed so heavy. My "to-do" list was a mile long, plus as I looked around my house, it was in complete chaos and disarray. At that point my daughter appears "dressed" for the day in short-sleeves and in her favorite 3 years too small shorts (current temp 40 degrees). Yep, this is the day - those are officially too small! So as I tell her those can't work anymore because of how BIG she is, the tears start. "I don't have any other pants!" she hollers. I tell her to go find something. Here's her solution... She comes back moments later with black leggings under them! How she know the fashion trend I don't know, but I tell her that's not what I asked. Feeling the rumblings of a pending earthquake inside her, I take her in my lap. "Sweetie, how about if today, you and I go thru your clothes? Pick out good ones, weed out the small and worn out ones and see what you've got for spring?" Her face lit up with excitement and her warm hug sealed the deal. Hippity-hoppity we cross the house to her room. We open the door- Ahhh! I can't even step into this room-there's no place to even put myself or the clothes. "Mackenzie," I say in the sweetest voice possible, "we can't even touch the clothes until we deal with all this," So we spent the next 3 1/2 hours cleaning, sorting and organizing my 7 year old's room. The result? Well, after 2 full sized kitchen trash bags full of trash and discarded broken stuff, the results were quite satisfying.  My stomach was in one of those cub scout knots Caleb like to practice and my eyes felt as if they had a baking soda and vinegar mixture put behind them, but it was conquered! And I slept soundly because of it.

    Before I left her room, I asked her, "Mack, can you work to keep it lookling closer to this and not let it get THAT bad again?" "I'll try, mom, but I'm not sure," was her reply. I love her honesty.

     Messy rooms and messy hearts share some commonality. For one, they don't usually get there overnight - although having a group of kids over can surly do some immediate damage, as can a late night, foolish adult decision. But as for the usual, everyday life goes, if you leave yesterdays clothes on the floor rather than in the dirty clothes basket, before long, you've got a pile of clothes on the floor! Well, if we leave yesterday's hurts, disappointments or bad attitudes unattended and lying around, they build up just like laundry. In fact, they can even take root and grow (laundry only seems to!) Daily pick up in our rooms and daily pick ups in our heart leave our surroundings in a better place for fruits like love, joy and peace to grow! It really is important to clean up after ourselves after all.

      As I was about to blow with all that had to be done that day, I kept praying Jesus' words in Mat 11:28. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

     "Lord, I don't know what I'm carrying then, because this is HEAVY!" The verse would echo back again, "Come to me. Come to me. Lay it down here. That's mine to carry." Then I would counter, "But I'm really strong Lord, I've been exercising. I crushed P90X plyos the other day." "Do you want to carry that?" came the reply. "No, Lord, you can have it - here, I lay it down. You are my Lord and I trust in you!"

     When I begin to weary under the burden I'm carrying, it's time to stop, and do some heart cleaning. Just like I couldn't sort clothes until I had a place to sort, sometimes I can't go forward until I off-load my burdens.

Inheritance - A savings account of bunny blankets

My baby girl. She is one of the three most precious things ever laid in my arms! Ahh, just her smell  ~ which usually resembled more of a spit-up, dried milk mixture than sweet smelling baby magic soap! My little girl would never take a pacifier - no sirree, she'd gag herself half to death every time we tried. One day though, we found the magic pill. It was a blanket. I know there's many out there, but this particular blanket was soft flannel with silky smooth ribbon all around the edges. I think the original one was baby blue with a furry bunny rabbit in the middle. Oh how she loved that stinky thing! Immediately the ribbon trim was intricately woven around her little fingers, stuck in her mouth and all was well! There was only one problem. After a nap, that blanket would be soaking wet - not a dry spot one to suck on. That sweet little ladybug would stagger out of her room, blanket in hand, tears streaming down her cheeks,  "Mommy there's no dry spots left." Ugh, the waft of rank, wet slobber confirmed her words. There was only one treatment... the washing machine. So you can imagine the pure delight of this little girl when a "brand new" clean blanket would magically appear out of the dryer covered in dry spots! She'd instantly snatch it up, snuggle in her mouth and head to lay down on the couch. Then, before she'd get up to go play, we'd hear her say, "Daddy, will you save this dry spot for me? She literally expected us to hold that dry spot among the soiled for her until she returned - which she did, expecting to receive it! Sweet girl.

You know, there's a few things in this life I'd just love to hold onto and save forever. The moments like those with Mackenzie and my other kids and family members that are so precious. I think God has a treasure box waiting for me in Heaven filled with moments like these that I will cherish again in His presence. But then there's other things, tangible, comfort-me things of this world that I also like to hold onto and save. My comforts, my treasures, my trophies. On these things, my fingers unintentionally clasp around too tightly in efforts to save. Grasping and clasping, "that's mine, stay away," just like my children do. Lord, will you peel my fingers away from those things and place them instead on You and Your Word! I heard the words of Luke 9:24 in my mind, " For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Instead of putting my money into a purse with holes in it, God offers me - us - this: "Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. " Luke 12:32-34

Mackenzie's treasure was on that dry spot of her beloved blanket. What is my treasure on? Where is yours? Only when we release that, can we truly save it. And only by His grace!