Summer - Full speed ahead

School officially ended today for this year. Summer days will turn into summer weeks and months. So far, our calendar is mostly empty....which is not all bad.  However, I have a habit of calendar creep....slowly filling in squares with things we need to do....or should be doing....or what has not gotten done yet.  I watch the days slip away it seems slowly, hour by hour.  But isn't that how the school year went by?

Since I unfortunately packrat too much stuff especially paper, I will sometimes find my "to do" lists of days gone by. What is most disheartening is when I find that weeks, months or even years have gone by...and the "to do" remains undone. sob.

How will this summer be any different than last summer....or the school year leading up until now? I don't know if I have an answer for that yet. I guess I'm putting it in writing to myself that if I don't change something time will fly by and another school year will be ready to start.  I really do not want to find a "to do" list with a June 2011 date and find out that it is STILL not done.

I guess for now, I will take one day or even half day or hour at a time. I will make my list shorter so that I actually can feel like I accomplished something worthwhile. I will grab those minutes of time that I will never get back with our kids. If that means something won't get checked off the list that day? So be it.

Time marches on and sometimes I feel like I'm being trampled. I can try and control some of my time so I do not feel like my time (or lack of) is controlling me. A few minutes of planning goes a long way. In the meantime, I will remember the verse about not worrying about tomorrow. I will take care of what I can do today and be happy with what I have accomplished OR happy with what I got to do instead.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
A Time for Everything 

¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

A Royal Wedding

The months of hype will begin to draw to a close.  The "royal wedding" of Prince William to Kate Middleton has taken place.  My guess is that unless you are a person of relatively high station, you...like myself, were not invited or included in the 1900 people in attendance.  We were invited to watch it on TV...and millions (or more) did.  The questions of who designed "the dress" and what it would look like have been answered.  There will be magazine covers and special issues in the coming weeks to cover every intimate detail of this wedding.

Summer - the wedding season - approaches.  You may have already received a save the date card or an invitation to join in the happy celebration as another couple becomes husband and wife.

I want to take this opportunity to remind you that there is another upcoming wedding celebration that you are invited to.  You may not receive an engraved invitation.  It may come as an invitation from a friend to learn more about the wedding.  In the Bible, Jesus is referred to as a bridegroom numerous times.  God is king.  That's a Royal Wedding I want to attend.  It's a party that will last for eternity.  I hope you'll join me.
 

Isaiah 61:9 (NIV) I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 

Revelation 19:9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

Thorn (s) ....

I knew time was flying by, but it's been over a month since I posted here! We've been enjoying the summer and dealing with weather in all it's glory....good and bad. During the last big storm, our power went out for a few days. I forget how thankful I need to be when I flip a switch and the light goes on! :)

I've also been going to therapy for my neck issue. This has taken more time than I thought it would. I am blessed that the therapy place is close by my work. Therapy so far has not helped as much as it was hoped (in my opinion). I have a dr. appt. on Friday to see where we go from here....which brings me to my topic of thorn(s).

I have struggled for a long time with the issue of healing. If God CAN heal any of us at any time, how come He doesn't? How come there are still people dealing with chronic pain, diabetes, MS, cancer, ADHD, etc? I have heard people say that while they've fought the battle they have learned lessons they would not have learned any other way.

I got to thinking about Paul in the Bible. He was a very Godly person (after a round about conversion!). He talks about a "thorn" that he asked to be removed. Not just once, but three times.

2 Corinthians 12 : 7-10 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I don't pretend to know what Paul's thorn was or why it was given to him. I haven't read further to see if it is taken care of and removed. However, I really like verses 9 and 10. God wasn't away from him. God reminded Paul of his grace and his power. Maybe half of the "fix" is realizing that whatever thorns we deal with, we are not dealing with them alone.

For myself, pain and my realization that I can't control everything that happens to me has made me rely on God more than I have been. I had been drifting again....not taking time to BE with God through reading the Bible, prayer, worship, etc. And I have also realized that God's way of removing the thorn may not be my ideal solution. Sometimes we are provided with doctors and/or medicines that become part of the solution.

I don't know if I will ever be able to say I "delight" in the thorns, but I will do my best to remember that when I am weak, then I am strong because I'm not leaning on my own power. I hope and pray the same for you whatever thorns you're dealing with now.

Once we get past the thorns, we'll enjoy the rose! ;)