Your eyes are closed. Yet a kaleidoscope of red, white and yellows is clearly in your vision.  Add the heat of sunshine on your face and even if only for a moment there is a feeling of pleasure that runs from your face to the tips of your fingers and toes!  Many of us have been under constant storms and warnings these past few days so enjoying this moment on my front porch this morning was welcome relief.  Gratefully I can say we were not affected, but my heart goes out to those who have suffered damage, destruction, and even death these past few days.  We have family and friends dealing with clean up due to flooding.  It seems to me that it is a season for us to be careful about taking anything for granted. I just finished an international bestselling book called “Winter Bloom” by Tara Heavey.  This fictional book tells a story of strangers coming to know one another as they work together to revive a community garden.  The story has caused me to inspect this orbit I am rotating on every day and consider who am I intersecting with and what do I really know about them?

During this reflective time I discovered working together was the key.  Not the nine to five co-workers, but rather the ones who have joined me or I them to make a difference in life.  Ones I have shared suffering, hurts and tragedies with.  Ones I have prepared for and shared celebrations with.  Ones I have trusted to love me unconditionally and not had to worry about what they might think about me if they knew…….  Yesterday I began reading a new book- “God’s Guest List” by Debbie Macomber, another bestselling author.  The premise is that maybe there are many people God has put in our path for a purpose, but we dismissed them as someone we wouldn’t care to interact with.  Formerly Planet Carol would have dwelt on the past and what could have been.  Instead I am going to take time to listen to everyone who crosses my path today and consider the possibilities of what we might work together to accomplish that will truly be meaningful in life. In the process we may actually get to know each other.   There is no question what I discover and what I share will surprise me- the answer is will I be willing to step out of myself and choose this adventure.  If I do then the pleasure in life I felt in the sun this morning just may increase and be experienced in unexpected places……………..

YES!

Let me see…..I can….or maybe…and another possibility is…   What a privilege we have been given to be able to make a decision!  Yet, as so many other things in life, we take it for granted that we can and we are- but really am I?  Are you or I truly deciding what we will hear, see, or do today or have the circumstances of life become the dictator to what action we take?   Most of us could fill the blanks in this sentence -“I have been meaning to ___________, but __________.” 

For someone with my personality the big lesson this year has been how to say no and realize everything that crosses my path is not for me to carry.  Interestingly that knowledge in and of itself can become dangerous to our overall well being. The danger is to forget about all the things we can choose to say yes to!  There appears to be more resources on becoming independent than on how to say yes to all the opportunities we have to enrich our lives.  Making life easier for us as an individual is the American Dream.  I have another “Dream”.  The one of becoming all God created me to be.  If Jesus showed me how to get there then there are a lot of yeses to be said.  Yes I will receive the cross.  Yes I will love others.  Yes I will example the truth of God’s Word in my daily living.  Yes I will listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Yes I will praise the name of Jesus!  Yes I will work harder to say no to the things I keep in my personal comfort closet I created to survive areas I have refused to trust God………(yes I just said that in writing)……Yes to the Resurrection of Jesus in all areas of my life.  Has Planet Carol gone off the deep end and become fanatical or is this the simple truth of the gospel?  You decide……………………….

In one small section of a tree towering over the house we find dainty spring buds pressing their way out determined to greet the sun.  It seems overnight the tree standing barren all winter is bursting with the fresh new green of life against a perfectly robin blue sky!  If we choose to focus on a single bud the change from bud to leaf is quite interesting to watch, but it is in the collective blooming of all buds that the grandeur of creation is seen.

People call me Planet Carol, Planet Earth, Mars and a few other things these days since I have been writing.  That in itself proves a single person (bud) can have an affect on others.  However, the true success is not the story of a single flight, but the results of many traveling together in the same orbit with the same goals and blooming together! How unfulfilling would it be to have the buds on the tree erupt individually all summer long? We would see flickers of life, but never the stunning beauty God intended for all to see. Out of myself and joined with you we can make a tree that shines with the light of God.  Today I am glad for all of you that know me and have been willing to join me in life.  Together we can not only make a difference in the world- we can make the journey easier when we grow together!

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15

                                                                                                  

Rib Eye steak and Pop Tarts just don’t go together.  Today my life is like that.  Things are a bit mixed up.  Just like this photo taken out my window a few days ago- spring blossoms covered in snow!  I am finding it is not necessary to try to blend it together and explain why it makes sense.  Instead I am learning to treat these moments like a buffet line.  I can choose whatever I want to eat (or pursue) and leave the rest to the others who follow after me.  Chances are they will choose differently and eventually the buffet is gone (or the situations addressed).  It’s the sermon about the body we have all heard hundreds of times- though the whole body may feel the big toe hurting when the can falls on it- there is nothing the stomach, the shoulder, or the ear can do except empathize and carry on with their place and do what God intended.

In such a negative society it is difficult to be optimistic, but the truth is if we put it down on paper and really reflected upon all aspects of our lives I think many would be surprised to find that the blessings and contentment in their lives are more than the troubles.  It’s just easier to see the problems and use them as our reason for not addressing the very thing in our lives that may set us free!  I have told others to leave me alone I am in my “Jonah” world right now.  Sitting in the belly of a big fish fully aware of what God wants me to do and yet finding myself weak and unwilling to follow His direction.  I need your prayers at that moment- only God can move that fish from water to land!  Today I will pray for another and be grateful for those who pray for me.

“ And we pray in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:10

Today I have to do something humiliating and embarrassing. You know the moment. Something is slowly disintegrating around us and we keep going just hoping against hope that it will miraculously disappear! Then it is on us, trapping us, and giving us no escape except to face it head on! Personally I only like battles I choose to fight. Striking when I want to strike and ignoring what isn’t appealing to deal with. Being forced into a corner cramps my style!

I have a good friend who doesn’t believe in miracles, yet there have been several times she has had to admit an outcome in my life that was not due to my hard work and passion to fix. I do believe in miracles, and because God is so good and merciful He is willing to work one again for me. I don’t deserve it. I am guilty of making some mistakes repeatedly with full knowledge they were not good decisions. Own our body and mind is truly our biggest fight when trying to operate in God’s Holiness!

There is no question I do not stand alone today. All of us who have missed the mark and are facing the consequences of our actions have some verses to stand on today:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4: 15-16

Ever try running in heels with a pumpkin on your head? Most of us feel that way on a daily basis and can peal off a list “we must get done” that no human can accomplish in one day! Unless of course they are the Mom on “No Ordinary Family”! Ah, the refreshing moment of fantasy- take us away! Planet Carol is an expert at staying busy, but making the correct choice of what to be doing often still eludes me leaving me dissatisfied with my accomplishments at the end of the day. There is however a couple of things I have taught my children and practiced often that have proven effective.

1. Don’t leave prayer and personal time with God out of your day.

2. Take a moment to make a quick list of what is stirring in your mind.

3. Review the list and choose what is bothering you the most.

4. Do whatever that one thing is first or definitely on that day.

The peace of God that passes all understanding covers us when we seek Him and share our love. Very often the thing that is bothering us the most is a phone call we have been meaning to make, a bathroom we haven’t cleaned in awhile, or a stack of mail we need to go through. Some of the things that hit the top of the list can be accomplished in less than thirty minutes. However, left undone may cause days of nagging stress hanging over us. It may seem silly, but I have found it to be very true. In the end:

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,

do it all for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

Happy Valentines Day!

Who is your Prince? It’s Papa for my 7 year old granddaughter! It the finance’ for my daughter who is about to be married. But mine like most women’s princes in America has fallen off the horse too many times to still believe in princes and yet we can experience true love. To have a prince is a blessing to never take for granted. To be angry we don’t have one is the ultimate selfish act of us women today. The fairy tale is that we will have only peace, wealth, happiness and most importantly luxury ever after! It leaves out the most important aspect of love- giving.

On this Valentines Day I would like to encourage all my friends and readers to remember that God sent His Son to die for our sins and be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! Whatever love we share, whatever love we receive is because of His presence in us. It is when we take two of us and add Jesus to make a love triangle that the miraculous will happen in our life. We will look back and know Jesus took us through, we will see in this moment He is here, and we will believe in a future He is preparing for us! I for one will begin this day with a grateful heart to God- I hope you are joining me………………………….