Thankfulness

Learning to Walk

January 26, 2014 By Lisa Lewis

Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, LIFE is HARD.

There I said it for you. For me. Our definition of hard may not be the same. No Matter. Hard is hard.

What we do with that reality tells a lot about us. Do we complain? (my worst character flaw) Do we whine? (another of my problems) Or do we learn to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called?

We can change you know. Not always our circumstances. But always our response to our circumstances.

I am encouraging myself here folks. When I spend an excessive amount of time navel gazing I find myself mired in self-pity and full of whining & complaining (twins born of the same toxic ilk!)

I really am a female version of the Apostle Peter. Impetuous. Loud. Speaking before thinking. And looking at Jesus then looking away and down at my circumstances. Every once in a while it’s good to lift up my head, look around and consider the realities, not my perceptions.

The result? A made – new perspective. Counting gifts, paying attention to others’ real needs, stepping out of myself and serving others, all help me to get my focus off my own issues and aware of the greater needs around me.

Today’s photo comes from a community of people who are risking for and trusting God in authenticity; in the middle of very real life challenges. Cancer. Abuse. Dark nights of the Soul.

Reading about their journeys may help you in yours. It certainly has helped me.

As you go about this Sabbath day, be reminded of a few vital truths as a Christ-follower: He is well acquainted with suffering; He told us we will have tribulation in this world, and He has overcome it; we have the opportunity to share in the fellowship of His sufferings; He will never leave you or forget you; His Holy Spirit is in you and He is your Comforter and Strength.

If you are struggling to believe any of these things, let’s talk. My prayer for you today is that you are

Learning to walk…

Reflections of 2013

December 31, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

2013 is coming to a close.

I am relieved. It has been a year of dramatic changes. There is always change taking place whether we see it or not; our children grow over night; the plants and seasons change without our notice. But some changes are very perceptible and measurable. Those are the ones that I’d like to slow down!

As I reflect on this year (which is what I have the habit of doing on Dec 31 every year) I am amazed at all that God has brought me through. I am grateful for His provision, protection and most of all Presence.

He has taught me much this year about relying on Him when all around me is changing. Psalm 46 begins and ends with the reminder that God is our refuge and stronghold. Just before the end of the Psalm is the often quoted, “be still and know that I am God”. How can we be still when there is so much doing that needs to be done?

This is a big part of what God has shown me this year: how to ‘be still’ while still moving. Now if that isn’t an oxymoron I don’t know what is! Yet it is a Truth that is worth reflecting upon as this year ends and a new one starts.

When you look at the surface of a large body of water ( I am most familiar with the Pacific Ocean but you insert the image that fits for you) there are waves that change in height and frequency depending on the wind. Storms stir up the activity on the surface and being on the water can be rough and dangerous.

Below the surface, into deep water, there is only a gentle motion, almost unnoticeable. The current is present but the motion can be described as nearly still. As I have pondered the mystery of how to be still and still doing, the Lord brought this image to mind: go below the surface of the busy-ness of life, into the depths with Me. He is a very present help, a refuge, our strength, a stronghold, a deliverer; His Word is full of the images that remind us of His Presence in spite of the outer turmoil.

Sometimes the turmoil was overwhelming and I didn’t handle it all very well. I could beat myself up over it. I could lament and stay stuck in ‘my woe is me’ attitude. Or, as I learned through the study of His Word, I could see myself rightly as He sees me. I practiced time alone with Him, with His Word, in His creation, walking and talking with Him alone. Learning from Him along the Way. These sacrifices of “my time” were gifts He gave back to me in volume.

We can say, ‘I’m too busy to be still’ or ‘I have too many demands on me to make time for myself like that’ and keep rushing ahead without peace. We wonder what the Bible means when it says things like ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on You because he trusts in You.’ How is that supposed to happen? That must be for someone else that has time to sit around and read and pray. “I don’t have that luxury in my life.”

We can repeat the same pattern of thought and behavior that gets us back to being stuck, or we can choose to go forward thinking differently about ourselves and our circumstances, thinking God’s thoughts.

Oswald Chambers reflected on Isaiah 52:12: “He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our ‘rear guard’. And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.”

As this year closes, I am grateful for this knowledge and for the opportunities He gave me to practice and apply these Truths in my life. And now He calls us forward to grow and change. Not to stay the same. We as Christ followers are to be about the business of becoming more Christ-like not about the business of shoring up “the way I am” or “the way I’ve always done things”. There is more to do, grow and change.

I am making plans for this new year. I reflect on what has passed this year and reach forward into the new. God is already there, reaching His hand back to me to lead me forward. He wants to do the same for you. Will you take His hand?

What is one area you are planning to make changes in this coming year?

30 Days of Giving #22: Have You Ever Wondered?

November 26, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

Have you ever wondered what your life might have been like had you been born in another time or place?

I do. I imagine a lot.

Travel. Read. Learn.

Some of my favorite things.

We were privileged to travel together on a business trip that took us to the UK. We ate in places where locals eat; not chain restaurants from the US (they are there). We threw our regular way of eating out the window; embracing local favorites like “Toad in the Hole”

No trip to the United Kingdom would be complete without scones with clotted cream

There is something romantic for me about the UK. Not romantic like kiss-kiss but in the connection to something bigger, a bigger story than my own.
Do you ever feel the need to know you’re connected to the past? I’ve heard people of different ethnic groups express this when they have traveled to their country of origin so I know I am not completely off my rocker here. I have been able to travel to the UK twice and both times I was deeply moved by the sense of connection to ancient origins.
Take a moment and read this plaque posted within the ancient walls of Gloucester Cathedral:

For 1000 years a place of prayer.
Nothing in the US built by human hands is 1000 years old.
I stood wondering of the lives who offered prayers to the same triune God because of whom I live and breathe and have my very being.
Their challenges were different to be sure. But Solomon told us longer ago that there is nothing new under the sun. We might argue that technology, scientific discoveries, medicine are all examples of “new” things since Solomon wrote those words. But I think he spoke of something different; I think he spoke of human nature.
Our internal struggles with value, self-worth, relationships with others and with God are all the same struggles the people of south-west England dealt with over 1000 years ago.
My connection to the past is through the Cross.
We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All.
We all have been invited to live a with God life while we are here on earth.
We all have seen the war within as the conflict between two natures rages as we work out our salvation. Not work for. Work out.
Allow God to be seen in us and through us in the way we live our lives.
Simply peeling potatoes or doing laundry. Interacting with family that may be as near strangers through limits of time and space.
God has not changed. Countries change. Cultures change. We change. God does not change.
This Truth is the comforting connection that I arrived at as I stood wondering.

30 Days of Giving #21: Travel Musings

November 25, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

Today’s musings actually were written on 11/21 as we flew from San Francisco to Orlando.
a cross country flight
a middle seat
a view
of sorts
sun glistening the fresh dusting of the mountains
an overnight snowfall
from 30,000 feet looks like powdered sugar on the mounds of earth far below
childlike i lean forward to catch a glimpse of the majesty
very undignified my leaning
smiling i realize dignity is not an external
dignity is a concept that comes from within
like many of the outward affects
not worn but lived

too bad others didn’t learn the lesson of inward cultivation
too bad others didn’t take time to slow down
to look
to wonder
to catch glimpses of the Divine in the world

30 Days of Giving #19: Normal

November 19, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

Now there’s a word: Normal.

Normal is a good word for body temperatures. Normal is a good word for weather patterns.

Normal is not a good word for people. Especially not a good word for children.

We might think we want normal but what that really means is:

look like everybody else. (don’t wear those colors or patterns together)

behave. (when you feel silly and want to laugh)

be quiet (when you want to sing).

hurry up (when you want to go slow and look at the flowers)

Because why? (so you don’t embarrass your parents and make them look bad)

Hmmm

Normal isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be just so you know. Take it on good authority here.

Let your children pick their clothes. Let yourself wear something different than usual (another boring word for normal)

You were not created to be like everybody else. You are unique. You are intended to live the life you’re given by offering the uniqueness that is you to the world. The world who needs people like you to live out of the culturally imposed box or the family imposed box or the school district imposed box or the church imposed box…

And that beautiful soul of yours may need some freedom to express the image of its Creator. His image in you that He has made to share with the world so that He can be seen. In you. Through you.

You might just discover a little of who you really are if you step out of the box of normal.

Normal is just a setting on the washing machine.

I wish that was an original line but it’s actually a lyric from one of my all time favorite songs. “To All Purple Tree Trunks” by Jack Pearson. Jack is a self-proclaimed “weirdo” who lives his art by writing and making music for children (and their “normal” parents). Don’t let the word “weirdo” bother you…it’s the favorite word thrown from in the box people to those of us living out of the box of expectations.

Please go listen. Then come back and tell me your thoughts.

30 Days of Giving #18: Write

November 18, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

The new and old are coming together in me. It’s not been easy letting go…

I ran the risk of losing something that held value. Like forgetting the person who gave me what I’ve held since childhood; a trinket that has no value other than the memory.

Leaving a place that is full of the memories of life; roads driven, paths walked, beaches strolled.

Leaving is hard. It’s important to acknowledge the pain of loss, the difficulty of change.

But don’t stop there. That’s called being stuck. Or if knowing change is hard keeps us from making changes, that is fear. Fear of the unknown can keep us from growing. From fully living the one life we’ve been given.

In facing the hard and chipping away at it a little at a time the process of change can be manageable. Loss is still painful. Change is still hard but little by little, bite-size even, changes can be handled.

In the big move there were 1000 decisions at least. I didn’t count them but I know there were hundreds for sure! What to keep. What to give. What to sell. What to donate. What to store.

Books were hardest for me. Some valuable for their age and condition. Some valuable for the laughter they brought. Some valuable for the markings made in the reading. We have 6 boxes of books left. I have unpacked one. My journals.

My life on paper from the ripe old age of 13 to present day. I don’t read through them on a regular basis. I don’t need to. I know what season of life each journal cover holds close. I glance at the cover and remember. Ah yes. High School. Another? Early motherhood. Yet another? A book of deep grief.

Collections of quotes, song lyrics, poems read and copied, poems written by hand and heart. Prayers cried through. Praise recorded. Deep wounds brought to Light for healing.

The old and new coming together in me.

I write. The following is from a class I am taking currently:

I write because I have this sense of responsibility.

I write because I was given stories by elders who are now gone; there are those behind me who see faces in scrapbooks but those lives are meaningless without the stories.

I write because I was given the oral traditions of our family and must pass them on to the next generations whether they stop to read them or not

I write because I hold my hand back into the past to hold its hand while reaching forward into the future to grasp its hand; as if I am the connecting conduit from past to future.

I write because I have a burning passion to allow the telling of the dark parts their freedom from hiding that they can be revealed and healed in the Light

I write because there is a holy nudge gently prodding the stories, the words, the phrases out of my head through my heart

I write because I need to

I write because it helps me to think aloud onto paper

I write to process

I write to be free

I write to record my personal Old Testament; to record the faithfulness of God at work in my life and my family’s lives.

My current journal’s cover. It will remind me of this year of The Big Move. No one may ever care to read what’s held close by this cover but I must write.

I’m a writer. It’s how I process life and am able to offer myself to others.

What are your thoughts about writing?

30 Days of Giving #12,13,14,15,16 & 17: Grace

November 17, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

Life is full even for a recently empty-nester. Deep conversations with friends far away…

Participation in online Bible study & book groups.

Tearfully praying for children and adults in the ravaged Philippines. Feathering the new nest. Finding my boots packed in a bag, in a box, under random stuff! Learning new ways of cooking for my vegan hubster.
(this is butternut squash & mushroom bruschetta made with vegan cream cheese and udi’s bagels)

All these things I chose over sitting at the computer and writing about the things that I have been prompted to reflect upon in my personal challenge of 30 Days of Giving.

I could get down on myself because I have not been “diligent” to write daily.
I could, but I won’t.
I am choosing to give my self the greatest gift: Grace.

For too long I have lived in bondage to my worth being tied to productivity.
I choose to show Grace.

For too long I have thought mean, unacceptable thoughts about me: thoughts I would not tolerate if I heard someone speak them to another human being.
I choose to speak Grace.

For too long I have neglected the need for rest when my body calls for it; thinking a nap is a shameful waste of time.
I choose to respond to Grace.

For too long I have lived under the burden of unrealistic expectations for daily accomplishments as if to prove how capable I am (and thus worthy of love)
I choose to receive Grace.

Grace is a gift. It is given by God freely. It can’t be bought. (think earned)

Like many gifts, this is given because of Love. And like many gifts received, it is often neglected or unappreciated or misused.

Grace is meant to be shared: with yourself and with others.

When mistakes are made (and they WILL be made) show kindness.
When things get broken (and they WILL be broken) show gentleness.
When you don’t follow through on something you said you would do (life happens) show patience.
When temptations come to do other things that take you away from commitments you’ve made (to others or to yourself) show self-control.

You might recognize some of these words: kindness, gentleness, patience, self-control. They are some of the listed characteristics of the evident life of the Holy Spirit in a Christ-follower.
The evident life of the Holy Spirit is a gift of Grace from God to those who name His name.
The greatest gift ever given is eternal life through Christ because of His substitutionary death. What?
He took my penalty. Your penalty. On Himself. He lived a perfect human life never falling short of the glory of God. How?

He is God Incarnate. In a human body. Jesus lived a life you and I can never live on our own.
He died the death we deserve because the distance from human to holy can’t be spanned by human beings.
And then?
He rose from the dead breaking forever the bonds that hold us in the terror of eternal separation from a holy God. Jesus made the Way for us to be brought across the distance between human and holy. He offers us this gift of undeserved, unearned favor, eternal life with Him, by Him.
And now?
If you know this Truth, and you believe this Truth, then you get to live this Truth on a daily basis because of Grace.
This is Good News! This is a gift to be shared; Grace to be lived and shown to the world through your life.
If you are not, if I am not, showing Grace to ourselves then our words are empty.
If we do not show Grace to others our words are hollow.
Grace is given. Grace is received. Grace is a gift opened up, applied and shared.

I choose Grace.
And you?

30 Days of Giving #11: Gratitude

November 12, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

Many of you followed the saga of finding a new home for our dog Tuxedo. I wrote about the hardest part in this post. Well today I am writing from a place of complete gratitude.

Tux was adopted!

As if that isn’t enough good news, the director of Woods Humane Society called me to tell me what a great dog Tux is. Apparently, as the story goes, there was some question by the Board of Directors as to why there is a practice of performing a behavioral assessment on the incoming animals before taking them into the shelter. Tux was chosen to be put through the demonstration for the Board. He was so well behaved that everyone loved him! I don’t know who adopted him, but perhaps the couple that did choose Tuxedo was able to see what a great dog he really is.

I just wrote out his life story and sent it on to the director; he said the new family would be happy to know Tux’s history.

He was loved and now has a new home to be loved on some more!

Gratitude: readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

We’re in a position to return the kindness of care and finding Tux a home that Woods Humane Society showed him. We are expressing our gratitude through a financial donation. If you have a local Humane Society or Animal Rescue consider giving them a donation either this month or next; it’s the end of the tax year and 501c3 organizations love to receive donations any time but in this season of giving remember those who need extra care…

30 Days of Giving #8: Laugh

November 8, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

The year I turned 50 was not a year full of reasons to laugh. My life sounded a bit like a country song: my mom died, my dog died, my dad died. And my only brother and I stopped speaking. Blegh. Tim McGraw? Brad Paisley?

But someone understood exactly what I needed to do. She not only brought a casserole, she gave me a reminder that I could look at daily.

My dear friend Sue gave me the wood cut out for Christmas that year. She is one person who knows how to do that well.

Sue consistently points out both the light-hearted things in life and asks me to think about what God has to say on the subject.

Today Sue and her siblings and as much of the Moore family who could travel, gathered to honor the life of wife, mom, and grandma, the woman who never knew a stranger. Sue’s mom passed away in her sleep two weeks shy of her 95th birthday. Now that’s a long life. Betty Moore was generous, hospitable and loved to laugh. All traits she passed down to her 5 children.

What a gift to give to the next generation: laughter.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Take time to laugh everyday. Even better laugh at yourself. If your anything like me there are humorous moments in everyday.

I’m sure there was laughter today hearing stories of family escapades. Remember the time…?

If you haven’t already been reading Sue’s blog, you can find her encouraging and laughing at welcomeheart. A shared recipe, a story well told and laughter. Now that’s a good friend.

30 Days of Giving #4: A Picture to Ponder

November 4, 2013 By Lisa Lewis

It’s Monday. Some Mondays are easier than others. Today was a stay at home and gtd day. Are you familiar with gtd? I bet you are and didn’t know it. Get things done.

But I can be so focused on the gtd that I miss what’s important right under my nose or out the window or …

I ran across this photo taken from the street where I used to live. I added a thought to it for us to ponder. This is my gift to you today.