"Sheila Atchley - take three giant steps!"
"Mother, may I?"
"Yes, you may!"
Remember that childhood game?
A nameless fear has been gripping me of late. It is the fear that some situations will never change. That a relationship will never change. That a child will never change. That I will never change.
There, I said it. I named the fear. And the light that naming the heretofore nameless brings, dispels the darkness.
I always see my weaknesses and besetting sins in all their disgusting glory. They are as plain to me as the hair on my head, as near to me as my own beating heart. And I am afraid of them. I am afraid I will never change, never be the mother I dream of being, never make any progress, not even when I see so vividly exactly where I want to go.
I do see where I want to go. Sometimes I get glimpses of the Sheila Atchley the Father is designing. I see she whom the Father is still busily creating, and I want to BE HER, to the depth of my whole soul. I want to be her right now. Oh, how I want to change.
But I want it to be simple. I want the progress to come lightly and easily. And instantly. In reality, my distance is usually covered inch by tear-soaked, will-relinquished inch. Change comes too slowly. Fear taunts me, telling me that, sure, I will finally change - but one month, one week, or one day too late.
Once in awhile, though, there comes a Fresh Wind. I read, just today, that wind is "hope on wings". Once in awhile, there is a Real and Present Grace. I hear the voice of my heavenly Father - warm, inviting, having all the time in the world to give to just and only me:
"Sheila Atchley! Take three giant steps!"
"Oh Father....may I?"
(could it be true? three giant steps, instead of one wretched inch? can I really wake up tomorrow, and be different? will I really see transformation in this area of my life?)
"Yes, you may!"
And suddenly I am able. Yes I may, and yes I can, and yes I DO! Because He loves me. Because He is still holy. So the gnawing fear that makes my stomach feel like a stone, dissolves. Tense muscles in my forehead and face, soften.
Three giant steps are enough to bring peace. For now.
Spiritual Truths, Illustrated in the Butterfly Garden...
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; behold, everything is made new! II Cor. 5:17
The Black Swallowtail, just by being alive, testifies to the power of God.
A Day of Sunflowers...
Just this morning, the first sunflower of the Atchley garden fully opened its bright, beautiful face. The timing could not have been more appropriate. In the language of flowers, the sunflower means, "I am proud of you!"
...and today is my identical twin daughters' 21st birthday. Their dad and I could not be more proud.
Happy Birthday, beautiful women!
Better Late Than Never...
I hate that I've been late entering the blogosphere. My reasons are good - number one being the fact that the computer I had was a used one, and constantly crashed. And the computer before that. And the computer before that. Fact is, until recently, I never had a computer that could have enabled me to blog. This one seems to work well now, and for that I am most grateful.
But the possibilities inherent in a blog are still being explored. In that sense, it is NOT too late, and so I've begun...
A couple weeks ago, I finished the book "Blog - Understanding the Information Reformation" by Hugh Hewitt. This book will inspire you to blog! The internet has truly become the Great Equalizer in terms of anyone, anywhere, getting their thoughts out there. But you do have to be quite good to even garner a single comment, much less continue blogging to anyone but your three best friends. Still, if I never got a single comment, I would continue to blog because it frees my thoughts. I have to "write it" before I know what I think about "it", whatever "it" might be.
And I am intensely grateful for the comments I receive. Every blogger lives for them! Yes, if these virtual pages are worthy of your time and brief attention, please do tell others to come visit me. I'll do my best to send them away blessed and encouraged, or at the very least, with some food for thought. Or a snack of an idea.
Choice bits from Hewitt's book:
"The blogosphere is evolving at an incredibly rapid pace, and a lot of the best mindspace is being claimed, but there remains incredible opportunity among the hundreds of millions who have yet to figure out that there is a better way to gain information than watching the tube."
"...None of us have time to understand everything, so we have to trust surrogates. People don't trust the old media with anything like the old level of confidence. "
"Change isn't coming. It is here. Information is being absorbed in new and startlingly different ways, from new, and until recently, unknown sources."
"...information is an essential element of freedom."
"From the 'big bang' of blogging, fifty thousand new virtual newspapers had been born, for that's what an "updated daily" blog is: a newspaper with one editor, and as many sources as he or she cares to link to."
"Anyone who wants a say can have it. Attention to that "say" must be earned."
"The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves, but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them."
"(a blog is)...an agent of persuasion or dissemination."
"The blogosphere has been noticed by forward thinking people of faith!"
"Writers write for the same reasons today as they did in Homer's age. Blogging is just a new means of transmitting that writing, one that bypasses completely all editors."
"If you are a leader, then you ought to be blogging, and the folks you lead ought to be reading that blog. Every day, if possible. Most days, if not."
"Morning coffee will be shared by spouses not over the paper, but over the laptop."
"Fear or enthusiasm" (about blogging) "really doesn't matter. The blogosphere is a fact as real as a brick, and even though bricks can be used to build houses or hospitals or be thrown through windows or at heads, the reality of bricks doesn't change."
"The advantage of blogging is that it will oblige you to live in the world of ideas and debates, and to do so at the modern pace."
Well, I take issue with the last quote. I don't think everyone who blogs is obliged to live in the world of ideas. I've seen too many blogs that are little more than the middle-aged equivelent of the pink diary. All about "myself, my kid, my angst, my life, and what-I-will-be-doing-next-month", and very little in terms of ideas can be found on them. While a certain amount of "me, myself, and I" detail is tolerable, and even desireable; for a blog to become a prosaic personal diary is a poor use of a powerful medium.
I'm a late arrival to blogging. I should have been doing this four years ago. I hope I can catch up.
But the possibilities inherent in a blog are still being explored. In that sense, it is NOT too late, and so I've begun...
A couple weeks ago, I finished the book "Blog - Understanding the Information Reformation" by Hugh Hewitt. This book will inspire you to blog! The internet has truly become the Great Equalizer in terms of anyone, anywhere, getting their thoughts out there. But you do have to be quite good to even garner a single comment, much less continue blogging to anyone but your three best friends. Still, if I never got a single comment, I would continue to blog because it frees my thoughts. I have to "write it" before I know what I think about "it", whatever "it" might be.
And I am intensely grateful for the comments I receive. Every blogger lives for them! Yes, if these virtual pages are worthy of your time and brief attention, please do tell others to come visit me. I'll do my best to send them away blessed and encouraged, or at the very least, with some food for thought. Or a snack of an idea.
Choice bits from Hewitt's book:
"The blogosphere is evolving at an incredibly rapid pace, and a lot of the best mindspace is being claimed, but there remains incredible opportunity among the hundreds of millions who have yet to figure out that there is a better way to gain information than watching the tube."
"...None of us have time to understand everything, so we have to trust surrogates. People don't trust the old media with anything like the old level of confidence. "
"Change isn't coming. It is here. Information is being absorbed in new and startlingly different ways, from new, and until recently, unknown sources."
"...information is an essential element of freedom."
"From the 'big bang' of blogging, fifty thousand new virtual newspapers had been born, for that's what an "updated daily" blog is: a newspaper with one editor, and as many sources as he or she cares to link to."
"Anyone who wants a say can have it. Attention to that "say" must be earned."
"The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves, but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them."
"(a blog is)...an agent of persuasion or dissemination."
"The blogosphere has been noticed by forward thinking people of faith!"
"Writers write for the same reasons today as they did in Homer's age. Blogging is just a new means of transmitting that writing, one that bypasses completely all editors."
"If you are a leader, then you ought to be blogging, and the folks you lead ought to be reading that blog. Every day, if possible. Most days, if not."
"Morning coffee will be shared by spouses not over the paper, but over the laptop."
"Fear or enthusiasm" (about blogging) "really doesn't matter. The blogosphere is a fact as real as a brick, and even though bricks can be used to build houses or hospitals or be thrown through windows or at heads, the reality of bricks doesn't change."
"The advantage of blogging is that it will oblige you to live in the world of ideas and debates, and to do so at the modern pace."
Well, I take issue with the last quote. I don't think everyone who blogs is obliged to live in the world of ideas. I've seen too many blogs that are little more than the middle-aged equivelent of the pink diary. All about "myself, my kid, my angst, my life, and what-I-will-be-doing-next-month", and very little in terms of ideas can be found on them. While a certain amount of "me, myself, and I" detail is tolerable, and even desireable; for a blog to become a prosaic personal diary is a poor use of a powerful medium.
I'm a late arrival to blogging. I should have been doing this four years ago. I hope I can catch up.
A Garden Visitor
Tiger Swallowtail...
on a hanging basket in the butterfly garden. We've seen lots of these lately - floating, flying flowers!
A Perfect Sunday
Missing church is not a good idea. The Lord gives His people "Kodak Moments" sometimes. You cannot orchestrate exactly when heaven will come down and transform your time together into a life long memory. This is why it is so important to value and cherish corporate times of praise and worship and hearing the Word. God, periodically, sovereignly transforms those times into a "Kodak Moment" for the church family. In our case, yesterday, it was a literal Kodak Moment...digital cameras all over the building materialized as if from nowhere, as saints snapped photos of the unexpected.
A move of God will sneak up on you, no matter how diligently you pray and prepare for it. The Bible is full of the word "suddenly". Kodak moments from God! How can I miss a Sunday? I never know when something wonderful will happen...
....like yesterday.
A teenage girl in our church was born again, the week before, while she was away at church camp. When she testified of what took place in her life, pastor Tim asked her if she wanted to be baptized. (We keep extra towels, and sweat pants and T-shirts in various sizes for just that occasion - unexpected baptisms. The answer to the question, "What prevents me from being baptized?" should be, in any church, "Nothing...nothing at all. Let's do it now!")
And so it was.
Our youth pastor, Matt Bailey, doing the honors!
..."Behold, all things are made new!"
After church, Tim and I had a lovely family to our home for lunch. It felt like a celebratory feast, with a roast, potatoes, peas, mac-n-cheese, dinner rolls, corn, and peach cobbler to finish it all off. We lingered for some time, at the table, laughing and just savoring the years of friendship we've shared. The younger ones were in the next room, at the "kid's table", perfectly content and well behaved. I'm telling you, nothing was allowed to interfere with that God-kissed Sunday.
If it couldn't get any better, it did. After our guests went home, Tim and I had the house to ourselves, and we took a long, luxurious nap. I ended my day, ultimately, in my pajamas, reading glasses on the tip of my nose, reading a book, with the rythmic music of the cicadas, floating in through my open bedroom window, creating peaceful ambience.
Heaven. From beginning to end, our Sunday was blessed.
A move of God will sneak up on you, no matter how diligently you pray and prepare for it. The Bible is full of the word "suddenly". Kodak moments from God! How can I miss a Sunday? I never know when something wonderful will happen...
....like yesterday.
A teenage girl in our church was born again, the week before, while she was away at church camp. When she testified of what took place in her life, pastor Tim asked her if she wanted to be baptized. (We keep extra towels, and sweat pants and T-shirts in various sizes for just that occasion - unexpected baptisms. The answer to the question, "What prevents me from being baptized?" should be, in any church, "Nothing...nothing at all. Let's do it now!")
And so it was.
Our youth pastor, Matt Bailey, doing the honors!
..."Behold, all things are made new!"
After church, Tim and I had a lovely family to our home for lunch. It felt like a celebratory feast, with a roast, potatoes, peas, mac-n-cheese, dinner rolls, corn, and peach cobbler to finish it all off. We lingered for some time, at the table, laughing and just savoring the years of friendship we've shared. The younger ones were in the next room, at the "kid's table", perfectly content and well behaved. I'm telling you, nothing was allowed to interfere with that God-kissed Sunday.
If it couldn't get any better, it did. After our guests went home, Tim and I had the house to ourselves, and we took a long, luxurious nap. I ended my day, ultimately, in my pajamas, reading glasses on the tip of my nose, reading a book, with the rythmic music of the cicadas, floating in through my open bedroom window, creating peaceful ambience.
Heaven. From beginning to end, our Sunday was blessed.
My Definition of Hospitality...
III John is a small epistle, one chapter, fourteen verses. In my personal journals, I have called it the "hospitality chapter". Easily one-third of it commends hospitality, followed by three or four verses describing how ambition is a force behind the lack of hospitality. "Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence...receiveth us not...neither doth he himself receive the brethren..."
The need for preeminence is always to be found behind the mentality that says, "Let someone else do the hospitality end of things." After all, at the very least, it puts our desire for ease and convenience as "preeminent" over and above the command of God to practice hospitality.
Tucked into the verses of III John, is the best definition of hospitality that I have found. I am sure this is written in a book somewhere, or has been taught by someone, but I have not read it or heard it.
..."whom, if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well."
To bring someone forward on their journey. The Godly-sort of journey. Sometimes pie and coffee and conversation are all that is necessary to bring someone forward. A night's stay and a good breakfast, followed by a brief prayer of blessing may be what another needs to bring them forward. Still yet, someone else might need a few hours of conversation, up into the night - long, laborsome, and patient dialogue in a safe place. And the result of all those hours of pouring out, may be but a half-step forward. So be it. Just bring 'em forward.
Then, there are the few, close friends, whose needs are simple: music and laughter. Please, just sit and play the guitar, sing a few songs, and let's laugh till we can't breathe. And they leave our home having been brought forward a country mile! Matter of fact, we all moved forward on this visit.
Come in! (Call first, if you can, so I can put the coffee on...) My prayer, till the day I leave this earth, will be that the time you spend here with me will somehow bring you forward in your Godly-sort of journey.
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