Spring Beauty

spring beauty spotted on a walk with Tamara this afternoon... 

April / Twenty Thirteen

april 2013.... 

annual tulip festival - La Conner, WA 

"Easter people, raise your voices, sounds of heaven in earth should ring. Alleluia! Alleluia! Easter people, let us sing." 

For the life that You have given

For the love of Christ made known

With these fruits of time and labor

With these gifts that are your own

Here we offer, Lord, our praises--

heart, and mind and strength we bring.

Give us grace to love and serve you-

living what we pray and sing...

Boston marathon reflections: http://celebrate-2day.blogspot.com/2013/04/fwd-reflections-from-2013-boston.html

In this event in Boston where we witnessed such generosity of spirit followed by such tragedy and loss, I continue to pray:

"Bring Your best to our worst. Bring Your peace to our pain. God of love, heal Your people…" 

I've learned that counting gifts, seeing God's goodness, doesn't necessarily make the sadness go away. We live in a world that is broken by sin. There are things that can and should break our hearts and make us sad. It's called lament and, throughout the pages of scripture, there seems to be an awful lot of it.When I count the gifts, when I see glimpses of God's goodness amidst the sadness, I'm no longer frightened by it or worry I'll be consumed by it. I can stare directly into the sadness and yet worship. I've learned:Lament is a kind of worship that says, "This is wrong, but I know You are good."  -Nancy Franson

"Even when it hurts. Even when our heart aches. We summon the strength that maybe we didn't even know we had, and we carry on. We finish the race." - President Barack Obama

 

joie de vi·vre  (zhwä d vvr)

n.

Hearty enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit

[French : joie, joy + de, of + vivre, to live, living.]

 

In each darkness, cloud and fire

In the quiet, as words retire

in our lost and best desires

God is there

Not for what we are or do

No for what we've journeyed through

But for all you call us to,

God be there... 

 

(a powerful passage to share below from Tony Campolo's book Carpe Diem)

"How long have you lived?"

I posed the question to the students on the first day of a special seminar course on existentialism.

No one answered. It may have been that my manner was intimidating. But then again, maybe it was because the question had a certain ambiguity to it.

So I picked out one of the students on the front row of the lecture hall and, riveting my attention on him, I asked the question again, this time with an intensely personal emphasis.

"How long have you lived?" I asked.

My inquiry must have seemed like an attack on him. I could see that he was taken aback. The question seemed to pull him out of a time of private reverie. Instinctively he answered, "Twenty-four years!"

"No! No!" I responded. "I didn't ask you how long you have existed as a breathing, functioning member of the human race. I wanted you to tell me how long you have been really alive."

from an email my friend received after our Boston experience: 

"Every day, as we are granted to live and go on, we collect a little bundle that makes us grow and be just a bit of a different person from yesterday. You, on the Boston Marathon collected a very large bundle. Please do not let that weigh you down, but inspire you to move forward and give every day your all."

 

It is time to go and be His witnesses.

And as we go we pray that the Lord would bless us and keep us,

the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

May God give us grace never to sell ourselves short,

grace to risk something big for something good,

grace to realize that the world is much too small for anything but love,

and much too dangerous for anything but truth.

And now may God take our minds and think through them,

and may God take our lips and speak through them,

and may God take our hearts and set them on fire.

In the name of Jesus Christ who goes with us always.  Amen.

-benediction at St. John's Lutheran

 Annual Teacher Brunch honoring our fabulous teachers  

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

…a glimpse of how Taylor made his bed the other morning…

May we hold on to the kingdom perspective even as life gets back to "normal".

 

Do Good...

My friend Heather reminded me of this quote today, and she always seems to nail it when she speaks into my life: 

"The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” – Mother Teresa

pictures below from our celebration of Micah for his special day (the 28th) that we celebrated today.... 

emergency chocolate 

quality control of the cookie dough 

before we put it in the waffle maker to make waffle cookies 

I LOVE THIS LITTLE GUY! 

cozy time 

How He Loves

1. I was asked to speak about the experience of running in the Boston marathon at church. After being at all four services today, my dad joked that I could have gotten up to give the sermon by the end since I'd heard it a few times. 

During the last service, I reflected on the stories I shared today.  Though I'm not sure how it came across to people, I tried to give it my best, but I know that it was not perfectly polished.  Through all of this, at the days' end, I sensed a clear message through the music and through what Elizabeth shared as well that I am loved- rough edges and all.  I am so grateful and humbled by this simple message of affirmation that God loves us so. 

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. 
   
9. 
   
10. 
    
11. 
    
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. 
    
15. 
    
16. 
    
17. 
    
18. 
    
19. Just as I am 
20. Just as I am, without one plea,
    But that Thy blood was shed for me,
    And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
21. Just as I am, and waiting not
    To rid my soul of one dark blot,
    To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
22. Just as I am, though tossed about
    With many a conflict, many a doubt,
    Fightings and fears within, without,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
23. Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
    Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
    Yea, all I need in Thee to find,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
24. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
    Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
    Because Thy promise I believe,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
25. Just as I am, Thy love unknown
    Hath broken every barrier down;
    Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
    O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa6xIIq8D5s

How He Loves

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us, oh,
Oh, how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us, oh,
Oh, how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way...

He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poQgyv4MkV4

Forever Reign 

[Verse 1:]
You are good You are good
When there's nothing good in me
You are love You are love
On display for all to see
You are light You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope You are hope
You have covered all my sin

[Verse 2:]
You are peace You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy You are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life You are life
In You death has lost it's sting

[Chorus:]
Oh I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

[Verse 3:]
You are more You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here You are here
In Your presence I'm made whole
You are God You are God
Of all else I'm letting go

[Chorus]

[Bridge:]
My heart will sing
No other Name
Jesus
Jesus

kingdom perspective

Tracey sent me this note the other day:  
May we hold on to the kingdom perspective even as life gets back to ''normal."

good words to hold onto almost two weeks after Boston....

and for a smile to add to your day.....

here is how Taylor made his bed the other morning 

annual teacher brunch

Our annual tradition of honoring Anna and Taylor's teachers with a brunch was held this morning... Among many things I am counting as gifts these days, these four gathered around our table are high on the list. 

the wheels on the bus go round and round... 

Mrs. Blair - Taylor's 2nd grade teacher 

Mr. Pittman- Anna's 4th grade teacher 

Ms. Howard- music teacher extraordinaire 

Mr. Roberts- PE teacher extraordinaire 

After the brunch, we met Mr. Roberts and his kids at Green Lake for a bike ride for the boys while Anna made it all the way around the lake on her unicycle. And I ran without being sore at all-  which was an added bonus! :) 

Writing to Save the Day

Giving thanks for you all who have been with me in processing so much in the last eleven days. Thank you for reading my thoughts that I've written and for helping me see more clearly through the fog.

Saturday April 27, 2013  Writing to Save the Day Writing can be a true spiritual discipline. Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories. Writing can also be good for others who might read what we write. Quite often a difficult, painful, or frustrating day can be "redeemed" by writing about it. By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others too.

spring hope

thankful for these words that Janie found and sent my way... It applies to so many circumstances and is full of hope:

Each of us sits in our own garden and initially says, "This tragedy is irreparable. I see no benefit in it and will take no comfort in it." And yet right in the midst of our deepest and worst adversities, Christ is often just lying there, waiting to be resurrected.
Our Savior is where our death seems to be. At the end of our hope, we find the brightest beginning of fulfillment. Where darkness seems the deepest, the most radiant light is set to emerge. And once the experience is complete, we find our garden is not disfigured by the tomb.......Our sorrows become bright through the joys God has planted around them. At first the flowers of the garden may not appear to be our favorites, but we'll learn that they are the flowers of the heart - love, hope, faith, joy, and peace.
Streams in the Desert p. 170

Friday commute to school via scooter and unicycle 

Anna made it up the hill to her school on 45th on her unicycle! GO ANNA! 

true grit indeed... 

moving on down the road... 

How long have you lived?

(a powerful passage to share below from Tony Campolo's book Carpe Diem) 

"How long have you lived?"

I posed the question to the students on the first day of a special seminar course on existentialism.

No one answered. It may have been that my manner was intimidating. But then again, maybe it was because the question had a certain ambiguity to it.

So I picked out one of the students on the front row of the lecture hall and, riveting my attention on him, I asked the question again, this time with an intensely personal emphasis.

"How long have you lived?" I asked.

My inquiry must have seemed like an attack on him. I could see that he was taken aback. The question seemed to pull him out of a time of private reverie. Instinctively he answered, "Twenty-four years!"

"No! No!" I responded. "I didn't ask you how long you have existed as a breathing, functioning member of the human race. I wanted you to tell me how long you have been really alive."

I could tell that this poor, besieged student was befuddled. I sensed he had some inkling of what I was getting at. But he wasn't sure. I knew he needed some help.

"When I was twelve years old," I told him, "I was taken to New York. It was one of those cultural enrichment trips that was designed to broaden the experiences of the sixth-grade class. There must have been close to forty of us in the group, although I don't remember enough about it to say for sure. What I do remember was being on the observation deck near the top of the Empire State Building. I had been running around chasing somebody just for the fun of it, as kids on a school trip are prone to do, when I stopped, went over to the guardrail, took hold of it, and gazed over the city.

"I remember that moment vividly. Everything around me seemed to drop away. A strange stillness drowned out the noise of the other kids. For me that moment belonged to another dimension of time and space. And I took it in-that incredible city, sprawled out before me with its towers of concrete and glass. There was an awesome expanse of what seemed to be a vast, miniaturized, make-believe, toy world. It was like looking at one of those model railroad displays you see in department stores at Christmas, only infinitely larger.

"I was awestruck! Full of wonder! And I remember saying these simple words to myself: Tony! You are on top of the Empire State Building.

"It was with a heightened awareness, a hyper-intensive consciousness, that I held that moment far too wonderful to describe. In a mystical way, I stepped outside of myself at that moment and reflected upon myself experiencing it.

"I do not know how long I will live," I told my student, "but if I were to live a million years, I would remember that moment, because I truly lived it."

"Now, let me ask you the question again," I said. "How long have you lived?"

The young man had been moved to serious reflection, and he responded very slowly, as though he were carefully weighing each word of his answer: "When you talk about living like you lived that particular moment in New York, maybe a minute. Maybe two! I mean, if I were to add up all those times when I experienced life with that kind of heightened awareness, they are not likely to come out to much more than that!"

Then he added a regretful afterthought. "When I stop to think about it, most of my life has been the meaningless passage of time between all too few moments when I have really been alive."

the May cover of the Boston magazine