Merry Christmas!

I Know it When I See it

On Sunday my family and I were heading to Verizon to get my phone repaired.  While at a stop sign, I looked up and saw a man with a sign that read, "I am a veteran and I do NOT drink.  Please help me eat."  I rushed my daughter to get $5 from my purse and we called him to the car.  He accepted the money and began to explain he was a veteran and not a drinker.  I explained that he owed me no explanations and then I thanked him.  He kept waving at us and as we were pulling off we watched him dry his face.  I failed to mention that I was crying before he had ever reached our car.  The sadness in his face overwhelmed my heart.  I cry at the site of any beings hurting often, but this was different.  Something about this man struck me in a more powerful way. 

As we drove to Verizon we discussed this man.  I was angry that no one else would stop to offer him just one dollar or a few kind words and then my daughter said something that made me come completely unhinged.  She said, "They are ignoring him and are only thinking of themselves, but what if that's God?"  Her question swam in my mind all day and the face of this man has not left my memory yet.  Shouldn't we approach one another like that on a daily basis? Shouldn't we speak and react as if the other being could possibly be God?  I have many definitions for compassion and I may not be able to describe it clearly, but I know it when I see it.  There have been many years where I thought I knew the true concept to love and although we cannot fully comprehend the depth of love...I know it when I see it.

I saw it in that mans face.  I saw it in the face of my fifteen-year-old daughter as she tried to console her mama.  I saw it in my eyes as I took a glance of myself in the rear-view mirror before getting out of the car.  Most importantly I see it in the words of a Lord who laid His life down, so that we may become children of the Most High God. Some people choose to ignore the homeless, the less fortunate.  They think, "it's not my problem."  But, it is ALL of our problem.  He commands us to love one another as He
loves us, so yes...it IS YOUR problem as well as MINE.  I don't know how to describe the changes that are taking place within me since that Sunday.  But, I do know that it’s surrounded in love.  God’s love?  I know it when I see it.

Saints :)

“In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints.”

  Frederick Buechner

Life Lesson #235,698,350

For years I told my grandma "when you die I'm going to come completely undone."  I was not the only grandchild who felt this way and was not the only to express it.  When I said it she would smile and say "you'll be okay Lu(my nickname)."  For years I deeply believed that when my grandma took her last breath I would come undone at the seams.  She died in 2008 and I cried every day for the first two months.  I was mad and sad and didn't know how to accept it.  Then something started to take place deep within my spirit.  I began to feel a little stronger.  I started seeking God with great gusto.  I began to understand why this had to happen.  She left on her OWN terms and she did it with great COURAGE.  Remembering that uplifted my soul!  It made me want to be more like her than ever.  I started living each day with the intention that I would make her and God proud of the love and time they have invested into my life.  Her death was hard, it was hurtful and it did tear me down.  But it also lifted me to a higher level than ever before!  Through my Grandma God woke me up to what He needed me to do for him.

For years I've said I'd come undone, but what I've learned is when we lose a loved one for many it begins a metamorphosis.  Yes we do come unglued, but then God steps in to glue us back together and make us better than we were before.  Fear has a way of blocking God from our vision, but God has a way of shinning through regardless.  When he wants our attention He WILL get it!  I trust God more now than ever and I now know that whatever fear I have He will see me through.  I may very well fall apart at the seams, but he will be there to pick me up, dust me off and carry me through.  And you know what?  He's ready to do the very same for you.  All you have to do is whisper his name.  Even if that whisper is just in your heart or head - He will answer.