July 28, 2010
Something BIG landed on my shoulder...
Supper is finished. We sit beside one another, holding hands, sharing the details of our day, a nightly ritual I'd be lost without. Plop! Suddenly something BIG lands on my shoulder, tangled in my hair. Did I say BIG? SOMETHING BIG! Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I scream. LOUD! I jump up, slinging my head around, pulling at my clothes, dancing a jig that is designed to make me a most unpleasant resting place. I gather the courage to look, and there is nothing there. I frantically tell my wonderful husband, who is now standing beside me, propelled from his comfortable spot on the sofa to the end of the coffee table by my screams and wild gyrations, that it was a BIG BUG! A BIG BUG! "No," he says quietly, "it was a frog."
Calm now. I am calm now. I like frogs. Calm now. My focus has gone from sheer terror (did I mention I don't like bugs and all their little wriggly legs?) to concern for the frog and how scared he must be. How I HAVE to find him and put him back outside before he withers away and dies and becomes a little frog mummy hidden in a dark corner. (Visions of the watering can incident last summer drench my heart with guilt.) We look and look. And look. We move the sofa from the wall and peer underneath with flashlights. We gently rearrange the sofa cushions. We check the lampshades. No frog. Aha! There he is, on the wall, clinging to a framed photograph, his brilliant lime green color a stark contrast to the wide black picture frame he clings to, so vivid and exquisite in form and color he might have been an ancient Japanese porcelain attached to the frame for decoration.
I reach over slowly, talking softly (wondering if he understands I mean him no harm), and gently cup him into my hands. His fat little belly feels funny/sweet in the palm of my hand, and his little heart beats ferociously, but he does not struggle. I walk to the door my husband is holding open for me and out into the darkness that covers the world outside. I reach up into the branches of a crepe myrtle tree and let the hand that is holding him rest on the branch in front of me, then remove the other hand, the one that is tented over him. I feel the tiny suction cups on his toes release their hold on my hand, and he moves... takes a step... climbs onto the branch in front of me. Suddenly, he is gone.
Good night, little frog.
| By Spiderlillies | 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2010
she lost the battle, but won the fight...
My friend Oralyn lost her battle with lung cancer yesterday. At first, I thought she lost the fight... but she didn't. It was just the battle for her body and for life in this realm that she lost. Our friend Margaret pointed out that maybe she won the fight after all... the fight of living life with humor, love and good grace despite whatever circumstances were handed to her. I think Margaret's right.
Father God, thank You that she is safe with You and we don't have to doubt the truth of that.
Thank You that when we see You, we'll see her again, too.
Thank You that You hold her in the palm of your hand, right there in heaven, and that You also hold us in the palm of Your hand, right here on earth, which makes us only a breath away from her.
Thank You that we had her for so many, wonderful years.
Comfort us, Father, and all those who loved her.
Fill the void she leaves behind with Your presence.
Heal our broken hearts.
Give us the grace to accept the days ahead without her, living always in anticipation of seeing her again.
Keep her memory strong in our hearts.
Use us, each and every one, to comfort and uplift one another.
In Jesus' precious name, Amen.
for love of others... , prayers and praises | By Spiderlillies | 8:42 AM | Comments (1)
July 1, 2010
the continent of us...
I stepped off the elevator, and there he was... sitting in his wheelchair in the middle of the lobby, facing down the hallway, but lost in something inside himself that only he could see.
Continue reading "the continent of us... "
| By Spiderlillies | 1:41 PM | Comments (2)
April 1, 2010
God is not up in some distant place...
One of my GRITS (Girls Raised in the South - sisters of my heart and soul) asked for prayers for her child this morning, and after I prayed with her, she said a variation of something I've heard so many times from different people who asked for prayer. She said, "Thank you. I already feel peace praying that prayer and knowing my GRITS are praying it, too. I truly feel bad about asking for prayer about this with all that is going on in the lives of my GRITS. My heart breaks for Trey and Clinton and Janet, and Melicia's daddy, and Regina's unspoken, and Penny's and Gary's friend's daughter, Laura. I'm thankful that to God no request is too small but, I do know that these needs are so much greater than my request, and I won't stop praying in faith for God's will in them. I just believe with all that I am that He is good and will continue to reveal Himself to be good as He leads us all out of these valleys."
The part of what she said that jumps out me is that she feels bad about asking for prayer in light of what others are going through. I feel that way sometimes, too, and like she did, could give you a huge list of the things, including Haiti and little Sara in the Philippines, that I feel like must surely be more important to God than anything in my life. But you know... the devil would love to halt or limit our prayer life with thoughts like that, and he slips them in when we're most vulnerable.
The truth is... our God is big enough to hear all our prayers, and her baby girl's needs are not any less important to God than anyone else's. That little girl is unique and special and beautiful and wonderful and His, His, His... and her needs are absolutely as important to and for her, and therefore to Him, as the needs of anyone else.
God is not up in some distant place, thinking to Himself, okay, I have just enough prayer-answering power to answer the first four million prayers today and after that, I'm shutting down the prayer line.
The prayer line to God is not like my personal to-do list... where sometimes I put so many items on the list that I don't know where to start and don't get anything done, and so I try again and limit my list to just six things to do over the weekend, and maybe I'll get two items on the list completed.
God is God, and He's bigger than you and me. He can do anything and everything. We don't have to just pick the top six items on our list to pray for. We can put ALL our cares and burdens on Him and He will be faithful to carry them. He loves us so much, and He asks in return only that we love Him and delight in His will.
for love of others... , prayers and praises | By Spiderlillies | 1:18 PM | Comments (1)
December 4, 2009
So many prayers crowd my mind and flow outward...
Prayers of gratitude for my salvation... for the gift of eternal life... for a belief, sure and infallible, that no matter how things may look on this earth sometimes, He loves us and wants the best for us...
Continue reading "So many prayers crowd my mind and flow outward... "
One thought leads to another... , prayers and praises | By Spiderlillies | 1:17 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2009
This is how her day looks...
The light pole rose out of the sidewalk as if it had grown there, its only decoration a faded blue bus stop sign. A narrow strip of unkempt grass separated the sidewalk from the busy street on one side... and on the other, an uneven curb was all that separated the sidewalk from an embankment that rose steeply to tower above the light pole.
A young woman, perhaps in her mid-twenties, sat on the curb, arms resting on the knees of her blue jean clad legs, long dark hair spilling across her shoulders and down her back in stark contrast to the red shirt she wore. She was crying with huge, body-wracking sobs, oblivious to the curious looks of passers by, and my heart broke as I drove past her, locked into the current of the traffic streaming by.
It's not quite nine in the morning... and this is how her day looks.
Please, Father God, let it get better from here on out. Replace her heartbreak with hope... and her tears with joy... do what only You can do, O Mighty One...
In Jesus' sweet precious name, Amen...
Adventures in Everyday Life | By Spiderlillies | 1:30 PM | Comments (0)