Strange weather here in the Midwest. Not quite spring, not quite winter. Kinda in-between. We’ll call it sprinter. I’m not complaining. Cold, warm. It’s all good as long as it’s sunny.

What about those unexpected life seasons that aren’t so warm and welcoming? When we find ourselves in-between burdens and blessings?

Valentine week was busy at Hollingworth Candies. Waiting at the end of the cooling machine to catch English Toffees, reminded me of what Forrest Gump’s momma always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. Ya never know what you’re gonna get.”

Yes, life surprises us, doesn’t it? Last year started out rough. My sister was hospitalized when her white cell count crashed after her first round of chemo. My mom, in her assisted-living apartment, waited and wondered why I wasn’t there. Though my visit was written on her calendar, she was confused and worried. Then our grandson, Alexander, arrived with only three weeks to prepare our minds and our almost-empty nest. I’m losing my breath just remembering that season.

Perhaps you can relate. Maybe this year or this day started out rough for you.

We live with burdens and blessings. They create tension, a tug-of-war of opposing forces. It’s a mental spiritual battle. It’s there simply because we are alive. It’s part of the human experience. Will we choose to despair or to live above our struggle? Will we choose death or life?

That’s where faith has to be stronger than our feelings. Our emotions are fickle. They change at the whim of a thought, a comment, a hormone. In the midst of emotional strain, we often want to quit. Especially if we listen to the wrong voice.

In Job 2:9-10b, Job’s wife asks him, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!” Wow. Now that could mess up a guy’s day. But, not Job’s. He chose life. “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”

Job took the jab and gave it right back. After all his losses, his future was iffy. He trusted God and that was enough.  Author and speaker, Nicki  Koziarz says, “It’s okay not to be okay … for a while.”  Then we get up.

At the beginning~and for much of 2016~I was a mess. Still have my moments. But, I fight even when I don’t feel like it because I won’t be robbed of who God created me to be, whole and free. My friend, we’re made for more than survival. With faith, we not only endure tough times, we grow and thrive all the way through them.

My sister inspires me. Watching her fight death and sickness in her year of aggressive chemo and radiation, gives me courage. She’s now healing and living to the fullest.

Though my mom’s limitations are hard to accept, I’m learning to make her smile even if she doesn’t always remember. She teaches me to slow down and appreciate my moments, my health, my brain cells. It breaks my heart to walk out of her room and drive away from the nursing home. God reminds me we’re doing what’s best for her and that He’ll never leave her.

Then there’s my smiley, mischievous one-year-old, Alexander. He teaches me to adjust to life’s little surprises. Though difficult and not in our plan, unexpected seasons can be full of joy, and giggles, and lots of cheerios.

I agree with Forrest’s momma. “Life is like a box of chocolates.” We don’t know what we’re gonna get. With God, we choose faith and move forward. He gives peace and patience, wisdom and rational thought. When we accept burdens along with the blessings, we win abundant life.

It’s our choice. Hard times can eat us up or grow us up.

Grace and giggles for your journey, my friend ❤✌🙏

I tried not to laugh. I really did.

It was almost midnight and my husband was sleeping five feet from the bathroom door. It was Memorial weekend and he was on day-two of storm duty, with already thirty-one hours of over-time. He could be called back at any moment so I didn’t want to wake him.

I was exhausted too. Physically, because it was nearing midnight. Emotionally, because we were depressed after our recent move from Texas. Humor was in short supply. We’d let too much seriousness sneak into our days.

After tip-toeing past Jeff and into the bathroom, I squeezed paste onto my tooth brush. About five seconds in, something was fishy. I mean, it smelled fishy.  Tom’s of Maine tooth paste has a weird taste and odor but this was different.  After sniffing it, I shrugged and continued brushing … until I looked in the mirror.

The white stuff was a little too creamy and a tad too white. A quick glance into my toiletry basket revealed a long forgotten tube of Preparation H sitting on top of my Tom’s of Maine.

I thought, How stupid, Robin. Then, looking back up at the ointment oozing out between my teeth, I wondered, Will my gums shrink and make my teeth fall out?

Now that was funny.

Trying to stifle my giggles, I rinsed and re-brushed. Slipping into bed, I still tried to hold in the humor but it made the bed shake. Then I snorted and Jeff woke up.

“What’s so funny?”

I didn’t have breath to explain. Then he laughed because I was laughing and when I finally got the story out, we  held our bellies. Good, cleansing laughs with the works. Snot and tears and trying calming down and sleep …  until one of us giggled again.

When was the last time you enjoyed a good belly laugh?

Are you so burdened, even by everyday irritants, that you miss the blessing of humor? We don’t have to look far to see we’re created for it. It’s wired into us for a reason.

Proverbs 17:22 tells us, “A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.”

When did we start taking life so serious? Perhaps we need to look back and seek healing. Maybe we just need to relax. If we’re not careful, a somber spirit becomes a habit.  And it’s hard on ourselves and others.

Today, let’s begin to change our mind and habits. Let’s not get bogged down in difficulties and busy-ness and forget to see life’s funny side. Because even the weirdest stuff can be downright comical.

Let’s learn again how to play a little and laugh a lot. And we definitely have to learn to laugh at ourselves. This good medicine for the mind, body, and spirit will improve our moods and our relationships.

I pray peace and laughter for your journey. 😂☮💗

 

 

Photo from www.pixabay.com

 

 

 

 

Clutter. I hate it. Dust and dirty floors don’t bother me but the stuff that piles up jumps right on my last nerve. To overcome it, I tidy up and light a fire under my family to do the same. Not always easy, but manageable.

What about life in general? Although we may prefer it uncluttered, is there danger in thinking it’s supposed to be trouble-free?

I grew up with someone who expected life to be perfect. Nothing dusty or scary. He longed for a perfect home and a “normal” family. He compared his life to an illusion, to others whose lives appeared problem-free and uncomplicated.

When things didn’t go as envisioned, he forgot his blessings and was overwhelmed by his burdens. He sank into a martyr mindset. Without realizing it, he became a willing victim. It seemed everyone was against him. Even Mother Nature thumbed her nose at him when weather didn’t cooperate with his plans. He was a wounded sufferer and it blinded him not only to his need for help and wholeness but to the hope that it was possible.

I believe most of us have an underlying sense of fairness and justice. That’s good. God put it there for a reason. But, it gets gnarly when we think how life should be or would be, if only. If only they’d listen. If only that didn’t happened. We can “if only” and “what if” ourselves to death, spiritual death. We aren’t entitled to an easy, uncluttered existence. That, my friend, is a fantasy.

In her devotional, “Jesus Calling,” Sarah Young encourages us to “relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered life.” To surrender our version of how it should go. In the book of John, Jesus spends a lot of time warning His disciples of the dangers they’d encounter. In 16:33, he says, “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But, take heart! [Be courageous!] I have overcome the world.”

Aren’t you glad our mental clutter doesn’t have to rob us of peace and abundant life? It’s not always easy, but it’s doable. God says so. Romans 12:2 tells us we can be transformed by changing our thoughts.

Perhaps the closed-in feeling I get around clutter is connected to my claustrophobia. Which reminds me that our minds really are fierce battlefields. I fight irrational messages by thinking: The elevator won’t get stuck, the elevator won’t get stuck, the door will open, just breathe. In a pitch-black underground cavern, I’m reminded the guide who shut the door behind him is not an axe murderer. He will eventually lead me back out to daylight.

When the way is dark, Jesus has our backs. Speaking truth and peace. You will get through this and you’ll be stronger on the other side.

This new year, I’m determined to keep fighting irrational fears, including my own sneaky, martyr mindset by staying connected to God. I do that by reading Scripture and talking to Him every day. Sometimes, every minute of every day. Out loud. Hey, “normal” is boring.

My friends, when we stop looking for flawless in a fallen world, our battle scars remind us we’re not wounded, we’re healed. We aren’t victims, we’re not martyrs, we’re victors ~ moving forward by God’s grace. We’re still standing in spite of the clutter.

I pray peace and rational thought for your journey, my friends:)

 

Photo from Pixabay.com

On especially tense days in my teen years, I ran a wooded path to my favorite spot on the Mississippi backwaters. Sitting on a fallen tree near the riverbank ~ toes dug into sandy soil and damp leaves ~ I filled notebooks. Yet, even my darkest writings mention a light. I didn’t know what it was and it was always dim, always distant. Something good, just beyond my reach.

Recently, in “Beauty From Ashes” I shared my  story about the Christmas  food box left on my porch and how it re-lit that glimmer of hope. It inched me toward believing maybe God wasn’t distant. A year later, an unexpected grant paid the $10,000 hospital bill from our son’s cesarean birth. I see the Light again, seeking my attention.

When we look back, perhaps to five minutes ago, we see God show up. In the sunrise and sunset. In the birth, smile, and coo of a baby. In a kind word spoken outside a hospital room.  It’s those serendipitous moments that tell us He’s here. He wants to slow our pace, soothe our pain, forgive our sin. The Light leads us to turn away from whatever robs us of our divine design.

Pastor Brian Wangler, says, “Where you are, you are. But you don’t have to stay there. The Light can lead anyone, from any place, to repentance.” We don’t deny our struggle with bad decisions or difficult life situations. We are where we are. But, we can change direction and move forward, rescued from a cycle of sin or discouragement.

We don’t have to stay sad or stressed or stuck in bad attitudes.

When astronomers—the Magi—saw the eastern star, they researched and found Isaiah’s words written seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth. He prophesied to God’s people who let a dark culture invade their hearts and minds. “Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever … The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.”

Later at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Matthew records “‘…the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.’” God’s ancient promise, fulfilled.

I’m long past my teens when  that ray of hope kept me in the fight.  It wooed me for twelve more years until I saw no other way to peace. Though my life isn’t without pain, I now know the Light that always shows up. Then as a glimmer, now as my Bright Light. Jesus is my steady hope and abiding peace. Not only within reach, but dwelling with me.

The light of Christ changes everything.  I chose to walk with Him twenty-seven years ago and he still rescues me from my dark side. From stress, depression, and bad attitudes … when I let Him.

The promise still holds. When “death casts its shadow,” a Light shines for us.

Can you see it? It shows us The Way of hope and peace and a right relationship with God. It calls us to freedom.