Early in our marriage, my Chris took me to a very nice restaurant called Oxford Street. I was not yet the coffee drinker that I am today. Hot tea was my drink of choice. We arrived at our table and I asked my Chris to order some hot tea for me, while I stopped into the restroom. I came back and saw my tea had arrived, steaming and hot, just the way I like it. The dark, brown cup reminded me of some bowls in which my grandmother had used to serve French onion soup. The restaurant was dark and …
The Whole Crayon
Every spring we load our kids and dog into Clifford the Big Red Suburban and we drive up to Estes Park and into Rocky Mountain National Park. As we drive, I look for signs of new growth, the green shoots of spring give my heart such hope after the coldness of winter. I look for “critters”–elk, coyotes, moose, chipmunks and marmosets. Above all, I let my spirit find rest in the beauty of God’s magnificent creation! At the supper-side of our journey, we always stop in downtown Estes Park at Bob and Tony’s Pizza. We order our pizza and the kids play Pac Man, Pinball or …
A Fresh Breath on My Tablet
It’s a new year and for me that often means digging into scriptures in a hungry way–for direction, strength and courage to do all that is before me. Sometimes when I open the Word of God, I find that my mind wraps itself around something that it wants more of. So I grab a pen and paper, my handy Strong’s Concordance, Bible and Vine’s Expository Dictionary. Then I begin to search deeper into the meanings of the words. Of course, my knowledge of Hebrew and Greek is nil to nothing. But I know that as I read His Word …
Of Smelly Stables and Messy Lives
Soon after 9-11, I found my heart so full of poetry, it had to get out. So I have pages and pages of it. It was just a season and a time in which I found an outlet and joy in writing poetry. The interesting part is that I haven’t experienced that kind of imparted gift since then. I hope to see it come back around. But in case it never does, I am thankful for the clarity of expression I experienced during this season of poetry. Below I wrote this, as an expression of how we fill our lives …
‘Twas the Tuesday before Thanksgiving
…and all through the house, all the creatures went shopping, except for this mouse. So I sat and I listened to sounds of quiet cheer, and thanked God again for joy soon here. I’m supposed to be cleaning, but before I begin–I wanted to write this thankful note for both kith and kin. Those near and those far, I never forget–each face, through my memory, some I have never met. I stop for a moment and bend my knee, giving thanks for they’ve given so abundantly to me. A smile, a kind word or prayer and a gift–letting the dross …
A Letter to M.O.M.s About Halloween
Dearest M.O.M.S and World Changers, Let me be frank. Jesus was born into our messy world, as it was. He entered into our story. He gave us an opportunity for a new heart–forgiveness of sins by His complete work on the cross, shedding His blood once and for all, for ALL. And His work began from the inside of us and overflows to the outside. I believe we may have gotten this wrong, as believers. We look at the messy, sinful world and we try to begin on the outside–behaviors and appearance– to the inside, hoping that if we make …
Faulty Mirrors
What if I were to tell you that there is an upgrade for your mirror–one that fully reflects the truth of who you are, why you are here and what your purpose is. Would you buy it? But, you may argue, my mirror is fine. There are no flaws. It perfectly reflects me. It’s the lighting. I need better lighting. It’s not the lighting. Your mirror is flawed. So is mine. I’m not talking about the trick mirrors either that distort your figure. I’m talking about the mirror you look into every single day. It is flawed. It only tells …
Arriving at God’s Best Destination in Motherhood
Recently my phone had an unfortunate update–I lost my very favorite GPS app and was left with a replacement choice of an app that I could pay for or a free and very unreliable maps app. The free app takes me twice as long to use my GPS now than my old reliable one. Several times over the past two months, my family and I have ended up in the wrong place! An unreliable map app is useless, as a compass. It can guide or it can misguide–but who is to say when it will end in success? How frustrating …
What is a Man? by CHRIS SMITH
Thursday night the doorbell rang. There was a man with a two and a half foot long sword standing on my front porch. Not to worry. He was coming to our weekly Raising a Modern-Day Knight meeting. This is a book and study that the men from our church small group are in the middle of right now. Raising a Modern-Day Knight by Robert Lewis is about raising our sons with a sense of what it means to be a man. It is an excellent program and you can check it out at www.RMDK.com. A Father is a man, but …
How to Alt-Ctrl-Delete Your Life
At times in our lives, we reach a point where we simply need a restart to get everything smoothly working again. For me that comes in time with the LORD. Sometimes that time becomes to us another thing on the long, laundry list we fill and are overwhelmed by each day. But it doesn’t have to be so hard. It is a time apart with our dearest friend, Jesus, who gets us when we are distracted or worn thin as a sheet. So we come to Him and find rest, joy and blessing. Right now, these are my quiet time …