or younger

by a few

middle-aged they say

now what to do

celebrating another year

forty plus two

blessed as i can be

blessed by who

thanking God for life

thanking God for you

Thinking it all through. Prayerfully.

And then an original aphorism came to mind.

Ever forget patience is a virtue? Only to be reminded why.

Oh, that's good. Concise. True. Noteworthy.

Tweetworthy!

Almost to work. Can't write while driving. Won't tweet while driving. But I don't want to forget. So I role it around my brain a few more times until I'm parked safely.

Grab my iPhone.

Slide the screen.

Tap Twitter.

Get nothing.

Dead.

Stalled.

What?! You're Twitter. Not Facebook! You're supposed to be fast.

Why so slow?! Stupid thing! I wanna tweet this great, original quote about patience & you choose NOW to be slower than molasses in January?!

AGH! Let. Me. Write. My. Quote. About. PATIENCE!!!!!

Ohhhhhh.

Impatient... me. About... patience.

Forgetting: Patience is a virtue.

And reminding myself why.

The end of the matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

Note: I used the cute, blue bird above due to his peronality. He is Ollie, the Twitterific bird. Twitterrific is a really great app for Apple devices that makes Twitter extra terriffic. 

We have plenty of snow. Record one-day total.

It's 15 degrees outside. Fahrenheit.

20-plus mile per hour winds. Mercilessly from the north.

The wind chill is below zero. Ouch.

Yet. Here is my five year old son. Swimsuit & goggles on. Looking at the snow. Ready to jump in the pool. Indoors.

We're not members of the Nebraska Preschool Polar Bear Club. That's crazy.

We're are members of a climate controlled health club.  That's nice.

And as members we enjoy access to all the club has to offer. Including an indoor pool. So what are a Daddy & a rambunctious boy to do on a sub-freezing day to burn some energy? Swimming!

We had a great time. In spite of the weather.

Like you can. As a Christ Follower. Abiding in Christ.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

Leave a comment about your shelter in Jesus. And especially if you just Googled Nebraska Pre-School Polar Bear Club.

What is it about love?

You think you can't love a person any more.

And then you do.

They do something.

They say something.

A good something.

Even a heartbreaking something.

And then you love them more.

Or maybe.

You think something.

You feel something.

Something only within you.

And then you love them more.

What is it about love?

I have a guess.

Love knows no limits.

Your words can hurt you too.

I’ll never forget it.  I was a newly minted teenager.  Full of myself.  Angry at my little sister.  I’d done something hurtful to her in my anger.  She told Mom.  I got in trouble.  Then, in the self-serving righteous indignation that my sister was really wrong & I was really right, I got even angrier.  In my anger, I recall making a conscious choice.  A choice I’d never made before but knew I’d act on now to express the depth of the mistreatment I felt I was suffering.  I cursed.  To my mother.

I don’t remember much that happened after that.  Mom’s eyes on fire.  Her hands like lightning.  Jerked up her jerk son.  Yanked my mouth opened.  And filled it with a pump squirt of LOC.  Soap.

Amway’s LOC (Liquid Organic Cleaner) was kept under our kitchen sink since it had many household uses.  “Multi-Purpose Cleaner” the label says.  “Washing out teen boy potty mouth,” was just one of the many uses my Mom had now discovered.

I learned a lesson that day.  Not the apparent, “Don’t be dumb enough to curse in front of your God-fearing Mama.”  I had calculated the use of that curse word to hurt others, but that word ended up hurting me.  That was the real lesson.

Your words can hurt others.

Your words can hurt you too.

There is enough hurt in the world, don’t you agree?  Why don’t we make a decision - actually many, daily decisions - to use our words to help instead of hurt?  Blessing instead of cursing?  Praying instead of complaining?

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what help, each word is a gift. Ephesians 4:29 (MSG)

PRN

Initials?  Someone's, I am sure.

Acronym?  Yes.

What does it mean, then?

Does it mean, "Pretty Registered Nurse"?  No.  I have one at my house. But, no, that is not what it means.

How about, "Purple Registered Nurse"?  Some wear purple scrubs you know.  Nice try, but it has nothing to do with Registered Nurses no matter the "P" that come first.

PRN is an acronym for the Latin phrase "Pro re nata."

It literally means "in the circumstances" & is commonly translated "as needed."  Medical professionals - like the pretty Registered Nurse I am married to - use it most often for medications to be taken or applied as needed.

It's nice to have the meds you need available PRN, but I wonder, how many of us only relate to God PRN?

You experience him.

He's the silly one.  On the left.

My son.  Almost five.

Wants a daily wrestle with Dad.

Hugs his siblings hard enough to make 'em beg.

Too raucous for his Mama sometimes.  I get the earful.

The boy is rough as a corncob.

Guaranteed 100% cob action.

He plays hard.

But.

He loves hard too.

The tenderest lionheart you'd ever meet.

And in those moments he says things that make you love him even more.

Said to his Mama recently, "Sometimes I love you too much, Mama. God loves me even more than that. Right?"

"Yes, God loves you even more than that," she replied.

I love my boy.  My love can't compare however.

God loves me - and you - more.

I pray you know that love & feel it right now.  If not, drop me a note.  Let me pray for you.  Let me tell you how. God loves you.

More than too much.

Our toaster - I don't know about yours - has an interesting feature.

When it's not plugged in & you put in a slice of bread & push down the handle, it flops the bread right back atcha.

Unplugged, our toaster is all flop & no pop.

It won't toast without the power.

It won't even keep slices down.

Are you living with all flop & no pop?

What's your power supply?

Jesus declared, "All authority has been given to me," in Matthew 28:18.  Authority is the power to act.  He's got all of it.  He'll use it for you.  If you seek him.

Are you plugged in to Jesus?

• If you do not have a personal, saving relationship with Jesus, then click here to learn more.

• If you do know Jesus as Savior, then ask yourself if you are plugged into & relying on him.

And, leave a comment below, did you go try the flop/pop thing out on your toaster?  I wanna know.

Christmas decorations have all but disappeared from my home.  Just our plain old house with the regular 365 day a year furnishings.  None of the decorations of a glorious month of celebration remain.  Packed once more into plastic totes in the garage.  Awaiting their return to the attic.  Until next December.

No garland.  Lighted & strung with ribbons of red & gold.  No Nativities.  Reminding us always of God's love through Jesus.  No tree.  Live Frasier Fir covered with heirlooms & history, whimsy & joy.

It makes these January days seem colder still.  Emptier. Less colorful.  Even Scroogey. 

The decor of Christmas - beautiful reminders of wonder - is gone 'til next year.

But there is one place you can go in my home & still know Christmas.  Not where you might expect.  Out of the way.  And just for a while.

The storage closet.  At the bottom of the basement stairs.  It smells like Christmas.

Our vacuum resides there.  It's bag filled with fallen fir needles.  Aromatic indeed.  A reminder of Christmas.

What about you?

As you launch into a new year - full of dreams & hopes, promises & resolutions - is your life a reminder of Christmas?

Year-round - not just one shinning month - does the world see the Savior in you?  Do they hear his grace in your speech?  Do they see his forgiveness in your eyes?  Do they receive his gifts from your hands?  Do they receive his life through yours?

Does your life smell like Christmas?

No one on earth deserves the praises that we sing

Jesus, may you receive the honor that you are due

O Lord, I bring an offering to you

- Christmas Offering, Paul Baloche -

Offerings are worship.

Humility handed over.

We give what is worthy to the One who is worthy.

Considering the first Christmas and it’s participants, each had a different part.  Each had a different gift to offer.  Each, however, gave more than just some thing.  Each gave themselves.  Each laid their pride at the Child Messiah’s feet as well.

The shepherds gave the offering of their witness.  Shepherds were cultural outcasts.  Ancient nobodies.  Near the bottom of the social ladder.  And stuck out in the fields with the smelly sheep.  Their story is in Luke 2:8-20.  While keeping watch over their flocks they were terrified by an angel of the Lord who appeared with God’s radiant glory to announce the birth of the child Messiah.  A heavenly host chorus - hundreds or thousands of angels - followed, singing, “Glory to God in the highest.”  And these shepherds, overwhelmed as they were, hurried off to see baby Jesus.  What raises my questions is how they lowered their pride.  These guys who so much could have used a credibility lift, went out - at risk of sounding crazy & further damaging their reputation - and spread the news of the Messiah to anyone & everyone who would listen “and all who heard it were amazed.”  They risked the little they had to tell everyone about Jesus.    They gave the offering of their witness, an act of worship, laying down their pride.

Do I believe God worthy enough to tell everyone His message of love?  All the people I know?  All the folks I meet?  To offer my witness of Christ?  Trusting God with my reputation and the judgments of others upon me?

The Wise Men gave the offering of their work.  The magi or kings as they have been known, were astronomers from a far off place.  Matthew 2:1-12 tells their story.  The Bible doesn’t tell what their jobs were.  Were they professional astronomers?  Ancient college professors or professional sages of a sort?  Maybe they were independently wealthy and already had the means to make such a trip?  No matter their funding, the fact remains that they took a trip that may have lasted years to meet someone they didn’t know to give physical gifts worthy of a king.  They risked their lives along the way - ancient travel was dangerous without TSA or cell phones or dependable law enforcement - and in arriving they risked even more due to local King Herod’s murderous ways.  They risked everything for their work of finding the child king.  And, they sacrificed their ability to work & make income to provide for their own family needs.  Plus, they spent the income of their previous work to make the trip.  They gave the offering of their work, an act of worship, laying down their pride.

Do I believe God worthy enough to give my work life & my life’s work fully to Him?  Every minute?  Every project?  Every dream?  To offer my work to Jesus?  Trusting that all I do and all it earns will be enough to provide for my family and all God intends? 

Mary gave the offering of her whole being.  As a teenager betrothed - like engagement but more binding - to be married to an older carpenter named Joseph, she was surprised by an angel to learn of her pregnancy.  Luke 1:26 and following tells her story.  “How can this be since I am a virgin?,” she asked.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” told the angel.  Not by an act of flesh, but by the power of God she was a mother.  Mother to God in flesh.  Emmanuel.  God with us.  And, Mary answered in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”  She was willing to give everything.  Her physical body to carry, bare, and care for this child.  And if child bearing was not hard enough, and the nine months pregnant donkey travel and manger delivery didn’t make it harder, she would have this child in a cloud of suspicion due to the immaculate conception.  She gave her reputation.  She gave her community standing.  She believed God.  And so she gave her whole self as an offering, an act of worship, regardless of her pride.

Do I believe God worthy enough to give him my everything?  My life?  My control?  To offer my whole being?  Trusting the entirety of myself and my future completely to Him?

We don’t live in the Ancient Near East.  No donkey trips for census.  No camel journeys following stars for us.  But we sure have pride.  Selfish pride.  Posturing, self-righteous pride.  And we have communities of people who watch us.  And judge us.  Even today.  And we do allow our perception of their judgment, our concern for reputation among others, and that foolish pride of ours to hinder our obedience to our God and Father.  Our offerings become subject to self-righteous scrutiny.  Humility is hamstrung by pride.

Each of us must consider.

My witness.  My work.  My whole life. 

Do I trust God enough?

Do I love God enough?

Do I worship God enough?

To give Him the offering He desires.

The offering He is worthy of.

Even if it means laying down my pride.