MISS ELAINI OUS

As the air turns crisp, the summer sun starts going to bed earlier, and school buses cause me to make frequent stops I’m recounting summer dreams and enjoying their lingering loveliness.  One day, now turned story, particularly evokes giggles and smiles from me.  When my dear friend Rachel was in town we went to visit her agent and he treated us to the most delightful time.  He took us down the river in a small boat and expertly navigated the rapids and told us the best places to fish.  Wait fish?!  Yes, people I fished for what might as well have been the first time in my life since kids camp fishing in a pool really doesn’t count and that one time with my dad when I was eight was ages ago.  Now before you jump to conclusions I promise this isn’t your typical fish story.  I’ll even clasp my animated Greek hands together like a good little girl and refrain from showing you how big my fish were.  After learning to cast and reel in my line I got into a rhythm and just enjoyed the sunlight glittering like a million diamonds on the river as we floated on past the tangle of lush greenery dripping their arms down to scoop up the earth on the edge of the bank.  Oh the joy and excitement though that caught my face when I caught my first fish!  For the record he was decently sized but nothing to brag about…  Then later when I caught a tiny fish barely longer than the length of my finger I thought, “one and a half fish caught.”  When I accidentally reeled in a fish without knowing it due to its small span then I started to get concerned at the weirdness of my fishing attempts.  I lamented that in most fishing stories the fish ahem…grow whereas in my real life story the fish were getting considerably smaller.  Rachel’s agent made note that the only way I could get a smaller fish was if I caught a fish egg!  If you don’t believe the following recounting of events I do have witnesses to this fact.  Folks barely five minutes later I reeled in…a fish egg!!!  We laughed so hard we barely kept from rocking ourselves right out of the boat.  So that’s my fish story where the fish get impossibly small not large, but really I think that God just has a funny sense of humor when it comes to me.  I’m wondering what summer stories are you daydreaming about? 🙂  I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

P.S.  They gave me endless “grief” about my hat and being all dressed up to go fishing but I was specifically told to bring a big hat so I did! 😉

“Mom will you take a walk with me?”  I grabbed a paper bag and some shears and we crunched up the gravel road.  We were off to gather the wildflowers that had been tempting me for days.  Days spent in a place where the river is just a skip, hop, and jump away and where lizards do pushups on any random stone or stump that is in your line of vision.  While the mid afternoon sun hung heavy and warm I snipped the lovely buds and bright colors and gently tucked them away in my bag.  Once home I laid out my treasures and contemplated how to make magic with the bits and pieces I had.  I had a vision in my head of exactly what I wanted.  Braiding long stems of dried grass I began weaving in sweet peas, queen Ann’s lace, other lovely blooms I didn’t know the names of.  Under my fingers a bit of whimsy began to take shape.  A crown of gentle petals and green forest.  A pink bow was the final touch.  And then I pulled on some rubber rain boots and placed the wreath on my head and went outside to chase the fading gold light.  “Whatever are you wearing?” my parents amused faces asked.  I have to admit it was random with the cutoff shorts, silky crumpled shirt, hunter green rain boots and a crown of blossoms but it made me perfectly happy and giddy.  In that moment I felt like a little girl all excited and ready to explore, without a care in the world, all the wonder around me.  Isn’t real life made up of the tiny pieces and bits woven together?  Maybe if we would stop and gather the wild and take the time to see the splashes of color all around us, the sweet peas would turn into sweet moments and the queen Ann’s lace would lace up the broken.  I want my life to be wreathed in pleasure and worship at the One who creates true magic with the word of His mouth.  Everything around us is sustained by His spoken word.  If He were to stop speaking it then it would simply cease to be.  So I swish through tall spears of earth carpet and I climb over the underbrush to get cradled in a tree and the wreath gently hugging my head releases a beautiful fragrance as I breath deeply of life and He speaks.  He has always been speaking and He is speaking now.  Will I listen?  Will you listen?  Let’s be people crowned by joy.

(More pics here…)

Note:  I’ve gone back and forth whether or not to post this since it is very personal and also involves what another said but in the hopes that it will help or encourage one person…

We sat on the the bench side by side at my favorite park as the light turned all golden and we watched the turtles, imagining their conversation, and debated whether or not the duck was chubby or fluffy.  And then we talked.  It was a hard conversation anyways but then I saw it.  As if time stopped and I could see the words coming out of his mouth.  Unintentional daggers, like a movie slow motion shot, hung mid air ready to pierce me.  “She said I could find lots of girls WAY better than you.”  Even now I see the scene in my mind as an out of body experience.  For one split nano second I wanted to jump to my defense but that feeling was instantly replaced by the realization that what had been said was true to some extent.  He could find a girl way better than me.  There are so many women who are more talented, beautiful, smart, accomplished, hardworking, and Jesus loving than I am.  But also in that moment I graciously saw another picture come up in defense of the arrows aimed at me.  I saw a shield put up in front of me.  A shield ready to take all those arrows.  I saw Jesus.  And I knew that while there are women (and men) who are everything better than me or everything worse than me that it didn’t and it doesn’t matter.  My identity isn’t in those things (i.e. beauty, intelligence, talent, determination, or even how well I love Jesus).  My identity is set by the One who who whispers stars into dancing, dawns into song, and who spins planets like tops so well they never fall.  The One who did all that declares that I am perfect, holy, and righteous, not because of what I have done but because of what he has done.  When HE said, “It is finished!” it was.  My identity may have been put to the test by those words spoken on the park bench but it doesn’t set my identity.  I don’t have to listen to the lies spoken and the words that say I’m not good enough.  You see Jesus already declared that I’m not good enough (my sin) when he had to die on a cross to rescue me!  He has also spoken the most beautiful words over me and said, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isa. 43:1).  It doesn’t matter what anyone else says or thinks about me.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else says about you.  You are a beautiful child of Christ made in his image and declared perfect because of what Jesus did for us.  And if you haven’t put your faith in Christ alone as your Lord and Savior you can and he will declare the same precious words over you.  Let’s walk confident.  Let’s be the people Jesus has declared us to be.

(In Thursday’s post I’ll show you part two of the pics and more detail shots of the flower crown I made. 🙂 )

P.S. Post numbers… 3+4=7 😉

Edit: Soooo I totally got off on numbering my posts and this post wasn’t actually 347… 🙁

I’m not really an organized person.  I’m certainly NOT techy.  So I really appreciate people who are both organized AND technologically savvy.  Thankfully for my sanity and for the sake of this blog the web development company 80twenty web came to the rescue.  Again.  And again. AND AGAIN.  People if you remotely enjoy reading this site we can all collectively thank 80twenty web for keeping it up and running smoothly.  All the countless times I have freaked out…my friend, Jason, at 80twenty web has come to the rescue.  This company is prompt, friendly, and will take AH-MAZ-ING care of you.  No, really.  If you have a site and need help operating it and getting it to function at an optimal level then this is the team to go to.  Do yourself a favor and go check them out already.  They’ll fix things and let you know that they have assisted you before you even know what you need.  They are fabulous like that.  What are you waiting for?!  Go see how they can help you have a beautifully functional site! And Jason thank you for saving my blog from shutting down, nasty viruses, and more things than I can count.  I’m so grateful to have you run my site!

(This is not a sponsored post but something that I wanted to share with you all since this resource is just too good not to share!)  You can also check them out here on Facebook!

Pushing my fingers deep I grasped as many grains of sand as I possible could.  The salty and gritty bits poured through my fingers in funnels and rivers.  Raking the specks I move the countless grains back and forth.  I was suddenly arrested by the idea that all the numberless micro pieces of rock and sea life were in fact counted by my God.  He knows every.single.grain.  With the sand running through my hands, unable to be grasped, I realized that I can’t really fathom God either.  I can’t grasp the idea of who he is and what he has done.  I can push thoughts and ideas about him around in my mind but most of them just don’t stick.  Then I see that a few pieces of sand are still pressed into my finger tips and I know.  I know that God in his kindness allows us to see the important bits he wants us to see right now if we are willing to just look.  Because if we could grasp who God is fully our minds would be blown.  We literally couldn’t contain it.  And so he calls us to see the individual grains of sand, the pieces that he presses onto our hearts for us to enjoy.  I don’t know how many pieces of sand I touched yesterday, but I know I want to keep reaching out.

“To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.”  William Blake

P.S.  Oooo I totally clapped my hands when I saw it was a special numbered post day 3,4,5…I’m like a little kid when it comes to numbers….

Edit: Soooo I totally got off on numbering my posts and this post wasn’t actually 345… 🙁

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)

Hello!  It’s another installment of Tips&Tricks!  I love this tip because it has totally changed the way I pull together an outfit.  Basically it works like a charm.  Need proof that I’m addicted?  See here, here, and here. 🙂

Once again Jeni created a beautiful illustration!  I’d love to have Jeni’s cool and fashionable drawings hanging in my room.  Wouldn’t you?  Well you can! Here is my favorite part about this post:  You can buy a print (or a few if you really love your friends) and $20 dollars will go to the kiddos in India! So you can shop without feeling guilty.  Best.deal.EVER.  So shop away with the confidence that every purchase makes life a little brighter for an orphan.

UPDATE!!! $76,200.00  Would you please consider donating $5 dollars today to help orphans in India?  It makes a difference!  (To donate just click on the Give Now button on the right sidebar.)  Thank you!

(Art work by: Jeni Kubicek Art) Go check it out to see some more amazing art!

Risk.  That word that alternately terrifies me and gets my blood pumping with excitement.  Why am I so afraid to risk and to take that step?  Because I don’t want to get hurt?  Really what’s the worst that can happen?  Sure risk isn’t the game played on a board with dice anymore but we’ve turned it into another type of game.  We’ve turned it into a guessing game of “what ifs” in real life.  By definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary risk is just the “possibility of loss or injury”.  Really I’m scared of the possibility or chance of something happening?  That’s not very concrete.  Maybe I need to start flexing my risk muscle and get it in shape?  Who’s with me?

“No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life in a great cause.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

“You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.” – Earl Nightingale

“Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.” – Paul Tillich

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” – Maimonides

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)

When you read a book in one sitting that has to imply something.  For me it said it was just too captivating to put down.  More than that it was scary how accurate something written 50 years ago, looking into the future, can be.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury wasn’t what I was expecting.  I’m not sure what I was looking for but I’m glad I was taken by surprise and drawn into this novel.  Maybe it was the piercing imagery that left my brain full of stunning pictures or the horror of a society that burns books and sits glued in front of a television that has become their “family”.  It might possibly have been the sheer beauty of certainly worded passages and the suspense that left me prying my tired eyes open till 2 am.  Yet maybe what caught my attention are the questions posed that left me to ponder.  This is a book I need to buy for myself and reread.  You can be sure that it’s quite quotable.  It will make you stop and think and that’s something that in our society is a precious commodity.  We do everything we can to avoid this and yet maybe that’s just what we need to do is stop and consider why we’re doing what we are doing.  It’s time to read voraciously folks.  So what’s on your book list?  Might I suggest you start with Fahrenheit 451?

It’s been happening more frequently of late.  Those moments where my brain is all foggy and jumbled.  Where I’m saying fuzzy instead of fizzy because that’s just how my thoughts feel.  Or where I mix up the sentence all together.  It was a hard but good week last week.  One where I clearly saw my own sin.  One of those moments where I just broke down because it all seemed like chaos.  And so on Sunday I was excited to take the Eucharist.  To stop and be grateful for that is the essence of the word.  So I walked up and dipped my piece of bread in the juice and walked back to my seat.  But as I was trying to still my heart and listen and be thankful I looked over to see that my sweet mum had purple red liquid all over her hands.  Drops splattering on her white skirt.  While I attempted to help I proceeded to drip my own morsel of juice laden bread all down the white hem of my outfit.  The moment of giving thanks was disrupted as I watched the stain sink deep into the fibers.  “Jesus please help me to focus” I prayed in desperation.  And it was right there that my heart smiled.  For I was reminded truly what this was all about.  It was about Jesus’ blood shed, splattered, dripping, and running free for me.  The crucifixion was messy because he knew my life would be messy.  He was willing to take that on.  To take on my mess and so while he didn’t have to, he stayed.  He stayed.  And he keeps on staying and comes into my chaos to make things right.  Fabric fibers dyed deep and reminding me that he died so that truth can sink deep into the fibers of my very being.  That he is always with me.  He stays even in my foggy brain state.  He stays and gives me strength in my weakness.  He stays because he loves me.  And my sin is washed away.  Whiter than any snow white piece of clothing  I will give thanks.  Maybe the “distraction” is just the moment where we really see?

Such a cute video! And the last line is something I need to be reminded of ALL THE TIME….

This was so beautiful that I cried at the end.

Did this but now I want to pull it back a bit and try this.

To take or not take selfies?  Follow these tips if you do!

WOW.  This is amazing and stunning.  I prefer the ones crafted by the Osmia avosetta.

Want to be awed?  Click through this.

And because happiness can be increased by 25% through being grateful each day here are three things I’m thankful for:

Encouraging and sweet texts from a friend.
Stickers on Facebook
The man on the street who said “Free high-fives!” (I took one, made me smile like a three year old)

What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!