Category Archives: Spirituality

6 Things I’m grateful for – One at a Time – Number 4

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Today I am thankful that there is balance in the universe.  Call it what you like, yin/yang, chi, ebb/flow, what goes around comes around.  Our brilliant Creator put order and balance in play with His first command to take that which was formless and give it form.  With each act of creation He provided opposites to balance each other out.  He gave us light and separated it from the darkness; land was divided by water, creatures of the water and the land, male and female – even good and evil.

Each end of the scale has its place and purpose.  In life we have seasons of serving and seasons of being served.  When those seasons get too out of balance one can find themselves either exhausted from pouring out and not being poured into, or they could be found wallowing in being needy.  There will always be those among us in need, but even the least of these has the ability to do something for others.  Time is free.gravity

Yes, I believe what goes around, comes around; what you sow you will reap. However, it is not our role to be continually looking around the corner to reap quickly.  Sometimes it takes a while to arrive on the other side of sowing.  Just as you can’t rush the oceans movement from high tide to low tide, you can’t rush the laws of natural balance.  The journey between the two is what forms our character.  All we can be responsible for is our role, attitude or place in the great balance of life we live in.

All the best,

KK

I Caved…

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So you know I feel strongly about giving Thanksgiving its due honor.  I do.  Our lives can get so cluttered that we don’t slow down often enough to give thanks.  In protecting this 24-hour vigil of gratefulness, typically I don’t listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.  Let’s face it, Christmas music the day after Halloween is a plot by retailers to get us shopping early and often (just ask Lucy from the Peanuts).

Well, this year I caved.  The second week of November I was flipping radio stations and there was one of my favorites was playing, “What Child is This?” – such a wonderful melodic song describing the gentleness of our Savior.  I was drawn in and then I was hooked.   So many of the Christmas songs are as praiseful as many of the worship songs we sing in Church.

Sunday in church we had a guest worship leader, Michael O’Brien, an outstanding pianist and man of God.  The pre-Thanksgiving michael oChristmas music listening slope steepened when I found out that his Christ-mas CD was available.  UUUGGGHHH.  Let’s face it, I didn’t have a chance, there was no going back.  The CD is great, and full of Christ-centered music that celebrates His arrival.  Check out all of Michael’s music at www.michaelo.org (free shipping).

True confessions, my iphone, ipod and ipad are now fully loaded with Christmas music.  You will find me in traffic (when alone in my car) singing at the top of my lungs as if I’m right there with the likes of Margaret Cloud while she sings one of my other favorites, “Oh Holy Night” or with Whitney Houston singing “Little Drummer Boy.”  Ok, full confession is that when I’m alone cleaning (or cooking) it’s the whole singing and dancing thing.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, be grateful for the joy that music brings and the transformational message of Christmas.

All the best,

KK

P.S. — The Christmas movies stay in the box until the 29th!  I think.  I’m going to try…

Consider the Weather…

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Outside my window right now is a thunderstorm.  It’s one of those that come from a cold front and warm front colliding and the laws of nature duel.   The thunder rumbles through your soul.  Searching the sky for the next strike of lightning can be unnerving – no way to predict.

Weather can be planned for, but no man can control it.  How refreshing to experience something that we don’t have to control or schedule.  Even planning for what a meteorologist predicts is rarely completely accurate.  They do their best, but weather isn’t something God calls profits to.  How wonderful it is it to experiencing something completely surrendered to God’s hand as weather?

After the storm passes, many times the morning brings a calm spirit among nature and clean air settles in.  Whatever damage has been left behind, may cause grief and pain, but also provides the opportunity for a fresh start.

duck 2Consider our friends Canadian Geese – I love the fact that the population has invaded their waterways and land and they just go about their business.  They take full advantage of our gardens to bed down a nest, puddles and drainage ditches full from rain or even traffic doesn’t bother their daily routine.  Love it!  They have no sense of time what they need to do to fulfill their needs of the day.

To have such focus on the important things.

Think about it,
KK

Unplugged Action…

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You would hate to think that what I’m about to share is unusual; but in this day it is.  The Saint James Art Show is a great place to people watch or at least notice a variety of people types.  Unlike walking down the streets of the city or through the mall, I noticed a st. james courtphenomenon that swept the show.  No one was distracted from the art checking their phones…

Show attenders were enjoying a sunny eighty degree October day by taking in the sites of the art show.  It was wonderful.  No one almost ran into me while checking a text.  There were no crazy ring tones binging and singing.  There was a buzz of conversation and a periodic squeal of friends uniting among crowded isles.

Art viewers were completely in the moment and engaged; how refreshing.  People’s faces were alive and curiously looking at the art mediums.

Sometimes it’s wonderful to just unplug – disconnect.  As long as a cell phone, ipad or computer is on or at hand, we are ON – distracted.

Find the opportunity to unplug for a while.  At first you may feel like you are walking around naked, but I promise before long the peace that transcends understanding will encompass your soul.

Do you dare unplug?  Go ahead put the technology down and walk away and experience something new.

KK

Patience or Permission

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hand of god

Don’t mistake God’s patience for permission.

I don’t know who said this, but it made me think.  Where does it take you?

All the best,

KK

 

Gardening in the spiritual sense

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Many times on Sunday afternoon after church and our family lunch, Jay will retire to a nap, Cole to the couch for relaxing with some TV and I head for the yard.  Some might call what I do, “yard work”, but for someone like me who works in a professional setting, climate controlled office 40+ hours a week, it’s much, much more than that; even though I end up hot, sweaty and very dirty.

I like plants and flowers and have garden areas in the front and back of our home.  It’s still absolutely amazing to me to plant a seed or small flower and watch it grow.  Isn’t that amazing?  Most of the time while pulling weeds or trimming I think about the sermon from that morning, our Creator and this earth He gave us that we so readily consume without a second thought.  Sometimes I think about all my questions for God, like “are weeds that bloom really weeds or just misplaced flowers?”  Today, I planted mums (.88 cents at Home Depot) and my trees from the Arbor Foundation (www.arborday.org).   Today I thought about the legacy of gardening I’ve inherited.  Family legend has it that my MaMaw Bray could poke a hole in the ground with her finger, put a stick in it and grow a tree.  My mother is a gardener and gave me something close to a stick with roots last spring assuring me if I put it in the ground I will have a Butterfly bush.  I did what I was told and sure enough there grew a Butterfly bush that was very busy this afternoon.

Being outside trimming and cleaning up the garden reminds me of how we should constantly be aware of how God nips and prunes us to become the beautiful person He sees when He looks at us.  At the end of my time outside I usually turn on the hose and give all the flowers a drink, hose down the sidewalk and my feet.  What a wonderful site and fresh smell; completely natural.

Ok, so to top it off, I like to mow also.  In fact, I’m a little sad that my son is getting old enough and motivated (by the pay) to want to mow.  It’s like getting a haircut.  You start out a little unkempt and in an hour you have a clean, well-manicured look and feel.  The same holds true for your lawn.  Within a short time (and even when you don’t edge) you have a tidy looking yard.  To make mowing really appealing in today’s vernacular; it’s pretty much instant gratification.  There, I said it.

Coming in from the garden I am sticky, dirty, and if I’ve worn a cap it’s pretty much sweat-plastered to my head until I’m safely in the bathroom where no one can see the mess of my hair.  I always feel my cleanest after a post-gardening shower.  From a dirty mess to clean and fresh, huh, pretty much the point the pastor was trying to make.

Think about it,

KK

Think about it…

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Recently I noticed my indoor plants were dying.  Some of these plants I have had for years.  What was going on?  Immediately checking their soil, they were dry as a bone.  How could I have forgotten to water them?  Then it occurred to me.  I have spent the spring and summer focusing on our landscaping on the outside, I forgot to pay attention to the beautiful greenery that I had growing on the inside of our home.  I had passed these plants every day, dusted around them every week (or so) and yet, their needs for nurture had been neglected.  It took less than 10 minutes to water and feed all of my plants and within a couple of days they were looking better.

House plants create warmth and show life in a home.  They are green and grow year round.  Is there something wilting on the inside that you need to water and nurture?  What would 10 minutes of taking care of your heart and soul mean to your week?

Think about it.

All the best,
KK

A Wonder-filled Christmas moment

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Heavenly Father,

Allow us to draw near to you on that day in Bethlehem.  Help us to feel the jostling of the crowd as Joseph led the donkey with his beloved aboard; knowing that while you were the Father, he was the man to care for your chosen and your son.  May we know the worry on his face and in his heart as inn after inn they were turned away?  The city was full.  There was no room.  How like it is today with the over shadowing of gifts, parties and food that we forget to take care of that which is eternal.  Do we even notice?

Give us the opportunity, Lord, to be still, to experience that holy night.  Permit us to put the noise of the city and the commotion of too many distractions aside and see the star that you set in the sky at creation.  We take a deep breath and push our way through the crowd to follow the star and focus on that moment you pre-ordained to change the course of history as those in the City of David knew it.

It’s hard to push aside the distractions and find our way to the edge of town.  No one really noticed our exit, our following that poor, tired family to the barn.  Where are they going?  Another over crowded building that stinks!  Joseph, you can’t let the Savior of the world be born there!  He is tired and has tried his earthly best to find a bed for his betrothed.  Grant us this moment to feel his unworthiness.  Does he realize his human efforts are all in your plan?

Oh, the stench of too many animals and not enough manpower to keep the guests room clean much less the barn.  The first blow of air as the doors are open brings Joseph to almost puke, but he pushes the door open to allow for some fresh air as he makes space for Mary.  He gingerly helps her off the donkey and to the pallet of a thin blanket and some hay.

 Mary was not spared the pain of childbirth; but it didn’t matter.  Scream all you want Mary, the animals will empathize and the people are too busy and noisy to notice.  She takes a deep breath with the pain only to choke on the stench.  Joseph wipes her sweat and then that of his own.  His ordinary life is about to change for the extra-ordinary.  The moment in time that will change the world and the world isn’t even paying attention.

Father, please pull us near in these next few hours and let us be there with you.  For in the last scream of pain you pushed into this world just as promised.  The baby that was fully God and fully human squeezed into this world and now wants to squeeze into our hearts.  May we clear the clutter of our lives for Him?

Let the world stand still just this night, Lord, bring the peace, and the Savior into our hearts where He might live tonight and every day and night to follow.  Breathe into our homes and lives the spirit of the miracle and wonder of Christmas. It is not for us to understand it all, but just accept with faith that extra-ordinary measure you took, using ordinary people, in an ordinary town one night – the most holy of nights.

Amen.

My Friend and Reader,

Feel free to pass this post to someone you know and care about.  Knowing Christmas for the Savior who came will be the best gift ever.

All the best,

KK

Something’s in the wind

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This morning it was warm, unseasonably warm and the wind was blowing.  It came in gusts of nearly 65 miles an hour.  And the temperature began to drop.   The wind was so strong you could almost see the air itself moving.  The skies were gray and cloudy, a storm was brewing.  The wind was transporting something – something was in this wind; more than just the storm to follow.

The winds of change blew through our community today.  It was if the hand of God was moving through; pushing summer to our past and escorting autumn in.  The clouds rolled in as if to curtain the sky while He realigned the stars for our new season.  The rain moved in dousing the thirsty earth and cleansing the air.

The day ended with the red sky busting through the clouds leading the way for a rainbow to complete God’s message to us today.  Yes, His mighty hand moved today in nature and it was awesome to experience.  But my question to you is did He move in your heart?

Something was in the wind today, and it was more than the beginning of autumn.  Did you feel it?

All the best,
KK

Monday Mania: How tight is your God’s leash?

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Do you keep God on a leash?  A leash gives your pet just so much room and no more.  Are you treating God like a pet; a companion for the moments you deem he is needed or wanted?

Recently, I have been guilty of keeping God on a leash.  It wasn’t a short leash; but a leash all the same.  Every morning, I spoke to God, inviting Him to come with me.   Come with me, not lead me, not take control, and just come with me.  The leash I put God on was one of inviting Him to take so much lead with me and no more.  God doesn’t belong on any leash.  He is the God of the Universe, creator, healer, and savor and when we believe as such and call upon His name He is available for far more than just coming along with us.  His power is available to us for the asking.

God is too big and too complex to only go so far with us and no further.  Cut Him loose and be ready for blessings beyond what you can imagine.  He is available for far more than riding “shotgun” with us throughout our day.  Call on Him to be your leader, to give you the right words in challenging moments or to give you the self control to not say anything.  He is all powerful and we’re talking to Him about little things.  While those are important to, why not ask for the big things; the healing, the blessing, the forgiveness.  He cares about both.  Nothing is impossible for God.

Let me encourage you to give Him a try.  Call on God’s name and all the power that goes with it to hear your prayers.  Then be still and listen. His answer may come as the roar of thunder or in the whisper of a gentle breeze.    We need to be ready to experience the amazing hand of the creator as He reaches around and pulls us closer to Him. 

What do you think?

All the best,
KK