Anson & his cousins, Cherilyn & Kristin

In Need of His Wisdom

I have been thinking lately about the verse in James that says, "If any one lack wisdom, let him or her ask of God, who gives to all men or women liberally" (my paraphrase). We must first realize that we need this wisdom before we can even ask for it, let alone receive it. I am so often reminded of my need for wisdom from above (being a parent especially brings this home to me!). The great part about it is that God gives liberally, freely, generously, when we ask. All we have to do is be humble enough to admit that we don't know everything, and then ask for the wisdom that we need.

Dreaming of my backyard in summer

Praying "The Lord's Prayer"

I find that many times, especially when perplexed by a difficulty in my life, I do not know how to pray. At those times, the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples is a great source of comfort to me. Praying along the outline that The Lord's Prayer presents gives me a framework to pray and a direction to know how to pray. Here are some thoughts along those lines:



Our Father, which art in Heaven--He is our "Abba", our Daddy, our provider, protector, defender, comforter, helper, keeper and so much more. He is everything we need.



Hallowed be thy name--we respect and revere Him for He is holy and His name is holy. He is the only way we can be holy.



Thy kingdom come--the only way for peace to reign in our hearts is for His kingdom to be supreme in our hearts and the only way that peace will reign on earth is for His kingdom to reign on earth.



Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven--If His will were done in every thing, every situation, every decision here on earth, earth WOULD be heaven. Someday this prayer will be fulfilled.



Give us this day our daily bread--Everything we have comes from Him. As the song says "There's not a single blessing that we receive on earth that does not come from heaven, the source of our new birth". (From the song It Is Truly Wonderful). We depend on our Father to provide for us, physically, spiritually and every other need.



And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors--Could we not be forgiven of our trespasses against our Creator, we would never have any hope of eternal life. He forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases.



And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil--Deliver us from the possibility of evil, the results/consequences of evil. Deliver us from the Evil One, from every subtle force he would use to introduce evil into our lives and the lives of those we love.



For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.--If I could insert a musical score, I would put "The Hallelujah Chorus" here--"And He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah!"

Our "boys"

The Edge of Heaven

Being duly inspired by several of my good friends, I shall try my hand at blogging!! I so enjoy reading the blogs of several of my dear friends from college (Kimberly, Sonja, Jenny).

I have been thinking a lot in this new year about heaven and how this life is truly only the dress rehearsal, only the title page to the real story. My dad bought a book for Anson called "Pip and the Edge of Heaven". The concepts introduced by that book have set me to thinking. The plot is basically a little boy who is learning about life and applying that to what he thinks heaven might be like.

"Pip asked his mother, 'Mother, is heaven invisible?' But, before she could answer, Pip said, 'I think that maybe heaven is hidden behind the things that we can see. Maybe, sometimes, when we look very carefully at things, we can just see heaven shining through....Maybe, here, we are really camping, but heaven will be home....God must be where people love God...And God must be where there are people God loves. And God loves everyone, so God must be everywhere...everywhere must touch the edge of heaven.'"


Without being morose, I want to make my focus for this year on what really will matter into eternity. Sometimes I get caught up in and frustrated by events that really won't matter in 100 years; I want to remember that we are living on the "edge of heaven."