About This Blog

The butterfly picture in the upper left corner is a symbol and reminder for me of the spiritual process. Sometimes I am the caterpillar - barely able to see far enough in front of me to put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I find myself in that dark place of the soul, and I remind myself that it is simply my cocoon. While all may seem dark, and I may feel like everything is totally disintegrating around me (and in me!) a miracle is at work in my life and I will soon be able to fly! I love those days where I experience the butterfly in my life! The ability to fly above all the mundane earthy matters and remember the truth and experience God's power in tangible ways in my life are wonderful times indeed that occur more and more often as I continue this journey! Thank you, God!

If you are so inclined, I invite you to journey with me as we seek the promised land together. While I hope to share some "faithbooking" (scrapbook pages or artistic journaling about my faith journey), much of the time the journey may well be seen in words, rather than pictures. I invite you to create your own pictures. How do these things play out in your life? I'd love to hear from you about your own spiritual journey!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Gladness

I love the way God can bring new spiritual food out of the same texts I've read over and over!  Today, as I woke up and started thinking about my upcoming day, the new habits I've been developing started to kick in and I remembered that I wanted to start my day with praise to God.  I started singing Psalm 100 in my mind.  This time it was verse 2 that jumped out at me: "Serve the Lord with gladness. . . "

I had been glad when my friend asked me to put together the memory board for her husband's funeral.  I wanted do whatever I could to help, and this gave me something concrete to do.  This morning, as I recited that psalm, however, I suddenly realized two things. I recognized that by making this memory board for my friend, I was also serving God. And I realized that I hadn't been serving with gladness; I'd been serving with a bit of fear!  As I worked on this project, I had allowed myself to become concerned that I might inadvertently do something "wrong": use a picture she wouldn't like or that someone else would find non-flattering, mislabel something, upset someone by the use of too many pictures that included one person or another, leave someone or something out that someone thought should be there, etc.  Through all of that I was losing the gladness with which I had started my task.  

I remembered what my husband had said last night when I asked his opinion about something related to the memory board. He said, "I'm sure you've been praying about this as you worked on it, so I'm sure it will be fine."  He was right, I had been - I just let my concerns make me forget.  There's a song I learned in my childhood that says, "Why worry, when you can pray?"  That's such a good question!  For today I choose to let go of my concerns and serve with gladness in my heart.

Father, thank you for your loving guidance as I work to create this memory board for my friend.  May it be a blessing to her and her family. Thank you for the blessing it is for me to make it for her.  Thank you for showing me yet another reason why praise is so important as it takes away my fears and fills me with gladness.  Thank you, Father!

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This blog is simply a sharing of my "daily bread" - my daily walk with God. If something I've said has touched your heart, or sparked a new thought, I'd love to hear from you.

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