Are YOU full today?....

Full…

Is how I feel today.

My heart is full of the amazing blessings of the people in my life.  Young, old, and in between.  Friends who are like family—some I have known for years and some who are newer in my life.

My heart IS FULL.  

But I don’t always FEEL full.  

And usually that’s when I’m not paying attention.  

Not paying attention to the good things in each day, no matter how small they may seem.  The Bible says “every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father…”, (James 1:17) and He does give us so many incredibly wonderful gifts if we will have eyes to see and hearts to understand.

When I go for a walk along the canals 

with my three favorite red-head boys,

I feel full.

When I get an unexpected card in the mail 

from an out-of-state friend, 

I feel full.

When I look out my window at work and see the sun in the bright blue sky and the hummingbird darting in and out amidst the blossoms of the bird of paradise bush, 

I feel full.

When I think about the fact that I have gas in my car, food in my refrigerator, clean drinking water coming out of my faucet, clothes on my body, a bed to sleep in…. 

all these things make me feel full.

Paying attention.

That’s the key.

And remembering… 

and recounting… 

the many ways God touches us, 

provides for us, 

and speaks to us throughout each day…

It is then I feel full.

It is then I know what it is to BE FULL.

*   *   *   *   * 

In Your presence is fullness of joy; 

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

~Psalms 16:11

(ps. I could have come up with many more, 
but I was being true to the 5min limit!)

With this post I am participating in Five Minute Friday over at The Gypsy Mama's blog.  Today's writers were to write for five minutes (w/o tweaking, rewriting, or critiquing!) on the word:  FULL.  

Here's how it works:  "On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.  We love to  just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat."

His love will wipe away all our tears...

 Over the years since I began this blog, I've had friends send me photos of hearts they discover in their worlds.  I always love it when I see these reminders of God's love in our daily lives.  I especially love that others see them, too... and it's that much more special when they share them with me.

One of my friends has several daughters, and they love to send me photos of the hearts they discover.   The photo below is one the girls sent me awhile ago.   Unfortunately, on my cell phone's tiny screen, I couldn't tell what it actually was and had to ask...

only to discover it was... 

a roll of toilet paper!!!!

 They couldn't wait to send it to me, and it definitely made me smile!!  God uses the strangest things to speak to us, if we have eyes to see! 

...And the Lord GOD 

will wipe tears away from all faces... 

~Isaiah 25:8

2011... day 2....

(butter on my cornbread)

He gives food to every creature.

His love endures forever.

~Psalm 126:35

2011... day 1...

(strawberry in New Year's Day breakfast cereal)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
~Psalm 107:1

love eggs? ...or, paying attention...

I've been in a bit of a funk the past couple of weeks, and when that happens, I tend to question God... and doubt His love for me. And, I don't pay attention very well either.

This morning when I was eating my breakfast (frittata), I did notice a little something there... (come on... you know what you're looking for!)

And, in case you're like me and not very good at paying attention sometimes,

here's a closer view...

OK. Call me crazy if you want...

but we do have a Father with quite a great sense of humor!

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

~Lamentations 3:21-23

my favorite word...

The other night I was out to dinner with some friends of mine. Eight-year-old B said to me, "Hey, Sharilyn! What's your favorite word?"

I paused for a moment to ponder the question... there are just so many good words out there! I decided upon one, and just as I was about to tell him what it was, he said, "I bet I know what your favorite word is...."

"What do you think it is, B?"

"AMAZING!" and amazingly he was right! That was the word I was going to say!

I said, "Hey! That's what I was going to say!"

He said, "Well, I knew it was."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"I knew it because you like exploring and finding cool stuff!"

I laughed and told him he was right. He smiled, quite pleased with himself, and I smiled, quite pleased that he would know that about me... from our shared adventures of discovery-- searching out bugs in his yard, closely examining flowers and leaves, discovering hearts of all types, playing on the beach together, and generally being AMAZED at God's truly amazing creation!

I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to use words that were really worth using-- big words, not necessarily big in size but big in their descriptive powers. Words like --"fantastic" and "wonderful" and "magnificent" rather than just "good" or "cool" or "nice." And "amazing"... because that's what it's truly like to live in this world our Father created for us, and I never want to stop being amazed by it... or by Him!

...just something to think about...
what's YOUR favorite word, and what does it speak about you?

love in the parking lot...

Parking lot love.

No, not as in "parking"....

Just a bit of love I found today in the parking lot at the bank. It was pouring down rain (which, by the way, I LOVE!), and I was hurrying into the bank when I spotted this lying on the rain-soaked pavement:


...and me without my camera!! :)

So, when I came back out of the bank, I grabbed my handy cell phone and snapped these wet photos of a wonderful bit of love! (I'm sure the folks in the parking lot were wondering what in the heck the crazy chick was photographing on the pavement in the pouring rain!! but some things just MUST be done!)

Last time, it was aluminum foil... this time a wet towel (or a wet blanket??)...

May we continue to see God's love in our daily lives...
And may we stop and give Him thanks...
even when it's raining...

heart on the pavement...

Yesterday I was having kind of a hard morning -- bad news at the dentist followed by a flare-up of a painful and frustrating eye problem. I needed to run an errand for work, so once my eye stopped watering enough so I could see to drive, I set out for the office supply store.

When I was leaving the store and walking back to my car, I was looking down at the ground (due to the sun irritating my sore eye) and I noticed something shiny..... (oooh! shiny object!!)... and this is what I saw at my feet:

a shiny piece of foil pressed into the pavement in the shape of a heart!!

God is so good!! I love it when He addresses the weariness of my heart...or just a frustrating day... with a special bit of love just for me!!

remembering... a key to gratitude...

I ran across this in my Women's Devotional Bible, and it made me think of our adventures in gratitude. As we travel the path of being grateful for the many gifts and blessings in our lives, we must continue to remember... remember what we have been given and from Whom these many blessings come....

Remember

~Judith Couchman

"A warm letter from a friend. A compliment from my boss. An unexpected refund. A comforting Scripture. These arrive as God's good gifts to me. But they usually get overlooked while I'm focusing on what feels like--at least to me--insurmountable trouble. Always, it's trouble that God hasn't solved yet. Often, I complain about His delayed response. But really, my myopic vision isn't fair to Him. If I lift my eyes off the problem, I can spot God's gifts all around me. They may not be the answer I'm searching for at the moment, but they're good and continuous gifts that say, "I still love you, my child." They remind me that God doesn't stop caring for me, even though I live with unfulfilled expectations. Now during the hard times, I remind myself to hunt for God's small surprises while I'm waiting for His big solution. It takes my mind off the problem. It helps me to trust Him...It encourages me to know that God still cares."

And this is just what the heart rocks are for me: "...good and continual gifts that say, "I still love you, my child."...God's small surprises while I'm waiting for His big solution(s)."

joy is...

Joy is what happens

when we allow ourselves

to recognize how good things are.

Joy is not necessarily

what happens when things unfold

according to our plans.

~Marianne Williamson

(A Woman's Worth)

a quiet beach...in Michigan??

Whenever I go to visit my family in Michigan, I seem to have to see at least one of the Great Lakes. Maybe it's because I'm so used to living by the ocean... or maybe I just really like giant bodies of water across which one cannot see land. I usually end up taking a day trip drive with someone (most times my mom) to see Lake Michigan. (on my most recent trip I made it to the Lake twice!! and I accidently called it the ocean at least once--and was laughed at by my niece!)

On one visit, my mom and I drove to the lakeside city of Grand Haven. (I called it a coastal city and was once again laughed at by my niece!) Grand Haven is a wonderful little city that has a lighthouse that you can walk out to on a long cement walkway. If you squint and look through the sea wheat (or beach grass, or whatever it's called!) in the picture below, on the right side, you can see the lighthouse beacon tower at the far right, and a bit to the left of it, the little 'house' part of the lighthouse. (they're both bright red)

After photographing the scene above, I looked a bit further to the right, and what...?!!

Wait a minute!! I thought I was in Michigan!!

What the heck is THAT tree doing there?!?

Yes, THAT one!

The one with the fluffy green fronds instead of leaves!!

It IS a palm tree!

And I was being laughed at for calling it the coast and the ocean??

Hmmmm.

I had to investigate this strange appearance of a tropical tree growing on a beach in the Midwest...

Well, a palm tree it was indeed.

A REAL palm tree it was not.

But, someone was sure enjoying their tropical view

of Lake Michigan!

I enjoyed their creativity,

and definitely delighted in their sense of humor!

Whatever it takes to get that warm tropical feeling ...

You just gotta love it...

lovin' my lunch at Burger King!

Today we were on a road-trip to Lake Michigan and stopped at Burger King for a bite to eat. I definitely found love in my lunch....

Mmmm hmmmm!

Lovin' my lunch!

witnessing a miracle...

A couple of days ago, I witnessed a miracle. No, really. I did. It was a modern-day miracle.

Miracles, you know, come in all sizes and shapes. Some are big, some are small. Some even seem like "chance happenings." But, we who believe KNOW that God does miracles in our daily lives if we will open our eyes to see them.

My friend, who is a very organized person, could not find a file containing several very important documents. It was not just your run-of-the-mill ordinary important file but one she needed for legal purposes, and there was a very tight timeframe in which to produce it. She had looked in the place where it was supposed to be, and it was nowhere to be found. She looked in any other places where it might be, and it was still nowhere to be found. She spent several days looking for the file, but it was just missing. We kept praying that she'd find it.

With the deadline looming ever nearer, my friend woke up exceptionally early Friday morning with the missing file on her mind. She was very tempted to go the very human reactions of exasperation and frustration and anger... but she refused to let the enemy have any ground in this battle. She refused to go to those "old places" of the flesh and determined she would instead, stand firm against the enemy and find a place of peace...trusting in God no matter the outcome of the search.

She put on her armor, prayed for peace, and went back into the garage to search for the file. She bravely faced the file cabinet, prepared to search through every file in every drawer until she found the one she needed. She opened a drawer, and there-- in the first drawer, in the very front WAS THE MISSING FILE!!!

Seriously! It was a miracle!! And, to me, it was somewhat in the same vein as Jesus turning water into wine... making something out of nothing... or like a lost sheep being found.

To me, it was a very vivid reminder how important are the every-day bits of our lives to our Father. And how He loves showing Himself when we refuse to agree with our flesh and the enemy, when we trust in Him, when we rest in His place of peace.

Thank You, God, for the everyday --yet not so everyday-- miracles in our lives!

To You be all the glory!!

things that make you go....wha'???

I was driving home from work one evening and came to this intersection. As you can see, the light was red, so I stopped. I was looking around while waiting for the light to turn green, and wait a minute!... WHAT IS THAT?? Do you see what I see??... up ahead on the right, peering out of the yard over the fence...??? It looks like a ... a... no, it couldn't be!... it looks like a DINOSAUR!!

The light turned green, so I had to start driving again...

Yes, I do believe it IS a dinosaur!! Look at it!! It looks like a T-Rex!!

Let's get a little closer...

Uh-oh! He's looking right at me!! I think he sees me!!
And, I don't think he looks too happy, either!
Or maybe that's just a big friendly toothy grin...??!

Yes, folks, that's right... it IS a dinosaur! (and not even at the tar pits!!)

Right here in our city!!

I wonder if there are any regulations about pet size here???

the shapes, patterns, & and textures of creation...

I love to see the amazing shapes and patterns and textures of God's creation. Here is a little taste of joy and wonder from my trip to Palm Springs...

I am always delighted by the ways His creation shows off His incredible love of line and symmetry and shape and creativity... I am grateful for the wonder of it all!

nature's gift...

“Joy in looking

and comprehending

is nature's most beautiful gift.”

~Albert Einstein

...evidence of God's delightful creatures...

...crazy displays of love...

...special 'treasure' (dollars?!)...

...incredible colors!!...

...beautiful night light...

...finding love in unexpected places...

what you see...

It's not what you look at that matters,
it's what you see.

~Henry David Thoreau

a dirty parking lot floor,

or.....?

(top left of picture... )

(hope you enjoyed "seeing" a spot of gum in a new way!)

reaching upward and outward...

On my recent trip to Arizona, I snapped quite a few photos. One that I really like was a photo of an Acacia tree blossom. I loved it's tiny little fingers reaching up to the sky.



As I was looking at the tree blossom photo on my computer, I kept feeling as though I had seen another of my photos that gave me the same feeling. I dug through my aquarium photo archives and pulled up the photo below:

Two photos.

Two very different subjects-- one a tree blossom and one a sea star.
Both born of the same Creator.
Both reaching upward, outward...reaching for something...

Reaching for sustenance--
one for miniscule sea creatures to eat,
one for sunshine with which to photosynthesize and make food.

Both reaching upward and outward... for life.

We, too, are born of the same Creator.
We, too, reach upward, outward...reaching for something...

Reaching for sustenance... reaching for LIFE.

Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help,

as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

~Psalm 28:2

I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

~Psalm 63:4

I lift up my hands to your commands,

which I love,

and I meditate on your decrees.

~Psalm 119:48

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary

and praise the LORD.

~Psalm 134:2

May my prayer be set before you like incense;

may the lifting up of my hands

be like the evening sacrifice.

~Psalm 141:2

Let us join with creation as we reach upward, outward...

Let us lift our hands and reach out for LIFE...

the Way, the Truth, and the Life.