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

unsatisfied...

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.
~C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

wisdom...

The first step to wisdom is silence.

The second is listening.

~Anonymous

Be still, and know that I am God... ~Psalm 46:10

fruit-ful lessons...

When I was in Georgia, we went one day to visit the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) students and staff in the village where they were staying for their ministry outreach. While we were there chatting with a couple of them, a local village man stopped by for a chat. He brought with him a large bag of home-grown cherries as a gift.

While he was in the "visiting" room enjoying a cup of turkish coffee and conversation with one of the students, my sister and I were in the other room chatting with another, D. D had brought in a bowl full of the cherries the visitor had brought, and we began to happily munch on them as we talked. They were juicy and sweet--very delicious! I think I had eaten six or seven when suddenly D discovered that one of hers had a small white worm in it!

So, to play it safe, we started opening each cherry before eating it, only to discover that EACH and EVERY one of those cherries had a live worm in it!! Uh, yeah. That means I probably ate at least six or seven live worms!! (I must admit I wasn't so eager to eat any more of the delicious cherries!)

Also while in Georgia, I kept seeing a strange round yellow fruit at the outdoor markets. Always game to try new foods, I ended up buying some. Each fruit had a couple of large seeds inside and the flesh was sort of soft and sweet, tasting kind of like a pear and a pineapple. They were yummy though they weren't very beautiful to look at:

As I was looking at my photos, I ran across these two photos of fruit-- one looking very delicious and pretty and the other not so pretty and even, perhaps, a little unappetizing. It was interesting to me that they were actually the opposite of what they seemed to be-- the pretty ones had worms inside (though still tasty, if you don't mind the added protein!) and the unattractive ones were sweet and yummy.

The thought came to mind that this is a great example of the "things of the world" vs "the things of God." The things of the world--wealth, success, possessions, even sin--seem so lovely, so appealing, so desirable. Yet, they are not what brings us health, peace, and true joy--there is a wormy core to them. Whereas, many times the things of God--sacrifice, obedience, suffering, service--seem so unattractive to our eyes; they do not cause us to eagerly reach out for them or to embrace them. Yet, these are the very things which bring us closer to God Himself...and give us peace, joy, and life!

I want to be eager to taste the things of God--even if they don't look so wonderful or tasty on the surface! I know they are what will bring life to my soul and joy to my heart! I pray that we may hunger for more of God, however that may be packaged!

But the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control.

~Galatians 5:22-23a

seeing the miraculous...

I have been thinking quite a bit the past few days about miracles... how they are more commonplace than we think--if we but have eyes to see...

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush

afire with God;

But only he who sees

takes off his shoes.

The rest sit round it

and pluck blackberries.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

God, we ask that You would mold us into those who would see Your presence and take off our shoes...

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...

voice in the night...

Voice In The Night

I heard Your voice in the night
calling to me in the ocean waves
as they broke upon the shore...
beckoning...whispering...

Come to Me..
Come to Me...

I heard Your voice in the night
crying out to me in the wind
as it whistled in the trees...
beckoning...shouting...

Come to Me...
Come to Me...

The sound of wind and waves
awakened me within,
pulling me from the darkness,
beckoning...calling...

Come to Me...
Come to Me...

The voice...
LOUD and THUNDEROUS,
yet soft...a whisper...
Come to Me...

POWERFUL and FORCEFUL,
yet gentle...an invitation...
Come to Me...

Awakened by Your call,
drawn by Your invitation,
I could not help but respond
as You whispered a shout ...

Come to Me...
Come to Me...

God calls to us...
-through the voices of others
-through the voice of His creation
-through the voice of His Word
-through the voice of His Spirit...

We need only to quiet ourselves before Him...to listen...and we will hear Him calling to us...with His voice of love.

...Listen...

'...your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." ' ~Isaiah 30:20b-21

"Be still, and know that I am God..." ~Psalm 46:10