Dry Spell Showers

Occasionally I write essays for a collaborative writers' website. This was one I posted about  when "I feel awkward in my relationship with Jesus, like something’s not quite fitting..." To read the whole thing you can visit the link below for www.baaaaa.com .


When I read stories of people in the Bible, it’s like reading about old friends, people I once knew and still remember. Martha is no exception. In fact, I believe I owe Martha an apology.

For years, I identified with her sister Mary, the emotional, extravagant worshiper who ‘wasted’ her love on Jesus. I admired her passion and the depth of her love. I looked at Martha scurrying about the kitchen and shook my head, “Tsk, tsk.”

My judgment came from some self-righteous place in my heart that exalted the right brain, with all its passion, creativity and emotion. After all, that’s where I spent much of my time, so it must be the better half, right? I believed that extravagant, right-brain worship somehow pleased Jesus more than left-brain worship.

So, here it is: I’m in a dry place. No spiritual crisis of faith, just dry. It happens. These days, I can’t rely on my usual right-brain methods of connecting with Jesus. This extravagant worshiper is not so extravagant right now. Instead, I’m connecting with Jesus on a more intellectual plane. That’s not exactly new, because I’ve always been a nerd; the difference is, I was an emotional, messy, creative nerd. Now that my inner artist is on retreat, I feel awkward in my relationship with Jesus, like something’s not quite fitting.

Until I read about Martha.....To read more visit
http://baaaaa.com/2012/01/31/dry-spell-showers/#comments

Bruised Fruit Salsa

Occasionally I write essays for a collaborative writers' website. This was one I posted about being "bruised and battered on the outside—but teeming with possibilities and potential in the right hands. They just need someone with vision to come along and pluck them from the bin." To read the whole thing you can visit the link to www.baaaaa.com below.

We have a new produce store in our town. It’s reminiscent of a red-and-white-striped roadside stand, with air conditioning and doors that magically open when they sense my presence. My son and I visited on a day when a good portion of the produce was past its ‘sell by’ date. Bruised fruit sold at a deep discount, displaying a dance company of fruit flies. Blemished limes, soft tomatoes, spotted peppers, slightly brown cilantro, and fruit-fly-adorned red onions filled up my basket alongside several other selections. My mouth watered at the prospect of the culinary delight I had planned for my produce-stand rejects.

I could already envision the playful argument I would have with my husband, forbidding him to put the bowl of salsa to his lips like an umbrella drink. “That’s what the tortilla chips are for.”... To read the more go to  http://baaaaa.com/2012/06/12/bruised-fruit-salsa/#comments

Not settling for my own...

The prayers of a righteous man avail much (powerful and effective) (James 5:16).

 If the righteousness James is discussing was really my own then it wouldn't result in much at all- my righteousness is like filthy rags. However, it's not my own righteousness he is talking about but Christ's righteousness that I wear as a robe because I am a believer.

Christ's righteousness is like a blazing sun. When I pray, wearing the robes of Christ's righteousness that every believer is given through faith and grace, I can partner with God to usher in His will into this world and establish His kingdom now.

So pray for each other! It matters, it makes a difference. It's God's design that we ask Him to establish His kingdom in each other's lives. A kingdom of life that can affect our work, our home, our relationships. Our health, our daily duties and tasks. Our dreams, our cares, our concerns.

Not that we are asking Him to impose our will on our day but that we might welcome His will into our day.

And how much more will be affected in myself and in my life if I welcome His will into it rather then settle for my own will.

Literally Speaking: Ahab is to Moby Dick as Life is to Me

So I have another idea for some themed essays called "Literally Speaking" that will use some of my favorite literature to talk about...well, me. Me and life. Me and God. Me and meaningful stuff I'm sure. So this is the first one and it was originally posted on a Christian writer's blog called "Baaaaa- Bleats from God's sheep." The link for the whole thing can be found here...http://www.baaaaa.com. I would love it if you left a comment there or here but no obligation.***This site no longer exists but was a wonderful experience for me as a person trying to improve as a writer. I am forever grateful to my editor there, Catherine Fruisen (a.k.a. Violet Lemay)

Sometimes in life I feel like the Great White Whale being pursued relentlessly by Ahab. Tangled by ropes with harpoons piercing my side I plow through the ocean of life trying to take down my enemy and survive.

 

                Dramatic, I know. True?  Somewhat, not completely but that’s how I feel.  I’m exiting one of these literary inspired seasons right now. They usually start the same way.  A sudden increase in pesky gnat like annoyances and responsibilities I can’t hand off to someone else.  Not major problems, just a swarm of regular life tasks that must be dealt with all at once.  This is typically accompanied by a large number of people who need my help to accomplish their goals or fix their problems.  Then, when I’m not looking because I’m so busy with my ‘to do’ list, I hear, “Whale Ho!” and a harpoon pierces my hide.

 

                Harpoons take me by surprise either because of their mass or because of their tragic nature. They knock the wind out of me and this is usually when I can get into trouble. Like Melville’s whale I have a natural tendency to believe I have to take car life’s cares and tragedies on my own. That is my biggest mistake. I might as well post an “Open Season on Whales” sign.

 

                This is where the analogy falls apart. The reality is that I am not a lone beast out in the world being hunted by an evil maniacal hunter bent on my destruction with no recourse but to lash out and fight to survive or die trying.  The truth is I am not alone.  I am not responsible for taking out my enemy or deflecting the harpoons of life on my own.  I am much more than an animal that wanders through life on instinct but I sometimes live as if I believe this. 

 

I try to be my own source of life and strength.  It might seem to work for a little while but it doesn’t take long to find myself depleted like a branch cut off from a vine.  The flower blooms for a time but without the source of life that flows through the vine I soon wither and fade.

 

Jesus said he could do nothing apart from his father (John 5:19).  Nothing.  Author of Life.  Bright and Morning Star. Conqueror of Death. And he said he can do nothing if he is apart from the Father.  So why is it I live as if I can do what he couldn’t?  Somewhere along the way I forget what I know is true.

 

 "I am the true vine … remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” John 15:1, 4-6

 

And then it happens.  I hear His voice.  I’m nudged.  Reminded.  Maybe even knocked in the head really hard.  He gets my attention and I remember that life separated from him is more than lonely it is unnecessarily lifeless.  But when I surrender my mind, my will to him and say, “I give you everything. Even my inability to know how to live as the branch connected to you,” I receive a fresh flow of his life giving Spirit. I am no longer the whale thrashing in the sea but I am surrounded by an ocean of Peace. The whaling boats are on the surface but I am surrounded by him.

 

Now I find myself entering a season marked more by dependence and surrender than independence and striving.  Chances are at some point I will find myself being pursued again. Maybe next time it won’t take so many harpoons to remind me to dive deeper into his sea of life.

Too read the whole essay go to http://baaaaa.com/2012/10/16/ahab-is-to-moby-dick-as-life-is-to-me/