Where To Drop Your Anchor

Life is chock-full of unanswered questions. Will the influx of people relocating to Portland fit our cramped space? Where can we house all the homeless? Why is Donald Trump running for President? How can we focus in the moment when our minds are racing to find answers to our most pressing questions, our needs and problems?

And oh those questions that pop from the mouths of babes, all innocent they are, meditations void of dark ominous clouds hovering over their inquisitive brains. He said they fly in fast jets, speeding their way to heaven, way up high in the sky. That's where his Opa is now he conjectured, his affirmative tone punctuating the air inside the car. My heart skipped a few beats. This blond-haired grandson peered out of the car window, he brandished his thoughts like a sure-fire contestant on Jeopardy! Kids Week. Brown-haired boy, he traced this thought pattern, "Where did Frazier go? Is he all alone?" Stopping for a red light, I inhaled way deep, looked into the rear view mirror, glanced at both boys in the back seat and adopted my wisest grandmotherly voice. "Honey, we don't ride in jets to heaven, but I bet we fly up super fast." Flipping the turn signal I heard brown-haired boy ask, "How did Frazier get to heaven? Was he by himself?" I want you to feel loved, safe, and I need to be present in this moment. Answer carefully but don't wait too long, he will forget and forge on. Speak plain simple language, now hurry! "I don't know if Frazier was by himself but I think he wasn't sick anymore, and I bet he is running and playing happy." A furrowed brow. An unanswered question lingering in the space between us. Thoughts spilling over into the deafening silence. I tried again. "But I do believe when we go to heaven Jesus will help us get there. I think his hand will hold on to us and we won't feel alone at all." Blond-haired boy agreed,"Yes Jesus will be there." And like a helium balloon let loose to roam a cloudless spring sky, our conversation thread ended. "What are we having for dinner?"

After arriving home I thought about our talk in the car. I thought about the deep desire to have all the right answers, to never let an inquisitive mind whither from neglect. To ignite diminutive hearts with hope, faith and love. We ate dinner together and I peppered them with my own questions. Laughter and musing traversed across the table, our voices shooting heavenward I believe. Maybe what matters most is to Just Be. To show up in the driveway and push the key in the ignition, turn it over and listens to how it idles. To be present in the moment anchored by hope, focusing with all our mighty self on the One who knows the answers and loves us right big through each and every precious millisecond of each and every gifted day.

Actually I Love You

It's a teary-eyed groom catching sight of his bride, the warm June sun kissing her joyous face. It's an over-sized umbrella offered on a stormy rainy day. It's an elderly couple clasping hands as they walk down the sidewalk, adoringly, every day. The face of love, it colors the world and it paints bright red on Valentine's Day. And oh how I love imperfectly, erratically and sometimes even comically. But He says that's OK and that makes me love Him more each gifted day. It's Valentine's and the sight of all that love in creation makes the heart do cartwheels, the feet tap happy and the mind focus tight on the glorious love pouring down on us each and every day. Each and every millisecond of  every breath we take, it captures and amazes, and this love, it never grows old, tired, or weary. It simply keeps on giving.

We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our starved imagination to visualize it. 

~Oswald Chambers~

This brown-haired grandson, he has a penchant for prefacing his responses, his answers to the smallest of questions with the adverb, actually. Actually, my car is purple. Actually, we ate lunch at Burgerville. The truth it is and he wields the word like a mini-sized lawyer in the courtroom fighting for the good guy.

And today, I stepped outside, the air crisp, sun all bright winking down on us this February morning. Birds priming for spring, verdant green daffodil stems dotting the landscape, and those treasured tulips saying hello, yes I returned once again to make you grin happy.

Actually, I think God really does love us, our imperfect, messy, wildly, madly in love with each other human selves. I take a breath of acceptance and rest, glance around the flower bed. Actually, I think He likes it a lot when we truly, gratefully, love him back.
Happy Valentine's Day

The One In Particular

Where do you go when the world tilts crazy? When politicians and one in particular dominate the media and you want to hide in a closet until the election is over. Where do you go when stress threatens to steal the peace and the peace is your sanctuary from the one in particular who hijacks the show? 

Recently, my husband and I spent an elongated weekend at the beach, the ocean serving up a beautiful respite from all those conflicting elements charging the air waves. Instead of wringing our hands, we inhaled happiness.

If God maintains sun and planets in bright ordered beauty, He can keep us.

~F.B. Meyer~

What can sting the heart, hurt the soul or rob the joy when the earth is filled with these wondrous reminders, the divine Artist, He speaks to us,  I am here, I am here, I am here. God's majestic showroom of His glory it surely is, and the knees quake thrilled standing in all that downward motion, His constant gaze breathing new life, new hope into the downtrodden.

Can it be that He takes you by the hand, ever so gently, ushering you into the breathtaking, the awesomeness of His creation, of His promises especially at times like these? Can it be that I don't have to hide from the one in particular, that I can trust that all will be well and bad hair will disappear like those perms from the eighties? Can it be that in the end, this will be nothing more than a night terror, a scare in the dark, and the sun will shine bright over the earth and the ocean will roar with blissful praise?

In spite of all appearance to the contrary, God has a plan for this bankrupt world...this earth of ours , He still wants as a theatre for His grace and glorious direction.
~Helmut Thielicke~

Packing our bags I scanned the television screen and the shoulders tensed hard. I turned my gaze quickly to the glorious view outside, to the frothy waves and those soaring seagulls without a care in the world. Inhaling a deep breath of His presence I didn't feel quite as frightened of the one in particular and my shoulders loosened a bit. Maybe I won't have to hide in the closet or disconnect from electronics. This new thought infused me with energy, and this mantra, my heavenly defense against all evil and dark powers, these two words that speak volumes against all negativity and fear, speaking to Him who works for good, who sees it all, knows it all, loves us through it all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.