#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Sky

...join with all nature in manifold witness

to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love...

This morning I read the livewonderstruck challenge very early.  Some might call it coincidence. . . I choose to believe it's so I could pay attention to the sky today on my way to work.

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Relationship

I say, "So why even get up if God has it all planned out?"
You say, "I think it's God's plan for me to get up."

And I love you.

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Silence

There's a picture of Jesus. . . you might have seen it.  It's one that's lit golden and he's looking off to the side.  It hung in the hallway of my childhood country church.  It seemed friendly.  Like home somehow.  When I see that picture of Jesus, I recognize him.  

I know in my mind that his skin was like that of a burnt copper penny, but that golden lit picture is still my picture.  A friend has one where he is laughing, and I like that one as older me, but the little girl me still loves the painting of Jesus that hung in my childhood church.

I drive by it now, on my fifty-minute drive to work.  It should shout, but it whispers.  I should notice because it's huge, huge on a billboard right off the road.

Some days I don't even see it.  I drive by, auto-pilot me, and I might as well have been driving by reams of gray concrete.  Some days I notice him with a cursory, "Oh isn't that nice. . .There's Jesus. . . Think about Jesus."  I have not yet had a day where I meet that picture on the road the way that the painting met me in that hallway in that old country church.  It's the same picture, and I'm the same me.  Or maybe the sameness belongs to Jesus, and I'm the one who's different.  Maybe my sixty miles-per-hour, ahem, sixty-two miles-per-hour life drowns out the whisper.

Me sprinting.  You waiting.

Even this morning You were there waiting as you will be tomorrow and the next day.  You've something to give even.  And I ask and I ask and I ask.  But forget to receive.

You offer peace.  You offer hope.  You offer purpose.

Regret is mine at this closed door.  Help me to invite you in for pie and a slice of me.  May I give rapt attention for even one moment in my life to the You that is waiting.  May you grow my attention span and point the cross hairs of my life on that which is most beautiful and good.  Albeit difficult and sacrificial.  I know You some, and I do remember when You remind me.  Oh I pray that You might remind me more, for my online calendar and reminders are set to distraction.  Help me to know You and live struck by the thick wonder that is today.  

There is a newness that only You can give.  Thanks for the tapestry You're weaving, and that I might be one green thread in it.  Green me up today and weave me into people and experiences that You've set out in your plan.  It will be beautiful, for your designs are, if one can stand back up far enough to see them.  

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Embrace and invite

Reflect on what you hear

Pray that God reminds you of people

Ask God to bring the word

Enjoy the presence

Share it.

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Forgiveness

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Creation

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Hope

Vagrant veteran
on your corner
thank you for the smile
peeking through twisted gray beard
seven dollars is something
. . . I guess
"Have a good day"
jumps from my mouth
then sits awkwardly
I wonder at my words
still
two days later

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Time

I must learn to say no . . . so that I might say yes.

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Reflection

A Boat and a Room


The furniture of my mind needs re-arranging.
For the crimson sofa I've purchased engulfs
It wasn't expensive, and was so easy to pick up 
off the curb.
Sally picked hers up
and I kept up.
And the room is full to overflowing.

I can't even see the wallpaper
Get it out.
Rearrange and redecorate 
for this vessel is off course and has run aground.


Re-calibrate the wobbly compass 
Ever pointing toward screens and tasks 
Point it toward Glory and Wonder
Slow the pace of the engines
Feel the breath create more space
Taste wind and hear grass.

I thought it efficient, this ratio that's all off
No wonder
no Wonder
Can I open to it?
Your hands grip crimson, stronger than mine
Shoving it out the door.



In response to today's Challenge from MargaretFeinberg.com. . .Wonder Challenge: What are the challenges preventing you from experiencing God’s wonder? Turn those challenges into a short prayer. And, if you feel comfortable, share it with others who can pray alongside you. If you include #LIVEWONDERSTRUCK in your Facebook post, Pinterest pin, Tweet, or Instagram post, we can help encourage you in prayer.

#LIVEWONDERSTRUCK Beauty

I forgot something in my car, so I had to trudge back out to the lot--a bit of a jaunt.  I wasn't glad to be "wasting" my time, but on the way I saw a shadow painting a delicate wallpaper-like pattern on the top of a sweaty old fire hydrant.  Otherwise my sidewalk was lined with the general brown dinginess of January after snow.  But, in one tiny spot green shoots of grass were springing up; new life in defiance.  

Small wonders today, but wonders nonetheless.

In response to today's Challenge from MargaretFeinberg.com. . .

Throughout the day, look for wonder through a camera lens. Snap a picture on your phone or break out your camera to capture an image of God’s beauty, grace, love, peace, and joy. When you start looking, you may find examples all around you! Let’s encourage each other with God’s beauty. So, upload your photo and share—tweet, post, pin or blog. And make sure to include #LIVEWONDERSTRUCK so we can find you!

21 day challenge

After a day of work or writing I always feel mentally spun-up, like my brain and shoulders just emerged from the Hunger Games arena.  I've been wondering for a long time if it's just the way I am, or if I could more effectively manage my physical stress response throughout the work day.  After all, this is my life (a.k.a. right now) and I'm living it even while at work.  This idea of mindfulness/wonder/awe--more in-the-moment thinking--keeps coming up in my life, and after I see the same idea five different places, I sense a movement beyond coincidence, and in the last 24 hours I feel like the Designer is being a bit conspicuous.

1.

2.


3.  Margaret Feinberg's 21 days of wonder challenge.

C

I have also been wondering how I might put some more life behind this blog.  So, I am taking Margaret's 21 day challenge, and will post each day as I ask to be struck by wonder, to be filled with awe.  Anyone wanna join me?  #LIVEWONDERSTRUCK

motherhood

Time got squishy today
as moments soaked
one after another between new diapers
and laundry folding
and unfolding

Our impromptu dance party
made smiles
and cassaroles
as
Pandora sung
songs we hadn't heard
yet we knew them somehow

In tune together
as we laugh and bounce
and my knee hurts
but I ignore it to bounce once more
speaking cave-man lingo

You smiled with your eyes
for the first time this week
and your self shone through it
and I know her, but I'm still meeting her all the time
when uhh is up
and uhh uh is uh-oh

This blessing tidal wave
washed over me like
clean sheets today
and I can't help but marvel
Through bundled-up cold walks
and belly laughs at each fulcrum
of the swing
each one
after
each one

Picking up your toy carnage
as I did yesterday and will tomorrow
I remember little plastic horsies
lined up on a flipped laundry basket drum
and they were real
as you stopped to see them

As you put your
sippy cup back in the round space of the high chair
our eyes held the same laugh
It had been there all along
but today you found it
and then hah-hah'd its smartness,
and I am meeting yours
it's growing too fast for my slow eyes to catch

You waved bye bye after supper last night
and Grandma and Grandpa were tickled
and my chest puffed out with a mix of
Deep Glory that I haven't felt before.
It's like pride and love shaken together
somehow purple in the way it makes you
strong
and weak
all at once.
I walked to the car on wet pavement with my heels
bouncing a bit
and kept you in my lap.

I know the rules
And the car seat gets used
But last night we drove home together
and you fit there
and somehow I fit too.