Dwelling in ZION

Lucky me, to have had a dog named Zion to write about on this difficult-letter-day and last post of the 2012 Challenge!

He was a Christmas gift to my husband, a gem of a Golden Retriever who lived with us for a wonderful eleven years. In that short time he gave a lot of love, taught a lot of lessons, and left so many wonderful memories in our hearts. He died last November, a day after a last wonderful Thanksgiving weekend in which my entire family was able to be here to love on him, say thanks…and sneak him bites of turkey under the table one more time. We miss him more than words can say.

I entered two blogs in this year’s Challenge, posting only previously-written material on my A Heart 4 Heaven site, and writing more spontaneously here. As I reviewed my stash of stories to select some for the other page, I was struck by how many of them were about that most precious pup and the things he taught us while he was here.

My decision to start this new blog and enter it in the Challenge was simply to stretch myself in new ways as a writer. I took the event title literally, using challenge as my theme and examining aspects of the same as they related to blogging, writing, and living my life. My other site was the spiritual one; I didn’t particularly expect this one to be as well. So I was surprised to find that from the first post on, God snuck His way in!

I shouldn’t have been, of course. When He entered my life, He did so completely, making each day a joy and life an adventure that He leads me through, a day…a step…and sometimes just a word, at a time. I simply can’t sift out the God-parts of my days when writing while at the same time seeking to be more fully entwined with Him in living. Maybe God’s purpose in starting this blog was to show me that.

All I know is that I’m thankful for the experiences of this past month. I’m grateful to the organizers for working so hard to make it the fun event it turned out to be... thankful for the visitors who gave of their time to read and comment on my posts… thankful for the new friends I made, the technical knowledge I acquired, and the slew of new sites to visit repeatedly over the upcoming months. 

Perhaps the greatest blessing was the revelation of these past thirty days: Lucky me, to still have “Zion“, the dwelling place and presence of God, to fully experience and write about until the end of my days. For that especially, I give thanks.

“…I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(Joshua 1:5 NIV)

YEARNING for YESTERDAY No Longer

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was so eagerly waiting for April 1st to arrive? Surely it was just days ago that I wrote my post and pushed the “publish” button on this blog for the first time! And now it’s just a quick couple of weeks later that we’re about to say goodbye to the 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! I stand as amazed as I did on my very first post, but for very different reasons. Once the month is officially over I plan to go back, reread the posts and revisit the places I’ve been in the past 30 yesterdays.

Last night I was manning my post behind the cash register at work when the floor supervisor’s teenage son came into the store with a group of his friends. Laughing and all talking at once, they soon surrounded her and she was momentarily caught up in their happy togetherness. She listened and joked and hugged her son tightly before the group moved en masse to the exit doors. And I suddenly choked up unexpectedly as I revisited the yesterdays in my own life and the times one or more of my three boys and their buddies would stop in at the store… the moments of joy in which I’d be just as enveloped in their laughter and love of life as she was that evening.

I loved that moment of looking back, but I knew better than to stay there too long. Longing for and living in the past are traps that can rob us of present happiness and future joy. Resolutely I pulled my thoughts away from the pictures in my mind and focused it on where my sons are today. Quickly gratitude again filled my heart as I reflected on the good places they’re at in their lives and their relationships. Soon I was smiling again at things they’d said to me in recent days and looking forward almost as excitedly as they at the new places they’re headed, physically, spiritually and emotionally. I simply can’t wait to see where God’s taking them next.

Soon I was reflecting on my passion for journaling my own encounters with God and my habit of looking back occasionally to see what was going on in my relationship with Him at earlier moments in time. While I think it’s important to do that occasionally, I likewise know better than to stay there too long. There is so much more that God is longing to do in me, for me, and with me. I can’t spend too much time looking back or I’ll never get to where He longs to take me next.

I smile when I remember that my husband and I have each had a couple of minor incidents lately in our cars, all of which happened when we were headed in reverse. We laugh now about the fact that for whatever reason we can no longer go backwards! So as April ends and May looms just around the bend, I plan to travel through all aspects of my life the way we’ve resolved to drive our cars… face forward and full speed ahead!

“…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” 

(Philippians 3:13-14 NIV)

X-RAY Revelations

Our blogging subject choices seem to get more difficult the nearer we get to the end of the A to Z Challenge!

X-ray is a difficult choice for me, in more ways than one. I’ve had a nagging issue with a tooth, and went to the dentist recently to have it checked out. The results were what I dreaded but expected, and I have carried with me for weeks now the referral for a consultation with a root canal specialist.

There are a lot of reasons I haven’t yet made the call to set up an appointment, the easiest being that I‘ve been too busy blogging to worry about my teeth! But The Challenge is coming to an end, and with it my ability to use that particular reason to procrastinate. I’m afraid it’s fear that keeps me from following through. I’ve had one before and it wasn’t so bad, although clearly not something I’d take on by choice. Surely I should be thankful I don’t have anything more serious medically to deal with, and pick up the phone in a spirit of gratitude. The last of my feeble excuses is my work schedule, which is unpredictable at best and makes the scheduling of any kind of activity an adventure that usually takes at least a couple of tries to complete. In this instance it’s a challenge I’ve yet to take on.

A discussion with some friends last night led to the realization that the reading and studying the Bible is much like taking an x-ray of our soul. We see what we should look like spiritually and get a picture of where we fall short. It illustrates our need to go to the Specialist and let Him help us take care of some things. Yet often we find that we are amazingly slow to make that call.

We’re busy, of course… too busy to deal with issues that can be dealt with later, when there’s not so much going on in our lives, all the while knowing that such a day will never come. We don’t want to make a commitment to the time and effort involved in dealing with our issues only to rack it up as yet one more obligation to which we failed to follow through. Surely we already have too many of those on our slates. Much as we hate to admit it, most of our delay is caused by fear of the pain involved in looking more closely at problem areas in our lives and going through the process of correcting them. We don’t do it by choice.

Too long delayed, however, and soon the pain of ignoring the situation becomes worse than any involved in dealing with it, and we simply have no choice but to call for help. I look back on the day I decided to pray and realize now it was the smartest move I ever made, based on the spiritual health and wealth of the years that followed. May those x-ray reflections on past successes be the motivation I need to pick up the phone and likewise do what needs to be done…today.

“He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble,  I will deliver him and honor him.”
(Psalm 91:15 NIV)

It's Time to WAKE Up!

I’ve been known to hit the snooze button a time or two too many in mornings gone by, only to finally arise and realize that my writing time for that day was simply slept away.

Like so many folks with jobs and families to take care of, my days seem to be full from dawn to dusk. My passion for writing is given just one hour first thing on awakening each morning…if I get up on time. If I snooze it away I am just out of luck, because there is nothing optional about the next items on the list. Perhaps the flame of my creativity was burning a little low in recent months because that fire wasn’t getting fed as often as it should have been, the time devoted to it so regularly given over to a few extra zzzzz’s. The lower it burned the easier it seemed to be to find that snooze button on the phone.

The Challenge changed all that. My interest piqued, I knew that I wouldn’t have a moment to spare in the mornings if I wanted to fully participate, and would have to respond on the first sounding of the alarm. To ensure that would happen, I placed the phone well out of my reach when climbing into bed each night. Once my feet hit the floor to turn it off in the morning I’d just keep them moving forward and found that as a result I’d won that particular battle for the day.

But there was more. On the spur of the moment I decided to start and enter this additional blog in the Challenge, even though I wasn’t given an extra dispensation of hours in my day to devote to it. And I was also keenly aware that there was more to the project than just writing and posting; visiting and commenting on other blogs was equally important if I was going to do the thing right. The first week of April was interesting as a result, as each night I’d set the alarm for an earlier time than I did the night before to try to relieve the pressure of the morning I’d experienced that day. Finally I hit upon a schedule that seemed to work…if I was faithful to it. And amazingly my desire to participate overcame my devotion to sleep.

It’s not just our mornings we sleep through, of course. Some of us are snoring our way through our days…and find that our lives are passing us by, as a result. Like the hours in a day, we are each only given so much time to accomplish what we’ve been given to do, with the added wrinkle that we don’t even know how much time that is! If we believe that we’re to be about the Father’s business, some of us had better realize that we can’t consistently show up late for work. It’s time we got up in response to His urging to jump into the fray. We may be surprised to find that there is simply no more delightful way to spend our days.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…”
(Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV)

Poised for VICTORY!

We’re getting close!

Just a couple more days and The Challenge will be over, we’ll have made it through, smiles on our faces and an exceptionally good blogging month in the books. Just as I was thinking that there was no way we’d fail to finish now, having come so far, I came across some comments posted in other blogs that have convinced me not to take these last few days too lightly.

Other less successful challenges loom largely in my mind. The word diet causes me to cringe; reminding me that I seem to start a new one every month because of the weight that I (still!) carry over from the last one. Refusing to focus on failure, I reword my newest attempt as a new eating adventure on the way to a slimmer and healthier version of me. A positive mindset is essential if I’m ever to see victory in the fight against flab, as well as so many other battles in life.

I thought back to my most successful attempt in this area, a season in which I did lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time, to see what tipped the scales in favor of success. What I found was that the motivation behind the desire to lose weight was significant enough to encourage me to turn down short term pleasures repeatedly in favor of long term joy.

That last word triggers thoughts of a verse in Scripture from a passage of encouragement on likewise finishing our Christian walk well. It advises us to keep our eyes on Jesus as our example of one who “…for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 AMP). Keeping our eyes on the prize prevents us from being distracted by the smaller pleasures of life we encounter along the way.

That passage in Hebrews offers a few other words of advice to those closing in on victory. It reminds us that we’re surrounded by a crowd of others who have successfully gone before and are now cheering us on. It tells us to travel light; to throw off any unnecessary issues that we tend to get tangled up in and that hold us back from crossing the finish line. And finally it encourages us to be patiently persistent in pushing on to the end.

Whether we make it through the alphabet of not in The Challenge is up to us individually. But thankfully our victory in life has already been won for us by Another; we need merely to walk it out.

Blog on and finish strong in the knowledge that the end is just around the bend.

“Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.”
(Romans 8: 37 AMP)

Make Yourself USEFUL!

“Make yourself useful…”

As a saying it doesn‘t inspire a lot of good vibes, followed as it often is by a suggestion of something we’d rather not do. But as a way of living, it‘s surely the best way to go.

It’s also the reason I’m struggling with blogging at the moment. Yesterday the cutest mocha-colored golden retriever puppy came into our lives. My husband did the night-time watch, but when he heard me up and about in the early morning hours he gleefully handed the fur-covered bundle of boundless energy over to me while he caught a couple of hours of shut-eye. I’ve been on puppy patrol, with all that entails, and writing simply has had to take a back seat to chasing that curly puppy dog tail all around the room. And now, though my body is screaming for a second cup of coffee, I thought it best to stay put and post while the sleeping beauty is leaning against my feet.

Many people made themselves useful in planning and preparing for The Challenge, as well as after the event officially began. Useful posts on the host page worked to get our personal blogs in shape and our minds in gear for the wear and tear of the weeks to come. Useful people on the co-host team helped those who were struggling in the early stages get on board and then encouraged us all every step of the way, despite the pull of their own demanding posts and lives. And useful comments from new-found blogger friends gave us new ideas, a lot of laughs and inspiration in so many forms.

In fact, the subject is written into the guidelines themselves as we‘ve been repeatedly urged to visit other sites and encourage their creators by following, reading, and commenting on their posts. I like that, because it’s likewise written in our guidelines for living found in the Bible. Page after page tells us to shift our focus from ourselves onto others, to seek to be a blessing in whatever ways we can find, and to live with that purpose constantly in mind. Not only does it make life better for those around us, but our own lives are improved immeasurably, as well. It turns out to be a win-win situation for all involved.

Sometimes it just doesn’t come easily to us however. We have to truly make ourselves be useful at times, especially when an opportunity to help someone else interferes with our own schedules and plans. It helps in those moments to remember that Jesus had no reason for living other than to make Himself useful to us, for our salvation, even to the point of death. And now the daily dying to our own self interests gradually changes the state of our hearts from selfishness to servanthood, and countless others are blessed as a result of that transformation. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a newly-awake puppy that wants to play…

“So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing…”
(Galatians 6:10 AMP, emphasis mine)

Say THANKS!

Okay, I admit that I’m jumping the gun a bit.

May 7th seems to be the official day to post our perspectives on this past month’s blogging bonanza, and X and Z still loom ominously on the horizon, suggesting that my opinion of this challenging experience may still change before the alphabet comes to an end. But the subject for T for me is a no-brainer. It’s simply time to say thanks.

I am ever so grateful that I stumbled across the A to Z host page in my limited ventures into the blogging world in the months before The Challenge officially began. The fire of my passion for writing had been slowly burning itself out, a change in my work situation leaving me with less time and energy to devote to it and few ideas on how to stoke the flames to get it back. Suddenly this new log was thrown on the fire…and surprisingly, it caught. Fueled by the need to prepare and fanned by the excitement of pre-challenge posts on how to do so, by April 1st the fire was burning brightly once more.  In the past weeks I’ve discovered ways to keep it from burning down to just embers ever again.

I’m reminded of the story in the Bible of the ten lepers who called out to Jesus for healing from a village He was traveling through. He told them to go show themselves to the priest, standard procedure for those who had been healed and wished to return to the society from which they’d been banned. And it was while they were in the process of going, even yet in their unclean state, that they suddenly found themselves healed before they arrived. It’s amazing to me, as it was to Jesus, apparently, that just one out of the ten turned back to thank Him for the life-changing event.

It’s important to me that I not wait till I get to where I’m going to go back and express gratitude. A friend approached me recently with a worry she wanted to talk to me about. As we discussed her options I told her to simply give the matter to God and to thank Him for handling it for her. She looked at me a little funny, and said, “Thank Him now? Don’t I wait until He answers?” I explained to her that it’s a Kingdom principle that you thank God for giving you the things you ask for before you receive them, expressing your belief that the work will be accomplished before you actually see the results. It’s faith that moves the hand of God, as Jesus told the lone leper at the end of the Bible passage (Luke 17:19).

The end of the alphabet, however yet challenging, is clearly in sight. I know I’m going to reach it, however I don’t want to get there without first going back and expressing my appreciation to the ones who set me off on the road to recovery in the first place. To the co-hosts of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, I salute you, and say thanks!

 “Be careful for nothing, but in all things, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of god, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6 KJV, emphasis mine)