Thoughts Along the Journey

Today is the memorial for Saint Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus. Whenever we hear of Mary and Martha, most of us automatically think of Martha's conversation with Jesus. She was perturbed that Mary was not helping her prepare a meal for her guests (Jesus and His disciples). Mary was, instead, sitting at Jesus' feet--listening to Him teach. Jesus' response to Martha is well known: " 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.' " (Luke 10:38-42) The picture here is how most of us picture Martha. Pestering Jesus, and busy about her meal preparations. That is how I often picture myself. Busy, busy, busy. And frustrated with anyone who isn't as busy as I am! I long to be as Mary...sitting quietly at the feet of my Lord. Learning from Him. Who wants to be like Martha, who received a scolding from Jesus? And yet... If we read...

Yep, I'm trying a new template...new profile pic... I have no idea how to truly customize my blog. I just have to use what Blogger provides. I may go back to my "dots" eventually...but you just never know!

The topic of my previous post was on "hidden work." That no matter how insignificant, meaningless, or mundane our work may seem...it is all to be done for God's glory. But there are other "hidden things" in our life that need to be dealt with as well. While the boys and I were cleaning house last week, in preparation for visitors, I emphasized to them several times to do their jobs thoroughly. As I'm sure you have experienced, "thoroughly" to a 13 year old and a 9 year old means something completely different than it means to me! When we washed our car one day, my constant reminder was, "Every inch must be cleaned boys! Every inch!" On the aforementioned cleaning day, it had more to do with dust on furniture and dust balls behind doors. Then there was the scrubbing of the kitchen floor. And the response to my insistent pleas for complete cleanliness? "If no one can see it, why does it matter? Why do you want the house to b...

Today I read a story in a devotional about a team of young adults working on a project at a deaf school. This school was in a very impoverished country. The team's project one day was to paint the back of a building. The only people who would ever see the back of the building were the person who cut the grass, and anyone who would ever have to work on the septic pit behind the building. It would have been tempting for these young adults to just slop some paint on the wall and move on to some other project that was more visible. Yet one of the girls said, "Nobody will ever come back here to see this, but God will see it. So let's make it look nice." A lot of what we do in our lives will never be seen by crowds--never receive great acclaim. Many of us have jobs that seem insignificant or tedious...very "behind the scenes" type stuff. It's tempting to think that we can just "get by" because what we do doesn't really matter, in the big ...

Well, we survived our trip out to Kansas! There was never really any doubt, right? LOL We left bright and early on the 1st, and drove as far as Columbia, MO. There's a certain motel we stay in every time, because it's right next to a Cracker Barrel . We do looove Cracker Barrel's food! The only glitch of the evening was a family get-together at the motel. Some folks were having a reunion or something, and EVERYONE was staying at our motel. They were enjoying each other's company quite a bit...especially around 12:30 in the morning! Then, after that quieted down, the people in the room above us decided to do their morning drill routine at 5 a.m. Not marching, folks. STOMPING! Wow, was it loud! We made it the rest of the way to my mom and dad's without incident. When we arrived, my sister (from Colorado) and her family were there, too. My kids and hubby finally got to meet Isaiah and a niece's husband...and we all got to meet miss Elyssa. Let me tel...