Good morning moon and the value of a "like"...

Jennifer Lee {@Getting Down with Jesus} was all about the moon last week and asked some of her photographer friends if we'd share photos of the moon for one of her posts. I was both surprised to be asked and honored to be included. 

Jennifer's request came just when I've been wondering if anyone really cares whether I write or take photos - because even if we know that God has given us gifts to be used for His glory, and His opinion and encouragement is the only one that truly matters - encouragement from others inspires and motivates us to keep on keeping on when we're discouraged and feel like giving up.

I thought about that encouragement yesterday when I read an article on how to calculate the value of a "like" in social media. {HT to J.B. Wood @Shrinking the Camel} As someone who thinks relationally and struggles to appreciate marketing, I was both fascinated and disappointed at how the monetary value of a social media "like" can be calculated - because the value of a "like" can be immeasurable. It says, I noticed. I agree. That was great. Thanks. 

And because I know this, I need to be a better "liker" - and I don't mean on FB or Twitter - but someone who notices others and lets them know that who they are and what they do matter.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ~ Philippians 2:4 ESV  

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

{Moon photo collage - Inspired by Jennifer's post, I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading out into the backyard in my PJs in Sunday's early dawn when I saw the moon still gracing the sky.}

31 Days::Day 23 - Knowing fully...

Yesterday had already unfolded into yet another pray day when I read the email in my inbox - the one telling me that as the sun was rising over fields of sugarcane to the east, my gratitude-counting friend Marilyn was flying home to Jesus.

The prayer shawl she crocheted, while cancer-fighting drugs dripped into her veins, lays in a heap on top of our basket of blankets and the gratitude journal the three of us shared - Marilyn, Joyce and me - is open to Marilyn's last entry where I read it over and over again - remembering the joy she discovered in counting 1,000 gifts while numbering her last days.  

When I open the curtains and look out the bedroom window, I see our new-to-us dog Red sleeping as close as she can to the fence separating her from our old-to-us dog Jake, and I want to capture it with my camera - but the view is veiled by the dirty windows. And I think of Marilyn - who like Joyce and me - once saw in a mirror dimly and knew in part - who today is face to face with our Lord and knowing fully His immeasurable gifts.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

Day 23 - Romans 9 {...as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” vs 33 }, more fall decorating, clean inside master bedroom windows.

31 Days::Day 15 - Pray day ...

It's a pray day, my friend tells me on the phone this morning.

Two people we know and love have surgery today, another two have heart caths.

Someone we love is preparing for a risky procedure later this week. Still others are battling symptoms without answers.

And our dear, dear gratitude-counting friend Marilyn is not long for this world...all we can do is pray.

My just one thing for the day is to pray.

Day 13 - Romans 1 { ...For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made... vs 19-20}, pray day.

31 Days::Day 5 - On having a reputation for good works...

Today I sit in my comfy blue lounge chair in an air-conditioned home {it's still in the 90's down here y'all} with my husband and daughter and access to the internet and a cell phone and music and books ... and I still wage war with loneliness.

One day I'm full of confidence and tell my friend Robbi I'm going to write a it's-never-too-late book ... and today I consider change and the loss of dreams and I fight back tears of feeling too old and that it is too late and who cares what I write anyway.  

Oh, the irony of it all.

Day 5 - I Timothy 5 {... and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. ~ vs 10}, washed, ironed and rehung doorway drapes that were looking a bit ragged and definitely not presentable, just one load of laundry.  

31 Days::Day 3 - The mystery of godliness...

Filling out a patient questionnaire for his annual doctor's visit recently, Louis and I both had to laugh at one of the symptoms he was to check if it applied to him. Somewhere between headaches and shortness of breath was feel terrible. I'm not sure how a doctor would evaluate and treat that particular symptom, but haven't we all had days when we can't put our finger on exactly why we don't feel well - we just feel terrible.

Yesterday morning my friends Joyce and Patti and Patti's son Joshua came over with a basket of fresh-baked scones and love and laughter and I'm so grateful. It was the perfect prescription for my just feel terrible days. 

Day 3 - I Timothy 3 {Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. ~ v.16}, dusted the living area, dining room and master bedroom - because sometimes a simple chore is all that's needed to bring something lovely into the home. 

Week{ending}::living sacrificially...

It's been a great week. Well...except for Monday when I had the worst headache ever while away from home on business and lunch with the local crisis pregnancy center board. I felt so horrible that Joyce, one of my dearest friends in the whole world, had to drive me and my car home {an hour away} so that I could close my eyes, lay back in the car seat with a wet paper napkin over my face and try to keep from throwing up. 

Joyce is a saint. She lives more sacrificially than anyone I know - caring for her elderly mother in her home while meeting the multiple and various needs of so many others. Monday was a rare day of respite from caregiving, and she ended up caring for me. 

But the rest of the week? It's been great. Fatigue aside, I've felt better than I have in weeks - able to wander around outside sooner after I wake up and meander farther from the house in the wandering.

Wednesday I was beyond thrilled to meet up with Jen - a beautiful young woman God placed in my life and heart several years ago. Like Joyce, Jen lives sacrificially - loving on and nurturing her young family while caring for and carrying the burdens of those God brings across her path. She's a faithful friend and warrior in prayer.


Oh how I love the body of Christ. God is so, so good to me and I'm incredibly grateful for His kindness, His goodness....His love and grace.

Speaking of gratitude...

Joyce and Jen and Ann are not the only people in my life who live sacrificially for others - men and women who love and live like Jesus. There's simply not enough space to list them all here, but I know who you are, you know who you are, and you bless me a thousand times over. 
Who in the body of Christ comes to your mind when you think of living sacrificially in ways that bless and minister to you?

Woe to him who is alone when he falls...

Two are better than one,
because they have a good reward for their toil.
For if they fall,
one will lift up his fellow.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls
and has not another to lift him up!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV

In less than a month, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, Robbi  - my critique partner, writing coach, book collaborator, and friend - will be boarding a plane with me headed for Asheville, North Carolina, and the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. For a multitude of reasons, it's a conference I would not be attending without her.

My friendship with Robbi bears witness to God's sovereignty - from how He brought us together to how He manipulates our circumstances and speaks to us individually, giving us glimpses of His purposes for our writing and confirming our plans. Two truly are better than one.

This will be my first major outing since rheumatoid arthritis, and every now and then I worry about how I will manage the conference. There are days when walking from one room to another in my house is a challenge. How will I ever get from one place to the next away from home - in a large conference venue?

Robbi teasingly suggested roller skates. I told her she'd have to push me - that she could use my cane to prod me along...and just like scripture says, she could lift me up if I fall.

Don't tell anyone, but that could be the title of our next book - Two Are Better Than One.

What about you? Do you have a two-are-better-than-one story?

{Photos - two by themselves not-so-great point-and-shoot photos made lovelier when they were combined into one.}

"No matter what...

...it's a good day when" you have to have a root canal and you know your friend is praying for you.
That's not a page from our book, but maybe it should be. It's definitely a page from my life this week.

An apple a day did not keep the doctor away from me. Those sweet, crisp, juicy red orbs of delight - for which Johnny Appleseed was most grateful - hastened the fracturing of one of my large molars. 

The root canal was a breeze - thank you my dear praying friend. It's the after-the-xylocaine-wore-off pain that's makes me want to throw the basket of apples into the pond - or at the person who penned that "apple a day" adage.    

Johnny Appleseed and I do have this in common - the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need. Forget the apple seeds. 

No matter what...

...it's a good day when

you have a root canal

and there's pain killers in the medicine cabinet.

{Photo} from the archives

What if I can't...

"Have you had a stroke?" She had no way of knowing. We'd been out of touch for decades, but her question took me by surprise. Do I really look that bad? I wondered.

In public I'm simply embarrassed.  

I shuffle and hobble, stiff-legged and off balance. In a restaurant, I dread getting up from the table. I'm certain everyone is watching. I'm not that old. I bet they think I'm drunk. 

I survey the shortest path to where we sit in church but it takes me through a door where I imagine that all eyes are on me.  I try to walk faster, but it only accentuates my broken gait. 

At Gavin's party, the other grandmothers wear skates and play with the baby, and the little ones laugh. I sit at the table. I'm grateful it's not far from the restrooms, but the distance between where I sit and where almost everyone else is laughing and playing looks as challenging to me as a marathon. 

I can't skate. I can't play. But I can take pictures. I grab my camera and make my way across the room that gets larger in my eyes with each step. 

~ ~ ~

At brunch with a friend, she tells me that Pollywog Creek is a gift - the photos and family stories. She is sure it is a blessing to many.  And I want to cry. 

"What if I can't take pictures?" I ask. I can barely walk around the backyard, much less venture out to the creek or pasture. It's a monumental task to sit on the ground.

"What if I can't do the one thing I do that people love?"  I bite my lip, but I know my chin is quivering. Crying in a restaurant would only add to my embarrassment. 

My friend is compassionate. I see her tears. But she is also wise - and she reminds me of this: it is God that empowers me to do whatever He wants me to do. 

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?
Or am I trying to please man?
If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
(Galatians 1:10 ESV)


{Photo}the goldfinches are coming back to Pollywog Creek - can the painting buntings be here soon?

Weekend wanderings...

Weekends {are for} Wanderings on Pollywog Creek 

...looking back and catching up

Much of this past week was clouded by a slowly moving tropical system that pushed back sunlight and dumped inches of rain on Pollywog Creek. When storm clouds parted, cool dry, refreshing air replaced the heavyiness of a lingering south Florida summer and the evidence of those inches of tropical nourishment blazed bright and green. Soul food it was. Satisfying and delicious. And for those of us that tend to frizz, it's been the best hair days ever. 

I mentioned it last weekend, but it's worth repeating. My daughter Emily is participating in the HelloSomebody campaign Hello Rwanda to feed and educate 100 boys now living on the streets. This is one of many worthy opportunities for those of us with more than enough to reach out to the least of these. If you are interested in helping Emily with this campaign, please let me know. We both ordered watches this week and they arrived in the mail just yesterday. Emily's is white (she already had a pink one), and mine is navy blue - perfect for someone like me whose basic wardrobe is centered around blue jeans. 

We're celebrating two different family birthdays in different towns this weekend - all in one day. I'll be wearing my HelloSomebody watch (and blue jeans, of course) and delighting in the lavish gift of family, friends and this beautiful weather. I'd love to know how you are celebrating life this weekend. 

{Photos} wee evidence of a tropical nourishment 

I want to be a rock star...

Some of my favorite people are rock stars. I want to be a rock star, too.

Rock stars cook, teach, visit the home-bound, write lovely letters, challenge creativity, and love on and care for the needy.

They write the books that stir up love and good deeds, and they "like" and send hugs and kisses.

They sing, laugh, wipe dirty noses, craft quilts, speak to one or thousands, love the unlovely, kiss boo-boos and fevered brows, sponsor children, paint and capture beauty, and pray in secret.

They pull weeds, change dirty diapers, scrub toilets, crochet prayer shawls, knit socks, and encourage where ever they are.

And  they do it without a grumble.

They are rock stars - standing on the Rock to Shine like a Star - loving, giving, writing and speaking the words of life to which they hold.  

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life." ~ Philippians 2.14-15a NIV

As I count thanks with Ann in community today, I am grateful for..

...YOU - and all the ways you are a rock star, inspiring and encouraging your circle of influence 

...the good medicine of a cheerful heart and the friends who delivered with love and laughter

...a sweet morning with Addisyn

...a day trip with Louis and watching him play "Big Buck Hunter" with Mason and Austin {adorable haircuts}

...two Sunday mornings in a row for worship and fellowship {how I love the Body of Christ}

...answered prayers and meds that work {yes}

...music and those gifted to make it

...hot showers, clean sheets, soft pillows and heating pads

...bowls of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter

...the views out my windows

...a daughter still at home {truly a gift}

What gifts and rock stars are you counting with thanks today?

{Photos} from a morning to wander  

Because two are better than one...

\

A lovely long weekend of Diptychs...

















...because two are better than one.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.  ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I'm counting thanks in community with Ann today - for "twos that are better than one"...

• my husband Louis and my beautiful Emily, who still meet my every need - cooking, cleaning, making up the bed, and helping in a multitude of ways as my health improves each day 
• Joyce C and Marilyn and the hearts-knitted-together journal of gratitude we share
• crispy apples and sweet bannanas
• grapes and cherries 
• homemade yogurt and zucchini muffins from the bakery
• fellowship and worship with the Body of Christ
• purple berries trailing the fence and bringing beauty in a vase to the table
• Louis singing grace - the only song he says he knows - to sleepy Addisyn on his chest
• red brick churches and wooden backyard swings
• summer's August greens and the hints of fall in the yellowing sweetgum leaves
• afternoon naps and thunderstorms

Photos: from a long weekend with two trips (one to Lake Placid and the other to church) and two outdoor wanderings on Pollywog Creek 

Wrapped in love...

"This piece was handmade for Pat Hunter by the Prayer Shawl Ministry of Cumming First United Methodist Church. As it was created, we prayed for you. We asked the Lord to give you many blessings of courage, strength, and comfort. As you hold this in your hands, please remember the love that we have for you and the love that God has for you as He holds you in His hands."

...in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

How do you do that - count others more significant than yourself?  

I learn from my beautiful gratitude-counting friend Marilyn. 

She fights for her life against a disease she'd overcome years ago - and she labors in love for others. 

While drugs for the disease drips into her veins, she crochets a cerulean shawl, embellishes it with a charm of love, and mails it to me on the wings of prayer.

The stories that begin with me...

It's in the love/hate struggle I have with public speaking. The moments before I walk to the podium and when all eyes are on me, I'm a heart-racing, trembling wreck. But as the message takes over and captures attention (Lord help me if it doesn't) and it's all about something and some One bigger than me, I ease out of fear into comfort and delight to speak to attentive hearts.

It's the center-of-attention that weakens me - to stand naked and needy before others, and pride is surely the root. It's pride that balks to acknowledge pain, because pride never wants to cry help. It's pride that compels me to fold up the walker and hide it behind the door in defiance - to say I can do it myself.

And though I cringe at self-serving, poor-me, attention-grabbing drama, sometimes it's me where the stories begin, and it's only as I put my needy self out there that I can tell of the Grace that has met every need.

A multitude of gratitude for a week of grace...

...perfect timing in all things

...the perfect Word for all things

...the walker I try to hide

...the prednisone I hate to take

...the doctors and pain meds I wish I didn't need

...the emergency room where I didn't want to go but didn't have to wait

...the IV cortisone for a C-T scan that eased my joints for the day ahead

...the heating pads for swollen joints

...the love that was baked in a cinnamon sour cream coffee cake

...my husband's wise and gospel-saturated words for wounded, lost hearts at his friend's funeral

...Nick in his uniform

...Casey's 27th birthday and those two little boys at lunch 

...Emily with a heart in Africa but the hands and feet of Jesus at home

...a get-well balloon and pink carnations

...roses (still with thorns) from the garden

Counting thanks in community with Ann. Won't you join? 






Photos: from the dike along Hwy 27 in Palm Beach County overlooking the rim canal in the Big O

A quick word of explanation: a stress ulcer and hepatitis (probably a toxic response to one of the RA meds) nearly put me in the hospital this week, but I'm resting and treating the ulcer at home and off all RA meds, with the exception of prednisone and pain medication, until my liver enzymes return to normal. Your prayers for me are yet one more gift of grace.

One more chance...

We knew our friend's suffering was nearly over when labored and shallow breathing greeted us at the door. For thirty bittersweet moments we said goodbye and grieved the tragic loss of a friend and the pain of those who've loved him long and well, yet we rejoiced that he'd soon be free of disease (and decades-old addictions) that had inflicted without mercy.

Only one week earlier - tethered to a respirator, IV's, tubes and catheters - he was in a moment-by-moment fight against the consequences of those addictions he'd been told were inevitable, and in waking from the drug-induced sedation, he flailed in battle against the demons that demanded what he was no longer able to give. We could only watch and pray and cry and hope. "Please give him one more chance," his family begged.

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" ~ Ezekiel 33:3

Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer - "O God, You know."

The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God's power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see?

If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God...then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. 

~ Oswald Chambers (My utmost for His highest June 1)

And one more chance was graciously given - the gift of two full lucid and peaceful days - to breathe the outside air untethered and pet his dog, to eat McDonald's fries and drink mountain dew, and to admit, "I did this to myself." Two more days for "I'm sorry. I love you" and to repair what had been broken. Two more days to secure a place in eternity - the only thing that really matters in life and death moments like this.

As we drove back through the gate here on Pollywog Creek, three hours after those last goodbyes and "Go with God in peace" were whispered, we received the call that our friend had passed through the dark valley of suffering, bondage and death and into eternity with the God of Grace and Mercy and one more chance.

Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
~ Psalm 116:15

Over the river and through the woods...

....from here to the east coast


...graduation day (my beautiful granddaughter Tabitha and my handsome nephew Ryan)


...the pasture


...downtown Ft. Myers


...playing with color 


...another drive from here to the east coast


...the VA hospital - our east coast destination

We've spent much time between here and somewhere else the last couple of weeks. Two trips east to the coast, one drive up to central Florida, and numerous excursions into "the city" have done serious damage to our gasoline and eating-out budgets.

These comings and goings have been a mixed bag of activity - loving on a dying friend and celebrating the joys of high school graduations - interspersed with the ordinary stuff of life.

The days ahead promise more of the same - doctor appointments in one direction, trips to love on our friend in another, a golden anniversary celebration with friends and five full-of-fun days with two grandlittles - two year old Austin and almost-five year old Mason.

Our bittersweet visits with a friend now in hospice have been a harsh reminder of life's brevity and an encouragement to not waste (or take for granted) whatever time we have been given with those we hold dear.

Photos: A gallery of collages from our first drive to the east coast to the last. Don't you love how it begins and ends with a side mirror view? Serendipity - honest. Totally unplanned.

It's never too late...

We sweetened our tea and passed the bowl of grapes and the plate of prosciutto, and Patti, who'd planned every detail, opened her Bible.

I read the article you linked to, Patti glanced at me across the table, and thought I would read a few verses while we're together around this table. 

I smiled knowingly as she continued, Sometimes I wish I could raise my children all over again.

I knew what she meant. We wish for a do-over - to take the measure of maturity and wisdom we possess  today and go back and nurture our children again. But we can't, and regretting the past wastes precious time we have now. 

But it's never too late to change what we do today.

My boys are grown with families of their own, I tell Patti, and though Emily still lives at home, she's an independent young adult. When I shared Ann's article with Louis, he agreed that it's a discipline we should practice. We bring our Bibles to the supper table, and after we eat our food, we read a chapter aloud every day - even if it's only the two of us. We've read James, Colossians and now we're in Thessalonians." I continued. "It really isn't too late to begin doing today what we wish we had known to do years ago."

Finding the passage she was looking for, Patti read, and before we left the table, we'd eaten of the true Bread and were satisfied with all things good...

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

The glory of bread is that it satisfies.

~ John Piper - A Godward Life

Thank you, Ann (without an e) - you are a gift, and I give thanks to God always for you.