Still Saturday::Wherever my feet are...

What if I woke to now and refused to hurry because I didn’t want to refuse God?

What if I didn’t discount this moment but counted it for what it is—God here?

It is only the present moment alone that holds the possibility of coming into the presence of God. Look around, breathe deep, enter into this one moment.

Now could be an altar. This time could be a tabernacle.

In God, there is no time, only eternity—or more simply, only now. His name is I AM. Here—wherever my feet are—is where I can love Him.

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p. 41

Thanksliving::Day 8:Still Saturday:my daily prescription...

And if a joy-filled heart is good medicine, 

then giving thanks is my daily prescription.

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p. 201

30 Days of Thanksliving - Day 8

Still Saturday::to rightly read the scale...

When I go looking for glimpses of Him, when I seek to fill the empty places with more of Him who is beauty, my equilibrium recalibrates to find its center in the Judge who became grace to bestow grace and I can rightly read the scale, feel it inside, and know it's true: 

If you can really see -- the weight of Glory always tips the scales for joy.

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p. 83

Still Saturday::tipping the scales for joy...

When I go looking for glimpses of Him, when I seek to fill the empty places with more of Him who is beauty, my equilibrium recalibrates to find its center in the Judge who became grace to bestow grace and I can rightly read the scale, feel it inside, and know it's true:

If you can really see -- the weight of Glory always tips the scales for joy.

~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p. 83*

Photo: playing with layering.

*I've been privileged to lead the women's study at my church this fall, developing it around around Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Devotional and the One Thousand Gifts DVD Study. If you are interested in how I've taken a 5 lesson DVD study and created an 11 week study for groups, just drop me an email ( pollywogcreekporch at gmail dot com )and I'll be happy to share the plan with you. 

Still Saturday::to hear your life sing...

You can only hear your life sing --- when you still.

Father God, You tell me to still. For the very best of reasons. So today --- I will.

I've been missing the songs far too long.

Ann Voskamp One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p.48

The best day ever...

I shared this story from 4 years ago at the women's study at church last week. How often do we -- do I -- complain about what I don't have and then fail to rejoice at God's goodness to others? I've never forgotten this - how 4yo Gavin demonstrated what it means to rejoice with those who rejoice, even when -- especially when -- there's nothing in it for me.

Celebrating Mason's birthday with all four grand-littles together -- for three delightful hours on a Sunday afternoon -- was pure joy.    

They are gifts of immeasurable worth -- each one of them, and I'm inspired by their examples of an innocent faith and joy in the simple pleasures of life.

With individual and unique personalities and character traits, they are both a challenge to parent (and grandparent) and a source of great delight and entertainment -- keeping us on our knees one moment and rejoicing in laughter and God's blessings the next.

Four and a half year old Gavin is a perfect example. There's no denying it -- he can be a handful. Strong willed, rambunctious and not the most compliant little boy, yet I've never seen a child be happier with any gift he is given or be a more cheerful giver than Gavin. Though he wants them back when the game is over, he often plays at giving his toys away as gifts. 

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

At Mason's party, Gavin watched with excitement as both Mason and two year old Austin opened gifts from the family. Not once did he sulk or complain that there were no gifts for him. If I had been Gavin, I might have felt sorry for myself -- the only one, except for six month old Addisyn, to not have a present to open. But standing in the middle of all the excitement, the floor littered with wrapping paper and most of Mason's and Austin's gifts opened, Gavin happily declared, "This is the best day ever."

I want to be more like Gavin -- a cheerful giver who wholeheartedly rejoices at the gifts of others.

Photos: that delightful Sunday afternoon and this mimi with all four grand-littles - Austin, Mason, Addisyn and Gavin.

Still Saturday::the purpose of loveliness...

The fundamental purpose of loveliness is to convey [God's] love.

~ Ann Voskamp

{Photos - loveliness in late August on Pollywog Creek}

Still Saturday::the cure for sight deficiency...

Lord, you are the only lens that can correct the vision of a life.

And if I don't hunger daily for the bread of Your Word,

I'll develop sight deficiency.

Make me Word reflective

that I may have the right perspective.

~ Ann Voskamp

One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p.79

Still Saturday::it takes time...

It takes time

for eyes to adjust

to stillness, 

and 

only the

slow

really see.

~ Ann Voskamp

One Thousand Gifts Devotional, p.46

For just five minutes...

I wasn't sure I should stop.

Exhausted from two days of busier-than-normal activity and a full morning that included an early appointment with the dermatologist and shopping at both Target and the grocery store {experiences that leave me feeling like I'm walking on rocks}, I was anxious to get home, unload the groceries and rest my feet.

I'd tried to stop one day last week, but when I turned off the highway, a sign on the locked gate declared the park closed. Maybe the sign was still there, and with groceries in the car that needed refrigeration, I really didn't have time to dawdle anyway.

But the gate was open and I couldn't resist. For just five minutes, I could breathe in the fresh air and wonder at the spring that's coming to life in this quiet, isolated park of palmetto-oak scrubs under a canopy of long-needle pines. 

And for just five minutes, it didn't even feel like walking on rocks.

Sweet Shot Tuesday::fully attentive...

Don't I always have the choice to be fully attentive?
Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.

~ Ann Voskamp, "One Thousand Gifts"

Staying in the battle...

The azaleas are budding and blooming, and spring appears to be making a much too early arrival for my liking here on Pollywog Creek. 

It's not the warm weather that causes my displeasure - who doesn't delight in the beauty of spring? It's the air heavy with moisture and the effort to breathe with these scarred lungs of mine and the fatigue that follows, and I find myself listing all the ugly swamps, vile weeks and sharp thorns in my life.   

You should be grateful it's not 95 degrees yet, my husband reminds me. And he's right. I should be.

It's been my tagline for years - this cultivating an eye for life's mercies - a practice I've obviously not mastered. But I'm determined to stay in the battle for joy and with this woe-is-me nature of mine - and count the LORD's never-ending gifts instead. 

{Photos - azaleas in my back yard this week}

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.