Ghana Well Project

I generally don't use my blog to ask you to consider donating to a cause I am not directly involved in, but this well project needs your help. As you know, I was in Ghana last fall and had the opportunity to meet this missionary couple. We have been blessed to spend time together both in Ghana and stateside and their hearts for the people of Ghana are genuine.

The areas where they work are some of the poorest parts of Ghana and a well is very much needed. Water is SOOO important and vital to communities. It will take $5000 to drill the well and they would like to have the money raised before they return to Ghana in the next several weeks.

Please visit their website and click on Well Project. Donate if you can. If you can't please consider passing the word along to others.

http://www.jasmundoutreach.com/

Mud

He see things in black and white. Right and wrong. The sign says no trespassing … What if we get caught? This is wrong. Isn’t it? Always trying to play by the rules. Pounding the dirt path of living by the law.

She sees things with fluid non-defined borders. How can one judge without knowing the circumstances or the lessons that have been learned? She trusts in forgiveness. Swimming in the waters of grace.

The question of law or grace goes way back in time to the first century and we are still trying to figure out the right recipe today.

 It’s not all law nor is it all grace.  But what is it?

 It’s mud.

Yep. Dirty mud.

It is dirt mixed with some water creating something different altogether. It’s almost impossible to separate out just water or just dirt from mud. One always comes along with at least a little bit of the other. The law needs a little grace to soften its dry hardness. Grace needs some boundaries for firmness to walk on.

Law gives a firmer foundation 

while grace provides some cushion.

Might give a whole new meaning to mud-wrestling!

Spring in Boston

BOWLING NIGHT! 

I came in last... as usual

The Japanese anime convention made for some interesting entertainment.
If I had only know I would have packed my Sailor Moon outfit.  

Picnic in the Gardens
It was a little chilly, but the food and company were great.

 

The Museum of Science

Where I worshiped on Easter morning
Stephen's graciously welcoming church

Reflected Light

One of the things Stephen and I did this weekend in Boston was visit the Museum of Science. It was filled with many hand-on exhibits in so many different areas of science. The area we spent the most time in was all about LIGHT. We played with prisms, lasers, black lights and colors.

There was one activity that used light, colored panels and mirrors to make art on a white wall. I could not figure out how to best use the mirrors to shift and move the colors. I either ended up with nothing but shadows on the wall or one square of color. I gave up and went onto the next thing that caught my attention without much thought about it.

Later I would see this in a whole different light.



















A dear friend of mine is in the midst of working through a difficult family situation where emotions are intense. Stephen and I were discussing the best way to help her find the truth in God's Word and encourage her. The exhibit from the museum flashed in my mind. It creatively illustrates the idea of the true light being reflected off our emotional mirrors. If we set up those mirrors (our thought and feelings) right, it can create reflected beauty. But if they are placed incorrectly or turned the wrong way the darkness remains.


Are our emotional mirrors reflecting the light or deflecting it?

The ability to create art with the light of truth is in us. What is being reflected on the wall to be seen? What is being bounced off the emotional mirrors? Are there too many shadows? Is it just one color: all blue with sadness, too much bitter green, or blazing angry red? Turn the mirrors to reflect the beauty of the true light.

And just like the exhibit at the museum, it takes time and it isn't easy, but almost nothing beautiful ever is.

Hanging up Human-ness

Life is like a roller coaster they say, with it's highs and lows, but what about the times when we slow down in the middle sections and it's starting to sway? There are decisions we can't seem to make and emotions get shoved aside because there is a to-do list to get done. People we love need our strength. A snapshot of how different we dreamed our life to be appears and tags 'it' and wants to be chased after, but there is no extra energy to go running in pointless circles. Everything feels just a little bit heavier even though nothing being carrying seemed to have changed. A break from this journey would be nice. Not a unloading, or shutting down, or running away, just a moment to walk away and be different. 

If only we could unzip and step out. Hang up our humanness on the coat rack and walk out the door. 

A floating in oblivion. 

Free from the limitations of the body, the aches and expectations. Free from decisions, failures, desires and disappointments. Free from the weariness of life's journey.

A complete rest. 

Just for a while.

Then coming back inside, lifting our humanness off the hook and quietly slipping back into it. Back for the rest of the ride. 

Selling Kids?

Celimphilo will be 14 in April. It’s hard to believe I have been sponsoring him for 6 years now. Typically his letters are very short – well wishes and answers to any questions I may have asked and that’s it. 

A few months ago a letter arrived that gave me precious insight into the heart of this boy I barely know. In his letter he told me that it had been cold in Swaziland and the blanket they had received several years ago was now worn out. Even in school he was cold and because he didn’t have anything of his own, he was wearing his older sister’s sweater to school. What teenage boy anywhere wants to wear their sister’s clothes?

So I did what I could to help and this week I got a letter.

“… We have managed to buy a she goat, school shoes and jersey which will keep him warm in cold seasons. They will multiply itself, kids will be sold for school needs.”

When I first read it I thought:                 Selling kids?? Huh? I thought I was doing all this work to keep kids from being sold… Oh wait kids… baby goats. Boy I’m slow today. Pretty impressive that one she goat can multiply itself! I’m sure the she would never be caught with any of those male goats that roam around the village.  

Full Circle

For the last 2+ years I have been pouring myself into life and community. Stretching. Thriving. It's been an amazing journey full of many adventures and lots of travel. A time of new relationships, some long and others short. Funny how quickly our lives and perspectives can change sometimes. February started with the Joy Dare and a planned trip to Boston. Instead the month brought the death of my grandpa, the heartache and increased forgetfulness of my granny, the burden of so much of this on my father, trying to juggle everyone's needs, and my own evaluation of what I want out of my life.

I wish I could say it has spurred me to lofty goals and ambitions, but it seems to have frozen me in this contemplative place. There is a sense that too much of life has passed by and yet still too much ahead. So I sit here and type feeling like I have nothing left to say here on this blog. The beauty and ideas and lessons that once seemed to pour out feel galaxies away. Whatever thoughts and feelings I have seemed to be trapped behind a big steel door without a key. It feels like an invasion of my own privacy to even be sharing this right now (but I am doing it anyway).

This past month I have been emptied. I've been stripped down by death, by people in need, by my own expectations, and a God who wants the best for me and of me. Emptied of discipline, motivation, connection, passion, and love. It's exactly where God wants me - dependent on Him, looking to Him for restoration. Full circle.

Now...

He's turned the page for me to start anew. It's the same book but the story can go anywhere from here. With what words shall it begin...?

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. (Psalm 143:8)