Boojoyful

A spectacular pop of pink in our daughter's yard! The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130   What are you perfectly clear on these days?  I'm clear that God wants me focussing on the word clarity.  It has  popped up in various ways everyday for week!  He has my attention.   Googling the definition a couple things caught my eye. Clarity is "the state of having a full, detailed, and orderly mental grasp of something." "We can have clarity of purpose, clarity of plan and clarity of responsibility." Bingo! That was perfect wisdom to pass on to some high school athletes I like to encourage.  I wrote, "Your purpose is to try to win.  Your coach lays out a plan and then each team member carries out their responsibility to the best of their ability.  So, I am praying for total clarity for each player as they discern their role in each play call."  On the flip side I read an article by...

  Realizing I had lost my Apple watch, I called and left a message at the spa where I had just had a massage asking them to please look and see if I had left it there.  When I returned home, I realized that morning I had washed my hair in the kitchen sink and placed it on the counter. The sweet receptionist called the next day to say she had looked and couldn't find it. I thanked her for checking and told her I had found it, Then I explained that when you get old there are lots of times you can't remember what you done and sometimes that can be fun and for the best!  She laughed. We often say, "I can forgive you, but not forget what you did to me."  Hallelujah that is not God's kind of forgiveness. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.  Jeremiah 31:34   God doesn't just forgive. When we come to him in a spirit of repentance He chooses not to remember. Thank You, Jesus. May we treat others the way you treat us. The Song "...

  You are probably familiar with the visual of putting rocks (representing the important things in your day) in a container first and then pouring sand (the smaller more insignificant things) in last.  The other way around they wouldn't fit for the sand would fill up the jar. In a discussion with a group of friends I brought up how quickly we are to recall the negative things (let's use rocks) in our lives. The hurts, losses, betrayals, trials and the disappointments.  It saddened me that those come to mind more quickly than all the little joys (let's use grains of sand). The times of laughter, hugs, kisses, celebrations, hand holds, loved ones accomplishments, life's mile stones from first steps to first jobs. The gift of each breath we take. Opening some old photo albums I looked at happy memory after after memory. (We tend to not photograph the disappointments, but they are filed indelibly in our minds.) Taking a  glass vase I poured in 1,000's of grains of sands...

Getting side tracked can be a God thing. My detour landed me in the wisdom of Corrie ten Boom, who lived through the unimaginable horror of a Nazis concentration camp.  If you have never read  The Hiding Place , by Corrie ten Boom, put it on your family's bucket list. Clicking on this link of Corrie quotes was a blessing.   https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/40-powerful-quotes-from-corrie-ten-boom.html The first two quotes were the perfect encouragement for a several families we know facing ferocious illnesses. "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.  Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." "Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." These next ones of Corrie's are for those of us with wounded hearts, longing for healing and restoration of relationships. "Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love.  Love is the strongest force in the w...

  The leaves are falling and some trees look bare, but not our magnolia tree.  She is producing some exotic pink fruit this time of year! Being in a study on the Psalms, the theme of loneliness quite often crosses the page. Certainly when we read of David hiding from Saul in a cave we sense those emotions.  Lawsy, Lawsy! The thought of loneliness shot my brain straight to the old Elvis song, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Opening lyrics say: "Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart?" Do you go through seasons where you feel like you have drifted away from God? I long, yes, faint with longing to be able to enter your courtyard and come near to the Living God.  Psalm 84:2 Whether we were created to be introverts or extroverts, we have been created to be in  relationship with God and with others. Billy Graham said, "You see, man was made for God; and without God, he is lonely.  But Jesus is knocking at the door o...

  A request had come for me to photograph a group in which I was to be in the photo. Several years back I had purchased a remote control switch that allows you to take multiple shots away from the camera.  Opening the case, I realized there were no instructions.  No problem, I went to YouTube.  Yes, problem. The only instructions were videos in Japanese! Calling to my husband, I asked him to help me trouble shoot. We both laughed at the situation not understanding a word of the Japanese man.  The remote had multiple buttons so my husband began going through options.  I knelt beside the bed on which he and the camera were sitting and positioned myself in view of the camera lens. I kept saying, "Does it work now?"  The funny photo above is evidence of our success, which I've already forgotten how to do! Think of how many inventions are part of a process where the inventor is thinking, "Will it work this time?"  God never says that.  Whatever He...

  Rec league to captain on varsity. It has taken a LOT of hard work. Growing up in any area takes work. Learning is a life long process. Academically, the course load and homework requirements get a little tougher each year. Athletically, there is sweat, sore muscles and sometimes defeat. The 2025 season of fall sports is upon the Andrews grands and we are attempting to head to as many football/field hockey bleachers and cross country courses as possible.  These athletes are learning that varsity teams have a tougher training regiment than their recreational leagues and not everyone gets a trophy or a starting position. In life there are lessons to be learned in the process of living, but we don't always grow from the process.  Look back at the Israelites who grumbled and complained for 40 years on what should have been a 12 day journey. Most of my greatest lessons from the Lord, his growing me up in His ways,  have come through painful times. He tends to get more of...

Something awakened me at 3:30AM and the anxiety of things I cannot change set in. My hot water bottle of a husband was already up. About 6:20 I called to him saying I was not going to make our morning walk. I brought up that it had been several weeks since we'd done our morning prayer books for our marriage and reflected on how easy it was to get out of the habit.   He responded, "You are trying to go back to sleep, so why don't we do them tonight."  I challenged, "If I had said let's praise the Lord would you say, 'Nah let's wait?'" "Here's a compromise," I continued, "I'll keep my eyes closed and you can read the entries in both books out loud." God showed up, for what I was to read for him was what my heart needed to be reminded of. The one I was to read over him, he read to me... "Lord, I pray for Your protection on Boo's mind. Shield her from the lies of the enemy.  Help her to clearly discern between...

Our daughter's 33 year old concert harp holds such beauty in both sight and sound. The dream was horrible, glimpses of what Job endured. I prayed it was not a foreboding of things to come.  Wanting the thoughts held in my mind to vanish, I turned to praise and heard a new song called "Come What May," which had Psalm 23 sprinkled into the lyrics.  It is below and I hope it ministers to any heartache or sorrow you are experiencing.   Come what may, I know I will end up in the arms of Jesus. Opening my email moments later, there was a prayer from Psalm 23. God had my attention! "God, Abba, Father, Thank you, Lord, for being our shepherd. You guide us along the path of life with love and care.  We truly have everything we need.  Thank you for giving us places and seasons of rest and quiet when we need it.  Help us to make time for rest.  Thank you for refreshing our souls when we take time to drink of your living water.  Help us make time for you...

  A Buttercup My paternal grandparents lived hours away in PA on Lake Erie.  Granddaddy's nickname for me was "Buttercup."  He was a meek, soft spoken, kind soul, much like my father.  Even at 68 years old I still long to sit in the love of my grandparents. No matter our age we all need to be built up like the song lyric which says, "Build me up Buttercup." My whole life I've recognized the blessing of having the knee of an older wiser woman to sit at and listen.  The older one gets the harder it is to find that older, wiser, godly person, but I have one I cherish. She lives away down in Dixie. We don't have the blessing of chatting in person, but emails of encouragement are a treasure. Miss Janie This widow has had health issues the past several years which have her in excruciating pain. A few weeks ago, her daughter texted me to let me know hospice had been called in to help with the level of pain she was experiencing.  I immediately emailed her a pray...

Young and old crafters learning tricks from one another.   Only God knows where the thoughts come from that enter our minds. This one of mine was on how our opinions change related to others' age. When we are seeking a surgeon we want one with lots of experience, which equates to having a little age on them.  After my stroke, which occurred in Nashville, I needed to find a PCP back home to take over my care, because mine had moved out west. My husband was charged with that responsibility and I remember saying, "Please find me a younger one who will outlive me, so I don't have to change doctors again." Being called to pastor a church whose majority of congregants were 45 years old and under, I wondered why they wanted my husband who was in his 60's.  We quickly learned that with age comes wisdom that has served both of us well in this ministry. What is your preference for your children/grandchildren's school teachers? Young and vivacious or older with experienc...

Sitting Beside Still Waters at Shiloh on a Lovely Fall Day Why are we so much quicker to recall the negative? You know, the times we have been wronged or hurt by someone we thought would always be there for us. Rejection, being discarded, cuts deeply into our hearts. A mother's love goes a long, long way....forgiving quickly, because no matter how old she grows she longs to hold her child in her arms.  But there is a love that goes even further than that.  Check out these song lyrics below from the song "How Far".  "A million miles from my mistakes, couldn't keep your love away, however far away I am from home....that's how far your love will go." Thank You, Father for this kind of love.  Going to Biblegateway I searched steadfast love  in the ESV and 219 verses came up. A very familiar theme in David's Psalms is "The steadfast love of the Lord." But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.   Psalm 13...

When someone receives a medical diagnose that seems hopeless what is often heard?  "We are going to find you the best doctor." The computers come out and the search begins. When I listened to the song below and pulled up the lyrics: "So much stronger, so much greater, so much wiser, so much higher" I thought, "Why are we ever slow to run to God for help and advice." The opening lyrics say: "When my heart is overwhelmed, when I barely trust myself, lead me to the Rock Higher than I. My mind flashes to people in the Bible who went to the Rock on behalf of others. Mary and Martha when Lazarus was sick unto death. They knew who they needed. "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." John 11:21-22 Moses  crying out for his sister, Miriam, with leprosy. "Lord, Please, God, heal her!" Numbers 12:13 Jairus, the Roman soldier, c...

Cheering on Cross Country runners is a work out for the fans. As I say too often say, "Life is a lot. A lot of joy and a lot of heartache." One day last week,  I got a call that a friend's father was traveling with his wife out west and died in his sleep. This same friend lost her son to suicide a year ago. That same day was the one year anniversary of another friend's son's horrific murder in their driveway. She held her dying teenaged son in her arms.  That morning I had awakened to a really fun dream about a friend's mother inviting me to visit her in Florida where she had booked a retirement home for the winter months. The dream was so vivid. We took water aerobics classes, took an Uber to a wonderful seafood restaurant, went to a concert, the beach, it was fabulous.  This woman got pedicures every month with her daughter and in the dream our beds were reclining pedicure chairs with fabulous linens, sans the water tubs.  I couldn't wait to call the mom...

Currently, I am in a 9 month study of the Psalms through the international program, Community Bible Study. Again and again the Psalms reference creation. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.  You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalm 8:1 Sitting out on our screened porch, doing my lesson, I was mesmerized by all that was occurring in creation.  Leaves were falling, billowing clouds were passing by as the wind caused the tree branches to bend and the river to ripple.  Crows were cawing and a fat baby ground hog ran along the grass as a squirrel scampered up a tree. Then the rain began to fall. The magnitude of God hit me as I realized He was aware of it all. "Everything God has made is preaching, with loudspeakers, cranked high and embedded everywhere we turn, and yet we often have our heads down, scrolling on our phones, almost nodding off."  Marshall Segal Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together. Psalm 98:...

  Pulling into the parking lot of our grandson's debut as a middle school football player, I didn't realize we'd need to pay to go to the game and hadn't brought my purse. I asked the woman at the ticket table how much the fee was and explained I'd have to go back to my car and scrounge up some money.  I explained I had a secret compartment that holds a note which says, "Jesus says, "Do not steal." The man behind me in line said, "If my son saw that note he'd take the money and leave a note saying, "I owe you Jesus." We do owe Jesus. We owe Him everything but "Jesus canceled the record of debt we owed by nailing it to the cross."  Colossians 2:14 The Song "Jesus Paid It All" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9d9a13YUP8

Beauty can be found in the simplest things. Awakening on a lazy Saturday morning, I did my morning stretch on our bed and out of my mouth came the words, "Oh, my soul." Then, down the rabbit hole she went! Even if  it takes you two days, hang with this one, because it helps us in knowing how to answer the question "When I die, am I with Jesus?" First, I Googled to see if the "Oh, my soul" phrase was a song tucked into my brain and sure enough it was a goody! Check out these lyrics: "Oh, my soul.  Oh, how you worry.  Oh, how you're weary, from fearing you lost control. This was the one thing, you didn't see coming. And no one would blame you, though.  If you cried in private.  If you tried to hide it away, so no one knows.  No one will see, if you stop believing. Chorus: Oh, my soul.  You are not alone.  There's a place where fear has to face the God you know. One more day, He will make a way.  Let Him show you how, you can lay this down ...