Abundance

Abundance is being completely filled, having all....even more than is needed.

Four dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Drawers that won't shut when all the laundry is done at once. Unlimited access to a building full of books. Long summer days. Gardens that won't stop producing. Shelves lined with more than I grew. Gifts of honey, wheat, beef and listening ears. A crowded house. High speed Internet.

This is abundance.

But there's more. Abundance itself is quite abundant, you know. Awareness and gratitude for what we have can produce a wealth of abundance from supposed deprivation.

My first tomato from seed. An unexpected hug. Everyone liking dinner at once. An inappropriate burst of laughter. No homework on the weekends. Enjoying a kiss. Winter sun shining through my windows. Phone call when you don't have time. Hugging Kevlar twice daily.

I believe abundance is always there just waiting, but sometimes is it seems elusive. Suppressed by loss of self control, doubt, and selfish desires; concealed behind rebellion. Refusing to look, to ask or listen.

To rediscover your abundance it may be as simple as to, "Look outside - I know that you'll Recognize it's summertime"

When I'm willing to look outside of myself and see the penetrating summer heat of God's love...it is truly overflowing.

"One of the remarkable qualities about God's love for us is that not only do we
experience it as validating and affirming, but it also produces growth and
change in us. It literally moves us forward, toward Him and our own eventual
exaltation. It is a sculpting, correcting, and purposeful kind of love."
(friendly facebook quote)

Without this kind of lasting abundance, this unconditional abundance, this filling in my missing gaps abundance that I receive daily from my Savior, I would be continually lacking.

Long awaited change. Being picked up when you fall. A broken heart made stronger not harder. Whispered truth when surrounded by lies. Feeling peace in the pain. Being held when it hurts. Runner's high lasting way past the second mile. Finding joy in the simple. Understanding hidden treasures.

More than I need.

Exactly all I need.

What does abundance mean to you? http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2009/11/wordfull-wednesday-abundance.html.

Ongoing gratidude list #7-32

Stubborn Beauty

This tree has caught my eye all week. It's our cherry tree that we planted just over a year ago. While all the other trees are busy undressing, preparing for winter bed, it stands defiant; clinging to it's autumn negligee, refusing to go unnoticed.

Yesterday, as the sun lay low, I could resist no longer. Putting my house on self-pilot, I grabbed my camera and ran out to catch the last bit of light glowing through it's leaves before the early winter dim cooled the show.

I spent the night up and down with sick kids and once, as I again sought slumber, I thought about the tree and connected. This was not just any tree.

This was her tree.

Snow blew in hard through the night and covered the still covered tree beautifully, and I smile.

Three trees were planted to visually remind that they are still close; roots mingled in our soil and branches reaching to the sun.

The kids laughed and named this one Audrey, after the youngest.
She was stubborn just like her mom.

Ongoing gratitude list, #5.

Ongoing Gratitude

Last year we did a Thanksgiving gratitude list with the kids. It was fun, then it was done. This year I want to do more. My kids had the idea to paper our entire kitchen with our lists of gratitude....I love the idea, not just because my kitchen is in desperate need of a paint job, but because it would be ongoing. Taking inspiration from the kiddos I'm going to begin my own list.....with them.

I'm thankful for....

1. The new wonder of each day....through his eyes.

2. Learning that anything can be (and should be) made beautiful.

3. Learning that there is always another way to see things.

4. The reminder to be real, I've missed too much being content with the surface.


TO BE CONTINUED.....

Sister Sweat

I feel like I've been talking a lot about running lately. Maybe it's the time of year; the time of year when running is in the air....I can smell it. Running is a blessing, even a talent, but mostly a gift. A gift I depend on. So it's not with ease that I give up my morning run....my communion....for a jog.



I wait in the dark, van still running, tying my running shoes and singing to forget I'm scared. Soon anther car pulls into the parking lot, chasing away fear and by the time I'm out and locking my door, we're all here. This isn't the only time I see these ladies, my sisters; we sing together at church and they teach my kids. Sometimes we gather in mixed company with loud spouses and too much food.

Not this morning.

Kids and husbands left in weekend slumber, we sneak out for exercise....so we say. All different, sisters always are, but we meet together with pony tails and breath mints once a week to sweat. I'm the one who questions, with the hole worn sweats, and who drives in from the sticks.

Blood warms as we talk of whatever..... and everything. Worries and funnies that are dressed up, pinned back, for church tumble out easily, flapping in the breeze as we work our way down the river. Strange, that as we move side by side down a dark path, it's so natural to run exposed. Celebrations of years of school finally done and marathons run. Lost babes and stolen innocence, growing kids and amazing balance...or not so much. Sisterhood offerings, embraced and strengthened.

Not all is spoken, we share a similar, familiar path, and this binds too. In college, my running sisters, twice daily training warriors, were so close our cycles lined up; hormones emanating through our sweat. Yet this weekly gathering, this sister communion, is tighter; based on more than just a desire for speed, we share a desire to emanate His love....training warriors.

The sky is a little lighter as we stretch and cool. Plans are made for next week and we part, visions clearer. This sister gathering, all it should be, is a favorite gift. How do you gather with your sisters?

Euphoria

Training, diet and mental desire all align.....and I run.

*Euphoria.

What happens to the body that has been conditioned with healthy nourishment, that habitually strains and stretches, that desires to be more? Is the idea so strange; to find peace in the race? Not in slowing, but in pushing, thrilling with the growing strength of each step. What once was painful becomes a natural state of being, and I find rest.

But they that await upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.~Isaiah 40:31

When fatigue shows it's fearful face, tired distractions clutter my day and my misguided desires land empty at my feet, it's not a break that I need.

The need is for exercise of winded faith, words grow tired without actively following truth. The need is for scarfing nourishment from His word, storing up what is needed to improve performance and recovery. The need is for falling in step with His will, speed is of little importance if you are on the wrong path, and His race is the only one we can win.

"....let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."~Hebrews 12:1

I think God is a runner.

*"...runner's high is thought to be ... a product of the natural, rhythmic motion of running and the mental calm caused by the meditation-like focus of long distance runners." (livestrong.com)

Lens One, or Lens Two?

"Lens one......or lens two? Now here again, is it clearer through lens one, or lens two."

I remember the first time I got glasses. I had been dreading it for weeks, knowing it was inevitable and fearing mind exaggerated social ramifications. But on the way home, with my new frames perched on my face, I couldn't stop staring at a world made new.

Have you ever had one of those moments; though painful at first....and sometimes for a long time, it changes how you see everything. Blades of grass appear where before there was only green, wires appear connecting fence and telephone pole, and signs appear legible beyond their shape.

"The whole world is different." That's what he told me last night; his focus still blurry....painful. "It's like I live in a completely different world now." Lens one is dim and obscure, I pray for clarity through lens two.

Gratitude in all things...this isn't the first time I've heard it's call, not the first time it has clarified my view. But it was different last time....not as much at stake; life will be renewed, but a lost soul...things blur and I don't understand. Gratitude in trials is faith that you can grow, putting off the natural man to be more like Him; He who created this natural man.....I still don't understand.

Neither lens is clear.

What's in a name?

"Esther? Isn't that the name of a cow?"

I overheard them talking, but I wish I hadn't. My name has it's moments. Being named after a courageous queen can be a nice boost sometimes. Unfortunately, it is also a popular name for "old ladies" and apparently even cows.

I celebrate my current last name, a gift from my husband, because it ties me and my children to another wonderful family that amazes me more every day.

Even though I've been married for 13 years, I still cling to my maiden name. It's both a tie and a reminder of a heritage that I that I work to earn. I love the old Judd's song "My Guardian Angles", especially the last verse:

Sometimes when I'm tired
I feel Elijah take my arm
He says, Keep a-goin', hard work
Never did a body harm.
And when I'm really troubled
And I don't know what to do
Fannie whispers, Just do your best, We're awful proud of you!

(Tear...sniff, sniff) It gets me every time. Names are a spoken reminder of that eternal bond that keeps us close despite years and mountains that separate.

What's in your name?

Wordfull Wednesday@Chocolateonmycranium