Simple Truths Inside From Inside Camelot

Today I watched, for the umpteenth time, another version of the story of King Arthur, Lady Guinevere and Camelot. While watching it, I realized that this was really a story to teach a lesson to us all. Really it is. It has some very practical truths woven within the story. 

1) You should always be ready. Always. Live your life in a manner that you will not worry if it has to be examined by others. You never know when you will be called upon to lead.
2) Secrets are never good for anyone. Yes, there are those special secrets we must all keep to ourselves, like presents and surprise parties.  What I referring to are issues that come up in our lives.  Deal with the matter, don’t sweep it away or pretend it didn’t happen.  Don’t let things fester for years.Secrets like that have a habit of just walking right through your front door.

3) We all want everyone to be treated as equals. We want everyone to share and we all want everyone to feel as if no one is better than him or her. However, there will ALWAYS be those people who feel differently about this.  They will demand more and their actions can ruin it for everyone.

4) Be careful what kind of bricks you use to build your kingdom. Are those bricks built with good intentions but mortared with the blood of those who got in the way?

5) Even though we all like to think we can follow our hearts, we need to remember that our hearts do not always have the best judgment. If everyone followed their hearts, we would have far less laborers and be overrun with knights and princesses.

6) We must always have someone to give us wise counsel, but we need to be mindful of how they came to be our counsel and why? Their vision for the way things should be could cloud our original path. Don’t let someone thrust things onto you just because they believe this is the way it should be.

7) People are always going to have something to say about us.  There will be stories told about what we did, how we did it and what kind of impact it had on us.  We cannot control what is said.  Once the words are out there, they are out there.  No one can unhear what has been said.
Just live your life so that people have no choice but to believe what is true.

The story, the legend of King Arthur, his Knights of the Round Table, the valiant heart of Lady Guinevere is truly beautiful. The thoughts portrayed absolutely noble; but alas, the people, as is the case with all humans,  were perfectly and utterly flawed.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 

This Is Different

Today I caught a comment while flipping through radio

stations at a stop light.
I thought the comment was completely random, but it stuck with me.  Then I realized that Jesus placed it there for me to hear and take a step back.

My life today is completely different than my life just a short year ago.  I never asked for this turn in my life, actually no one would, but during this turn, I have had time to do those things I never seemed to have time for in years past.  

See, I have always been the one to give out scriptures.  Send the encouraging word.  Be the “lifter-upper”  When my situation changed, people sent me the same scriptures, the encouraging wood, lifted me up.  But for some reason, it didn’t stick.  I would think, “oh, that is so sweet of them.”  However, I didn’t take it and own it.

Back to the comment I heard today.  The man on the radio said 

“How is it that your life and
your situation is so different that
the promises of God don’t apply?”

WOW! Let that sink in.  How is it, that your life is SO different, the situation that you are currently in, is SO unlike others, that your bank account, your mortgage, your rent, your debt, your job, your family, your health…your “Fill In The Blank” is completely unheard of, absolutely unique, and simply does not compare with anything else in the history of time, that the PROMISES of GOD does not, AT ALL, apply to you? 

The answer is, it isn’t.  

Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us that there is nothing new under the sun.
Nope, not one thing that is new.  

Kids have been turning their backs on parents, parents turning their backs on kids for all time.  People hating each other, wars, violence, breaking all kinds of laws.  The news today is just an new century reading of a history book.

Every single promise in the Bible is TRUE.
Every single promise.
Not a dud in the bunch!

Look at your life.
What is it that the Bible doesn’t apply to?
Got anything?
Me either.
You know what? I think we’re good.  

A Letter To My Mother

Dear Mom,

Well, you are right. About a lot of things.

After 40, I did get braver. After 45, I really got brave. The world did not end if I opted to play with my babies instead of doing the dishes right after dinner. Oh, and you were right about being firm with them. They still love me and brag on how I was tough, but they learned a lesson.

The thing you said about having a dream and following it, well I’m still working on that, but you were right, there was still time – and is still time. Remember when you told me to stick to my guns and I would respect myself later. You guessed it – right once again.

Honestly Mom, if you were here it would be “Winner,Winner; Chicken Dinner” and “Give the lady a cigar” because you were on the money with so many things.

As a little girl you taught me, “If you aren’t pretty on the inside, then you aren’t pretty on the outside” I didn’t clearly understand that until now. Actions really do speak louder than words. Neatness in appearance does count.

OH, and that night I got home past curfew (to be fair it was only 15 minutes) and you told me I wouldn’t understand until I was a mother – I got it now.
Watching my children be adults in this crazy world and seeing them do things that are good, right, fair and responsible…wow my heart really does swell and I really do feel it pull like an invisible cord is still tied to them.

Most of all Mom…most of all…I wish you were here so I could once again see your face and say,“Momma, how did you get so smart?” And then your mouth would give that sideways grin and your green eyes would sparkle and you would laugh with your whole body.

Someday Mom, you’ll tell me…until “someday” gets here, I’ll just keep on keeping track. 
Mom: 5,789,432 Susan: 10 
(I wonder if I can round up?)

Messes & Miracles

When you look at your life, do you see little messes among the miracles?  I know I do.  Even though our daily lives bring about miracles, no matter what we do, there is always some kind of mess.

We are humans.  We are messy.  The biggest messes are the ones we try to clean up ourselves.  We can trust Jesus with so many things, but then there are those things we feel we simply must take care of on our own.  That is when stuff gets really messy.

In Acts 10:36 we are told that “…He is Lord of all…” Lord of everything, Lord of big things and small things.  Lord of the past, present and future.  

If He was the Lord that brought the miracle, why can’t he be the Lord 
that can take care of the mess we made?

In my dictionary, the word all is an adjective meaning “the whole of”.  It also goes on to tell us that the adjective whole means “comprising the full quantity, amount, extent, number, etc., without diminution or exception, full or total”

That pretty much means nothing is
left out, wouldn’t you say?

Why not let Jesus be Lord of all yesterday, today and tomorrow?  

Yes there will still be messes, but we have a powerful cleaning solution.

Questions & Answers

For a few years, despite being raised in church and raising my children in church, I began to doubt my faith.  I questioned why things happened in my past, yelled at God, cried into my pillow, read many books and blogs.  

I was searching.  I was looking.  I was not finding any answers.  Well, “new” answers.

I knew all along what needed to happen.  I kept thinking there would be some new answer, some new information.  Some bright, shining, neon sign that would point me in the right direction.

Guess what? There wasn’t a bright, shiny, neon sign.  There was no new answer, no new information.  

In Ecclesiastes 1:9, the “Preacher’ tells us, that there is nothing new under the sun.

It took me a while to realize that this applied to my life as well as the actions in the world at large.  Let me explain.  I was not the first person who had grown up in the church to begin to question their faith.  I was not the first Christian to suffer from depression.  I certainly wasn’t the first person to look for answers to my questions in places other than the Bible.

When I heard the Lord speak to my spirit and felt His gentle hand leading me to where I should be, I realized I was once again home.  I had questions, but they no longer mattered.  I didn’t have the answers I was looking for, but I had the answers that mattered.  

We should seek, because Seeking Is Believing, but it is what and who we seek that matters.

Waiting Is Learning Without Fear

I shifted in the chair for the eleventy billionth time asking myself why hospital waiting rooms have extremely uncomfortable chairs?  

This was not my first time waiting like this and it certainly would not be the last.  That was not the way life worked.  

Eight years ago, I lost my mother.  Less than two months later, her mother (my grandmother followed).  Fifteen months later, my remaining grandmother.  My heart was heavy, but life goes forward.

Now here I sit, waiting once again.  This time it was for my great-aunt.  My mother’s aunt, but yet only a few years older.  This aunt was special.  She spoiled like an aunt was want to do, but loved and chastised like a mother.  Things were definitely different when she was around.  A special light resided inside of her and it shined like sunbeams on water.  All of her numerous nieces and nephews loved being with her.  Even if it was just sitting on the couch, not talking, but the small touch of her hand, the soft squeeze let you know she loved you.  

She was the wife of a pastor, a mother and grandmother, leader and prayer warrior, fashion model and chief cook and bottle washer.  Not afraid of hard work but loved to wear beautiful clothes.  One who welcomed and loved of all babies and little children.  

I shifted in the chair again, rolled my neck to stretch and listened to the cracks and pops.  I watched the people come in and out.  There was nothing but love all around us. 

A young girl was asking questions about how we were dealing with it all.  She told me that she really had no experience with death, she didn’t know what to think of all this.  To her it was so different.  I smiled and said, “The Christian heart has hope.  We know death is not final.  Our hope is in Jesus Christ who is our Resurrection.”  

Death is not the end,
for it brings the promise of new life.  

We are humans.  We will of course cry and miss our loved one something fierce.
However, that sadness is tempered with HOPE.

I am reminded of a scripture that my mother loved.  In times of trial and sorrow I remember this:

Joshua 1:9 NIV
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be
with you wherever you go.” 

Some versions replace the word “afraid” with “terrified“.  I like that. 
Do Not Be Terrified! 
How many people are truly terrified in world today?  
Do not be afraid, frightened, scared…terrified.  Our Lord is with us.
Not only “with us”, but with us Wherever we go.
Wherever covers a big territory, my friends.  

I switched chairs.  I walked the halls.  I answered phones.  I directed traffic.  I watched and waited.   No, there was no fear.  No one was terrified.  No one was discouraged.  No one was dismayed.  Yes there were tears, but there were hugs, there were kisses, there were small touches and a squeeze of a hand of the one next to you to let them know that you were there.  

Jesus knows our hearts, he knows our minds, He knows the number of days that we have here on this earth.  There is no fear in the end of those days when you know that Jesus is our life and promise.

Psalms 139:16 NLT
You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.Every moment was laid out    before a single day had passed.

I went back to the waiting room and watched the other families.  We were all shifting in our fabulous waiting room chairs.  Some of these families seemed to have the same peace that we held.  Others did not.   

Waiting can teach you many things.
These are the moments in which we learn. 

But they that wait 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 KJV

Trees

I was lost. Really lost. Well, maybe not really and truly lost, but lost enough.
I mean, I did have a GPS in my car, after all. But, I was off the beaten path.

I had decided to hop in the car and just “go.” I woke up with a restless spirit and wanted to see where the road would take me.

I found myself lost and thrilled.

A low, one lane bridge over a river; trees growing from the riverbed. Roots reaching down deep, not wavering, stalwart and strong.

These trees have been through droughts and floods.
Seasons of time have passed and yet here they are.
Unmoved.

Jeremiah 17:8 talks about people being like trees planted by the water; having no fear.

Psalms 1:3 tells us of the people who are like trees planted by the streams and what ever they do prospers.

I sang when I saw these trees! I shouted!
My spirit was lifted and I rejoiced!
These trees were magnificent and strong – I want to be a tree of righteousness!

Bloom where you are planted.
Grow strong.
Let your fruit show your faith!