Life in Words

Mistake: "an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc" (Dictionary.com) Mistakes are not my favorite. I tend to lean toward the personality of wanting everything to be done correctly and efficiently the first time. You can imagine how well this personality bend has worked as a mother of young children. God is gracious in His living life examples and endurance training. Frustratingly, part of this personality trait also lends itself to self shaming. When I do make a mistake I was (I say was because God is working on this with me) the most brutal judge, jury and journalist to myself. Mentally replaying the mistake and how I could have corrected it, until I am completely disgusted with myself. Then of course comes the next logical cycle of condemning myself to a life void of meaning and influence because how could God possibly use someone so riddled with faults? Yet, to my great relief, the Bible...

Silence... nothing but the sound of the wind moving through the trees. It almost brings tears to my eyes. Solitude.. Time alone and still to clear my mind and the highway traffic of thoughts. How good it is to sit quietly and hear the nothing of a place untouched by the business of life. I see the waves of the wind move through the branches as they ebb and flow from one part of the world to the next. "Be still and know that I am God." (Ps. 46:10) There is a reason He wrote those words. We need that time of stillness to feel the breathe of God flow back into our lives. The lights and sounds and excitement of the fast paced life can be alluring. As a teenager I didn't understand the need to stop and be still. Why not keep going? Why not  move as fast you can and always have noise and always fly from the one exciting event to the other? I had not found the beauty in the stillness of nature. The way the voice of God whispers to you there. Elijah was weary of his rushe...

Time... It passes by quickly or slowly. It doesn't seem to have a preference either way. It can be a fickle thing, that time. Sometimes doing the opposite of what you desperately need it to do at that very moment. The sun and the moon mark the time... the ticking of the second hand marks the time... the reflection in the mirror as it changes marks the time. What is it about time that makes it so precious? Could it be that it is not altered by any man in the world? There is no one on earth who can boast in his resume that he can control, manipulate or change the passing of time. No amount of money, however great, can alter the scope of time. Time plays no favorites. It passes at the same speed for each of us regardless of who we are. What else is about time that makes it so precious? Could it be that once it's gone, it can never be retrieved? I can attempt to recreate moments of time by planning every detail to be the same as it once was--but that specific day, hour, mood, co...