Thursday, October 23, 2014

When we don't lie, we get to go to iHop

Our Sutton girl comes to Mimi and Pops on Fridays.  We call it Fabulous Friday.  We just chill; ahem, do whatever she wants.  :D

Without a hitch our breakfast of choice is iHop.  It's our go-to place where girlfriend gets her some pancakes and she and her Pops practice 'coloring in the lines.'

She is absolutely precious and practically perfect in every way except for one little flaw.....she's been telling 'lies.'  We have never experienced this fall from grace in her behavior.  We have only her parents' word on this.  But it seems sweet thing has decided a good way to stay up past bedtime is to tell Mommy she has to go to the potty.  Personally, we think it's brilliant.  BUT her parents are not amused.  And to our great dismay, she pulled this stunt on a Thursday night.  And her punishment?  Wait for it.......

NO iHOP

She threw a fit.  It was quite the Oscar winning performance.  The tears were huge.  Pops and I held it in.  But truth be told - everybody got punished.

Isn't that just the way sin is?  It doesn't just affect one.  You were just wanting to have a good time.  (Or stay up a little later.)  You really didn't think it was a big deal.  But somebody bigger and with more authority laid down the law.  And suddenly what seemed like a good idea hurts.  And that hurt hurts others.

It's a little like Pops teaching her to color in the lines.  It takes a lot of practice and some motor skill maturity to color in the lines.  We don't start out knowing how to do it.  We have to make mistakes and all too often our attempts aren't very pretty at first.  But slowly and surely - after much practice, progress is made.  And because we love her so very much we make a huge deal out of her growth and accomplishments.  We encourage.  We applaud.  We high five.  We buy ice cream.  


And out of scribbles and hen-scratchings, beauty emerges.  Grace.

Just like us.  Little children - coloring outside the lines.  Making messes out of our lives.  Having to re-do and hurting ourselves and others along the way.  And then slowly but surely we begin to grow.  We begin to recognize that those 'lines' make for beauty in our lives.  They are meant for good.  For our perfection.

Last night Sutton called her mommy and told her she had to go potty.  And she did.  She looked with joy at her Mommy and said, "When we don't lie, we get to go to iHop."  



That's what happens when we obey the Lord.  We are joy-filled.  And life is a lot less difficult.  

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Where did the time go and where is fall?

Well, I honestly meant to blog last month.  Where did September go?  We did go on a little vacation to HAWAII.  Not bragging.  We're 60 this year and it was our first time.  We did NOTHING.  People, I'm telling you - we laid out.  Ate.  Laid out.  Ate.  Billy played golf.   I drove the golf cart.  We laid out. We ate.  You young people reading this are thinking, "what a waste of a trip in such a beautiful place for those old people."  You may be right.  Truth though, we slow down and life speeds up.  We enjoyed the beauty.  We enjoyed each other.  We enjoyed the diversity.  We enjoyed flying first class, non-stop, round-trip on POINTS!!!  {It may have been my favorite part.}  

We arrived back home and it was cool.  I was in heaven.  Threw the clothes in the washer, opened the windows, threw on a pot of taco soup and grabbed a throw and took a nap.  Fall had arrived.  For 12 hours.  It was a dirty trick.  

It's now almost the middle of October and it was 93 today.  I went to the State Fair twice and it was above 90 both times.  I mean - who wants a corny dog when it's 90?  I keep looking for fall.  I listen to the weathermen faithfully; longing to hear those magical words to every Texan - "cold front."  So far, it has been in vain.

But I've noticed something as I've been waiting.  The activity in my backyard has been in a wild crescendo.  The birds and the squirrels are exceedingly busy.  They sense winter coming and they are busy getting ready.  90 degrees means nothing to them.  They know what I tend to forget - what I see and feel isn't reality.  Just as sure as the sun will rise in the east and set in the west so the seasons will change.  The tired, dry and hot summer days will come to an end.  A northern wind will descend upon us and put a crispness in the air and a spring in our steps.  The leaves will change and for a short span of time there will be a beautiful fiery radiance upon the world.

I love the change in the seasons.  But I often don't appreciate them so much in my own life.  I enjoy the spring when things are beautiful and growing and people are happy and we're all looking forward to vacation.  But life isn't all beauty and spiritual growth doesn't happen in the spring.  Oftentimes it is in the hot, dry, dying days of summer that we experience the deepest growth.  When we have to dig our roots down deep into the soil searching for the springs of water that flow from the Throne of God.

We had a bad Texas storm last week and our new house has a LOT of BIG trees.  It got really dark outside.  Really dark.  Suddenly the wind roared in and I noticed a strange thing.  These big old trees didn't move.  Oh, the tops did.  But these big trees had been around a long time.  Their roots were down so deep and far that that storm only rattled the tops.

That is what the seasons are intended to do to us.  Cause us to flourish where we are and to always, always draw down deep.  Pull from the Living Water.  Then when the storms come - with all their fiery display of darkness, lightening and roaring winds - we may waver a little.  We may sway.  But we will not be moved.

Pray.  Seek His face.  Read His word.  Spend time with Him.  Tell Him everything.  Talk to Him all the time.  Even when you're mad/sad/frustrated/seeking.  Especially then.  He became us so He knows we have a million questions and not many answers.  He knows we are limited by what we can see.  And He calls us to stretch beyond that.  To believe.  To faith.  He's never missed a season.  He won't in you either.  

Fall is coming.  Prepare.