HEART'S CRY

According to my new book, "Permaculture" by Sepp Helzer, "permaculture is designed so that all of the plants and animals living there will work in harmony with each other."  He continues that one has to "make proper use of the available natural resources we have to work with nature and not against it.  Using what we have.   One cornerstone of permaculture is the use of terraces in the landscape to prevent erosion and provide structure and support for growth. In my little yard, I use these concepts heavily.  It allows me to use every spot as efficiently as possible.  Provides support for those new plants and allows me to rotate throughout the growing season.  I can't wait to add more! In so many ways nature teaches us about the order and way that God set things in motion.     For example, plants do better in a family. The older plants provide protection until the young ones are strong.  Soon th...

Thinking of the children and families and communities and they brace for what is going to hit them in the next 40 hours. I can't imagine the fear, anxiety and hyperviligance that has gripped the people in this area. It amazes me that the people have to prepare for this advancing terror.  Watching and preparing for a storm in slow motion.  It has to be agonizing.  Knowing what is in store to some extent and yet...not being able to stop it or predict the full aftermath. And yet... There is a coming storm.  The time to prepare has come and past.   Now is the time for watching and waiting and praying. Staying together. Waiting for the storm to "pass over."

His overcoming through my adversity.   Turning trauma into treasure.   His strength in my weakness. Hope in the journey and through the process. Thinking of my friend today who leaves tomorrow to lay to rest her step son whom she helped raise.  Her sorrow and her grief knows no bounds.  A dark heavy cloud threatens to suffocate.  And yet... She will overcome.  She will have His strength in her weakness. My Mom swimming through the transition of her "cowboy" retiring from the ranch.  Battling waves of uncertainty and recalibration as they ride the waves of letting go, mental illness and building new dreams. She will overcome.  She will have His strength in her weakness. Postpartum depression rocked my world.  Tried to bury me and steal the joy of being a Mom.  Left me feeling ashamed, unworthy and fearful.  Swimming through a sea of regret that tormented and tossed me. His strength in...

    Food prices continue to climb across the nation and food shortages are continuing to spread.  Extreme weather, war and economic uncertainty continues.  Water and conservation...are at the forefront of our thinking.   Instead of throwing in the towel and crying about it...we need to learn, grow and push through.   Our ancestors didn't have a safety net.  They knew that they could not turn to anyone else to rescue them.  Instead they built families and relationships within their neighborhood and communities. Skills and knowledge around gardening and preserving our own food will give us a sense of confidence.  Hopefully not a sense of arrogance.  The best gardeners in the world dry up, get eaten by grasshoppers, get hailed out, frozen or die because of disease.  It just happens. Our ancestors canned and dried like crazy when the garden was good.  They sowed spiritually, relationally and...

Heartbreak, disappointment, rejection and failure.  Keys to success in football and life! All part of the training for becoming a man of character and a fighter in whatever field they are playing on. In my "professional opinion" based on my experience as a Mom of three boys.  Also being a big sister, Aunt, youth group leader and community member and Pastor gives me a little insight.   I have found that those kids who seemed to have it so easy growing up, succeeded in all they did, had whatever they wanted and just didn't have to work at anything...hit the wall at some point in their life.   Some of them just didn't have the muscle in their character to find a way around it. Muscle built by pushing through heartbreak, rejection, disappointment and failure.  Muscle to get back up after being knocked down and out.  That Character Muscle and the experience to use it is critical in life. My favorite players to watch is the ...

God has to have a huge sense of humor.  Tonight, He set me up.  I'm in my room in my hotel and just wanting to hibernate, listen to the football game, write and hang close to the phone for a friend. But... I sheepishly noticed that the toilet paper was dangerously low and no replacement roll in sight.  Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.   Finally, I mustered my will and went down to the front desk to ask for a roll of toilet paper from the very nice young man at the desk.  After he graciously went to find me a roll, he nervously asked where I was from.   When I told him, he asked if I knew Michael or his friend, Colt.  "He is my son," I said.  He had gone to Church Camp with him in 6th grade and had always wondered how and where they were.   They are all in the same area.   "I'll have to hit them up."  He continued, "I'll have to invite them to  Campus Church." Well...I laugh shaking ...

I'm the second night into a six night stay away from home and I'm HOME SICK.  Missing my family and my dog.  Missing my husband and my boys.   Tragedy has struck a family in our church and all I want to do is wrap my arms around my family. The irresistible smile of my youngest. The mischievous grin of my middle. The thoughtful dark eyes of my oldest. The safety of my husband's hug. I want to draw them to me and pull them in so close.  How is it that I can still feel them the way they were when I held them as babies?  Time goes forward but these babies are forever in my heart. I wonder if this is how God feels about us...his children.  How He longs for us...wanting to lavish His love on us. Wanting to draw us under His wings and hold us in the palm of His hand. Is He homesick for us?  As He prepares a place for us? I think He is homesick for us.    These children that we adore so much are ALWAYS...

What is the difference between contentment and acceptance of one's role, responsibilities and purposes in life and just plain old resignation?  When does the line cross between fighting for what one believes and pushing against the wall?   Is feeling resigned a sign of weakness?  I've always thought so.  Never Give In!!!!   The fire in my belly rumbles and the knot in my throat is the passion of my heart. The energy that it takes to fight in one's own strength is is just a waste.   I'm tired.  I want to do what God wants me to do.  Period.

Two things that you never EVER talk about at family events...politics and religion.  What is so inflammatory about these two systems?  They are truly just that...just systems.   Economics, politics, education and religion are systems.  Systems can become a stagnate set of rules and legalistic functions. Man-made. Void of true value and belief. I don't know about you but I learned what I watched, heard, felt and experienced through dynamic relationships.  Values and beliefs were shown. Those with genuine authentic real active and living values and beliefs taught me through actions.  Service was shown. Learning was ignited. Giving was joyful and freely given. Care-taking natural. Loving was a choice. God was a person with whom to have a relationship. I did have opposite experiences as well where words said one thing but actions or lack of said another. Giving was for politicians to force and to be touted ...

September is Back to Basics in my monthly challenge .     My monthly challenge and focus in my personal and ministry life is going to be on faith .  Faith as in believing that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.     Read a Proverbs, Paragraph out of Psalms 119 and James Daily. Pray a Chapter out of Power of Praying Parent Daily for family. Journal Prayer Simplify Schedule Questions To Answer Daily: Have I been with God through praying and reading His Word?   In what ways today have I obeyed and trusted Him?   Have I stopped being a control freak?!  

Football season is here again!  I love sitting in the stands on a cool fall evening with friends and family watching a good game of football.  Even a not so great game of football.    I love the hearts of our coaches. I have become-along with everyone who has lived in Nebraska for any length of time- a fanatic. I love the band and their energy and zest for playing and entertaining.  I love the cheerleaders who are trying to fire up the crowd.   I love watching the little boys and girls standing on the other side of the chain link fence longing for their day on the field. I don't understand all of it and I can't tell you various schematics or stances. I can follow the heart.  I'm proud of the young men who put themselves out there on the field.  Who take the risk to do something like that.  Whether my sons are great or are not great-to me it is all about the character and the team.  I am just as proud of the...

This post finds me coming to my blogging community and tribe begging for some feedback and perspective. Warning:  Rambling is going to occur... "Boundaries" teaches that we are responsible for ourselves and have responsibilities to others.  My highest responsibility is to my family after my responsibility to God.   Those boundary lines are constantly weaving and interacting...makes me dizzy!  That co-dependency bug... I have tried to establish some red flags that show me when I'm crossing that line.  Anger, exhaustion, sickness, anxiety, clutter and chaos in my life are just a few.  In our narcissistic culture it is difficult to find the narrow path between taking care/responsibility of self and looking out for number one.   Hedonism lives for pleasure and self.   As we looked at before, it is living for pleasure.  Can "taking care" or "helping" others be a form of hedonism? I wonder if instead of correct...

  Lake McConoughy has a wonderful eagle viewing facility where migrating bald eagles eat fish on the open waters below the dam.  I love going here.   At times when I drive through the sandhills I will see a pair of bald eagles hunting.  Various eagles gliding through their day.  They make my heart soar. Today, I feel like the wind has dropped and my sails are flat.  An overwhelming exhaustion seems to have crept into my very bones.   Physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and financially drained.   And Yet I Wait... "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31 The word hope or wait comes from the Greek word qavah.   I wait, hope, expect, look for and bind together with the Lord.  I put my trust in Him and have confidence that He is who He says He is. The same ...

I was blessed to sit for a while with a beautiful young woman tonight at the football scrimmage.  Beautiful inside and out. She is poised, strong, courageous and intelligent and and compassionate.    I admire her as a forward thinking woman with vision, focus, determination and passion. If all of this wasn't enough...she is hard working, always learning and very loyal and dedicated.  Tough on the outside but all mush inside.  If she could, she would bring every abused dog to her house.   And...her world has been turned inside out.  Her best friend left for college and she is reeling with emotion.  Yes, she is independent and she will be fine.  In time, she will find some sense of equilibrium and security within herself.  But for now her heart is turned inside out.  Raw.  And I worry for her.  Pray that she will never harden that heart or become afraid to give it all she has.  To hold back....

Attended a funeral today for a friend's Mom who died suddenly at the age of 57 from a sudden heart attack.    Funerals always force reflection.  But then what?  This woman was practical and to the point.  I believe that is what she would ask her children and in a round about way ask us.  Then what? As I watched the family walk into the sanctuary to their place in the front of the church with tears streaming down their faces and their heads held high...I thought...this Mother and Grandmother would be very proud of her family today.   Some family members patted an older lady on the arm as they walked by and others nodded their head in appreciation for some friend in the pew.  They pulled their family members close as they seated themselves. The Pastor began talking about this woman and using stories that the family had told him as part of the message.  One son had given him a writing of what his Mom taught him that he is...

According to our commercials and seemingly endless barrage of pain reduction meds...we as Americans do not like pain.  Where does this absolute avoidance of pain come from?  Where does this desire to only live for pleasure and minimize pain including any physical, spiritual, relationship, mental and emotional pain stem? Is it Hedonism at it's finest? Hedonism being: The pursuit of pleasure and the ethical theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life.  Check out Epicurus's view.   " We recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good.[Letter to Menoeceus]The Internet Encyclopedia on Philosophy.  Ethical hedonism is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (342-270 BCE.) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize ple...

This word drives me nuts.  I've seen it used in ways that are manipulative and demeaning and condescending. It sounds so good.  I've seen it used as an excuse to not fully involve people.  Maybe it is not the word but the invitation undermining family's responsibility for themselves. "You are free to participate."  "Your participation is welcome." "Invited to participate." "We would love to have you participate." I will admit that my experience with the use of this word has colored my view.  Some definitions of the word include: to take part in, share in.  One stated to become "actively involved."   To me, the word is more reactive.  Instead of fully engaged and involved and responsible...we reduce our action to passivity and helplessness waiting to be invited to participate in our own life and relationships.   "Your time is limited.  Don't waste it living someone else's life."  Steve J...

Every family needs a Grandma and a Grandpa.  You know those people in the world who think you are perfect no matter what!  Well maybe not perfect but really really awesome!   People who are wise from their years of experience and living life.  Who are comfortable in their own skin so that those around them are comfortable as well. Who fix things.  Go slow and fall asleep on the recliner.  They are unselfish. Our Grandma and Grandpa for Royal Family Camp were awesome.  They modeled to the campers what a healthy family runs like.  What a healthy loving and appropriate Grandma and Grandpa are like.  Our prayer and our goal is that they will proactively seek these kinds of Grandparents in their life. Our boys have the best Grandparents ever!  They love and adore them and call to ask about those big days.  They care.  They pray.  They are people that my boys could always go to and who would be there for them....

Dr. George O Wood's monthly letter and my new read "Tribe" by Seth Godin crashed like simultaneous waves upon my tired brain.  When the waves receded what was left for me to pick up were very heavy nuggets of truth to wrestle with. I am in fact, overwhelmed. Dr. George Wood asks, "How fast can a church fall away from Christ?"  He answers, "Only one generation."    He continues by quoting G. Campbell Morgan regarding the scripture in Rev. 3:1.   "Oh, the people offered prayers in the Sardis church, they sang, they gave but all their worship stayed within the confines of the building.  It never ascended to the throne of God.  They had all kinds of meetings and committees, but nothing that produced eternal value.  They made a great showing on their balance sheet and their numbers, but nothing satisfied the heart of Jesus.  They had outward forms, ceremonies, and organization but spiritual death reigned." Spiritual deat...

  When I grew up it was stupid not to "have things on hand for just in case" as they said.  Canned food,  extra water and blankets, wood to burn, tools and medicine and toilet paper!  Being without electricity was a yearly event which also meant the water pump at the well.  Being prepared would lessen the stress in an already really stressful situation because usually it happened during calving!   In addition we prepared as part of the community.  Just in case things happened all the time.  The hail storm that took out neighbors' homes.  The tornado.  The blizzard of the century.  Illness or injury.  The fire. It wasn't out of fear of a catastrophe but rather in preparation.  My Great Grandparents homesteaded in the area along with all of my friends' Great Grandparents.  The strong sense of independence and responsibility for ones' self was drilled into us all. I learned passively as well as active ...