New Perspective

I was browsing (dangerous) in a Christian bookstore yesterday. Don't even know what I was really looking for until God showed me the book entitled, "Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People"! I was shocked at the title. In a Christian bookstore? Go figure. Anyway since I've been looking for some more perspective on relationships I decided to give it a look. I'm currently halfway through the book and think Brown has some very valuable points.
On page 13 I read "Friends & family can be pains-in the heart." Ouch! I've felt lots of pains in the heart over the years. Problem is I hardly ever know what in the world to do about them. I deeply want to do the right thing. I've always thought I was a peacemaker. Always want everyone to get along. I love to encourage & lift others up as much as possible. When faced with relationship foibles I pray, ask God to help, talk the ears off of my incredible husband, but it's so hard to know what kind of action to take. Positive action. Action that will change the situation & mend the "pain" in the heart. I think I typically end up taking some kind of action that later still puts me back in the swamp. I'd like to get out of the swamp & stay out. But is that really possible?
This Christian life was never meant to be perfect. One of my all time favorite verses I claimed in college is from 1 Peter 1:6, "In this greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith---of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire---may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed..." I wonder what is meant by "for a little while"? I believe my little while will happen every day of my life! That's okay though, because as I (with God's help), work through every "trial" my faith & love for him are sharpened & strengthened! Doesn't get any better than that!
I think Brown's book is one that can give me some new perspective to get me out of the swamp that I so often jump into. Whether I can stay out remains to be seen. Brown says the "swamp bottom is often the beginning of renewal". Can it be that I'm at the bottom?

A Privilege to Know

It's a privilege to know Him. One that can't be taken lightly. An honor like no other. Much is expected but not always delivered. It's work. It's worth it!
Without Him I would not have this inexplicable joy that I can draw upon under any circumstance or any moment during my days on this earth! Without Him I wouldn't have an inner peace that He so freely gives. Without Him I wouldn't have direction, purpose, feel unconditionally loved. A love NO ONE can take away. A love that tells me I'm "okay" regardless of what anyone says or does. A love like no other that can be experienced with any human being! To this day God's gift of His Son amazes me! Giving of His Son allows us to have a relationship with Him! We also have the Bible which truly is an instruction book for our lives. It's a true privilege to accept & know Him. To refuse Him would be foolish. Without Him my life would be meaningless, empty, spiritually void.
Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever & ever! Amen!" I choose to look to Him for guidance in my life. I choose to let his power work within me day in and day out. I thank Him for His unconditional love & grace! I praise His Holy Name!

Seguin Summer 2010 Hilton Vacation

Great mini Hilton family vacation! Blessed to have a family who desires to make the sacrifice of time, energy & finance to get everyone together. It's work to figure out a date that works for everyone's schedule! I admire the perseverence it took make this "time away" happen! It was a short weekend but the most important point was that we were together! We played Chicken Foot, Apples to Apples, watched the movie Tron, played basketball, tennis, took walks to the flooded river, tossed the volleyball, took pictures of wildlife (raccoon & turtle), swam and ate. What more could you ask for? A time for reconnecting. A time for relationship building. A time to share laughs. Share in community. Build memories that we can talk about in the future. Who would forget the sad little raccoon that we all photographed? The mud we all walked through from the recent Guadalupe River flood? The boys tipping over a boat in the river? The beautiful spring & Koi pond? How we giggled about getting lost going to Christina's Mexican Restaurant? The amazing jumps the teens did off the diving board? Gramps giving fly fishing instructions to the boys? My first jog with my daughter while on vacation? Thanks Hilton family. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to make family time!

Loss

We were so fascinated by him that we neglected to issue the appropriate family greetings because we didn"t want to miss the photo opportunity. The chance to take pictures of one of God's small creatures. A creature who looked hungry, tired, scared, alarmed, sad..."It" seemed to look at us for answers. How I wish we could have given him some! He allowed us to get so close. I wish I could have picked him up! Held him & reassure him that things were going to be okay. But were they? It turned out that of one of his family members was dead on the ground by the side of the house. This little guy was trying to make sense of it all. What to do. Why had life treated him this way? Where to go, what to do. Would he himself be able to survive on his own? We have no idea how old he is. We threw him some bread. He didn't eat it. Took some more pictures. We watched as this small malnourished racccoon tried to catch insects. I guess he was making the best of the cards that had been dealt to him. Perhaps misplaced by the recent flooding of the Guadalupe river. " Later we did see 3 traps in the back of the house. Not what I wanted to see. Luckily they weren't set! We left the raccoon alone from then on. Only saw him one more during our stay.. Didn't ever see any damage that raccoons had done at this historic home. Sorry for your loss little guy. Nature happens.

A new day. A new blog beginning!

Why did I start a blog? First question from my teenagers was, "Who do you think will want to read your blog?" They were laughing at my idea! Shame on them! Extra special thanks to one of my FB friends who responded, "I would read your blog!" to my status update, "I think I ought to start a blog..."

B lessed

L ife

O offers

G race

To me part of a Blessed Life is to work on a growing intimacy with the One that brought us here! As we grow closer to God, we are able to grow closer to others. To the best of our ability I believe we're called to accept others and share God's love & light with them. A BLOG to me is just another avenue to share God's love with others. To break down more of those self erected walls & open up and share our quite imperfect lives with others. The BIG theme in my life this year has been to build community. Build it both in my home & church families. Work on understanding why people put up walls. Why people don't want to spend time w/ others to build relationships. Relationships take sacrifice, time & energy. There are so many incredible examples of relationship building in the Bible. I think one of the most powerful examples we have is the relationship of God to Jesus & Jesus to God! How much time did Jesus spend with God? How well did they know one another? How well do we think we know God? What does it take to REALLY know someone? Can you really know someone & say you have a relationship with them if you only see them on Sunday? How about if you only see them once or twice a year? Can you really know someone if you only communicate with them via phone or e-mail? These are questions that I have been pondering for quite some time. During the next 2 weeks I will be researching and exploring the answers. Answers that I hope & pray will help me strengthen relationships in my own life.

Peace.

A New Day!

A new blogging beginning. Exciting! However, no time at the moment to write. Must go pick up precious dog cargo. Blessings on this glorious day!