Hurry Sickness

Hurry sickness is rampant today in our culture. We rush from thing to thing. We try to get more done in less time. We use adrenaline (and caffeine) to pump us up and makes us feel alive and powerful.

Hurry sickness is bad for our health. It diminishes soul. And it destroys our relationships with one another and with God.

For most of my life I've done this. But I've been learning to stay out of the fast lane, to walk slower, and to pause to breathe and to pray.

In the Gospels I see that Jesus was never in a hurry - except at the end of his life when he headed toward Jerusalem to embrace his cross! (We tend to do the opposite by hurring into pleasures and achievements and refusing to deny ourselves.) Jesus always had time to enjoy people and to care for them. He always had time to pray.

What a joy it is when we learn to enjoy the moment with God!

What's your experience?

Do you see God smiling at you?

One of my favorite ways to pray is to imagine Jesus' smiling at me.

As I've said before, I pray from the Psalms everyday. The Psalms are full of prayers and meditations that refer to the Lord delighting in us, shining his favor on us, or smiling on us.

For instance, today I'm praying from Psalm 138 and have been "centering" myself (returning again and again quietly and meditatively to the prayer:
"Though the Lord is on high, he smiles upon the lowly, like me and _________." (Psalm 138:6).

To help me "see" the Lord's loving, joyful smile I have put into my personalized Psalms prayer book pictures of artists' renderings of the smile of Christ. (You can google this online!)

What a blessing this simple way of prayer is for me! It lifts me eyes to heaven. It brings a smile to my face. It makes my steps lighter - even in the midst of daily stresses and challenges and pains.

Do you ever imagine Jesus smiling at you? How does this or would this effect you?

What Every Woman Needs to Know

As we said previously, men and women alike need to know that we are "the beloved" of God. But masculinity and femininity have differing needs along these lines.

I believe that men need to know that they are significant, that they have something unique and important to contribute.

And women need to know that they are attractive, not just physically, but personally. Women long to hear from their father, boyfriend, husband, and, most importantly, from God!, the words that Mary heard from the angel at the annunciation: "You're beautiful with God's beauty. Beautiful inside and out" (Luke 1:26).

Let's interact on this... What do you think? Is this true in your experience? Ask a friend to read this blog and share their experience.

I made a mistake and God blessed me...

Awhile ago on the Christian Soul Care Blog I referred to building a library in the loft of our home. Designing and building built-in bookcases and desks has been quite a challenge! So much measuring, cutting, staining, building...

It's a reminder of why it'd cost me upwards of $10,000 to have someone else do the work.

Yesterday, God gave me a great blessing...

I had made a mistake on my cuts for one of the base board pieces - getting those angles right, especially with a hand saw!, is difficult. So I was disappointed and frustrated when I had to set the board aside to be thrown out - along with a few others! That felt like getting a sore arm and working 30 minutes for nothing.

Of course, so much of life is like that: doing little jobs, making mistakes on things, feeling unproductive... I know that all of life is meaningful, that it's an opportunity to pray. And as I work I remind myself to pray. Sometimes on this library project I've prayed, "Lord Jesus, I want to be a good carpenter like you, to build things and people for you." But often I'm not so prayerful and just I'm just pushing through the work and getting tired, stressed, or frustrated.

So my blessing was when I realized that the "throw away" piece of wood happened to fit just right and have the angles just right for an odd section I was about to measure and cut for.

God reminded me that he redeems my mistakes and my sins; through Christ, God brings good things even out of my bad! This helps me not go into guilt or self-condemnation when I make a mistake. It's better to just run into Jesus' open arms!