Tuesday, October 30, 2012

dust

How would I count.it.all.joy after a nearly sleepless night wrestling over a letter (should I have sent it? should I have waited? should I have sent it? should I have waited?) At 6:00 a.m. I e-mailed the person who was going to mail it.

Too late. He mailed it last night.

It is what it is.

I lay back in bed wanting nothing more to snuggle under my warm flannel quilt for the day. Maybe with a cat. I didn't know what to look forward to.



I. was. so. tired.

Thoughts revved up on the drag strip called my brain.

Take care of a. Respond to b. Handle c. Finish d. How would I come up with a coherent class, let alone make it to bedtime?

Then it came, the verse I memorized while running the other day... "For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14)

He knows.

He remembers.

Even when I forget.

I count that joy.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

count.it.all.joy

It's time for a new blog name.

A name that reminds me of the craving - God-given, I'm sure - for more joy.


A name that reminds me of this truth, no matter what.


A name that allows for honest appraisal. Life is difficult, yes - and there is joy available despite the difficulty.

James 1:2-4,

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

splinter

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10) 








I woke up this morning with a sore and irritated finger, forgetting that yesterday I'd gotten a splinter while doing fall garden clean-up.

It was such a small splinter, but quickly had worked its way deeper, turning the area around it pink - with skin already tightly closed over it. It had been so long since I had a splinter that I wasn't sure how to go about removing it. My husband said, "Tweezers."

I opened the skin with a gentle prick from a safety pin, but that wasn't quite enough - it needed to be opened more to free the splinter for the tweezer's grasp.

How like the irritation and inflammation that seemingly small sins generate in my attitude and heart! Will I confess them (opening my covering skin)? Will I trust God with the tweezers to let Him pull them out?