Carb Loading Canines and the People Who Love Them

It's a rainy Monday as I sit here in my office (my local Starbucks, don't judge! lol). I find I need the caffeine to jump start my day today.  Of course, the accompanying piece of cinnamon coffee cake only turbo charges the affect of the latte'.  I'm sure it's been scientifically proven, somewhere.

Anyway, It's been a busy week and I find I am still trying to get everything back to normal after my week away in the mountains.  There are still clothes to be put away and floors to be cleaned.  It seems time just slips away so quickly these days.  I'm sure you Moms out there know what I'm talking about.  I have had some time to reflect on what I learned and what I went through during my timely escape.  I have some fond memories.  One such memory surrounds a small dog that became a fast friend.

A little rescue dog of questionable lineage, I found a soul sister in this small black and white four footed scoundrel.  Interestingly enough, her name was Bella, which some of you know, is the name of my little doggie cotton ball.  It seems that mountain Bella has a remarkable addiction to all things bread.

I had a lovely room, a suite really.  My bedroom had a glass door the led out onto a private deck that over looked the valley below.  It was a beautiful place where I spent every lunch time, even in the rain.  I was on the main floor so it was possible to go from my little deck around to the front porch. That was the route the little thief took.

  After packing up my things on that last day, I left them in my room, stacked by the back door, and went for a final get together in the commons area, where we had prayer and communion.   As I left the room, I realized that I had left the screen door open going out onto the deck.  I didn't want my room to fill up with bugs, even if I was about to leave, so I went back and shut it.  I had no idea it would not be any protection to a much larger "bug".  

Imagine my surprise, when I returned to my room a hour or so later to find the screen door open.  What?! I know I closed that door!  It seems that my favorite little four legged friend had smelled the loaf of bread I had left laying on the top of my bag of groceries to go home with me and had been unable to resist.  I saw the empty plastic bag laying forlornly in the rain on the sidewalk below my deck.  You must remember the suspect in question is only about 18 inches tall and, while now somewhat heavier due to carb loading, is not really a very big canine.  Despite that fact, Bella had consumed an entire loaf of bread all by herself.  So great had been her drive to procure the luscious starchy goodness she had managed to nose the screen door open to gain access to her prize.  I am just thankful that she ran with her loot outside and did not make a mess on the floor in my room!  Of course, not a crumb escaped her adorable little snout so I doubt there would have been much of a mess anyway!  I had to tip my proverbial hat to my favorite little sneaky Houdini of the dog world. She would let nothing stand in her way.

Those of you who are frequent visitors to the insanity of my mind know that I cannot leave it at that.  There is a parallel, of course, that jumps out to my.......uhhh... different sort of brain.     Be patient with me, I'm going somewhere.  I find that I immediately think of one verse,

John 6:35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

See? Did you see that?  Jesus calls himself the bread of life.  We are told in the book of John, many times, that he is the bread of life and whomever eats of him shall never be hungry, in fact, shall never die.  The question I have for you today, my dear readers, is how desperate are you for this bread of life?  What obstacles are you willing to overcome in your search for your daily bread?  My little friend, Bella, fought her way through whatever stood in her way in her desire to munch.  Of course, we're not talking about a loaf of yummy, sticky, carb-laden, nutrient lacking, white bread.  We are talking about the bread that brings, not pounds to our hips, but life to our souls.  What steps are you willing to take?  What doors are you willing to go through? 

So this week, I would urge you to not sit back and be content with last week's moldy crusts. No! Go get some fresh bread, go looking for a fresh word from the Lord.  He tells us he would never give his children a stone when they ask for bread.  He is waiting for us to simply ask, no need to fight your way through any screen doors, just ask. 

Meanwhile, I'll be here, watching the rain, in my office, dreaming of the mountains and of a certain four-legged, bread loving, sweet-eyed terrier.  Oh, and I'm also in the market for a sturdy, portable bread box for my planned return trip to the mountains.  I'm just saying, she's cute and all but........

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Winding Roads and Mirrors in Strange Places

I am continually amazed at the goodness of the Lord to me.  As of a week ago, I was merrily going about my normal life, not even realizing that Boone, North Carolina existed.  Okay, that’s only marginally true.  I was well aware that there was a city, in the western mountains of North Carolina called Boone that was reported to be beautiful.  I had never been there and didn’t have any expectations of going any time soon.  It was not, you might say, on my radar.  The Lord saw fit to change that quickly and in a rather original way. 

It all started innocently enough.  A friend mentioned there was a great retreat center up in the mountains and I should look into going up there for a much needed break.  Before I knew what had happened I was on my way westward.  There were phone calls and paperwork and all kinds of preparations, as well as a scholarship thrown in there.  There were plans for kids and pets and work stuff, and it all fell right into place as only the Lord can do it. 

This place that I find myself is breathtaking in more than one way.  Let me explain……

After a tedious drive over from Raleigh, I realized I was finally within 10 miles of His High Places. I thought the worst was behind me.  I had no idea what lay ahead of me.  As I reached the gates that led into the community, I was stunned by the beauty of this place.  Large iron gates swung open smoothly with the entry of the code I was given.  I drove slowly through, onto a road that, I can only describe as, winding.  Actually, winding doesn’t begin to describe it.  This road looked like the strange doodlings of a sugar crazed preschooler!  There were more twists and turns than the drama at a middle school dance.  There were tiny bridges, little tunnels, brooks that were babbling, and drivers gawking, and that was just in the first couple of miles.  After that, things turned serious. 

As I started to ascend the mountain of the Lord to the retreat house, the road quickly became more narrow and, if possible, more winding.  I decided very quickly that it had been designed by a tiny little man, in a tiny little car, a car with wings, so when it fell off the side of this mountain, it could just circle back and try it again.  Suddenly, my mini-van seemed like a big rig of mighty proportions.   I crept along at about 10 mph, seemingly only inches from a five thousand foot drop off. Now, my dear readers, you all know that I never, ever, ever exaggerate so you can be assured that every word of this narrative is correct and accurate!  Every time I was sure I was up just as high as I could possibly go, the road turned and I rose even higher.  At one point, I came around a sharp curve only to find another sharp curve the opposite direction lay in front of me.  Then I saw them.  There were mirror on metal poles all along the curve.  Mirrors!  You know the kind I’m talking about, don’t you?  Stores put them in blind corners so the staff can watch for shop lifters.  Those kind of mirrors!  Now that is just what I needed!  A curve so sharp, on a road so tiny, dug out of the side of a mountain so high up, that to drive it safely, I needed to check the mirrors to make sure I didn’t hit an old man winding his way down on the back of a small burro.  I was sure that I had accidently stumbled onto a long forgotten game trail and not actually a real road, or maybe it was one of the old mountain passes that I read about in the Little House on the Prairie books. You know, the ones the settlers used to get over the mountains in the covered wagons?  Yeah, it was that kind of road.   

After what seemed like hours of heart pounding, nerve wracking, sweat producing, teeth clenching travel, I rounded a little curve and my mouth fell open.  In front of me was a house unlike any I had ever seen before.  A beautiful two-story home stood before me like a graceful southern debutante.  Double balconies bedecked her like strings of elegant pearls draping the ball gown of a woman from a time long passed.  If this was a young lady in her dancing finery, however, her ball room floor would be decidedly too small for dancing.  Almost as if balanced on the head of a pin this magnificent structure rested on a piece of ground that was, in some places, barely 10 feel wider than the boundaries of the porches that surrounded it.  It was as if the lot had been carved from the side of the mountain.  The results were that, when viewed from some windows, it seemed as if you were suspended above the valley below.  The effect was breathtaking. 

What followed was a week of intense joy and intensely hard work as I wadded through all the Lord had for me.  I made friends that I can’t imagine ever losing touch with and learned things about myself and my God that I will never forget.  You can’t go wrong with a place that assigns movies like “Seabiscuit”  and “The Kid” and can then draw important spiritual parallels from them the next day. 

One thing I learned is the importance of taking time out of everyday life to reconnect with the Lord.  It’s an easy thing to do, to become so caught up in the dishes that need to be washed and the laundry calling out your name and the dinner that has to be cooked and the kids that need to be beaten picked up.  Most days are full of house work and child rearing, homework and cooking, walking the dog, running errands, slopping the hogs and plucking the chickens.  Okay, I’ll give you that one slight exaggeration, my hogs slop themselves.  That’s how I raised them. 

The point I’m trying to make is, I have often times felt guilty taking time out for myself and I don’t think I am alone.  As moms and wives, we women have a tendency to put everyone else in front of us.  It’s easy to ignore our own needs until, like a bad tooth finally gone too far, we can no longer ignore them.  I would love for all of my friends to have the chance to experience a week like I did, but I know that not everyone will be as fortunate.  I think the important thing is, that we learn to recognize when we are reaching the point of no return, you know, that point when we are one sibling battle, one spilled drink at dinner, one cranky teenager, one sour load of laundry away from a meltdown of epic proportions, and we do something about it.  It may be something as simple as dinner out with some girlfriends, a movie all alone on a Saturday afternoon, or a couple of hours with a good book and a cup from Starbucks, is all that we need to help us to refocus and regroup. 

The word tells us Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly.  This is not just eternal life, but life here as well.  Why would he want his children to go around sour faced and whiny? Yeah, not really the best advertisement for becoming one of his; “Come to God and become ill tempered, cranky, unreasonable, full of self-pity, hanging on to your sanity by your fingertips, and otherwise, all around a joy to be with!”   So let’s do ourselves a favor and remember, when we are caring for everyone else around us, don’t forget ourselves.  We need a little love too, and if your life is anything like mine, there’s not a lot coming from the offspring of teenage years. 

So I challenge you this week to take a little time for yourself, even if it’s something as simple as a bubble bath and your favorite soda.  It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of intelligence.  So go be smart!  I’ll be here trying to catch up on all the laundry that I missed doing in the week I was gone.  By the time I get things back to normal I may need to head up that mountain again!