Dorothy had it right all along

I had the wonderful opportunity not long ago to share with little Scamp a much loved movie from my childhood, The Wizard of Oz.  I remember watching it once a year filled with excitement and just a little trepidation at the appearance of those pesky flying monkeys!  Looking at it now, as an adult, I can't help but wonder how those little winged chimps could have brought on such fear.  They just looked so realistic!  Their acting skills must have been less than great, though, as I don't think any of them have done much since.  I do love the part towards the beginning of the movie when Dorothy first lands in Oz and steps out of her witch killing abode.  She had been living in a land of black and white and she is suddenly thrust into a world of brilliant color.  I've often thought this was a good representation of my life after the Lord found me. 



I have so many favorite scenes there isn't room to list them all, but one does stand out in my mind today.  It's the one when Dorothy meets the wizard for the first time.  She and all her friends fearfully make their way down the long corridor leading into the throne room of the great and mighty Oz.  When they get there the head that seems to float before them is quite intimidating.  It's harsh and angry and downright mean to the little group.  When they present their requests he requires a seemingly impossible task be completed first.  You all know the movie, I'm sure, how Dorothy throws water on the wicked witch and melts her thereby allowing her to take her magic broom for the wizard.  When they all return to the Emerald City and present the broom they are shocked when the wizard tells them to go away and come back later.  Dorothy gets mad and starts to tell the giant floating head off when her attention is grabbed by little Toto.  The little dog had discovered a curtain with a funny little man behind it over to the side.  "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" says mr floating head, but the gig is up.  He's been found out! 

How many times have we trembled in fear before a giant floating head in our life only to find out later is was controlled by a harmless little man behind the curtain?  We must not take what seems to be truth at first glance to always be right.  Dorothy and her little crew could have given up and gone away never to see the realization of their dreams, but they were willing to go behind the curtain.  They looked deeper and learned the truth, and as we all know, the truth shall set us free. 

The lesson I learned from this favorite childhood movie is this; don't accept surface reality.  Look deeper, question everything, take nothing for what it seems to be.  How many times has the enemy floated a big old giant head in front of me and told me I couldn't do something?  How many times have I, like the cowardly lion, dove through the window to escape what I was sure was certain death?  If I had only stopped to check out the little man behind the curtain, things could have turned out differently.  Remember, just like Dorothy, we already have all we need to make it home.  We simply have to believe. 

The movie has given me a few ideas.  Parts of it had the same affect on Scamp as it had on me as a child.  I wonder if those monkeys do private work.  I could use some help on the discipline front. Too much???  Maybe.......

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Great players never die, they just face plant.

It seems the weather has finally decided to cool off. I, for one, am so glad.  I don't care too much for hot temperatures.  I don't do sweating.  It's simply not a good look for me.  This hasn't  always been the case.  When I was younger I was always outdoors, always active, always involved in some sort of physical activity.  I didn't care if it was volleyball, or basketball, or biking or touch football, but softball was my favorite!

I started playing at a really young age.  At the tender age of only four years old,  I actually remember the day of my first real game.  We used a tee to hit off and I was so nervous walking up to the plate.  Coming from a totally baseball family I had been well prepared for everything except my nerves!  Nevertheless, I swung and made contact.  The ball went soaring (to my 4 yr old eyes, it was soaring!)  towards the outfield and I started running.  I made it all the way around the bases and dashed for home while the opposing team still looked like an ant hill someone had stirred up.  I was exalting in my very first homerun.  I then proceeded to jump right over the plate without touching it!  In my excitement I didn't realize I didn't touch home plate.  I triumphantly swaggered towards my dugout when I felt the catcher tag me in the back and heard the umpire say "she's out!"  I was stunned.  I remember it like it was yesterday, not 40 years ago! lol

I went on to play for many years, hit many homeruns, and develop the instincts of a pretty good player. I found out the hard way a few years back that I never lost those instincts.  It was a gorgeous summer evening.  Mumbles was playing on a rec team and it was the yearly Moms vs boys game.  The first clue that things were not as I assumed was when, while at bat, I fouled a ball off right into Mumble's eye as he knelt behind the plate as catcher.  He had quite the shiner but he learned to never play that position without his facemask.  The fact that I didn't realize I had hit him and continued to bat until hitting a ball into deep right field and rounding the bases made this not quite my shinning mom moment.  It wasn't until I was standing on third base that I realized what had happened and received my trophy as the mother of the year! 

He wasn't the only one to limp away from that game with an unfortunate injury.  The last 5 years I spent on the softball field I always played 2nd base, so it was only natural I would take up that position again in this battle of parent vs child.  I learned an important lesson that day, while I retained my natural instincts for the game, my body could no longer keep up with them.  When there was a line drive that shot straight up the middle my instincts said to quickly pivot that direction and lunge for the ball.  It seems my brain was much faster than my body!  I did find out that I am still impressively limber for an old woman of my size.  How did I come by this knowledge, you ask?  I think I first realized this fact as the bottom of my feet hit the back of my head after I face planted in the mud!  After I could breathe again I couldn't stop laughing!  While I would feel that splat for quite a few days the only obvious wound at the time was to my pride.  I don't know who was more embarrassed, my kids or me! lol



There is, of course, a point to my ramblings. I am going somewhere with all this and I welcome you to join me on the trip!  As I was recently relating this story to a friend of mine I started to see a spiritual parallel (you should have known I would).  I believe it is possible to abide in Christ to such an extent that you allow the Holy Spirit to nurture those instincts.  After 25 years of being absent from the field, I still had the instincts to do what I needed to do to make the play. The fact that I no longer had the body for it only gave me a sadly humorous tale about what happens to old women trying to recapture their youth.  The fact remained that my instincts also remained.  I want to develop my spiritual instincts in the same way.  I hope, one day, for my first reaction to be to walk after the spirit in every situation and not after the flesh.  So I'm going to be asking the Lord to reset my default button, to sharpen my instincts till my natural instinct is for the supernatural.  My goal will be to reach a point when that is the norm and not the exception.

Meanwhile, I'll still be here dreaming of green grass, the crack of the bat and the smell of a new leather glove.  I'll still dream of those things, but in reality I'll be on the couch with a coke, some popcorn and the Braves on tv, but in my head........

Till next time,

Soaked in His blessings,

Spokenfor

Don't focus on the pom poms

Friday evening found me sitting, once again, on the cold stone bleachers of the local high school football stadium.  While I enjoy a good football game, it wasn't actually the game I was there to see.  It was the band.  Mumbles plays the sousaphone.  If you're like I was at the beginning of the season you have no idea what a sousaphone is.  Let me educate you.  It's the marching band version of a tuba.  It's huge, shiny and it always looks like it's strangling him as he wears it sort of around his neck.  He's the only kid I know that can make that thing look cool.  I think he gets that ability from his mother.

I was shocked at the wave of sentiment that threatened to overtake me as I sat in the cool fall air listening to the fight song floating out over the field.  I have no personal history with high school football. My graduating class had a whopping 7 students, not exactly a sporting powerhouse.  I'm not sure what caused such a strong emotion, maybe it was the feeling of expectation in the air, the feeling that anything was possible.  Here was a whole school of kids with their whole lives stretching out ahead of them full of limitless opportunities.

On further reflection, I have decided part of what I was feeling was jealously, mixed with a little regret.  How many times have we looked at our past and thought "if only"?  If only I had known then what I know now, if only I had not made that choice, or dated that person, or walked away from that opportunity.  When I look back there is so much I wish I had done differently, or not done at all.  What kind of person would I have been if I had taken a alternative road from the one I took?  Where would I be now? Would I have the same life?  Would I have the same hang ups, the same troubles, the same "issues"?  Does it really matter?

I believe there is a danger is looking back like this.  The word tells us in Philippians 3:13-14
...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
In other words, don't look back!  Looking backwards is a good way to run off the road!  I remember when I was preparing for my first horse show.  I had arranged to take a lesson at a local prestigious stable. One thing they taught me that day has stuck with me all these years and I have had reason to apply it to life in general more than once.  Before you want your horse to make a turn, you change what you are focusing on.  If you are in the air over a jump and you know when you land you have to make a sharp right turn to make the next jump, you'd better be looking to your right while you're still in the air.  You change your focus and your mount will follow.


What I'm stumbling around trying to say is things run smoother if you watch where you're going.  You cannot move forward while looking back.  So my goal this week will be to keep my spiritual peepers pointed where I want to go because, as we've heard today, your focus becomes your destination.  I don't want my destination to become a foray into the land of could of, should of, would ofs.  As difficult as some things in life may be, they are all part of who you are today.  Just think, if you went back, sure, you may have that cheerleader body again, you may not have your grey hair, your stretch marks, your wrinkles and middle age spread, but you also would not have the wisdom you have gained through the years.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to learn all that over again!



Enjoy this week where you are. Don't look back.  I'll be here working on facing the front and continuing to be forward focused.  Now, if I could only find a place to store my pom poms........


Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Indiana Jones and the lost suggestion box

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, won't you be mine? Oh won't you be mine?  Sorry, I couldn't help it.  It really is a gorgeous day today after the rain and the wind of the last two days.  Irene limped into the area, huffed and puffed and slid on out leaving limbs down and flowers bedraggled by a bit of a beating.  I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed it.  There are few things I like better than a rainy Saturday.  Things are getting back to normal now that the storm has passed.  J is working in the yard, getting all the debris cleaned up and the kids have all gone their separate ways to worship band practice or marching band practice, or video games or homework (hey! a mom can dream!) or whatever else they do while hiding in the rooms acting like teenagers.

I've tried to drag them out and make them spend time together as a family, but it's like pulling teeth.  I know they are at that age when they are establishing their own identity, forging their own way, pulling away from mom to form their own life, blah, blah, blah!  Where did my little boys all go??!  I remember the days when all I had to do was suggest they come sit on my lap, or give me a hug.  There was ever a time when I could simply suggest they clean their rooms and, sometimes, they actually did it.  Now they have turned into these big smelly creatures with a mind of their own.  They don't mind the mess, the clutter, the funky smell.  I can "suggest" till I'm blue in the face, but that room won't be cleaned without, usually, a computer ban threat.  I think my suggester must be broken. 

Lately, I have found my suggestions falling on deaf ears in other areas of my life as well.  It seems the answer to some of my prayers has been no or not yet, despite the fact I strongly suggested otherwise.  I heard someone say once that they had asked God for something and it hadn't happened and, to them, this indicated He just didn't answer prayer.  I tried to be very loving when I informed them, maybe the answer was "no".  They looked at me as if I had lost my ever lovin mind.  Sometimes we forget "no" is an answer.   When we ask things of God, when we share our hearts with Him, He listens. He cares. He feels our pain.  The word tells us He even saves every tear we've ever cried.  He is, however, also an all knowing God as well as an all loving God and occasionally what we think is best for our life, he knows is not.  We can share our hearts with him, thereby deepening our relationship, but He is not a vending machine where you put in the right amount of money/prayer and out pops your desire.  The Holy Spirit does not have a suggestion box.  To live a truly fulfilled life is to trust that he has the right answers at the right time. 

This concept is such a freeing one.  No longer do I feel the need to take a list to the Lord of all the things I want/need in my life.  I can relax and just enjoy spending time with Him.  Sure, I still tell Him what I would like to happen, but I try to remember the answer may still be "no".  I remember the word tells us to seek Him first and He will add all the other stuff to us.  I find as I spend more time with him that He fills my heart with the desires He wants me to have.  When you pray something the Lord wants to do anyway, you can rest assured of that positive outcome. 

My goal this week is to relax in my heavenly father knowing he wants only good things for my life and I won't always know what those things are.  I hope to begin to respond in a way that pleases him when the answer is "no".  I will keep reminding myself that he doesn't need my suggestions on how the world should be run.  He's pretty much got a good handle on things. 

My teenagers are a different story.  I'm thinking of finding a way to move those suggestions into the physical realm, like maybe with a bull whip.  I bet that would get their attention!  Indiana Jones ain't got nothing on me!



Till next time I'll be
Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Italian dinners and snot nosed apple thieves.........

 The following is a post that was written just about one year ago.  I thought it needed some editing so I never published it. Then, true to form for me, I forgot about it.  But! It made for a great discovery today.  So here it is............


We went to a dinner at church tonight. It was called Dinner and Discovery. The food was great, lets get the important stuff out of the way first, but, more importantly, it was a great opportunity to get to know some other people in this new church we now call home. Pastor Awesome took time after we ate some wonderful italian, to give us an overview of what Church Alive believes and how it came to be. It was a time of discovery, but not only about the church, I discovered something about myself as well. I'm still in there! Even after a thousand years of being a mom, a wife, a writer, a singer, a worker, I'm still me, just little old me.

It's so easy in our busy lives, especially as women, to lose ourselves as we nurture, care for, and give out to our families and others. That is one thing God is working on in me with this relocation. I am in a church that is filled with people and a ministry team that is open to me. They have no preconceived notion of who I am or what I have done in the past. I am just me, with all my strengths and weakness, with all my good and bad traits, my intelligence and stupidity, my gifts, my passions, my goofiness and everything else that makes up who I am.

It's so easy when we have been in the same place for a long time, with the same people, to become locked into what others perceive us to be. It becomes comfortable. We cease to become stretched and sometimes, to grow. The word speaks of a prophet having no honor in his home town. I can only imagine it might be difficult to take seriously the message of God coming from the same guy who used to be the snot nosed kid running barefoot through your yard, stealing apples from your tree.

So the challenge is this; be who you are! Be who God created you to be, not everyone else's perception of who God created you to be. You will probably rock a few boats, upset a few apple carts, and blow a few minds, but it's worth it. To live a life short of what God intends, is to not really live life at all. There is great joy in the freedom that comes from breaking out of the rut, the easy life you find yourself in.

So, take a chance and be who you are, not who others think you are! You don't have to have a relocation to set free the real you from the bonds of the expectations of those around you.  Turn a few heads, shake a few worlds, rock a boat or two, step out and embrace the wonderful you that the Lord created you to be!  There's great comfort in relaxing and doing what comes naturally, whatever that may be!

Until next time, I'll still be,

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Boats, Mice, and Cheese Pizza

Here I am home, mostly alone, almost at peace.  Aaahhh, you gotta love it when the guys feel the need to run off to the woods and do the "guy bonding thing".  It's been just Scamp and me at home since yesterday morning and, I must admit, the semi-solitude has been enjoyable.  The laundry pile hasn't really grown all that much, there really aren't a lot of dishes in the sink and the clutter in the living room is at an all time low.  I could get used to this.  Of course, it loses some of it's shine when I have to do things like, go out and untangle the dumb 3-legged dog because she keeps getting her line caught in the bushes, or go get the mail, or pump gas, or take out the trash or bring in the groceries or walk the dog or, or, or, ok, it's time for them to come home!  Upon further review, I'm tired!!

I spoke with J earlier today and it sounds as if everyone has had a good time.  They are on a white water rafting trip with the youth group from church.  Of course, J had to start our conversation with something like "well there was only one injury on the river today.......... it was Mumbles"   It seems there were 5 boats but only 2 guides. So 3 of the adult chaperones were "captains" over the other 3 boats.  Mumbles was in a boat with the youth pastor as captain.  The boat with one of the guides came along side and he started to goof off and give the guide a hard time, just playing around. The guide, being of the fairly young variety and therefore lacking a while lot of good judgement, reached out, grabbed Mumbles and yanked him from his boat.  All in good fun ha ha, good joke, very humorous, no harm done. Right?  Well, it seems the guide had forgotten they were approaching a series of rapids right about that time and, after being sucked under the boats and spit out the other side, Mumbles was out of reach of anyone actually inside a boat.  He ended up going through that whole series of rapids on his back, head first.  Thankfully, the Lord was watching over him and he emerged from the other side with only a slightly beat up knee.  It could have been so much worse! It could have been disastrous! 

Here's the thing, I prayed for my boys, just like I always do, but my prayers were concentrated on Monkey Boy and Surfer Dude, who, despite their names, are not the strongest swimmers in the family.  Mumbles, while goofy, is a very strong swimmer so I worried less about him.  In the end, it didn't matter. God had it all under control and no one was seriously injured and some important lessons were learned. Namely, don't give a hard time to someone who has your life in his hands while going down a river. (cue the banjo music)

Once I stopped hyperventilating over the near miss of tragedy and picked myself back up off the floor I started to ponder what had happened in the way only my tilted brain can do.  You know me, once again, there was a startling spiritual parallel.  I guess the moral would be "be careful who you float your boat close to".   Sometimes, in the enjoyment of our life's river we get a little lax and start to float places we don't really need to be.  I'm not talking about strip clubs, bars, crack houses or Chuck E Cheeses (sorry, Chuck, truth is truth, you live in a house of insanity), I'm talking about those times in life where we just simply quit paddling and start to float.  The problem with floating, while relaxing enough, is that we have no control over our destination.  We are at the current's mercy.  Before we know it, our boat has drifted alongside the enemy's boat and, in an instant, he has snagged us and thrown us into the water.   It pays to vigilant.  It pays to stay in control of your path by listening to the Lord and following what he says, not simply going wherever the river might take you. 

Who are you floating near today?  Have you stowed your oars in favor of a relaxing float? Are there things or people encroaching on the space that should be reserved only for the Lord?  Today I'm going to re-examine the current that I'm in.  I'm going to pick my oars back up and ask the Captain for some direction.  Floating may be relaxing, but I'd rather stay in my boat.  I don't want to get my hair wet, I just washed it.

Until next time, I'll be here, paddling away and trying to avoid large grey mice hawking cheese pizza.

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

Why do you ask???

Sooo, this post will be a little different than what I usually post.  I've participating in a fellow blogger's weekly writing workshop.  I've chosen one of the prompts from the list given and the following is the result.  Hope you enjoy this little side track from the usual.....


prompt - Why didn't they ask you? Write a list of 5 or 10 sentences that begin with the words 'No one ever asked me'; then, write about one of them in detail, or use them all in a poem, or use several in a personal description of yourself.

1. No one ever asked me how much I love my children.
2. No one ever asked me how I wish my childhood had been different.
3. No one ever asked me what it was like living on foreign soil.
4. No one ever asked me what super hero I want to be.
5. No one ever asked me if I would like to be a bear.
6. No one ever asked me what it's like to have 5 boys.
7. No one ever asked me to jump into a volcano.
8. No one ever asked me if I was really a woman
9. No one ever asked me why schools consider ketchup a vegetable.
10. No one ever asked me to dance. 


Ok, so there's my 10 sentences. Now, what should I do with them?  Well, I guess I could address them one by one.  First, my children and how much I love them;  I have five gorgeous boys.  They are both spread out in age and all squished up all at the same time.  How is that possible?  Well, the year my oldest started college, my youngest started preschool.  The middle 3, however are only 2 1/2 years apart and none of them are twins!  So, having that many males in my house gets a little busy, busy and smelly.  ( I guess this is really the answer to #6 as well!)  Most of the time my house looks a little like a frat house minus the beer kegs.  The bathroom would rival any bathroom at any truck stop on any interstate in the country!  When we can smell it from outside I make my husband go clean it.  I'm certainly not going in there! Most of the time I know way too much about the latest video game craze, alternative christian music, geeky techno movies and other such strange boy stuff.  I have no help cleaning house, no help in the kitchen, no help with the laundry.  I am swimming in a lake of testosterone and am in danger of sinking.  On the other hand, I am so blessed!  I never have to open a door, pick up anything heavy, carry in the groceries, start the fire, take out the trash, pump the gas, change a light bulb, cut the grass, wash the car, walk the dog, or fear the boogie man will break in and get me.   I never have a shortage of hugs, kisses, snuggles, or laughs.  I've learned it's not the end of the world when the baseball goes through the window, the toilet overflows (again!), there is nothing to eat in the house, the music is loud enough to rattle the windows, there are more teenagers in the house than humanly possible and there is yet another argument between brothers.  My boys. I can't live without them, I can't do away with them. (it would take too much to hide the bodies)
To answer #4, my perfect super hero? I think I would want to be Procrastination Woman!  I've had so much practice already.  When I hear a cry for help, I will answer with "I'll save you.......................eventually!!"  
#5 Do I want to be a bear?  Why yes, thank you, that would be so cool!  Just think of it. A female bear is expected to be fat, her legs are supposed to be hairy, she gives birth in her sleep,  it's her right to be cranky and she gets to sleep for months at a time and no one calls her lazy.  She eats all she wants and no on bothers her.  Sounds pretty good to me! 
To sum it all up, yes, I really am a woman,  there are no volcanoes anywhere around, I can't dance, and since tomatoes are technically a fruit, that makes ketchup a smoothie not a veggie. 


This has been an interesting exercise and I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into my tilted brain and have not been too traumatized by it.  Come back in a couple of days as we resume our regularly scheduled programing.  Still, as always, I'm ,


Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor