A Day Without Needles

Mark 9:35 (NIV)

35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.

Today, I chose to lay my needles down.  If you know anything about me and this journey, you know that was a huge but very necessary deal.  For several weeks now, I have been under the weather, multiple doctor and specialist visits, prednisone, antibiotics, coughing, headaches, and all that being sick without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel entail.  Through it all I kept knitting because the caress of the yarny goodness was not for me, but for others.

There is a fire in my belly to create items that a deserving military service member, past, present or future will hold, carry, hug or be wrapped with the knowledge that their special piece was made by loving hands.   But last night I was working on a piece, feeling lousy, just trying to complete it. I pushed and pulled and yanked stitches right off the needles.

When the yank happened, I knew I wasn’t feeling well,  it had been a long physically challenging day, I was tired and had no business touching that scarf or those needles.  Packing away the yarn and needles for the evening, I fully planned to wake up today and repair the  damage.

Then I woke up, picked up my e-reader, read this text and realized that I needed to rest, to take care of myself to listen to the Spirit.  When I feel better, the yarn and needles will be here and God will give me the strength and direction to complete the scarf.

Each day we there are subtle reminders that we truly are powerless without God.  There is not one aspect of my life in which I do not submit to His will. We cannot ask to be healed yet not do all we are instructed to aid in our healing.  My fingers yearned to pull out a ball of  truly yummy yarn and imagine a new hat or cowl, to caress my new needles and dream about the possibilities of what warm love they would hold, but not this day.

Lord, I thank you for opportunity to heal, to get better and to know that in your time, Father, Your perfect will be done!  Today and everyday!

Making His praise glorious!

Ree

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Is Your Living in Vain?

Matthew 25:44-45 (NIV)

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

With each passing year, words to songs heard as children keep resurfacing and becoming meaningful and relevant to my own life.  Life experiences cause us to understand the stories behind those songs.  Songs of overcoming, rejoicing and making a difference.   The lyrics  to this particular song caused me to search my own heart and question if my life has meaning and question, if my life is vain.

When Christ returns, I do not want to have, “I coulda, shoulda , woulda” on my lips.  It is my desire to maintain a sense of urgency so that I am able to hear the words “Well done…”

Making His praise glorious!

Ree

Lyrics to If I Can Help Somebody :

If I can help somebody, as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody, with a word or song,
If I can show somebody, how they’re travelling wrong,
Then my living shall not be in vain.Chorus:
My living shall not be in vain,
Then my living shall not be in vain
If I can help somebody, as I pass along,
Then my living shall not be in vain.If I can do my duty, as a good man ought,
If I can bring back beauty, to a world up wrought,
If I can spread love’s message, as the Master taught,
Then my living shall not be in vain.

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Back to Work

English: Man Made in the Image of God, as in Genesis 1:26 to 2:3, illustration from a Bible card published 1906 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Reading the above text, it struck me that God is highly in favor of work!  Not only is He in favor of it, He put Adam in the garden to “work and take care” of it.  In other words God told Adam to “Get to work!”

This holiday break has been an absolute blessing but it is over and now and time to go back to work.  Time to be about completing and undertaking tasks purposed by God for me.  These periods of respite away from the daily grind have a way of providing more than just physical and emotional rest.  Ok, so maybe I did a bit more knitting than actual resting, but those long uninterrupted periods of knitting provided quiet moments of reflection and contemplation.

Rested, ready, reliable and responsive,  let us go into the next phase of our tasks, whatever work we do, give glory to God while working!  Be grateful to be employed and understand that God employs us to be emissaries on behalf of the Kingdom!  Now, it is time to get back to work!  

Making His praise glorious!

Ree

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Happy New Year!!!!

Fireworks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

 

The first day of a brand New Year, crackling with the excitement of possibilities and promises!

 

What an absolute blessing to see the fruition of promises made to us by God!  This is a new year and in this year, as we continue to work in the service of others, it is my fervent prayer to stay on the path that God has set my feet and purpose upon.

 

A New Year, a new day, a new me. Possibilities in the hand of the Master are truly endless and without limit!

 

Making His praise glorious!

 

Ree

 

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