Month: January 2012

Lord lead the way….

“She started her day with a simple prayer, ‘Lord, lead the way.’ Then she stepped out

the door with a heart full of courage.”

I love this quote….

This isn’t just a saying for women. It can also say He started his day with a simple prayer…

It is the simple prayer that I find so wonderful….Lord, lead the way….if that is a sincere prayer of my heart, how different my life could be….

And I love the invitation to step out the door with a heart full of courage…it reminds me how I am invited to not only pray, but also be ready to act. I can fill many moments in a day with prayers to my God, but God also invites me to live in faith and ready to move….moving with a heart full of courage! Sounds like a true adventure….

I wonder how life would be different if I really allowed God to lead my way….

I wonder how life would be different if I really lived with a heart full of courage…

What a beautiful way to live….so happy every morning allows me the opportunity to start my day a new!

 

 

 

The joy of the giggle…

I have been staying with my two nephews the last few days while my sister and brother-in-law are enjoying a get away before Tax Season begins. We have lots of fun and good conversations, but I have to say, my all time favorite is the joy that bubbles up in me when I hear them giggle. It is often nothing that I would find so funny, but in their eyes, the moment is hilarious. The giggle fills the room when Peter in his goofy moments has Isaiah staggering as he giggles. The eyes that twinkle and the sounds that resounds when Peter thinks it is way to funny that Dutch has gas that is silent but deadly. The laughter I hear during the bean bag war (while I silently pray the laughter doesn’t turn to tears) is enough to want to freeze the scene as two brothers play together and enjoy the moment!

I do believe that the delight of a giggle, either experienced, shared or observed, can bring joy to one’s heart. I hope that you are around people who invite you to giggle from time to time….I hope you have people of all ages in your life who know how to giggle with eachother…I hope you have moments of listening to the giggle of a child….I hope laughter is a part of your life on a regular basis…

I find that it is not easy to capture the genuine giggle on a video, as it is often so spontaneous it would be ruined by pulling out the camera. But I do have a favorite kid giggle on You Tube that i have included in this post if you just need a moment of joy….take a very brief moment to enjoy this giggle…

Thankful for two legs…

I have to say that as I watch my Mom maneuver through her days, I am thankful for two feet.

I realize I often neglect an attitude of gratitude for the most basic things…

Two feet

Thumbs

fingers

big toes

elbows

knees

ankles

eyes

ears

nose

tongue

Of course I could go on and on….

But be grateful today for the smallest of things that allow us to function, to walk, to move, to enjoy, and to LIVE!

 

 

A room full of stories….

Today I sat in the hospital waiting room while I waited for Dr. DeMaagd to beckon us and let us know that all went well for my Mom’s surgery.

In the hours I was at the hospital, I was struck by the faces of the people we saw…

It started with the man in the wheelchair in Surgery Registration whose face showed very few expressions….I wonder when he lost the sparkle in his eyes….

I saw a happy woman (another nurse) who came to help my Mom’s nurse. She had a heart full of joy and such a kind spirit. I wonder who inspired her to be a nurse and bring such joy….

I sat across from a woman who waited for hours (2.5 more than we waited) and she was expecting a good report from the Doctor about her loved one. We made small talk and yet I wondered about those who sat amongst us in the waiting room who did not receive good news. I began to wonder about those whose lives were changed today because of a moment with the Dr. My heart ached for those people….

And then I saw Dr. DeMaagd and I heard him call our name. I was relieved to hear him say all went well and soon we would be reunited with my Mom. My Mom had a fall which could have happened to any one of us. Her life is changed drastically for a short time. Her fall is now part of her story…

I wonder what others wonder when they see you in passing….

Does the twinkle in your eye provoke curiosity in them?

Does the way you engage with others give people reason to wonder where you find your joy?

Does the way you engage with others in passing give them a glimpse into what your life holds and is waiting for….

It seems very evident that the hospital waiting room is where there is a room full of stories….

But that is true everywhere you go….I hope your curiosity is peaked and you will enter into conversation with great interest and listen for opportunities to learn a little more….

Be curious and live well….

 

 

 

Martin Luther King…

A man who has changed so much…

A man who has invited us to think….

A man who has invited us to change….

A man who has invited us to love…

A man who has invited us to live…

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Are you generous…

I wonder how you would answer this question…

I am not talking only about your financial generosity….

I wonder if you are generous with words of affirmation, kind words, or with your time….

I wonder if you are generous with how you care for yourself…

I wonder if you are equally as generous with those you know and those you don’t know…

I have been curious this weekend about my philosophy of generosity.

I want to be generous where I feel stingy. It likely won’t be in money or even giving away of anything tangible. This week, I want to focus on being generous in how I love others. I do believe that Generosity Changes Everything…and how fun if Everything can be changed because of GENEROUSITY!

I hope you will consider yourself invited to make a difference this week by being generous in wild and wonderful ways!

 

Step by Step….

A few years back we began singing for our Sunday dinner devotions. Every week we sing Step by Step and every week, as we sing this song, the words become our prayer for the week..

I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And Step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Today, the words to this song came to mind, and took on some new meaning…

I spent the day in the Emergency Room with my Dad, Mom and Aunt Dot as we awaited the word on my Mom’s broken ankle. We waited and conversed, played some scrabble and waited some more. In the end, surgery is pending and winter will be filled with non-weight bearing days for her. And even amidst the harsh reality of the news she heard throughout the day, she maintained perspective and a thankful spirit that bones heal and what she is facing is minor compared to what many face….

My Mom has been (and will be again) a great work out partner for me. She meets me every morning and we work out often again in the evening. She is 69 and wonderfully active. But as of today, the pause button will be engaged for the coming weeks. It will be a difficult season for a very active woman. It will create voids in my day-to-day where I will miss her active presence. And yet, I am reminded that the words we sing every week are not about our physical steps. And so I trust the words we sing (and will continue to sing) in my life and in the life of my Mom: I will seek You in the morning, And I will learn to walk in Your ways, And Step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days!

And so I am asking you to join us in prayer. Please pray boldly with us that the bones will align and not require surgery for healing. Pray that in the days ahead, she will be comfortable in her body and her spirit as her days are so drastically altered. And pray that if surgery is required and if it really is March 10 or so before she can bear weight again, that she will be able to also attest to the words of another favorite song: That is it indeed well with my (her) soul…

Step boldly my friends, in loving and trusting ways….

Awake my soul and sing…

I am working on getting my Christmas letters out. I am about 70% done and planning to finish them up this weekend. But there is something I wrote in it that keeps coming back to me.

I ended my letter with the following: I pray every morning that I will live out the words I encounter as I come down my stairs to face my day:  Awake My Soul and Sing!

I see it every day as I walk down my steps. I find that I leave my house curious….

Curious about what song my soul will sing each day?

Curious about what might interrupt the music…

Curious if I will learn a new song or if there will be a dance in my step with the song of my soul?

I wonder how familiar your Soul is with the song it sings…

I wonder what are the words to your Soul’s favorite songs…

I wonder how your life would be different if you awoke every morning and invited your soul to sing….

Give it a try….it is an invitation that has the potential to brighten even some of the more difficult moments!

 

Hurdles….

My only exposure to the hurdles was in gym class and even there I saw them as quite an impossible feat. Somehow my body just never was very good at leaving the ground. I am working on that now as I pursue my PhD(Personal Health and Development) but I don’t really envision hurdling to ever be my thing….

But there is hurdling of a different kind that I am realizing I am quite an expert at….

I seem to be quite proficient at setting up and jumping hurdles in my mind.

Today as I set out for my workout, I was on the outside lane of the track. I start to think about the extra steps the outside takes and that I likely won’t keep up. In no time, I am falling behind and feeling out of breath. I am grateful that I can quickly identify this as a mental hurdle alert.

I used to believe that the only option to mental hurdles was to jump them. I have now learned that may be the hardest option. It is quicker and much more enjoyable to quickly remove them. Today, it helped me to speak it out loud and to realize that if I take a deep breath and lengthen my stride, I can really keep up just fine. Although my walking partner was willing to change lanes and that was quite a nice option as well! 🙂

It has been very helpful to realize that my mind can be one of my greatest barriers to successfully reaching my goals. I am working on the hurdles of my mind that appear when it comes to my balance and running during my training sessions. I know my hurdles are not simply related to my training and workouts.  Hurdles surface for me throughout every day and may look like negative self talk, lies about myself or others or self-defeating thoughts or fears that keep me from even attempting something at hand.

I am learning that there are places on my journey that I don’t expect to encounter hurdles and yet, surprisingly they show up. I am not sure I will ever be able to eliminate them but I do want to ensure I am very proficient at recognizing them, naming them, removing them, or with amazing grace and ease….JUMPING THEM!

 

 

Perspective…

A week or so ago I shared a blog (http://trishborgdorff.com/2011/12/30/) written by my friend Lydia who is on a short term mission trip to Togo West Africa. Today, as I anticipate the arrival of Winter tomorrow, I was reminded of a blog she wrote a few days ago. I want to share it with you. I want to invite you to remember how big the world is and  how blessed we are….even in the midst of our hardships (weather, life or otherwise).

c’est la vie

did you shower this morning?
did you walk 6 miles in bare feet through thick, jungle brush to the nearest, nearly dry stream and carry it all back on your head?
have you taken a sip of water recently?
did you sift out the cow feces first?
are you wearing clean underwear?
were they washed with the same water you showered in yesterday?
did you eat today?
did you think about whether or not you could afford to actually eat your food rather than sell it?
probably not.
do you brush your teeth with toothpaste?
some people wouldn’t know what to do with a tube if you gave them one.
do you use shampoo?
“shampoo” doesn’t even exist in some people’s vocabularies.
do you check the weather on your smartphone?
some people don’t need to.  only sticks and branches separate them from the outdoors.
this is not a guilt trip.
i promise.
no sir. not even close. just an eye-opener.
and a funny story.
several years ago, the Peace Corps came to Kpele Tsiko, Togo looking to do some humanitarian work.
family members of long-term patients stay on the hospital compound.  in an area called the “cuisine.”
divided cement slabs. a pump. a couple of cement rooms with doors. some showers. places to cook. and build fires. clean water.
the conditions seem meager to me.  but I know the Togolese that stay here think they’re living like kings on those cement slabs.
a while back, they didn’t have toilets.  now, thanks to the Peace Corps.  they do.
the funny thing is though.
they’ve never been used.
seriously.  never.
the brush is just fine, thanks.
really?  yes really.
i know exactly what you’re thinking. i do.
i started out feeling sorry for them too.  but then I noticed something.
they don’t feel sorry for themselves.
this is simply how they do things.
walking 6 miles to find water during the dry season isn’t a drag.  it’s life.
wearing long skirts in triple-digit heat isn’t oppressive.  it’s culture.
carrying children on your back while you harvest yams and hack squaking chickens isn’t crazy.  it’s a living.
hard to believe. i know. but i’m beginning to understand.
slowly.
i have been deceived.
i have mistakenly made the words “convenience” and “necessity”
synonymous.