Bread Ties and Chewing Gum

This is a bizarre title for a post. I have to agree with you there. However, I think I will be able to make a coherent point by the end of the piece. Hang in there with me and send up a prayer(no specific reason, but hanging in there and praying never hurt anyone that I have ever heard of...). Bread ties and chewing gum are whimsical household items that I am going to use to make an observation about life. You're still with me? God is merciful...

Bread ties and chewing gum remind me of those little habits I have picked up along the way to distract myself from dealing with reality. My favorites include staring at the bulleting board at the back of the church sanctuary building, fixating on a light fixture, studying my shoes, and scanning the crowd to see who didn't make it on any given Sunday...I have also slipped into the habit of mentally writing letters and traveling with more stuff than it would take to spend a week on vacation...baggage comes in more than one form...

Chewing gum makes me think of the efforts that I use to keep my outward facade from degenerating into honesty. The gum has this nasty little habit of sticking so well sometimes that it hurts to pull it off. It also comes loose when I am sweating and squirming to arrange my bread ties at the same time I am propping the gum under my facade. If you can mentally imagine these things, it may seem ridiculous, but hold on;I am making my way slowly to the point of my post today.

These devices do not work to keep all of my pieces together. I have been using the same m.o. for years, and it is insane. They don't work, and what is worse they can further isolate me from other believers. That isolation works a subtle and yet obvious concoction of an intense nature. Juggling bread ties and chewing gum keeps my eyes on me and off of Jesus. That is where I need to be focusing my gaze. My navel
has long since lost it's appeal. I refuse to paint it or put a piercing there. I would not bring attention to my neurotic thought processes if it were not for the fact that others have them, too. It is also true that holding on to my bread ties and chewing gum in secret turns toxic. I cannot live and stay in hiding. I don't think anyone juggles that skillfully without paying a high price.

In closing my post today, I pray that the Lord reaches in to where you live and shows you if you have any bread ties and wads of chewing gum that need to be heaved. Pitch them and don't look back longingly at where they land. You do not need them. You need a hug.

Thanks for bearing with me while I made every effort at making a coherent point. I appreciate your patience and pray that you are blessed by what the Lord has put on my heart today.


Have a cup o'joy...
Lynne

Good Morning, everyone!

It am writing you as the day is still fairly new. I have read and responded to an email or two, and have had the usual detours of chasing my two-year old off of the countertops. Both of my children are still waking up and have not slipped into full-throttle speed as of yet. Life is beautiful.

The coffee is good, and the sun is shining outside. I watch the cars drive past one of my kitchen windows on their way to work, shopping, the beach...and know that my day will soon include the same thing. I had the day off yesterday, so I suppose it wont be so bad to go back to work today. I may even enjoy chatting with some of my co-workers.

I am reminded of that verse in scripture that talks about God's mercies being new every morning. What an amazing thought. That is an immense amount of mercy being poured out on our behalf. I am right there under the spigot; soaking up the grace that I need so dearly. I pray that you get under the cleansing flood today and receive that grace that He is offering.

I have to go now. The rest of my day is calling me away from the computer. I still have to get the kids dressed and fed. I have to get myself dressed and enough caffeine pumped into my system to coherently make change at the register. I will be writing in my mind as I work and just pray that I can walk and chew gum at the same time...I have to keep my mind occupied or else it just wanders off...

I really have to go now. Thanks for visiting The Land of Lynne today.

Be blessed,
...and have a cup o'joy...

Lynne

Musings on Jeremiah 29: 11-14






"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29: 11-14 NKJV


These are familiar words to many people. They are a balm for the soul when we are blinded by our emotions. They are a gently prodding invitation to seek God when the thought of having a future and a hope seems like a mixed blessing. I am convinced that this passage was crafted with those times in mind.

I think that we just have to take it on faith sometimes when we pray that He is listening. This may sound brash as well as apostate; yet there are those times in life that seem to block up the ears of heaven. Our limited understanding of all that God sees seems to pull us back from reaching the ears of heaven. Emotions cloud our judgement and present images before our minds that seem to block out the light of heaven.

Joy floods the human soul when the full strength of these verses latch on to those images and illuminate our thinking. He is there for us in so many ways. His presence in our circumstances is always amazing to me. Those unspoken needs that arise are often met with answers that come at such an opportune time. The cries of our hearts are heard and He answers with a word or an image that is as a cool drink on a hot day. I have listened to the messages on Sunday mornings so many times and had the words speak to my heart in just the way I needed to help me put one foot in front of the other. How glorious is a word in due season. So many times the seasons come and the word that we seek from God seems overdue.

I have learned that the best thing to do in these times is to just hang on and keep refocusing our energies on Jesus. Replace the images that distress by placing yourself in a scene from the scriptures. Write the Lord a letter in your heart. Sing a familiar chorus and pray that the Spirit would flood your soul and fill in the cracks of your heart's dry soil. Tears are a release, but sometimes they aren't available. His words are the software that will bring you to a place of refreshment.

I write this to myself as well as to anyone who cares to read it. The Lord has done some great things in my life. I don't pretend to fully understand what hits me half the time. The other half only wants to deal with what it absolutely has to and no more. I have the shut-off valve painted in neon green in my mind. I use it freely and probably abuse its' use if truth be told.

In closing, I have to say that there is so much more to say. Words would be inadequate to explain what is in my heart. A computer screen has its' limitations in terms of human communication. I shall just have to entrust the Lord with the job of blessing my words so that they will reach where they need to reach. The unction to write what the Lord has put on my heart has been obeyed as much as is humanly possible for the moment. The Holy Spirit will take over and accomplish what the Lord intends for what I have written.

I pray that you would know the riches of His grace today.


Have a cup o'joy,


Lynne

Looking at the Moon

Gazing at that haunting orb,
the landscape seems transformed...
nothing is the same as it was in a way,
yet there is a constant variable that remains...

I think I pushed past the blot that I thought was an exclamation mark;
and see a fresh vision of who You would have me be...
Lord...I am still me. I am truly depressed for a moment as I think on it.

...the hairs that threaten to break my back still
tickle and prick my flesh with their usual prods.
but I no longer see the blockade in front of heaven's gate...

Your rod and Your staff prop me up agains the walls
....that used to move as if motivated by spite.
The outline is still there in form, but fresh wind blows in
...and moves me towards new pastures.

The magnet is weaker...
...and that pull towards the shadows has strengthened my resolve
to not be pulled in towards the bottom of the abyss...

Is it acceptance? Grace asks the question of whether the
fishing pole still has its' hooks sharp enough to go foraging in the
sea of forgetfulness.

Faith says that grace is sufficient for me in ready response...

Hope blows a cool wind on my flushed countenance in an
expectant hum.

...Love embraces them all and carries me back to the foot of the cross...

I fall once again to my knees under the weight of guilt for what I did not knowingly cause...

My weeping summons the touch of the savior; and softens the ground of my soul to respond to His voice in sweet anticipation of fellowship.

Of Chains and Wings...

I have been pondering the mercy of God these days. I tend to ponder and brood as I travel through my days in my attempt to classify and make sense out of it all...hoping at this stage of my life to neatly file each experience and thought into its'proper place in my inner filing system.

How I long for life to be that neat. In fact, it is not. I am hedged in but not left for dead; held by the Father yet not smothered. I am thinking that the title of this piece says much about the different seasons of the walk of faith. Let me take a little of your time and share from my present perceptions...

Circumstances, self-image, and stale vision all seem to conspire to chain us to old wineskins that have seen their share of scratches and leaks. Those chains are sometimes loose, and sometimes they are tight enough to force flesh to grow over them as they are incorporated into the body. Images of these prisons and stop signs cloud our vision to the mercy of God.

I think God has His ways of cutting those chains and giving us wings to soar with the eagles. Perhaps it is in experiencing community in the body of Christ. The chains of marred lenses come off as our perceptions are questioned; freeing us to move towards the identity in Christ that is waiting for us at the feet of Jesus. Perhaps freedom is found in a new direction taken as a result of having our lenses cleaned in this way.

I will explore this theme in the days to come. Thanks for hanging out with me in the Land of Lynne.

Peace and a cup o'joy,
Lynne

Independence Day

I am sitting down at the computer and sorting out the thoughts and images sprinting through my gray matter. This is what happens on a daily basis as I sit at my computer and write. The neurons in my brain are up there having a party and tossing around my thoughts like hot potatoes. Once in a while, the potato drops into the laundry basket and has to go into the washing machine. This stops the game for a moment and gives my neurons a "take 5" until I finish filing the rotten potato.
They resume their thought-tossing and I resume writing.

I did warn you that I was a character when starting this blog. Sit back and enjoy it and I promise it wont hurt a bit.

The neurons toss thoughts all day long. I sneak in and grasp a few things to write onto the screen and sneak back out. I know that I should keep a closer eye on those potatoes, but they get away from us and tend to burn holes in the gray matter. As a result, I get sidetracked and drift along in a time warp until I figure out what hit me and return to the land of the living...

The only thing this post has to do with Independence Day is this: I praise God that He has allowed me the freedom to sit at my computer and write like I do. That freedom is a result of the original Independence Day struggle as well as the day that Christ died on the cross. Jesus' death and ressurrection has freed us from the bondage of sin. All we have to do is accept his gift by faith and He comes to us with the gift of freedom.

Thank God this Independence Day for his marvelous gift.


Blessings and a cup o'joy to you all,

Lynne

Good Morning, Lord!

Good Morining, Lord...
It's me again.

You know my heart,
and yet you still want to hear from me...
I know I am getting the better end of the deal
and offer up my thanks for it...

I think I am stuck again, Lord.
I need You to pull me out of the quicksand again.
If you have to leave me here, I ask that you keep my head up
...above sand level...

Joy and heaviness mix together to bake up a sweet ache
that threatens to grow claws...
You are faithful to provide a way for me to make it from
point "A" to point "B". I trust You to do that for me once more.

Is it something I am doing wrong?
Where is my part in this fiasco painted in blue?
Forgive me, Lord, and show me how I can do my part
to return more fully to the land of the living...

Morning will come, I can rest assured...
...but if a day is as a thousand years to you,
what measure of time are you thinking of?
In my time, Lord, I want the claws pulled out of my spirit
so that I can soar again.

Call me greedy...
I desire to live without cloaks
and move into the place where I should be?

I ask Your blessing on this day.
Do with me what You will, Lord.
I offer myself up for your service.
Let me be a part of Your plan today
as You keep me in the palm of Your hand.

So be it.
Amen.