I Found God in Coffee...

I LOVE coffee.

Regular coffee (with cream)... flavored coffee... hot coffee... lukewarm coffee... ANY coffee...! I'll make my own coffee - get "good" coffee - drink vending machine coffee. I just love it all.

My favorite coffee shop is a local spot called Kidd Coffee; it's my happy place-- the place with the GOOD coffee. A large Almond Joy (expresso, steamed milk, coconut flavoring, almond flavoring, and mocha) or a Nutty Irishman (expresso, steamed milk, irish cream, and hazelnut flavoring) is the BEST way to start my day.

I've designed my own coffee cups - one with photos of my kids, one with pictures of my favorite TV show (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), one with photos from my favorite book (Twilight), and one with a collage of my dog, Mick. The cup really doesn't matter - it's the coffee that I love - but I do love having a fun cup to drink from.

I found this wonderful story about life and coffee at Spiritual-Short-Stories.com. I hope you enjoy it as much I did. :)

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just MAKE the best of everything.

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
Psalm 24:1

Our quality of life is not determined by the stuff we have, the money we've piled, or the size of our house, car, or wardrobe. The quality of our life is determined by our relationship with God, our acceptance of Jesus, and our relationships with others.

Don't make the cup more important than the coffee inside.
Enjoy the coffee.
:)

I Found God In A Rock...

Remember the movie, Forrest Gump? The love of Forrest's life was Jenny - a neighbor girl who drifted in and out of his life over the course of the movie. At one point, she returns to Alabama, and, on a walk with Forrest, stops by her childhood home. This is a home in which she suffered major abuse from her own father - and as all of those reminders bubble up in her mind, she starts grabbing rocks and throwing them over and over at the house... breaking windows, denting siding, etc. until she is physically exhausted.

Watching her, Forrest remarks, "Sometimes, there just aren't enough rocks."



Some people I have met have had trials in their lives that have "sucked beyond the telling of it..." (my favorite quote from Buffy...) Things in their past or present that have just made their life so hard that they are suffering from anxiety and depression, It would be SO nice to just be able to grab all the rocks they can, and T H R O W them as hard as they can to vanquish the demons that have plagued them.


But as in the movie, on your own, there just aren't enough rocks to take care of it.

My sister-in-law, Stephany is very wise. She and her husband lost their daughter, Julia, after just 6 days of life due to a chromosomal abnormality that was infused into each and every gene and chromosome in Julia's body. It has been over 3 years since Julia's death. Since then, they have struggled with infertility, employment issues, and numerous family issues. Any ONE of these elements could have turned either of them into a bitter or angry person. 3 years later, their circumstances have not changed... their daughter is still buried, economic hardships still linger from past employment struggles, family members and their neuroses still plague them.

HOWEVER... their attitudes HAVE changed...

They are not bitter... or angry... or holed up in the fetal position underneath Julia's crib. They live. They laugh. They have sad moments, sure - but they are not letting their circumstances ruin their lives. In fact, Stephany, herself, has said that they went from wailing "WHY ME, LORD?!!!" to wondering in awe, "Why ME, Lord?!" - not an angry cry for justice... but a query as to how in the world was God able to take such tragic events and enfuse them with the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to deal with everything?! God, alone, can grant you strength and peace - something that a whole wheelbarrow of rocks cannot do.


One of my kids' favorite Bible tales is the story of David and Goliath.

Goliath, a Philistine champion, is ENORMOUS - the biggest man the Israelite soldiers have ever seen. Standing nearly 9 feet tall can wearing 200 pounds of hearty chain link mail, he towers over any soldier who wishes a challenge.... especially over the young shepherd, David, who is armed only with a homemade slingshot and some rocks. David refuses to let his circumstances dictate his faith - he believes that God will empower him to best Goliath - and God does not let him down. In this case, only ONE rock was enough... ONE rock, powered by God was all that was needed.


The start of a new year is when people tend to make their New Year's Resolutions. Mark Twain once said, "New Year's is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." Most of us manage to keep our resolution for a few days (hours?) at best -then we toss them away when we realize that we aren't quite ready to commit to that particular self-improvement. But what if your resolution is to stop trying to change the circumstances around you - and to alter your attitude from the inside-out. Stop trying to FIX other people and let God work WITHIN you to change your reactions, your perceptions, your heart.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

The change with worth the effort... I promise.

May your 2010 be filled with knowledge, peace, and contentment,

:) Mags

I'm Finding God in 2009...!

Welcome to 2009!! I hope your Christmas and New Years were memorable and fun. I also pray that in 2009, God keeps you and your family healthy, happy, and safe.

A few months ago, I wrote that I was taking charge of my Bible studies - by starting to read the entire Bible from start to finish. Those of you who have tried this before probably just sat back and chuckled. Yeah... it didn't go so well. I'm on Exodus. But apparently lots of other people just within our church must have tried this technique out too (and failed) because God has impressed upon the leadership in our church that we should all be reading His Word (completely), and the church leaders have taken that call to action:

My church purchased the Daily NIV Bible for EVERY MEMBER (2500+) of the congregation as well as Bibles for each of the school age children! This particular edition provides a section of the Old Testament, a section of the New Testament, as well as a Psalm or Proverb each day. The kids' Bibles provide a section of the Old Testament and a specific verse from the New Testament. It breaks down to just 2-and-a-half pages per day if you stay on track! And, by the end of the year, the adults will have read the entire Bible while the kids will have read every major story!

In last Sunday's adult Bible fellowship class, our leader discussed "manuals" and how every major purchase, toy, gadget, appliance, electronical, etc. comes with an instruction manual. Actually READING the manual and following the directions for set-up, usually makes the usage of whatever gadget much easier. The same is true for life. God made an instruction manual for His creations!! Within the Bible, you can get answers to life's most pressing questions, quick FAQ's for a smoother life, or troubleshoot problems that may arise! Yet most of us (myself included!) just open the Bible when we have to look up a specific verse or deal with a specific problem. It will work so much better for us if we actually know the context in which each of those verses are given, because how can we know God's Will if we don't know what the Bible even says??

New Year's Resolutions are so easily broken, forgotten, or discarded. So instead of calling it a resolution, make this a GOAL of yours for 2009. Join me in reading the entire Bible this year. Apply what you learn, and let God work through you. If you want to join me in the 2009 Bible Challenge, just visit our church's website: http://www.ccmason.org/about/ttbible.html. They have .pdf's of the portions we have to read each day so you can follow along with your own Bible! Happy reading!!

:) Mags

Karaoke Tuesday: Who Am I?

Anyone feeling pitiful today? Weary? Defeated?
Anyone feeling tired? And insecure? Again... Defeated?

Some days are like that... heck - for some of us, MOST days are like that!

Every once in while (and we're talking once in a GREAT while!), I have a morning where everything goes my way... the kids wake up agreeable and don't fight... and they don't wake me up until after 7AM... I get to Starbucks, and they are serving my very favorite: their pumpkin cream cheese muffin, and I have a gift card with which to buy it... life is good.
HOWEVER, usually mornings do not go that way... Kids are up at 6AM... shooting each other with guns made from K'Nex... I'm exhausted even after a night's sleep... by the afternoon, I've lost all my patience and the "Mother of the Year Award" ... again. "Defeated" is often the word that describes me by dinner time!

These are just everyday trials... small things in the midst of a big world. Some people are dealing with BIG problems - even on a daily basis. But with billions of people in the world - all dealing with their own problems - it's easy to wonder if a big, big God can even hear our issues through the cacophony of angst. That's one of the reasons I love this song by Casting Crowns... it sums up my feelings of inadequacy and gives me comfort that my God is watching out for me with his safety net. That doesn't mean that bad things won't happen in my life; it does mean that God will hold my hand and help me through them... no matter what else is going on in the world - I have his undivided attention... as do you... and you... and you. That's what makes him God of all creation! :)

I also like this song for the refrain - that it's not about what I DO that is important... it's about Jesus and what he has already done for me. Something to remember in my most defeated times - that Jesus was strong enough for both of us. Enjoy the words below - you can listen to this song on Last.FM.

Song: Who Am I?
Artist: Casting Crowns:
Album: Casting Crowns
LYRICS

I Found God in a Calculator...

I've found it...!
The meaning of life...
The point of our being...
The key to lifelong peace!

And it's not a long paragraph... or a thick volume... It's a numeric code!
The secret to life-long peace is as simple as a 6-digit code...!

Do you have your calculators handy? A cell-phone? Heck - you can even do this with a piece of paper and a pencil...

Are you ready for the ultimate answer?

Okay... take a deep breath... write this number down (or type it into your calcular or cell phone):

Write the digits close together... almost touching each other. Use straight lines for your one's, and round your five's a bit so there aren't such sharp corners.

Done?

Are you ready for this?

Now... turn your calcular (or cell-phone... or paper) upside down. Unfocus your eyes and read the code:

Isn't it funny how things we feel will be quite complicated... are really quite simple?

If you try to live your life the way Jesus did...

...being kind to everyone... even the "losers,"

...loving one another,

...living FOR others,

...working hard,

...being authentic, honest, and true,

Then you will find life-long peace, you will find the point to your being, and you will find the "meaning" of life.

You don't have to make it harder than it really is... Jesus did not arrive on this earth with a parade... from start to finish, he led a simple, sinless life and worked miracles. While we cannot expect to be "sinless" - sometimes a simple act of kindness to another person can work miracles in its own way. Jesus was friendly and loving to all who came to Him... do we act in the same manner?

WWJD is not just a bracelet... it's a way of life.

Have a blessed day,

♥Mags