In the Beginning

There once was time, when time was not the evil that it is today, when the rising and setting sun was just an occurrence in an otherwise endless period of perfection and glory, when the man and the woman lived with God. They looked in His eyes, they hugged into His heart, they sat in His presence and let the sound, the living substance that is His voice, wash over them. In their world, they did not survive day to day, they lived fully. When was there not peace? When was there not joy? When were their hearts not thrilled because God came to see them?

God, the Living God who made all that there is and ever will be, wanted to be friends. The One whose face cannot be seen was face to face with them. The One who spoke the universe into existence walked and talked with them. It was a time of perfection, when the eyes of the man and the woman could see and their ears hear and their minds understood more than is possible today.

Then they lost. Such a simple act-how great and terrible the fall. All that was perfect was changed. All that was glorious was dulled. They met fear, hunger, and pain and the terror of what they had done.

And so it began, the time of evil and hardship and hopelessness. But the One who is greater than all would not close the book on this chapter of pain. He would remember and long for the former joys. He would make a way.

Easter Resolutions

Wow, it's almost Spring. I was so good today. I did a hike. First one in a looong time. So pretty up in the hills near Palo Alto. You can see Hoover Tower at Stanford, the giant dirigible hanger at Moffet Field, the very end of San Francisco Bay, wild flowers, sweaty trail runners. It was so refreshing walking along ferns and flowers and warm air.

It made me think about Springtime and why this isn't the beginning of the New Year instead of January. Spring makes you think of new life, like the Easter egg, fresh starts. Why isn't it also a year start? It would make sense to me.

Anyway, I like seasons, even though our Bay Area climate is so mild that we can't really claim actual seasonal change like most of the country. But coming through a long period of cold and dark into a glorious time of sun and warmth naturally makes you think of new starts. Getting that garden back in shape. Getting that waist back in shape. It's one thing to make resolutions in January because it's the New Year. I think now is also a good time because we're naturally motivated by the weather. I think God's ok with us being influenced by nature, especially if it means getting closer to Him.

So go ahead, make your Easter Resolutions. Plan out how you will spend more time hanging out with God and listening to Him. He's the One who made it all, He probably has some good ideas about what to do.

You Looking At Me?

I did an exercise the other day I've been meaning to do for some time. I went through all my journals and bits of notepaper and pulled out all the prophetic words that have been given to me and copied them onto note cards. Now I have them handy and can flip through them and be reminded all that great encouragement.

One of the cards tell me that God sees my face before him constantly. Another said it was like my face was the only face in a the mirror and that God was always looking at me. Not in a creepy way, of course, but in a loving way.

Now, I know that it's not just me. Y'all are out there too and God loves you as much, almost : ) I know I'm His real favorite. But He can do that. There's that God-thing about Him that let's Him see YOU all the time and want everything that's best for you. He's wild about you and your face is before Him constantly. I think of it like some kind of faceted jewel, where side has an image of someone but He can see them all at the same time.

It's humbling and encouraging to think about God watching you and wanting the very best for you always. We have so much to break off about the negative images of God and what He's really up to. He loves us so much. Easter is coming up. He loves us so much.

Never Say Never - I Mean Never!

I learned a very wonderful lesson this weekend. I had my very first book signing at Incline Village, Nevada. Incline Village is a ski resort at Lake Tahoe. My illustrator lives nearby so she and I organized a book signing at the local library. We sent out fliers to 20 churches and posted events in the newspaper, but we didn't get any turnout. It really was a lovely day and I think that the slopes had stronger appeal than my little book.

I watched the clock tick by and no one coming in and my spirits started to drop. But I really didn't want to be discouraged. I kept telling myself that it was a good run-through for the next event. Yep, that's right. It's just practice. It's not so bad. Got to make the trip to Lake Tahoe, visit with my illustrator, it was good. So I packed up the cute bookmarks that I made with little jewels glued to them, donated the cookies to the library, boxed up the books and was ready to go. My illustrator and I lingered and talked and I kept thinking that I should just leave so I don't get depressed, when in walked a woman looking for the signing. She was a friend of my illustrator and a book reviewer for eleven newspapers! She was intrigued with my children's book, loved the size, the length, the internal layout, all without even reading it yet. She said she would be happy to review it for me and asked me to send her the the entire unpublished series.

Suddenly I wasn't so depressed! Suddenly I was pretty happy! I hadn't let my attitude get to me and force me to leave without meeting this wonderful contact. So my point is, stay positive, even when the situation looks dismal. Stay positive. It takes work, but you just never know who will walk in!

What Bilbo Didn't Know

I was thinking today about where I am what my goals are. Then this thought came to me, Your horizons are changing. I had to say it to myself several times before I understood it. There's only one way for a horizon to change and that's because you move. If you're not moving anywhere, the scene is static. But climb a hill and see the difference. Or walk down a hill.

It reminded me of a scene in The Hobbit where Bilbo climbs a tree to see how long it will take them to get out of a forest. When he gets to the top, all he sees is an endless horizon of treetops and he becomes very discouraged. What he doesn't know is that the tree he climbed is the lowest of all the trees around him. He's at the bottom of a bowl and the edge of the forest is really very close, he just can't see it.

Your perspective of your horizon can play tricks on you. The secret is to know where you are, and you do that by staying close to the One who is guiding you. Once you start to stray, you can fall into the Bilbo effect and lose hope. On the other hand, if you know where you're going and the horizon changes, it could be because you're seeing it from a higher position.

I know it's all words, words, words, but someone out there gets this. Your horizons are changing, and it's a good thing. It may seem like you're struggling, but that's because you're climbing higher and getting out of the rut. Stop, take a deep breath, and look around. Looks good, huh!