Author: Journeys of My Heart

I love Christmas and everything about it!  Well…maybe not everything.  I dislike all the commercialism and the advertising at the beginning of Fall now.  THAT totally upsets me.  I enjoyed it when Thanksgiving had its own time and not everybody wasn’t thinking about all the Black Friday stuff.  Shoot!  We can’t even enjoy the Fall because we are headed for the Christmas and the New Year already.

But that being said, I love the lights at Christmas, the music, the special goodies, time with family, choosing gifts, Christmas movies, and the idea of giving.  What a whole bunch of blessings all at once!  My gratitude jar has filled up a lot this month!

My advice? Don’t let all those other entanglements get you down. Satan wants to discourage us, and what better way than at Christmas?  If he keeps us discouraged, he keeps us from enjoying the real reason for this season.  I for one am not going to let him do that to me.  So turn on some music, sing along, do something special to honor those who aren’t with you this year, and look up.  He knows and He is there!  Those that have gone before you would not want to see you defeated.  Need a boost?  Plug into the only One that can give it you and let your light shine!

And now? I am going to go and put the rest of my decorations on the tree! Light up your house and boost your joy level! See you around the tree!

Merry Christmas!!!

Walking the journey with you…

~JoAnn

Reflections…it can mean many things.  But these last several weeks have been some hard weeks for myself and my family.  It has given me many opportunities for reflection; from a birth that makes me a great, great Auntie, all the way to the other end of the spectrum, to a split in a family.  It has really made me reflect on my life in general and how I live it.  We can’t always have that straight path we may have hoped our life would be.  In my case, it has always been ups and downs, around mountains, sometimes plowing through the mountains, but it has never been straight for too long.  When I think on it, nobody’s life is.  In fact, I purchased a ring several years ago that sums up my view of my life.  Those ups and downs always remind me I may hit the valleys, but that life comes back up.   So why do we think it should be straighter or easier, and why do we get upset when it isn’t?

The thing is, I have come to know, that how I live each day matters to my tomorrows.  I have family.  I want to spend time with my family.  It is a gift I want to enjoy whenever possible.  Some of my family is gone on to be with Jesus.  But I still have family here.  I don’t want to accommodate schedules, I want to have the family gatherings BE the schedule; that we make it a priority to be together at some point close to the holiday.  Why?  We may not have a tomorrow.  I was at my American Sign Language Class in Seattle in July of 1992 when I got a call to come home because my mom had suddenly passed away from a heart attack.  There was no tomorrow with her.  I have seen this happen over and over, and I don’t want that to be the case in my life.  I want my family to know that I have put priority on our relationships, so that, I put aside my schedule to make Thanksgiving or Christmas, or any other holiday, something special for our family to celebrate together.  I also want them to know that they are loved.  When I was growing up, we spent many of the holidays with family and extended family.  But now, everyone gets busy, so it doesn’t happen as much anymore.  Pretty soon, we end up saying to ourselves, “Gosh!  I wish I would have spent more time with so-and-so before they died.  There are so many things I wanted to know and ask about.”  Just the other day, I shared something with my youngest son and he said , “I never knew that about you before Mom.”  I want to answer those questions, share about my life and my parents, so that they too, can makes some lasting memories and leave a legacy for themselves and those they have and will come to love.  In our household, we often shared our lives with foreign exchange students, or with widows that didn’t have family to spend holidays with.  That was just a part of who we were.

So, do you feel your traditions are rather silly these days?  Don’t.  They are the things that your kids and family will remember.  Someday, they may be doing the same things that they thought were silly before, and now, are something special.  We have a toast of sparkling cider at each Thanksgiving and Christmas so kids and all can toast.  We have special dishes and goodies that are part of our heritage that we make every year.  Great way to bring in the story element by sharing why these goodies are a part of our day.

Don’t play the busy card.  Slow down enough to make it happen with your family and extended families.  Make those special dinner dishes, even though it may take extra time.  I remember one Thanksgiving that my boys were upset because I didn’t make one of the dishes I usually make for that day’s dinner.  So I now know! That is something they enjoy and feel needs to be a part of it.  So, I make it each year.  Another memory is to bake cookies or goodies together for Christmas and chat about traditions as you do.  It’s a great time of bonding.  If your children are older or you can’t get together, share making cookies together when another relative to share stories.  It’s just fun to do!  Long distance?  Skype them and toast together or share your family table scape with each other.  It can change the day!

Here’s a fun activity for you and your family:  Make sure everyone has a cell phone or camera this holiday that they can use.  It could be disposable cameras also.  Ask them to use that cell phone camera or another camera to take pictures of what means the most to them.  Put the pictures together in an album and share with the family.  You might be surprised at what they take pictures of!  Then, you also have record of a wonderful time spent together!  What is one of your holiday traditions in your family?  Please share in the comments.

Here is my wish for you…I lift my best glass of sparkling cider to a wonderful Thanksgiving for you and your families!  *Clink* and *Snap*!

Walking the journey with you,

~JoAnn

If I were to ask you what living upward means, would you be able to tell me?  Does it mean always looking up?  Does it mean I live my life better than others, therefore making me better than another?  Does that mean that I am always feeling “up”?  Or, if I do live this way, I won’t have problems?  Hummm…

My heart really resonated with this thought last week as my pastor shared this.   It rang its bell of personal meaning in me.  So, as I thought about this concept of living upward and pulling another up,  I felt for me, it is about living my life in such a way that I am looking upward in expectation of what God is doing in me, and my life, each day.  I am seeking to live forward, towards what God has for me to do, so that, I can pull another up.  I’m equipping myself.

“Do what thou dost as if the stake were heaven, and this thy last deed ere the judgment day.”  ~Orison Marden

It is kind of like, what we have yet NOT attained, keeps calling us upward.  We know there is more that God wants us to learn and do.  We need to keep our focus upward.  However, it is not something we can attain on our own.  It is something that we have to do with God.  In our own power, we could not continue, but God gives us the desire and the power, to attain that which would be overwhelming otherwise.

I have been leading a study on being mindful of Gratitude and the Gifts we are given…thousands of them.  If I truly and intentionally live this way, I believe I am living upward.  I am living in expectation of what God CAN and WILL do in my life, my family’s life, my church, and my friend’s lives.  He will never fail us, and never leave us, no matter how hard it gets.  It may be even more important that we lean in close in those difficult times, so we CAN hear Him give us His reassurance.  Living upward is that pull to the next thing God wants to do in me, and doing it with an attitude of excitement!  As a friend said last night to me on the phone, “JoAnn, my expectations of God have been WAY too low!”  He wants to show us His power and glory!

So this week, live upward!  Look for how you can do that, and pull another up.  Be intentional about it.  Love as if you might not have a tomorrow.  Some won’t.  See where He takes you.  It reminds me of a picture of a little child who holds their arms up to be picked up. They have that look on their face that you can’t resist.   They expect to be picked up, want to be held, and/or comforted.  But they know the non-verbal language.  Hold my arms up,  someone picks me up.  Can you picture yourself in that position with God?  That is a great visual for me.  I hope it is for you.  Hold those arms up!

Thanks again for your faithful readership!  Please share what the phrase “living upward” may mean to you.  It may be a road you never dreamed of traveling, but God equips you for the journey.

Walking the journey with you…

~JoAnn

It’s been a whirl wind around our house once again. What we prepared for almost a year ago for me, is now being prepared again for my sweetie. He will have hip replacement surgery in the morning. So many things to think about and plan.  Paperwork that they need to have, just in case, a notebook to read for the both of us so we know what to expect, along with a no eating and drinking schedule, taking a shower tonight and then having to wait an hour use those lovely cold wipes and THEN try to sleep.  That’s not counting removing rugs and shower doors, and equipment that you need to have to safely maneuver in your own home!  Phew!  But, he has been working so hard of late to get everything in order around our home because he knows he won’t be able to do that kind of thing for a while.  Then in the morning when we arrive, they will ask you several times what you are in the hospital for today.  I can remember before my surgery, after telling someone for the fifth time, I really wanted to tell my nurses that I was in for surgery for my “behind” just to see what they would say!  Giggle…

So as I was thinking about all this preparation, it made me think of whether or not we spend any of that kind of time and preparation for our daily adventures that God has for us.  Like:

• Do I think about the importance of prayer for my day when my eyes open in the morning?
• Do I have my Bible as my paperwork, to tell me what I need to do today, or what is expected of me?
• Do I read it enough to KNOW what is expected of me?
• Do I ask that God remove the sin in my life, just like Terry has to clean his body in preparation for surgery?
• Am I mindful of my schedule enough that I make time to communicate with the One Person who can teach me and guide me?
• Do I watch for rugs that can be pulled out from underneath me as I go through my daily walk?
• Am I willing to do the hard work that is involved to change the things that need to change?
• Do I keep my life in balance?
• Just like those hospital staff asking the patient several times about the surgery to be performed, do I ask God to show me what it is He may want to cut out of my life, or where I might need healing?

Humm…kind of gets a person thinking, doesn’t it?  So as I go into this adventure of surgery with Terry, I will also be asking God to do His work in me.  Especially in me.  I want to learn to walk with purpose and my gait to be steady.  I want to cleanse my mind and body of unclean things, SO THAT, I can be healed anew with His touch over my life.  I want to feel safe in His presence and trust Him with my outcome and that of Terry also.

If you think of it Wednesday morning around 10:30 a.m., please say a prayer for miraculous healing and precise hands to serve him in surgery and his recovery.  Let me know what God may be speaking to you about today!  Are there any of the above thoughts that resonate with you?

Walking the journey with you…

~JoAnn