Blessings this Week: 10.07.2016

It's officially Fall, now, this wonderful season of colors and crispness.

Here in Iowa, Fall is the in-between time.

A few short weeks (if we're lucky) of respite from the soggy, thick summer heat before the blasting, icy cold of the winter begins. It's in the in-between time that we get the colors, the coolness, the warm sunshine.

Herons

There are three great blue herons living near my house.

For months now, I've seen them daily. They flap their enormous wings and take off into the sky as I walk the dog past the creek, making a lazy circle and landing back in the muddy creek bottom as we pass. They drift across the cornfield to the south of my house, heading to their favorite frog-hunting ground- my pond.

I watch for them.

And for months now, I've carried my camera on every walk we take, keep it handy when I head outside in the evening, leave it sitting in the entryway, waiting.

Because I'm determined to show you these herons.

How Should a Christian Vote? : part 2

About a week ago, I watched the dissolution of a friendship.

Social media is weird like that- allowing a bystander (like me) to see all the details, all the comments, that resulted in the death of a relationship.

It started out civil, just one political viewpoint, and a friend who disagreed politely. But soon the conversation turned from political standpoints and policy decisions to name calling and blaming, and right there, in black and white letters on the computer screen, their friendship was over.

And it got me thinking.

Because in this political season, the country is so... divided. And we're not really even that pleasant about it. The candidates are yelling and calling names, and we're following right along with them.

Blessings this Week: 09.30.2016 Edition

The bumble bees are moving slower now, just as my life seems to speed right up. 

Today was my last day at work, officially, and the two-ish weeks before we leave seem so short already.

So I count.

Because when I count blessings, time seems to slow for those moments of gratitude, and I remember that I'm loved by One who isn't bound by time.

How Should a Christian Vote? : part 1

Within five minutes of logging in to Facebook, I'm ready to curl up in a big fuzzy blanket and hide away for a while. Like, until Christmas.

Scrolling through my  newsfeed wears me out and makes me sad. The wealth of information out there makes my soul feel poor. The world feels so... hopeless.



I'm not sure if you noticed, (ha), but there's a presidential election coming up.

It feels... different, doesn't it?

I am old enough to remember several presidential elections, and old enough to have voted in a few, but still... this election seems different.

For one thing, both of the major party candidates are totally despised by a significant portion of the population. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two of the most controversial candidates of all time- complete opposites in terms of policy in almost every way. Apparently, no matter who is elected, about half of the population will be moving to Canada.

Blessings this Week: 09.23.2016 Edition

The days are quickly flying by and I'm marking off the days in my calendar and realizing that in only six short days, I'll be done working at Camp.

And it's a little surreal, and a little anxiety-inducing, but I'm leaning in hard and trying to remember the One who has it all well in hand, even when I feel like everything is out of control.

Replacements

As I write this, I'm sitting across the office from the woman who is taking my place.

She's literally taking my place today- sitting at my desk, behind my computer. I sit across the room, notebook in hand, waiting for her to ask a question about the task she'll soon be able to do with her eyes closed.

It's just a little weird, you know?

I'm working myself out of a job. For the next two weeks, I'll be training in "my replacement," a delightful lady with a nice loud laugh who will hopefully fall as much in love with my job at Camp as I did.

I feel a little lost. For the past nearly four years, I've been so needed. Sometimes even more needed than I'd like to be.

And at this very moment, the new office lady is taking care of something that I didn't even teach her how to do yet, and I'm feeling... unneeded.

It's weird.

But aren't we all kind of involved in training our "replacements?"




When we began this relationship with Christ, we also signed up for a life of pouring into others. Into our families, our friends, the kids we encounter, the little lives entrusted to us, the people we influence each day.

We lean into His Kingdom, into His purposes for each of us, and along the way, we get the awesome opportunity to start a ripple- to teach the next generations, to encourage and support people who will go on to do big things.

We train up someone else (or many someone else's) before we move on to the next step in this adventure of an abundant life God has in store for us.

I'm leaving this place in good hands, in capable hands, in the hands of someone who will take this job and this Camp and be instrumental in progress and growth, while also doing a lot of growing within herself (just as I have).

I'm starting to feel unneeded here, because I'm so needed somewhere else. 

It's weird, but it's also pretty affirming. A passing of a baton, not so I can go hit the sidelines and rest, but so that I can veer off on a new path, getting a new baton to pass along.

It will be so good, because it's what He has planned for me.

Let me work myself out of this job, God, and keep this place in good hands. Let me be worthy of this new calling You have in store for me, and even now, prepare me to go. 

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