What a Waste

I just finished reading a book called, "Akiane". It is about a 10 year old girl (in 2006 at the time of publishing) that has extraordinary gifts in art and writing. Her paintings are of a Master's quality, and her poetry is well advanced for her age.

This book, but also this girl, started me to thinking.

She had, at a young age, developed time with God. In fact, her parents were then atheists, and this was very strange to them.(You've gotta read the book!)

What I started thinking about was, I want to have what she has. Not only accomplishing great things in the arts, but her intimacy with God. About her being so pure.

She saw the Lord as He was. As He chose to reveal Himself to her.

Not as I probably do, with 56 years of experiences, opinions, and input.

She had a purity of heart and mind at the age of four when she met God. So she didn't add her embellishments or her thoughts. She just accepted Him as He appeared.

Like back to when Adam and Eve were first created in the Garden of Eden, before the Fall. They didn't have any experience with anything! No church that they had been attending. No baggage to drag into the relationship. They hadn't lived before! That is an odd thing to grasp!

No opinions!

When I think about all of my opinions, right or wrong, compared to them....

They didn't even have an Aunt Martha to inflict her opinions on them.

No, they were new creatures. Never having existed before.

No, they were literally new creations in Christ (John 1:3)

No, I mean literally. Brand spankin' new!

And that must be how Akiane must be, or was back when she was 4.

Every idea, every vision, was startling and fresh. And there was nothing that she couldn't do. Because no one had told her any different. God had told her that she could.

I want to do that. To have that. To be that.

And we can, if we believe the Word of God.

I believe that we have allowed ourselves to be so dumbed down by Satan, that we listen to his lies. And we forget who our Daddy is.

The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. The Creator of all things.

Akiane spends the first part of each day, seeking God and sharing the intimacy that He wants with us.

I do that.

But I am going to take that one step further.

The ideas that He has given me? (And He has....)

I am going to act on them. Draw them. Use them. Write them. Just as I am now.

Not waste them and whine about how I never get to do what I was made to do!

Copyright©Bonnie Lacy

Mirror Reflections Through My Own Eyes

Okay, this is going to sound weird.

I was getting myself ready for the day. You know, looking into the mirror, doing my hair. Putting on the makeup.

I kept seeing my reflection and sometimes, in the way that I moved, it reminded me of my mom.

Now, most of us, at that point, go "eeooww!".

Even when we have had a great relationship with our moms, we're not too sure that we want to become them! Or look like them.

But God gave me a different picture this morning. Because, yes, I started to go, "Oh, no, I look like my mom!".

But my mom is with the Lord now. She died over three years ago.

And you know, it might be nice to see Mom again, in my mirror reflections.

That's a whole different paradigm. It's kind of startling, but I'll get used to it!

And you know who else I see when I look into the mirror?

Since Jesus is my Lord and Savior, I see His eyes looking back at me through mine!

And guess who His Dad is! We have the same Dad!

So while you are there at your mirror, let Him tell you that He loves you. Let Him tell you how glad He is that you are His kid.

Because we are His kids, (you've heard this before, I'm sure, but it's so cool!)I have my Father's eyes!

And because I am my mom's kid, I have my mom's ornery glint in those eyes!

©BL2008

I'm an Imposter

I seem to be so bound.

I stay stuck in the old habits.

What's up with that, when I have a Savior who took care of all that?

So what's the problem?

Me?

I'm looking with these big wide eyes. And looking around me. Like, you mean... me? Finger pointing at my chest?

Me?

I think that the worst sin is not taking a hold of who and what Jesus died for us to be.

Yes, we are conquerors. Yes, we are kids of God. If we have repented, and asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, we have that.

But more than that.

I am called to be a writer, a creator. I make pottery. I create jewelry. I see things in a really funky way.

But do I make the time? So how does that make Father feel? Jesus feel? He died so I could be what He made me to be. And I am not doing or being it.

How disappointed He must be in me.

I'm good at being the conqueror. Telling demons to flee. I can do that.

For others.

But can I do that for me?

Those demons of fear of failure. Demons of I'm not worthy. Demons of what if I succeed. Demons of what will others think - bad, or good. Demons of let's just be normal. Demons of mediocrity. Demons of wasting time. (Oh yeah, I play Spider Solitaire before I write - I tell myself that it gets me in the mode. Ha! I'm procrastinating so I don't have to fail. That hurt.)

What did God put into your heart to be? What did you obsess about when you were little? Really. Me too!

That is who we were made to be.

That is what Jesus takes pleasure in, when we do or be it. He glows when we take up the pen. He holds His breath when we grab that clay. He jumps up and down when we tie up those shoelaces to run like the wind. He gets tears in His eyes when we pick up that child to tickle and snuggle.

Oh so sweet. To take up that cross that He died on. It wasn't just to enable us to crucify our flesh (Yeah. Me, too.) It was to take up that cross and be who He freed us to be!

So, I don't know about you, but....I'm getting out my pencils. I'm putting on my apron to cook. I'm cutting my fingernails so I don't pierce the pot of clay. I'm leaning over to tie my running shoes. I'm....you get the picture!

So free....So free!

Giggles from my Jesus.

©BL2008

I'm Outa Control

How much time do you have?

Because I have a lot to write!

Make a cuppa and join me.

Monday, I was going to go pick up my daughter and go to another town to do errands and have some time together. As I drove out of my town, it was snowing terribly and I stopped and called my daughter. She assured me that it was doing nothing there, so I continued.

Have you ever wish you could have hit replay and done it differently?

We got to our destination, did our things, and headed back home. There were some icy patches here and there so I was going fairly slow. But I noticed up ahead that the road was pretty icy, so I slowed down even more. No brakes, just let up a bit.

Well we hit a place, and were on ice skates. Swerving back and forth, left and right. And then around and around. I remember scanning the road as we came around. No traffic. And as we slid around again, I was able to check the other way, and no traffic.

And I remember having a visual of my hands both on the steering wheel just trying to drive. Then crash! We had backed into the ditch and hit a tree.

That stopped us!

I got out and assessed the damage. My rear gate, bumper, and light were bashed and glass was everywhere. But we were both alright.

All I could say as we skimmed around in circles? "Jesus, Jesus."

Now I have been known to let a few words fly that weren't shall we say very polite?

But this time I called on my Lord, the Savior of my life.

Now I know that the obvious lesson is listen to the Holy Spirit. Or some might say, "listen to your gut!". And yes that is a huge lesson. Like in maybe I should have stayed home.

But as I think about the accident now, all I can see are my hands on the steering wheel and a spinning world through the windshield.

When we think we have it all under control, we are really spinning. Out of control. The only One in control is Jesus. He's got it all together. Not me.

We are so grateful that we are okay (yes, there are aches) and that there was minimal damage (yes, there are repairs and a financial hit), but we are fine.

I think that God is using this to prepare me for the future somehow. For when things spin out of control, He is in control.

Tough lesson.

I'm outa control.

©/BL2008

Cease and Desist

Have you ever had someone who wronged you? Trashed you? Even harmed you?

I see the hands up, and mine is up too.

I am a member of the Bagdad Prayer Patrol. A dear sister put me onto it. They send daily updates and prayers to pray over the people - all of the people - in Bagdad. Good and evil.

Well the one today was based on Ps. 37:7-9. "Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself - it tends only to evildoing." (Amplified)

Now I know that there are some very serious offenses that take place on this earth. Maybe I should say that I really have no idea how hurtful some have been. I only know what I have been through.

But nevertheless, it's all painful, in many degrees.

But this Scripture hit me today. It was to pray for the evil going on in Bagdad, but little did the writer know that I needed to read those verses for myself.

God tells us to first of all rest.

Rest? When I want to rant and rave?

Yes, even lean upon Him.

But to not fret about those who seem to get ahead (and get away with) by doing wrong.

Whether it is doing physical harm to a person? Or stealing from them. Or saying cruel things.

We are to stop being angry about it and run away from wrath. I think wrath should be described as I'm-going-to-kill-you angry. Where you could kill in order to get back. (I'm not writing from jail. I am your normal? American woman with a regular life. But as we've seen from the news, it doesn't take just a terrorist to react in anger and do devastation.)

I'm not just talking about war, where there are real bullets.

I'm talking about when your mother-in-law says to a young friend, as you open the garage door, "Oh, just look at this mess." The young friend even knows better than to say those things to a person, even if it is true. Oooooo.

I'm talking about when your child says harsh things to you in their anger and frustration. Tears.

When a business partner does indescribable things to you and your family. Pain.

Anger.

Kill.

Maim.

But no.

My staying in anger, only tends to evildoing.

Yes, MY anger. Yeah, the other person should maybe be jailed, but we're talking about our own anger here.

So I am being transparent in front of you all. The issue isn't about what was done to us, but what we do with what was done to us.

It's to the cross daily. Dying to ourselves.

Leaning on Him.

Fretting not.

Ceasing.

And being still in Him.

©BL2008

Gone Fishin'

I am reading through the Gospels. I want to really learn what Jesus did and will do and what I can do, only greater (John 14:12).

Matthew 17:24-27 is interesting. Apparently when they got into Capernaum, the tax collectors asked Peter if Jesus had paid his temple tax. Or they asked him if Jesus paid the half shekel, kind of checking how much Jesus paid. Now I really want to dig in and learn about the background, the culture. I always do that, and then this gets too long! So I won't here and now. At a later date!

Peter came home and he and Jesus talked about it. Jesus told Peter that he should go to the sea and throw in a hook. He was to take the first fish that came up, and when he would open it's mouth, there would be a shekel in it. Peter was to take that shekel and go pay the temple tax for both Jesus and Peter.

So the thoughts that went around in my head? It could have happened a couple of ways.

One way? As Peter is finding his way to the sea, I see him climbing over rocks to get to the beach area, mumbling. "Catch a fish? To pay the taxes?" This is where I'd be!

But had Peter seen so many miracles, so many supernatural things, that he just said, "Yeah, okay. I'll get us a mocha on the way. Be right back!"

Or was he talking to himself on the way? "Crazy. This is crazy! How does a fish have a shekel in it? And how does Jesus know it's the first fish? Crazy!"

Or did he believe, but have to talk to himself all the way there. "I believe Jesus. He is the Truth!" Fighting the unbelief all of the way.

Does this ever come up again? I'm going to find out! There is nothing following this part that says, "Yup! Peter found the fish with the shekel in it's mouth and he went and paid the tax. And Jesus liked the mocha!"

And since it's tax time here in the United States, my brain goes....can that happen today? And how?

Some would explain that things like this just happen symbolically. But.... I don't think so. (I'm sticking my neck out here!) I don't think that I believe that.

Yes, there are wonderful applications of this, but I think we are keeping our Maker and Provider in that box again.

Let's knock down the walls of that box and let Jesus be who He is! Not what we think he is! Or what we are comfortable with.

Let's let Him come how He wants to. Let's let Him look like He is!

And if He wants me to go fishing to get my tax money, I'm down!

Oh,and if you can't find me? I'm at the store buying my hook!

©BL2008

The Streets of......Gold?

Last week as I was soaking with God on the floor, I saw what I knew to be the end of some movie. It was a shot of a city at night. Cars were moving along on a huge freeway. The camera was moving out for a wide shot.

And the feeling was of all people, being where they needed to be - physically, spiritually. Like all is resolved.

And as I journaled this, it was almost about being back to the Garden of Eden, but in this world. Cars moving, lights beautiful.

Was it a picture of eternal life?

I think that we think of the afterlife as a..... I mean the streets of gold for pete's sake! But I wonder if it will be exactly as it is now, only with out the sin, or the ravages of sin.

If you think technology is wild now, just wait. Think of all of the inventions, innovations! The imaginations without sin! The creativity! The arts! The music?

All without sin!

Incredible.

©BL2008