It Won't Keep

As a young mother I came across this sweet poem that reminded me what's really important in raising children. I learned that sparkling clean floors are no comparison to the sparkle in my child's eyes because I spent time with them.

As I am now in my 'mature' years with children grown and grandkids to love on, my focus the past few years has been on a different kind of baby.

It's the story locked with in me that cries to be released. It's the words that I birth as I labor over a blank sheet of paper or watch the curser blink on my computer screen. I've learned that when the ideas are hot, I must act on them. If I ignore it or procrastinate, those little ideas start to slip away.

We discussed this at our last writers group meeting,  brainstorming over the things that often keep us from writing and how to knock down those roadblocks to creativity.  Writing is hard work. But if we want to hone our craft, we must be dedicated. This writing gift deserves attention, just as a baby does.

A few days before the writers meeting, I created a quiet space for myself in our little travel trailer. A place where I can spread out my bible, my journals, my colored pencils and unleash my creativity as I spend time in God's Word.  This was due in part to inspiration I received from a friend who loves to journal and has put a crafter's touch to it. Illustrated Faith is one name for it.

 I've always been an 'underline my bible verse' kind of gal but now I'm taking it to the next level. I take my Sunday Morning sermon notes and ponder them all week long, taking a deeper look at the scriptures, meditating on them and making notes in my journal. I might color or add a sticker or two to make the thoughts I've collected stand out a little more or I might just stick with my ink pen. But the point is, I am spending more time in the Word, more time focused on things of eternal value. (it helps that in the tin-can travel trailer internet reception gets spotty so I can't surf the web very well, and therefore I can truly remain focused on what I went out there for!)

I shared with the writing group about my 'She-Shed' because I realized that one of the roadblocks in my writing is that I have allowed myself to be distracted and often the reason I don't write is because it was easier to just spend time on Facebook rather than putting any effort into writing.  While there's been a writing block in front of me that has had a lock on my creativity the truth is my creative juices tend to run driest when my spiritual life is also dry. When I have a clear close connection with Christ, my creativity flows much better. And my quiet time with the Lord had gotten way too quiet as of late if you catch my meaning...

The sermon this past Sunday was about priorities which just seemed to cement further the whole idea of getting back into God's Word and back into writing my words! In fact, our pastor encouraged us to make a list of the top 5 priorities in our lives.

It was pretty much a no-brainer for me to make my list (God, Family, Friends...) but I pushed myself to go deeper with each item on the list, listing specific measurable goals for each one. Not surprisingly, #5 was to make time and effort to work on my creative side.

So... quiet down Facebook,
Internet go to sleep.
I'm writing a story
and the words just won't keep.

A 7-11 Jesus

The woman at the well is a familiar passage from the bible for most of us. She's used in sermon illustrations about as often as Peter walking on the water, Martha's whining over Mary not helping her with dinner and Lazarus being raised from the dead. So it always amazes me when I revisit a well known story and have a fresh take away.( I guess that is why we call the Word of God "LIVING".)

John 4:

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

We were discussing the Woman at the Well the other night in our small group. The woman had this interesting exchange with Jesus-- the Great I AM-- and asks where she can get this water that will forever quench her thirst. Someone in our group made the comment "I don't think she got it." meaning the Samaritan Woman thought Jesus was talking about literal water when He was actually referencing the spiritual water that only He can give. Of course the Samaritan Woman wanted the water that would satisfy;  "Give me this water so I don't have to keep coming back to draw more water."

Don't we all want the easier way? I sometimes despair as I clean my house because I know by tomorrow the carpet will be in desperate need of another vacuuming, and the bathroom will need another disinfecting wipe down. I wonder if I, like the woman at the well, want what Jesus has to offer, only out of convenience, to make my life easier.

But did Jesus come to take away lifes challenges? Hmmm...... I'm thinking He is more concerned with changing us inside  in order to empower us to deal with our problems with a more Christ like perspective. Yet, here I am, acting like Jesus is some corner-market convenience store I can run to when I am running low on supplies.

I do my major grocery shopping about once every two weeks. I stock up with enough meat and veggies to make the meals I have planned out but in between those big shopping trips, there will be several quick visits to the market on the corner for bread and eggs, or some forgotten ingredient, or when I am desperate for cream in my coffee early in the morning, the gas station-quickie-mart across the road from my house.

I get my big fill up of Jesus on Sunday mornings, soaking in His presence as we worship, taking notes as our Pastor exegesis and it's all good. But if I don't supplement my Sunday with DAILY dips into God's Word, if I don't stop and have some heart felt conversation with my Jesus, if I just coast all week on Sundays message it will be like having pancakes without butter and syrup, oatmeal without milk and--- horror of horrors--- coffee sans cream.

In other words, it won't satisfy.

Too often I am ashamed to admit, I end up treating my Savior like a 7-11 Jesus. I know he's there 24/7 and he's got all the things I need in a pinch. So I dash in and grab the stuff I need like, safety for my husband on the job, healing for all those people on my list-- you know who they are Lord, and please make things go smoothly for my friends who are struggling..... oh, and Jesus, could you make my life go slower so I won't have to do this mad-dash prayer routine? 

Well, that's just nuts but it's a reality thats played out much too often to my chagrin.

I dusted the living room today and shook my head sadly as I wiped particles of dust off my bible. I flipped it open to the card with the Daily Reading Plan many of us in church are following. Yep, its marking the chapter for last weeks reading. Oops. So I sat down and read. I read up to today. And guess what? We are in the book of John and it's chapter 4. The Woman at the Well.

Which brings me full circle. The woman wanted the water that would satisfy so she wouldn't have to keep coming back to draw more buckets from the well. It was a lot of work hauling water home each day and she was tired of the scornful looks she got from her neighbors who knew her shameful past (5 husbands!) and her shameful present (living with a man she wasn't married to). She yearned for her life to be made easier. And Jesus offers her water that isn't from a well. Jesus offers her water that will satisfy eternally; a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

I said I gleaned some new stuff from reading this familiar passage in the gospel of John.

I realized I'm thirsty.

A Quiet Place

We all need one. A place where we can go to be alone, to think and dream, to plan and pray. I am alone most of the day in my empty nest so you wouldn't think I'd need one spot to identify as my quiet place but I do. There is something about a little corner space that speaks safety and comfort. I love a corner booth in a restaurant, a chair against the wall in the coffee shop and a nook to curl up in in my home.

my quiet place

Our bedroom, when we first got married, sported an office for my husband which I longed to see moved to another area. Bedrooms just should not have an office in them. It's not conducive to things that bedrooms were designed for.  Right? I was therefore, very proactive about creating new office space elsewhere in the house in order that someday, that little corner alcove could be converted to something much more intimate and soothing.

Yes. My quiet space.

private retreat

When the day came, I was ready. I had already scored at the thrift store,  a double recliner loveseat. The fabric was wrong but nothing a pretty slipcover wouldn't cure. I painted the alcove a soothing celery green and added a pretty floral wallpaper border. We already had bookshelves loaded with goodies-- they just needed dusting, organizing and, yes, even some downsizing. To finish the decorating touches I hung garden scenery pictures on the walls at eye level from the couch view. The finished result is very much a feeling of retreat. A private garden. A quiet space.

the antique plate came from my mom, the bottom one my daughter made for me when she was in grade school!

the centerpiece was made by my talented sister

Because our bedroom is on the second floor and the alcove is on the backside of the house, my little corner really feels very much removed from the rest of the house. I can hear what is going on outside and below me but yet I feel safe and securely tucked away, hidden and protected. It's a very good feeling.

recently updated the bedcover and the slipcover!

I am spending a lot of time here these days as I allow my injured foot to heal. It's a cool place to abide on a warm summer's day. I recently updated the slipcover; it feels more like a little rose garden than ever before. It is soothing and with all the fractured feelings floating around inside me right now, it's the perfect antidote.

spending a lot of time here....

books, cell phone, laptop, all at my fingertips, what more do I need? 

now, if I could just replace this carpeting.....

Sour Grapes

google images

She clipped the gnarled vine carefully and pulled it through the tangled web of interlocking branches. Once free, she examined it carefully, proudly even, and then tucked it under her arm as she laid down the pruning shears. Triumphantly she turned and carried her piece of grapevine to the car. She was eager to get home. 

Once she arrived she parked the car and hurried to the house. She scraped the mud off her boots and hung her coat up in the mudroom. The nip of fall hung all around her and the crackling fire was a welcome respite after being outside all morning. She laid the cut vine on her dining room table, eager to be in front of the woodstove. As the warmth of the fire began to penetrate her chilled bones she gazed across the room at the vine branch resting on the table. She grinned. She was going to have grapes! Perhaps she'd even be able to make wine someday. 

The vine branch lay on the table day after day after day. Each time she walked past it she thought about the deep purple fruit she'd seen on the grape arbor from where this piece had been cut. She smacked her lips in anticipation some days, envisioning grape jelly on her toast, or a pretty ceramic bowl filled with the juicy plump goodness of grapes. Tart, sweet and dripping with juice. That was how she pictured it. And she would pat the withering vine and wonder again, how long it would really take for her little branch to bare fruit. 

google images

Are you wondering when she is going to plant this clipped vine? Do you know as well as I do that as long as this cut off branch lies on her kitchen table, without soil and nourishment, nothing, and I mean, NOTHING, will grow? 


Ah, how foolish this person is, thinking that all she had to do was cut off the branch and bring it home and just lay it on the table and expect fruit to come from it. Yet, how often do I follow the same foolish path in my own life. I know how much I need to spend time in God's Word, and in communication with Him and with other believers, yet I foolishly commit the same mistake over and over again. I forsake my quiet time of reading His Love Letter to me, in favor of other things. I neglect studying His Word or seeking His face in prayer and supplication. I forgo my quiet time thinking I'll be fine without it. Or I do my time in the word and then walk away, taking little if anything with me, forgetting all about applying what I've read to my life. 


And then I notice things.... my writing feels dry and withered. I lack enthusiasm for life and the people who love me. I am dried up, shriveled and thirsting for even a drop of Spiritual moisture. I become as brittle as the cut off branch on the middle of the kitchen table. And if by some miracle I was able to produce grapes under these conditions, they would certainly be sour ones. 


The scripture that comes to mind right now is found in John 15.5: Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 

Like the grapevine withering on the table, I need to be grafted back into the love and life that only Jesus can give. How about you? 

Are You A Multi- Tasker?

I'm a born multi-tasker. I love going for my morning walk knowing that while I am gone my dishes are being scrubbed clean in the dishwasher and my clothes will be ready to go from washer to dryer when I return. I love knowing that while I am running errands all day, a savory stew is bubbling in the crock pot and will be ready to devour when I get home.

I can even make my walks more than just about walking. It's a time for reflecting, plotting stories in my head, praying for others. And if I'm walking with a friend, we're not just working those thighs-- that jaw muscle is getting used and friendships enriched in the process.

Yes, I love to multi- task.

Sometimes it comes back to bite me however. The other day I was chopping and stirring and measuring, I had 3 pots on the stove, a pan ready for the oven and all my concentration centered around cooking up these casseroles. And my husband walked in with a packet in his hand. He had been working on house plans and wanted to share with me the fruit of his labors. I had to apologetically warn him that while he was free to talk and wave papers in front of my face, I would not be able to give him my undivided attention. If that was what he wanted, he would need to wait until I was through with my meal prep.

I am married to a gracious man. He was happy to wave papers in my face and settle for my non-committal grunts but we both knew that at some point he was hoping for a more focused approach to what he had to share. I'm the same way. I don't want to share what is on my heart when he's buried in bill paying or working in the shop. Yet, sometimes I do and settle for his non-committal grunts.

I remember when my daughter was small. I was sitting on the floor, playing with her but not fully engaged. She suddenly grabbed my face with both of her chubby little hands. Forcing me to look right at her she said quite solemnly, something she must have heard me say more than once.... "Mommy, pay 'tention to me!"

I chuckle at the memory even as I shake my head, for I am sure I am guilty of this in my spiritual walk as well. In Psalm 46.10 we read  "Be Still and Know that I Am God." Yet how often do I cram my bible reading into another multi-tasking project. I listen to praise music and call that my quiet time as I whisk around the house with a broom and a dust rag. Are there times when God wants to grabs my face with His Hands and say solemnly "Robyn, pay attention to me."?

Ah, I am sure He does. And has. The times I have been rendered useless due to the fibromyalgia flare ups. Or the insomnia- infused nights where tossing and turning yields no results. Are those the things God might use instead of chubby little hands?

I think listening to praise music while I clean my house or drive my car is a great way to incorporate Worship into my day. But I am also realizing more and more how much God wants my undivided attention.

And how much I need His.


from Psalm 62....

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.