Thinking Time

The last few years I became accustomed to having Saturday mornings as "porch time" during the spring, summer and fall ... It could last for 30-minutes, 2-hours, or maybe 4-hours. But, a new job last December put a damper on my "porch time" and I try to fit it in elsewhere into my week whenever possible. Today is one of those days.

I'm sure I'll still find time for a Sunday afternoon nap, but today I desperately needed some porch time... My favorite Slacker Radio station playing (James Taylorish), enjoying my favorite drinks (coffee earlier, now ice water with a slice of lemon), reading materials, sunshine, and lots of thinking.

I try not to allow this time of thinking to be negative or self-destructing... But instead a time of reflecting, reviewing, revisiting, regenerating, reorganizing. Though, sometimes that can be difficult. Like many, I tend to see the bad, erring, confused, failure in myself much more clearly and quickly than anything positive. And today I'm fighting off some very negative demons.

I recently ran across these quotes... Each has touched my heart deeply as I've read them over and over:















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What's Blooming???

Here's a rundown of what's blooming in my gardens right now...






















































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Reality Check

You know that feeling you get...

You've been feeling good about you life, your feelings, your emotions, your positions, your beliefs, your relationships, your attitude, your hopes, your actions...

Then... A big fat reality check happens.

That happened this past Sunday during the worship service at Eastview... The sermon was on prayer (check it out HERE)... But my take-away?

Just when I'm getting comfortable with the amount of faith in God that I have, I see the ridiculous amount of love God has for me and I realize how much more my faith needs to grow.

Kind of made my "I feel good about life, feelings, emotions, blah blah blah" (see above) seem out of whack again and a reality check kick in. My faith is SO SMALL compared to our God's great love, mercy, and grace. I can never attain a faith that's equal to his love, but I do have a lot of room for growth in my faith.

We sang a song near the end of worship that really touched my heart...

Glorious Ruins
by Hillsong

VERSE
When the mountains fall
And the tempest roars You are with me
When creation folds
Still my soul will soar on Your mercy

PRE-CHORUS
I'll walk through the fire
With my head lifted high
And my spirit revived in Your story
And I'll look to the cross
As my failure is lost
In the light of Your glorious grace

CHORUS
Let the ruins come to life
In the beauty of Your Name
Rising up from the ashes
God forever You reign

And my soul will find refuge
In the shadow of Your wings
I will love You forever
And forever I'll sing

VERSE
When the world caves in
Still my hope will cling to Your promise
Where my courage ends
Let my heart find strength in Your presence

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