Dancing in the Stillness

Last week I was determined to get back into exercising regularly. And I did. I made it onto my glider four times and I loved it. I listened to audios I've had for awhile and the time glided by quickly. I watched birds come and go through the window in the back door and I enjoyed the greenery of my back yard. If you could call it a back yard.

One of those days everything was very still. Not a hint of breeze anywhere. But I didn't even notice it until I saw ONE blade of grass bobbing and dancing. I double checked the grass in the area. No movement. I checked the leaves on the trees. Not a single one moved. All was still except for that one blade of grass.

From where I was, I scrutinized that single blade. What made it dance when everything around it was still? It wasn't just slow dancing, either. It was bobbing and weaving and I imagined that if I could hear grass talk, it'd be belting out praise to God. “Leaping and dancing and praising God” ran through my mind.

But I still didn't know why that one blade of grass danced while all the others were still and silent. I watched it some more, rarely looking away from it. I wanted to know why and how it could dance when everything indicated it shouldn't.

I checked the time I had left on the glider. Eight minutes until I could go out there and investigate closer. Until then I planned on watching every move that blade of grass made.

A sparkle above the blade caught my attention and I glanced up just in time to see a water droplet fall from a gutter downspout. After each drop of water, the grass, moved by the water droplet, danced in jubilation and praise. Mystery solved. It danced because it was watered from above, one droplet at a time.

It's not just that one blade of grass that's watered from above. We are too. But do we dance even when all around us is shrouded in stillness? Especially when all around us is shrouded in stillness? We need to. How else will people realize we have a reason to dance? We have THE reason to dance. What better way to show them the difference God makes in our lives?

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NAS

Just like I studied that single blade of grass to learn the secret of its dance, people study us for the secret of our dance, whether we're aware of their scrutiny or not.

Are you dancing?

**Photo by my cousin, Andrea Coursey, one of my favorite photographers.

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God's Glow

This week's winner of Linore Rose Burkard's book The House in Grosvenor Square is LaDonna!


Coming up this week on Tuesday and Wednesday is an interview with Ruth Axtell Morren.


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My husband is very health conscious and our mornings start with Green Goo, which is, roughly, a liquefied salad. We throw all kinds of healthy veggies in the VitaMix and let her roll. Then we slurp down our green shakes. But there's a trick to drinking them. First, you skim the foam off the top then, once you start drinking, you don't stop until it's gone. You open wide and let 'er slide. It really doesn't taste bad at all, but a glassful is a lot to drink when it's green! Often when we're done we sport green mustaches. (Which easily tells me they drank their goo or not.)

Living in a house full of kids has made those green mustaches fun. It's also made me think. Can others tell when I've spent time with God, reading His Word and praying?

It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablet of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ~Exodus 34:29

Do I glow like Moses did after He came down from Mt. Sinai? Do I even sport a small mustache like I do after drinking my Green Goo? Because Jesus is in me, there is a difference in my life—but can those around me see it?

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16

This is what I need to do—let my light shine. No quickly wiping off the green mustache and hiding the evidence after spending time with Him, but rather letting that glow shine on others.

That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. ~Psalm 83:18

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Testify!

Today is Monday Manna and Joanne has chosen a wonderful verse for us to blog about! For more thoughts and links be sure to join us at An Open Book. We'd love to have you join us in posting your thoughts, too!

For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ~Acts 22:15

God has given us work to do! We are to be a witness for Him. It's something that every single person can do—tell others what Jesus has done for us personally. It does not take any special training or special anything. Simply telling others what Jesus is doing in our lives—in my life.

In Matthew 11:4 says something similar. “Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you hear and see...'”

How about when the Gerasene demoniac asks to accompany Jesus? What does Jesus say to him? “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19)

This is something that we can do even as we balance babies on our hips, or run a taxi service, or care for aging parents. Whatever time of life we're in, we can testify. God has done so much for us! Let's follow the Samaritan woman's example and run and tell those we know. As a result of her testimony, many people in the city came to Jesus and believed in Him. And all she did was tell them what Jesus had done for her. Nothing fancy. Simply testifying.

We can do that! Let's take every opportunity that's presented to us and let's diligently watch for every opportunity so that those around us may know God, for there is none like Him.

Be sure to join us at An Open Book for more Monday Manna.
Don't forget that tomorrow is an interview with Cheryl Wyatt and she's giving away a copy of her new release, Ready-made Family.

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Shelf Life

Food has a shelf life, and some food has a very short shelf life and needs to be used in a timely manner or it goes bad. There have been times I've put a beautiful head of leaf lettuce in my fridge and when I finally got around to using it, it was no longer beautiful. The leaves had lost their crispness, had wilted and some had even turned black. Sounds appetizing doesn't it? Sure, sometimes I can salvage part of the head if I do it right when I pull it out of the bag and strip off the spoiled leaves and carefully wash the rest. There are even times when I completely miss it and the lettuce totally ruins—there's no salvaging to be done, it all goes into the compost.

God puts things in our lives to be used for His glory and some of those things have a shelf life. If we don't use them in a timely manner they 'go bad' and may no longer be available for our use. God may bring a person into our lives so we can be a witness to them, but if we delay, we may loose our window of opportunity. When that window closes, we miss out on the blessing we would receive from using that opportunity and others miss out because we didn't make something of the opportunity, the ingredient, God gave us.

I don't think there's many of us that like seeing food spoil in our fridge, but do we even stop and think about things in our lives that are going to waste? Gifts, and opportunities, and even responsibilities God has given to us to use, not waste—are we using those ingredients and making the most of them? Are we using them for God or just forgetting about them after we tuck them away in our lives?

Therefore be careful how you walk,
not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
So then do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord is.
~Ephesians 5:15-17

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