I spent the first three hours of my morning weeding the beds in front of my home. That should probably be embarrassing - that it took three hours (and I'm still not finished) - but it's been that kind of spring and summer. With another ceu event taking me away from home for a week, I was afraid of what I would find when I got home if I didn't do something now. So, I headed straight for the jungle, er, I mean flower bed.

I wasn't there long before I discovered some very sinister things happening at ground level. There's basically one weed to blame for the whole jungle - a weed that, from a fairly small (and rather innocent-looking) sprout sends runners in every direction imaginable. And, those runners cling to soil, other plants, brick, whatever it can get its little suckers on as they "run." My fingers were raw in no time flat, tracing runners and making sure that root and all was gone from every little place this thing had traveled.

Pause for a moment. I heard once that people who work with money and are trained to detect counterfeits (without the handy-dandy little pen) never focus on what the fake might be like. They know and real stuff so well that when the "feel" is off or the color isn't quiet right or some other detail is even a hair different, they know. They focus on the real stuff and that truth makes it easier to detect the lie. All that to say this: in my teaching and preaching, I don't focus much on sin. Not that I don't believe it's real, sinister, and deadly. I figure that knowing the Truth so well, recognizing God's grace and love in the most surprising places/ways will illuminate the cavities in our souls and lives.

All that said, my encounter with the weeds this morning was all about sin. I couldn't get it out of my mind as I worked hard to find all the suckers and dig out all the roots. One thing - a thought, an action, an attitude, a secret, you know - can look like such an innocent sprout. But, the next thing you know, runners are headed in a million different directions and sticking to everything they can get to. The next thing you know, that one innocent- enough lie (betrayal, poor choice, insensitivity, you name it) is making its presence known in most every other thought, choice, action, and attitude.

I couldn't take it any more ... that's why I weeded that bed today. My prayer is that I can learn to tend to the bed of my soul before the jungle sprouts ... from that one cranky, mean weed. I want, need the courage to see the weedy little choices and words and actions for what they are. And, more courage still to let 'em be ripped out by the roots. There is such beauty and harmony and health in that bed - and in my spirit - when it's cared for like it should be.

Happy gardening to you, too!

Surprised by Grace!

What amazing grace flooded my world - and my office - today! I looked at the clock above my office door for the umpteenth time this afternoon and discovered that the door frame was also framing the faces of very special people from my past. There, surprisingly, stood my youth leader and her daughter whom I used to babysit. And beside that young woman were her two daughters - full of life and joy and love (and mischief ... after all, I know their mother AND their grandmother!) As Margaret and Jennifer, Haley and Madison came into the room, so did amazing memories and the easy conversation of old that helped create them. The hope we used to share in the Body of Christ we absolutely knew as family filled the room, too, as we talked candidly, quickly about our faith journeys and our spiritual needs. Something else was palpable in the room, too ... a sobering soreness that remains from the loss of great men who, once a vital, integral part of our life together, are now a part of the Church Triumphant. I'm glad, though I can't explain how it happens, I know that it's true that in God's economy, the best of Daddy and Wayne still fill our hearts and any room we occupy. My greatest surprise today wasn't seeing the faces of such special people, 'live' and in my presence; it is the discovery of a long ignored quiet, but powerful river of hope and purpose running through me - all because a youth leader told me with conviction that who I am matters (not just to her, but to God!) and, then, trusted her children to my care.

Who, in your seasons past, can you recognize now as conduits of God's love and grace, mouthpieces of Divine truth and wisdom who have helped you become who - and how - you are? Being loved on by and loving in return such amazing people (who will really always be a part of me, and me of them) was such an unexpected and awesome twist on today ... kinda makes me want to be the one to show up in another old friend's doorway or mailbox or voicemail. How 'bout you?

A First Look

I remember looking out the front window of our Parkway Village home that summer day as the rain poured down outside (and in my heart). My sadness over a friend's move several states-distance away seemed to be echoed by nature herself and I consciously recognized for the first time that I, we seem to look on life through a window that offers a differing view with every new hope or reality, dream or disappointment. Some views are drastically different; others only slightly so. It was only a year or so later that I was looking through that same window in our home with great anticipation for a beau to come pulling up in front of our home, to come for me. At times the window is framed with hope or someone else's idea of what is, what should be; at times the panes of glass are cloudy with a different kind of pain or with simple ignorance. But, the constant is the two-fold purpose of a window, any window. It is, simply, to let Light and Wind in, and to let me and you see out. With great excitement and a little anxiety, I'm hoping that you'll help me see more clearly and allow me to share with you just what I see ... through my window.