It's here...

Blogville...please join me in wishing my DH a very happy birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOO!

Love you!!!

Epiphany

Yeah, I think I had an epiphany this week.

I've always considered myself a good listener. I believe it's a gift God has bestowed upon me. I can be a sounding board. I will make the proper sympathetic sounds, encourage you to find the answer, love you, and be there anytime you need to talk. So what was my epiphany? Being a good listener is nothing more than a copout for me. If I just listen then I won't have to challenge you, or myself for that matter.

For a LOOOOOONG time I have prayed for wisdom and insight and discernment. I actually looked up what wisdom and discernment meant. Wisdom is, in essence, common sense. Discernment is knowing something hidden. I recently read the passage where Solomon asks God for wisdom. Well, that's how I always learned it, anyway. He asked for WISDOM. However, the NIV actually says he asked for a discerning heart. A heart that seeks to understand God's will. Wow. Yeah. That's what I want!

And then I read The Message's translation. Solomon asked for a God-listening heart.

Solomon then used that gift to rule God's people. He let them in on what he heard from God.

How do I know that God has granted me wisdom and insight, a God-listening heart if you will, if I won't open my trap?!

*sigh*

Wow - somewhere along the way I posted for the 300th time. Didn't know I had it in me...or that I decided to throw it out for the world to see!

Things are okay around here. Trying to amuse the children is getting old REALLY fast. Trying to encourage our elder due to his current scholastic status is wearing thin. Preparing for the annual family reunion this weekend is frightening because it's come upon us so fast. Figuring out something special for my wonderful husband for both Father's Day and his birthday has me stymied. Stitching on these #$)@(*% angels is tap dancing all over my last nerve.

Other than that, it's all good.

A mile in my shoes?

I will admit it. Proudly, even. Although, geographically, I should be considered a Yankee - in my heart and heritage, I am all HICK! You can thank my grandmother - I do! She was born and raised in the Smoky Mountains, came from a coal mining family, married young into another coal mining family, one leg's shorter than the other from walking on the side of the mountains - LOL! I can very easily fall into a thick Southern drawl. I know how far "yonder" is, and I know when to stop when I've gone "a fer piece." And I am barefoot whenever possible. Seasons don't matter. I've been known to go to my car in the dead of winter, snow on the ground, with no shoes on. (What's your point?)

As a result of this penchant for shoelessness, my feet aren't really attractive. They're tough. They have rough spots. They are callused. Calluses formed from doing the same things repeatedly, and not taking care of the damage immediately. I hate those calluses! they are ugly and, well, just plain gross! When they get too much for me, I will attempt to remove them with a razor or something else which, especially in my hands, is dangerously sharp. Let's just say I'll never be a foot model.

I was reading in Deutoronomy today. Chapter 30, verse 6 says: "GOD, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart...freeing you to love GOD, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live." (The Message) I'd never thought about my heart being callused, but the more I meditated, the more I realized how thick and tough and impenetrable my heart can sometimes be. Life has bombarded my heart. Each blow has caused a place on my heart to harden in an effort to protect itself. This verse tells me that I can't remove the thick covering which is, in essence, suffocating my heart - He must do it. And since I've done the same things repeatedly, and the calluses are so thick and dense, He'll have to cut it away. Once that faulty "protection" is gone, I will be free! Life will still bombard my heart with pain and fear and disappointment, but HE will protect me. HE will shield my heart much more effectively than anything I can do on my own. And my heart will remain soft and tender. I wouldn't mind being able to model that...

Friday

So it's the weekend. Finally. I've not had a great week - not feeling the best. Work has been okay. My co-worker is back again. She seems to be doing pretty well. I felt like I had held down the proverbial fort pretty well while she was gone, but I guess I could have done better. At least that's how I felt.

I don't know what it is - just not feeling myself. It's been kind of a frustrating week for me.

I started a 61-day Bible survey study yesterday. Highlights of each book. Read about Abraham yesterday - and it was the verses that confound me a whole lot! Just don't understand why they're kinda stuck in where they are, and what they're trying to teach, what God was doing what He was doing - all of which added to my frustration of the week. Oh well, I'll keep praying for enlightenment.

Have a good weekend, everyone.