I built a fire this morning even before I made coffee, grabbed my reading material, and cozied up by the flames. Outside the window for the first time all year, I noticed golden leaves on the big tree, and felt an immediate peace. 

Waking up, it’s easy to start thinking about all of the things that could go wrong in life. It’s easy to think of the ones you love, the ones you miss, life’s struggles, problems large and small. But this life is but a mist, so today, I vow to set those things aside, in favor of peace.”The world may have tribulation, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. In Me, you may have peace,” John 16:33

Enjoy this day, and this season.

Life is simple, yet we make it harder than it has to be.

Running in the woods this morning got my brain fired up again. When you’re running over roots and rocks you have to keep your eyes wide open. It’s important, so that you don’t stumble and fall.

Then again, what if you do?

In my own life I’ve learned that it’s important to free fall, too,
to run wild like you used to when you were a child without a care in the world.

Too often we are intent on maintaining control, on being in control of all things – only to miss out on the greatest gifts.

What gifts (people, places, or things) have you unknowingly rejected in your life? Maybe it’s just that you’ve not made space or time.

Maybe it’s because you’ve allowed too much drama, thought, or over-analyzation in. Do you think Jesus, (and other great leaders) over analyzed, or was He a man of action?
At times a fixation on how things should be – in a perfect world- can prevent the fullest joy God offers.

A friend said recently that sometimes a dead end leads to an open door. We had driven down a dirt road that day to stumble upon a stranger, who we chatted up for awhile. A delightful detour, that would have been missed if fear or hesitation had intervened.

Today I’m open to detours.

Lately I’ve been taking a break from the illusion of control and understanding – just to be.
I’ll listen more, think less.
He is with you always.

In that, there is joy and an ability to live life full on!

On a trail run this morning over rocks and branches and roots, beneath magnificent trees with low hanging limbs, my shoes began to bother me. I stopped, adjusted a sneaker, and noticed a small blister forming. I remembered the person who gave them to me, and then recalled how that had been a full year ago, and now the shoes were getting worn. “I’ll toss them,” I thought, “but what else should I be cleansing myself and my household of?”

Spring cleaning is a popular act, and I like the idea of an annual cleansing of the house, but also of your mind, body and heart. Those things that exist in your heart or soul that are perhaps ignoble, can hold you back, and the dangerous part is that at times they are unconcious so you don’t even know you’re being held back. It’s like the Johari window pane theory that What you Don’t Know you don’t know. It’s the invisibles, that can threaten your walk.

So on that run, I thought about two people in particular, who were meant to be in my life for a season, and that the season had run out. We worked with them, equipped them, provided them tools in various ways – mentally, financially or spiritually, and now it’s time for them to move on. Sometimes you must cleanse, in order to make room for that next person, or thing to enter your life. Whose standing in line around the corner, waiting to meet you, listen to you, or be changed by you?

Who has God placed on the path ahead, to offer transformation in YOUR life?

Make room for them. Cleanse, today. 

By about the last mile I had carefully considered three specific people places and things that it was time to let go of and push out of the nest, in order for them to fly, and for me to move on along the road. We can love, and equip, and then it’s okay to realize that the rest is not up to us. In life, the process of renewal, turning over, exfoliation, and purification, is so important to breathe new life into your soul.

In the process of mining for Gold, it might be the Gold that we’re looking for, but you cannot get it without the step of purification. 

Gold is extremely rare. It’s even rarer than Platinum, (altho platinum is harder to find within the earth’s crust due to the even dispersion.) But to get the precious Gold into a beautiful state, you must process it, through the step of purification. 

There’s a verse in the best book ever written, that says “In a large house there are articles of silver and Gold, but also of wood and clay.” It calls the first, noble, and the latter, Ignoble. (love that word!) That verse in Timothy, reminds me of the importance process of purification. Today, I’ll focus on the future, and removing all of the ignoble things I can let go of from the past. 

Standing outside my writers workshop the other day, four men vowed to let go of specific things. Cigarettes, said one, Addiction, said another. Alcohol, said one. Cursing, said someone else. Bad women, said a young man. Some of the ignobles are hard, yet others are relatively simple!

What is it you want to let go of today? Share, if you dare.

Have you ever had a chance encounter that turned into something more? Maybe you traveled down the wrong road, but discovered it to be right after all. Maybe you had plan A, but then realized that plan B was what was destined all along.

I received a hang up on my phone the other day, from the area code 281. Curious, I called the number back, but no one answered. I did a reverse lookup on the number, because well, it’s a simple thing to do, and it returned a name. Not recognizing it, I tried the number again, and a woman named Marsha answered. 

Me:  Hello? I got a hang up from this number and I was wondering if I knew you. This is Tammy.

Her: Tammy? No, I can’t say that I do. Who are you?

Me: Okay, well, I’m an author, and I live in the Dallas area. 

Her: An author? I don’t know any authors, well, my husband, you see, he…(pause) he has cancer. My daughter has cancer. So, living in a house with two cancer patients there are a lot of calls going in and out. 

Me: Well, nothing happens by accident. Tell me about your life. That must be hard to handle – for you, I mean – emotionally?

So we talked for an hour, which is quite remarkable since I’m not a telephone conversationalist, and I don’t like to talk on the phone. I text friends, email business partners, and Facebook clients. I am a lover of the written word, an author of books, and I like the simplicity of black and white communication. 

But on this day… the world and the chaos in my house stopped and I sat back, and listened. I sat in a quiet part of the house so I could focus my attention on Marsha, my new friend, mother of a daughter with cancer, and a husband with cancer that had been – gleefully – in remission. He was strong, he was working around the house, he was showing no signs of fatigue! He’d gained weight, and looked better than ever.

Yesterday I received this email, and I was honored to be included in her inner circle of friends.

Dear ones:

My husband’s tests did not have good results this time.

The full body P.E.T. scan, MRI brain scan, and blood work all show that the lung

cancer has returned and spread to his liver, pancreas and brain.

It has taken awhile to gather enough energy to prepare this email. We were not in any way prepared for these results. We ask for your prayers for complete healing and strength. With God, all things are possible. This week he will be having a gamma knife radiation procedure to his brain. May God bless you and we send our love to each one of you.

—-

That’s a shortened version of my new friend’s email, and as I prepared a stack of books, and other small gifts to mail to her, I envisioned the day we’d meet. We both agreed on the phone that the wrong number, had a purpose, and that we were destined to talk. “We don’t know the reason today, Tammy, but in the future it will become clear.”

We talked about my book and how one of the core messages within, are that there are people in your life who are messengers. “Normally I’m a messenger,” I told her, “but for some reason this time, I think it’s you.”

She is a woman of strong faith, and I’m glad she’s my friend. I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds.