life

Friction to Thrive

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

There will be no sharpening of iron without friction. – rev. James Robison   

It’s a scary place to be…on the edge of a knife. Wondering what to do, where to go, knowing one step can determine our destiny. In that moment, all can be gained or all can be lost. The choice is ours to make. It is never happenstance. 

Friction shakes things up. Friction causes change, and friction causes a sharpening which cannot be found in the mundane moments of life. Yes, friction is needed in our lives to transform us from who we once were and propel us to who we are to become. 

Often, many will choose to avoid this moment of tension, this moment of inner conflict, this opportunity for change. Some avoid it out of fear. Some avoid it out of pain. Some even avoid it out of sheer laziness. Whatever your reason, I can assure you of this truth: no matter your situation, and no matter your reasoning, every time you avoid that moment of friction, you become dull. You lose your edge. You may even miss the mark for a lifetime. 

Sometimes, you can return. You might regain that sharpness. Sometimes, you can resume your cutting edge; yet, you are never guaranteed its return. You are never promised that repeated opportunity. There are some options which only come once in a lifetime, and all too often, those options come with friction. 

The decision must be made before the conflict arises. The choice must be made today, not tomorrow. We must have a made up mind before the opportunity comes knocking. Don’t let life overwhelm you. Never let circumstances dictate your destiny. You are not a victim. Your life is not simple happenstance. 

Choose you this day. Make up your mind, and chase your dreams. Make life happen all around you, and when you feel that friction, embrace it. Push against it. Stand tall in the midst of it. You will find it’s like a mighty sailboat, caught in the perfect winds on the sea. When the sails, the rutter, and the winds are all caught in perfect tension, that huge vessel will sail with great speed and with ease. 

So, find that place of perfect friction. Embrace those conflicts which come with tenacity and vigor. Thrive in that moment of tension, and sail on, my friend. Sail on. 


Designed For This Season

/ The WheatandTares

No matter the season in life that you find yourself, God has designed you specifically for that season! He has known you before the beginning of time. He formed you. He created you. He has molded you through the years and designed you for the moment you are in right now. Even on your worst day, in your worst season, and yes, even in those death moments, when you wonder if He’s even near, He knew you would be there. He knew what you would need to survive, to make it through and to escape those dark moments.

Trial. Sickness. Childbirth. Teen years. Dying parent. Loss of job. Location move. Loss of friend. He has equipped you to get through it. He has trained you and provided for you the means to conquer and to win!! I used to wonder why God would have allowed me to be a child of a neglective father, a daughter with an opposing personality to my mother, a person who is very flexible, sensitive, quick to shed a tear, and tender hearted toward things that, sometimes, maybe seemed odd to “tougher-minded” people. I didn’t know then that He would one day have me marry a man called to the ministry, that I would encounter people from all walks of life, and be called upon to reach them in some way. I had no idea those wounds, those places of pain that were so hard to endure throughout my youth, would be the very things which helped me to relate to those around me, those who were hurting and wondering if God even cared for them. I never thought that my eyes that so easily shed a tear would one day be the very things that helped me see another’s pain. I never knew, those many years ago in my childhood, that my love for writing would birth a blog-writing passion as an adult, and that passion for writing would be projected from a pulpit on Sunday mornings and end up reaching people I hadn’t even personally met. I never knew that my easy going, yet, love for details-type personality would be tailor made for my strong-minded, type-A, leader husband, and that this same personality would help me to raise our two very strong-minded, independent, and adventurous boys, but it is, and this has been the perfect compatibility to make for a fun-loving, safe, secure and warmth centered home.

You see, each of us are handcrafted to think a certain way, talk a certain way, and even to act/react a certain way. God has designed us to fit the plans He has for us. Now, we can mess all that up, and we can reject His plans for our life, and we can even delay His best when we stubbornly hold onto those things which He desires us to lose. However, if we submit our lives to Him, even through our screw-ups, He is continually working things out for our good. Even through tragedy and other people’s sins toward us, God can still work His good into our lives. It doesn’t mean God makes these tragedies and these wounds happen to us; yet, He does know they will come. He does know when they will happen, and I can’t answer all the whys that we each may have in those moments; however, I can tell you He is a God who knows our pain, feels our pain and can comfort us in your pain. I can tell you He is a God who can take our pain, our tragedies and our failures, and He can mold and create a beautiful work of art from it! He is a Master Potter, a Master Artist…He can work a masterpiece from just a muddy lump of clay!!

Sometimes, I see it as a fine tapestry, which if only seen on the backside, it appears to have no pattern, no design and definitely no beauty that could be apparent to anyone of reason; yet, when that same tapestry is turned over, the most beautiful artwork will appear. When that same tapestry is hung in a great hall to be viewed by many, it brings great admiration and even reverence for its beauty. When placed in the mighty hands of our Creator, our lives can be as this beautiful tapestry. He miraculously weaves and interweaves His beauty to bring forth His beautiful plans for our life.

If you find yourself, in this moment, wondering why your past is as it is, and you wonder if there could possibly be any good to come of your life, I encourage you to just place your hand in the hand of the One who created you. Just take that little step toward Him, and you will find He is already there, waiting on you to call His name. Submit your life to the One who intricately formed and designed you for His purpose and His plan. He can see so much more than we can see. He knows so much more than we could ever know. Why would He not be the perfect One to guide and direct our lives?

The Facade

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

There She Goes

You know the one
She’s got her recipes plastered on Pinterest…all her beautiful cakes and dishes…Her creative parties and house decor…All those perfectly clean rooms and floors…
You know, supermom.
She’s got her status posted everyday of how wonderful life is, how precious her little angels are.
She adores her husband and he adores her.
She wrote just last night of how he brought her flowers for no particular reason.
Her ring is a true rock and her clothes always looks perfect and that hair…
Geez, does she go to the salon everyday?!
She’s not just supermom; she’s super wife!…Super-woman!!
She’s got to have it all and have it all together!
Or so you would think…
Yet, you didn’t see her last night snap at her husband and go to bed angry.
You weren’t there last week when she screamed at the kiddos when they spilt the milk.
You didn’t even know she ran back in the house this morning, make up streaming, baby spit up in her hair, Cherrios crushed down her new blouse, the car out of gas….because some Fridays just really start as Mondays.
You don’t realize she stresses out before every group event, because she’s really an introvert and worries about being accepted.
You don’t recognize the tears that brim as she smiles and slightly turns away so you can’t see.
You just don’t see her under the facade…
She awoke again terrified in the night …another nightmare…
She went straight to the babies’ rooms, scared that he had found her after all these years.
She’s suffered such abuse, such neglect, she wonders if anyone could ever truly care.
She wanders through this life simply surviving breath by breath, minute by tiny minute.
You never see her there, in the dark, all alone.
It’s all a facade.
It’s all a fancy charade to obtain a moment of sanity.
She dances with the emotions and she paints on the portraits.
All the while, she keeps the pain, the agony, the death, hiding there inside.
It’s time to coax her from the shadows, to give her hope for what might be.
It’s time to let go of our perceived perfection and love her for who she is, to help her dream of who she can one day become.
We must show her the hope she can have in Him.
We have to reach her, to be His hands extended, or she’ll forever be lost in her pain.
We’ve got to see past the facade to show her He died that she might live.
We must take off our own masks to let His love pour in; then, she may know His love and mercy that will sustain her, give her life and fill her with her with perfect peace.  
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Reposted for
Daily Prompt: Facade

Troubled America

/ The WheatandTares

  

She was once such a lovely place to dwell;

Now, she is a reminder of everlasting hell.

She was once a place of freedom and peace; 

Now, she is a reminder of an angry beast.

 

I cry for this country and what she has come to be.

She will soon be a place that no one will want to see.

I pray that we open our eyes and see our ruined ways.

She will soon be a place of darkened, evil days.

 

Oh please, sweet America! Wake up and see your fate!

Open your eyes and do something now before it is too late!

Oh please, Sovereign Lord! Help us change what we have become.

Open our eyes and reveal the meaning of Your Only Son.

Penned – MG – 1/1/91

 

We Will Not Forget

/ The WheatandTares

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I don’t consider myself an incredible poet, but I wanted to have something to pay honor today to those who have given their lives for our freedom. Thank you to every service man and woman who gave your all so that I and my family might live in the freedom for which you fought so hard to obtain, and thank you to your families who have had to say the hard goodbyes. We are forever grateful, and we will never forget…

  

Young men with hopes and dreams

Old men with wives and little sunbeams

All head to war. To serve their land. 

To fight for their freedom. To save their fellow man. 

  

They fought hard. They fought brave. 

Some were wounded, captured, never saved. 

We will not forget them. We will not close the door. 

They gave us our freedom. We owe them so much more. 
  

  

Their graves are marked with flags so bright. 

Their memories held tight within our sight. 

They gave the ultimate sacrifice. They paid the highest price. 

Gave they their life that I might live. Reminds me of my God, my Christ. 

  

Let us not be so busy that we pack their memories away. 

Let us not be so focused on now that we miss their pathway. 

This is Memorial Day. The day we honor, we remember, and we say, Thank you. 

We will remember the heroes, for our lives are here because of what they went through. 

  

We promise to never forget what you gave up. 

What we have to offer can never really be enough. 

We will forever say Thank You to our heroes. 

We will fight to remember, hoping our debt and gratitude eternally shows. 
  

They fought hard. They fought brave. 

Some were wounded, captured, never saved. 

We will not forget them. We will not close the door. 

They gave us our freedom. We owe them so much more. 


Penned – MG – 5/23/15

My Deepest Me

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

I heard a song the other day with this line in it: 

“You met me in my deepest Me… Grace met me there”

It made me ponder that thought for awhile
Me…that’s who I am. 
I’m not you. I’m not her. I’m definitely not him. 
I’m not that wife, that mom, that dr, or that waitress 
I’m not your mom (except JGrizz’s and JMan’s!), your sister or your aunt 
I’m just Me…that’s who I am. 

Me…it’s not always a pretty place 
Sure, I can paint on a pretty smile and fix my hair just right
I can put on a nice suit and pull myself together just the way I should 
I can say sweet words and shake hands and give you a great big hug if you need it

But I sure can snap at my kids early on a Sunday morning when I’m running late
I can battle thoughts of jealousy, selfishness and just plain rudeness sometimes. 
I can be unkind to my husband, envious of the times someone might need his attention when I really need to talk to him 
Me…can be a not so gracious place
Me…can be a deep, dark, sometimes even stinky place 

I can be grouchy. I can be angry. I can be rude, sharp and even hostile. 
I can be unkind, unreliable and unfriendly. 
I can even be lazy, forgetful and unforgiving. 
Me…it’s not always a place I enjoy to be. 
Me…it’s not always a person I like to see. 
But I have found, He always meets me in the deepest of Me
He always meets me in the deepest places where others won’t brave the approach 
He always surrounds me in the darkest moments of my soul when I wonder and doubt if He’s even there
He always consumes my heart to remind me that no matter what I’ve done He still cares. 

Because when I’m Me..
He can heal
He can restore
He can bind
He can refine
When I’m Me…
He can purify
He can cleanse
He can redeem
He can transform what is seen

You see, when I’m Me, My flesh is too much for my world to handle. 
This is not a good thing, as some would presume.
Because left to me, I will die. 
I will destroy and I will reek havoc on the lives I encounter. 
Yet, left to Him…
He can reach
He can save 
He can heal

 
He will never falter. 



I’ll Grow Old with You

/ The WheatandTares / 5 Comments

In light of this being our anniversary week, I hope you will forgive me for not posting something yesterday, and I hope you might indulge me today as I repost something I blogged a little while back for my sweetheart (as you will see by the “info” given). We celebrate 19 years this week, and I am more in love today than I’ve ever been! 😉 

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We sat in the empty house, the boys away for the evening. He sat at the computer playing chess. I sat in a chair opposite him, reading on my Kindle. He said, “Ya know, this is what old people do. This (silence) is what it sounds like to get old. … What are we gonna do when little bit goes off to college?” I said to him, “Cry…..Cry a lot.”
This started me thinking…

We’ve been together for over 22 years now…8,079 days of my life.

We’ve been married for 18 1/2 of those…over half of my lifetime.

We’ve lived in 2 states and, together, visited 10.

We’ve worked at 5 churches and gone to 2 colleges.

We have 2 sons, numerous “spiritual kids” and no daughters or grandkids.

We are both Southern born and bred, in 2 (technically 3) different states,

and we’re both very proud of it!

I love you more today than that first day I met you,

and even more than the day I said, “I do.”

Yet, I love you less today than I will love you tomorrow or even this time next year.

In a world where the rings come off too quickly, and the marriage vows become negotiable, I have decided our love is here to stay, and even if you wanted, you couldn’t get rid of me without a fight.

This love we have was birthed in wonder and refined in distance and time. All those years we said, “hello” each day, but only held hands once a week, deepened our commitments rather than making them shallow. This love we share has stood the test of time, and even though, I know that test will be retaken again and again during this lifetime, I believe we will remain true. For I don’t belong to you, and you don’t belong to me. We belong to the One who holds this thing together. He is the only One who will see us through.

So, I gladly look to tomorrow and cherish our yesterdays. I hold onto the present and love like it’s only the beginning. I treasure our times together and laugh at our silly mishaps. I glance over your failings and pray you’ll do the same as we reach together, hand over hand, to move beyond what could destroy and stretch our hearts toward the One who would restructure what could have been lost.

Love is not a feeling. It cannot be bought or borrowed or even stolen. Love is a choice that we each choose to uphold and to protect. Love is a choice that we can choose to embrace when we look past our own selfish ways and desires. Love must be cultivated, cherished and cared for. Love must be allowed to bloom.

Blooms do not happen instantaneously. Growth does not happen overnight. Love takes years of tenacity in trials, forgiveness of flaws, blindness to annoyances, perseverance with the little things that really matter. Love doesn’t fail when it is the love from the One who created love. Love lasts forever when it is the love of the Father.

So, today, I say, ‘YES.’

Yes, I will choose to love. Yes, I will choose to forgive.

Yes, I will choose to laugh. Yes, I will choose to cherish.

Yes, I will choose to live. Yes, I will choose to treasure.

Yes, I will choose embrace. Yes, I will choose to uphold.

Yes, I will choose to cultivate, nurture and protect this love.

Yes, I will choose you for life, for love, for laughter.

…Yes… I’ll grow old with you.

 

Fallen and Uprooted

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

You have fallen

You have been uprooted

Now your branches remain lifeless

Your leaves are withered and brown

All because your roots did not remain

You allowed the cares to pluck the life and hope from your veins

Yours is not the only life that is suffering

The small saplings that were beneath your nest

Their tender sprouts are now withered and splintered

Seemingly beyond repair, beyond any hope

The winter is coming, how will they ever survive

Your shelter is no longer useful, exposing them to the bitterness

But God…

He is the Author and Finisher of all life

He is the Beginning and the End

He is the hope beyond all hope

He can bring life where we only see death

He is coming, walking near your demise

Will you turn toward His gaze?

Will you call to Him not shielding the pain?

He is loving, true and kind

He will mend and heal, repair and bind

He can make all things new if you will but send them

Come yourself to realign

God is…

Author, Finisher, Alpha, Omega

Beginning and the End

Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley

Prince of Peace, King of Kings

Lamb of God, Lord of Everything

Will you come?

I hear Him drawing near

He is gently calling your name

Power of Reflected Light

/ The WheatandTares

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The lighthouse has such a powerful light which shines across the sea; however, it’s actually not because of a particularly bright light bulb. Rather, it is because of the mirrors in place which cause the reflected light to shine brightly into darkness.

Just as a lighthouse is not bright simply because of a powerful light, a person cannot truly be strong simply because of his or her own strength, and a church cannot be strong simply because of a good program, a popular song service or even a great man behind the pulpit. When founded in Christ, the only true strength is when we reflect the praise we receive upon those with whom we are joined to minist, and reach those who are lost.

When the church body, the leadership, and the pastor are constantly reflecting upon each other all the light that is brought upon them, and especially when they are reflecting that light upon Jesus, the strength of that is enforced and brightened beyond imagination. We, as Christians, have too often, gotten into competitive relays with each other, always trying to better ourselves for the sake of gaining numbers, or taking them from another body of believers, rather than, bettering ourselves for the sake of our Christian walk and lifting Him up so that He might draw them to Himself. We’ve worked too hard to soak up the spotlight which has been show upon us rather than reflected that light upon those around us and upon Christ. Let us each learn a lesson from the beautiful lighthouse!

The power of reflected praise: Any praise you get should be reflected onto someone else! The church grows stronger by the power of reflected light!

*note: I did not take this picture, nor do I own this picture. Simply taken from google search. 😉

Wednesday’s Ode #13

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments


I love waterfalls! I absolutely LOVE them!! I love the walks and hikes that take me on a little journey to get there. I love them when they have an abundance of water flowing, and I love when there’s not so much. I love the refreshing feeling I get as I gaze up at them, and I love the tingling of my toes when I’m gazing down the falls.

I love what happens every single time I get near a waterfall…my soul is renewed. It is as if a calm comes over my whole being and the cares of this world are simply washed away like the water going over the falls.

Once again, it reminds me of the Scripture I quoted in last week’s ode: “…and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.” Ezekiel 43:2, and here’s another that reminds me, “His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.” Rev 1:15

I hear Him calling to my heart every time I’m near the falls. I love those times.  …hmmm, I think I need to take a hike and find some rushing waters real soon! 😉