With or Without Hope

January 28, 2016April 3, 2017 / The WheatandTares

I’ve read several posts lately from those who are grieving and who are lonely. I’ve been there, in that lonely place, struggling to survive the pain…

These posts make my heart sad, not because the bloggers are heartbroken or grief-stricken, but because so many grieve with no hope. For without hope, we have no purpose in the pain. We have no future beyond the pain. Without hope, it is all just meaningless and worthless. Without hope, life doesn’t seem worth living.

Yet, where there is hope, there is life beyond the pain. There is a purpose through the pain, and there is some semblance of meaning that we can try to grasp. There is something more that is worth holding onto.

It doesn’t mean we will never experience the pain, only that, deep down, we have a knowing that we will live BEYOND the pain, because there is something MORE for which to live.

Hope is a powerful thing. Without it, life is just a survival game.

Hope causes our spirit to fight. Hope causes our mind not to give up. Hope causes our body to push forward behind normal limits. Hope causes us to thrive.

…Thriving is so much more fun than simply surviving.

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Old Before Your Time

December 7, 2015December 6, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Life is hard sometimes. People get sick. Family members pass away. We have bills to pay. Debts to reduce. Money that must be earned from long days of hard work.

We have children who won’t listen, spouses who don’t hear. Bosses who place demands and leaders who set higher goals than we think we can ever achieve. Yes, life can be difficult. It can be a challenge. Life can be downright tiring!!

It’s no wonder too many of us grow old before our time. It’s no surprise that we walk around frazzled and bedraggled. It’s not a shock that we’re, too often, tempted to give up the fight, to let the friction in our life take over and win. Life can just simply wear a good man out, and a mom with little ones, well, let’s not even get started!!

Yet, Christ said we must become like little children. More Specifically, He said, “If you do not become like one of these little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.” So, how do we do this? How do we live up to that kind of expectation when life just drains the life right out of us??

I think we can start to answer that when we stop looking at the trouble and problems of our lives and begin to look at a little child. Too often, the older our children grow, the quicker we forget the joys and wonders of childhood. Sometimes, I wonder if that’s why God allows us to have grandkids later in life…as a simple reminder of wonder.

What are the cares of a little boy when he walks in his room full of toys? …where’s my train, my truck, my bouncy ball? What does the little girl think about as she sees her stuffed animals at the table? …why a tea party, of course, and whom she’s going to invite!

These children aren’t consumed with the cares of this world. Most of the time, they don’t even know the cares of this world! They can get lost in a world full of imagination, wonder, fantasy and fairytale. All they long to do is play, sing songs and find the next fun adventure to take!

We can take a lesson from them. You might want to argue that we, as adults, must put aside those foolish things of childhood in order to succeed in life, to accomplish the many tasks and expectations that are placed upon us.

Oh, but I have to disagree. It’s not that we should remain in immaturity and never take the responsibilities of adulthood, but that we should never lose our wonder. We should never shut out our intrigue for imagination and adventure. We should never put aside our joy simply because we’ve grown a few years older. For this is where dreams live. This is where we go beyond simply surviving through life, and we begin to thrive!

The Word tells us, “The JOY of the Lord if our strength!” It even says, “For the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross.”
Even in our moments of sorrow, our moments of heartache, the child within us can still learn and grow. Even in our deepest time of fear and doubt, that child can push beyond that fear toward faith and a new tomorrow. It is the choice in how we think, how we see, and how we live out our lives that determines if we are thriving or simply surviving. It is a choice we can make, even today, to continue to grow old or to stir up the child within and allow him or her to breathe and to dream again.

A great place to start is with thoughts of heaven and all the laughter and joy we will find there. Can you hear them? Can you hear the children laughing and playing? When a child laughs, it’s like liquid gold, for it brings a lightness to the air. Laughter washes away sorrow. Laughter drowns out fear. The laughter of a child can mend a heart and revive a soul. Can you hear them? Wouldn’t it be fun to join them once again?

Living and Dying

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

Originally posted January 31, 2015…

Just came from the hospital… thankfully, not as a patient today, just a simple visitor. Yet, my heart aches deep inside for those I met, those I passed as I walked the halls. A wife praying over her husband, doctors can’t seem to find the source of infection. A mother, elderly, awaiting dialysis and hoping to heal from her fall. Others along the way, broken, battered and bruised. Some dying to live, others living to die.

You never know someone’s journey unless you walk alongside them. Some come in smiling, only to leave weeping. Others come in desperate, scared, only to leave rejoicing for one more chance. We are none guaranteed our tomorrows. We are not promised our next breath.

Are you ready for the end? Are you prepared for that last sigh of life? Some live like there are no goodbyes. Some trade the beauties of today for the sorrows of tomorrow. Some just wander aimlessly, never really living, not immediately dying, just simply existing in the nothingness.

Can I challenge you today? Can I spark a flame within? Live deliberately. Make your choice to breathe. Die with grace. Never give up a moment simply to clutch what might have been. Never let a minute go by that you forget the joy of living for the sake of sorrow, regret or even fear.

Grasp today by the neck and don’t let go until it’s done. Drink in the sun. Soak in the rain. Take it for what it gives, and make the best of it. Don’t shrink away from the pain. Don’t boast in the joy. You may see it change in the next millisecond. Appreciate and love those around. Forgive and forget when you can. Impact your world for good. Love deep. Laugh much. Live full.

This moment is a gift! Open it. Enjoy it. Share it with those around you. It can never be returned. It can never be saved for another time in space. It is this moment. It is this day. Live it to the fullest in every way!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Plug Me In

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Originally posted Oct. 14, 2014…

This day in age, we all have to have plug-ins and cords and iPhones and iPads and Samsung and Galaxy…. They’ve all got chargers , and they all take time to charge. I walked down the stairs after a wedding yesterday and almost tripped over a guy, because he was sprawled out on the stairs watching a video while his phone charged.
I watch as a family sits in a restaurant, never speaking to one another, all tuned into the little hand-held device grasped between their tiny fingers. I read status updates daily where husbands and wives, parents, and kids are joking about how they are sitting in the same room while typing to one another via Facebook or texting via iMessage. We are a “plugged in” kind of world, but I often wonder how “plugged in” we actually are. We no longer want to talk on the phone, go for a walk or even have much of a face-to-face conversation, because these take up too much time, too much effort, and, frankly, too much emotion.
We are more high-tech, computer savvy and data ready than we have ever been; yet, I read article after article that this generation is less connected than ever before. I learn that, too often, this generation doesn’t even know how to be engaged in an actual conversation, because they are more comfortable with the typed word and unimposing responses than the vocal language and heart-felt reactions. I often wonder if we’ve advanced far enough or progressed too far.
Before you think I’m just “way too old fashioned,” and write me off as some “old geezer,” realize I am the mother of 2 very savvy boys who keep up with the “latest and greatest” fad (yes, that can qualify on a few notes. lol). We’re a “Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and gaming” kind of group. We have 2 iPads, 3 iPhones, a Kindle, 2 laptops, 2 iPods, and an iPod Nano, oh, and a PC, too. So, needless to say, we are a very “plugged in” family. I just, seriously, ponder the depth of this involvement at times. We can get so caught up in tweeting, blogging, posting pics and reading about everyone else’s life, and latest happenings, that we miss the very things, and people, who make up the world in which we live.
I have made it a rule that when we sit down to eat together, the electronics go off. I want to know my family, and I want our boys to know how to carry on a conversation beyond, “Hi…Uhh? … Do you tweet?” It’s not a perfected rule, and I’m surely not the “mom of the year,” but I can say, we’re a work in progress, and we’re learning to sit back and take a “breather.” Sometimes, you have to cut off the life support system to learn to breathe again.
So, I guess, I wrote all of this to simply remind myself, and others, to unplug the techno and plug back into the life-o.

Friction to Thrive

June 4, 2015June 6, 2015 / 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.

This Moment

January 16, 2015January 13, 2015 / The WheatandTares

We live our lives, rushing through this day

We are so hurried, we miss the moments along the way

Pushing, thrusting, only to reach that tomorrow

Always hoping to be joyful and bypass any sorrows

We breeze through the seasons and bustle through the years

We are so frazzled, we forget those things that once, we held dear

Searching and seeking, only to acknowledge something new

Forever desiring to be happy and overlook the blues

But God said, “There is wisdom in the house of mourning”

It is not this earthly home for which we are adorning

We must pause and reflect before it all disappears

His return to take us there is soon drawing near

He’s told us in His Word, even the Son doesn’t know the time

Take advantage of this moment and never live in the sublime

We must be focused on that day, while living in this second

Open your ears and your heart, I know you’ll hear him beckon

Stop wishing for something different or for that time to stay

Make the most of this minute before it is eternally at bay

Pausing and delaying to smell the roses upon the path

If you miss this tiny moment, you may be left in the aftermath

He wants His best for you, which we cannot, in our own eyes, see

He can observe the present, the past, and what is meant to be

He’s bigger and He’s better than what we could’ve hoped for

We just have to acknowledge Him, or He cannot open the door

Penned – MG – 10/26/03

The Tree Grew ‘Round

October 26, 2014October 26, 2014 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Life is hard. It is what it is. There’s really no changing the way the earth spins on it’s axis or altering the person who lives in the house next door. You’re going to face hard times. I don’t care who you are, how much money you have, or how many people love you, you’re going to have disappointments in this life. You’re going to encounter obstacles in the road. It’s just the way it is, and if you haven’t had any troubles as of yet, well, just keep on living, because every elderly person on the planet can attest to this truth: Life is not always easy, and sometimes, we have to “weather through the storm.”

The question is not, “Will trials ever come?” The better question is, “What will I do when the rains do come?” If you can ever answer that question before the rains come, you will be much better suited to survive. It’s like building a shelter to be safe from the elements when you’re sleeping outside. If you build the shelter before you lie down to sleep, you’re sure to get some moments of restful sleep; however, if you never build the shelter, then, you’re left to survive whatever elements may come. The rains may come, but if you have a little shelter, it makes the night a little easier to endure.

Sometimes, in life, you’re just going to find yourself caught between a “rock and a hard place.” The rock won’t move, and the hard place won’t remove itself. Maybe it’s the day you woke up late for your new job, and your nine month old baby woke up with a stomach virus, or maybe you were laid off after just buying that brand new car. Maybe your mom has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and your dad began showing signs of dementia last month. Maybe your oldest son has been struggling with a hidden drug addiction, trying to sneak around, stealing money from your nightstand, and your youngest daughter has been bullied at the new school. Maybe your husband seems to be distant, and you just can’t seem to find enjoyment in any of the past delights you two once had. There are times in life when you wish it could be different. You find yourself between a rock and a hard place. You wonder what you’re going to do, how are you ever going to make it?

In that moment, you have a choice to make. You can choose to stop, to hesitate, to allow the circumstances, those hard things, to stunt your growth and keep you from reaching your destiny. You can let that rock hinder you from reaching your dreams. You can even “fold over” on top of yourself and never move beyond where you were in that moment of crisis. Or, you can choose to press forward. You can choose to be like the tree in this picture that refused to be dwarfed by the rock in the path. You can choose to allow those tough spots to make you stronger, more resilient to the pain. You can choose to find joy in the little things, blessings in those people who surround you in that moment of heartache, and even, just peace in the gentle breeze that blows or warmth in the sun that shines. You can choose to grow ’round that rock that crept into your path on your way to greatness.

We all have choices which hold us back from our destiny or propel us toward our dreams. It’s up to us to choose, and when we make that choice of forward determination, our lives will be better for it. Let’s be those whose “life tree” may have twists and turns, bends and curves, but whose branches still reach around those hard places up toward the sky.