LOL 10-18 Leveling Out Layers

I love the little accomplishments in life- things like ending up on a full dollar when I pump my gas (definitely more of a challenge now that high prices make the meter spin so fast), lifting the lint off my dryer screen in one complete strip, and eating the ice cream out of a quart container so that when I stop, I've leveled off what's left. No, my accomplishments won't earn me the Nobel Peace Prize or an Oscar, but they make me feel like a champ. To the mini moments in life... LOL!

LOL 8-13 Logging Old Lumber

Every so often, the Forest Service sends workers out into the woods armed with cans of spray paint. Their task? To mark useless, dead lumber. Trees that have no hope of revival, aren't homes for wildlife, and that are using up valuable growth space. Later, crews wielding chainsaws will cut the marked trees down. As I walked today, I did some marking of my own. I sifted through the dead lumber in my past- regrets, mistakes, sins... One by one, I examined them- Regrets that offered no hope for new life. Past mistakes that left no home for the positive. Sins that took up valuable space in my heart. And I marked them for harvest... The cutting of them? I'll leave that to the woodcutter I trust the most... Jesus. LOL...

LOL 8-12 Leveling Off Lopsided cakes

I'm a perfectionist, so for years when I baked layer cakes, I meticulously carved away at the bottom layer until I knew it would provide a level foundation for the rest of the cake. But now I just plop that bottom layer down on the cake stand, mound the middle layer with frosting, and adjust the top layer to sit as level as it can. It's not that I don't care about the cake's appearance- I do. No, it's that I've learned it's more about how good the cake tastes than it looking perfectly level. Life's like that you know- it's not about how good your life looks to everyone else. It's about how good it tastes to you. Here's hoping that your life tastes as good as a piece of homemade chocolate cake. LOL!

LOL 8-7 Love (it) Or Leave (it)

I spent some time back at the high school this morning. Although I left my classroom two months ago and haven't been back since, I fell in love all over again the minute I walked through my classroom door. First to greet me were the quotes on my walls- reminders that I'm there to not only teach academic knowledge and skills, but also to encourage my students to look at life- REALLY look at life- and embrace it in all its messy splendor. Next, my students' magnets on my dry erase board, each a mini representation of the lives God has blessed me with. Then, the rows of desks, each seat empty and desktops sparkly clean, but soon to be filled by the scores of new students that will rotate through my classroom, doodling their random graffiti on their surfaces. And lastly, my desk, cleared of all its clutter, but pregnant with anticipation for the upcoming school year. Here, I will pray each morning before school begins, craft my lessons, counsel with students and parents, and grade the thousands of essays and short answers that will be written over the course of the school year. Rest assured- although I may need to abandon my classroom in the summer to reboot and rejuvenate, I never stop loving it- it's another little slice of my heaven. To all the teachers prepping for the new school year, may God bless you in all your endeavors. LOL...

LOL 8-25 Luck Or Love

Death, in the form of an untethered construction gate, almost took my life a few years ago. A freakish gust of wind caught the heavy metal pole and swung it in a deadly arc across the hood of my truck, through the front passenger window, across my dashboard, and out my window. Had my daughter, who I was on my way to pick up, been in the passenger seat, she would most surely have been injured. Had my truck sat lower to the ground or my driving speed been faster, I would have been impaled at the end of the pole. Had the band teacher let the students out a few seconds earlier, one of them might have been on the receiving end of the gate instead of me. As it turned out, my hood was ruined, my windows shattered, and my front end alignment completely torn up. Yet me? I backed off the pole, drive back up the hill to the school, stepped out of the truck, and crumbled to the curb in shock. A few glass cuts on my arm and feet (where glass fell in my shoes) were my only visible injuries. Some would say I was lucky because I walked away alive. Others, that I had bad luck since my truck was torn up. I prefer to see it as love- love of the God who created me. Who has a plan for me. Who cradles me in His arms whether I'm facing joy or fear or sadness or worry. Although I may not always understand His method, I do understand His motivation and it's not a flip of a coin, or a roll of the dice. I don't believe in luck, good or bad. Rather, I believe in love. LOL...

LOL 7-29 Law Or Love?

Just for kicks, I used the topical index in the back of my Bible to compare the number of references to "law" with the number of references to "love." The former filled 2 columns of one page; the latter, every column of a page and a half. Since the Bible is God's inspired Word, wouldn't it make sense that He would want more to be written about topics He feels are more weighty than topics that are not? And isn't that why when Jesus, asked by a Pharisee (a group known for living their lives to the letter of the law), "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" answered with what I believe is one of the most beautiful answers ever given? "LOVE the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... And the second is like it. LOVE your neighbor as yourself. All the LAW and the prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40). Law? Yes. But more so than law, LOVE. To those of us guilty of measuring our holiness by how religiously lawful we look to others, perhaps we would should instead, measure our holiness by how much we love. To loving without exception as we, in turn, have been loved... LOL.

LOL 7-28 the Lord's Outlook on Life

I don't know about you, but with all the concerts and plays I've attended in my lifetime, I've never once sat in first class seats... But after looking again at this photo I took yesterday of my view of Matagorda Beach, I realized God gave me the ticket to the best seat in the house- His house. For several hours yesterday, I sat in a front row seat and watched the most amazing show on earth- majestic waves that rolled in without ceasing and crashed upon the shore; dozens of different seabirds that dove and plummeted for food; busy little sand crabs that tossed sand to the left and right as they tunneled into the sand; an ever-changing horizon of azure blue sky and wispy white clouds and aqua-green sea... From God's outlook, His Creation is the best show on earth. The best part? This wasn't just a one-time performance. God offers us the best seats in the house every moment of our life... We simply have to take a seat, open our eyes, and wait for the show to begin. To my front row seat moments at Matagorda Beach... LOL!