bsmiles and sunny days

  This afternoon I found myself with a bowl of Puppy Chow (muddy buddies) in my possession. People were taking handfuls from all sides when one of my girls backed away and said, “I don’t know how to stop eating this stuff.” I joyously anticipate the holidays all year long, and every year I am plagued by the same demons. I go to bed feeling stuffed, sick, and miserable because I don’t know how to stop eating. I make promises to myself that I won’t make the same mistake again tomorrow only to repeat the same ridiculous gluttonies day after day.  It’s not the food, it’s me. I don’t require any sort of restraint from myself. I don’t prepare myself for the onslaught of delicacies that will be within arms reach for days on end. I go in blind and hope for different results knowing all too well that without a plan I’m defenseless. After reading a chapter in Proverbs last week, I shared the dangers of drinking too much alcohol with my kids. They seemed to understand and absorb the wisd...

  I spent the last week in a quiet hotel room with no agenda. My usually hurried life went from high gear to neutral. Dale couldn’t understand why I wanted to stay in that room all week when we were at a conference full of great minds in a city full of adventure. I couldn’t answer, really, except that the in quiet, my Lord called to me. Now that I’m home, the roar of all the things that need my attention is all around me. It scrambles my brain. I know I have to do some things and I want to do other things and I get distracted by the things someone else needs done and there are all these little lives that I should be attending to, and what in the world am I going to make for dinner?? It’s overwhelming. But the quiet remains in my soul. The Lord in His kindness filled me to overflowing and keeps calling me back. This morning I woke up to the roar, but in the midst of it I could hear Him calling me to order my day. If I don’t order the hours, they will run me down.  So I made a l...

  I’m sitting in a hotel room on the 14th floor next to a wall entirely made up of windows. There is a jackhammer jumping on the street down below. Cars are zipping through the city streets and cruising down the highway eight lanes deep. The sky is full of wispy clouds slowly drifting across the sky.  This is where I’ll spend five silent minutes of focus and gratitude. It’s how I am learning to be still and know that He is God. It’s where I quiet my soul. It reminds me how small I am in a big world in a busy city, and how enormous my Father is as the world slowly turns and the shape of the clouds change moment by moment. Here is where I refuel after being immersed in crazy busy hustle for the past few months.  Quiet. Still. Open. Whole.  This is heaven on earth. I can hear the jackhammer loud and clear, which proves that I am still in the world, but here I am with Jesus and I am no longer of this world. I am a citizen of heaven. “Cease striving and know that I am God...