An Invitation

Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.


Rocky Mountains touch crystal blue skies. Rocks, shimmering like glass, peer from the lakes that hug the mountain highway. My hands gently steer the wheel. As the hours go on, the mountains and lakes will soon be replaced by mountain ash trees and prairie grass. I slow, my eyes drifting to a deer grazing on the highway edge. Beautiful. My tires grind on rivets. I've crossed the line. The deer jumps, and gracefully disappears in the nestle of trees. I steer left, aligning myself right on the road again, glancing beside me and in my rear view mirror. My passengers still rest, eyes closed. I let out a breath, content that I did not disturb them. My traveling companions, these three ladies, are counting on me to get them home safely. And with all my heart, I am going to try my best to make sure I do.

We call ourselves the 'Tailgate Girls', Kerry, Laurel, Marilisa and I; a name derived from a planned outing of hanging out on the tail gate of my Jeep on the banks of a river only accessible by a 4-wheel drive. Although a rained out road de-railed our picnic to a spot just off the highway, the name stuck. Since then the four us have hiked the trails of Jasper, dined together on pizza and steak, and danced to the wee hours of the morning. And we have shared our stories, and hopes, and dreams. But what I appreciate most about these ladies is how they have lifted me up in my faith journey. And it all started from an invitation.

An invitation that saved my life.

In a time of brokenness and shame, I searched out healing. Led to a small group at my church, I met Mike, who invited me to attend an event for other singles within the church community. This one invitation led to me meeting the 'tailgate girls', and such an abundance of new friends and other events that there are too many to write in a blog post! But know, that one invitation did touch my life deeply. And I am forever grateful.

One invitation. A life saved.

As the radio plays softly through my car stereo. I tap my fingers to the beat. I think about the single dad on my block who recently had hip surgery. I think about the mom across the street with three young children and a husband who works out of town. I think about the widower next door. I think about the foster home with three teens around the corner. Just around the corner and when have I extended an invitation? Would they be interested in the youth swim party coming up? Or how about the newly divorced woman, Jackie, I see every week at bible study. Would she be interested in the singles volley ball on Friday nights? I let a hand off the wheel. I run my hand through my hair. What if they say no?

Kerry stirs beside me, stretches out her arms in front of her. "I feel better," she says. "How about you? Do you need a rest? I can take over the driving."

I shake my head, smile. "No, I feel good actually. Go back to sleep. You ran at 4am this morning! You deserve your rest." But I am glad for her concern, for her caring.

Kerry fluffs up her pillow. "You're a gem. But if you do get tired, just wake me and I'll say yes to driving." She leans back and I watch her close her eyes before I turn my eyes back to the road, both hands on the wheel.

Maybe Jackie would like to join us for games night? I make a mental note to invite her.

Is there someone you can extend an invitation to today? You just might save a life.

Tailgate Girls

The Costs of Discipline

                                                            Photo Credit

"Discipline always yields results…in time. You’ll need to remind yourself the pain of discipline costs far less than the pain of regret."
Pastor Kevin Beehner, Sherwood Park Alliance Church, Sherwood Park, Aberta, Canada


Each year I choose a word and use that word as a guide for my decisions. Last year my word was Connections. So every opportunity that arose, I'd ask myself, "Will this decision create connections that move me forward toward my end goals?" So when it came to social activity, I almost always said yes. And, wow, did God bless me by deepening friendships I had, and by creating new relationships. The outcome was much more then I imagined when I began 2011. 


The only shortfall...some of the the areas in my life, like finances and heath stayed stagnent or fell below the goals I had set. But I am okay with this. Although balance in all areas of life is a key goal coached by life-consultants, business gurus, and even our mom's,  I think God puts us in seasons where He wants us to grow in areas more than others.


So this year, the word I have chosen is Focus. To stay present and disciplined, completing projects I have started such as my teen novel.  And, as Pastor Kevin explains, discipline, although painful, leads to results of gain in the disciplined areas of your life.  And regret, that is painful too...well, generally leads us to more pain.


We always have a choice.  Discipline or regret? What will be your choice today?

Yup..Another Goal Setting Post!

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” (Zig Ziglar)

I know you have probably been bombarded with goals and new year's resolution posts already! But several of my friends have been asking how I do my goals, so thought I would just blog about it even though I'm sure I am one of many, many others who are doing the same! Maybe you'll gleam something new....


First step: I write "End" Goals. These are yearly and long-term goals. 


Important Note: When writing out my goals, I have to continually ask the question,

Am I serving God or am I serving myself?

To help me do this, I write the following statement on the top of the page before writing my goals.

Living Water-God is working through me


Then I decide on a word for the year. My word last year was Connecting. Next I create my Year Goals keeping in mind my End Goals and my word for the year. My End Goals are broken down into 7 categories-Spiritual, Relationships, Career, Writing, Photography, Fitness, and Contribution

Then at the beginning of each month, I read my End Goals for the current year and, keeping in mind my word for the year, write specific goals in each category for that particular month.

I use Microsoft One Note to set up my goals and then transfer the documents to Dropbox so I can see the goals on my Ipad and my Android phone whenever I like.


Recently I read L. Diane Wolfe's Overcoming Obstacles with Spunk. The entire book is excellent, giving clear direction on how to create and acheive your goals. I highly recommend it.  If you would like to set up your goals using a Smart Phone App, I recommend the Goal Setting Workshop App for Iphone or Ipad. Also this Link will lead you to more Goal Apps for the Apple and Android market.


Next post I'll share how I did last year with my goals, what I learned you NEED to do to stay on track, and I will share my word for 2012.


Do you have a word for 2012?

Peace. Living in a broken world of wars between nations, conflicts within countries, and feuding inside families, peace seems like an un-obtainable goal. And the bad news? It is. Since obeying the serpent, we live in a broken world and always will.

But there is good news! With Jesus' birth also came God's promise that there will be 'peace to men on whom his favor rests.' Peace between us and God became available. And, although our world will never be completely absent of conflict, we can bring a Christ like approach of peace to all that we do. 

May you have a heart of peace this Christmas season and forever-more.

See you in January!

Love Lynn 

Blessings from November

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”  C.S. Lewis

 I won a Melody Carlson contest, winning a signed copy of  "Here's To Friends" by Melody Carlson from Melody Carlson. Melody's contest question was to describe why friends are important to you. I wrote:

My best-friends draw my eyes to the abundant sky.  So often I am filling my plate with a heap of doing but what gives me more nutrition is a mountain of being.  Friends that keep me centred on the journey, not the destination, vividly colouring my sky daily, are  true treasures and blessings from God.

Here a few of my favourite friend moments from November

1. I was honoured and blessed by a friend who, inspired by my blog post on "The Call," wrote a song using words directly from my post.

2. I am the only writer among my close friends and so my blog readers are mainly 'cyber' friends.  But this month a close friend complimented me by first reading my blog, and then exclaiming how much she enjoyed it saying "you write so different from the way you talk!" Ha! She also said I should be writing non-fiction! Since I am in the middle of writing a teen fiction, I could only smile and reply "Maybe one day..."

3. After attending a Christmas play together, my friend let me know how impressed he was on how I'd been following God, working on living His way, and connecting with the church community. I see so many ways my prideful nature still takes over and I drift away from God's way. But I am so blessed to have friends that counsel and remind me that every moment is a new moment, a new chance to be re-newed.

4. I am blessed by my friends who ask "How is the book coming?" They take an interest in what I do, even if they are not readers themselves.  And how is it coming? Maybe from NaNoWriMo standards I have done just okay, accomplishing 50% of the novel, but I am happy! My goal for the month was to examine my heart, to find out if I should be focusing energy on my photography or on my writing. And writing has won! I have fallen deeply, madly in love!

Have you been blessed by a friend lately?

Reflection

A reflection for you

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

Frederick Buechner

I'll be challenging myself to write daily and finish a novel this month of November. Not an easy decision as when I add something new, I have to let go of something else. And this something I need to let go is something I like to do!

I will be replacing my daily on-line social networking time (usually in the early hours before I get ready for my work day) with writing. My goal is to see if writing is where I am to focus my attention or if I have been called to something else. So I will be examining my heart in this process.

Have a beautiful, refective, peaceful November!

Love, Lynn

The call?

I must admit to you, I've been wrestling lately whether I should continue writing this blog and posting pictures to my 365 blog project on my photography blog. I begin to question what is the purpose? what is the result? is it worth the time spent? is it serving others?

All this wrestling leads me to the deeper questions:

What is God's purpose for my life?
What is He calling me to do?

Do any of you wrestle with this question?

Now the LORD had said to Abram:
 “Get out of your country,
 From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you
Genesis 12:1

And Abram went, with his large family and all his friends and herding a bunch of sheep. And on camels and on foot they traveled for 800 miles. And this is the kicker.

He was 75 years old.

But he went, following God's call, trusting completely even though he did not feel equipped to do His will, and had no idea where he was going and why he was going there.

How did Abram know it was God's voice?

I'd love it if God's voice was as loud as, lets say, the 30,000 or more fans at the Edmonton Eskimo football games I attend yelling "GO ESKS GO!"

Can you imagine? What if you heard a large crowd chanting "Go (your name) Go do (your purpose)?"

Would you go or would you still question? Do I have the right stuff? Am I equipped?

Is this really God's calling? Some questions you may want to ponder...

1) If God is calling you, you will probably feel unqualified. It is not the qualified that is called, it is the call that qualifies.

2) It feels radical. Like Abraham, you are taking a journey where you do not know the steps on how you will get there. To do this, you can't weigh the benefits or costs, but step out in complete faith, giving up your own will.

3) You feel useful. God's call advances others. His blessings on you, blesses others.

4) If it feels predictable and safe, good chance it is not God's voice being expressed in you.

Personally, I struggle to let go of my worldly pre-conceived ideas on how a plan needs to be in place before taking a step---well, more of a leap I'd say--- and my insecurities keep me wrapped around the tree branch on the cliff.

Are you holding on or letting go?

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:1).