All He Wants

"We may desire to bring to the Lord a perfect work. We would like to point, when our work is done, to the beautiful ripened grain, and bound-up sheaves, and yet the Lord frustrates our plans, shatters our purposes, lets us see the wreck of all our hopes, breaks the beautiful structure we thought we were building and catches us up in his arms and whispers to us, "It's not your work I wanted, but you." ---Source Unknown

Do What You Want to Do

I jumped into something new. Oh, it's not actually a new thing, just new for me......facebook. It has been fun, and I have connected with highschool friends and even long lost cousins. I think though that it is a time stealer. Remember I am the one who is constantly frustrated by not having enough time to do all the things I want to do. I succumbed to peer pressure. There is no other excuse. It has definitely crowded out blog writing time and I love writing this blog. One of my main goals here was simply to write. Each time I write I have the opportunity to become a better writer and my hope is that it would spill over into my songwriting. That can't happen if I don't spend time doing it.

One of my favorite sayings is: "You get done what you spend time doing!" That couldn't be more obvious or true, yet we often meander through our lives wondering why we aren't accomplishing anything. I think what we are really pondering is why we don't do the things we really want to. We let all kinds of things creep in and steal time. Some of them are urgent and we have to tend to them, others just quietly squeeze their way in and we hardly notice. We start to wonder where all our time is going and eventually when we stand back and take a good look we start to identify the time stealers. ( I am envisioning a spoof of a horror flick right now called "The Time Stealers!!" O-o-o-o...scary!)

Anyway, what am I going to do about it? One thing I have done this week is to set my alarm every single day. There are days when I don't have to be anywhere, I could sleep in, but if I get done what I spend time doing, then I better get up and do it.

Can't say it better....

The reason I call myself a Christian is not because I manage to subscribe, at any given moment, to all the truths that the hierarchy of my church insists I believe in; let alone because I am a good person or a good Catholic. I call myself a Christian because I believe that in a way I cannot fully understand, the force behind everything decided to prove itself benign by becoming us, and being with us. And as soon as people grasped what had happened, what was happening, the world changed for ever...

... And the world as it was - as it still is -was unable to tolerate this immense occasion; and so Jesus was executed and the life more in touch with divinity than any other life was ended abruptly, when it was still achingly young. The existence of such a life was both so wondrous that it changed everything; and also so terrifying it had to be snuffed out.

The point of this incarnation was surely not to construct a litany of offenses by which we are to judge our own lives at any moment, to force us to thrash and writhe in a constant ordeal of self-criticism and guilt. The point was merely to be with us; and by being with us, to show us better how to be human, how better to embrace our lives by accepting the divine around us and inside us. ----Andrew Sullivan

It's Quotable.....

"People are always better than the stereotype we try to stuff them into."
--Lonni Pratt

I Don't Like It!

Tonight I took a minute to run through blogs I follow. We all must be busy, because no one is posting very often. I throw myself in with that crowd. A few of you have even let your blogs run dry. Hm-m-m-m....are we just too busy or have we run out of words? I doubt our stream of thoughts has ceased and we have all become brain dead. I honesty love blog writing, so why have I been delinquent? It is the tyranny of the urgent I suppose. It is what it is, but I don't like it. 

There is another thing that I don't like. Tonight I went to a songwriter's group. I tossed a song out there to be critiqued. I listened to the comments following the presenting of the song. They were good comments, some suggesting changes here and there. I don't mind the critique, it is a good thing. It gives fresh eyes and ears to something the writer is just a little too close to. What I don't like is my reluctance to change the song. It  isn't because it doesn't need changing and not because it couldn't be a better song. It does and it could. I am just tired of that song already and I want to move on. I don't like that my tenacity has ebbed away. I don't know what to do with this attitude, but I know I don't like it.

Anyway

Ever think about why you actually do the things you do? There are a few things in my life that I occasionally sit back and just ponder. 

Some of them have to do with relationships. Let's face it building into and with people can be difficult. It takes time, energy and patience. Honestly, sometimes it would be easier to walk away. Even if the tie is strong, people leave us and our hearts break with the parting. The separation may be due to a broken relationship, but could also be that our lives have taken different paths, or perhaps because of death. So why do I continue to do it? Well, because I've learned that loving people is worth it. It's hard and it can painful, but my life would be empty without them. 

There are some other things I do though, that may not be as important, but I still am compelled to do them. Playing the piano (taking lessons) and writing songs are two examples of these for me. Why now? Why at this point in my life? To what end? The answers for me are not complete. They do however lead to another question...why not?

I hope there are areas in your life that you ask yourself the same thing. If you never stop to ask the questions, then maybe you are barreling through your life, letting it sort of come at you, reacting to it, but not really living it. Or maybe you've gotten stuck in the "why bother" mode. Don't do that! Live! Ponder! Ask questions! Live some more!

I've included a song lyric, that you may not have heard if you don't listen to country music. It would be a shame to miss it. I must confess that it does leave me with another question, though...why didn't I write it? Enjoy!

Anyway

(Martina McBride)

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yea - I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea, sing it anyway
Yeah, yeah!

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

It's Quotable.....

"God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart."

                                                                                         Izaak Walton (1593 - 1683)