Donna’s Blog

Friday randomness

….why do some restaurants serve better drinks than others?  McDonalds doesn’t put
enough ice in their drinks…..Hardees cokes don’t taste like cokes…..but KFC does it just
right! 

….tonight is the first football game and the band is ready to go.  their theme is
“sweatin to the oldies”.  the music is from the 80’s….that’s old?  (just humor me)

….sometimes the colors in the sky can just take my breath away

….what sounds are you hearing right now?  I’m listening to Cat Stevens sing
Morning Has Broken

….i talked to my mom and she told me they got a puppy.  i couldn’t believe it!
she said she’d read somewhere that people with a pet live longer.

….if you want to feel happy, put on a James Taylor record

….i’ve got to clean out some drawers in my dresser.  it’s a long holiday weekend.
you gotta have goals.

….of course there’s a stack of unread books on my dresser too.

….sometimes, just out of the blue, someone will come to mind and i just have
to pick up the phone and call them and tell them i love them.

she just rocks

I was listening to one of my favorite writers yesterday.  Does anybody
say it any better than Nicole Nordeman?

Her album “Brave” has so many great songs on it….but here’s one
of my favorites:

Did you come that we might just survive?
Did you come so we could just get by?
Did you walk among us
so we might merely limp along beside?

I was bound, I have been set free
But I have settled for apathy
Did you come to make new
And know I’d crawl right back into the skin you found me in?

It’s where I am- not where I’ve been

You make me want to live
You make me want to live
You came to shake us
And to wake us up to something more
Than we’d always settled for
And you make me want to live

We’ve all been up on the mountain top
A golden glow that’s bound to soon wear off
Then it’s back to the mundane, telling tales of glory days
When we were hopeful that this change was here to stay

So why would a young man
Live in a waste land
When the castle of his dreams is standing by?
Why would a princess
Put on an old dress
To dance with her beloved and a chance to catch his eye

And you make me want to live
you make me want to live
You came to shake us and wake us up to something more
than we’d ever dreamed before
you make me want to live

Finally

Rejoice is one of those concepts that is easy to grasp when things are going well….a little harder to grasp when things aren’t going so well.  That’s when people start talking about the joy that is deep inside–you know, the joy the world can’t give and the world can’t take away….that’s not based on circumstances or how you are feeling at the moment.

Paul talks about it when He says in Phil 3:1, “Finally my brothers, rejoice”.  It comes after a few chapters of talking about his afflictions and how he almost lost a friend in death but God had mercy and spared his friend’s life so that Paul would not have “sorrow upon sorrow.”

Paul says it again in the next chapter, “rejoice, and again i say rejoice” (4:4).  Think Paul had learned some kind of secret?  That somehow in the rejoicing, pain could be endured, heartache could be softened, peace could be sustained?

Maybe it’s why Paul could say later in verse 11 that he had learned in every circumstance to be content.

really?  wow!  can i really experience contentment in the midst of everything?  can i let go of the worry and anxiousness and just dwell in Christ through which Paul says we can do ALL things?

Maybe there’s another hidden treasure that Paul gives us as he closes his letter….he reminds the Philippians that HIS God will supply all their needs according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Now that’s a reason to rejoice…..finally.

A fragrant sacrifice

i think somewhere in the Bible it talks about our lives should be a fragrant sacrifice unto the Lord.  if i have time before i post this, i’ll look that scripture up.  right now i’m just sort of thinking about that in relation to my worship.

i’m working on the worship sets to be sung over the next three months
and i realize that i am still trying to pick out songs for people that will
please them.  the conversation in my head goes something like this….

“ewww…i think we’ll sing blah-blah song, i really love singing that
one….but let me think….the last time we sang that, did anyone raise
their hand?….or did i actually see some people scowling?….maybe they
really don’t like that one.  oh yea, what about blah-blah song, that has some
really great lyrics to it…but was that too fast?  and i don’t know if 
anyone really enjoyed it cause no one except the praise team would
clap on that one.

now let me stop and say here that i love the people in our church and 
i know that you can NEVER judge wholeheartedly the way a person
is worshipping just by the look on their face or by whether or not
they clap.  so really…..the fault just lies with me.  I am the one still
looking to see if we’re pleasing people.  I’m the one caught up in their
faces and not truly focusing on just my worship directed to the Lord.
I’m the one who has forgotten that MY praise needs to go up to the 
Lord as a fragrant offering and it’s not up to me to see that everyone
else is doing the same thing.

it’s that people-pleaser in me.  i can’t help but worry that i’m always
picking out everyone’s favorite song…..even though i know that is an
impossible task to achieve.

so today as i spend the next few hours looking at the list of worship
sets and trying to put everything in order, i am going to try to totally
focus on what i think will bring God glory.  what will be the song that
will compel us to enter into worship; what will be the song that will
enable us to pour our worship out to a most Worthy God.

i’m going to quit scanning the crowd on Sundays and let the Holy Spirit
be about His business of drawing each of us into what our spirits long
for most…..communion with a loving Father who wants to bestow the gift
of His presence.  

necessities

There is a big ole’ storm headed our way today. 

The schools are all closed.  But of course, everything else is open. 

So i figure if i’m going to be drenched by rains and blown away by high winds,
 
i could at least start the day off with this…..

Ahh, so true….

“Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.”
– Baltasar Gracian (1647)

The answer

I just love a good Sara Mclachlan song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8B1ai25lUo

the small things…

i was kind of moody yesterday.  so i decided to go to the nail salon and have
my color reapplied cause it kind of chipped off this week and even though that’s something small, i figured a touch up would perk me up.

guess what?  my nice nail lady repainted my toes and nails and when i pulled
out my wallet to pay she waved her hand and said “no”.  wow…..free?  really? 

i gave her a great big hug!

Alls well that ends well

I’m not fond of commercials.  So that’s why i had to find something else to
watch when the commercials came on during the Olympics yesterday afternoon.
I channel surfed to find a movie that i could flip back and forth and watch.
You know, a little beach volleyball, some movie time, beach volley ball, some
movie time!

I’m a lucky fella
And I’ve just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

Friday ramblings

….for some reason, it takes two applications of my Cherry Blossom body lotion to get
my hands just soft enough.  the rest of the day, i can reapply with just one coat, but
that first time it takes two.  my friend Pam at the bank introduced me to bath and body lotions. 
yes….i was 40 before i discovered how awesome they are!

….i think the saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is totally wrong.
i’m still learning stuff from my friends and i think it’s cool how life is changed
and enriched by the people you know.