Something to Say...

I had a conversation via facebook and am still thinking hard about it. Not in a bad way. My feelings weren't hurt or anything, but sometimes things come out of left field and catch you unaware. I responded, but then got to thinking some more and have this to say, too.

Part of being a Christian is the choice. If you take the best from each religion, what do you have FAITH in? God? I think that makes it harder for God to have faith in you. The faith is the key here. Not knowledge. Knowledge is good, but faith first. It will lead you to desire to know more.

Furthermore, does one have greater faith if they don't subscribe to any one particular religion? I am thinking that this is kind of an educated copout. (Said lovingly here, folks.) Really, though, I don't claim to be much. I just try to live my life in a way that makes sense to me and gives me peace and makes me feel right inside.

If you are going to be an architect, you read books about architecture. If you are going to be an accountant or a web designer, you read books about those. If you are a Christian, you NEED to read books about being the best Christian you can be. To always learn, to always challenge what you believe. Sometimes we get stagnant and need someone we don't know to tell us to get up off of our collective butts and DO something. Said lovingly, it is always better in print!

I do not think that Jesus was a fundamentalist. I do not think that I am either. I would be insulted if someone called me a "fundamentalist Christian". I desire to be a radical Christian without ever having to say a word unless someone asks me what I believe and why I do.

ok. I'm done now. If you feel so led, I would love to know what you think on this subject. What does your faith say about you??

Before...

There are things that happen in all of our lives for better or worse that make us stop and KNOW we need to pray. There are times when we feel like the only thing we CAN do is pray. I took maybe twenty or so steps this morning before I literally dropped to my knees on my front porch and told God this: Help me help them, help me help me, be with us all, and I REALLY need to get rid of some kittens. Thing is, though, that God was already doing what I asked Him to do before I said a word. He was there waaaaaaaay before I stopped and talked to Him. He was already helping me and them, but I just felt like saying those words aloud to God - I figure even if He can't make the kittens miraculously disappear that He got a chuckle out of my plea...

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, we do need to pray because our relationship with God is strengthened that way and He needs to hear from us what is on our hearts so that we learn to always trust Him, but I feel like His answer to me this morning was, "Quit worrying, Malinda. Life isn't easy and you're just learning that. I'll help you. Just lean on Me."

I forget to let go of my burdens and worries and let Jesus have them. Not all of the time, but the big ones are hard to let go of. I just have to keep remembering that even though I do ok, God does better. He is already there - before I pray and before I even know I'm gonna need to talk to Him - He is there...

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Malinda

Maddie P and Some Flowers

Church is definitely for this... Meet Madelyn Paige.... Maddie P for short.

We had a photo op before Worship Team practice and took advantage!! Look at those toes... I'm telling you Maddie is an awesome kid. She just turned three and is growing so fast! I enjoy hanging with her.

Maddie is the daughter of my good friends, Cheryl and Paul. She and I are pretty good friends, as well and now that I know that the little girl likes to play with the camera, we'll be spending a little more time together, methinks. I love how the crayons are all scattered around her in this picture. I think it gives some depth. Not that I really know what I'm talking about, but it seems that way to me!!

On the way to worship team practice I found these. They are on my road and I think they are beautiful. I like flowers in ditches. There is a beauty in that that cannot compare to the most meticulous of flower beds. Mixed in are wild roses...

I got back in my car, drove 15 feet, stopped again, and took a picture of this...

I see this every day and I'm telling you, it takes my breath away. It makes me think about people. Take a bunch of rosy Christians and put them all together and we are all shiny and vibrant together. There is nothing wrong with that, but when we become the hands and feet of Christ, we join God in the black and white places in the world and bloom where we are planted. By all rights, that climbing bush should be choked out by all of those weeds, but it is close enough to the tree to get the support to flourish. Sometimes we have to go away from where we think God is to find Him.

All my Love,

Malinda

A New Summer

The lady bug is kind of out of focus, but I still really like the picture. I think I was trying more to get all the tangly tentacles of the pea vines anyway. Can you imagine being that small while the world all around you is huge? Sometimes I feel like that! My Lovin' Husband's beloved lemon cucumbers are comin' up...

and the beans... (finally - we were getting a little worried!)

Potatoes make flowers...

When you are driving with the windows down in the country this time of year, you can smell the honeysuckle. I have always loved it. I used to walk down the road from our house when I was a kid and pick the flowers to get the nectar out of them. I was delighted to find some vines on my neighbor's fence. It is so pretty and I love to look at the blooms. It makes my heart happy.

Let us talk about the barn for a minute. (It is too little to be a barn, really, but it is just so much MORE than a shed...) Usually when I take pictures of it I try to leave out the fencing and extra things that make the picture not so pretty, but yesterday I decided that the extra stuff looks just fine. It is pretty with the stuff leaned against it - in an honest way, I think. People are like that, I believe. A lot of times we sell ourselves and others short when we pretend that everything is ok when it isn't. We all have burdens leaning on us that we try to take out of the picture, but the truth is, we're better in the long run if we let others help us through our pain rather than hide it and pretend like it is not there. The burdens don't ugly us up, they just make us real. ANYWAY. I like the barn. It makes me happy to look at. Especially when the sun is setting.

The clouds were so beautiful all day yesterday.

Go looking for beauty today. You'll find God there. No matter how ugly you feel, you'll find God there, too. Look inside yourself and accept who you are. God is waiting for you there.

Pardon my brain today. We have had a crazy week and I've been thinking about all the places that I have encountered Jesus. Everywhere doesn't even begin to cover it...

A Blinding Light

When I wrote the post below, I had no idea that my weekend would involve such a troubled person. As I was going through the weekend, I forgot that I had written the post. Go figure. But I would like to say a few things. Not to glorify myself, but to glorify God and His ability to be a light for us in every situation.

I did not write this person off. I prayed for her. SO MUCH. I got over my anger and hurt because it was NOT about ME. I laid my confusion and indignation down and picked up understanding and patience and LOVE. Her thorns were sharp and poisonous and I could have responded with thorns of my own. It would have been easy. I almost did. I thought about it and it made me feel so dark and awful inside that I felt hopeless. I feel that God put her feelings inside me so that I could understand that if I responded with my own thorns, some of that darkness and hopelessness would stay inside of me forever.

So I prayed that God would hold her and love her and give her the light that she needed to blossom. I prayed that God would give me the strength and light that I needed to overcome my anger and GOD DID. I prayed for God to help me love her and to truly forgive her and GOD DID. Never have I felt such peace. God troubled my heart for this person and I hurt for her. I want her so badly to blossom in God's light. Everyone deserves NO LESS than that.

Please pray for this person. Please love her in your heart with the light of God. Know that in God, ALL things are POSSIBLE and that if you ask God to help you, you will be more than helped. You will be washed in light. Such light that you will be blinded to anger and hurt. Blinded to indignation and pride. All you will be able to see is the hurt of the person and the compassion that God bestows upon you so that you can TRULY love.

And the neatest thing is... that THEN you can shine your own light and JUST BELIEVE. And before you know it, the person you thought the most unlikely to prune your branches was the person God sent to do just that.

I believe!!
So much love,
Malinda

Easter Morning

I had never been to a sunrise service until this year. I'll never miss one again if I can help it. The first thing I saw when I looked out my window was this. (below)

The next thing I saw were my Irises blooming beautifully.

We don't have a big dinner. I don't even usually get a new dress. This year I wore a skirt that I found at the goodwill and hadn't worn yet! My husband isn't much a church goer and I mostly just celebrate Easter in my heart. Which is ok with me - but this year was a little different.

Our church and two others switch out community services for sunrise at Easter and also others like Thanksgiving and what not. The minister at the church we were going to this year asked me to play a couple of songs. I have always wanted to arrange hymns for solo violin in an appalachian style, but never had and decided that it was way past time. The newness of Easter was just what I needed to inspire me to actually get a marker and transcribe what was going through my head when I played.

I have learned this easter season that it is ok to be spiritual. That it is ok to be moved emotinoally by the enormity and mystery of it all and that it is even ok that I celebrate it alone (not alone at church, of course). Because my faith is just that - mine - and that God wants me not to shout at folks what I believe, but to live it quietly. To be the hands and feet of Jesus does not take many words at all - if any.

I have a different feeling this year. A feeling of hope and goodness and being loved and saved. Deep, still waters in my soul....

I hope that you feel hope. That God blesses you with peaceful waters and a stillness in your soul.

All my love,

Malinda

A Couple of Trips to the River With a Cool Kid...

The middle school kids from church are going through their confirmation class right now and I get the honor of being a mentor to sweet Jacey (pronounced JAY cee, like Lacey or Casey). She is aslo a student of mine, so we've been close for over a year, now. But we've decided to be friends, I think, and there is NO WAY that we're NOT gonna go hiking after this class is over. One of the jobs of being Jacey's mentor is for us to hang out together once a month. I missed February so we did two weeks in a row at the local park (Henry Horton) and walked by the river talking, snapping pictures, and just enjoying each other and the day.

She's learning not to take a picture of the river with a big tree right in front of her and I'm learning that getting an eleven year old to talk about God is a lot harder than I started out thinking it would be. But we finally did because I learned that...

... sometimes Jacey just likes to sit and talk. The important talks were always sitting. Staring at the river while resting on the big rocks that line the riverbank.

We were great buddies before, but now our relationship is different and I got an "I love you, Ms. Malinda" somewhere between .7 and .9 miles on the river loop trail. It just doesn't get better than that, folks.

I love this kid...