column #5

Freestone County is full of big news this week.  The Eagles are on a roll, and the rodeo is in town.  We survived the first six weeks of school and hold your applause for this one.  The burn ban has been lifted!  Thank the Lord… it finally rained.  The last several weeks have put our rain gauges back in business, and we are happy, happy, happy. 

 

I had a run in with the rain when I got out of my car at Sam’s Restaurant a few Fridays ago. I headed in, head down, on a mission to meet my friend for coffee at our favorite hangout.  I cut in front of my car choosing the shortest path because as usual, I was without an umbrella.  I nearly walked right into or actually right under a major downpour.  My shortcut to get me in the building led me under a collection point where the roof lines met and the rain gushed down like a raging river. 

 

It reminded me of walking under the big bucket at Great Wolf Lodge.  If you have seen it or seen the commercials, you know what I am talking about.  It dumps ten thousand gallons of water on willing participants who stand under it. A bell starts ringing when it is nearly full and everyone who wants to get drenched huddles up shivering in anticipation of the extreme wetness that is about to come their way. 

 

I was nearly right there under the “bucket” myself at Sam’s; however, I put my heels in reverse and trucked it back around my car to go a different route.  I kind of giggled at myself because I paid attention for once and saved myself a trip to the hand dryer in the bathroom at the least.  As usual too, my run in with the unexpected downpour made me think because so often in life I am not aware of my surroundings and I run into trouble that could be prevented.

 

The path I took was important on this particular morning.  The path we take in life is important too.  We need to look right, look left, and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit lives in us. To stay on the right pathway, we must also admit that we have certain weaknesses and that there are things, places, and people that should be avoided all together. We have to always consider how our present decisions will affect our future because one step in the wrong direction can always be corrected and there is forgiveness, but there are consequences.  If one step leads to another and we totally drift off of the right path, it takes a great deal of work to get back on track. 

 

How do we know when we need to choose another path, proceed with caution, or sprint in another direction?  Proverbs 3:5-6 sums it up for me.  It says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

 

A series of questions and thoughts comes to me after I read this verse.  It makes me think!  If we don’t trust in the LORD, what or who else can we trust in?  What do we really know for sure in our own understanding?  If I admit it, I am clueless. 

 

How can I acknowledge the Lord in all I do?  Will I follow His straight path daily for my life or choose to go my own way and end up lost?

Lost is not fun and there is a choice, so thank the Lord for the rain this week and thank Him that He gives you a straight path to follow. 

 

 

 

 

column #4

Several years ago I found myself on a massive yacht in the middle of Lake Texoma with friends.  Our group was up on deck admiring the view, but I ended up in the living quarters down below with the two young children whose father owned the boat. I spent my time aboard the luxury liner with the kids playing games.  I was teaching 7^th grade in Mesquite then and realized that my purpose in life (yes…we all have one) had something to do with children.  I still am a teacher everywhere I go; however, this week several of the kids in my life taught me.

 

Lesson #1:  I introduced a group of fifth graders to the concept of being proactive or reactive in life.  One fifth grader said “Mrs. Monico, I am not very good at this game because of my brother.”  It seems that she was trying so hard to be proactive and calm, but her little brother got the best of her.  She restated what our previous lesson had covered and admitted she was more like a coke bottle exploding than a cool, calm bottle of water. 

 

To be honest, none of us are very good at “THIS” game she mentioned.  We often fail and react.  Our only hope for proactivity and peacefulness in situations that drive us crazy is the truth found in John 16:33 that says “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” 

 

Lesson #2:  Another day this week my son, Brazos, said something that was worth me immediately writing down.  He glanced up from his trombone and paused from the extended, and I mean extended, practice session and said “Only one kid can play this and I want to be that kid, Mom.” 

 

How great is that?  He wanted to be the one who could do it.  He was willing to work and make it happen.  He played the song over again and again until he got it.  I was inspired. 

 

Lesson #3:  The setting of my last lesson was in front of our refrigerator late one night.  I have attempted to use up food from our pantry and freezer instead of just running out to buy more.  I must have done a decent job because by Tuesday night, it was bare in the fridge.  My daughter started looking for something to put in her lunch.  She opened the fridge and looked, and looked, and looked.  She then motioned me over and said “What do we have in here other than water and BBQ sauce, you just tell me…what?” 

 

After I stopped laughing because her facial expression was that of a typical teen and her wit was as clever as ever, I looked in the fridge and discovered she was pretty correct in her observation.  I put on my thinking cap and offered her a few suggestions.  Our search lead me to the bottom of the pantry and to the back corner of the fridge.  I discovered several consumable items that would work.  She would not starve. The world would keep spinning. I saved the day, and she in a way saved my night because she made me laugh and think about my role in life. 

 

My role right then with her was to make something out of nothing.  We often have to do that in life.  Creativity and a good attitude can make something out of nothing on any given day.  Come to think of it, when God made us, He made something out of nothing for sure. 

 

 

column #3

We were traveling down our usual route this week on 488 when my youngest child, Blaise, did something she is notorious for in our family. She often slightly mixes up her words and thoughts.

 

I have coined a new word in her honor.  I now call her mixed up sayings a “Blaiseism.” Her previous “Blaiseisms” include her exclaiming with her hands on her hips that something annoying to her was her “PET PEE.” She also informed us all at the dinner table recently that her grandfather was going to get “Coca-Cola” cancer if he was not careful.  She had heard us say colon cancer I guess and in her defense, “pet pee” is really close to pet peeve. 

 

The crème de la crème of “Blaiseisms” was a remark she made about Mr. Casey’s beautiful, reclaimed pastureland on 488 a few days ago.  There were several cattle grazing in the pasture that she noticed as we drove by.  Then, when we passed the Lake Chapel cemetery that is seemingly right smack dab in the middle of his pasture, she said “Y’all, Mr. Casey sure does have a nice cemetery for his cows.” 

 

I shot her a puzzled look in the rearview mirror.  She proceeded to repeat herself and say how nice the resting place was for the cows. 

 

Now, Blaise has been around cemeteries, attended funerals, and knows that when you have invited Jesus into your heart, the local cemetery is just a place for your physical body.  She has never been told that cows have a cemetery.  Even with that knowledge, she still just let the words roll right off of her tongue and securely said she was thinking. 

 

Although I am not always sure about what comes out of my youngest child’s mouth, I am sure of one thing.  Blaise knows she is loved and she is comfortable with herself. 

 

We can all stand to take a lesson in that area from my eight year old.  How often do we doubt ourselves, question who we really are, or wear labels put on us by others that are not true? 

 

I try to remember daily on the way to school when we pass the high school marquee to start a series sentences with my crew.  I need them.  They need them. 

 

 

 

 

 

We say together:

I am loved.

I am chosen.

I am a Child of God. 

The Lord has plans for my life.

 

I adopted the concept of repeating a few simple phrases daily from the movie the HELP and made up my own.  In the movie, Abileen, the caretaker, had the little girl, Mae Mobley say the following lines:

You is kind. 

You is smart. 

You is important. 

 

Even though their relationship was severed in the film, I knew when I sat in the theater eating my popcorn and crying my eyes out that those words would never leave Mae Mobley.  They would stick forever. 

 

 

In this increasingly confusing world that we live in, we have to know who we are.  We cannot doubt that we are loved by Jesus Christ, no matter who we are or what we have done.  A relationship with Him is one that will never be severed once it has been established. 

 

I love the passage in 1 John 3:1 that proclaims a truth about who we are.  It says “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

newspaper column #2

I hold many job titles in the present season of my life.  A few of them include wife, mom, teacher, friend, taxi driver, laundry manager, family organizer, and I pray encourager.  This week I added another one.  I am the official “spotlighter” for our homestead.  My husband and I have been on several late night, early morning escapades around here in the dark.  Our goal is to manage or honestly eradicate our local armadillo population because they are destroying our yard.  He arms himself with a loaded gun and I rightfully arm myself with the spotlight. 

 

We shed some light on a varmint this morning way before sunrise and added another tally mark for our team.  The armadillos still seem to be winning, but we will not give up or slack off I am sure until the job is complete. My husband is in charge of this operation; therefore, there will be no quitting.  We will together attempt to finish the job, may even get t-shirts made that say “No Slacking.”  Oh, how I wish I could apply the same “No Slacking” slogan to every area of my life. 

 

It is a simply truth that we humans get comfortable, lazy, and often slack off when we get ahead in life.  I witnessed it this week on the volleyball court.  An impressive 8^th grade group of young athletes won the first match against Groesbeck with ease and then nearly lost the second one.  It seemed like they were comfortable with themselves and watched the game more than played the game for a few minutes.  A quick time out with their coach late in the second match woke them up and they came back to win.  In the work place, a completed task, a successful sale, or earned promotion often leads us to believe we can just sit back let others take the lead. At home, when a family seems to be connecting well with each other, the first thing to go from the calendar often is family time around the dinner table.  When we get too comfortable in any area of life and think we are ahead, we will suffer.  Those around us will suffer too and usually have to pick up the slack. 

 

Do not let up this week!  If it is a healthier lifestyle you have been working towards, do not slack off.  If there is an addiction that you want to be free from, do not dare quit trying.  If it is a college degree or high school diploma that you desire, do not give up. If you want to score your first touchdown or shave a second off of your mile time, do not stop running.  Maybe you want to deliver an encouraging word or an apology to a friend or family member, do not get comfortable and just expect for the person to show up on your doorstep.   Go to them!  Make it happen.  S

 

Life can seem like a race at times with so much to do.  We all get tempted at times to slack off or quit completely, but when the Lord has placed a job, task, or relationship in your path that is important, finish strong.  Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:7 are what I want to think at the end of my race here on this earth.  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”   With Jesus Christ in my life, that is possible.  With Him in your life, it is possible. 

 

 

This is my story - newspaper column #1

I remember sitting in a pew at Caney Baptist listening to my Grandfather sing “Blessed Assurance.”  That was the title of the hymn, but all I heard was “This is my story, this is my song.  Praising my Savior all the day long.”  As a small child, the fact that we all have a story did not mean anything to me.  A story was a good book or a lie, like when I took a pack of gum from Winn’s Department store and insisted I did not.  Now, that was a story!

 

At the wonderful age of forty, I pride myself on knowing that a story is much more than just a bedtime narrative or a teensy, tiny fib. A story is a person’s life.  It is the hard fought battles and the sweet victories.  A story comes from the days spent high on the mountaintop and the days spent in the deepest, darkest valleys begging for a way out.  However, the bulk of a person’s story is being written on regular days when life seems to be nothing more than a routine from the time we hit the alarm clock until the time our head hits the pillow at night. The routine may include diapers and bottles, sack lunches and report cards, or days at the office or nursing home. 

 

 

I get the privilege, although sometimes the tension in my neck would call it a different name, to witness eight stories unfolding right here under my own roof.  There are six people in my family, but I included the dogs just for fun. I would not dare write about my husband or children yet, so let me start with our puppy, Bubs. He is a Jack Russell and fits the description for his breed.  He is athletic, curious, determined, lovable, and loyal.  His life story can also include that he is an active member of the toilet paper roll destruction team and an avid rabbit hunter.  Last night when I had all of the Monicos in bed, I carried Bubs out. He disappeared into the woods so quickly that he looked like a white flash running across the pasture.  My handy spotlight shed some light on the situation when I saw the bunny he was trailing after.  If Bubs could type and relay his story to you, he would tell you that the chase was fun, a real high, he just couldn’t resist and that it wore him out!

 

My story can be like that too at times when I chase after things that I don’t need, doubt that the Lord has a specific purpose for my life, compare my life to others, or allow my self to be too busy.  Busy means I can’t focus on the things right here that I love the most.  I hold on tight to a scripture from John 15:5 because my story is far from perfect, but I want it to amount to something. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said “I am the vine: you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.” 

 

Do you want your story to be a whole bunch of nothing? I doubt it.  The key is to remain in Jesus and know that no matter what your present circumstances look like, He will remain with you.  With that simple truth in mind, what will your story read at the end of this week?

Today's this and that

Blaise had a dentist appointment today in Big D so we headed out north after we dropped off the other kids at school. She had a good report, scored an A; however, she has an extra tooth that has to be removed. It seems her extra friend is causing some crowding and the permanent teeth in the area can't come down.

I was just running and made a correlation between her crowding issue and one that I have often had too. When we crowd too much in, say yes too often, and fill our plate too full, there will not be room for what really should be filling up our lives. Crowding prevents teeth from coming in and a crowded, over scheduled life keeps blessings from coming in. Cancer 6 years ago taught me that it was okay to say no.

That was this, now for that! I just ran to the deer feeder and Blaise followed me on the four wheeler. I was enjoying the path in the woods Branden mowed for me before my hunters move in and fill up the woods with camo, Vienna sausages, and candy.

I got tired a few times and slowed down, I was tired from running. Blaise got tired a few times on the wheeler and stopped too because her thumb was tired. It hurt from pushing the throttle. I didn't feel sorry for her really. I was the one running.

We were both tired but in very different ways. True again with life! We all handle things in our own way. You may be strong where I am weak. What gets you down may be a cake walk for me. How often do we judge each other and just assume someone needs to toughen up or get a grip? I sure did with Blaise and her thumb issue.

Keep it simple this week. Watch out for crowding in too much and seek some truth. Proverbs 3:3 says "Do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."

2 or 3 lanes

Traveling north today on I - 45 and right after I passed Corsicana when the very unique left entrance ramp joins with 45, I spotted a car on my left coming in. I automatically hustled to get on over in the right lane and give that person some room to enter. After I made my way to the right, I realized that there are 3 lanes there now going northbound. It dawned on me then that it may have been like that for years! I don't remember when they made the change and added the extra lane. A change happened and I missed it!

We are like this in life. Changes happen, blessings come our way and we don't even take the time to notice that the prayer has been answered or maybe the relationship has been mended! We just rock on along with life. I think sometimes God must think.... Hey, YOU, do you even notice the work I am doing here?

Inventory your life this weekend. Look back at last year. Are you closer with The Lord than you were in October 2012? If not, What's in the way?

Have prayers been answered? What blessings have been bestowed on you that maybe you took and didn't really give thanks for?

Life is such a gift! Inventory today and give thanks! If something in your life is blocking your path to the LORD, MOVE it! Blessings and joy follow obedience.