Purpose

Purpose is the intent behind an action being done, an object existing or being made or used. Purpose can be synonymous with the goal or the intended result of an action.

So what will make 2010 different? What is my part? Am I just supposed to let life happen?

I need to live a purposeful life, a life full of purpose. We all want to know God’s purpose for our lives don’t we? So here is what it takes to have a purposeful life:

· We must purpose to live a life of discipline – a life where we have the discipline to do what we say we will do the discipline to do what we know we should do and the discipline to avoid what should be avoided.

· We must purpose to be grateful for the life we have, not focus on what we don’t have.

· We must purpose to “have a good day”. It is our choice as to how we let the day affect us.

· We must purpose to have fun. It is a dull life if you aren’t having some fun.

· We must purpose to help someone else. If we only focus on us we miss so many opportunities.

· We must purpose to explore new things. What if we had never been made to taste chocolate?

· We must purpose to love Jesus, it is only through Him that our lives are complete and purposeful.

Through Him we have the discipline and strength. It is through Him that we owe all our thanksgiving, through Him that we can risk stepping out. It is through Him that we have joy indescribable.

Exodus 9:16

Christmas Memories

After reading Katie Jean’s Blog post last night about snow in Iowa and the wonderful memories she is creating for her children. I paused and thought about my Christmas memories.

As I was sharing with my husband this last weekend after we had completed our Christmas decorations. For me Christmas has never been a Norman Rockwell experience. I know that for some it is truly an event. For me it has always been just something that you do. Now don’t get me wrong. I celebrate Jesus as my Savior and Lord EVER day, I don’t save it for December 25^th.

Again back to Katie Jean’s blog post, I thought about growing up where snow was usually measured in feet and not inches, I have played softball using snowshoes, put little flags on your car antenna so that you could seen at an intersection that has snow piled high. I have many interesting memories around snow, but my favorite one happened one Christmas Eve.

I was back at my mother’s house in Michigan, I was home visiting my family for the Holidays. It had been cold that winter but no snow fall to speak of. In fact there wasn’t any snow on the ground. Then at about 4pm that evening it started to snow. The snow was one of those perfect snows. Coming down slowly with large flakes and no wind to blow or drift. We had been sitting around the house all evening not doing much when about 9pm I happened to look out the window and we had had several inches of snow accumulated on the ground by them. It was then that I decided it was time to go and build a snowman.

My younger sister and I got on our boots, coats and gloves and headed out into the front yard. The snow was perfect. We got to work. By 10pm we were giggling and laughing so loud that my mother came out to see what we were up to and to remind us that we needed to keep it down. We built not just your average snow man, no. Our snow man had snow arms, one hand on his hip and the other arm rose above his head waving at the cars that would drive by our house. When we finished it was after midnight and the snow had finally stopped. Now some would ask why it took so long? It was because this snow man ended up being over 12FT tall, yes 12 FT. To put his head on we had to split that ball in half to make it light enough to carry it up the ladder to place it on top of the other two sections.

I went to bed that night exhausted not only from the work of moving all that snow (we even had to take some from the neighbors house- they didn’t have kids - to have enough) but from my sister and I laughing and playing. The next morning It was such a wonderful site to look out our Bi-Level House and the front window and see the back side of the head of this snowman. It was fun to watch all the cars that drove by slow to a stop and just look at our snowman. Later in the day many of the cars would stop and take pictures. Funny thing – we never took our own pictures of it.

That is the one thing that we all talk about when my family talks about Christmas, is the giant snowman that we built. Thanks to a bitter cold spell that set in during January, that snowman lasted until almost Easter. Sure his arms fell off but he was still a snowman.

Make the time to make memories, even if it is at 10pm on Christmas Eve.

Proverbs 10:7

Amazing Grace

The lives of Children and the conscience of a Nation.

Jonathan Kozol, 1995.

I read this book in October of this year. A colleague at work gave it to me with a few others she thought I might like.

This book was written 14 years ago and I would pray that things are different, but I have experienced too much of this world to truly believe that.

The writer spent weeks in Mott Haven, a poor neighborhood in the South Bronx focusing the children. Kozol points to systemic discrimination, hopelessness, limited economic opportunities and cutbacks to social services as cause of this crisis.

Read this, it isn’t fun, but READ THIS BOOK. Then get involved. If you don’t know where to start try

random acts of [luhv] – you can find them on FaceBook.

Hebrews 4:16

How Do You Peel A Banana?

Yesterday as I was helping my mom eat her breakfast, she grabbed the banana and started to peel it. I asked if she needed my help, since I usually do this for her and she said no and then proceeded to peel it open from the bottom. I almost took it from her and told her that she had to do it from the top but I stopped myself.

As I am approaching my 54^th birthday, I like to tell people, “I am not old, just more experienced”. So after thinking about it here is a short list of some of my experiences.

I have:

• Climbed to the top of an active volcano
• Water-skied on the Mississippi river
• Snowmobiled across the ice on Lake Huron.
• A member of the crew in a sailboat race.
• Competed and won a national baton competition.
• Built a 25ft snow sculpture in -40 degree F weather.
• Installed garage door openers.
• Rode a bicycle 200 miles in 23hrs
• Stood on the east and west shores of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans
• Swam in 4 of the 5 Great Lakes.
• Visited 48 of the 50 United States
• Been in 2 hurricanes, a couple of earthquakes, several tornadoes and a flood
• Camped overnight in a hand made snow cave.
• Made sandwiches for Ray Charles and breakfast for the rock group UB40

All that and I have never peeled a banana from the bottom, what about you?

Ephesians 3:19