Hannah Montana

I have a confession to make. I just got home from seeing the new Hannah Montana movie for the 2nd time... 2 weekends in a row. And to be even more honest, I really liked the movie -- both times. :-) So I just thought I'd post a link here to one of the songs I really liked called 'The Climb.'

My mom brought this over to me on Sunday when they came for lunch. We all thought it was pretty funny. :-) I saw it again on my counter today and thought... if only it was always this easy to see that what the world has to offer is just ridiculous in comparison to what we have with God!

Believing You have Received

Mark 11:24-25

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

I wrote these verses down in my journal this morning. The first verse (24) came up in a conversation with an old friend recently and it came back to mind this morning. I looked it up and was thinking about it. You know, Jesus doesn't say, "believe that you WILL receive it, and it will be yours." He says "believe that you HAVE received it..." So when I pray for forgiveness, I have already received it; when I pray for comfort, it's right there; when I pray for wisdom, I can trust that I have it; when I'm looking for hope, He's given it already... I just have to BELIEVE. What I am seeing change in my prayer life is that so often, and this is sad to admit, but often my 'prayers' have been so SELF-focused that many times I've left my time of prayer more sad and more burdened than when I started, because I've spent a half hour running though all the things that I'm struggling through in life. Instead, God is asking that in prayer, I lift my eyes to Him and realize that He has 'instantly' given me all that I need. There is no 'waiting.' The key is having my eyes on Him and not on me. He is truly enough. And He will meet all my needs. When I approach Him in prayer with this kind of faith and belief, really, He is already answering prayer even before the words are on my tongue.

The other thing that stood out to me this morning, though, was vs. 25. I hadn't really paired that verse with this verse when I was just thinking about it from memory. When I went to look up the verse on believing that I had received what I asked for in prayer, I wasn't remembering that this verse on forgiveness was the one that followed. But here's what I really like: God knows us. He knows that we will come to Him when we are in need -- when we are in a position to ask for things from Him. So in addressing that, He takes this opportunity here to kind-of say... "By the way..." WHILE you're standing there in prayer, if you've got a grudge against anyone, you need to forgive them... SO THAT your Father can forgive your sins." OK, so this is my interpretation of that verse with emphasis added. ;-) But it's kinda like God is saying to me, "Hey, while I've got your attention, are YOU paying attention to the fact that there are some things you are holding onto in your heart that you need to forgive?" Becasue those things you are holding onto are holding me back from fully forgiving your sins. Ouch.

Oftentimes, therapists (and books) will tell you that forgiving others is not so much about THEM as it is about what you are doing for YOU. Lack of forgiveness just kills our soul. I see this here in this verse... my unwillingness to forgive others (from the heart) keeps God from being able to forgive me - and thus free me from my sins.

When I think about what Jesus did in dying for my sin and all that He is willing to fogive me of, how ridiculous is it for me to hold anything against anyone? I don't really think of myself as one who holds grudges, but I've seen some things in myself recently that show me that I have some forgiving to do. So thank God for opening my eyes more clearly to that this morning.

And praise God that He is so willing to do anything for us - that He even invites us to ask anything of Him and He is willing to give it. All we have to do is believe....

19 Minutes

I've discovered a new fiction author that I really like, Jodi Picoult. This book, 19 Minutes, just happened to catch my attention last time I was at the library, and once I was into it, it was very hard to put down. In addition to some really good storytelling, she has some interesting 'one-liners' that she'll throw in here and there that I found very thought-provoking. I have very little time, but I'm just going to put this one in here real quick:

"Lacy stared at Alex through her tears. "Thank you," she whispered, and left before she broke down completely in front of a woman - a stranger, really - who could do what Lacy coundn't: hold on to the past as if it was something to be treasured, instead of combing it for clues of failure."

It's hard to really appreciate that out of the context of the story, but for me, as someone who has probably spent too much time 'combing my past for clues of failure,' it was a good reminder to take a look back into the past for all the good that is there....

Just an aside: If you do decide to read this book, it is a little rough in places with language, etc... so just a warning.

Rapunzel's Recycled Castle

OK, so on the Wednesday before Spring Break, Anna apparently got an assignment in her reading class on Fairy Tales. They had a 500 Point project to do that would be due on the Monday they got back from Spring Break. And they had 3 days in class to 'work' on it - or have to finish it over spring break. They had several 'options' for things they could do to get their 500 points worth of credit. Anna wrote a couple of poems and then decided on making THE CASTLE. She was going to make the AMUSEMENT PARK that had to have at least 5 attractions, but when her dad started talking about making a working roller coaster and a log ride, complete with water -- well, let's just say it was all getting a little out of hand. ;-)

The kicker for me in all of this is that we had to do this over SPRING BREAK!!!!! Isn't spring break supposed to be a BREAK from school? Hello???? Am I the only one who really gets bugged by this kind of stuff!?! sigh.

Anyways, with a little help from friends - thank you Jenna and Emma! - and a bit of family invovlement (mostly dad) -- and finally a sense of humor when we were getting pretty tired of the whole thing... viola! Rapunzel's Castle. Complete with a mote, drawbridge, charming prince and Rapunzel with her hair flowing down the 'Mountainous Tower of Dew' (you had to read Anna's rendering of the Rapunzel fairy tale to actually appreciate that. :-)

I know some of you reading had to hear me complain about this already... so I just thought it was only fair that you got to see the castle that we were so affectionately referring to. And by the way, Anna got a 500 on that project! Plus a "Love This!" comment. So in fairy tale fashion, 'we can all live happily ever after.'

Undercurrents

I know I've used this picture on my blog before, but it just fit today because this is where I spent about an hour or so up on Green Mountain this afternoon, trying to enjoy what's probably the last of the sunny days for the rest of the week.

The water wasn't glassy like this, though. The wind was blowing and the water was rippling from the effects of the wind. I was trying to 'focus' and start a prayer journal that I've been wanting to do. I tend to write quite a bit in more diary type fashion - just writing about what's going on and what I'm thinking about. But today was more about writing out things I want to pray about. I did a little of that... then found myself looking around and writing about how amazing God's creation is... and then ended up writing something of a Psalm -- all stuff that's a little too personal to share on the world wide web. ;-) So I don't really know how well I was doing with my 'focus,' but then, for as scattered as I've felt lately, it was at least a start.

Anyways, as I was looking at the water rippling past me flowing to the right of me, I noticed several leaves floating on top of the water near each other. They caught my attention, because with the wind blowing the current pretty strongly to the right, I was intrigued by the fact that they weren't moving at all in that direction. Or at least not very fast. They were just seeming to stay 'anchored' in place.

Then a single leaf came floating by, much closer to the dock than the others, and it was being carried by the current and the wind as I would think it should be. But as it passed the end of the dock, it must have been caught by whatever other 'invisible' current was holding the other leaves in place, because it circled around and 'joined' the other leaves, coming to a standstill among them.

Clearly, a stronger, less visible force, was flowing just underneath these leaves and holding them in place. And it must have been flowing directly opposite to the force of the wind and what I could see as the direction that things should have been flowing on top of the water. Obviously it was all pretty fascinating to me... at least enough so that it prompted me to write about them. :-)

Anyways, I think what was happening in front of me is how it is with God... Sometimes we're tucked away into the steady undercurrant and safe from the wind and the waves trying to blow us away... and sometimes we're a stray leaf being blown quickly by and needing to be caught up again in the strength of the undertow. I could relate to that lone leaf today...

You know, all analogies break down somewhere, and as I watched my strong and steady group of leaves, a bunch of ducks decided to come swimming through them and it scattered them all about. Not quite sure what the lesson is in that, but it made me laugh. :-)

Running Update

Well, I got off to a good start posting more stuff on my blog earlier in the week, then got bogged down the last couple of days. Actually, I spent the day in Nashville yesterday, so it was kinda busy. If you haven't been to Opry Mills lately, you're missing out - that is, assuming you like to shop. ;-) I took Anna and her friend Natalie and Mackenzie and we had a fun shopping 'road trip.' It was actually all Anna's idea -- she really got it in her head that she wanted to eat at the Rain Forrest Cafe. So we had lunch there amidst the gorillas, elephants, and occasional thunderstorms. :-) The food was pretty good -- but WAY too expensive... we definitely paid for the experience.

Anyways, before today gets away, I just thought I'd post another running milestone. I didn't really plan to do this, but I went for my run today, and I'm trying to make Fridays my 'long run' day. So I started out with the thought that I'd go 4 to 5 miles. But I felt pretty good, and my time was looking good, so I decided to go for the 10K distance - 6.2 miles. (I haven't done that since I ran the UAH race a few weeks ago.) Well, as I got past 5 miles, I realized that if I pushed myself, I could make the distance in under an hour, which was a goal I was hoping to get to sometime... well, I finished today in 59 minutes and 9 seconds. :-) yay!!!! I was very happy about that.... although now, I think I'm going to pay for that a little this weekend with sore hips and knees. This running stuff it tough on the joints. But I think I'm starting to get addicted to that 'runner's high.' ;-) Honestly, I'm still not sure I know what that is except that when you run far enough, you're tired enough the rest of the day that nothing really bothers you all that much. haha

I'm out of time, but maybe later I'll post my 'advertisements' for Brooks running shoes and Cliff Shot Bloks. My new 'tools of the trade...' I know you all can't wait. :-)