Pearls

My mother-in-law gave me The Shack for Christmas 2008. As was her resourceful style—that was lovingly appreciated—she read books before passing them on. I think it was her way of opening up more common conversation with her recipient. I read with sadness and curiosity. Sadness because we’d never get to talk about the book together; Grammie passed away two days after Christmas 2008. And curiosity from wondering what prompted Grammie to share The Shack with me?

As I drove south—remember, alone—next to the majestic snow-blanketed Sierra, I listened to the CD of the author giving explanation to his writing of The Shack. I had not realized I was so ravenous for any personal revelations until I popped the CD in for third time, kind of like popping in a couple of carob malt ball, and then suddenly I'm at the bottom of the empty bag.

Could it be that this author's experiences leading up to his own shack held nuggets of truth for me as well? The messages were precious, like tiny, aged pearls from Grammie’s jewel box. The author simply strung the pearls together for me. And it’s as if God now has this elegant strand of smooth pearls draped over his outstretched palm waiting for me to accept it.

I’m undecided if I’m the kind of woman who can pull off pearls.

If Grammie thought so and if God thinks so, maybe I can at least try on some pearls and see if they're right for me.

Road Trip

Things I rediscovered about taking a road trip by myself--

• II can listen to a speaker's message...for many, many miles.
• And I can re-play a podcast or CD...several times to have the words really soak in.
• I can record my thoughts on my iPhone...private thoughts. (Thanks Jim, for introducing me to that App.)
• Tears can spill and I don't have to explain them.
• I can pass the slow drivers...without any outside prodding.
• I can sing along with the radio...loudly.

Every now and then, it's good to let--(cough) get--the real Julie out.

Word for the Year

In his book, Walking with God, John Eldredge, titles a section, The Power of the Right Word. Here he mentions choosing a word for the year, "I was asking God this morning what His word for the new year was [for me], if He wanted to say anything about that, set a sort of theme for this year..."
How cool is that? John the author—my new bff even if though he doesn't know it—does this word for year thing too. Great minds...
Your own selection process and your resulting word for the year has the potential to influence your mindset for an entire year. One word can keep you alert to each day where you can create it, discover it or resist that which threatens it. “Maybe it’s even at the heart of the life [you] want to live, the source out of which all else flows.” says Eldredge of the right word. 

Silly me thought I heard the whisper of a word…that frankly has me digging in my heels. Radical???

C’mon…..really, God? You know me, I’m SO NOT radical in any way, shape or form. And I don't prefer to be radical either. I must have misunderstood. Maybe Jackson (pictured above) and I were given the same word. Ravenous….radical, they kinda sound alike, right? Oh yeh, Jack and I could easily do ravenous.
No, Julie, your word is radical.
And Jackson’s mom assures me that 2010 is already manifesting ravenous as Jack yearns to eat, learn and scale everything!
Sooo, I'm ever so slightly challenging my color-inside-the-lines, play-by-the-rules familiar approach. Recently I came across the term "outrageous compassion". Outrageous….radical, they mean the same thing to me. Maybe, just possibly, I could kind of begin to imagine something like radical compassion, or radical love, or radical personal growth during 2010. Whoa….radical.