A Full Rich Day

I love the M*A*S*H TV series, and watch the DVDs far more often than any sane person should/would. This post title is taken from one episode of the series.

But, it has indeed been a full, rich day for me. (Or rather yesterday was-- I can't sleep and am taking advantage of my insomnia to write this, but I can't keep my tenses straight, so bear with me.)

I got to church this morning, which was great. Moved to tears by the very first worship song-- a fast-paced old hymn. I can't even say why, but it really got to me (in a good way). First message from the new senior pastor too. I'm looking forward to having him; apparently he'll start officially at the beginning of June (after leaving the church where he presently ministers and moving his family up to Kentucky). Yay! The long search and wait is over.

A good friend shared some personal information with me privately on Facebook; I was glad she opened up and honored to have been trusted.

My brother and sister-in-law are moving to a new apartment. Their new duplex neighbors are people they go to church with, and they won't have to commute any more. So awesome.

I did lots of cooking and baking as well: granola, crustless pumpkin pie, and a pseudo-Thanksgiving meal of turkey meatloaf, scallion mashed potatoes, and green beans. I had so much fun playing in the kitchen. I was singing at the top of my lungs and doing my private "funky chicken" and booty-shaking dances between chopping and measuring and stirring. It was gray & raining outside, so it was the perfect way to spend a drippy day: celebrating life, life, life-- and that more abundant! The giving thanks of my pseudo-Thanksgiving was real. ;-)


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On Not Blogging

Wow, I can't believe my last post was on Friday. I'm feeling very nonverbal lately-- not unhappy, just contained. The little I want to say I have said on Facebook and haven't been interested in duplicating here.

On Sunday I actually went to church for probably the second time this year. Amazing-- everything just came together perfectly: sleep/health, will/motivation, timing/preparation. And, it was an encouraging service, because a "permanent pulpit supply" has finally been found-- the man chosen will preach the services until a new senior pastor can be found, but he is not "on staff" in any other sense. He does a fairly good job of the messages, although it's still a trifle slow and simple for my liking. However, I think his desire for the church's growth in this interim period is genuine, and that means a lot. I also think this is a better move than rotating oodles of people through the pulpit-- not all of whom were capable of taking a Sunday service despite effort.

Yesterday, I went to the sleep doctor. His advice was to reduce the sleep med dosage. I agree because after analyzing the log I'd been keeping, I found that I was doing too much sleeping in the day time of late-- there have been a number of reasons for the daytime sleepiness such as the daylight savings time change, allergies & antihistamines, headaches from sun exposure with gardening, TMD splint adjustments and the pain that follows until I adjust, and even the Midrin I've taken for migraines and headaches has a side effect of drowsiness. The bottom line is that if I sleep in the day, I won't sleep at night. So the theory is that by cutting back on the sleep med I won't have too much of the drug in my system to contribute to daytime sleeping. Plus, he worries about patients developing tolerance to the drugs which means upping the dosage. So, it's better if I am taking a smaller dosage to begin with.

As you can see by the timing of this post, however, I am currently awake in the middle of the night. I've had about 3.5 restless hours of sleep so far. But if I can get another 2.5 hours before morning, I'm sure I can make it through the day without napping.

Yesterday evening I went shopping and out to eat with my Mom and our Nashville family friends. I bought some needed items and enjoyed the good food (Panera Bread) and the good company.

Here's a photo of a tree in my front yard which I snapped before we left. (I still need to get some dogwood tree pics before the blossoms are gone; but today I have to do my long delayed taxes. Ugh.)


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Easter Sunday

Despite it being a special occasion, I didn't make it to church today-- only 5 hours of sleep and soooo tired. Dragging, in fact. It took me forever to get my shower and to make the simple ingredients for our Cherry Trifle: yogurt sauce and sugar-glazed walnuts. Mom made the angel food cake, so I only had to cube it and assemble the trifle when I arrived at my parents' house.

Dad grilled steaks and potatoes for us, and Mom roasted the broccoli. She also prepared strawberries with dessert toppings: sour cream & brown sugar plus a chocolate sauce with a hint of orange and vanilla.

As always, we had a great time talking, laughing, and catching up with each other. My brother and sister-in-law are both quick-witted and tend to keep the three of us entertained with their humor and sense of the outrageous. Invariably, one of them says something funny just as my Mom or I take a sip of a beverage-- with predictable results!

It was a good day.

Toward the end of our gathering, I slipped away to take some more spring photos of plants in and around my parents' yard.

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Good Friday Video

This awesome video shows God's power to transform people's lives in real, important, and dramatic ways. The link will take you to Sojourn Church's blog post to view Stories of Change. (To avoid disruptions when viewing, you may want to turn HD off.)

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Art Exhibit Video

Someone at my brother's church made a video that scrapbooks their art exhibit from start to finish with a few credits at the end. My brother is the first "angel". The band you hear toward the end is The Welcome Wagon and the song is "But for you who fear my name"-- love it!

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Psalms Art

We arrived at the church's art gallery early, which was good. It was quiet and uncrowded with the opportunity to read the placards accompanying each art work. The combination of the words and the art had me tearing up several times-- truly touched, moved.

David's tear-watered couch grabbed attention with it's real working showerhead, but it was the bottles of tears that truly brought the message home-- the realization that those jars represent only a portion of the tears God's people have cried, and that there will be a time when all tears are wiped away.

Image source (edited): 
http://words-fail.com/prayer-and-wisdom-opens/

The calendar with each day stamped "this is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" was very simple, but a powerful reminder of the place of gratitude, joy, and praise that belong in a Chistian's life-- EVERYday.

My brother's shield also moved me-- that God is the lifter of our heads. I almost didn't notice the arrows, and really, I think that's the way God means it to be for us-- He himself is the focus and not the things that come at us.

The wings and the starry sky were skillfully made and beautiful without even needing a message-- they were encouraging and uplifting.

The Bible says that Chistians are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. I'd say that this exhibit truly accomplished that.

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Singing in the Kitchen

I was cooking dinner (Baked Parmesan Salmon Loaf) and listening to K-LOVE and WJIE (whichever station was playing music instead of ads) when God used some song lyrics to remind me that He is with me and will provide for me. I thought I'd post them so I can encourage myself (and maybe God will use these words to strengthen others too.)

Lyrics from Signature of Divine (Yahweh) by Needtobreathe--

I won't leave you alone, you say.
It will be okay.

Lyrics from Mercyme's Bring the Rain--

I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You,
Jesus, bring the rain.

Incidentally, I did notice that the latter one goes along with Steve's comment, "Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, Rejoice."

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I went to church today...

For the first time in a long while. I've missed a lot due to my health problems plus lack of commitment to a particular church plus feeling overwhelmed and burnt out with life in general. Working every Saturday hasn't helped.

There were some high points in today's service, and I was glad to have been obedient to God in going, but I have to admit that mostly I was disappointed. The choir sang a song that truly ministered to people, and although it wasn't to my musical taste, I could tell that God was there and moving. The sermon was kind of slow and had potential but came to a hasty conclusion and boiled down to salvation and nothing more. Salvation is good-- I don't mean to minimize it-- but for myself, I was looking for something deeper which I didn't really find.

One good thing I can say is that the congregation seems a little less reserved than when I was there last-- not so stiff. I attribute this primarily to the patient insistence of one particular leader who keeps gently forcing people out of their comfort zones. There also seemed to be a greater mix of ages which I think is a good thing.

In all fairness, the church is without a senior pastor right now, so they're doing the best they can, and I think love is evident there. Somehow something IS missing though-- I can't quite identify it, but I leave every service feeling frustrated by a certain emptiness, and by my inability to articulate what I sense. I hope God helps me to pinpoint it soon and to know how to handle it, because I don't like church this way.