A Perfect Fit

Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.

—James 4:8

The door creaked open as I made my way onto the deck and out popped that blonde-haired beauty, her round face turned toward me.

“Hi, Miss Addie! How are you? I’m so happy to see you!” I greeted my granddaughter.

Addie smiled as wide as the open door, and I quickly entered, placing my take-out dinner on the table. I scooped her up and kissed her soft cheeks, first one then the other.

“Are you going to play with me?” She looked up with pleading blue eyes.

“Yes, I am. What do you want to play?”

“This,” Addie pointed to a matching game. “And puzzles.”

I knew that. Addie is the queen of puzzles. She can put them together faster than any three-year-old I know. Heck, faster than me.

“But first Grandma needs to eat her dinner,” her mother Tara reminded, “And you and Eli need to eat too.”

“Let me give Eli a hug.” I lowered Addie to the floor to pick up 11-month-old Eli. His big blue eyes fixed on mine and his mouth broadened, revealing two cute little teeth situated at the front of his bottom jaw. I smothered him with smooches while he twisted this way and that.

“It’s time to eat, Addison,” Tara said while she brought food to the table. “You can put Eli in his high chair,” she gestured toward me.

Before I could wriggle Eli into his seat, he was already reaching for his food.

As soon as the children finished their dinner, their parents were out the door for their post-Valentine night alone.

“Now will you play with me?”

What's in your cup?

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

—Mark 14:36 

What’s in your cup this morning? As for me, I pour steamy Folger’s Breakfast Blend and add a splash—well, more than a splash—of French vanilla creamer. Then I head to the front of my house for my first porch party of the season. Porch party is a term coined by my Facebook friend Julie Garmon that she uses in referring to the daily quality time she spends with her husband. No matter the weather, they meet together on their porch every day. And it doesn’t matter what they talk about, but that they talk or just be together, for they know how important this is to their relationship, and they have made a commitment to do so. It is a priority. (You can read about Julie’s porch parties and more on her blog.) 

On the way to my porch, I gather up my bible and a devotional Daily Guideposts 2014 (of which Julie is a writer) and I’m excited. For you see, this is my daily quality time with God.  

Although I’m single, I recognize the value in married couples spending time cultivating their relationship and I know that the Lord desires this same type of commitment from Christians. Daily porch parties. Of course you may not have a porch or even a balcony, but just find a quiet place to come apart from all the busyness of life and rest a little, just as the Lord told His disciples (in Mark 6:31) when they had been ministering so much that they had not so much as time to eat: “Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little.” 

Be still before the Lord. Allow Him to refresh your spirit…your body…your mind. I like how Joyce Meyers puts it, “You had better come apart and spend time with God before you fall apart.” 

Dust it off!

Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.--Isaiah 33:2

I wearily entered my classroom at the start of the day and switched on my desk lamp.  Light flooded my desktop revealing coffee rings and a layer of dust too thick for me to tolerate a minute more.  I yanked a saturated wipe from the dispenser and pushed away piles of papers.  Scrubbing away coffee stains, I eyed the rest of the mess decorating my desktop. 

A handmade card, an origami crane, a starfish, a plastic frog, a puzzle cube, and a pencil sharpener disguised as a little smiley-faced blue man who seemed to say, “Here I am, ready to serve!”  I laughed and shook my head.  What an odd assortment of items!  How did this collection find its way here? 

Then I remembered.