Ouch! The cost of trying to maintain a decent lawn has lots of costs, doesn't it? You'd think I'd get smart and work out during the winter months to prepare for "tot(ing) that barge and lift(ing) that bale". NOT!

Recently, I heard a Christian speaker remind listeners to be careful of what words are coming out of our mouths. I don't think she used the term "self-fulfilling prophecy" but it seemed to basically be the gist. It reminded me of Mama.

All my growing up years, in moments of frustration, aggravation, etc., Mama would exclaim, "Oh, my aching back!" No, she wasn't actually suffering back pain, at that time. It was just an expression, right?

​Years later, Mama had steel rods put into, and later removed from, her back. Hmmm? ​Shots, her "jet pack", lumbar cushions, you name, she tried it. 

​The speaker's words also reminded me of a conversation I'd had years ago with my aunt when James and Mary were in elementary school. Aunt Anna's sons were older than me and highly successful in their chosen fields. I asked her what the key was.

Words and expectations. She said while they were growing up, my cousins heard words of affirmation and certain things, like college, were non-negotiable.

The Old Testament writer of Proverbs ("Gracious words are a honeycomb,sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24 NIV) and the Apostle Paul (" Don’t let even one rotten word seep out of your mouths. Instead, offer only fresh words that build others up when they need it most. That way your good words will communicate grace to those who hear them." Ephesians 4:29 VOICE) understood the importance of our words, to ourselves and to others.

This clip from "The Help" speaks to my heart. The speaker embodies the Scripture's message. Nearly always tacked up by my work desk has been, "May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer!" Psalm 19:14 GNT. Hopefully, one day soon I will also model it to those around me.

There's a lot of shaking and moving for our family this summer. Changing schools, changing jobs, changing lives. This Mama's heart and brain are trying hard to keep up. I'm so thankful I don't have to do it alone.

Last week I began trekking with Joshua. I'm not sure how many times I've made the journey with him, but God always knows when Joshua's lessons are the ones I need most.

​After all the years of struggling, the Hebrew children were finally about to cross the Jordan River. Before they did, God had a few instructions (see full text below):

• REST
• RECEIVE His word
• REMOVE anything standing between them and His goodness 
• RESPECT (obey) His commands

What would happen if we did all that before embarking on the next big step? Or on any step in any direction?

I love that from the outset, God promised Joshua success: "Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you." (Joshua 1:5)

Can it be that simple? Follow God's lead and He promises success? Maybe not by the world's standards, but by His. And we know God always keeps His promises: "The Lord’s promise is sure. He speaks no careless word; all he says is purest truth, like silver seven times refined." (Psalm 12:6 TLB)

Shall we try? Are we brave enough? Come on, let's go! After all, God promises to get us safely to the shore. Do you hear Him calling from the river? I'll race you to the water!

​3 The next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early, left the camp at Acacia, and went to the Jordan, where they camped while waiting to cross it. 2 Three days later the leaders went through the camp 3 and told the people, “When you see the priests carrying the Covenant Box of the Lord your God, break camp and follow them. 4 You have never been here before, so they will show you the way to go. But do not get near the Covenant Box; stay about half a mile behind it.”
5 Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.” 6 Then he told the priests to take the Covenant Box and go with it ahead of the people. They did as he said. (Joshua 3:1-6)

Several thousand years ago, a guy named Abram headed out on a journey. No GPS, no cell phone, no map. Just God. "The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country and your people. Leave your father’s family and go to the country that I will show you."" (Genesis 12:1-2) Are you kidding me! It's hard for me to imagine the faith of Abram. He got up and went because God said go, AND HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE HE WAS HEADED!

Another guy got "break out in a cold sweat" brave. 

“The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.” 

Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:9-11 MSG)
​
I'm personally not sure which one was braver of Moses, talking back to God, or taking on the task God had given him. Whether it was hundreds or millions (depending on what you hear or read), Moses hit the road with tons of folks. And God went with them. 

But those guys are long ago and far away. Sometimes, the magnitude of their decisions and faithfulness are too much for my brain.

Flash forward to the early 1950s. A young couple with a small family decided life would be better if they left their small, rural community and moved to the big city.
 
A decade later, another family set out on a journey across the country. They were willing to leave family and friends behind to seek what they believed to be the best for their children and themselves.

Joshua, picked up the migratory story where Moses left off. He'd lived to tell, "​So He gave them rest from war on every side as He had sworn to their ancestors; none of their enemies still stood against them, for the Eternal had delivered them all into their hands. 45 Not a single one of all the good promises that He had made to the house of Israel went unfulfilled; all of them came to pass." Joshua 21:44-45 WOW! How cool is that!

With all the promises and blessings the Hebrew children had benefited from, you'd think they would have learned their lesson. Sadly, a time came when Joshua had to draw a line in the sand, "But if you are unwilling to obey the Lord, then decide today whom you will obey. Will it be the gods of your ancestors beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites here in this land? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 TLB)

He'd come to my classroom all school year for help with reading. As part of a small group of first graders, he never had much to say. Once or twice he'd mentioned he had two brothers.

Now he was coming for a little extra help this summer. DaJuan shyly kissed his Mama goodbye and walked with me down the hall. Mama couldn't have been out the front door, when he started chattering away.

DaJuan told me all about going to see the latest Ninja Turtle movie, including his favorite Turtle's role in the adventures. Then he told me all about playing basketball with Devon and Mark from his class. DaJuan talked more during our one hour session than he had during all of our visits for the whole school year. It was wonderful!

And then he changed the subject again. Matter-of-factly, and amazingly full of innocence, DaJuan told me about the day no one, not even the Ninja Turtles, could save he and his brother.

​With no malice or guile, DaJuan described the day the babysitter "got mad because she was drunk and we didn't like her macaroni and cheese." DaJuan was far more fortunate than his brother. He showed me a faint scar on his upper arm from a cigarette burn. Then he described how she had held his hand on the hot stove.

I had no words.

DaJuan went on to describe the atrocity of how his younger brother had been brutally burned. Now he doesn't have the ends of his fingers, and his skin is all different colors.

I nearly gagged from the painful and graphic images he painted. And then he ripped my heart out.

"I told my brother to run, to get away. I ran away, but my brother didn't run fast enough."

How do we comfort these children? Do we have the strength to blast holes in our bigotry, callousness, hypocrisy and amazement to let the love of a caring Heavenly Father flow through us?

Here's something else that astonished me. DaJuan wasn't looking for sympathy, or to stun me with the abuse he and his brother had suffered. He wasn't asking for anything, he was giving me something. DaJuan was giving the precious gift of his trust by telling me his story. What do I possibly have to offer him?

Dear Reader, I don't know the answers to those hard questions. I don't understand how innocents could be so tormented. I do know pain and torment come in many forms. 

​When I hear stories, like DaJuan's, I have a choice to make. I can choose cynicism, discarding any notion of a loving God. I can choose to deny the mercy He has promised. ("Let, I pray You, Your merciful kindness and steadfast love be for my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant." Psalm 119:76 AMPC)

Or, I can choose to tenaciously put my hope in the Great Physician who came to seek, save, and restore. I can choose to believe the One who promised, "Great blessings belong to those who are sad now.God will comfort them." (Matthew 5:4 ERV)

​Dear Reader, how do you process the pain of others in your world? Are you as brave and trusting as DaJuan when it comes to sharing your own challenges? I pray you find comfort in the One who loved you first and loves you most, however pain touches your world.

Here's one of my favorite comforting passages:
"Yet I was the one who taught Israel to walk. I took my people up in my arms,but they did not acknowledge that I took care of them. I drew them to me with affection and love. I picked them up and held them to my cheek; I bent down to them and fed them." (Hosea 11:3-4 GNT)

I absolutely love the beach! It's my favorite brain break destination. Gentle waves and warm sand, what's not to love?

At my personal beach, there are no crowds, and it's a perfect 80 degrees. Warm enough to get in the water, but not hot enough for heat stroke.

Do you have a vacation planned for this summer? Are you the nature type, or are city sites more to your liking? There's so much to see and do in our world, sometimes it's hard to decide, isn't it?

For Tom and I, our trip to the Rockies in May counted as our vacation this year. So far, our only other excursion out of town is for Rachael's wedding the end of July. That may be all the traveling we can handle for a while.

​This is a summer of transition for me. That means more writing. It also means more time in Scripture, prayer, and reflection. I don't know any other way to put this: if I firmly believe I'm called to write, I want to make sure I'm writing the right words.

I'm excitedly counting down days until I hear back from the agent and the editor I submitted my work to last month. It's so much easier to wait with the Lord than by myself: "Your love never fails, O Lord, for You pay every person back according to his deeds." (Psalm 62:12 VOICE) 

​In the meantime, one story is rewriting itself, and two others are in their infancy. Whether it's moving ahead with one of these publishers, or pitching to a different one, I want to be ready for what the Lord wants me to do.

Dear Reader while you're out and about, I hope you will continue to stop by. For the time being, I'll be checking in Mondays and Thursdays (instead of Monday, Wednesday and Friday), plus a Sunday greeting. (I've discovered how easy it is to make memes!)

My prayers for you will be for sweet, summer days, leisurely, summer nights, and enough adventures and challenges to feed your soul and spirit.

​"He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength. He helps me do what honors him the most." (Psalm 23:3 TLB)

Dear Reader, if you ever need a dose of humility, hang out with middle schoolers. Just when you think you've got them figured out, they "flip the script"!

I have to be honest: teaching middle school isn't exactly my favorite assignment. Last summer, God decided to have a humorous moment. Our new principal offered me a part-time teaching position in middle school social studies. As I wavered, Tom reminded me that I need a new car, and the additional income would come in handy.

It was a challenging school year, to say the least. I've always loved social studies, so the content was fun for me. (I know, NERD ALERT!) What was even more fun was adding surprising info, beyond the text, to class discussions. I figured if the students were going to keep me on my toes, I should return the favor.

​By the last quarter of school, I thought we might be turning the corner. By the last month of school, I thought we had finally begun building trust. And maybe we had to a certain extent.

The 8th grade graduation is typically the week before school is out for students in grades K - 7. The 7th graders traditionally serve in hospitality roles for the graduation services.

Unsure of what to expect at my first parochial graduation, my gorgeous 7th grade girls totally rocked my world before I could even get in the door. Could these be the same girls I'd seen in class earlier in the day? In a few short hours they had transformed from rambunctious adolescents into beautiful young women.

The surprises were just beginning. On the last day, at our school talent show, several students dazzled the audience, including Marie. Isn't she beautiful! I had no idea she was a dancer. It never occurred to me that this very quiet, hearing impaired student had found her expression in such an unlikely way.

Why didn't I know that she was a dancer? Had I been so entrenched in covering the material and posting grades that I had missed one of the loveliest parts of Marie. It was all I could to not weep openly during her performance.

Are there people in your world who don't seem to have a clue about you? Does it sometimes feel like they don't even see you? Dear Reader, there are still times when I allow my feelings to be hurt because someone doesn't seem to have any idea about the "real me", or care about getting to know me.

But God is SO good, all the time! We don't have to worry about if or how others perceive us. We can be confident that God knows us inside and out, AND, He still loves us! I love the way The Message describes God's understanding of each one of us:
​
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.
(Psalm 139:13-16 MSG)

Do you think there might be a diagnosis for learning disabilities in gardening? If there was, I'd be wearing that label for sure!

This is spring #10 in this house. One of the things we really liked about the neighborhood was nice lawns and mature trees. It all looked so serene. WRONG!!!

MATURE PLANTS: Tom and I learned the hard way that even with perennials, there's no such thing as "set it and forget it".​ Just like folks,flora needs regular, healthy doses of TLC: "So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall."
(1 Corinthians 10:12 ERV)