Beauty

Chapter 6

It's been awhile since I wrote... busy with life and no time to sit and be still and think.

Quote: " God is Beauty embodied, glory manifested. This is what I crave: I hunger for Beauty.  Is that why I must keep up the hunt?  When I cease the beauty hunt, is that why I begin to starve, waste away?"

This Beauty, this seeing life through eyes that truly see... how do I say this?  Some eyes see but never really see... do you understand?

There are days when that is me... everything passes me by and beauty is far from my vision.  Then there are days when I see so much of life's beauty... do I see it all?  No! Never!  Can we ever see it all?

Even though I have had very little time for reading and even less for writing I have found myself still living in this Eucharisteo... thankful.  When things don't go as I have planned, or when I think things are not fair... I find myself going to the but... I am thankful for.

* for time spent with my adult sons
* for children who are healthy and living fully
* for a God who knows the hearts of each parent, grandparent and friend who lost someone in the States this past week... He LOVES them and WILL comfort them,

A Needed Reminder

Yesterday was hard.  Not hard in the sense that I had some earth shattering news, or that I had no where to lay my head at night... hard in the privileged world that I live in.
A competing store has opened in my small town and yesterday I had the first taste of what business might be like with them in town.  It was quiet in my store, and at this time of year was very noticeable.
All day I tried to keep a positive front up for my staff, but on the way home I broke and cried... about what??? My first concern was my job, if I can't do the sales they will find someone who can.  I cried for the loss of income and what that will mean in my home.  I cried for the staff that I am going to have to lay off, because the business is just not there. 
I was quite through dinner which in my house is a sure sign that something is weighing on me.  B. was heading out to a meeting but suggested I spend some time in worship and communion.  Which was on my agenda anyway.
As I started to worship I was reminded that all is in HIS hands.  That nothing that happens to me happens without HIM.  I spent lots of time being thankful and listing them in my journal. 
My thoughts turned to a letter I had just received from Samaritan's purse and the trouble that is happening in the Congo.  A picture of a family living in a cave because of the unrest on the front. Small children with such sadness in their eyes... my trouble disappeared. In light of what is happening around the world, my troubles are minor. Now I pray for that family and the means to be able to help in that area of the world. 
A needed reminder that I am blessed and need to live in that... thank FULL... Eucharisteo.

all HIS good works... working.

Chapter 4

Well, the last few days have been interesting... trying to be intentional about Eucharisteo.  Thank - full.

I find my mood light and my heart soft.  Even with hormones raging... I feel peace.

Quotes.
"God gives us time. And who has time for God?"
"On every level of life, from housework to heights of prayer, in all judgement and efforts to get things done, hurry and impatience are sure marks of the amateur."
"Jesus embraces His not enough... He gives thanks... And there is more than enough.  More than enough! Eucharisteo always, always precedes the miracle."

I love that last quote... It's based on the story in the bible of the feeding of the 5000.  Not enough, give thanks, more than enough!

How often is that the case with us?  We don't have enough... time, money, food, patience, etc.  Yet when we give thanks for that which we do have... we have more than enough!   I have had this happen with money... whether it was a miracle in multiplying or it was the miracle in the change of my focus... I had more than enough. What a lesson to learn, not just now as I type in tears but for my whole life... Lord, may I be thank-FULL.

His good works... working

Learning

3. Getting a call from one of my employees to hear that an employee that I had prayed for... extreme morning sickness, is now feeling better and wants her full shifts back!

It's these eucharisteo that are easy... no thought about it.  Yet all day I was wondering what I would write.

all His good works... working

One Thousand Gifts
Chapter 3

I'm really only on chapter three????  I feel as though a light has penetrated and that I may never be the same again and it's only chapter 3?

History... I am one of those people that when someone says, "you have to read this book, it will change your life".  I don't.  Call it being stubborn, or whatever but I just can't bring myself to read that something.  This book came to me by accident.  I was looking through a friends facebook page and she had mentioned a quote from the book, which lead me to look deeper, which lead me to ask my husband to order it for me, which has lead me to this point.

The challenge is out... one thousand things you are thankful for.  Eucharisteo. 

Philippians 4:11-12 " I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.  I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

The secret is to learn.

Page 50 " The habit of discontentment can only be driven out by hammering in one iron sharper.  The sleek pin of gratitude".

Page 57 " Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped.  God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: JOY.

Page 58 " Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn't rescue the suffering".

So what does all this mean for me... to live a life full of joy?  Realizing that God is in all things and that I must learn to be content in whatever season I am in.


So I start my list... One thousand gifts.
1. The clear half moon that greeted me when I opened the back door at work this morning.
2. The apple cinnamon oatmeal that I had prepared but forgot to put together last night, but that my husband saw before bed and finished it so that we would have warm, tasty oatmeal for breakfast this morning.

all His good works... working.

A new read...

The small print reads... A Dare to Live Fully Right where you are.

I have now read three chapters and I can't think of a better advent book to read.
This last chapter was about Eucharisteo -
Charis - Grace
Eucharisteo - thanksgiving
Chara - JOY.
Really life, a full life comes from Joy which comes from thanksgiving.

Giving thanks in everything.  Gives new meaning to the scripture... in everything give thanks.
"Eucharisteo - thanksgiving - always precedes the miracle"

To enjoy this season of Christmas, what do we do?  Rush around, spend and buy, buy, buy! We all want to have the "Joy to the world" experience but how often are we left feeling flat? defeated? Disappointed?

Eucharisteo! Thanksgiving, grace and JOY!

Well, let me start right now... Thank you Lord for the gift of Joy... for the ability to find joy even when circumstances don't warrant it.  Even when the "feeling" isn't there.  I can be thankful for so much... may my eyes never become dull to the much that I have to be thankful for.

Once again, all His good works, working!

God's Hand

Through it all  can say that God has been in every step and I am trusting Him to continue His amazing work.
I had an incident at work and didn't see it coming, nor did I see how it was going to end.  But God in His amazing way had been working it all out. 
A week before, He provided for a need I didn't even have yet!  He allowed a problem that I was sure was going to take a long time to resolve to be resolved with 2 days.
Now I will trust Him with the outcome.  I pray for the person involved that this will not be the end of their story, but just the beginning of how God showed Himself.