I'm a human being

Hold still ........stop what you are doing and hold completely still ....... just humor me and try it ............ keep breathing ............stay like that for minute ........... what do you feel? what do you notice?

I tried this recently, it was very interesting, I became keenly aware of my physical presence right were I was..... my mind and body were in the same place for a change.

This awareness of my physical presence along with reading and listening to a few interesting teachers, Henry Nouwen, Ben Klassen and Brennan Manning, have me on a summer plan.

To be a Human "being" ....32 years old and I have figured out, I am a human being. laugh if you like because this is funny but let me explain.

I almost always have to have something to do and I don't sit still for long, I have been acting like a human "doing". In Devotion time I have to read this, read that, pray for a list.... do it.

God is teaching me, I am his beloved and that is who I am. The beloved of God is my identity, in just being I am loved, that is my value, that is all. period. Eternally from the beginning and eternally in the future God loves me(and you)and the short stint we call life we get to learn to love God back but the whole time our value is based in our being not our doing.

The last post I wrote about "wasting" time(which is really the most valuable time) with my family, this is also what I am doing with God(or trying to do) just to be with God, not try to accomplish my list of devotional tasks but just to exist with him in the present moment. Giving God the pleasure of his true value on me being recognized and for me the pleasure of knowing it. I don't need to do anything to be valued, I just am, and learning to bask in that. (Amazing, an unbelievable truth)

I looked back at a question I asked you in May, in Make a Plan?

What do you do?
What will you do this summer to intentionally connect with God?

Nothing really wrong with the question but from what I've been learning since then I want to change my question, "How will you be this summer in order to connect with God?"

So my summer goal has turned quit different than I expected, from doing to being, Goal - to "waste" time.

Note - This "being with God" does not mean that the other structured things of a "devotional" time need be ignored. It is a balance.

Today

Our day began early today, we were in the van on our way at 4:29am to see our friend Del off at the airport. There really isn't a lot happening at 4:30 in the morning on a Saturday just in case you ever wondered. With the purpose of the morning complete we were well into the day -6:00am; --you, dreaming of free clothing, caterpillars and blueberry milk, --us, filing into The Original Pancake House for some breakfast and caffeine. It's amazing how one can be so hungry at that hour when not fully awake. I self severed myself some coffee and ... hello world, I was awake. Caffeine changes everything ... and so does food! After breakfast we "wasted" the rest of the morning together. It was awesome. We found a park to watch the ducks and geese and Minos in the pond. Then to the playground, we were so early that we were the only ones there, so we played ... play structure tag, a combination between Robin hood and Sky High superhero imagination play(I love my family) and races ... it was all fun and games until I twisted my ankle. But that didn't really stop the fun because next we were off to the mall, still arriving before it opened. Ben might say this is were the fun ended but tough for him he has 4 of us femaloids, and a little shopping never killed a man(that is not a fact, just an opinion). After some successful shopping(Ben with only slight burning in his eyes) we arrived home at 1:45pm. Still time to lounge at the pool which made my ankle feel a lot better. Summer is so good!
I want you to take note of the "wasting time" ... I will post more about this soon. It's something I'm learning to do, which is ironic to say because I am trying to "be" more instead of "do".
Oh ya and I love 29 degrees. It's hot today.

Photo found at http://www.pdphoto.org/index.php

It's a Present

It was spring but it was summer I wanted; the warm days and the great outdoors.
It was summer but it was fall I wanted; the colourful leaves and the cool air.
It was fall and it was winter I wanted; the beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season.
It was winter but it was the spring I wanted; the warmth and the blossoming of nature.
I was a child but it was adulthood I wanted; to the freedom and respect.
I was twenty but it was thirty I wanted, to be mature and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged and it was twenty I wanted to be; he youth and free spirit.
I was retired and it was middle age I wanted; the presence of mind without limitation.
My life was over but I never got what I wanted.

Author unknown


I read this in a book a few years ago and it has reminds me to live more in the present.

We are all so good at complaining and seeing the grass greener somewhere else.

I've been complaining about this cool spring. What have you been complaining about?

Let's live in the present, whatever your present is, love it for it's good qualities. The next season or stage of life will come when it comes.