I Walk a Path

I am walking on a path. It is beautiful. Birds are chirping, leaves are rustling in the trees, the blue sky peeks through the foliage, and the sun grins its approval from behind a fluffy white cloud. This is my path. It was meant for me and I was meant for it.

Joy, pure joy.

Through the trees, I catch a movement in my peripheral. It is another sojourner on a path, headed somewhere. I glance toward them. I smile and nod. We know each other. Not personally. We know about each other. We are both travelers, following a path, taking pleasure in the journey.

I take my eyes off of my own quest to catch a glimpse of the other path. It appears to be just a smidgen smoother because I notice that the other person is making more progress than I. Perhaps my path has a steeper incline. I’ve had to work harder to go the distance I have gone.

I am probably in better shape.

I put one foot in front of the other, I turn when my path turns, I am careful to avoid roots and rocks. There are a lot of roots and rocks, I notice. I must stay focused. I can only glance for a second at the sister-path. It does not have so many obstacles. I wonder if my fellow traveler sees me stumble.

There is skill in staying the course. I have been faithful to do just that. There is also skill in choosing the path. Did I choose the right one? I strain my eyes to look ahead, though I know I should be watching the ground in front of me. My path is headed in the right direction. I’ve always known that.

I think it is.

Is that a turn up ahead? My senses tell me I should continue to go straight, but I see that my path will be veering off a bit. That can’t be right. I glance at the other traveler…my rival…who is now ahead of me. It is easy to see their path because the sun smiles more on that path than on mine. It continues to go straight. I wonder: can I cut through the trees and get on that path?

Now I’m running, but I trip and stumble on pebbles and twigs. I’m awkward and I know that I must look silly. The air is stifling. The birds mock me. The leaves overhead scratch against each other, each is vying for a chance to hide the sun from me. The clouds loom overhead and cackle at me.

This is not the way I want it. I want the other path—or even a new one all-together.

I trip and fall, but this time I don’t get up. I just sit. I sit in the dirt. My knee is bleeding. I don’t even care. But really I do. My enemy is so far ahead now that I cannot see them anymore. And in the quiet…the quiet because I’m alone…I hear a voice…a voice because I’m not alone.

I never was.

“Run the race marked out for you.”

“Why?”

“Because it was meant for you and you were meant for it.”

I look through the trees at the other path. I don’t know anything about it. Maybe it is straight and smooth all the way…but maybe it’s not. What I do know is that it was not made for me. It is not for me to take it. I look at my own path. It’s a little crooked. A winding path is more exciting anyway. I think I like it.

I think I’ll stay.

Who knows what I’ll find when my path veers up ahead. I won’t worry about it right now.

I will trust the One who marked the path for me.

And in that trust, I’ll find joy.

My Favorite Part About Easter

http://goo.gl/YkVmjL

What's your favorite part about Easter Sunday? I've seen talk on Facebook about new clothes, about dying Easter eggs, about re-enactments at church, and about Easter Egg Hunts. For me, the best part about Easter Sunday is when I see people for the first time that day and I get to say "He is risen!" and then they respond, "Hallelujah!" or "He is risen indeed!" Before the days of Facebook, I would text all my believing friends with this message and then over the next few hours I enjoyed the "beeps" that came back to me with the beautiful answers. My heart is full and I feel even a bit of excitement, like, "Wow, He really is risen! This is big! This is worth celebrating!"

This morning, as I read the Resurrection Story in Luke, I was struck by the timing of events. The first thing that happens is "very early in the morning" (v.1), then "when they came back from the tomb," (v. 9) and then "that same day" (v. 13) and when the day was "almost over" (v. 29). All day long the believers struggled. "They were wondering" (v. 4, 12), "they did not believe" (v. 11), their faces were "downcast" (v. 17) and "they talked and discussed these things with each other," (v. 15). It wasn't until Easter night that there was any real celebrating.

The two men who walked 7 miles to Emmaus arrived when the day was nearing its end. They ate dinner but then immediately returned to Jerusalem. That would have taken them a couple of hours. So it had to be the evening by the time they joined the eleven apostles and the others who were with them. Even then, when Jesus appeared and said, "Peace be with you," it took them a few minutes to receive that peace. They jumped in fear. They thought He was a ghost! Jesus showed them His hands and feet. And guess what, they still did not believe "because of joy and amazement." Those poor disciples had such a roller coaster day!

The disciples' sadness and then confusion and their struggle to believe something way too amazing to dare to believe, did not change the truth: Jesus was risen from the grave. That confusing First Easter is like our lives. Jesus has redeemed us, and we spend our days happy, sad, confused, we struggle with unbelief, we don't dare to believe something so joyful, so amazing, but all along the way it doesn't change the fact: Jesus is Risen. He has conquered the worst that can happen to us. How can we not trust Him with all the lesser things along the way?

Today I am so happy to smile and say, "He is risen" and I get excited all over again when I hear the response. But today I also remember that it wasn't until Easter Evening that Jesus' disciples really "got it." They wrestled with the facts, but it never changed the truth. And at the end of the day, Jesus Himself brought them peace. What a wonderful reason to celebrate.

He is risen indeed!

Squishy

Last week I made this little cactus garden. Isn't it funny that I lived in desert areas for 13 years and it's just now--now that I live on a tropical island--that I want a cactus? Anyway, look at those little guys! Don't they just make  you smile? They make me smile when I see them.










And I think of this when I look at them:




They are so small and cute, but you can't touch them. My little squishies...that aren't so squishy, they are pokey. But they make me smile, they are a fun part of God's creation and I enjoy them. Let's hope that I can keep them alive. They are cacti for Pete's sake. Surely I can...

Unofficial Book Review: The Book Thief

Recently I listened to The Book Thief on audio book.

Audio books are fantastic because I can listen to them in the car, when I'm cleaning house and when I cook. Thanks to my library in Ennis, TX, I can check out audio books and download them from way over here in little 'ole Penang.

I've wanted to read The Book Thief for a long time so I put myself on the waiting list for the audio book at the library. (Any librarians out there who can tell me why there are only two copies of the audio book download? How come you can't have unlimited downloads?) At any rate, I've been on the list for months and two weeks ago I got my long-awaited email. I had three days to download it and two weeks to listen to it.

I do a lot of carting kids to school, cooking (not a lot of cleaning, I'm just gonna be real about that one), but I don't do a audio book's amount of it within a two-week period...apparently. By Thursday of the second week, I could tell I was not gonna finish it, but I was SOOOOOO close. Then I discovered the little feature on my ipad that let's me hear the reading at 1X, 1.25X, 1.5X or 2X the speed. Cool! I upped it to 1.25X and listened a little. Then up a little more...a little more...I heard the last hour's worth in 30 minutes. It was not relaxing, but at least I finished the book.

I have not seen the movie and don't know if I will. I did, however, really enjoy the book. This is my unprofessional review, not necessarily my recommendation.

What I loved about The Book Thief:

1. I loved the descriptions. I love words and I love it when they are cleverly put together. Markus Zusak is a great describer. He uses sounds to describe sights, textures to describe sounds, sights to describe tastes, etc. Not what I would expect, and it was delightful.

2. I enjoyed a creative narrator. Original idea!

3. I prefer to learn things from great stories rather than bland textbooks :) This was a great story and I learned new things about the time period.

What I did not love about The Book Thief:

1. Well, the subject was hard, of course.

2. I did not like the bad language, but was grateful that much of it was in German so I didn't catch it!

If you love a great story, creative writing, and historical fiction, you just may enjoy The Book Thief too!