On my screen saver I have Pepe Le Pew. At this age, I know I should be a little more sophisicated but I love Pepe Le Pew. The artist in me loves the contrast of black and white....the mother in me recognizes the mischievous but yet innocent look on his face ( kind of like my children at certain ages in their lives)...the child in me laughs at his antics (and the fact that he gets away with them)...the adventurer in me dreams of far-away people in far-away places when he speaks with the foreign and mysterious accent that he has been given....and yes, the romantic in me blushes every time he amorously pursues the unattainable (not sure that's a word but you get the point).
Hang in there with me...I know at this point you are thinking that I don't have enough to do...that I need to get a life...and "how old is this woman!?". After all, you have read this far so maybe I have hooked you! When I was sitting at the desk with the computer on, and was gazing into the face of good old Pepe, this came to me......
All the things in the first paragraph are feelings and there is another side...take a REAL skunk...their coloring might look great but, the fact of the matter is that, they can emit a horrible foul smell that clings to you for almost life, or seems like it, if you have ever been sprayed by one. Just passing by their road kill can cause me to gag and turns my stomach for miles. They are also pesky... skunks dig holes in lawns and golf courses, eat your garden produce, prey on poultry and waterfowl, damage beehives, den under buildings,and are a host for rabies. That sure ain't my dreamland Pepe. Okay, so we are having an animal lesson. No....(but the homeschooling teacher is never far away)!
It came to me that this funny, amorous, cutie-pie of a skunk can be alot like sin! This being the beginning of Lent and all, I have been thinking about looking real deep into my heart and also examining my motives. Sin can be alot like how I see good old Pepe Le Pew. We can turn from the reality of sin, we can look cock-eyed at sin, we can pretend that what we are doing, even if we know it is sin, is really something different. Kind of like I look at the cartoon version of Pepe instead of looking at the real animal a skunk is.
There might be sin in our lives that we think is not hurting anyone....like looking at a skunk and calling him "sooo cute" when he is really running around with rabies and rabies is no prize! Or there could be sin in our lives that is keeping us from bearing fruit...just like that presky skunk that is in our garden eating all the vegetables. We want to produce a garden full of wonderful fruit. We do not want the fruit to be eaten away by sin. What about the sin that preys on our relationships...our children, spouses, family and friends!? There is our cartoon, we can fool ourselves and say we are just being bold, suave, aggressive...but is that sin like that old skunk, lying in wait to prey on waterfowl and poultry. Or maybe there is sin in our lives that is pushed down deep within us and has made a home for itself, moved in and become comfortable. We are pretty comfortable with Pepe and his amorous pursuits but maybe there is sin in us like a real skunk that has burrowed in us and has made a den for himself....settled in, taken over a part of our hearts.
These are the ways sin can look different from the reality....just like the cartoon versus the real life animal. So during these next forty days, take a good look...look hard and deep. Pray and most of all listen. Listen for the Lord to reveal to you the sin that needs to be outrooted, exposed, uncovered to be what it is and then repent and turn from it. This Lent, let's uncover the reality of the sin in our life....then we can look at Pepe and see him for what he is ...just one really cute, funny and amorous cartoon character and just that!
Friday, March 03, 2006
Prayer is needed!
We need to be joined in prayer....my parents are in Washington State visiting my aunt when they received word from another aunt that my cousin had been taken to a hospital in Vancover, B.C. She had been struggling with a severe headache. Through the night before last, at the hospital, they could not get the headache under control. They did a MRI and discovered a brain anorysm. I opened my mail this morning and the following was sent 1am west coast time:
Dear Ones,
Just found out that they are operating Lila at this time. Understand the report is that she has a 20% chance of survival from the operation. The doctor says that it is the largest brain anorysm that they have ever seen in that hospital in Vancover. The doctor also said that if she does survive that there is a 50% chance that she will live over 2 weeks. Please pray!
Love, Dad
My cousin needs prayer and now. Please pass this on...will update when I get info. Thank you for joining me in prayer and being a part of my family in Christ Jesus!
Colette
Dear Ones,
Just found out that they are operating Lila at this time. Understand the report is that she has a 20% chance of survival from the operation. The doctor says that it is the largest brain anorysm that they have ever seen in that hospital in Vancover. The doctor also said that if she does survive that there is a 50% chance that she will live over 2 weeks. Please pray!
Love, Dad
My cousin needs prayer and now. Please pass this on...will update when I get info. Thank you for joining me in prayer and being a part of my family in Christ Jesus!
Colette
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
That six letter word!...
The definition in my Christian dictionary of humble is this: "Not proud or haughty; having or showing a modest estimate of one's own importance". A word with just six little letters but a character trait that is so hard to gain. The opposite of humble is proud...and I think, we as humans, are born with some pride in some area of our lives. I know that because of pride God has had to humble me and let me tell you...it ain't pretty!
My husband and I use to get tickets for "Duck Unlimited" dinners. The organization promotes the wood duck and it is usually a "guy's" thing. They have a bar with your usual "Hooters" girls serving the drinks, a buffet with fried quail, BIG steamed shrimp, and usually some big roasted hog laid out in the middle of the table. And then there is the auction...shotguns, outdoor signed prints of ducks and deer and BIG fish, more guns, wilderness trips to hunt some kind of fowl or four legged creature, more guns, and the big prize...the newest four wheeler on the market. Anyway, we always get tickets and go for business reasons. One of my husband's biggest clients is the president and there are many engineers, contractors, DOT management men there. Alot of people to see and alot of being seen for my husband. My husband always takes me even though (other than the Hooter's girls) there are not many women. He has always seen it as an opportunity for a night out for us and I do enjoy it. I know alot of the men and know a good bit about the projects my husband works on. So, after going a few times....yes, I got a little proud...proud you say! Oh, yes, it was fun for me to be arm candy for the night and show those Hooter girls a little class! That was my mistake...you see, no one would have ever guessed I felt that way...pride can be an easy thing to hide...but boy, it had welled up in me. This particular Thursday, that night being our dinner, I bought some really cool white designer slacks, a white silk blouse, and headed for my stylist. She was going to give me some blonde highlights, give me a cut and then fix my hair and all in time to meet up with my hubby. I wore my designer outfit....I would have no time to go home. Proud, oh yea, when I walked into the room they where going to know I had arrived! Well, I did turn heads, everyone knew I arrived but not in the way my pride and vanity wanted. You see, my stylist (who is no longer my stylist) made a boo-boo on my hair. My whole head came out white...yes, white. I had to go there. My husband was waiting with two other couples and there was no way to contact him. So, when I walked through the doors that night for dinner, I turned heads, people talked about me, I made an impression.....but not because I looked so sophisticated, not because I looked like I had class, not because of any of the reasons my pride had been setting me up for. They noticed me because I looked like one huge marshmallow! And I mean, one BIG WHITE MARSHMALLOW! The last thing I had earlier that day was a "modest estimate of my importance" but boy, did that put me in my place. I was humbled!
How many of you like the picture on your driver's license? In the past, I thought my pictures were all pretty good up until the dreadful picture of 2001. I had become very self -conscious about having my picture taken. I was going through that "getting old" phase and I had gained some weight and it seemed to me that, in most pictures, my head was the size of a balloon, my eyes the size of LeSeur tiny peas and wrinkles that looked like the San Andeas fault. But, this was the year I had to renew my license and that meant getting my picture taken. When it came time to stand in the little red box and look at the camera....well, let's say it was beyond the worse picture I have ever taken. I cocked my head to one side, squinted, but at the same time rolled my eyes almost into the back of my head and did something really weird with my mouth. I don't think what I did could be classified as a smile...it kind of looked like a snarl with my mouth opened. Let's put it this way...when I showed it to my husband he looked at it and told me he willing to pay WHATEVER it cost and get the picture redone. It became such a joke within my family that every time we would go to Wal-Mart or Target and someone would ask to see my license when writing a check they would stand behind me and shake their heads to the checkout person like they were giving the person a warning. Once in a while they would actually say "Oh, you don't really want her to show you that!" It was all in fun...the fact being that I had "exalted myself"...age wasn't going to show on me...I had been a model in my younger days and I was always going to be able to look good...I was hiding pride....I was prideful of the way I looked and every time I had to pull out that driver's license I was brought to a place where I had to "have a modest estimate of my own importance". Yes, I was humbled over and over and over!
There are many more....things that happen in life to make you realize that you are "not as important" as you think you are. All of us have been there and felt that! And, yes, I have been humbled and then had to examine my own motives, my own desires, my own private thoughts. I have had to swallow my pride, recognize why I did what I did, repent and then try to put it behind me. Some of the time that has been easy, other times not so easy, especially when it involves other people and you have to "show your face again", those times when my humbling is more public than private.
But go on I do and with a changed heart. My goal and aim to do as it imstructs us in Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle". When I loose my way and start thinking like the world would have me think, my Father gently stands with me while I learn my lesson and then He is there with loving arms to welcome me back. He continually reminds me that by the world's standards I might be lowly, and unimportant...I might not be the most liked or the smartest. But, by His standards I was hand picked...I was made just as I should have been and that I am so important in the heavenly realm that death came upon my Father so that I might live....mistakes and all.
Today, with ashes on my forehead I am humbled...I am humbled because with all my failures..with all my imperfections...with stubborness and willfullness I have a Father who loves me anyway. Today, this humbling I am rejoicing in...a word with six sweet letters.
And what does the Lord require of me? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God. Micah 6:8
My husband and I use to get tickets for "Duck Unlimited" dinners. The organization promotes the wood duck and it is usually a "guy's" thing. They have a bar with your usual "Hooters" girls serving the drinks, a buffet with fried quail, BIG steamed shrimp, and usually some big roasted hog laid out in the middle of the table. And then there is the auction...shotguns, outdoor signed prints of ducks and deer and BIG fish, more guns, wilderness trips to hunt some kind of fowl or four legged creature, more guns, and the big prize...the newest four wheeler on the market. Anyway, we always get tickets and go for business reasons. One of my husband's biggest clients is the president and there are many engineers, contractors, DOT management men there. Alot of people to see and alot of being seen for my husband. My husband always takes me even though (other than the Hooter's girls) there are not many women. He has always seen it as an opportunity for a night out for us and I do enjoy it. I know alot of the men and know a good bit about the projects my husband works on. So, after going a few times....yes, I got a little proud...proud you say! Oh, yes, it was fun for me to be arm candy for the night and show those Hooter girls a little class! That was my mistake...you see, no one would have ever guessed I felt that way...pride can be an easy thing to hide...but boy, it had welled up in me. This particular Thursday, that night being our dinner, I bought some really cool white designer slacks, a white silk blouse, and headed for my stylist. She was going to give me some blonde highlights, give me a cut and then fix my hair and all in time to meet up with my hubby. I wore my designer outfit....I would have no time to go home. Proud, oh yea, when I walked into the room they where going to know I had arrived! Well, I did turn heads, everyone knew I arrived but not in the way my pride and vanity wanted. You see, my stylist (who is no longer my stylist) made a boo-boo on my hair. My whole head came out white...yes, white. I had to go there. My husband was waiting with two other couples and there was no way to contact him. So, when I walked through the doors that night for dinner, I turned heads, people talked about me, I made an impression.....but not because I looked so sophisticated, not because I looked like I had class, not because of any of the reasons my pride had been setting me up for. They noticed me because I looked like one huge marshmallow! And I mean, one BIG WHITE MARSHMALLOW! The last thing I had earlier that day was a "modest estimate of my importance" but boy, did that put me in my place. I was humbled!
How many of you like the picture on your driver's license? In the past, I thought my pictures were all pretty good up until the dreadful picture of 2001. I had become very self -conscious about having my picture taken. I was going through that "getting old" phase and I had gained some weight and it seemed to me that, in most pictures, my head was the size of a balloon, my eyes the size of LeSeur tiny peas and wrinkles that looked like the San Andeas fault. But, this was the year I had to renew my license and that meant getting my picture taken. When it came time to stand in the little red box and look at the camera....well, let's say it was beyond the worse picture I have ever taken. I cocked my head to one side, squinted, but at the same time rolled my eyes almost into the back of my head and did something really weird with my mouth. I don't think what I did could be classified as a smile...it kind of looked like a snarl with my mouth opened. Let's put it this way...when I showed it to my husband he looked at it and told me he willing to pay WHATEVER it cost and get the picture redone. It became such a joke within my family that every time we would go to Wal-Mart or Target and someone would ask to see my license when writing a check they would stand behind me and shake their heads to the checkout person like they were giving the person a warning. Once in a while they would actually say "Oh, you don't really want her to show you that!" It was all in fun...the fact being that I had "exalted myself"...age wasn't going to show on me...I had been a model in my younger days and I was always going to be able to look good...I was hiding pride....I was prideful of the way I looked and every time I had to pull out that driver's license I was brought to a place where I had to "have a modest estimate of my own importance". Yes, I was humbled over and over and over!
There are many more....things that happen in life to make you realize that you are "not as important" as you think you are. All of us have been there and felt that! And, yes, I have been humbled and then had to examine my own motives, my own desires, my own private thoughts. I have had to swallow my pride, recognize why I did what I did, repent and then try to put it behind me. Some of the time that has been easy, other times not so easy, especially when it involves other people and you have to "show your face again", those times when my humbling is more public than private.
But go on I do and with a changed heart. My goal and aim to do as it imstructs us in Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle". When I loose my way and start thinking like the world would have me think, my Father gently stands with me while I learn my lesson and then He is there with loving arms to welcome me back. He continually reminds me that by the world's standards I might be lowly, and unimportant...I might not be the most liked or the smartest. But, by His standards I was hand picked...I was made just as I should have been and that I am so important in the heavenly realm that death came upon my Father so that I might live....mistakes and all.
Today, with ashes on my forehead I am humbled...I am humbled because with all my failures..with all my imperfections...with stubborness and willfullness I have a Father who loves me anyway. Today, this humbling I am rejoicing in...a word with six sweet letters.
And what does the Lord require of me? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God. Micah 6:8
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