fine wine

“Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.”
John 2: 6-8 NLT

The first miracle of Jesus. He took ordinary water and turned it into the finest wine. For the past couple years this passage has been on my heart. I’ve known about for over thirty years but recently it has taken on new meaning.

It speaks to transformation. Taking something mundane and ordinary and transforming it into something precious and valuable. I no longer see this as just Jesus’ first miracle but I see it as a foreshadowing of what He came here to do. Change you…change me….from broken, lost souls into people who live, breathe and move in Him so that His beauty is reflected in our spirits.

May you know today that if you are intentional about pursuing Jesus that you are transforming every moment, moving closer to the person you were created to be. Allow Him to continue the transformation as you give more and more of yourself over to Him.

Grace and peace,
Deb

solitude

“Loneliness is the poverty of self, solitude is the richness of self. “

Luci Shaw, Breathe for the Bones

Many times people confuse solitude with loneliness. They do not like being alone or feeling alone. But solitude is not being alone. Solitude is being present to the Creator God. It is being more alive and more present than you ever thought possible. It is feeling fullness in the absence of all things.,…except God. What more could you desire?

Consider spending some time today in solitude, being completely open and present to God. Doing this on a consistent basis will change the way you see yourself, see the world and see God.

Grace and peace,
Deb

creativity

“We who believe we bear God’s image will realize how that image includes the capacity to imagine and create, because God himself is an imaginative Creator.”
Luci Shaw, Breath for the Bones

My friend, deAnn , has a passion for the arts and the place where they intersect with God’s spirit…which is everywhere. I hear her speak with such enthusiasm about how she sees His creative beauty everywhere she looks and how she knows there is an artist in each of us because we all carry God’s creativity inside us. I am still looking for mine.

I occasionally write poetry but it only comes when God stirs my heart. My ability to draw is limited to stick people although they are very fine stick people if I must say. But, I look at incredible paintings, I see beautiful photographs, I witness graceful dance, I hear a stirring song and I wish those were my gifts. But even though I don’t possess those gifts, I certainly can enjoy them and celebrate them in others.

Look for the creativity in you. Nurture that part of God that is within you. If you need encouragement in this endeavor check out deAnn’s website, Vertical Creativity :
“We who believe we bear God’s image will realize how that image includes the capacity to imagine and create, because God himself is an imaginative Creator.”
Luci Shaw, Breath for the Bones

My friend, deAnn , has a passion for the arts and the place where they intersect with God’s spirit…which is everywhere. I hear her speak with such enthusiasm about how she sees His creative beauty everywhere she looks and how she knows there is an artist in each of us because we all carry God’s creativity inside us. I am still looking for mine.

I occasionally write poetry but it only comes when God stirs my heart. My ability to draw is limited to stick people although they are very fine stick people if I must say. But, I look at incredible paintings, I see beautiful photographs, I witness graceful dance, I hear a stirring song and I wish those were my gifts. But even though I don’t possess those gifts, I certainly can enjoy them and celebrate them in others.

Look for the creativity in you. Nurture that part of God that is within you. If you need encouragement in this endeavor check out deAnn’s website, Vertical Creativity: .

Discover the artist within.

Grace and peace,
Deb

night

Darkness may seem like a place where nothing is happening. Consider a seed in the ground. It is surrounded by darkness. It seems silent and dormant. But in that dark, solitary place, it germinates. Above the surface, you cannot tell that anything is happening. But below, new life begins.

It is the same with you and I. There are times when I feel as if I am separated from God’s presence. If I rely only on my feelings or my senses, I might believe that God is not there, not working. I must come to a place of trust. In that place I would know that He is there whether I can feel him or not. God may seem to be hidden but He is present and working.

Do you feel like He isn’t there? Do you feel separated from Him? Do you feel like you are in the dark? Know that He is there. Know that He is working even though you cannot sense it. All you need to do is surrender to the work He wishes to do. Consider what that might look like today.


Grace and peace,
Deb

darkness

And when you have drawn
your cloak of night about you,
and when
you have rolled back
day sky
and pinned it to the horizon,
and when
you have given yourself
to the darkness,
and when you have blurred
the familiar shapes
into uncertain shadows,
then,
thou tender of darkness
and of day
do not forget me.

Jan Richardson

As you watch and wait, you may not see anything. It may seem like darkness around you. He is present…in the dark.

Grace and peace,
Deb

attentiveness

"This is the first, wildest and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists and that is is built entirely out of attentiveness."

Mary Oliver

When we are not attentive, we miss life. We live in the past or we live in the future but we miss the now. And now is what we have. Now is when God is active and working...now is when we get the chance to participate with Him. Obviously we can see where He was in hindsight but what a beautiful thing it is to see He in the now.

But to do that we need to pay attention to what He might be saying, how He might be working and then make the choice to live into that.

My prayer for you today is that you will be aware and watching so you don't miss the presence of God, in this moment.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy your sabbath

integrity

"If you are here unfaithfully with us,
You're causing great damage."

Rumi

When we are with others unauthentically, we hurt them and we hurt ourselves. To bring all of who we are to God and to our community is to be in integrity.

Consider those places where you come with less than who you truly are. Ask yourself why you would do that and reflect on what God might want to say to you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

blind faith

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

Thomas Merton

I invite you to take some time today to reflect on this quote.

Grace and peace,
Deb

darkness to light

“Mother Teresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted are the greatest poverty”. To this I will add: Please believe that one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realties.”

Adeline Yen Mah

Recently, I have had interactions with four women, all of whom I know had difficult childhoods. As I sat with them, I was struck by the reality of their lives today. If anyone of them had lived into what their families had wanted them to believe about themselves, they would be living a very different life. But…something happened to them. God. He moved into their heart and began the slow process of changing how they saw themselves. He began by giving them glimpses of how He sees them. Now, they are all living beautiful, strong, affirming lives.

And, do you know the most incredible part of it? He uses other people to reflect His love…. to be Jesus with skin on. Through others…through their eyes, through their actions, through their acceptance, through their reaching out, healing begins.

It is in the context of relationship that people change. It is not always easy but it is worth the effort. Then, as we heal, we begin to give away what was given to us.

If you know someone who is hurting, consider reaching out. If you are the wounded one, allow others to come near and care to you. If you have been restored to life through God’s healing touch and the love of others, give what you’ve received.

Grace and peace,
Deb

margins

I am tired. Just being honest, folks. Somehow I have allowed the margins around my life to become thinner and thinner. That means I wake up and realize I am not living what I preach. I didn’t sleep well last night and did not get up as early as I would have liked this morning. So…no intentional time with God. Doesn’t mean I didn’t sense His presence today…I did in so many ways. But I want time…no…I need time to sit down and reflect on the ways I saw Him work and move, how I heard His voice.

This isn’t being legalistic about how much time I must set aside to be with Him….or what I need to do during that time. It’s more about how I feel inside when I don’t have time with Him.I just want to be real about living what I talk about.

Hope you are carving out margins to protect your inner life. We all stray and get back on the ‘crazy hamster wheel’ of life….but, when you do, notice it and begin, as you can, to re-establish those margins. Tomorrow – yeah, I’m gonna have some margins tomorrow.

Grace and peace,
Deb

vulnerability

“It's so sad how we can go through life hating people, thinking that they are so different from us. It is only when we see them at their weakest point, seeing their vulnerability, that we start to realize how similar we all actually are to one another.”

Unknown

Last night I had the opportunity to spend time with some awesome women. I am part of a group of women who are on a journey. We are being intentional about looking for Jesus as He is showing up in the ordinary parts of our lives.

We do this as we share the great things we see Him doing. We also share the places where we are broken and how we see Him showing up in the midst of our brokenness.

It is a frightening thing…to share our brokenness with each other. Logic would tell us that if others knew the dark side of our hearts they would run from us. And I truly believe that is what the Evil One would love to have us believe. It keeps us separated from each other. He tells us that we are the only one who struggles with ___________. You fill in the blank. When we buy into that, we keep quiet…we put on masks….we put distance between ourselves and others.

But…usually, the opposite happens. As we begin to take off the masks and share, we realize that we have much more in common than not. It can bond us together in a powerful way.

Take the risk to share yourself with someone today…really share who you are and what God is doing in your life. Be real, be vulnerable.

Thank you to the women in my life who are real and vulnerable with me. You enrich my life……..

Grace and Peace,
Deb

risk

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

C. S. Lewis

I have friends who are afraid to love. They have been hurt and want to avoid being hurt again at all costs. They think that it is safest to not love at all. They keep others at arms length.

I understand the fear. But what they don’t see is that to choose to keep your heart closed off to hurt means you keep your heart closed off to joy. Our hearts are not capable of only letting in certain things. When we decide to keep out hurt we keep out joy.

Loving others involves risk. It always has and it always will. Humans aren’t perfect. There are those that will hurt us every chance they get and we need to able to identify who they are and set up appropriate boundaries.. But, there are others….(and I think there are far more of these!) who will love us well, even if imperfectly. All of us love imperfectly. I do, you do…all of us. If people never took a chance on me because of what others had done to them, I’d have no one in my life.

Be willing to risk. God created us to live in community and not as loners. Risk….risk being yourself with others, risk letting others in, risk being real….risk being hurt. Know that whatever comes your way, God is able to walk you through it.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy your sabbath

the aunties

As the years go by, I am noticing something. I do not look like I used to! Surprise, surprise. It can be difficult to see the changes that time brings. Anne Lamott, in one of her books, has a chapter called “The Aunties”. She is referring to her derriere. The Aunties are not what they used to be She talks about not wanting to go out in a bathing suit because she is self conscious about The Aunties. She is constantly comparing herself to other women..younger women. Then she realizes that what she does possess is the wisdom that only age brings. It is a beauty that cannot be matched by a young, fit body. And she forms a new appreciation and respect for The Aunties.

I am beginning to appreciate that. I am starting to love my wisdom; a wisdom that comes from God. I am learning to appreciate the beauty that comes with age…maybe not a physical beauty but the beauty of knowing God in an intimate way.

I am constantly trying to re-align my values with His…that how I look is not as important as how I am. That what the world values is not what God values. Some days I do better than others but I think the days seeing it from God’s point of view are getting more numerous.

Today, may you value who God made you to be. May you value being known more than being beautiful. And may you thank Him for the wisdom that He has given you. Enjoy today and honor the aunties...no matter what your age. :0)

Grace and peace,
Deb

deep well

“Everything about our modern lives fights against taking time to satisfy the needs and longings of the soul. Yet if there is one place I am allowed to be selfish, it’s in the care of my soul. Out of such selfishness, I become more selfless in caring for the needs of those in my sphere of influence.”

Stephen Macchia

Many would say that the practice of silence and solitude is selfish…even ‘navel gazing’. It’s true that I am protective of my time in the morning. I want to be alone…I want to be alone with God. I love that time. But…I know that when I spend that time, I am so much more available for others throughout the day. Not only to the people I love but those I come in contact with. I see those interactions as being orchestrated by God. I can give out of a deep, full well, rather than trying to give out of a well that is dry because I haven’t taken the time to pay attention to my own relationship with God.

To be sure…the introspective life is one of investing time in yourself. But if I do it to only enrich myself, I am missing the point. One reason God gives His love and presence to me so that I can give it to others.

May you take the time to invest in your relationship with God. May you spend time just sitting in His presence. May you take the riches He shares with you during that time and carry them into your day. Share them with those He brings into your path…and go to bed tonight knowing that you gave deeply from the well of God’s love.

Grace and peace,
Deb

with new eyes

Years ago, I picked up a wonderful little book called With New Eyes by Margaret Becker. I had been familiar with her before as she was one of my favorite female contemporary Christian recording artists. What I discover through this book was that she even a better writer.

In With New Eyes, she takes different situations in her life and looks at them through a different lens….they are all part of God’s plan. What a beautiful perspective!

That is what I am trying to do with whatever comes into my life. I want to be able to step back and look for God’s presence, for His fingerprints all over whatever is happening. If I say that I know He holds everything, it needs to be more than just lip service. I need to be actively looking for it.

May you begin to look at your life and all it holds differently. May you be able to notice God’s hand in everything. May you be able to see redemption in the midst of difficulty. May you see with new eyes.

Grace and peace,
Deb

spa for the soul - meditating

“Through meditating we explore in order to know more and more of Abba. Before we find this reality, we only BELIEVE; through experiencing a relationship, we come to KNOW.”

Morton Kelsey

To know someone, I need to spend time with them. I need to talk to them and I need to listen. The more I know them, the less I need to depend on words. I have a couple of people in my life who can just look at me and know what I am feeling. There is no need to explain myself in great detail. I am known by them.

It is that way with God. In the beginning of my relationship with him I talked…a lot. Now I talk less and listen more. There is more of a comfort level there…more of a ‘knowing’. I am learning to rest in the fact that He loves me.

Considering meditating, that is reflecting, pondering on who He is. Meditate on His love and His presence. Ask for nothing more than to know Him and be known by Him.

Grace and peace,
Deb

wisps

“For sometimes the voice of God thunders into our lives, but more often than not, it wisps by us like a gentle breeze with a fragrant reminder of faraway fields”.

Brennan Manning

I love springtime. I know it is hard to talk about or think about spring right now as we stand on the edge of winter. But, let’s try.

I remember being a little girl standing in my front yard on Easter Sunday. As a child, we didn’t go to church accept on the major holidays, so I am decked out in my Easter dress (with hat!). I cannot remember going to church that day but I can remember the smells. I remember that damp, early morning smell. Do you know what I am talking about? It’s that rich smell of earth and dew. It is mixed with the smell of newly mowed grass…a smell that’s fresh and clean and sticks to the bottom of your shoes. It lingers when you get in the car. Those smells take me right back to that morning. It’s a lovely memory.

What if God moves in our lives like that? Like a gentle wisp of fragrance? But to notice it I need to pay attention. I have to be aware. I have to gather in the subtle evidence with all my senses.

Be attentive…allow the fragrance of His love to permeate your life. Then, when you face the edge of winter in your spiritual life, you will be able to recall its sweet scent and know that spring is just around the corner.

Grace and peace,
Deb

luggage

“Yet here we sit, with our souls tucked away in this marvelous luggage, mostly insensible to the ways in which every spiritual practice begins with our body. Our bodies have shaped our views of the world, just as the world has shaped our views of our bodies.”
Barbara Brown Taylor

Did you ever think of your body as ‘marvelous luggage’? If that is what we are calling it I would rather have the carry-on size the oversized bag! And, if I could choose I’d have a nifty one-of-kind designer look rather than the run-of-the mill black bag. But, I didn’t get a vote. My eyes are blue, my hair, auburn and my height, 5’6”. There are some things I can have some control over…like if I am the regular size bag or the overweight, ‘extra $50 charge’ bag, but for the most part, my body is what it is. And, it seems as if I spend more time wishing it were different than I do honoring it for what it is.
I don’t think it has occurred to me before that every spiritual practice begins with my body. What a beautiful thought. I want to remember this…I want to see my body as the exact luggage God gave me to travel this journey in and I want to care for it so that it holds up for whatever He asks of me. It is the physical gift that He gave me to house my spirit…and it allows me to express my worship to Him in so many ways.
Today, take a few minutes to take a good look at the ‘marvelous luggage’ God gave you. Lift a prayer thanking Him for the gift that is you.
Grace and peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy the sabbath

listen

Life is chaotic.
It’s loud and constantly moving.
No time alone.
No space.
No intentionality.
Just moving from thing to thing….task to task.
Keep moving.
Don’t stop.
It may pass you by.
The world may fall off its axis.

What? Be still?
Learn to listen?
Why?
God’s voice?
Afraid of what I might hear…
condemnation,
fear,
shame,
rejection….
But…what if…
He wants to speak something different into my life….
like love,
acceptance
forgiveness
peace,
joy,
value.
That is what He is offering.

I only need to listen….
Listen and accept.
Be still,
listen
and
hear.

struggles

Move over the face of
my deep,
my darkness,
my endless restless chaos,
and create,
O God;
trouble me,
comfort me,
stir me up
and calm me,
but do not cease
to breathe
your Spirit into
my wakening soul.

Jan Richardson

No matter how I feel, no matter what I am going through, He is there and can redeem it.
What are you struggling with today? What is troubling your spirit? What has you losing sleep? What has your stomach in knots?
Notice it and offer it up to Him….let it rest there.

Grace and peace,
Deb

love letter

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

Mother Teresa




What an incredible thought…that I am part of a love letter that God is sending to the world. That my life speaks of who He is and how He loves me. It's also is a big responsibility. I think of those times when I am less than gracious with a store clerk…or the person who cuts me off in traffic…or the people in the grocery store who block the aisle with their cart while they are having a conversation with someone else.

I want to always be aware of the fact that my life is being observed. There are people who are watching to see if Jesus has really made a difference in my life or if I only know the right words to say. I definitely want my life to be part of that love letter to the world.

I invite you to think about how your life, uniquely, speaks of His love for those around you. Take some time to reflect on that beautiful truth.

Grace and peace,
Deb

nature speaks

"God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars".

Martin Luther

Nature is revelation that speaks to us everyday of God and His love of beauty. It surrounds us. From the moment the sun rises in the morning and its brilliance drowns out the stars, His creativity is on display. Trees, animals, mountains, rivers, rocks, oceans, canyons, vistas, flowers, beaches, deserts, forests, plains, gorges, fish, birds, sun, moon and stars. Everyday there is an endless array of gifts for us to view, that reflect God.

Look for Him today in the created order.

Grace and peace,
Deb

spa for the soul - prayer

Prayer as conversation with God can be deeply fulfilling. However if it is the only form our prayer takes, we may begin to sense that something is missing. There are two reasons for this. First, prayer is by nature, more than conversation. To limit its concept to dialogue is to allow some of the most profound expressions of prayer to escape our notice. Second, our ‘conversation’, may, in practice, be less a dialogue than a monologue that borders on talking at God.

Marjorie Thompson

How is prayer for you? Is it more talking than listening? Is it a monologue rather than a dialogue?

Someone once said to me that prayer is ‘intimacy with Jesus’. I think I used to look at prayer as my ‘gimme’ list. I would see how things should be and let God know. Now I am listening much more than talking. I try to listen and hear God’s heart and then allow my prayers to rise from that place.

Listening prayer, in the beginning, is much harder than ‘talking’ prayer but the depth of the intimacy is rich.

May you fill your prayer time with silence so that you may hear His still, small voice.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy the sabbath

weight

Don’t think God has ordained you to carry the entire space – time universe on your own back. God created it. God sustains it and God intends that ‘the government will be upon his shoulder’.

Boston Businessman

Do you ever feel like me and think the world will fall off it’s axis if you don’t do everything you are doing? Even if you haven’t ever thought of it like that, if you stop and think of it, is that the way you live your life?

Most women just go and go and go. We carry everything. Stuff from the family, stuff from work, stuff from ministry….. And, when we do this, we don’t have the time or the energy to focus on the things that God does want us to attend to.

I think this is part of the fall…part of thinking we are like God; the thinking that ‘if we don’t do it, it won’t get done’. For me, it also speaks to lack of trust….in God. I don’t like to say that but I think it’s true. If I feel I have to do everything, that means I don’t think God is capable of doing it…or that He needs me help.

I am trying to relax in Him and trying to build some margins into my day so I have time for Him; not time ‘doing’ something for Him but time just being with Him.

If you say to yourself that you don’t have time to be with God, consider giving some thought to how you might have your priorities ordered. Consider letting God be God and taking some of the weight off your shoulders.

Grace and peace,
Deb

holy

As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."

1 Peter 1:13

I invite you to take some time today and sit with this scripture. Ask God to share with you what he wants you to notice and offer the time to Him. Then read the verse several times, slowly. Notice what moves you and write it down in your journal. Spend some time reflecting on its meaning for you and then offer it back as prayer to God. Finish your time with a few moments of being silent and allow His truth to sink deep in to your heart.

Grace and peace,
Deb

becoming

“In the care of souls, I am far more interested in who people are and who they are becoming in Christ than I am in what they know or what they are doing.”

Eugene Peterson

I need to live this out. I do need to be more concerned with who people are than with what they know or what they do.

But the line that moves me the most is “who they are becoming in Christ.” I am ashamed to admit that I often focus on who they have not yet become. Why do you think we do that to each other? Not give each other the benefit of the doubt. Not look at each other through the lens that God uses.

And…not only do I do that to other people, I do it to myself. It is so much easier to see what I am doing wrong…how I am falling short than to think of who I am ‘becoming’ in Jesus.

This quote challenges me to love others and to love myself. It challenges me to be more gentle and more gracious in my responses to the sin and brokenness I see in others….and in myself.

May you see the person that you are becoming in God. May you see the beautiful work He is doing in others….may you recognize redemption when you witness it.

Grace and peace,
Deb

art:
Metamorphis" by Donna Elio.