Standing In Silence

By Pat

One of my favorite old hymns is called "In the Garden," and there is a line in it that I particularly love that says "He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing." When I think of that line, I can actually envision Jesus stepping into a clearing in a beautiful forest, and the birds stopping their songs, in awe of their Lord.

What a lovely and serene picture that is. Why can't I be more like those birds? Why do I allow the disruptions in my life to distract me from the silence I need to simply stand in silent, reverent awe of my Lord? Random thoughts enter my head. Background noises distract me and turn my attention away from God. Sometimes I just can't concentrate, even though I know that Jesus stands before me whether I can see Him or not. And so, I am learning, or at least trying to learn, to focus more fully on the Lord, and simply stop. Stop thinking, stop moving, stop singing. Just stop and be like the worshipful birds I have pictured in my head being still for Jesus. After all, God said "Be STILL and know that I am God!" (Psalm 46:10)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Life Is Funny: Look Mummy!

By MAD21

I took my daughters to a birthday party this weekend. It was the usual thing: cake, presents, swimming... and games. One of the games the kids played started them off in pairs and a roll of toilet paper. I'm sure you've probably seen it... one person is the mummy that stands totally still, and the other one wraps them up in toilet paper. The first group to wrap their team mate up with the entire roll of toilet paper, wins.

Let's just say that my six and four year old OWNED this game. You would have thought that they had practiced before hand they had it down so perfectly. But they have only played this game one other time, and that was a year ago with the same friends.

We all laughed so hard. It was awesome. As great as it was to see the girls cooperate to win a game, it was even better to see the smiling eyes and cheeks peering out from under the toilet paper, listening to the giggles of her older sister as she ran around and around covering every last inch of her body.

I suppose on some level this was a way for my oldest to get back at her sister for knocking her tooth out last week. I can live with this payback.

My friend and fellow blogger Wendy at Weight..What? has a fun carnival at her blog called "Life is Funny." Every Monday we talk about something in life that we find funny. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.

Tasty Bites: Super Summer Rice Salad

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

Just like I love hot soups in the winter, I love cold summer salads when it’s hot and sticky outside. This is one of my favorite summer salads because of all of the wonderful flavors and textures. It also makes good use of garden fare – peppers, basil, and lettuce. It keeps well and makes great leftovers for lunch the next day.

The combination of brown rice, wild rice, and garbanzo beans is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. This combination of grains and beautiful colors make this salad a good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin B6, folate, manganese and healthy phytochemicals. And you just can’t beat the crunch factor of the healthy fats in the pistachios!

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YOB: International Adventure 2010 (Part 1)

By Lara

ParthenonSeveral people expressed interest in my recent vacation. I have decided to encourage that interest by writing about the experience. It will probably take me several articles to fully describe my adventures, but people keep telling me that suspense is good for the heart. Ok. Part one. Buckle your seat belts, stow your tray tables, and put your seats in their upright positions.

I will not bore you with the details of GETTING to Greece. Suffice to say that Mandi and I rode on planes and waited in airports for many many hours. I slept a little bit. Then we got to Athens.

The Athenian airport was a blur of luggage carousels and currency exchange booths and customs agents stamping my passport. Once we cleared customs, there was a sketchy looking man in jorts with a "Cosmos" sign. I approached him and asked if he was here for us. He showed me my name in his iPhone to prove that he was legit. The background on his iPhone was a very young woman in a very small swimsuit. Nice to see taxi drivers across the globe keeping it classy.

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Leaving (Living) A Legacy

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

My daughter leaves for college in just about a month. It is amazing how fast time really flies. It just seems like yesterday when she was born and now 18 years later she is coming into her own. This has obviously sent me reflecting and thinking about my roles and what I want to be remembered for. Was I a good father, was I there when she needed me, and did I instill the proper values into her to last a lifetime? Some of those can be easily answered while the last one won't be answered until the very end. Actually in the end when we come face to face with God we will need to look back and see what legacy we have left. It is that legacy that will define us and it will be that legacy that we will be remembered for. All of us have sinned and fallen short of what God really wants for us but it is how we lived our lives that will be reviewed. We all have our highs and lows throughout our lives. There will be things we wish we could change or things that we wish we had done better. The bottom line though I believe is what have we leave behind, not the tangible items but rather the things that we are truly remembered for.

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