"On the Measure of Success"

success: n. The achievement of one's aim or goal; financial profitability; the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame.

I received a book in the mail yesterday, a complimentary copy from the publisher of the book I wrote. To use publishing terms, the book has gone "live," it has been "launched," and the receipt of it verified that fact. It is in print and is available for purchase.

This blog came into being over five years ago. I have always viewed myself as a musician, a pianist, not an author, and I still struggle with applying that term to myself. "Story teller" or "scribe" is a better description, I think. I am most comfortable with the idea I simply relate personal experiences or share insights learned in my daily life. 

Once the seed of an idea is planted within my mind, I am unable to ignore it. Coming from the mind of God, it doesn't go away, but grows and grows until I take action. That is how Tidbits and Pearls--A Book of Essays on Living Everyday Life with God came into being. I cannot tell you when it happened, but at some point it seemed like a good idea to gather together several of these posts under one cover. And so the process began. 

Rome was not built in a day. Neither was developing "the book." It turned out to be one of the most challenging, difficult things I've done--and I've had some doozies. The focus from the beginning was to point the reader Godward, to challenge status quo thoughts, to open up possibilities for new thought, to encourage focus on the spiritual rather than the short-term physical.

I am now a published author, a success, according to some. My take on that is a person can do most anything if they are willing to pay for it. I chose to self-publish a compilation of blog posts so I could maintain control. While that sounds a bit like I have OCD or Obsessive Control Disorder, in reality I didn't want to be under contract to a publisher or have an editor telling me what I could or couldn't say. It was bad enough that the company I chose wouldn't allow me to describe war as "hell." 

Success is a heady word. It suggests personal accomplishment, especially when compared to failure. After all, we all want to succeed rather than fail. The numbers game is important when the world speaks of success--the larger the number, the greater the success. Often that is translated into dollars, the world's measure of success.

Think about that for a moment--a person's success is determined by the money made or shown on a profit/loss statement, a net worth, the larger the more successful. That is not how God measures success. Value and worth as a person can never be evaluated by a currency.    

In my finite mind I would love for my book to be known around the world. Its message, that of God's desire for friendship and relationship, is an important one, and I feel it is one the world needs to hear and know. 

God, however, does not play the games the world plays and has brought my focus to "one.. for the sake of one." If only one person is pointed to Him as a result of reading those things given me to write, then the book will be a success. 

My challenge to you is to consider/reconsider how you measure success. And may it be in spiritual terms instead of those of the world. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matt. 19:19; "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Matt. 22:37

I am honored to be chosen to deliver His message. 


"What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray." Matthew 18: 11-13 

"On the Things I Learned While Writing a Book"

author: n. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.

scribe: n. Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer.

It started with a thought--one, single thought that harkened back decades. 

Many years ago--well over fifty, in fact--I was given a note written on a small piece of paper taken from a legal pad, one of those with yellow paper. On it was written the truth of God's love for me and this: "Soon you will write psalms." 

I shared it with no one and tucked it away in my wallet, occasionally taking it out to read the message even though the words were fading and it was falling apart. My purse, with the wallet inside, was stolen and, with it, the note. I felt that loss more than the loss of my Social Security card, bank cards, and checkbooks. However, I never forgot its message.

The key on my piano refused to produce a sound when I played it--an f note to be exact. A dialogue began floating around in my mind making the point of how important each one of us is in the whole of things. There are no substitutes and no one can take our place. One note does not a symphony make, but there are voids, empty spaces when a single note is missing.

I put the thoughts into words and began writing, dipping my toes into the writing pool, testing it out. I shared it as a Facebook post. The door had opened, and I walked through it.

A high school friend encouraged me to begin writing a blog, a place where I could share. That was five and a half years ago. The posts accumulated until there were nearly two hundred of them. What would happen if I compiled them in a book?, I thought. The journey began.

I printed out all of the posts, and the challenge was on to make a cohesive manuscript out of them. It needed to present a message and make sense; it couldn't just ramble all over the countryside. The first thing I learned was that I needed God's hand, wisdom, and guidance. This was not going to be done without Him. 

A theme developed, that of God's desire for friendship and relationship with us, His creation. He took me back to my early teen years and an experience at church camp when I responded to His call. That experience became the introduction and is the foundation, the setting for Tidbits and Pearls: A Book of Essays on Living Everyday Life with God.

I am not a trained writer. I have no professional instruction other than Mrs. Wilshire's AP English class as a senior in high school. I quickly learned that following the lead of God isn't always easy as self-doubt and self-incrimination filled me--for days, weeks, and months. "I'm not an author. I am not a writer. There's no way I would ever put myself in that class."--all in comparison to those who are. I learned that never bothered God in the slightest as He asked me to simply share from my heart.

Another thing I learned is that "Rome wasn't built in a day." And neither was what I thought would be a simple task of making a format of several blog posts. I have tried to place a time frame on when the seed was planted but am unable to. I know it has now gone into years rather than months. Often it has felt like the longest pregnancy on the face of the earth.

Writing a book has been one of the hardest, most challenging things I've done in my life. And I have several to choose from. Had it not been for the knowledge that this is what my Heavenly Father wants, I would have got buried in the sheer detail of it all.

The book has never been about me. It is about God and His love for us all. It matters not if only one person reads it. If the message is taken in, settles within and grows, its purpose will have been fulfilled--that of pointing the way Godward. 

Vulnerability has been by my side as this book nears release. I know myself; I know my life. I know standing before God asking forgiveness for wrongs and hurts I've caused others, for rebellion and resistance against Him; I know His forgiveness as I remind Him, unable to let go of the memories and self-blame, and He says, "I don't remember what you're talking about." In the writing I am exposed--How can you know the truth of what I tell unless it is that way? I know my state--I am human.

In the past I have viewed myself as being a pretty patient person--at least when I think of years gone by. I have learned, however, that impatience has become my constant companion as the manuscript has gone through the process of becoming published. The reminder from a daughter just yesterday that "It's all about the timing" has tempered my impatient disposition.

I am sitting on the cusp of the release of "the book." The representative from the publisher said she hoped it would be today. And I am learning, "It's all about the timing."

A marketing representative contacted me asking me what my marketing plans are and who I hoped to reach. I told him "word of mouth, Facebook, and the world." He laughed and commented I would probably reach thirty or so people. While my response was quite grandiose, the message of Tidbits and Pearls is that important, and I want it shared with all who will listen--God is love. He wants your friendship--and mine as well--and wants to be part of our daily lives. He made possible a way for that to happen. It is our choice.   

I have been given unlimited, unfathomable, unconditional support from you, my family and friends, on this journey. And that is another thing I have learned. I could not have written a book not only without God, but without you. Each one of you has played a role in the creation of this symphony of words. 

Thank you.

"On Being Open to God...or Not"

"You know," she announced assertively, "it's all about being open." Standing in her kitchen, preparing dinner, she went on. "If you want to live your life with God, you just have to be open to Him." With a heart the size of the universe, this daughter has always been one to tell it like it is.

Using the definition of religion as "any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview," data from 2001 reveals there are over 300 religions in the United States, the largest by number of members Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. A 2015 poll reported that 71% of Americans identified as Christian.  

There are at least 35 different denominations alone in the Christianity sector. In days gone by religious training was confined to Sunday mornings and evenings with perhaps a Wednesday evening Bible study. That has changed with the advent of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week internet and television; there is no lack of religious programming to be found.

In a competition for viewers, which is often translated into financial supporters, a deluge of words floods the land as a variety of doctrines are presented. "How-to" prayers are presented--how to be saved, how to be healed, how to find happiness and success--all done in the name of God and much of it man's version of God as He gets buried in the clutter.

This is the antithesis of God; this is not God. He asks that people live their lives in a manner which draws others, not dissimilar to a moth being drawn to a flame, and to be ready to answer if questioned, to share Him and their faith. Force-feeding is not His style.

For those who do not want Him and want nothing to do with Him, I can categorically and emphatically state that God will never force Himself upon you. He does desire a relationship with you, a friendship, but that is where your free will enters in. He approaches in that quiet place within, but if you say, "No, thank you," He will never push in. He has far too much class and is too much of a gentleman to go where He isn't wanted or invited.

The caveat, however, is that we do live with the choice made. When the mountains begin to crumble, when, at the end of this mortal life as you step into eternity, things aren't as you expected, planned, or hoped they would be--you will be left with that "free will" choice. There is no re-do.

Stand. He asks that each of us stand, simply stand in the decision we have made. Stand and live in it--and eventually, die in it.

For those who want nothing to do with God, take comfort in the fact that He gives that freedom and that right. He'll have nothing to do with you then. For those who do want Him, all you have to do is be open, and He will share Himself with you as you live your life.

And for those who insist upon forcing your version of God upon others--Stop! He is very capable on His own.

God is love. And He loves me enough to let me choose.

"Not for the Faint of Heart"

faint of heart: adj. idiom lacking the courage to face something difficult or dangerous.

It is official. The dates have been confirmed, plane tickets purchased and seats assigned--ones with "extra leg room, please" in hopes the lengthy flight will be a bit more comfortable.  The 3-week-long trip is no longer a someday or a possibility but a reality.

Visiting Scotland is not for the faint of heart, I thought. It's not all that different from living life with God.

The small country of Scotland occupies the northern third of an island. It has a 60-mile-long land border with England on the southeast and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast, and the Irish Sea to the south. More than 790 outlying small islands are included in its area.

Moving Atlantic depressions bring strong winds continuously throughout the year, making it the windiest country in Europe.Those winds can be bitter and biting, the kind that chill to the very marrow of both visitor and inhabitant.

While its temperate climate tends to be very changeable, it is not normally extreme. The weather, however, can be grey and gloomy. The sun shines just over 25% of the time.

Scotland as a destination is never touted by travel agents as "warm and sunny." A visitor must be prepared for inclement weather with the possibility, even the probability, of becoming chilled and rained upon.

Why, then, would anyone want to deal with that?

Because it is worth it.

As a 16-year-old exchange student in the summer of 1961, I lived with a family in sheep farming country in East Lothian, Scotland, eighteen miles east of Edinburgh, its capital. I came from a small town with a population of 5,000 and was raised in a sheltered environment; the experience was one that was life-changing. I had traveled by train cross-country from Oregon to New York City before flying to Britain. All alone in a very large world, I initially experienced a case of homesickness of grand proportions--the term "homesick" could not be more descriptive.

In a time pre-dating electronic communication, contact with family and friends was limited to handwritten letters, sent and received via Air Mail and a single long-distance phone call from my parents, a surprise for me and a splurge for them. 

It was just God and me.

Fifty-eight years later, my eldest daughter and grandgirl will be going with me as I return to visit the siblings and their families of my Scottish family.

Scotland is a country filled with ancient history; castles from centuries ago reveal themselves as one drives around a bend in the road. The scenery is spectacular, nature's colors rich and vibrant. From farmlands to majestic mountains, with water everywhere, its pristine beauty compensates for its diminutive size. The Scots are warm, friendly, and outgoing. The lilt of their accent on my native tongue of English is like listening to music. The sound of bagpipes causes my soul to melt.

Scotland and its people are a part of my being. I am possessed--from the time I first stepped off the train and was greeted by my host family all those years ago.

The same can be said of God. He has possessed me.

I vividly remember approaching the minister when I was a small five-year-old as he greeted parishioners heading out the door after the Sunday morning church service. When he acknowledged my presence, I quietly said, "I want to go to heaven." 

The journey began.

Living life with God is not for the faint of heart. He does not change to live with humankind; we must be changed in order to live with Him.

Many speak of living life for God. Living life with Him is a completely different matter. When one lives for God, that often translates into having a project or idea, enacting it and bringing it about, then asking Him to bless it--the efforts of mankind, not the work of God.

Living with God means giving up my life and my desires and allowing Him to have free rein.
He requires a total commitment--nothing more, nothing less. Since that goes against everything within the being and nature of humankind, I suspect that is why there are so few who are willing to walk the narrow path, the one leading to life.

Why, then, would anyone want to do that?

I am His creation. All that He does comes from a base of love and desire for friendship. He knows me better than I know myself and wants only the best for me. Living life with God is living life where it really matters--in the eternal, the long-term rather than the short-term.

He is always with me, walking me through the worst and hardest of times, sharing in the best of times. God is the One I turn to daily, asking for guidance and wisdom, strength, forgiveness, and healing.

In short, He is worth it.

And this is where visiting Scotland and living life with God aren't all that different from one another: Each begins with an intense desire for personal experience;  each requires a determination and commitment to follow through and to not be dissuaded if difficult circumstances arise. For a Scottish tourist, the weather can present a harsh deterrent. On a spiritual level, life with God is solitary, often with great demands. The road leading to life is arduous--not for the faint of heart.

And this is where they differ: A visit to Scotland is going to last three weeks; living life with God lasts....Well, it lasts two lifetimes--this one and the next to come.

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13, 14

"On Vacuum Cleaners and Clogged Filters"

My tidbit for the day:

My vacuum cleaner has been acting sluggish for quite some time. It didn't happen overnight
but has been a gradual process. The beater bar on the carpet head barely turned. After removing obvious debris I thought might be slowing it down, it still made no difference. The suction on the floor head was minimal, and I decided I was going to have to take it to the repair shop. 

The thought occurred to me that perhaps the filters, of which there are two, needed to be changed. They were totally clogged--on each side. It was impossible for air to penetrate, rendering the suctioning feature useless. 

I replaced the filters and what a miracle! Not only was a repair not needed, but I have a vacuum that performs like it was a brand new one.

There is a point to this:  We are just like that vacuum cleaner in that we will never function in the way we were created to if we are clogged up with garbage and debris.  And just like my vacuum, the need for resolution wasn't an outer one, but an inner one. And that can only happen at the hand of God.

Without the breath of life flowing through us, we eventually become stagnant and perish.

Note to self: Check the filters more often.

"Not Of this World"

of: prep. Used as a function word to indicate belonging or a possessive relationship.

Pulling up behind the beast of a truck at the stop sign, the ornate font of the message on the back window made it difficult to readily read. As we both waited, I made out the words: notofthisworld. The message immediately touched me.

Mulling over the truth of that window sticker, I continued to follow the truck after my turn at the stop sign as it became evident we were both heading the same direction.

The world and everything in it is in utter, total, and complete chaos. Disdain for the sitting President of our nation is evidenced across the land; the tranquil peace of those in Europe has been disrupted by riots; parts of South America are riddled by discontent, and Central America is no better. 

Military power is being touted by countries controlled by dictators; still others have expressed the desire and intention to annihilate all who disagree with their religious beliefs, those they call "infidels." 

In my own space, a local citizen was shot and killed in front of a middle school 100 yards away from my home after drawing his own gun, firing first shots at a police officer. I heard the shots and the screams as I sat at my computer.

Recent legislation and the celebration of it allowing an infant to be aborted from 24 weeks to birth sickened me. At the same time there is a total disregard for laws already in place by those who created and enacted them.

Division, hatred, and anger is rampant.

How can one find peace in the midst of such turbulence? Personally, the message given to me is to look up, not down. I am not of this world.  I am in it, but not of it. Simply expressed, I do not belong to it; I do belong to my Creator and His world.

Think of it in terms of a family, a group of people, a citizenship where the same experiences, goals, or ideals are shared. It is not only where one belongs, but where one fits. I do not fit in this world.

I found my little blue truck was stalking the red beast as I followed. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I wanted to meet the driver and thank him/her for the reminder given in that window sticker. The truck turned onto a gravel road leading into an industrial parking lot where the driver parked. I got out of my truck and went up to her. “What does the sticker in your window say?” She repeated what I already knew then asked, “Are you ‘not of this world’ too?” Nodding, I thanked her for the reminder to focus on God and not the insanity that is prevalent.

I have no idea what her name is; she doesn’t know mine. But we are of a like mind and we connected.

And so my life continues, having been reminded that God is in charge, that there is a much larger picture being played out than I can see, and that I am part of His plan and not that of the world. And it is eternal.

"On Why Things Are The Way They Are"

It is the unthinkable. How can anyone wrap their mind around the headlines in the newspaper and on television that a 12-year-old boy has stabbed a blind 92-year-old woman to death in her home?

If my mother was still alive, her assessment would be, “What is this world coming to?”--a correct one at that.  Witnessing the current degradation of society and culture, I often find myself thankful she isn’t here to watch it take place.

A family member texted me this morning: “I’m having a hard time with our world right now.”  She is an educator, and the boy charged with the crime is an ex-student, “a sweet but troubled young boy who often popped into my office to chat…what makes a 12 year old murder?”

Change has always taken place from one generation to the next. A breakdown of mores and traditional values, however, is creating drastic changes never before seen in our country, where black is called white, day is called night, right is called wrong, and truth is called lie. 

Young and old alike, including many in positions of power, have no regard or respect for God, authority, or the law. God has either been watered down to an obscure, abstract notion so He is palatable or vaporized out of existence, not to be considered in the scheme of things. Faith and belief in God is viewed as a weakness, for the simple-minded; morality is scoffed at by many, the value of an individual’s life, personal rights, and opinions is superseded by the demands of the masses. A common attitude is that the end justifies the means, whether it’s in government, business, or everyday life. It’s as though a huge tsunami is sweeping across not only our nation but the world.

We are a divided nation, each side repeating the same words yet coming from polar opposites in actual ideology—“We have to stand for what is right; I will take a stand; I want them all locked up; We are not a bunch of sheep; I am not a follower." The two sides cannot and will not come together--they are oil and water. It is a somber situation as a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Viewing the state of things in the spiritual is the only way any of it makes any sense. 

Christ was sitting on the Mount of Olives, and his disciples came to him privately asking for a sign of His coming and of the end of the age. He spoke of the very things happening around us today. "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold." Matthew 24:6, 7, 10-12

The resurrected Christ is coming back again. How and when that is going to happen I have no idea, but stark indicators of His return and the end of this age are all around us, not to be ignored. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Matthew 24:35 

What makes a 12-year-old murder? When lawlessness takes over and love has grown cold, when there is no conscience, the unthinkable takes place. It is a sign of the time Christ spoke of.

                                                                                                                                   

Put your seat belts on, boys and girls and buckle up. Those of faith have been asked to watch, to be ready, to endure to the end. Oh, yes--and read the whole of Matthew 24.

All things are spiritual. And this is why I believe things are the way they are.

"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on

what day your Lord is coming."  

Matthew 24:4