Puzzled?!

Sometimes things that puzzle us draw us into the puzzle we are attempting to solve. Instead of working the puzzle, we become puzzled! Fragmented! We want for a box lid to see how this puzzle goes back together!
Notice in the above puzzle the one child working the puzzle on solid ground, outside the puzzle. He is speaking to and handing a puzzle piece to a girl standing on/in the puzzle and acutally casting a shadow on the wall of the picture. The next child is running up the street!
Much the way the above children are drawn into the actual puzzle, Christ, the creator of us and the world that often puzzles us, entered His creation and not only became part of the puzzle, but became the missing piece. He completes us! Sometimes we expect our mate to fill that void, but that is placing entirely too much responsibility on their shoulders. If we will allow ourselves to completed in Christ, allowing our mate to be completed in Christ, we can live in fellowship and supporting one another when we stumble. Otherwise, we are fallen and we can't get up!

Living Life as if you had a Choice!

So often today we meet people who are living in a type of bondage or living under the control of some outside force, circumstance or situation. Too often, we find ourselves in such a predicament.
This should not be the case.
If we were meant to live a life of bondage, God would have us bound to Him. God wants us to be under the Control of the Holy Spirit, and by that I mean directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. This type of control is not bondage, unless you see it as bondage of Love. It is a chosen bondage that paradoxically sets us free.
I see people who are married, and miserable. They complain about their mate, their problems, and start looking for a way out. I want to thump them on the head! Marriage is not to be bondage, but bound together in love.
It is amazing how things can change when we put God first, family second and so on. I'm not saying it's easy, but in the long run, it is easier God's way; and so much better.
I've seen others who are single and miserable and want to be married so bad, thinking: Marriage would solve everything. That's not true either.
Paul said: "are you bound to a wife? Don't seek to be loosed! Are you single? Don't seek to be bound!" We are to give thanks to God in all things. Paul said that he was able to be content in whatever situation he found himself. That's because he new that God knew where He was and had allowed Him to be there for a purpose.
When we begin seeking God for our path each day, we can find similar contentment in the fact that God sent us there for a reason.
The choice is yours!

Tears are the Rain of Pain, but don't let Pain Reign!

It still hurts so bad at times.
Sometimes I just want to go walk aimlessly, so everyone will know how aimless I feel. I just want to hit a wall with my fist so everyone will know how angry I am, and I want it to leave a big hole so people can see how deeply I hurt.

God has brought so much peace into my life about it all, but the waves of despair are still there.

Such contrast of feelings, and contrary emotions. Can there be an end to the cycle? If the cycle does end, could it please end on the up side?
The whole thing is like a roller coaster ride: when your slowing down the most is when you're the highest in the air, and just when you approach solid ground, you're going at break neck speed. You're at the mercy of whoever is at the controls.

Are they waves of despair or just waves of emotion? Is it truly anger, or just an intense desire that somehow it could have been different?

Somewhere deep in that emotion, I'm not screeming "you did this" but "I want. . . "

Losing Sondra just left a big hole, and I don't want it to just go away as if she didn't matter, I want to fill it! I don't want some Icon or memory device to just remind me of what it's like for someone to really know you, I want to know someone that way again, and be able to say, yes, that's what it's like! I want to take what I've learned into a new relationship, and be able to experience life, to share life, to give and to receive.

As far as hitting that wall, what I really want is for people to know that I have wanted to hit that wall, but it's by God's Grace that I haven't. It's during those times of intense emotion, that the Faith of Christ has sustained me. What I want is for people to understand the intensity of despair I feel at times, but to know that my stability through it all is . . .

Only by God's Grace.

Click on the picture above and watch it rain. Just by looking at the picture, you would never know how many tears had fallen. The Bible says we are to weep with those that weep. This last year has truely given me the capacity to feel the pain of others. God has given a gift in the midst of pain, and I need to learn how to share it with the body. The gift is compassion and empathy.

Only by God's Grace.

Widow, Widower, Widow-hood. What does it mean?

What Defines You?
I mean, who am I, Really?
Some people say we are who we are when no one is watching, but God is always watching, which would mean we are never who we really are.
Others would make a list of all that we are: son, daughter, mother, father, daddy, mommy, husband, wife, grandfather, creature, creator, . . . which defines us by our relationship to others.
But, what is our most significant characteristic?
I have most recently added “widower” to my list of who I am. That seems like a strange word to me. I understand widow: a woman whose husband is deceased.
But widower?
It is derived from widow, but it doesn’t mean, one who widows, like farmer, one who farms.
That brings up another “you”, based on your occupation! Farmer, Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Minister, Nurse, Accountant, . . . the list can go on and on.

Let nothing define you,
Let all refine you,
But into what?
Sugar is too sweet, and Gold too expensive,
A mere person, too replete, Wisdom, too intensive!
To what do we strive, or to who to realize?
Is it just to get better, or to take home the prize?
Maybe to be God is our ultimate fate!
But that job is filled; you’d be but a fake.
Nay, none of this is good enough to waste life on,
We must find our purpose from our God alone!
We must live out our life with God on our throne!
It matters not what wealth we amass,
It’s only what’s done for Christ that will last!
---TJR

But all labels aside, we often become defined by the people we spend our time with. What matters to them matters to us. The things they do, we do if we are with them. When Christ changes our lives, and we begin time in his word, with his people, we become defined by His attributes. We often take on the label “Christian”, and we have been “hand-picked” for his kingdom.

Similarly, when we meet a wife, court and date, and marry, we take on the label “husband” and often become “hen-pecked” for her kingdom. Marriage does change a man, and usually for the better. But the Bible also says it divides our heart such that once we were able to focus totally on God, now our focus is divided.

But back to the subject: Where did they come up with “widower”? whoever they are!
.
Definition: A man whose wife has died and has not remarried.
ETYMOLOGY(shared with widow) : Middle English widewe, from Old English widuwe
It seems rather random that a widow is female and a widower is male, as the both seem derived from the same word, and the –er ending is not lending a standard meaning.

Anyone have any input on this?