You can't have it all...or can you?

There are so many things in this life I desire, extra money, clear skin, tons of energy, a spotless house, children that can teach themselves school, uncomplicated relationships.  Alas, it may never happen.  I may be forever stuck with the skin of a 13 year old.  I may never have a house that is always company clean. 

Sometimes I think I can sense when I will have unexpected visitors; like the other day.  The house wasn't in terrible shape and about a half an hour of focused cleaning would have had it in great shape...but I didn't have the energy to clean up that morning.  Instead I putzed around with my coffee, sorted through clothes and pushed aside dirty dishes.  I did manage to get the front room swept and straightened.  As a pastors wife, I always expect that I could get a visitor.  and I want to have a least one clean space to receive any unexpected guest.  I look to the example of pastors wives I have had in my adult years.  I could aways drop in on them and they would be available with an inviting house, a coke and an open afternoon.  Years ago I remember telling Larry that I wanted to be that woman.  I haven't managed to get there.  It seems like when I have unexpected guests, my house is a mess and I have no food in the house to offer them.  That is always embarrassing for me.  I don't know why.  I don't expect others, except past pastors wives, to have a clean home.  Actually, I feel really happy when they don't because I don't feel like the only mommy with a messy house.  Sometimes I'm flattered that they feel close enough to me to let me in when the house isn't quite perfect.  

Back to the other morning....I had my front room clean just in case.  I had let my children take a break from their school work and sent them outside on an amazing day.  I took advantage of the time alone and sat in my clean living room with a cup of coffee.  Half way through the cup my older son comes in and tells me that there is someone at the back door.  I'm thinking it is the UPS man.  When I got to the back door, there stood a little old lady with big sunglasses.  She was from our last church and her name slipped my mind.  She asked,  "you don't have time for me to visit, do you?"   I'm thinking...SHE WENT TO THE WRONG DOOR!   Now if I invite her in, she will have to climb a huge pile of laundry and pass the nasty dishes in the sink.  I'm also wondering if I have brushed my teeth.  I know my hair isn't combed, thank God for my covering.  

Oh well, I push my pride and laundry aside and help this fragile woman up my flimsy stairs.  I directed her into the clean living room and I was happy to be able to offer her a cup of coffee.  She admired my rocking chair and told me how beautiful my children were.  She told me how much she and her husband missed us and how the other church just wasn't the same.  Then she shared some of herself with me; things she likes to collect and even past hurts.  About an hour went by and she didn' t want to keep me any longer.  I walked her back out through the nasty kitchen, that could have been cleaned if I hadn't wasted time, through the pile of clothes and back down those flimsy steps.  We chatted a little more by her car and we said goodbye. 

You know, that woman didn't care that I only have 60.00 in the bank until Larry's next pay.  She wasn't disgusted by my pubescent skin.   She complemented me on my smart beautiful children, and she even said I had a nice home.  I know she appreciated that I took time just to sit and talk with her.....who needs energy when you have time to talk with a friend, a rocking chair and a cup of coffee.

Follow in His Ways and He will give you the desires of you heart.

Thoughts about The Gathering Place, an organic faith community.

A walk down the produce isle in the grocery store always gets me excited!  I love looking at the beautiful fresh fruits and veggies .  When I have extra money, I will snatch up lovely bunches of veggies, herbs and exotic fruit.  My children's faces will light up when the gentle mist of water showers the food.  I feel so healthy in that isle, I find my self with hopes of this dish, or that, containing the fresh  items, so I grab up my selection; just to toss them out rotten 3 weeks later.

Increasingly there seems to be a small section in most stores for organic produce, produce that hasn't been exposed to the pesticides and waxing and whatever.  That area is never as impressive as the many rows of sparkling, shining, produces that engulfs it.  The fruit, much of the time, is smaller.  Many times it is bruised and doesn't shine like the others;  and on top of that,  it is most often much more expensive.   Why would anyone pick up a piece of fruit from this small, unimpressive area of the produce isle?  

I would say that most people would not choose from that section. The organic section isn't in the obvious area and there is nothing there that catches your eye.  For that reason,  it is largely overlooked. The people that "buy into" the organic stuff are the curious or the informed.  

I see our little group in this light.  We are not the biggest or fanciest, some of us are bruised and we pay a great price to be able to gather together on His Sabbath.  The fact is, any Tom, Dick or Harry that is looking for a "church" is not going to choose us as the obviouse choice.  The people attracted to us are the curious or informed, the ones that know the harm caused by the toxins of bad Biblical interpretations and theologies that have been pumped into the majority of churches that line the streets of our communities.

Often, even the informed will not choose us.  We are too expensive, we don't fit their lifestyle budget.  It cost too much to turn down the invites of social and family get togethers.  It seems ok to choose the world for a couple Sabbaths.   But a couple Sabbaths turn into many and pretty soon,  they take the easy way of the mainstream church, a church that will fill their bellies and give the illusion of being healthy but really, it will cause a cancer to grow in them that is very hard to cure.

So my challenge is this,  to seek out the small, "unimpressive," organic fellowship in your area.  You may have to search in the less obvious places to find it; maybe a house or an office building.  You may have to take a long drive past many of those fancy, sparkling churches.  You may have to rearrange your work schedule or disappoint family and friends by turning down social invites with others that are not like minded.

This is the way toward not just staying alive but living abundantly.