Help- I am so confused....

The smile says it all.  She has been learning to ride horse. She doesn't seem to have any fears and she loves whatever we throw at her. Since we figured we needed a new guinea pig, we thought we would try doing something different with her when it came to trotting. Trotting is a gate that is bumpy. What happens is the kids learning to trot bounce all over the saddle and in the process pull back on the reins, which tells the horse to stop. After about 30 minutes of that the horses have had it and literally walk over to the hitching post and look at us like "Help; I am so confused."  

We put her on a lunge line and we did the work and all she had to do was sit in the saddle and balance. After several weeks of going in circles with someone else directing the horse we turned the reins over to her and let her go. Instant sucess.  She knew how to "sit in the saddle" so to speak and wasn't pulling back on the horses mouth and we had happy child plus a happy horse.

In life that happens to me so often.  I try something that God is laying on my heart and I kind of mess up because it's new and I'm bouncing all over.  I don't really want to ask for help because that would be "childish" so I brave it all alone. I bounce all over, I pull back on the reins, I keep giving mixed signals and eventually I come to a stop and give God this pathetic look "Help; I am so confused."  

What does God do?  He simply directs my attention to others who would come along side of me and "hold the reins" while I get the feel of the saddle.  Others who direct and show me how to do what my passion is leading me to. We are not directed anywhere in scripture to go it alone.  The entire New Testament church was about coming along side and being a community to help others walk where we have walk or in our case, trot where others have trotted.

We have a happy horse and a happy girl. Both understand what is expected of them and each can do their job.  How much better we would do things for God if we teamed up with others and learned side by side...

Nehemiah's Prayer

I didn't grow up quoting the Lord's prayer. In fact, I didn't even memorize it until later in life. Why, you might ask? I'm assuming because things done in rote often lose their meaning. We were taught to pray; talking to God not reciting a prayer. The older I get the more beauty I see in the pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord' prayer; not something that we quote but something we live. I have, however, found another prayer that would be a good one to simply "live by". Several years ago I began a prayer journal of sorts with four aspects to it. Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. In detail I have written out praises, scripture, psalms, then gone on to detail my confessions for the day of which I tended to get sometimes a bit too graphic, and then thanksgiving and finally I would start on my "list".
Nehemiah 1:5-11 has become my 'new prayer'. Here it is..." I said, “God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I’m praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I’m including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.
“We've treated you like dirt: We haven’t done what you told us, haven’t followed your commands, and haven’t respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: ‘If you betray me, I’ll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I’ll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.’ “Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant’s prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king.”
Of course the situation was different than what I am dealing with today, but God is still the same God. We have sinned, we have confessed, we have prayed, we have treated God like dirt, we have turned our backs and snubbed our noises and still.... because God loves me he will listen to my prayer and give me what I want from the kings I deal with on a daily basis. Cool! Absolutely Cool. It still means that there are a few things I have to do. First of all, I have to pray, I have to fear his name and I have to put my foot out and walk into the kings of my life for God to prosper my day and grant me mercy. It's still in my court, but I have an incredible team player standing beside me to back up anything that gets by me... because nothing comes to me that hasn't come through the heart an the hands of God first.

One lone flower

I was at the cabin over the weekend studying for my next Bible study session and to free my brain I would go sit on the edge of the dock.  The lake is nice and warm; down a bit because we need rain but otherwise very calming. Off to the left the lily pads covered the water and one lone flower bloomed. A white flower amid the green and blue looked so lonely.  A simple white flower, so pure and lovely, and yet so all alone. I'm not sure a flower has feelings, but if a flower did, would it feel alone as you and I do so often?  Would it feel left out, forgotten, depressed because no one else was open and blooming at that certain place and time? I do that! I might be the only flower open in my area so I look around and begin coming up with reasons why I am alone and no one else is out.  When I choose to do that, and it is my choice, I lose the beauty of my blooming simply because God put me there to bloom.  This white flower just sat and looked beautiful. Totally unaware that there were other buds close by that hadn't opened yet, seemingly unconcerned that it was having it's moment in the sun, this white flower was just there. It reminded me of God's love, it gave me a reason to just smile, and of course take a picture. Perhaps it's only reason for blooming that morning was to give me a glimpse of God.  I need to remind myself that what is happening around me is rather insignificant to the fact that God has me open at that place and time because it's his idea. Whether or not anyone else is blooming around me, is totally insignificant; I need to just be who I am where God placed me because He knows what's best. Someone may be sitting on the dock and see me and just smile.   Marette Jorgenson

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Hold on and be sure you come down in the saddle.

One of the things I love to do is go to horse shows and "shoot" kids riding.  This last weekend was a show near home so after the Pleasure part was done we took horses home and came back. I brought the camera and just sat and took pictures. One of my favorite events is Jump Figure 8.  They jump their horses over a small jump, do a figure 8 around three barrels and come back through the jump.  This young man has been riding horse since he was able to sit up. Not only is he a sweetheart, but his name is Tyler. We call him little Tyler as my boy is named Tyler and 150 pounds bigger!  Sunday Tyler's horse went airborne and so did Tyler. He really loves it when she does that; and might I say she's on the older side of the horse life.  He stayed with her and came back down in the saddle, continued on his way and won the class with the best time beating his older sister who generally takes all the trophies.  

So how can I when life sends me over a jump and I lose my normal "seat", how can I come back down in the saddle and keep going?  If you ride horse and fight the natural flow of the horse you will come off the horse. If you go with the flow, the speed, the beat, the airborne moments and go with the beat of the horse, you will have a better chance of keeping your balance and staying with and on the saddle.  

God gives me the ability to roll with the punches; if I choose to.  I have the chance to kick against the momentum or go with it.  It's easier to direct a rolling rock than try to move it when it's in a hole.  Go with the flow God has set in your life.  It may take you places you really hadn't planned on going, but go with the momentum God is creating rather than buck against it.  Ironically, God is stronger and will win anyway, so just flow with the bucking horses in your life and hang on!!! 

Cardinals at my window- Do not worry!

Matthew 6:25-34
[ Do Not Worry ] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 

Nourishing Friendships

  "Friendships take energy and effort to maintain.  Sadly, when life gets busy, it can be your friends who don't hear from you for a while- sometimes a long while.  You never wake up in the morning and devide, "I think I'll neglect my friends today."  It's much more subtle than that.  The truth is that friendships must be nurtured to survive.  And that takes time, care and love.  It might take a little money and thoughfulness too, such as finding just the right card,  a small gift or that special something your friend collects or enjoys.  It may even mean a trip to another location to stustain a special relationshpi either with an individual friend or even a couple.  As the apostle Paul said of his friends in Philippi,  "I have you in my heart."  A good friend is like having a "twin sister" in Christ- you're never far from each other in heart." " #57 of A Woman's Daily Walk with God by Elizabeth George.

Celebrating Charlotte's 95th Birthday!

Hymns never leave the heart

We took off this past weekend and headed for Illinois and the chance to play with my brothers three darling daughters. On the way, one of our goals was to stop in Iowa City and visit Bro. Dale. I've known Bro. Dale since probably about age 15. He has always been this quiet, unassuming gentlemen and as a minister he lived with a heart of gold and a faith that radiated. We've kept in contact through the years of changes in my life but in the past about 10 years we have kept better contact and many times traveled to Iowa to visit. One time we went up the road to Herbert Hoovers birthplace, other times hit McDonalds for lunch and spent lots of time visiting. One time I took Baihley out of school, made a pot of soup and headed for a 7 hours of driving and 3 hours of visiting. Lately, Bro. Dale has had a few set-backs, starting with a broken hip and then pneumonia. Our goal was to stop and visit at the Rehab Care Center where he has been staying. We found him excited to see us and after moving him into a wheelchair we went for a tour of the center. Talking was a bit of a challenge due to his cough. What does one do when one visits? One usually talks. I knew we needed to come up with plan B or it would be us wearing him out even more. We sat in the hallway for a bit, then as the activity room cleared out we went down the hall and I sat down at up the piano. There was Tyler, Baihley, Dale and I and a piano. What a great alternative to conversation. I'd play a hymn and Dale would tell us the name of it. There were more than a few times when I had to play through to the chorus before he came up with the title but most of the time he had the words on the tip of his tongue. I noticed a few more voices behind me and then someone called out, "Can you play Whispering Hope?" There were several more people in wheelchairs and the aides were pushing more people in all the time. I played; they clapped and called out more titles. I could play them all except I'm sure I didn't do Maple Leaf Rag justice; but no one seemed to care I heard, "Greensleeves" and after that I played "Oh Danny Boy". By this time we had quite a large crowd gathered. These elderly people weren't shy; they just kept calling out names of hymns. What is it about a hymn that never leaves the heart? Some of these people probably have dementia challenges but when it comes to hymns, they would begin humming, singing and words seemed to come to mind. There is something about how a hymn is written that it's form has the kind of structure that is easy to remember musically and soothing. Bach understood form. Beethoven understood form. Mozart understood form and how to write a melody so that it is etched in the mind. The words of the Wesley's, Philip Bliss and others in the early years of hymnal sharing painted pictures that are written in the heart in a way that they don't go away even though the mind may wander and the memory may fade. I wouldn't have played more than three notes of "The Old Rugged Cross" and I could hear the humming behind me. The first five notes of Amazing Grace had the lips singing and the tears starting. There is something about a Hymn that it never leaves the heart. Years of living, troubles, struggles and disappointments can be forgotten in a phrase that starts out so simple, "Oh, Lord My God." I played for over 40 minutes. More wheelchairs came and parked along the edges. No music, no books, no notes; it was just me at the piano playing from memory, from the gift that God gave me and the favorite hymns and songs that came to the minds of the hearts sitting at the Greenwood Care Center in Iowa City.
Today we stopped on the way back home to say hi once again. I had knit a scarf on the way from Peoria to Iowa City this morning and I took it into the Care Home with me.. As we left, one lady was getting ready to leave for the day and I asked her if she would like a scarf? She smiled and tried to talk to me. M.S. had taken most of her ability to communicate but I understood somewhat. As I wrapped the scarf around her coat, she said haltingly, "I loved the music. I loved to hear you play," She was one of those sitting in the room Friday when I played. A few minutes sitting at a piano bench sharing from the heart, had made us friends. I tucked the scarf around her smiling face and marvelled that as I had knit the scarf on the way from Peoria to Iowa City, I prayed that whoever needed a scarf would be put in my way. She was so much in my way we couldn't walk without moving her wheelchair! That was an easy sign to recognize. Blessing others has to be one of the funnest things we're told to do in our daily walk. This is what Jesus meant by giving a cup of cold water. Just be who God created you to be, wherever you find yourself. It was so simple; a piano, hymns and hearts just waiting to be blessed. And the scarf; well that was just the ribbon on the package. Live each day so that you always have a scarf to wrap around someone's neckor a hymn to leave in their heart.

Listen with your eyes

"Listen with your eyes... a unique look at the art of listening"
my new book is here. Many years ago while I was a busy mom, multi-tasking twenty things at once, one of my children was sitting on the counter talking to me as I worked. Obviously he didn't feel he was being heard so he gently pulled my face around with both hands, looked into my eyes and said, "Listen to me with your eyes." I have never forgotten what that moment did to my heart. This boo is some of my thoughts about listening; the art of listening. Cost of the book is $5.00 with shipping $6.50. They are available at the Kasson Variety Store in Kasson or of course just give me a call.

It's like rolling a rock uphill

I don't really listen to the news but the other day this phrase caught my ear. "It's like rolling a rock uphill."  I'm not sure what they were referring to but I got the basic idea that they thought it was going to be a pretty hard job.  I have never rolled rocks much. We had to pick rock when we were younger, but I didn't really roll them.  I have had to roll some barrels in the riding arena and though they are simply barrels for the girls to ride around, they are hard enough to roll when they are flat; I wouldn't want to imagine trying to roll them while going up hill or with any kind of a breeze
Sometimes I try to take my days events and get a head start without God. It's like rolling a rock uphill. When I realize nothing is going right, I realize I didn't stop to ask God his take on the matter.  Would have made all the difference in the world.