there is something about this photo that just makes my heart sparkle…
sun.
friends.
greek island of mykonos.
take me there again.
s.s.heart.
WAKE UP
Sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get my attention.
I feel as if life is a whirlwind. I honestly can’t believe it’s the middle of June. Honestly, where did the time go? As I even began to write this, a week has passed by.
As life flies by I feel that sometimes I don’t even have the time to…..
Write.
Honestly I just opened this document up and today’s date is September 20th.
Two months have flown by…and I don’t even know where I was. Well yes, actually I do because the Lord gave me the same Word today. And so did Arcade Fire…? And what is that ‘Word’? Well it’s actually two words to be precise. WAKE UP.
WAKE UP. There you go.
Let me continue from the beginning. Sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get my attention. I’ve lived 24 years (oh my gosh, I’m so old) and I’ve seen a lot (probably very little compared to a lot of people). At many times life is a big ol whirlwind and I look back and say, ‘I can’t believe it’s ________. Time has flown!’ But I know, I know, I am not alone in this. So as I was saying when your mind is on many, many things you sometimes don’t hear certain things. Sometimes the Lord is very clear and other times I miss out because of my selfish ways (I know I’m being very vague here).
So way back in May (well it probably was well before that and I just didn’t listen) God started talking to me about two things. One was how life is a story (another blog another time) and the second was to WAKE UP. I was at LifeWomen Conference (which is AH-MAZING and all women should go to) and Lisa Bevere, Marilyn Skinner & Helen Burns had one underlying theme that was very present in their messages. That theme was calling us to WAKE UP.
Romans 13v11-14 MESSAGE “But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!”
Verse 11 in the NLT uses those two words which I needed to hear, “WAKE UP…” That passage cut into me like a knife. I got pwn’d.
See I believe that a lot of us ‘get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations’. We get so busy. Life is insane. I can’t remember the last day where I didn’t have an appointment, meeting, errand, etc. But then I realized that I had dozed off, that I wasn’t intentionally asking God what HE wanted me to do, where HE wanted me to go. I was a sleep-walker going through the motions. I needed to WAKE UP.
And then Helen Burns shared a prophetic word that a lady in her church received before the conference, that there was a generation of sleeping beauties out there who needed to wake up. I know this may not mean anything to you but sleeping beauty is my Disney Princess, I am her!! And my heart is for young women to discover God and the amazing life he has set before them (another blog for another time). It was there I received an “A-HA” moment. I knew I needed to be awake for these other sleeping beauties.
I spoke at a teen girls camp this summer (another blog for another time…shoot I’m setting myself to write numerous blogs…) and one of the messages was on how God can’t use a generation of sleeping beauties, He needs a generation of Princess Auroras (Princess Aurora is sleeping Beauty’s actual name for those of you who drink Disney-haterade).
So fast-forward a couple months to today. I was reading John 4 (which I LOVE…one of my favourite stories in the Bible)…and Jesus said to his disciples, “35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”
This is really a whole other blog entry but I really want to say something here (bless you, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet!!!).
Many times we say, I’ll wait and do that another time, I’ll pray for that person later, I’ll talk to them later, I’ll read my Bible later, I’ll respond to God later. But the time is NOW my friends, the time is NOW. Jesus said it himself, “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.”
We are useless to others if we are asleep, we are useless to the world if we are asleep and we are useless to God if we are asleep.
WAKE UP…the world is waiting for you.
love that lasts.
I’m in Parksville. It’s grand. A beauty. There’s something about waking up, walking to the window and seeing miles upon miles of sand and sea stretched before you. It’s breathtaking.
As I was lying on my towel this morning trying to add some colour to my pasty-ness something much more beautiful than the gorgeous landscape caught my attention. Across the empty beach I could hear two old brits laughing away on their walk.
These two old brits are my great aunt & uncle from England. We’re all staying here for a few days on their Canadian visit. There is something about these two that just make my heart sparkle.
So as soon as I heard the laughter, my sister and I went towards them on the beach. They were standing in a tidal pool just laughing away. My Uncle John was holding their shoes. Something about that simple act grabbed my heart.
We took photos, made jokes, and talked about life. Soon enough they walked back towards the condo and my sister and I returned to our towels to get more sun.
See the thing that just makes this heart sparkle, is not their kindness, it’s not their humor, it’s their love.
I have never seen anyone more in love than these two.
They’re in their eighties and they are the most affectionate couple I have ever seen. He calls her “my girl” and she calls him “my boy”. The night before we were eating dinner and as he grabbed her plate, she reached out and grabbed his hand and just held it. In the past 24 hours we’ve been with them, he’s probably called her gorgeous more than 10x.
The way they look at each other you just know their love is a love that lasts. More beautiful than any landscape that is worthy to be painted is a love that lasts.
I can’t wait for initial fireworks, for fun, for romance but above all I desire this love that grows with wrinkles, that enlarges with loss of sight, that is stronger as you are weaker…a love that lasts.
stay gold,
s.s.heart.
drano.
Drano.
I’m rarely home. This thing we called life takes me many different places that it’s insanely rare for me to watch a TV show on my actual television at the actual time it debuts. I sleep, eat breakfast and the odd dinner and that’s pretty much the time I’m home…ok I do shower on occasion. I’m not complaining. I’m blessed to do what I do and He enables me to do it and I really do love my life.
…Just sometimes my dishes pile up. Let me clarify: as in dishes I mean 4 cereal bowls at maximum. And my dad…he’s a little different. I love him but he doesn’t like dishes in the sink, fair enough, it’s his house. So on Friday afternoon I started to do the dishes. As I viewed the initial water coming out of the faucet, I noticed it was draining terribly slowly. Of course I couldn’t even start washing dishes until I found the blockage! (me procrastinating from the real job) So I discovered some dirt blocking some of the holes and the first thought that came to mind was DRANO!
Of course Drano fixes everything.
I proceeded to run downstairs and grab some Drano. It was the Max-Gel kind. I poured half of it down the drain and let it work its magic.
20 minutes later I peered in and tested the water. Nothing happened. I poured in the remainder of the bottle and waited.
20 minutes later… still running slowly. Then I had the brilliant idea of hacking at the dirt build-up with a knife. I managed to break it up but as soon as I turned on the water it proceeded to stay in the sink. So not only did I have a slow drain, I had a quarter of the sink filled with dirty water that was not going anywhere. The only solution I could think of? More Drano! I tribute my brilliant thinking to the fact that the fumes had made me a little loopy…ok, sometimes I’m just really blonder than I pay to be (thanks Beth Moore!)
So off to the store I went to pick up some more Drano. I quickly located one that was foam & liquid…how amazing! So fully believing that the Drano would do the trick I poured the magical liquid into the murky water. And I waited.. I went for a run in the mean time and had a shower.
I excitedly approached the sink, fully believing that the Drano would have worked. No dice. The sink was still murky and the water didn’t go down one bit and to add a little salt to the wound, my whole house smelled like chemicals. I texted my friend who is a plumber and simply asked is Drano is the solution for a plugged sink. He called me back immediately and said, “No, don’t use Drano. You have to plunge it.” My heart sunk as my dad walked through the door that minute not only seeing a countertop of dirty dishes, but a sink full of murky water as well. Thankfully he said he would plunge it.
Eventually the water went down (after 10 hours!) and our drain is good to go but it made me think of something and alas a new blog entry! (I know it’s been ages, I’m truly sorry.)
Sometimes this is how we see our faith. Sin gets in and clogs up certain areas of our lives. We see it, like how I saw the initial dirt and we freak out and know we want it gone. But getting rid of it seems like so much work, and we seek a quick solution i.e. Drano. In my own life I have had situations where I have quickly repented at that one camp, that one conference, that one church service, but didn’t actually turn away from the sin and eventually I found myself with the exact same problem. The Bible calls us to repent (“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” Matt 4:17)
Don’t just use that quick solution, that one camp, that one conference, that one church service to get you back on track. A quick solution will not sustain. Identify sin, repent from it and really truly turn away from it, and begin to walk with God in real relationship. And it may take hard work. Let me change that, it will take work. But you will reap the benefits. Reading His Word. Seeking Him. Talking to Him. Serving Him. Worshiping Him. All these things will take time & effort & work. But the joy, the peace, the love, the relationship you will discover is worth it all.
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you…”- Jeremiah 29:12 & 13
stay gold,
s.s.♥.
i still heart america.
In light of the olympics, and the oh, so new found Canadian pride, I thought I’d repost this. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE CANADA. But during the olympics I found myself getting mad at America for winning so many medals, and found myself nodding in agreement with those who would trash talk our southern neighbours. I wrote this on fb in July and thought you might enjoy it…
Oh America, I’ve been so wrong.
I’ve judged you, and I am ever so sorry.
I felt that I had to make my apology public and share this tale of pure kindness.
Three young women (me being one) left Vancouver very early on Saturday morning to venture into the great shopping of the U S of A. After visiting a few outlets and feeding Visa at Forever 21 (she was very hungry) we started to make the drive back to dear old Canada. We had a few stops on our way back. Three stops at three Targets to be exact. (I finally found the bikini from the Nylon ad!)
My coolant light suddenly appeared as we exited the third Target.
Knowing we worked my little Cabrio hard that day and knowing there is a leak in my radiator, I thought we should probably stop at the nearest gas station and fill up on coolant.
Back on the I-5 we went. (Which is a great joy to all drivers, because people actually know how to drive.)
We spotted a sign for gas, so we took the first exit.
We arrived around 7pm, most definitely haggered from a long day of border waiting and shopping but that did not affect the great kindness we received.
As we entered the Shell gas station, we were immediately greeted by the gas attendant (he was standing by the door), “Hello girls, how can I help you today?”
Shock, was the first emotion I felt as never in my twenty-two years on this planet had I ever been greeted by a gas station attendant.
I replied with, “Coolant.”
He then escorted us to the back aisle warning us it was pretty pricey.
I was relieved when i saw the $9.32 price tag. (Pricey in my mind was maybe $40?)
Before purchasing he wanted to make sure my engine hadn’t over heated so he walked with me to my car. I popped the hood and we started to examine my engine. At that time, another American with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth came over and asked what was wrong. He started squeezing some sort of tubing in the engine. Both of the men praised me for catching the problem quick and agreed I only needed to fill the radiator with the coolant.
So back into the gas station I go. The three of us girls had $14.52 US dollars left and wanted to spend it all. I was quite excited to purchase a Butterfinger Crisp. Hailey grabbed a Big Hunk for her big hunk. To the counter we went. But soon Hailey was distracted by the amazing flavors of Orbit gum. “Ohhhhh Mint Mojito! Look, they have Sangria gum!!” Obviously we had to add those to the lot.
Our total rang up at $15.02.
We spent a few minutes digging through our wallets, and pockets not noticing the long line forming behind us. The gas attendant told us we could give him Canadian quarters but then suddenly a US 1 dollar bill appears to our left. We turned around to see the man behind us handing the gas attendant the rest of our bill. We thanked him and gave him the 50cents change and grabbed our coolant, gum and chocolate.
I unscrewed the cap and started pouring the coolant into the radiator when all of a sudden a young guy starts running toward my car screaming “FUNNEL!! YOU NEED A FUNNEL!!” At the same time, the gas attendant was furiously knocking on the window screaming the same thing. The young guy let us borrow his funnel and we proceeded to fill the radiator. Just as it was almost to the fill line, another American drove by us and asked if we needed any help. We politely declined as my dear Cabrio seemed good to go. I returned the funnel to the nice young guy and waved to the gas attendant.
We left that shell gas station, hearts sparkling with joy.
Who knew three young girls in a red convertible would receive so much kindness from so many strangers.
Oh America, I really do love you. 
Even though I really love America, I REALLY loved when my future husband scored that winning goal on Sunday.
Until next time,
s.s.♥.