Sometimes the things of this life just don't make sense.  We pray and seek God, but it seems like forever before an answer comes. 

The waiting is so hard.

We go back to Him again and again for clarity, asking if we have "missed something".

Still nothing.

The waiting is still so hard.

The days pass, the quietness lingers long, and the waiting gets more difficult with each passing day.

It was in the midst of waiting that He taught me something.

It was late on a Saturday afternoon, the grocery shopping and errand running was complete, and I was on my way home.  Merging onto the interstate, I was relieved at the thought of getting away from some of the stop and go traffic, playing a favorite CD, and just moving on down the road.  In my mind I assumed I would be able to just drive.

Get to where I was going.

Make it to my destination.

Simply move on.

But it wasn't that easy. 

I found my little car clustered amongst several others, I moved to the outside lane as to pass slower traffic, following closely behind the car in front of me.  That car was closely following the one in front of it, but none of us were going anywhere very fast, or at least not at the speed we preferred.

The fast lane wasn't passing the slow lane very quickly, and the slow lane wasn't getting in any more of a hurry.

I was boxed in and forced to just go with the flow.  There was not a thing I could do about it, except continue at a safe speed with the cars around me.  Yes, I was going to get to my destination eventually, but maybe not quite as quickly as I had in mind, but even at this speed, I would still get there.

That's when I felt His nudge within - Your life is like kind of like this highway. 

Yes, I have been praying and waiting upon Him and He has heard me.

He is working.  He's very aware of where I am.

But sometimes I'm in traffic.

He is working in more lives than just mine, I'm not the only car on the road.

And maybe some of the traffic is moving a little slow, the others not in quite as much of a hurry as I am.

I will still eventually reach the destination, maybe just not as quickly as I had in mind. 

I can rest knowing that I am within His hand, never out of His reach.  I can rest knowing that He has heard me and that He is moving and working.  I am on the right road.


I will stay in my lane and wait for Him to clear the traffic. 

How beautiful that day will be.


God, I thank you that you still continue to show and teach me things through my everyday situations and experiences.  Yes, You are a God with thoughts far beyond my own; yet, You still make yourself simple so that we can learn from You.   



Royal Princess Daughter Of The King

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When I was little I remember sipping coffee from Grandaddy's coffee cup.   He liked a little coffee with his cream and sugar.  It was tasty to me and I felt all big, but I never really remember taking more than a sip or  two.

Myparents both drink a little coffee with their cream and sugar  too, but I, personally, have not really been a coffee drinker.  I'm more of cold Diet Dr Pepper girl in the morning to get me going, but I have from time to time drank a cup of coffee when I've been a little chilly.  That is, until the past few months. I don't know what has happened, but I have taken a liking to a cup  of
coffee when I get to work in the morning and sometimes I like a cup in the evening. 

The problem is, I'm kinda like Mom, Dad, and Grandaddy, I like  a little coffee with my cream and sugar, and I have to get it "just 
 right".

As I've brewed an occassional evening cup over the past several weeks, Brenna has pestered and begged me for a cup for herself, but I have managed to get around it.  The thought of giggly Brenna, who never stops talking, tanked up on a load of caffeinated coffee gave me much caution in this area.  I guess Grandaddy was a little more adventurous and carefree than I am, 
and I value going to bed sometime before midnight, therefore, I have refrained from allowing her indulgence. 

But, the other night, I had a weak moment, and she asked for a cup.  There was a little left in the pot,  I was sitting at the table reading, she asked, and I caved.  She poured herself a cup and added the cream and sugar on her own. 

She brought the cup to me and said, "Here, see if this tastes right."

Looking into her cup, almost white from cream, I asked, "Does it taste good to you?  I doesn't matter what it tastes like to me, as long as it tastes good to you."

"But I want it to taste the way you like yours."

I sipped from her cup to sample her brew and found it to be just right.

She wants to be like me in many ways, and this was no different.  If her coffee tasted the way Momma drinks hers, then that's what she wanted.  The way Mom wanted it was right in her mind, no matter what it tasted like to her. 

If today were a cup of coffee, how would you have it?

Straight up, black?

Or would you have a little coffee  with your cream?

Would your cup be filled with a brew the way it tastes  good to you or the way it tastes good to Him?

Father, this is your  day.  I want to serve this day to others
the way it would taste good to You,  which will taste good to the people You
place in my path today.  Holy  Spirit, remind me as the moments present
themselves, to put aside my preferences  and chose Yours, which are
best.


Before we close, I want to let  you know that today sort of a special day, or at least I think it is.  Beyond Sunday Morning is two
years old today, and I want to thank all of you for  reading and sharing in ministering with me at my little corner of the internet  world.   If you have enjoyed reading the posts here, please share Beyond Sunday  Morning with a friend so that they may be encouraged as well.

Happy  Birthday Beyond Sunday Morning, and thank You, God, for using this small offering for Your Kingdom.  To You Be All Glory and Praise.

Pinterest.....the world of Pinterest.  Have you experienced it yet? 

Oh, I have.  As much as I resisted, I finally partook several weeks ago. The ideas, recipes, thoughts, quotes, etc are practically endless.  Boring people like me enjoy the household cleaning tips, organization ideas, recipes, craft ideas, etc.  Because of the likelihood of addiction, I limited my pinteresting from the get go because I knew this could be a breeding ground for unproductivity, if you get my drift.  I mean, I get on there and with the very few people I follow, I could get lost for hours reading about their pins alone.

I really think I have internet A.D.D.

As I searched Pinterest for something specific last night, I thought about all the pins people have made, and all of the pins that have been repinned.  Some of the people on Pinterest have so many pins, there is no way they can remember what they have and haven't pinned.  I thought, these ideas are great and all, but how many of them are actually used.  In all my wisdom, I deducted that it was very likely that there was alot more pinning than there was doing....

Lots of good intentions....

...........but less implementations.

Here's a few examples from my friends who have graciously agreed for me to make spectacles out of their Pinterest habits.

• There's me - I have 18 pins, not very many in the world of Pinterest, and of those 18, I have actually only used 3 of them.  Oh, sure, there are several on there that I intend to put to use, but I haven't.
  
• Then there's my friend Brittany.  Well, she's still stuck in the "I don't get this" mode about Pinterest and she has no pins.  The whole concept makes no sense to her, and that's ok!  In her organizational, list making brain, when it clicks with her, she will LOVE it.
• Camillia has 458 pins that are what I would call "usable" and she has actually put 151 of those things into use.
  
• My baby sister, Andrea, well I'll just tell ya, between Andrea's and Camillia's pins, I never have to go to the main Pinterest board.  They keep me very well occupied.  Andrea has 495 pins and says she has actually only used about 15-20, which were mainly recipes.
  
• I asked Leslie, she has a whopping 3 pins, but confesses to reading thousands and using only about 6.
  
• And poor Angie, she doesn't even have her own Pinterest board, that's a story for another post.  She just lingers around the site reading pin after pin with no place to call home.   She admits to reading pins for countless hours and never using a single one of them.  We love you anyway, Angie.  

Do you get where I'm going with this?  Without implementing any of the ideas that are so appealing to us, that's all they are - ideas.

.......and without implementing what we know about God and His Word, it's just knowledge.

In lots of situations we know what we "ought to do" or what we "should do".  We've got tools "pinned" in our hearts and minds, but often we have lots of good intentions.....but less implementation.

Friends, we can't approach our relationship with our Savior as if it were a spiritual Pinterest board.

If I want real change in my life, I have to do more than "pin it". 

I have to use it. 

I have to live it.

I have to believe it.

That's when the pin moves from being simply pinned in my head to permanently nailed to my heart, and forever becomes part of me.

We've been having this little problem around our house. This problem involves ears that don't seem to listen, brains that don't seem interested in comprehension, mouths that seem to be quite liberated and free flowing with their words, and these little electronic devices called iPods.

Several days ago I asked my youngest little blessing to do something, and as if in a trance, she moseys about and half heartedly did the task I asked her to do. I look up a few seconds later and she's plopped up on the couch in an iPod coma.

I looked at her and then at what I had asked her to do, and let's just say Momma wasn't too happy about this little situation we found ourselves in.

Comatosely unaware of my dissatisfaction, she sat contently playing her game while I stood before her fuming.

I'll leave the rest of the details out except to say that after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, the little iPod is now in Momma's possession and the job I asked her to do was done properly.

A couple of days later the youngest little blessing comes to me asking for said electronic device back, and I was quickly able to roll examples from my brain as to why she still could not have her electronic friend back into her sweet little hands.

After my list of examples, those sweet little hands flung around my waist, her chin lifted toward the ceiling, and she tried to break me with the most innocent repentant voice she could muster:

But I'm sorry, Mom!

Let's just say, Momma's ain't that easy.

Well, Brenna, if you ever want your iPod back, you had better learn to put that "sorry" into action!

And, yes, the iPod is still in my possession, tucked safely in one of my secret hiding places.

As soon as I told my daughter that she needed to put that sorry into action, I felt that Holy Spirit nudge and I had to ask myself a question or two.

Do I treat God the same way? Do I say I'm sorry, but never put sorry into action?

If I don't, I'm not really sorry then, am I?

What about you?