I Want to be a Christian...if it's convenient

I've been kind of absent in bloggy world for the past almost week. I really enjoyed time with my family over the break. Quilting Caroline's blanket (shhh, don't tell her) has taken up a lot of my evening time. Work this week has been so busy!!

Cheryl shared something with me this morning that was (I'm searching for a word) ...unbelievable, astounding, mouth drop wide open astonishing. You get the idea.

Cheryl said she had run into Tina (made up name to protect the guilty). Tina is known for knowing (and spreading) all the town gossip. Cheryl lives in a smaller town. Tina asked Cheryl how things were this year with a personal venture and hoped they were better than last year. Cheryl commented that she didn't know they were bad last year. Tina assured her they were bad because Jim and Staci (more made up names to protect the maybe-guilty) had told Tina things were bad. Tina then went on to invite Cheryl to lunch to... GET THIS...compare notes about Jim and Staci in a "Christian sort of way."

Well. Basta ma gida!

Cheryl assured her she didn't have time for lunch and didn't get caught up in the drama of their small town. (Good for her!)

No wonder we don't get Christ's message. We're so busy trying to water it down and make it into something that is pleasing to us. OK, maybe you're not, but I'm guilty sometimes.

None of that picking up your cross and lugging it around stuff. Of course, none of that dying to yourself nonsense either. And lying, gossip and slandering. Why that doesn't matter if you do it in a "Christian sort of way."

My, my,
Lila

Make Me a Servant, Lord?

I was thinking about something that happened when I was a teenager the other day. I had the most glorious time in high school. Most of the kids I hung out with were "Christian" and were really trying in our inept, incomplete way to live like Jesus...much like I'm doing today.

We were a part of Campus Life Youth for Christ and met weekly at a friend's house. I remember one night in particular. I was feeling particularly "Godly" (can I say that?!). I felt I had things just about figured out - - like only a 17 year old can.

We were talking about being slaves to the Lord. I remember discussing this at length with some friends later. Slaves for the Lord? Certainly, the leader didn't mean Slaves. Surely he meant, Servant. Servant sounds much better than a slave.

How many times in my life have I excused something because of a technicality? It wasn't a big sin, God. Hmm.

No, here I am sitting at 50 years old and I think the Campus Life leader had it right. We are slaves. S L A V E S. But, the difference I didn't get at 17 years old is that my master is loving. He's got my back. May I love him enough to willingly be his slave. May I love him enough to wash his feet and others feet. May I love him enough to treat the unlovable and "entitled" with the heart of a slave. Thank you, Lord, for your example.

Chained to you, Lord,
Lila

Laughter Lifts You Higher

I don't think there is a thing in the world more healing than laughter. This week has been such a sad week with our friends, the Allen's, losing Ben. On Wednesday night when some of the "girls" were with Judy, it was good to see that she was able to laugh. A healing laugh.

The funeral today for Ben wasn't called a funeral, but a "fun" eral. Many stories were told and there was laughter and tears . . . just as Ben would have wanted it. The playing of Ben's playlist at the end was great. Not churchy at all.

I'm reminded of a time when we had the Allen's over for dinner and games. We were playing some silly game where everyone was supposed to write down their answer to a question and then the "guesser" had to guess who said what. The question was to name some fashion statement that girls/ladies do that you just don't get. Ben wrote down "glamour lips." We asked him about it and he cocked his head back and pooched out his lips like a model, pointed to his lips and said, "Glamour lips." We still cackle about that.

I also remember another time after we moved here I was feeling "home sick" for Atlanta. I had a group over for Bunco and was trying to be a decent hostess, all the while feeling blue. While sitting in the living room, Judy Allen, Donna Ware, Lori Wallace and Denise Waldrop all burst into our house wearing orange and green wigs. I don't know how they knew that I needed sisters that night, but I forgot all about being homesick and realized I was home . . . with all the other crazies, just like me. :) I laughed so hard I almost . . . well, you know.

More embarrassing and funny moments to come. I got a million of 'em.

Laughing amid the hurt,
Lila

It's All About the Crown - - - NOT!

So, what's with the new blog header? Oh, come on. I can hear you thinking it. Tee hee! Well, I think you deserve an explanation and I have one for you.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been enamored with being a princess. (I'll bet many of you have as well.) When I was a wee one, my favorite special television night (even more so than when the Wizard of Oz showed) was when Leslie Ann Warren was on Cinderella. She was the most beautiful princess e-ver! I loved her rags to riches story and how the prince on the shining horse chose her. She was the fairest one in the kingdom.

When our girls were young teens that version of Cinderella (with Leslie Ann Warren) was coming on the television. I built it up and told them we were having a very special "girls' night." We got our blankets, our pillows, dimmed the lights, lit candles. fixed popcorn, got sodas and prepared to watch the Cinderella show that I had told them about their whole lives! When it finally aired, we began watching with great anticipation. Katie Lea and Caroline kept looking at me ...saying with their eyes, "Is this what you've been talking about so long?" I reiterated that it was going to get better. We kept waiting. It didn't get better. We were all disappointed. Leslie Ann Warren was pretty, but not nearly as pretty as I remembered. The prince was hokey looking and the acting was just plain bad.

I think that's the way it is. So often I (we?) dream of something that is going to be so glorious, fantasy filled and "happily ever after" and then it happens and BAM! It's not anything like we imagined. Oh, no. It's so much worse!

Vann and I married two months before Princess Di and Charles married. The media buzz that was created about their union was phenomenal. We all know how that "happily ever after" story ended.

Princess Grace of Monocco was first a movie star and then had the beautiful fairy tale wedding. I read her biography and her life was so much "smoke." She lived her life trying to please her earthly father, all the while living a pretty immoral lifestyle and then thought her father would finally approve if she married a prince. Then, that wasn't happily ever after either.

As I've matured I've come to realize that I really am a princess. I'm a daughter of the king. Thank you, Father. I don't have a castle (yet :) but will one day. I think it will be a mansion that looks like a castle.

My father came and rescued me...not on a white horse, but by sending his son to die for me. That requires so much more sacrifice than just riding up on a white horse. Thank you.

I don't have to "be" anything other than what my father created me to be. Princess Di was so burdened with the way she was supposed to "be" to be a suitable princess. My father's yoke is easy and his burden is light.

I'm so thankful my father is a king and I'm a princess. Not the kind with the crown but a princess, loved by her heavenly father all the same. He gave everything for me. I'm living my "happily ever after" because of my dad. I hope you are, too. If not, he so wants to love on you, scoop you up in his arms and let you know you are his daughter (or son), too.

That is my prayer for you,
Princess Lila