Connectedness

You know when I was on vacation, one day I got to just sit outside of my grandparents house (yes it was that nice outside) in the quiet and read!  I have been reading this really great book by John Ortberg called “The me I want to be”.  There was this chapter on connectedness and how much we need it. 

At the beginning of the chapter it actually talks about the way the a theologian named Abroham Kuyper talked about the way the Temple was set up

And how our hearts are like each section:

The outer court is where everyone had access just like that is our public self, the part most people see of us.

The inner court was called the Holy Place not everyone had access to this area, we too have this place where we allow certain people like friends and family to see this part of our hearts, where we share some of our deepest thoughts/feelings.

But there is one place a very guarded place, deep inside.  It was entered by only the chief priest and it was only him and God. We too have this place where it is you and God.  Now please do not think I came up with this reference it is a reference from the book I am reading.

Is this not the most beautiful illustration of our hearts, when I read this it gave me chill bumps and opened my eyes to see something new. 

For this blog I kinda wanted to focus on the inner court where we allow certain people in but doing some thinking, I think I want to also talk about the beautifulness of the Holy of Holies in our hearts.

Having a relationship with someone is really important to the human body, when we are in company with people we love, I know for me I feel so comfortable and like I can share anything and that person will never judge but just continue to love me for me! 

Love brings the power to become the me I want to be.-JO

For myself I really want to try harder to make long, loving and lasting relationships with friends and family.  I know that we won’t always be singing kumbaya  all the time, but I don’t want to have a lot of contacts in my life I want to have true friendships.  In the book it gives some ideas on how to help build those relationships.  One way is what he calls the gift of delighting, I call it the gift of servanthood.  Have you ever noticed when you do something out of love for someone whether they know you did it or not, that it just fills them with a lot of joy.  For me when someone does something for me and I know it was truly out of love it makes me feel special and in forth I want to pass that along to someone else.  Kinda like the pay it forward system J  When we can observe the words that flow from others, you can actually read part of their heart.  John says when love grows people grow!

Another is the gift of love, have you ever noticed that when someone tells you that they love you how that makes you feel, or how about seeing the face of a person who is down and needs a bit of encouraging and saying those three words they mean a lot to that person.  I was feeling pretty down the other day and on fb said that I was a little down, and when I was on the next day I had some of the most uplifting messages from some awesome friends and it made me feel loved!  Love is not an emotion it is an action of the heart. 

Do you ever feel like you take God for granted?  I know that I feel that way and sadly enough I also do that.  I take for granted that He is always there for me and will always love me.  And I do not come to his throne with humbleness and brokenness, that really bothers me.  How can I take for granted a God who has pulled me out of the toughest times in my life with love, and by love I do mean when He is being just too.  Seeing this beautiful illustration of the place of my heart the Holy of Holies just seemed to click in my head and strive to make each day a step forward.

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love~~Ephesians 3:17

A birthday party on Onion Mountain...? Ramblings from my trip to NC

Well I am now back from my trip to North Carolina to go see my granny and grandpa, and to celebrate my great granny’s 99^th birthday!! I had a really great time, it made me miss my grandparents so much. I am thrilled too because I got to take this trip by myself, my missed my boys(including my hubby) but it was nice to just spend time with my family and do some thinking, please say some of you mommies out there understand J

Well since I got to do some thinking…and some reading! I would love to tell you a few things I learned, realized and just plain random thoughts of mine. J

On the way, there I was cruising along and this cop pulls out a couple of cars ahead of me and all of sudden I see an array of red brake lights, well that made me giggle. I wonder if cops ever get a kick out of people slowing way down from them and trying not to pass them even though they are not going above the speed limit. Then I wondered if they ever go really slow just to see if others will follow suit. J

why is it when you are coming over a hill and you see the sight of all the HUGE buildings, that it just seems so intimidating?

see what I am saying :) yep that is kinda intimidating!

Oh did I mention that I had a TomTom with me and it got me lost…in the mountains!!! I have not been so scared in a long time. It was so winding that I could not remember where I came from and that stupid GPS lady kept telling me to turn…off the stinkin mountain! But I was proud that even though I freaked out a bit and bless my hubby’s heart for having a psycho wife sometimes, he finds a way to always calm me down, that I was able to get myself back to where I started without the GPS. Afterwards my grandpa told me that my uncle Kenny got lost on the very same mountain because of umm yep you guessed it, his GPS and when my parents came up their GPS tried to do the same thing. So lesson learned don’t turn onto Onion Mountain. J

My grandpa said the sweetest thing to me, when we were going to the store to get the fixins for the enchiladas I was making for him, we walked in and I was just going to grap a basket and he went for a cart. I told him that I could use the basket and then he said “No I want to feel like I am still needed from you!” That made me just smile and filled with JOY! So he walked around the store pushing the buggy for me, and I really cherished that time.

I realized what an inspiration my granny is, she goes and sits with her mom just about everyday just to spend what time she can with her. My GG does not quite remember who we all are so most days she does not realize who my granny is but that does not stop her at all. I just that so inspiring, I saw my granny in a different light this trip.

When I come to spend time with my family in North Carolina, they make me see how special family truly is. And how blessed I am to have so many, Aunts, great Aunts, cousins, second cousins, of course my grandparents and my GG.

I had such a great time with them and thankful for all the time I got to spend with each of them and can not wait till I can spend more and bring my boys to see them all! So this is just a little bit of my trip and the ramblings of it, I pray each of you has a family member that is just as special to you and if you have more you are truly blessed, and I feel truly blessed!

I apologize for the randomness of the photos blogger is acting up and I just can't seem to make it do what I want it to do!

This is the view from grandparents porch is it not beautiful!

My gg loves this babydoll, I think it is so sweet!

here she is with ALL of her children!

These are some clouds I saw coming home, are they not just beautiful, what a majestic God we serve!