You wouldn't lie to me...would you?

I am starting my week unusually refreshed. I was blessed to take off the past week for a "staycation" if you will.

Two of my best friends from college came to Tulsa to visit, relax and do virtually nothing for a week. Pure bliss. We spent hours every day by the pool, built a vacation snack bar on my buffet table complete with birthday cake Oreos and gummy bears, and only watched films that rated at 10 on the chick flick scale.

You might look at how I spent my days off and think I wasted them, when I could have spend them somewhere other than my apartment. After this week though, I recommend placing the "staycation" at the top of your destination list. The perks are limitless. No travel cost, free lodging, and no jet lag. The list goes on. However, ranking above the pool time and El Guapo salsa, the people I got to spend the week with take the cake.

There's just something about those friends God places in your life. The kind of friends that you can be yourself around, let the ugly show, laugh until you cry, and cry after that. My heart nearly bursts with thankfulness every time I think about the amazing women God has placed as friends in my life both near and far. To all of you who sit and listen to my jumbled thoughts and ramblings and wait patiently as I repeat them again the next week, thank you. There is no pricetag to be placed on the honesty and truth that comes from a true friend. I know the advice and words from these special people God has placed in my life are true and honest, nothing less, even when it hurts. Friendship has no hidden agendas and not a hint of deception. I think that's why time spent in the presence of a true friend, in my opinion, is a refresher like no other.

Today, in the 4 year old class I help in at church, the Bible story was about Balam and his talking Donkey. Each week the past month, the story has ended by reminding the kids that we can know the story is true because everything in the Bible is true. The kids laughed at the thought of a talking donkey, but when asked the question, "Do you believe this story is true?" one boy in particular knew the answer.

He quickly shouted out a boisterous, "YES!". One of the other leaders asked him how he knew. Here is what he said: "It is true because God says it is true. He is my very best friend."

He didn't hesitate. He didn't give exceptions. The fact that God said it with his standing as his best friend was enough. He believed it.

This was one of those moments for me where time seemed to stop. If God's word, as our Savior and best friend, was enough for this four year old boy, then why isn't it always enough for me?

Have you ever played the game two truths and a lie? If you haven't, it goes something like this. The person who is "it" tells three statements to the group, two being true, and the other a lie, and the group has to guess which one is the fallacy. I have played it, and I hate it. I don't always do well under pressure and am not a good liar. When put on the spot to come up with three statements, I usually say something entirely too obvious like...1) I work for a nonprofit 2) I have one sister 3) I have a pet tiger.

While I don't love the giving side of this game, I am not too fond of the taking either. My friends, being better at this game than I, usually issue three statements of which I have NO idea which one is a lie. When the secret is revealed, I am usually surprised, and unjustifiably hurt that I was deceived, even though it was a part of the game.

Too often, I treat my relationship with God like He is playing this game. He is always it. He fills my life with his word through prayer, thoughts, and passages of scripture. I believe most of it to be true, but have some sort of general hesitancy when it comes to certain statements. 1) God is love 2) The free gift of God is eternal life 3) God's timing isn't always my timing. The first two, yes. That third one, though.... 1) Jesus rose from the dead 2) God hears all of our prayers 3) All good things come from the Lord. Numbers one and three I am sure about, but number two? What about that prayer I have been praying for weeks?

This kind of thinking has to stop. The scary thing is, most of the time I don't even realize I am engaging in it. I know logically that everything God says is true, but that knowledge gets stuck somewhere on the path from my head to my heart. Even though God proves himself to me over and over again, my actions still too often show that I believe I know best for my life and that I am in control of my future. It took a four year old boy with childlike faith to remind me that when it comes to my relationship with God, the head and heart have to work together on the same premise. Everything God says is true. No "if's", "and's", or "but's".

 If I can find rest and refreshment in time spent with the people dear to my heart, how much more rest, peace, and comfort can I find in my Savior, the best friend I could ever ask for. Everything he has promised me is true and He really does have a plan for my life. I have a book full of his promises at my fingertips daily and the opportunity to be in conversation with him at all times. If I rested in the honesty, purity, and truth of this relationship, there would be no room for worry or stress.

My friends went back home on Friday. It is back to work this week. Deadlines will come up, slots on the calendar will fill up, and things will not always go my way. As history shows, with many of these things, stress levels will rise, and the "staycation high" will fade away. Through the ups and downs, vacation time or not, one thing never changes. The best friend I could ever had is right here, living life right along side me, guiding my every footstep. The talk is always real, true, and available, whether I am here in Tulsa or halfway across the world. His word is honest, and he is waiting for me to come to him to be refreshed.  All of his promises are true.

All truths. No lies.

Let's Celebrate.

Last Thursday, on the way home from work, I stopped at the bookstore. A friend at lunch that day told me a book I had to read, and the bookworm in me couldn't wait 3 days for Amazon shipping. I found the title at the second bookstore I ventured too, that is after making several calls to find a store that actually had it on the shelves.

I made my way home looking at the dark clouds in the rearview and headed up to my sanctuary for the evening. I set my purse down, grabbed a book and a cup of chai, and of course my favorite quilt. As I started to read, a chapter in, I looked up and out the window after hearing a deep rumble from the sky and watched as it began to pour.  There's something about an afternoon downpour that stops me in my tracks. Perhaps it is the fact that I can see the drops and hear them as they hit the ground. I don't know about you, but evening rainstorm send me into a quick coma like sleep.

With my book in my lap, I began to look around my apartment. It was clean for the first time in what seemed like weeks, a candle was lit, and I was sitting still. I couldn't remember the last time that had happened. Sometime between the months of March through early May, my calendar and life seemingly, turned into a timetable with slots instead of a fresh pallete full of moments. Bullet points that left no room for interjections.

I realized I hadn't read a book in two months, and I hadn't baked in maybe three. I couldn't put a pinpoint on the last time I had spent an evening with nothing planned. If you know me very well, I thrive on those moments. You like to spend your evening out with 22 of your closest friends? I like those nights, but if I am honest, I probably would prefer to sit on my couch with a book and a 1990's rom-com rolling in the background on my tiny television.

While I am only a chapter or two into my recent read, I could be completely missing the point, but here is what I have taken from it so far. The author talks in the intro about how we are sitting around waiting for our "moment". You know, that moment in the movies where they get the job, catch the bad guy, win the award, or say their vows. We wait. We watch. We press onward. Somewhere in that waiting game though, we forget to experience. We are waiting for a celebration when that moment arrives. The author suggest that perhaps the celebration is in the current moment, not in THE moment we think we are waiting for. The celebration is now. The celebration is life. Are we missing it?

Once the rain stopped, I went out to my porch. The trees were green, the ground was wet, and the unmistakable scent of an Spring rainstorm was in the air. The clouds were still there, but pockets of blue and sunshine peaked through the clouds. The birds were singing, and the crickets were chirping. It was one of those moments. A moment worth celebrating. Sometimes I forget I don't have to be sitting in the middle of the mountains to notice the beauty in Creation. It's right here in Oklahoma. It's right over the railing of my apartment balcony. A beautiful picture is surrounding us. It's moments like those, where I sit and count the drips of water from the porch railing on my toes, that I wonder how many more of these moments I miss, moments of pure, uninterrupted peace and bliss.

The title of the book I am reading is Cold Tangerines. The author says she wants to live a life where she enjoys cold tangerines among the other little things in life.

Have you ever seen one of those over-sized colorful plates in a gift store that says "Celebrate Everything"? You know, those ones that look like you could make it at "paint & party" but way better than anything you (or at least someone with my limited art skills) could make yourself?  I have seen them more than a dozen times, picked them up, and immediately set them down after being appalled at the astronomical price tag on a 8 inch diameter piece of plaster. As I continue to read this book, the phrase painted on the plate keeps crossing my mind. Perhaps those words should be painted across my heart and become the shades through which I see my world. 

I want to live a life worth celebrating. I don't want to wait around for hypothetical celebrations culture tells us we need to be fulfilled. I want to take deep breaths. I want to travel far away and see things I have never seen. I want to notice the shape of the leaves on the trees outside my window, and I want to sit in a hammock every chance I get.

The truth is, life isn't always relaxing, and I don't always have an open schedule. I have to remind myself that those little moments, moments full of awe and wonder, are just as present in the busy times as in relaxing ones. God is present at all times and so is his faithfulness. With an ever present God in the midst of a chaotic world, we are sure to find beauty, wonder, and moments worth celebrating. We just have to be willing to open our eyes and train ourselves to look for and engage in them.

The gift of the moment is enough reason in itself to celebrate. The more we look deep into those moments we are given, the more we will notice what the Lord has had right in front of us all along. Look around. Live. Breath it in. How can we not celebrate?