"When My Love to Christ Grows Weak"

"When my love to Christ grows weak,
When for deeper faith I seek,
Then in thought I go to Thee,
Garden of Gethsemane!"
(Songs of Faith and Praise)

While Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he advised them to "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Matthew 26:41)

Truer words were never spoken. Our spirit wants to be right, but this mortal body and all of its entrapments of sin, are weak vessels. Be on the lookout, watch out because when we are tempted, no matter how much we have said we would not fall...we do. Weak vessels on the water will sink. Holes in the sides of the boat will not allow it to float. I am one such weak vessel and even though my spirit wants to be strong it is not.

But glory to God, Christ died for me. He comes to me in my dreams, in my prayers and through His Word saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Words of comfort for the times I stop watching and the heaviness of my eyes cause me to fall asleep. I fall asleep and sin overcomes me.

Dear God in heaven, "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."
I pray this morning for strength. With my guard down, temptation came to me. Forgive me of my sins and give me strength to do your work on earth. As Paul said, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." (Romans 7:18) Like the disciples in the Garden, I am tired, my eyelids are heavy and I stopped watching. I pray for deliverance from the temptations that play on my weak body. My desire is to be a servant for Jesus sake.
It is in Jesus' name I pray for my sins to be forgiven. Amen.

May we all be at peace today seeking God's will for us.

I'm Not Complaining, Just Saying...

Long days, these are some long days. I'm not complaining. Just saying.

The rains keep coming down. As I type, the rain has ceased for a time and the lush green rain-drenched leaves and blades of grass glisten in the sun. The locusts are singing while the occasional sounds of the road in the distance break up this quiet day. My backyard "rainforest" is brimming over with tall bushy scrubs on the back fence. When it all dries up, I have a lot of work to do. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying.

Last week I was in Abilene and it was greener than I've ever seen it at this time of year. I know they have prayed for rain in past summers. Now, I think they'd like to say, "Okay, God, that's good. You can stop now." Of course, they don't dare complain...just saying.

Our new yellow crowned night herons are still up in their nest. The young birds have been up there for a month now. Recently, I observed 3 gangly young birds instead of two like I originally thought were in the tree. Don't know when the youngsters will decide to fly out of their nest. Not complaining at all because they have been fun to watch.

I've enjoyed listening to my iTunes and downloading music and videos lately. A recent download was the TV mini-series of "Starter Wife". I had such a good time watching this shallow little soap opera, that I just had to own it.


Another iTunes download was the soundtrack to the second "Pirates of the Carribean" movie, Dead Man's Chest by German-born composer Hans Zimmer. The stirring orchestration is fabulous!

I am pretty much doing nothing except sitting in my recliner most days in my gown until well past noon. As you see I am on the computer right now. Back when the boys were little I thought my summers were the busiest time for me. Now, they are the slowest. Not complaining. Just saying.

I've got to get some actual work done for the Baytown Little Theater. I recently took on the writing and mailing of the theater newsletter. I have to call the post office today and ask them how they want me to sort these 230 pieces of mail I've stuck tabs and address labels on. Its all volunteer work. Not that I'm complaining, just saying...

Wow! Already 2:00 in the afternoon. Where does the time go on such a long day? Wish I had a maid...or a cook... Just saying, it would be nice. ;-)

Convalescing

The day after returning from a trip is tiring. Today is rainy and I haven't even opened the curtains to let in the day. Here it is almost 10:00 in the morning and both Kim and I are sitting in our recliners with our p.j.'s on. Our bodies are a bit road-weary.

Kim is particularly tired from his long drive home. He covered a lot of the East coast driving back to Texas from Connecticut and places in-between. If you want, you can read about his recent travels on a website he set up especially for his trip. He first went to College Station earlier in June with a group of teens from our community theater. Home for only three days, he flew to North Carolina to attend another theater conference. After the 5-day theater event, his dad drove up and met him so they could take a road trip together. They covered a lot of territory and put a lot of miles on the odometer, but from all reports, I'd say father and son had a great vacation together.

When my husband first began talking about all the places he would be traveling to in June, I was glad to be staying home. Having recently completed another year in a public education classroom, I was happy to be staying home. Thinking that I would be alone most of those days, I began to think about things I might do around the house. However, when a couple of girlfriends invited me on a lakehouse retreat, I couldn't resist tagging along. After a week of blissful relaxation, I came home to spend only one night alone. Our youngest son called to say he'd be spending the week with me while working a job in town. Before the week was up, plans were made for me to travel to Abilene to have a little reunion with a couple of friends from my college days. We shopped, laughed and talked our heads off. By the time I got home last night, Kim was home and I had only spent about 3 days by myself.

So, today it is raining cats and dogs outside and we have stationed ourselves in our respective chairs. He with his newspaper, working Suduko and I right here on my computer plugged into iTunes and the internet.

It's going to be a slow day and I'd say its time for another cup of coffee.