Baggage

I'm spending some time this summer studying the life of David. Today's reading involved the selection of Saul as King. You can read about it in 1 Samuel 10:17-25. Basically there's a narrowing of the field by tribe, by clan, by family and eventually down to the choice of Saul. Saul knew he would be chosen. The funny thing is he hid when the announcement was being made! Verse 22 says, "So they inquired further of the Lord, "Has the man come here yet?" and the Lord said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

This struck me as humorous, because I too try to hide from God in the baggage. Not literally of course, but too often figuratively. When I feel like God is calling me to do something I can always come up with an excuse as to why He should use someone else. I yell at my kids. I don't know those people. I don't have the money. I'm not qualified. These are just some of the thoughts and responses that I'll give to ignore and disobey what God is asking of me. Do you do that?

Just like Saul, I try to hide in the baggage. It's easy to do that with other people, but we can't do that with God. He knows exactly where we are. He knows exactly who He wants for the task. The real question is: are we willing to let it go and say yes?

Is Anybody Home?

Hello? Is Anybody Home? For the faithful few who read this blog, I'm back! Life has gotten a little crazier over the past few months, and I just didn't have anything to say. Truthfully, I was too lazy and/or scared to write a post about it.

The whole concept of writing a post has sort of become like a Reality show for me. Do you watch any of those shows….American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice? The contestants do their deal, sing, dance, manage a project and then they get judged. Three, sometimes four people give them feedback. It can be gushing and loving or harsh and critical. The contestant has to stand there and take it. It's a pretty intense moment to watch. Thankfully I've not had much criticism on this blog, but the thought that it could happen keeps me on the sidelines from posting too often. Writing that down even gets under my skin! I'm a competitor, so giving in to this silliness is not who I am. So if you'll keep stopping by, I'll keep posting. It may be short and sweet, or long and thoughtful, but I'm not giving in to fear. Now back to our regularly scheduled post…or at least what I got on here to say. Is anybody home? When I would come home from college, I used to ask that question as I walked through the door of my grandparent's house. They lived next door to my parents, so as soon as I dropped my stuff off I went over to their house. It's kind of silly, because they were always home. However, our little greeting never changed. My grandmother was legally blind, but she would always say, "Bless your heart, come on in." Then she'd walk over and give me hug and say, "That's Bridget! Sit down and eat." Truth be told, that's why I went over there in the first place. Grandmoma always had something good cooked to eat. My grandfather, a man of few words, would say, "Hey Sapphire." I have no idea why he called me that. He may have called my sister and cousins that too. I don't remember. When I would head back to college on Sundays, he would say, "Keep your nose clean Sapphire." Cracks me up just thinking about it. I miss them both, but lately I've had glimpses of going home in my own yard. Both of my grandparents had green thumbs. We lived off of many vegetables that were grown on acres and acres of land around us. It was lots of hard work, but good stuff growing up. Obviously as a young girl, I did not think so. Having to get up very early to work in the gardens during our summer vacation kind of stunk. I do miss having all those vegetables readily available now though.  However, they also had flowers all over their yard-hydrangeas, azaleas, day lilies, camellias, roses, gardenia bushes and magnolia trees. I did not inherit their "green thumb", but these beauties have been growing like crazy in my yard for the last few weeks and they remind me of going home.