Hi all !! its been a while since I have been on here.I hope to catch it up over the next several weeks.I have been really busy with kidding time on PatchWork Acres. Garden planting and revamping my shop.I have quite a few projects going.God is good.
Sometimes in my quite time mornings I reflect over things and meditate on Gods Word.At times I journal my thoughts and write what I call .."Home Grown Devotionals" So I thought I would just share one today...
" Duct Taping our lives together"
(Giving others permission to see underneath who we really are)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other, so that you may be healed. James 5:16
On Easter Sunday I had a new outfit.I was looking spify.Nice skirt with a eyelet blouse in just the right color.My favorite color in fact. Well feeling kinda good at how it turned out...I get dressed and notice the skirt is a little loose,no big deal ,I will just pull it up a little higher and all will be well....so I thought....well working around home getting my food ready for sunrise service that morning, my skirt would slip and I would stand in front of the mirror ,and you know turn this way and turn that way...Wow it looked good...it didn't look like it was gonna fall off...all looked great.....So off to church I went.....I tear into the church and start getting ready for sunrise service.I thought I will make hot coffee,everyone will love that,it was a chilly morning....busy busy.....Well the skirt had a mind of its own,...it kept slipping...it wanted to come off and I was determined it wasn't...after ALL this was my new Easter skirt.....Well trying to make a 30 cup coffee pot full of coffee with one hand on the pot and the other holding up my skirt was quite challenging...BUT what was I to do?People had noticed my new out fit...and it was my favorite color...and and....and that's when I spotted it!!! YES !!!...silver and Beautiful!!...it was just what I needed...Duct Tape!!...I took off 2 nice size pieces ...lifted my blouse and taped my skirt to my under garments!!....wa-la!! ...dropped my blouse back down...and no one new it was there.....I looked nice and friendly...well I was happy now I could use both hands to make coffee without losing my skirt. But no one saw my duct tape.Until I showed them,....which I did just because it was to funny to keep to myself...especially when they would comment on my beautiful new outfit....
Well it got me to thinking....How often is it that we look just right on the outside.We are friendly,busy and oh so helpful...but on the inside we are taped together...our hearts are broken ,our spirits are down and we are discouraged....But others appear to have it all together...so we add some more duct tape to ourselves and smile while we cry on the inside....afraid if we take the duct tape off we will fall apart and others will see our needs....Oh ladies, if we could see the needs and hearts of others....We as older women are commanded to teach the younger...We are all older then someone....so that means we all have a part...I don't think it means to stand up and teach but to come along the side of and walk with them,be there for them....so when the duct tape comes off or is revealed ...there can be true mending...not just patching,.....But it takes genuine trust and love and concern for each other.Oh how easy it is to look just right...and we think everything is great for them...or make others think it is great for ourselves...but wouldn't it be great to be fixed,...really fixed no pretending,no holding up with one hand...to be beautiful inside and out?...Lets be there for each other...really there, praying,encouraging ,and believe me duct tape does NOT come off easy...it HURTS,skin comes,,,but only after it comes off can true healing and mending happen.......Oh yeah the skirt is on the sewing machine to be fixed...no more duct tape for me....I want to be beautiful ..inside and out........
Sometimes in my quite time mornings I reflect over things and meditate on Gods Word.At times I journal my thoughts and write what I call .."Home Grown Devotionals" So I thought I would just share one today...
" Duct Taping our lives together"
(Giving others permission to see underneath who we really are)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other, so that you may be healed. James 5:16
On Easter Sunday I had a new outfit.I was looking spify.Nice skirt with a eyelet blouse in just the right color.My favorite color in fact. Well feeling kinda good at how it turned out...I get dressed and notice the skirt is a little loose,no big deal ,I will just pull it up a little higher and all will be well....so I thought....well working around home getting my food ready for sunrise service that morning, my skirt would slip and I would stand in front of the mirror ,and you know turn this way and turn that way...Wow it looked good...it didn't look like it was gonna fall off...all looked great.....So off to church I went.....I tear into the church and start getting ready for sunrise service.I thought I will make hot coffee,everyone will love that,it was a chilly morning....busy busy.....Well the skirt had a mind of its own,...it kept slipping...it wanted to come off and I was determined it wasn't...after ALL this was my new Easter skirt.....Well trying to make a 30 cup coffee pot full of coffee with one hand on the pot and the other holding up my skirt was quite challenging...BUT what was I to do?People had noticed my new out fit...and it was my favorite color...and and....and that's when I spotted it!!! YES !!!...silver and Beautiful!!...it was just what I needed...Duct Tape!!...I took off 2 nice size pieces ...lifted my blouse and taped my skirt to my under garments!!....wa-la!! ...dropped my blouse back down...and no one new it was there.....I looked nice and friendly...well I was happy now I could use both hands to make coffee without losing my skirt. But no one saw my duct tape.Until I showed them,....which I did just because it was to funny to keep to myself...especially when they would comment on my beautiful new outfit....
Well it got me to thinking....How often is it that we look just right on the outside.We are friendly,busy and oh so helpful...but on the inside we are taped together...our hearts are broken ,our spirits are down and we are discouraged....But others appear to have it all together...so we add some more duct tape to ourselves and smile while we cry on the inside....afraid if we take the duct tape off we will fall apart and others will see our needs....Oh ladies, if we could see the needs and hearts of others....We as older women are commanded to teach the younger...We are all older then someone....so that means we all have a part...I don't think it means to stand up and teach but to come along the side of and walk with them,be there for them....so when the duct tape comes off or is revealed ...there can be true mending...not just patching,.....But it takes genuine trust and love and concern for each other.Oh how easy it is to look just right...and we think everything is great for them...or make others think it is great for ourselves...but wouldn't it be great to be fixed,...really fixed no pretending,no holding up with one hand...to be beautiful inside and out?...Lets be there for each other...really there, praying,encouraging ,and believe me duct tape does NOT come off easy...it HURTS,skin comes,,,but only after it comes off can true healing and mending happen.......Oh yeah the skirt is on the sewing machine to be fixed...no more duct tape for me....I want to be beautiful ..inside and out........
Thanks for sharing that, Mari, you had me on the edge of my seat waiting for that embarrassing moment of how your skirt fell down. :( :) And what a novel idea to use duct tape... so like you to be so resourceful! ;-P
ReplyDeleteBut your last paragraph really spoke to my heart... I appreciate the encouragement to be real rather than hiding behind the duct tape. Thanks so much!
Mind if I share it with our sisters? :)
I love this, Mari! Thank you for sharing! I am so happy you have become such a dear friend to me and that I am able to share the real me with you, receiving such wisdom and godly advice. :)
ReplyDelete