Dots

I'll never forget being challenged by a 9 year old boy to a game of dots. The game was going well; an equal number of S and J boxes graffitied the Spaghetti Factory kid's menu. Then he made his fatal move. By drawing one line, Shane had opened up the door for me to unleash a brutal attack and dominate the game. As I completed each box, and with an odd sense of pride labeled each with a "J", I struggled to understand why the very kid who consistently beats me at tic-tac-toe had made such a foolish move. About 15 boxes later, it was Shane's turn. Instead of a look of defeat, I was shocked to see Shane smiling as he picked up his crayon and proceeded to complete what seemed like 30 or 40 "S" filled boxes. He went on to beat me by well over 60 points. Defeated again by a 9 year old.

It occurred to me that while I was playing turn by turn, Shane was plotting the best move 5 turns ahead. God handles our life a lot like Shane handled that game. While I was looking for the perfect box to close, Shane was looking at the whole board. He knew that even though his next move would make no sense to me, it needed to happen for his plan to be fulfilled. I only get to see my life minute by minute, day by day. God sees my life all at once. He knows this heartache today will pave way for His plan to be fulfilled down the road. He doesn't sit there and say "what move will be good now?" Instead he carefully plots each move. He plots each victory, each defeat, each heartache and each joy so that His plan for me will come be and the victory will inevitably be His.

Tasting Honey

So at church yesterday, Pastor talked about "tasting honey". It was an interesting sermon about how Saul told his soldiers not to celebrate their victory because the war was not over. His son didn't get the memo and he tasted some honey that was dripping from the trees and was instantly touched and energized.

When you hold back your praise until everything is perfect, you skip thanking God for the little drops of blessing He gives you, the drops of honey. So often I get caught up in waiting for the "big win" before I thank God for His gifts. Pastor challenged us to "taste the honey."

I may not be making six figures a year but thank you God, I'm paying my bills; honey. I would've liked to long since been married by now, but thank you God I am loved by many; honey. I'm not living my dream right now, but thank you God I'm alive to dream; honey. I started tasting the honey today and I feel SO rejuvenated and blessed. Now that I can live off the little blessings (drops of honey), maybe I'll awake when the the big blessings come and I won't miss the gifts He has in store.

My life, his eyes

Have you ever wondered what your life would look like from the point of view of an outsider? Since I'll never be an outsider, I decided to document the next year of my life by photographing Cecil, my friendly gnome friend, one day at a time. Some may be random, others artistic...and some will just be downright stupid, but hopefully Cecil will help you see into my life...even if its just a glimpse!