clarity...

Death puts everything into perspective.

Those on their deathbeds, and those loved ones of someone recently deceased always say the same things:

Forgive.
Spend more time with those you love.
Make your spouse and your children the priority in your life.
Slow down.
Enjoy the little things.
Say, "I love you" more.
Be more affectionate.

Interesting, isn't it, that these all sound like things from God's Instruction Manual?

These are the things you don't hear from a dying person:

I wish I had spent more time at the bar.
I wish I had spent more time at work.
I wish I had had more sex partners.
I wish I had done more drugs.
I wish I had had more money.

Things become crystal-clear when death is imminent, and the truth is, death is imminent for us all. We have no guarantee of the next moment.

Let the clarity death brings help us all to make better choices while we're still breathing Earth's air...



c2010 lorenda houston

Yes, but...

We want God to bless us, but we're unwilling to live a fully surrendered life...

We want financial blessing, but we're unwilling to follow the giving principles God lays out in his word which prove our full trust of his lordship in our lives...

We want respectful, well-behaved children, but we're unwilling to provide them the loving discipline God so clearly teaches in his word and mirrors for us as our heavenly father...

We want an exciting, fulfilling marriage, but we're unwilling to make the biblical choices that would get us there...

We want God's provision, but we're unwilling to give up control...

We want peace, but we're unwilling to break our addiction to drama...

We want satisfaction, but we're unwilling to follow the instruction manual...

We want God's acceptance, but we're unwilling to rebel against society's rules...

We want meaning and fulfillment in life, but we're unwilling to live as we were created to live...

We want time to slow down, but we're unwilling to stop running full-speed ahead...

...


We'll never get what we want until we stop saying, "Yes, but...", and start saying, simply, "Yes".



c2010 lorenda houston

School, Sports, Socializing, Spirituality...what's most important?

We worry about everything when it comes to our kids. We worry about their education and about their physical development. We make sure they have the clothes they need, the food they need, the stuff they need. We want them to actively participate in sports, in school functions, in social events and parties. We spend so much time, energy and money to make sure our kids are well-rounded. And yet, the most important thing of all is so often neglected: the spiritual. All those other things are fine and can even be good and healthy, but if the spiritual life of your child comes last, none of those other things will even matter in the end.

I would speculate that the main reason for this neglect is simply that the parent's own spiritual life is lacking. Maybe you have so many unanswered questions or a negative spiritual upbringing yourself that you aren't sure how to approach spirituality with your own children. That's really a lame excuse, though. If you care at all about that baby you brought into the world, why wouldn't you treat his spiritual life with the importance you treat his school life or his social life or his sports life?

God wants to walk in relationship with your child. He cares more for your child than you ever could, so why don't you do the most important thing you could ever do as a parent? Open the door for your child to have a vibrant, lasting, ongoing relationship with God. Make spirituality a priority in your own life first, and then in your family life. It doesn't have to be perfect, nor should it be weird. It just has to be real.



c2010 lorenda houston

open your hymnal and turn to page...

That's the kind of church music i remember as a child...

"The Hymnal".

Nothing wrong with the hymnal.

The hymnal is simply a book full of songs. Mostly songs about God and to God, about themes found in the Bible, as well as patriotic songs and songs with themes more specific to whatever type of church to which one belongs. I remember it was always kind of a big deal when our particular church's national offices put out a new hymnal. There were always a few newer songs included in it, and maybe a few older ones that were discontinued. It was as if a few new songs had acquired the "holy stamp of approval" from the higher-ups as "acceptable to be sung in OUR churches"... Somewhere, someone had crossed the line from, "here's a bunch of songs bound in book form useful for using in your church gatherings", to, "here are the songs we have decided are sacred and must be the only ones sung at your gatherings in order to receive approval". Approval from whom? Well, from your particular church's national leaders, of course, but certainly implied in that kind of conversation is approval from God himself.

What is wrong is that somewhere along the way, the hymnal began being viewed as a sacred book. The implied sentiment is that "The Hymnal" is equal with "The Bible"... I'm sure the church leaders would argue against that, but it's certainly what I perceived as I was growing up.

As a songwriter who shares songs in a church setting, I so appreciate when people identify with what I've written and even find hope and perhaps develop an emotional attachment to a particular song. As a music lover, I completely understand that and have many songs I feel that exact way about - including some from my childhood hymnal. We experience certain events at certain times in our lives and identify certain songs with those times, so we feel certain emotions when we hear those songs again. This is exactly what happens and has happened in all the years past in people's church experiences: the song they remember singing at the time they opened their heart to Jesus' love for the first time; the song they remember singing when they went to church during a difficult time in their life; the song they remember hearing when they were a child at church with their parents who have now passed away. These songs have great sentimental value, and for good reason! But, that doesn't mean they should be the songs that are sung during church gatherings now. What about the people in the audience who can't identify with that song at all because the language is Shakespearean in style? Or simply because it is the language of a church culture from 100 years ago? Or, even 50 years ago?

I find it sad that we've allowed ourselves to care so much about things that don't matter at all in the eternal context to which God calls us to live. And, even more so, that we've allowed these insignificant things to make our message irrelevant to so many who desperately need it today.

I have written many songs that I've shared in our church gatherings which I hope and pray affect people's lives positively, with which I hope people can identify, and to which I hope some people perhaps even grow emotionally attached, but if someone bundles them up someday and says, "these are the only songs you should sing at church", I would wish I had never even written them.


more thoughts on this topic at an older post of mine:
http://lorendahouston.blogspot.com/2009/03/worshipand-other-misunderstood-words.html


c2010 lorenda houston

She is a collector of many things, all infinitely interesting to my young creative mind. Rows of variously shaped wine glasses, carefully stored in open-fronted cabinets high off the floor, never used for wine, of course, as we are a non-drinking family; yet, lovingly and painstakingly hand-washed, dried and put away after each use. We do use them -- it would be ridiculous not to enjoy their interesting shapes, always held in my hand with the stem between my fingers, just so... Late at night, we enjoy simplistically elegant meals of cheese and crackers, accompanied by grape juice or some such beverage served expansively in one of the wine glasses of our choice. Many of the smaller ones are housed in a shelving unit along the wall behind the small kitchen table, more easily accessible to her and to me. Shot glasses of many colors, tiny stemmed glasses, all playing into my passion for miniature things.




c2010 lorenda houston

favorites....

solitude


quiet


stillness


calm


surrender


the peace that comes from surrender


doing what i can


not doing more than i can


silence


dusk


the holy spirit, my constant companion


...





c2010 lorenda houston

don't forget to stop and smell the roses...

driving through traffic, heading home, mind full of thoughts, preoccupied, turn left on flager road, pass the mailboxes, pass the tanks, look to the left, and...

...

suddenly, all thoughts vanish, mind clears, calm floods the car, my mind, my soul...turn off the radio, slow down, and stare...

at the beauty, the grand majesty of the view...

the mountains, periwinkle in the distance, silhouetted against the light blue sky and white puffs of clouds, anchored by miles of low-growing vegetation and red sand...

everything makes sense...i relax without even trying, my breathing slows, my head clears...

it is HIS world.

and i am just living in it, with HIM leading the way.

...


thanks, god, that i get to see this every time i drive home.




c2010 lorenda houston