Pumpkin Spice Thoughts...

Little Addison and Bennett came running in the door, jabbering my name and throwing themselves at me for hugs. They are two-year-old twins, smart and adorable. All of our eight grandchildren are simply the cutest and most wonderful children that God ever made. Ken says they are products of fine breeding and that we are not biased at all. 

I heard a Tony Robbins talk on YouTube the other day. I'd never heard him speak before. He looks like a cyborg, huge and other-worldly, handsome and with a gigantic voice. I wondered what all the hype was about. Maybe he actually is an alien. He spoke about breaking down what really matters in this life.... and how to tease out what we've done well and what has met up with our expectations. So I listened for awhile and thought about what my expectations have been for my life. He asked what was important to his audience: career, family, fitness, etc., and suggested that we all think about where we came from, what kind of dreams and plans mattered to us, and where we are now. And then he said to focus on what has gone well in our lives. Look at that, ponder that, lay aside the other things for now. 

There have been things I've done that I was proud of, things that somehow I accomplished or pulled off. There's been money made, paintings painted, houses fixed up and sold, people helped. But all that stuff burns off quickly when I think of the souls (four children, three daughter-in-laws, eight grandchildren) that the Lord gave us to be "ours" for a time in this life. That is eternal treasure that keeps on moving forward, priceless.

There are folks out here that don't have children or grandchildren, but their true treasures still get back around to the investment of life into souls, no matter how that translates. In a career, as a neighbor, through the written or spoken word, an act of kindness or generosity. The quiet plowing or the loud bullhorn, we all affect someone. When I think of the myriads of people who have influenced and shaped my life, I stand amazed. Sometimes just getting out of the building after church is like running through a gauntlet of rose petals. We are lucky to be in a place where gossip and condemnation are overtaken by Jesus in earthsuits. I've never seen such.

The weather cooled off ten degrees and I've done gone soft. There is truly a mercy when the weather lets up and we start to come out from under the haze of a convoluted and protracted summer. Fall makes you feel jubilant. Everything's dying but somehow it smells like hope. I've taken to getting on my knees every morning (no small task), telling God that nope I can't do it, but You can and I need ya to. Surrender is a sweet thing. Try it sometime.