The Hawk

Yesterday in the middle of the afternoon I had the pleasure to step outside to walk to another building for a meeting. It was GLORIOUS!! Blue skies, white puffy clouds, bright sunshine, low humidity, plush trees and a hawk seamlessly soaring overhead. The hawk’s flight pattern was light and whimsical. He seemed so blessed to be flying in the beauty of the day. In and out of the tree tops, rising up and up then turning and gliding down and down. Absolutely free!!

I was reminded of God’s glory and love for all creatures. He provides for each one of us in so many ways. He tells us in Matthew 6:25 – “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

Just like the hawk, so free, dipping and rising, enjoying the wind carrying him through the sky, that’s how I feel sometimes. At times, I feel like I am soaring through life, confident that I will dip and rise, carefree knowing that my needs are being met, I feel peaceful with the perfect peace that can only come from God, the peace that passes all understanding. Even when my circumstances are challenging, I don’t waiver in my faith that God will carry me through the rough times as well as the good times.

I have become politically opinionated and when I used to look at the insanity around me, I would find myself getting anxious and worry would try to creep in, but much of the time, I lean on God and trust Him that he will find a way for everything to work out for His good. I mean, we will face higher taxes, higher healthcare costs, higher energy costs and our disposable income, if we’re lucky enough to have any, will shrink and shrink. We’ll have less money to save and invest for a retirement future. But I have to trust that when He told us to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s that if we follow His word, we will be like the Hawk – free to trust that God will meet our needs.

Free……free as a bird……free to love God…..and trust God……free to be me.

"...And in the end... The love you take is equal to the love you make." ---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

A Heart For God

I have run into some very interesting people on Twitter over the past 6 months or so. Some I follow because they are local to Cincinnati friends, colleagues, networking buds; some I quit following because they are just too radical for me; some I only know via Twitter but they tweet good content both political and uplifting (encouraging, Christian messages).

One of those is A Heart For God. He calls himself Pastor Mike. Don't know if he is a "pastor" in the true sense of the word (you know, has been ordained, has a church building where the body of Christ meets, etc.) but I do know he has quite an online following. He is on every social media outlet on the Internet with over 20K followers. He may be one of the first Pastors that I've heard of that leads a "virtual" church.

I've read quite a few of his posts and find they are very insightful, encouraging and uplifting. Seems his target audience is men, which as a Christian woman, I can really appreciate someone targeting men to encourage them and teach them the way God wants them to be. He posts teaching series, music, sermons, his blogs, other Bible sources.

I'm linking to this particular post: the 10 Commandments of Blogging -- If Moses was a blogger, what would the 10 commandments look like.  It's fun to read and like most of his posts, enlightening. Thanks Pastor Mike!! 

I thought I'd share him with everyone, since I enjoy reading his messages and tweets. I hope you enjoy him as well.

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

"REAL" pictures on blogs

Hi, one of my fellow "MyBlogLog"-ers commented on one of my entries earlier today about how people represent who they are. You see, on MyBlogLog, members post their pictures and then screen shots of their blogs plus write descriptions of their blogs. The goal is for people to sign up as readers to the blogs.

There are pictures people put on their blogs or put up to represent who they are. There are tons of "beautiful" people in the pictures to identify the blog/site owner to the real person behind the computer. The real question is "are the people who they say they are"?

Well, I wonder that same thing when I look at some of the pictures. But, really, living in SoCAL, I see tons of "beautiful" people all the time. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the plastic surgeons, maybe it's both, but SoCAL is famous for famous "BEAUTIFUL" people.

In my case, I am who I am....I represent myself honestly because I wouldn't know how to do anything else. Look, to some people my life is totally boring, to some people my writing is terrible. but to others it's interesting or fun or just "ok" because you are my friends. Some of you that read this are my friends, we know each other, we used to hang out or we do hang out. Some of you I don't know you personally, but we've chatted online. Some know me from MySpace. Some know me from MyBlogLog and some of you are my favorites - ANONYMOUS!!

No matter who is reading this, I will be myself. I show my face, the real face. I share pictures with everyone (look below at the wedding pics). I am honest, I have integrity. I treat this blog as an extension of myself. Whatever strikes me I write about. It's kind of like I talk to my friends. Same difference.

So, if I was going to use the statements above about REAL pics as a sociology study - I would say that in marketing some people thing that "innocent" lying is ok to a point. I say that if I have to lie to get people to read my blog then it's not worth it. But if people read it because I'm ME then it's so great!!

ENJOY!! and please keep the COMMENTS coming!

"Here's all you need to know about men and women: Women are crazy, and men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid."

-- George Carlin