God's Grace has Always been in Place

A peppermint rose

 Just teasing...perhaps there is a peppermint rose somewhere but this is just a rose that my daughter swiped with a brush dipped in white paint.  For a minute, though, I stood open mouthed; thinking that my rose bush had actually produced a rebel rose...or an incredible rose defying blossom.  I suppose that would be like saying the same thing twice.. 

Well I had quite a laugh over that, but it did get me thinking about another analogy.  Real versus fake.  Because we're people we struggle with this whole just be yourself or be someone I think you'll like thing.  We want acceptance, we need validation, encouragement, and to belong. 

So we have grandiose ways of acknowledging our accomplishment's, our struggles, our triumphs, our victories, our desires, hopes, and dreams.  It's all part of being a human.  People have been doing it thousands of years in every culture.  Facebook and blogging aren't really new, just a different twist. 

So in our efforts to communicate one to another do you ever wonder why we choose to communicate the things we do?  What's important to me may not be important to you or vice versa.  We politely listen one to another...but there's only so much time and we each only live a certain number of days. 
We can only read so many books and learn so many things.  I hope that I put my time and effort into what really matters.  I don't want to be a painted rose.  I want to be real and smell nice while I do.  I'd like to be polite, but truthful.  I'd like to share my thoughts with those who care and not with those who don't.  When I started this blog, it was for the purpose of sharing with you about life in Alaska.  Then, it morphed into a wild ride down to Oregon and back up to Alaska and down to Oregon again sort of blog.  Now, more than a month has gone by since I last wrote...hmmmm

A bicycle built for two...

We recently purchased this tandem bike from our neighbors garage sale.  What a bargain!  I've always wanted a bike like this.  Think of the romantic places we could adventure on this one...oh, wait, my husband is still recovering from his broken ankle and we have a leaky tire...Nothing that can't be fixed with time and money.

BUT, I bet you couldn't tell that from the picture and the smiles on our faces?  It's a lot like what we Christians present to the world and one another every Sunday.  Behind every face is a real human soul.  Alive, with real hurts and real wounds.  We gather together to worship and pray and read God's word.  Sometimes we share our trials and struggles, and sometimes we're quiet.  But, let's be real and unpainted.  We don't have to pretend to have it all together because no one does.  It's time to let the facades down and serve one another in love, broken as we are, bleeding as we are, and healing as we are.  God only needs one yielded and obedient heart and the rest will follow.