What does it mean to be filled with joy?  A young mother of three with a new baby on the way just lost her husband in a car accident this past week in the small California town that our family calls home.  Where is the joy in that?  A friend is working through the process to adopt a child who has called her, "Mommy," for about a year now and the system is getting more convoluted, not less, as time goes by.  Where is the joy in that?  A beloved relative is in the hospital with bleeding in his brain.  Where is the joy in that?  I have a nephew who I have only seen in pictures who is celebrating his 2nd Christmas and a trip to visit and take in that moment with my own eyes isn't in the budget.  Where is the joy in that? 

This Sunday, our church will light the candle of JOY on the advent wreath.  First was hope, then came peace, now JOY.  I have been reflecting on the idea of JOY in preparation for this coming Sunday, and frankly, no revelations were happening in my heart, mind or soul.  But I kept looking.  This morning, I picked up the devotional book (Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young) and there it was. Staring me in the face on the page designated to read on December 10th of each year.  Even so, I didn't recognize it right away.  It was couched in a lesson on security.  "Make Me the focal point of your search for security," it started.  My mind started to wander.  Clearly, this wasn't going to illuminate the Bible's teaching on JOY for me.  Alas, I kept reading, albeit a little miffed and disappointed. 

"Make Me the focal point of your search for security.  In your private thoughts, you are still trying to order your world so that it is predictable and feels safe.  Not only is this an impossible goal, but it is also counterproductive to spiritual growth.  When your private world feels unsteady and you grip My hand for support, you are living in conscious dependence on Me.  Instead of yearning for a problem-free life, REJOICE that trouble can highlight your awareness of My Presence.  In the darkness of adversity, you are able to see more clearly the radiance of My Face.  Accept the value of problems in this life, considering them pure JOY.  Remember that you have an eternity of trouble-free living awaiting you in heaven." - taken from the inspiration Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 139:10; James 1:2.

Could it be that JOY and security are tightly bound together?   The newly widowed mother whose life suddenly looks nothing like she planned, the friend called "Mommy" by a child born to another waiting on the legal system to make it so, the uncle in the hospital whose physical health is fragile and uncertain, the aunt who has no assurance of when she will see her nephew.  We all have something in common.  We all lack the security of knowing the future.  This devotional reminded me that we can all have something else in common too, if we will choose it: a heightened awareness of the presence of God that others on more seemingly steady ground cannot know.  These areas of our lives where security is stretched thin and it feels like we are walking on spider webs where they should be pavement, these are the moments, the days, the seasons where we can experience what it is truly like to be carried in the arms of God.

I remember as a little girl, as I was getting a bit too big to be carried places on a parent's hip or shoulders.  I would take utter delight in the moments when I could "trick" my Daddy into believing that I had fallen asleep on the couch in the evenings.  Without fail, he would scoop me up and carry me to bed.  Tucking me in and kissing me on the forehead, while I pretended not to notice, as I faked sleep.  Once he was out of the room, I would open my eyes and smile, relishing the moment.  There was something so special about being physically carried by someone who loved me so tenderly.  

We don't have to fake neediness on earth.  We are needy.  Sometimes our neediness is more obvious than others, and in those moments (as others feel sorry for us) we get to stop pretending that we have it all together.  We get to stretch up our hands, with tears in our eyes and cry out, "Daddy, God, I NEED you!"  And after He has carried us for a season, through things we couldn't handle on our own, we can open our eyes as we find ourselves resting in the evidence of His security and smile in a knowing way that others can't.  We can remember the feel of His strong arms and the sound of His heartbeat and His kiss on our cheek, and His loving words, and we will know a deeper joy than we could ever feel without having been carried.

Consider it all joy, if your predictable, safe world is anything but predictable and safe this Christmas season.  Your Daddy will carry you through it. 

He sent His one and only son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin, to live a sinless life, yet die a sinner's death on your behalf and to be resurrected from death to eternal life just to make a way for you to run into the arms of His perfect Father and call Him your own at such a time as this.  I pray that you will let Him.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10


7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:7-12



Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds - James 1:2

In February, when it became clear that we would be moving out of rural America, where a monthly mortgage payment on a 2,400sf house was right at $1,000, into one of the most expensive urban areas in the country, where you can't even find a tiny, one bedroom apartment in a bad neighborhood with rent at that price, we had to adjust our thinking.  What had been unacceptable to us for the previous 13 years (aka: the thought of apartment life), shifted to becoming highly desirable as we began to get an idea of what it would cost to live in the DC metro area.  An hour long commute to and from work, would have been completely unthinkable in any other context and yet here, shockingly, it doesn't seem so bad because it would save thousands of dollars each year.  Our perspective had to be altered to suit our new reality.

It was funny to me today to hear myself tell Jason how much I was loving apartment life.  I love it because the apartment is small so it is easy to clean. I love that we have absolutely ZERO responsibility for keeping up a yard or maintaining the exterior of our dwelling.  I love that we don't accumulate too much "stuff" because there is just no where to put it.  I love that it is easy to heat and cool.  I love that we have free access to a swimming pool (that we don't have to maintain) and a fitness center.  I'm just altogether completely pleased with something I DID NOT WANT in the first place.  Go figure.

When Jason and I got married almost 15 years ago, we lived in an apartment for two years.  We hated it.  We complained about it.  We desperately wanted a house, where our neighbors weren't so close and where we would have more space.  We then rented two different houses for 3 years total and we complained about each because, although each had their merits, neither was "our own place."  We then bought our first house and the excitement quickly wore off and we complained about all the things that needed to be done to fix the place up and make it more modern and more "us."  After three years, and a lot of home improvement projects, we moved across the country and bought a bigger, nicer house and thought we had arrived.  Turns out, bigger, nicer houses take bigger wads of cash to maintain.  They can also be harder to sell, and when it was time to move on from there, it took two and a half years to find someone who wanted to buy our bigger, nicer house.  Boy did we complain about that!  In the meantime we came to know the joy and heartache of renting OLDER homes (80-100+ years old).  Everyone who visited us raved about "the character" and "the potential," while we put off saving for Tim's college education in order to pay the astronomical heating bills for those old houses and , you guessed it, we complained.

So here we are living in an apartment - back to square one - and paying more for it each month than we ever dreamed of paying for housing in our lifetime, and we are happy.  It is up to us now, to catch a clue and stay that way, and stop complaining.  Obviously, each living arrangement has its ups and downs - but at the end of the day, it is a roof over our heads and a place to sleep, prepare and eat meals, and be a family.  It could be better and it could be worse.

Someone posted this quote on Facebook today: "That thing you are taking for granted is the very thing someone else is praying for."  I'm taking two lessons from that today:
1. Habitual complaining is lame.  It shows utter disrespect for those who are going without and a lack of trust in the One who directs our paths.  May I learn contentment and joy in the here and now, whatever and wherever that may be.
2. I should always examine why I am praying for the things that I am praying for.  Bigger, better, cheaper and easier aren't the goals of life.  If I am praying for something that someone else is taking for granted... maybe it is because they are self-centered... but maybe it is because it isn't really worth praying for to begin with.

Matthew 6:9-13 
"This then is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one."

Amen.  Have I told you how much I love our little apartment?  

This is Luke McMaster.  He is a multiplatinum song-writer who recently launched a solo career with a billboard hit song - "Good Morning Beautiful."  About a month ago, just before Christmas, a friend of mine from childhood was facing a heart surgery for her 3 year old daughter, Elouise.  Prior to her surgery, Elouise's grandma introduced her to "Good Morning Beautiful" and it became her favorite song.  They tweeted Luke McMaster (a stranger to them) a picture of Elouise listening to the song before going into surgery.  He promised to record a special version just for her.  

The thing is, he actually did it.

He chose to be delightful.  He didn't have to.  Elouise came through her surgery beautifully and would have lived a happy life without a personalized version of a billboard hit song.  But he did it anyway.  This isn't the first story or video to inspire this kind of attitude that I've come across lately: Jon Acuff wrote this blog post called Choose To Be Delightful about his experience at Trader Joe's, and if you haven't been watching the Kid President videos... well then you are missing out big time!

I guess the theme is, Why NOT be delightful?!  It only takes a few extra moments of your time and makes a HUGE difference in the world around you.  

P.S. You can get Luke McMaster's debut album, "All Roads," on iTunes or Amazon.  (not a paid endorsement, I just think it is great to support artists who take the time to be delightful)

I laugh easily.  Sometimes, I laugh a tad bit too loudly.  I have learned not to be self conscious about my laughter because laughter is one of God's precious gifts.  

A couple of days ago I wrote a post about some brain research that I have been doing, and I mentioned how when the brain senses a threat to our physical or social well-being the amygdala releases electro-chemicals that produce an instantaneous sense of dread and a readiness to act and defend/protect ourselves.  This is a good thing... except when it isn't.  We've all been there.  Something bad ALMOST happens, then it doesn't yet we can't shake that heavy feeling of foreboding for a long time afterward even though the threat is gone.  We want to! Logically we know there is nothing wrong, but it takes awhile for those electro-chemicals to dissipate.  For me this happens whenever there is a close call on the road.  When an accident ALMOST happens, but doesn't.  It seems to take ages before I can feel light-hearted and relaxed again.

Guess what brain research has shown us?  Laughter is the thing that can restore balance in the brain faster than anything else!  Its almost like your brain hears you laughing and goes, "Hmmm, I guess this isn't the end of the world. If she can laugh about it, or during it, there must be hope!  Guess I'll settle down."  

The Bible alluded to this long before any MRI or CT Scan or EKG of brain activity appeared on the scene.  Check it out:
Proverbs 17:22 ESV "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

In Pastor Rick Warren's article, "Learn to Laugh" in the Christian Post he says this: "Humor is an amazing thing. It’s a tension dissolver. It’s an antidote to anxiety. It’s just like a tranquilizer, but without any troublesome side effects. And it’s free! You don’t even need a prescription.  Laughter is life’s shock absorber. If you want to have less stress in your life, learn to laugh at your circumstances. Somehow, you must find the fun in the frustrating."  So true!  The other day a friend texted me a picture of a bottle of RID and the bad news that lice had made an appearance in her family.  Ugh.  By God's grace, after commiserating with her misfortune, I immediately texted back something like this: "You can do this!  Secret prize is in store for whoever in your family comes up with the funniest lice or nit joke.  Go!"  Our families, separated by more than half the country, spent the next several minutes texting made up jokes back and forth and giggling. My favorite was, "Why did the lice cross the road?  To get to the hairier side."  Hardee-har-har.  

What a gift we have in laughter, let's not neglect to open up and use that gift often and well, avoiding finding humor in the crude or crass, yet fully appreciating the whimsical, silly, ironic, delightful things that God brings to mind and helping others to do the same.  

Need a little help getting the giggles started, try these:

If I had gone to the Cheesecake Factory today by myself, I never would have tasted these.  These are Avocado Eggrolls and they are DELICIOUS.  I never would have ordered them on my own though. Never.  I have my standard order and I don't vary from it much.  I have my Cheesecake Factory favorite and I stick with it.

But today, I went with my husband, my son, my mother-in-law (Sandy), and my father-in-law (Jim).  Jim and Sandy like to go to the Cheesecake Factory near their home sometimes and just order appetizers and drinks.  Having tried several appetizers, they now know what they like best, so they ordered the avocado eggrolls and some calamari for us all to enjoy before our entrees, and I am so glad they did!  I enjoyed every bite.

So this got me thinking... We really are better together, folks.  We weren't meant to walk through life alone - picking out our favorites (places, food, books, movies, jobs, stores, bible verses, activities, etc.) and sticking with them.  We were meant to walk through life together, to rub shoulders with many different people and experience their favorites along with our own; opening our senses to the world as THEY perceive it.  We won't always love the world as others show it to us.  Sometimes we won't be able to relate at all, but even if we don't share their view we will have a clearer, broader perspective when all is said and done.

Once during my childhood my grandparents traveled from Florida to visit my family in Arizona.  We were so excited to take them to see the Grand Canyon!  We couldn't wait to show off the beautiful scenery and watch them take their first breathtaking glimpse of God's creative power on display.  I will never forget them getting out of the car taking a look over the edge and NOT BEING IMPRESSED AT ALL.  It was just a big hole in the ground to them.  For a long time this frustrated me.  I just couldn't understand it. I even blamed them for not having a stronger reaction, but at the end of the day: they saw it.  Whether it moved them or not, they saw it.  They had that experience in their back pocket for the rest of their days and no one could take it from them.  For me the Grand Canyon was a place where God was to be worshiped and where my imagination ran wild.  For my grandparents the Grand Canyon was a place that made them glad they lived in Florida where there are lush green trees and warm, sandy beaches and not in Arizona where deserts are beautiful, but harsh and desolate too.

Regardless of whether our time spent with others trying new things, exploring THEIR favorites, shows us what we have in common or brings into stark contrast our differences, it is time well spent.  

So my question today is, when was the last time you sampled someone else's favorite anything?  When was the last time you stepped out of your routine and asked someone to show you a piece of the world through their eyes?  A new sight, a new taste, a new perspective/opinion, a new hobby, a new labor, a new way of doing something you've always done?  

You never know... it might just be a hole in the ground, but it could be THE GRAND CANYON!  It's worth a shot.  

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp is a best selling book.  Many, MANY have read it and been changed by its message.  I have resisted.  I have resisted because I am prone to resistance.  I am known to resist the new and the popular at times.  Why?  Who knows.  Chalk it up to whatever makes most sense to you and call it a day.  What matters is that whatever wall I had built up around this book and whatever reasons I had that were keeping me from receiving its message are now gone.  Today, Ann released on her blog the first 20 minute video that will be a part of a DVD set that will be available to help small groups process One Thousand Gifts together.  I watched it.  I now "get it."  I had to let Ann know.

Go to Ann's blog to watch the video.  It is moving and poignant and refreshing.  I'm looking forward to seeking out the 1,000+ gifts that God has given and continues to give in my life and naming them.

Happy Independence Day!  We Ritzes are getting ready to do what many other Americans are anticipating today as well - spending time with friends, enjoying hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill, making homemade ice cream, playing games, relaxing and hopefully taking in some fireworks later this evening.  This morning as I think about what this day means to our country, I am also pausing to think about the the idea of independence, and how truly illusive it is.

It seems that, as individuals, just as we declare our independence from one person, idea, season of life, pattern of behavior, or situation - another area of dependence is revealed.  We cannot escape it.  Our country has not been able to escape it either.  Dependency is a lifelong lesson-learning opportunity.  Figuring out what we are dependent on, deciding if it is a healthy dependency, and if the extent of the dependency is appropriate and then adjusting relationships and behaviors as needed to bring balance.  We do this over and over and over again throughout our lifetime.

We seek this balance in each of our relationships, in our work life, in our financial planning, in our decision making, and in our spiritual life.  When we become overly dependent or overly independent in any area, things start to breakdown and we begin to suffer and, as much as we don't want to admit it, those closest to us suffer as well.

I once heard this quote: "The only entity that can completely control your life without ultimately destroying it is God."  He is the only One we can ultimately be wholly and completely dependent on without negative consequences.  Jesus himself said in John 15:5 NIV, "I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.  Apart from Me, you can do nothing."   YOU CAN DO NOTHING apart from Him.  If that isn't a call to acknowledging complete dependency on God and God alone, then I don't know what is.  When anything else in our lives, other than God, demands this kind of dependency we get very uncomfortable very quickly, and if/when we become this dependent on anything other than God things fall apart just as quickly.

On this Independence Day, as we celebrate the blessings of life and freedom in the United States, let us also consider the reality of our own dependency on God and ask ourselves a few penetrating questions to see if we are experiencing the most life and freedom in Christ possible:

1. What one thing or person in my life do I feel like I truly cannot live without?  Why?  Do I really have any control over whether or not this thing/person remains in my life?  

2. What good thing am I doing in my life right now that I would likely stop doing if I didn't have the support I currently have?  How did I become dependent on this support in order to do the right thing?  

3. Who am I allowing to depend on me inappropriately and how?  Why have I allowed this?  How can I stop this for that person's benefit?

4. How am I demonstrating the reality of my dependency on God on a daily basis?  Can any one else in my life tell that I acknowledge this dependence?  What is one change I can make today to release my dependency on people/things and embrace my dependency on God?

I am currently reading the autobiography of Helen Keller.  I am barely 100 pages in and I have already become enthralled with the world and life of this remarkable woman who lost both her hearing and sight at the age of 18 months (due to illness). 

Before language had been fully developed in her mind, she was thrust into a world where her only means of interpreting the stuff of life would be her sense of touch, taste, smell and imagination.  She couldn't see the love in her parents eyes or hear their words of affection.  Their identity in her life became an amalgam of how they smelled, what they did for her and exposed her to, and how they touched her.  She had no way of expressing her needs and wants other than crude pantomime, and she had no way of contemplating anything that wasn't concretely observable through her remaining senses.  Talk about a dark existence.

Enter Ann Sullivan, the woman Helen would come to affectionately call "Teacher."  When Ann first met Helen (almost age 7), she brought her a doll as a gift.  In the days ahead as Ann tried to break through the darkness in Helen's mind by teaching her language by spelling out words in her hand using the manual alphabet, Helen would, understandably, become frustrated and angry.  In one moment of particular frustration, she took out her aggression on the doll: "I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor.  I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet.  Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst.  I had not loved the doll.  In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment of tenderness.” 

On that same day as God would have it, Helen had a breakthrough.  Ann took her outside to the well on her family's property and poured the cool well water over her cupped hands and then spelled the word W-A-T-E-R into her palm.  "Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten – a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.  I knew then that w-a-t-e-r meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand.  That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!  There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.”


While this story in and of itself is truly amazing and wonderful, it is what happened next in Helen's account that captured my attention even more.  When they came back to the house after her encounter with w-a-t-e-r, this is what she recounts:  "On entering the door, I remembered the doll I had broken.  I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces.  I tried vainly to put them together.  Then my eyes filled with tears, for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.”  

How remarkable this is to me!  It wasn't until the light shined into Helen's dark world through the gift of language that she was able to step outside of her own self-centered existence to grieve over the ramifications of her actions.  The doll immediately became, not just "one more thing in a dark world to be touched and examined," but rather "a gift" from someone who cared enough about her to work with her through her frustrations to help her get to a place where the light could shine.

Perspective is a gift.  How many things in our lives do we (literally, or figuratively with our words) "dash upon the floor" in frustration all because we lack the perspective?  

This is how Helen describes the end of that blessed day in her book: "It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my bed at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.” 

Perspective.  Light.  Grace. Living Water. The Word.  These are the things that brought Helen Keller out of darkness, out of that unfeeling place and into a state of mind that could make a blind and deaf child joyful and thoroughly excited about the days ahead.  Because of the love of God, the best teacher of all, these things still have this power and always will.

The words of Jesus from John 7:38, "He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" NASB