Author: marettej

I like Home Depot. I just bought my new stove there. I thought Home Depot was all about building supplies but I heard today something that changed my mind. I sat for a long time in a hot gym with thousands of other parents, grandparents, friends and I guess others who had nothing to do on a hot day in Denver…the reason to be there when Baihley graduated from Grad school. The bagpipers, the music, the grand processional, the robes, the cheers and the pageantry with so much tradition all for a few hours on a Friday afternoon to celebrate accomplishments. We need to do that more; celebrate accomplishments.

The keynote speaker was a gal from…no less than Home Depot. What she said was great for more than just graduates. And of course I had a pen and pad to write it down. One of the first things she said to-us was that “everyone needs to feel relevant and have a stage to hear applause. ” That is so true especially as we grow older and kind of feel like we aren’t needed anymore. We all need to feel needed, feel care for and feel that there is something the world has need of that we can offer. Then she brought up what life is all about. ” Your life is not about you. It’s about everyone else.” She went on to say she climbed the ladder of success and was the self described deal queen and the symbol of success was accumulating deal toys. Trophies, awards, and stuff you get given when you make a winning deal, create a winning world and create business success. She woke up one day and wondered what would her tombstone say and realized it would be about stuff not people..She decided she wanted her tombstone to say, ” she made a difference in my life” and began to make changes to people would say that. She challenged the graduates to declare their purpose in life and then change their life to reflect that purpose. It’s all about serving others in life and legacy and leadership. She had some cool quotes from women she admired. ” do what you love and do it so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.” And her mother’s advice, “it isn’t working when you see it working.” And then she added, the most important decision of your life is who you decide to spend your life with. Spend it with someone who loves you.

How would my life had been lived differently had I heard that advice when I was graduating? Probably not a lot but definitely having a purpose in life and helping others reach their highest potential I would have grasped differently. She mentioned having a purpose in life and changing her life,, changed her approach to family, work, friends and God. She challenged the graduate students to make that change earlier in their career than she did.

I left Denver University with tons of pictures of graduation. I also left thinking much higher of the people running Home Depot. A company whose leaders feel people are more important than things and deals, and leading people with integrity is by example. Oh yes, I am sure there are people in the high office that may not reflect the values that she shared with us, but for today, we are thankful for a leaders vision and her ability to challenge and encourage not just graduates but all of us sitting and listening in a hot gym in Denver.

Not every morning do I wake up and look out the window of a log cabin to see beautiful mountains. Actually this is probably the first in many years.

There is something about a mountain. Yesterday I drove down through colorado and to my right was beautiful mountains. Majestic, some snow peaked, royally dressed with clouds as halos, and speaking to me. I am. It going crazy hearing mountains talk but the things they say about our creator and about his desire for us to enjoy beauty keeps reminding me of a loving father who just wants to make his children smile. As a parent I would get excited about a gift that knew would make the kids get all excited. Something they had wanted or something they needed or perhaps something that would make them jump up and down and laugh. I wanted to do that yesterday but I was the driver. I wanted to laugh at the beauty, shout out Gods majesty. And I even had thankful for the ugly mini-van I got to drive. I wanted a cute little economy car. The rental place evidently didn’t realize the paperwork when I reserved the car had meaning. Along with 20 other people standing in line for 45 minutes, they began upgrading people to get the line moving. They didn’t have my car clean, they said, although it was an hour after my reserve time. Would I want a mini- van and be gone now? I must have had the “you are offering me a mini van” look cuz he added a free tank of gas with it. And actually as I headed south. The mini van did give me a much better view of God’s beauty so I could marvel. As we watched the sunset, while suffering sitting in a hot tub on a log cabin deck, I watched the mountain peaks change color, yellows and reds and pinks and wondered how many times God has done sunsets just to make people pull over and marvel? How many times do we look in our rear view mirrors and go ahh…..that is so beautiful. How gratified God must feel when we look up and say, wow God. Is he as excited as we are when the colors and leaping out of the sky and making our hearts skips beat? I look out at the mountains and I think of the Psalms. Psalms 104 reminds us, Psalms 98 especially talks to me… let the ocean breakers call out, “encore” and the mountains harmonize the finale….. the whole chapter is screaming about Gods creation and how it applauds him and makes us thrilled to be apart of it. And today, I get to sit here looking at the beauty simply because God loved-me, chose me, saved me, gave me friends, loves me, still chooses me, still forgives me, still reminds me of that by relationships with others and when he shows his creation to me…it’s still one of those ahh moments…there is something about a mountain… and yes, for the record, I have always wanted to live in a log cabin in the mountains….but because God can and will answer prayers, I would request a mountain lake to go with it too….

I am reading Matthew 6 in about verse 25 and out. I have no problems worrying about what Jesus talked about. Got my check mark done. But before I go on, it bothers me that Jesus didn’t talk about the other stuff…the stuff I do worry about. Most of the time we worry about the basic needs. I just spent some time in Africa. That’s what they worry about; basic needs. They don’t worry about the other stuff because it’s stuff. Basic needs are so much more relevant. God tells us he will handle the basic things: food, clothing and then he throw in tomorrow for those who plan ahead and worry about what next. That’s probably me, in the what’s next part.

I came back from Africa wondering many things but the one most pressing is why was I chose to be born in rural Minnesota on a dairy farm and not in a back hut in Rhodesia? Perhaps that’s what urges on my worry..or concern as us Christian Americans put it to make it sound more spiritual.. I am concerned about stuff..because God says not to worry I will change the word. Changing the word does not change its intention. I worry.. I am concerned. I take energy that could be used in other places to spend contemplating on what God has said he would handle so what do I do with my concern? Nothing according to verse 32…God knows all these things. He knows I am worried regardless of what words I use to make it sound better. The solution? Seek him first. Not just seek him first but try adding some righteousness and work a bit more at being Jesus and not quoting Jesus. And then after I seek him, don’t worry about what he is going to do about my problems that I have created in my mind… and just to make me worry a bit more he adds….sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble. Come on God..I already have concerns about tomorrow. And you have the gall to say drop them.. I had no problems when I went to bed…already have a few that popped up overnight..and I didn’t worry about them. I wasn’t concerned about them yesterday cuz I didn’t know.. That’s what God was getting at. We can’t be concerned over everything so let him handle it. And have nothing to worry, sorry I slipped: be concerned over? You have got to be kidding? What will I do with all my free time? Oh that’s right…seek Him.

I thought I looked ok. But then, he said, you have something on your neck. Well. It was a combination of grass, dirt, suntan lotion and sweat. I had begun the day mowing. It was a bit windy. No rain they said..only a small chance toward the end of the day. I mowed, and the grass clippings flew from the mower to the wind and back in my face. Not just once, not just twice, but all morning. I sneezed, I coughed and I sneezed a few more times. Grass clippings combined with dust will do that to you. I will never forget when someone in the family while on a trip had some ice left in their cup so they thought they would just toss the ice out their window while driving down the road. What they hadn’t banked on was the back seat of the car had their window opened the ice came right in the back window. We often don’t realize what happens when we throw something into the wind. Not just the physical reaction. It our words, our thoughts, our reactions and our body language. We don’t realize how the wind of life takes it. I thought I disguised my dislike of something. Obviously I didn’t do a very good job. I though I had held my tongue. Someone heard my under the breath muttering. It’s hard to be like Jesus and just let it go. It’s hard to simply let the wind blow and not be affected. I can’t always mow so the wind blows the grass clippings. I can’t always avoid conflict. What I can do it make sure that I let the wind blow and not keep my mouth open so I catch whatever is thrown my way. I can turn my back. I can as. I have as possible be with the wind. I can step aside and simply let good handle the chaff and not get caught up in the messes others make. I can make a choice not to spit in the wind. I can make a choice to let it go… and as far as the chance of rain…we got an inch of that chance in a very short time. Heavy downpours, hail and wind gusts blowing anything was wasn’t tied down. It was too late to button down the hatches as my grandma used to say,, so I watched the wind blow…and in an odd way, it was very beautiful….

There have been moments in life when time stands still. It seems as if one has frozen the clock. You want it to last forever, you want it to be precious and priceless and hold it closely and yet you know it will slip through your fingers just as sand in an hourglass. Perhaps it’s the birth of a child, or the slow death of a parent, the ecstasy of a winning moment or the sting of loss. Time seems to just hang for a bit…not long enough and yet seemingly forever.

John 8…

I wonder if that’s how the women who was caught in adulatory felt. They pulled her through the streets at dawn, we all want to know where the other guilty party was, and threw her before Jesus. She had a name; her name wasn’t used.she was brought into the temple and thrown down in front of Jesus. That was a rude disruption. They kept interruptions Jesus, trying to make a scene, demand an answer and Jesus didn’t fall for their tricks…however, to the women while Jesus was writing in the sand, time stood still. It seemed forever before Jesus calmly responded, the men walked away and it was just the two of them. Sometimes I feel that way. Time has stood still and everyone is standing watching as I feel caught in the middle and Jesus is just doodling. To me it feels like doodling. When we are caught in the middle, time seems to take forever to get around the dial of the clock and move on. She seemed to handle the timeless moment better than I do. It doesn’t say how she reacted. She just waited for Jesus to make his move. She was guilty, she was made a spectacle of , she had been wronged, she had been forcibly taken against her will from awkward to more awkward and all she did was wait for Jesus to make the next move. I need to try to pull that off more in my life. I need to be willing to let the crowd amble away, dissipate and let time stand still while Jesus doodles. Sometimes I want him to write real words. I want to know the words and I want to understand what’s going on, but this women grasped the importance of just letting time stand still until Jesus, the creator of time, made his move. For her, I am sure it was an eternity. For me, waiting is an eternity and then some. May I find the grace to simple let Jesus doodle in the sand until he feels its time to speak and make his next move. And may I not worry about my accusers but keep my eyes on Jesus while time is standing still.