Taste and See

Cleverly painted in a handsome font inside our church cafe, Psalms 34:8 became mere marketing decor in my eyes and within my heart. But on one Sunday morning as I entered church and was attempting to push aside the familiar thoughts of weight loss strategies, my eyes met His through those stenciled letters.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!..

Taste? See- I get. But taste? How?

With head knowledge I understand what David had endured as he penned this alphabetical psalm but as God does- He spoke to my heart, as He personalized this verse to bring forth truth. You see 9 years ago,after I had my second daughter, I became oddly interested in running. But it wasn't until 2007 when I gave birth to my "Golden Boy" (hehe), that I also bore a new passion for this sport. I teetered on the borderline of athletic and obsessive. Gauging my speed, outdoing the previous days mileage, reading and rereading running forums and online threads consumed every neuron I had! The icing on the cake was knowing that on the month's springboard, when I'd completely lost it, I would weigh myself and witness drastic shedding.

This was never the case. I loathed the 1st of the month. With all my neurotic energy, how could this be?! Yesterday I did 6 miles in record speed and the day before that I sprinted for 3 whole miles!

Those were just a few thoughts that occupied space. It was then, when God opened my eyes to Psalms 34:8, I received understanding and support in my struggle. God knows that we humans gravitate to tangible. His choice of words, employing "taste", is an insight to yet another means He has proven Himself good. In the natural, we have the ability to taste and He has given us a harvest to enjoy. The sweetness of fresh strawberries, white peaches, and bananas, the juiciness of mangoes, oranges, and kiwi...the list goes on and on. All these fruits and veggies that grow out of the dust of the ground, just like us, are visual and tangible examples of how powerful, sweet, and good He is. Like Daniel, we can choose to reject the artificial byproducts our markets are saturated with and stand on what is good.

I wasn't loosing any weight because of my input not because of my output. I neglected to see that God is interested in every area of my life. I know I've heard that He is, but I didn't think weight loss was truly on that list. Training with Him now, means I run within healthy boundaries. If I miss a day of exercise, it's okay. If my flesh craves something sweet, I turn to what I know is good for both my spirit and body and reach for His creation.

From Timid to Transparent

Insert your favorite cliche to express shock here: ________________

________ is how I am feeling right now.

"I'm a Christian wife and mother of 3 who would love to quit her job to invest more time with the family and finally get a chance to scribe the numerous inner dialogues and share with an audience of......of....None. "
Ladies and gentleman, please let me introduce you to my successful incredulous friend:
Mia Sarah, better known as Mi . She is both adventurous and skeptical, outgoing and shy, whimsical and predictable.
She is Mi and Mi is me.
And I am absolutely _______ that I am now a colleague to fellow bloggers.

In keeping with my title for today, I'll confess: I have never read one full blog entry in its entirety. I've never really understood them. I've performed mental gymnastics trying to deduce who the target audience is and who the patrons are for this new communication portal. And then my "Manic Martha Moment" (you know, that moment when you tell God that what you understand to be true is indeed fact and everything else is rubbish) subsides and He reminds me to be still, sit by his feet, and breath Him in.

Who is your audience Mia? You are Lord.

Why write? Because you've given me this gift and Your Word exhorts that "A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means for helping the entire church" -1Corinthians 12:7

My conclusion: It's not about Mi, it's all about Thee.

If the answer to my morning prayer of "Lord make me a vessel you can fill" is via blog, then C'est la Vie! (Or in Christianese, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.)

Transitioning from timid to transparent is not an easy task, but with Christ it's not daunting either.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him- Collossians 3:17

There is nothing as refreshing as having your thirst quenched by the Living Water now is there!