Friday, March 07, 2008

Thanks for the Awards!




I have received a couple of awards from my "bloggy" friends! So, thank you!

It reads like this:I have wanted to be able to make an award that I could share with some of those blogs that consistently make me laugh, make me think,and inspire me to grow and to reach.The types of blogs that do this for me have a few things in common.Like a butterfly becomes beautiful,by living a quiet life, hidden for a season,while beauty develops on the inside.That same butterfly has to go through a season of struggle before it is Free to Fly!Once it IS Free to Fly,that butterfly NOW has a beauty we all are blessed to see.Everywhere the butterfly goes,it spreads pollen and makes it possible for flowers to bloom and fruit to be developed.You could say it leaves a trail of life in its wake!What a beautiful thought!Butterflies don't go around trying to be beautiful.They don't say "hey, look at me".They just ARE, they just DO, they just LIVE.All that time spent hidden in a cocoon,was not wasted.The time and effort spent struggling to get out of the cocoon made the butterfly strong and ABLE to fly!I have been blessed to find many women through blogging,who have allowed the struggles of a hidden life,serving in ways that are often unseen and seemingly inconsequential(judging from their lack of entourage, paparazzi, and assistants!That IS what our culture uses as the standard for recognizing importance, right?)to make them strong, make them able to find the humor,able to see the big picture and to find the purpose in the everyday matters of investing in the lives around us.Their ability to focus on the things that REALLY matter,and to allow the struggles of life to strengthen them,leaves everyone they come in contact with a deposit of "pollen".A little dose of the grace that is unique to them,which adds wisdom, humor, truth and just a little whiff of the fragrance of Christ that is unique to them!They are some wives or mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and nieces.They fulfill all sorts of roles in and outside the home.In their church and outside their church.The world is a more beautiful and abundant place because of the daily choices they make.There are two scriptures for this - they work together:"He has made everything beautiful in its time.He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds[a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy],yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."Ecclesiastes 3:11&John 10:10"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.I came that they may have and enjoy life,and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

"The rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved. So to pass it on and keep the love going."I'm passing this on to:

Cheri
Diane
Kim
Jennifer
Tammy
Mari
Melissa
Brenda

Dawn

2 comments:

Mari said...

Congrats on the awards - you deserve them!

Cheri said...

You deserve it!