Strawberries

Ever see the T-shirt that says "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" ?

It's actually a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

For me strawberries are proof that:

1. God loves us and wants us to be happy. Of course this takes second place to Him sending his only Son.
   
2. Proof that heaven exists.

What am I doing to show that I love my children and want them to be happy? Am I creating a stable loving home? Am I caring for them? Am I showing their mother the love and respect that she deserves? Hopefully I'm not showing them my love by spoiling them. Am I giving them opportunities to live their life to the fullest? Am I teaching them to be empathetic?

Am I being a light to them that reflects the True Light?

Blessing to you

Tim

Facebook and Reconnecting with the Pleasures of His Creation, Part 2

In my previous post I talked about reconnecting with the pleasures of His Creation. Namely, enjoying everything around me because all things were created by Him through his Son.

At this point you are probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with your Blog - "fatherhood and the Father"? The Father has created this world for us to enjoy so that we can love and serve him. It is a gift to us that we must take care of.

And this gets me to the point. Together with my wife, we have created a small microcosm of the world in our house and their little "bubble" of life which consists of mommy, daddy, the pets, and the house. This little microcosm is their little world created by my wife and I. Just as the Father has created this world for us to enjoy and show us his love, it is our duty to ensure that our children's world is as secure and enjoyable as our love for them is deep.

A difference in my mind, and I know there are many but this is the one that is relevant for me at this point, is that we do not create this world for our children in order that they serve us. Quite the contrary, we create the world around them so that they learn to be loved, to love, and to love the Father and his only Son.

Blessings to you

Tim

Enjoying His Creation

We took a ride to see the Snow Geese up near Mt. Vernon and the Bald Eagles who are wintering along the Skagit River. Short trips like this are how we try to spend our Sundays together as a family. Sometimes, life intercedes and we aren't able to something like this. But we do the best we can, right? Here are some pictures from the trip.

This one is looking across the fields of the Skagit Valley towards Mt. Baker.

Another shot of Mt. Baker, this time framed by some trees on the edge of the farms fields.

Close up of some of the snow geese and even some trumpeter swans

Finally, a shot of the final rays of sun on the Cascades near Rockport, WA. I beg to differ from those who say there isn't a God. Our Father has a wonderful, beautiful pallete.

Blessings to you all

Tim

Facebook and Reconnecting with the Pleasures of His Creation, Part 1

How can we love and serve the Lord if we are not happy with ourselves, our surroundings, and those around us? What does it take to enjoy your life? I've been thinking about it a lot lately. God has made this world for us so that we can love and serve him. We should take pleasure in His creation.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I joined Facebook. We have been enjoying the hyper-connectedness that social networking offers. Often times it can be very time consuming which can be a problem for some. But it is a nice distraction. Especially being able to connect with old friends. For me, this has been the best part.

Recently, I reconnected with one of my best friends from college. I hadn't talked to him via phone in over a year and a half. But like most of those types of relationships in life, it was easy to jump right back into a conversation with him and it was like we had been talking just the day before. In college, my friend had a considerable zest for life. While visiting his Facebook page, I realized from his profile and pictures that he had posted, that the fire for squeezing the most out of life was still burning in his soul.

That got me thinking about how, in a way, I had lost that fire for squeezing the most out of life and that I had seriously insulated myself. This has kept me from really enjoying everything that is going well in my life. A good job, wife that loves me and that I love, two beautiful little girls, a roof over my head, bible study group that is like an extended family, living in one of the most beautiful places on earth, etc. Yes I was momentarily happy now and then. But I wasn't actively "squeezing" everything out of life that I could.

In my conversion story I mentioned some of the things that really give me pleasure about the Father's Creation. Truly, the Glory of God's Creation pours into everything in our life. Therefore it is not just nature, but everything in my life that I need to really start enjoying. For how else can we love and serve him if we are not happy with ourselves, our surroundings, and those around us. I must do this right now.

Much like someone who has an addiction must first realize they have a problem, I have realized that I'm really not enjoying life like I should. I pray that I have turned a corner and can really do this. With the crush of life and work, it is very easy (at least for myself) to hunker down and insulate from what is good in my life and everything that the Lord has put in our life to enjoy.

I think this ties directly in with this previous post concerning being a light for my children. If I'm not actively enjoying my life, how will they learn to do so?  Now things aren't as dire as they might sound.  I do enjoy life.  Probably just not as much as I should.

Update: I actually wrote the text of this blog about a month ago.  I am happy to report that things are going better and am actively trying to seek out and enjoy life a lot more.  Now that I have been back to work for about a week, it has become more difficult because of the pressures of life.  But with some diligence and prayer, we'll get there.

Blessings

Tim

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