Abundance

It seems like anything that comes these days comes in abundance. Whether is is praise or opportunities or business or plans or stresses or good weather or decisions. Usually I would associate abundance in a striclty positive light and though I love experiencing abundance I am no so sure it's implications are always positive. This week it all came at once and I honestly can't tell you what flipped the switch this particular week but something happened and what seems like eons later I am so full. Actually, I am wobbling around I am so full.

In about 3 hours this week I secured the amount of business I would normally spend a whole month on. You know I dont think anything is by luck or coincedence so I am overwhelmed that I would have been so lavished with a little business security for atleast a little while.

The sun came out to play this week as well and has yet to go in for dinner. I am a self-made naturalist. I didnt grow up in east-bumble-Georgia. Even though I like to think the Marietta square where I grew up is a few steps behind the rest of the 'burbs - I wasnt running around outside all day playing in the dirt. Nonetheless, I am transformed by my surroundings. I love even my fescue grass that seems to be in the middle of puberty these days. I dont even mind a bug or two because I truly appreicate the God-given life that is all around us. Every single day this week the temperature in the morning is just cool enough to want to stay in bed but not so cold that I cant wear my perfectly worn Rainbows. Perfect. Each afternoon if the sun hasnt been shining brilliantly amid a clear sky then there has been the perfectly powerful mini-thunderstorm. In either scenario, I cant help but work diligently and check each thing off my list in order to rush home to take in the afternoon on my side porch. And just when I wake up and think there couldnt possibly =be more absolutely fabulous day - God gives me another.

The skeptical part of me wants to immediatly give thanks but then ask you to pinch me and tell me it is over. It's like my take on intense Georgia football moments between the hedges. Right in the middle of that 4th quarter play when there is 1:34 seconds on the clock and your team has just measled it's way ahead - I turn away from the field and cover my eyes and hope to sense from the crowsd response that it's over. It becomes hard for me to watch because I know the good has to end at some point. Maybe I should not be so skeptical especially when it comes to blessings. Often I do not thoroughly enjoy the blessing because I know that as soon as I start to allow it to effect me it'll be over. Yes, it's true - good things cant last forever and if they did they wouldnt be so good when they came around. That doesnt mean I can't soak up every ounce of abundant blessing that I might be receiving.

Too add to the pile - this week God has really used specific people in my life to speak truth and praise into my heart. It is amazing how sometimes all of your effort can go unnoticed by everyone. Then we try not to doubt ourselves but ultimately we all have that natural radar that starts sensing the lack or response or attention generated and ultimatly we lose sight of the purpose behind some of our greatest efforts. And then there are those weeks like this week where every hour in every instance God used you in some way to lavish me with verbal affirmation. From my lunch yesterday to my speaking engagement lastnight to the fabulous girls night out to the Braves game this week - I am so full! I'm not trying to be the party pooper to tell you your rosy glasses are broken but there is that realistic side of me that tells me that soon all my good-fortune or rather God's-favor will wear off. Why did He choose to give me an abundance right now? An abundance in everything? Why should I deserve to be so full?

It's like Andy Stanley has dsplayed in a sermon sometime recently. If I have two chocolate chip cookies and you have none and you like chocolate chip cookies I should give you a chocolate chip cookie. Elementary - yes. Practiced - rarely. I pray I am able to give you some of the abundance that God has given to me lately. And that may be the only reason for His abundance in the first place.

In the mean time....I would really like a chocolate chip cookie freshly baked, Pillsbury, pulled right out of the over at the 9 minute mark so they are perfectly crisp on the edges and perfectly gooey all the way through the middle. I'll share. Promise.
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P.S. I am escaping this weekend to the country.

Yes, my parents are in Europre for the next 10 days and I have free roam of their house in the woods.
So it is Marietta and it is only 25 miles away. It is the woods. There is a real grille there and a place to sit among the tall trees in the backyard and luckily I do not get cell phone service. The temperature is going to be in mid 70's and I have not one thing on the agenda tomorrow. I'll make my getaway in the morning. Ill hike for as long as I like at the mountain. Ill picnic. Ill wear as little clothes as possible and Ill run long baths. Ill leave the lights on wherever I go and Ill get lost in my book on the side porch. I will refuel this weekend. What perfect timing to be able to 'getaway' for a few days and pamper myself at my parents expense. Miss you mom and dad!