Throwing rocks and skipping stones

I had a really interesting dream last night and I woke up thinking about Lake Maud.  I have blogged before about my family lake home in northern Minnesota that we always just referred to as "the lake".  So I started to search my scanned photos for a perfect picture for this blog.  I ended up with this picture.......

I think I love this picture so much because it was one of Doug's first fishing experiences.  Now he is an expert fisherman.  It was a special time for me to share Lake Maud with Ken and Gwen and Doug. So, back to my dream......

I was standing on the shore, very close to that dock.  I was throwing rocks into the water. 

 I spent HOURS and HOURS of my life doing exactly that.  I was the youngest kid among all the nearby cabins and often I would be left to my own devices.  I often just collected rocks and tried to thrown them far out into the lake.  My dad used to say I was going to make the lake shallower because of all of the rocks I added to the bottom.  

In the dream I was watching the rocks make wonderful circles that just spread out further and further.  I heard the Lord speak these words to me......

Take a risk.  Throw your stone further.  Pick up the biggest stone you can find and throw it as far as you can.  That will make the biggest mark on the water and send ripples pouring outward that will hit the shoreline and change it.  Trust me to show you which rock to pick up.  Sometimes it is the small flat stone that, if thrown correctly, will skip along the water and make mark after mark after mark.  Each of these will spiral outward and together make a bigger change than one large stone.  Trust me.  Don't be distracted by the stones that are right at your feet.  Look up to me and I will show you what is the best for you. Trust me to give you exactly the right the stone.

Part of my stone throwing was, in fact, skipping stones.  Lake Maud had a large supply of perfect skipping stones.  I would search and search for perfect stones to skip.  I remember that one time I actually had a stone skip 10 times!  And then there was the very end of the word in the dream.......

Even though your feet never leave the shore, you are making waves that will change the world.  

This is a wonderful word picture for all of us to hold on to.  There are lots of ways that we can  have an impact on the world.  For some of us, it might be doing something that is really "big" and makes a big splash.  For others, it will be something that might seem smaller, but when it is something that Jesus has planned, just like that smooth flat stone, it will skip over the water and those rings of change will reach far and wide.   And the skipping stones are often small and very light.  The most important message of the entire dream is that each of us can have a part in changing the world.  And we can make those changes right where we are planted.  Wherever our "shore" is! 

I don't know about you, but I needed a reminder that we can't always see the impact we are having for the Kingdom.  I am always quick to see my own lack of "doing" for the Lord.  It seems so easy to look around and find many, many people who are doing big wonderful things for Jesus.  A good friend reminded me yesterday that we are own best critics.  We need to see ourselves using that exact stone that Jesus has for us.  However small it might seem.  We can stand back and watch those ripples moving outward!  

Jesus, thank you for speaking to me in dreams.  Holy Spirit, help me to remember that all I need to do is what Jesus asks of me.  I don't need to worry about throwing a big rock!  Jesus, thank you for reminding us that even small actions can have large impacts that can change the world.  Amen

When the weather brings a memory.......

Today was one of those true summer days.  It was HOT and HUMID!  You could just feel the air hit your face when you walked outside.  This is really a great change since this has been a cold and wet summer.  As a matter of fact, Monday was 65 degrees and quite chilly.  As compared to today when it was 97 and humid!  Of course that hot, humid weather brought some strong late afternoon thunderstorms.  When I was walking the dogs, I was remembering being at Lake Maud....

As I was looking for a particular picture of Lake Maud, I found this one instead.......

In the back on the left, is my sister Julie.  Next to her is my cousin Corrine, and I am in the front left and my cousin Thora Lee is the front right.  A picture of sisters, sharing time at Lake Maud.   I really did not remember that I had this picture and it was very important that I happened to find this picture today.  We got word last week that my cousin Corrine had died very unexpectedly.  She was a widow and never had any children.  She lived in Tucson, Arizona.  It was very sad to think about her being all alone when she died.  Believe it or not, I think I actually remember this particular day that the picture was taken.  It was the last time that my Uncle Walfred (Corrine and Thora Lee's dad) was ever at the lake.  He was not well, but my dad drove to their house and brought them down for a picnic.  I remember that Uncle Walfred sat in a lawn chair through the entire event.  But it was actually the first time I remember seeing him NOT laying on the couch in their living room.  Unfortunately, he died during that next year.  My cousin Thora Lee is the closest to me in age of any of my first cousins.  She is two years older than me, and we spent many days together when we were at the lake.  I was remembering that the last time I saw Corrine was at my dad's funeral in 1985.  It is really a sad thing that time passes and you don't make it a priority to see those relatives that you spent so much time with as children.   Now, back to Lake Maud.....

I was thinking about one particular summer.  I'm not exactly sure how old I was, but I believe I was in early junior high.  My dad was putting "Knotty Pine" paneling on the walls of the cabin.....(one of his usual "projects" of the year).  That year was unusually hot.  I remember watching the sweat just pour off of my mom and dad as they cut board after board to be nailed up on those walls. There was not a breath of air movement and all we had was one small (very old) fan.    And we had several really awful storms during that year.  For northern Minnesota, this was very strange.  It was in the high 90's and I remember one day even went above 100.   Yes, it was a very odd weather summer.

I really believe that the reason that I thought of Lake Maud today, was so that I could find this picture.  I have been thinking so much about my cousin Corrine and also Thora Lee, who lost her sister.  My ability to relate to situations of grief and loss has certainly changed.  It is not so easy to just pass over these events.  It is good to enter into the feelings and memories. 

So I just took a minute and looked at that picture a bit closer.  I loved that amazing Juniper bush that we are standing by.  It was the centerpiece of the large front yard.  My mom loved that bush!  And here is a funny thing.........Bath and Body Works sells a shower gel with the fragrance "Juniper Breeze".  Whenever I have that gel in my shower, as soon as it hits the hot water, I can close my eyes and feel like I am standing in that spot - just like in this picture - smelling that Juniper bush!  I spent so many hours sitting in a lawn chair, right by that bush.  Ah..... Lake Maud.  How I miss you!

Yes, the weather today reminded me of Lake Maud, which reminded me of my cousin Corrine, which led me to a time of grief and sadness, which turned into another memory of Lake Maud, which left me with a warm, wonderful good feeling, and then a bit of sadness and missing.    What a mix of stuff!  And a mix of emotions.  In this short, little blog I have  remembered, grieved, regretted, recalled, celebrated, smiled and cried.  It's been quite a day and quite a blog.  But after it all, I just feel calm and peaceful.  It is such an amazing thing to walk through memories when you are LED there by Jesus.  When the Spirit is nudging you along a path it is so much easier to walk through all of the stuff - good and bad.  Because when you get to the end.... you always end up in a place where you know that Jesus had a plan and purpose for the entire thing.  Knowing he is leading lets you just relax and let it all unfold before you.  This whole thing today just fills me with overflowing hope.  Hope because no matter how I am feeling right now, Jesus is leading me to a new place.  

Thank you Jesus for using the weather and the "wrong" picture to bring me into and through memories, grief, sadness and into  peace and hope.  You are such an amazing and loving God that knows us and cares so much about all aspects of our lives.  Holy Spirit, help us all to move through these emotions and draw us along so that we don't get stuck in one place.  Thank you Jesus for your plan and destiny for each of us.  Amen