Contemplations of a Rose

       Recently I have been seized with a sudden urge to bake random things.  I have so much free time and Christmas is around the corner so I am very happy to make cookies for a good hunk of the day.  I don’t have much opportunity to play with my swords, since I left them in Colorado, so God has been teaching me some things about being a rose.  I have a little reluctantly sheathed my sword (but never dropped it!) and started dancing the graceful life of a rose for this season.  The life of a warrior is exciting, full of adventure, and that is what my heart longs for, and there are times when I get that, but then there are times when God tells me to leave the battle for a while and work out some things in peace.  So here I am.  Trying to balance grace and strength. 
  
        I have started looking for beautiful things in everyday life.  Trying to see the gifts God has given me, the ones that I miss, especially when I am engrossed in a battle.  There is always, always something beautiful in a day, sometimes you have to look hard, but there is always something.  Like something small, something so small that you would think nothing about if you weren’t looking.  Like just today I noticed how golden the morning light is as it streaks into my room in hazy shafts.  I just noticed how brilliantly green my cats eyes are when they flash in the sun.  Or how my sisters hair tumbles down her back like a black waterfall.  Or like how much I realized I love a good story, whether it be from a book, or a someone’s mouth, or a movie.  And a couple times this week I got to feel the way a horse moves under me as we are riding down our road. 
I have been using these realizations to keep me content and away from the longing for constant business.  I thank God for His faithfulness to quiet my restless and impatient heart.  I think I may even be becoming an optimist.  Almost, but not quite. 

Pick Your Battles

You've grown up in a Christian home, you know the facts, you've got the knowledge, you've probably spent most of your high school life preparing that thesis for the argument with the first atheist that comes into your path.  "Oh look, someone who doesn't know the truth!  ATTACK!" and soon you engage, spurting out Bible verses and theological philosophical arguments, when all the person in front of you wants to do is deliver your mail.

I know myself well enough to know I'm a little trigger, I mean blade happy.  I know the heart of a true warrior doesn't take pleasure in violence, but in doing what is right.  As a Christians I shouldn't take pleasure in proving someone wrong, but in revealing them the love and salvation of Christ.

I have had some good friends that didn't believe in the true love of God.  It is the same with most of my relatives.  When I hang out with these people I really need to pick my battles.  Sometimes the time is right to speak up and proclaim the truth boldly, but a lot of the times it isn't.  Most of the time, showing them genuine friendship and love is the way to soften their heart before the gospel seeds can be planted.

Pick your battles, sometimes the rose is more effective than the sword.