Lola

Can you believe it! It’s Maaaaaay! Almost half of a year has gone by and where am I? How much I haven’t got accomplished. How many inspiring ideas have not come to fruition?

Did I just pander away the winter downtime, or what?

Set out before me this week, on my chair’s ottoman, was the draft for the May issue of the Healing for the Nations newsletter. Page one starts an awesome article on “First Steps for New Believers.” On page two, the awesome article continues, and on page three, ministry updates.

Now, when I turn to page four, which is the back page, in bold 48-point type, it reads, “Look at the Progress!” And the entire rest of the page is white and blank as a deer staring at headlights on a dark night.

This is Tom’s very subtle way of saying, “I need your article soon.”

No condemnation. No disapproval. No reproof or damnation. Just sit down and write your article. Your fans are waiting. Ha!

There are a hundred ideas that flood my mind.

Tell the readers and friends about my new flower garden beds. Tell them about the tilling of the tired-looking sod turned into lumpy rock-filled dirt. Tell them the first thing Tom plants is Red Crimson rhubarb! Just one plant. I brought rhubarb plants from the farm in Mankato, but the septic guy destroyed them.

Or I could tell you about the moving of the arborvitaes against the privacy fence with daylilies planted in between. Not too exciting but progress.

Oh, I could tell you about the progress in front of the picket fence lining the front yard. Tom tilled a strip for me to plant perennials and annuals. Yahooooo. More flowers! Now, I want the strip wider. Ha.

Speaking about flowers, the peonies brought from Mankato got their fourth move to the new flower garden. Here they will stay and grow to become beautiful flowers of an unknown color since I dug them up in November before the move.

This is progress, folks. Real true-to-life progress.

Progress is forward movement, advancement, and growth, which I think is really a breakthrough.

We all need a breakthrough in something. Maybe it’s a family breakthrough or an employment breakthrough. Perhaps a relationship breakthrough.

What I want to say is that we need a shove in the spirit to see and feel progress.

I have to remind myself. God did it all when He sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

All those imported ideas are from God. All those healings that need to take place in my family have to start in the spirit realm.

We took care of my daughter’s 65-pound, long-haired fancy German Shepherd for 10 days while her family inhaled the beauty of the Redwood forest in California.

Now this dog is first a sweetheart, two years and has been to “dog school” and knows stuff.

Let me tell you, it was a long ten days with a two-year-old who forgot everything she had learned except “Sit.”

We have a rather large fenced-in backyard, and as soon as the back door was opened, she was on the deck to the backyard. and Lola was off like a bat out of Hades. No walking down the stairs. Just a giant leap barking and chasing the wind, it seemed. We live in town now, so yelling, “Come!” or “Quiet!” was so hard to do.

Lola came when she wanted to. Quit barking when she wanted to. Now, this dog is not dumb. She knows better but chose not to be self-disciplined.

I don’t want to be a Lola and be hard of hearing on the path I should go down when I hear the Lord’s direction.

Sometimes, we are like that deer in the headlights and just stand there waiting. Should I move, or should I stand still?

Standing still is not forward movement or progress.

I need to get over the fear of going forward, and pick up my feet and move. How about if I make the wrong move, phone call, or action?

That’s called learning. Learning to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd or being moved by the unction of the leading of the Lord.

It’s better to move than let the car hit you. Right?

So, I moved the peonies four times. They’re alive.

So you chose to paint a wall dark forest green and ended up with linen white.

Now these are minor examples of trial and error, but still progress.

We once put $500 earnest money down on a 5-acre farm that was so awful and disgusting. I think it was the worst fight Tom and I ever had after we made the down payment. It was a wrong decision. We told the realtor, we can’t go through with the deal and that if the seller would return our money that would be great … knowing that was a long shot. Well, we got our money back and were very thankful that we recognized our error. That’s called progress, too.

I will choose to not be a dog or a deer today. I choose to listen and move forward.

How about you?

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