How to Have the Best Date of Your Life

Divorced after 31 years of marriage and single since then, you might not think of me first when looking for dating advice!

But this is not just any date.

And it's not just any person.




Join me today on Circlesoffaith.org as I share how to start planning the best date of your life, whether you're single or married!

Time - Gift or Curse?

I'm still working on the second installment of the Free Market 'trilogy', but something I read in my devotions yesterday just really struck a chord and made me think.  I needed to share and ask for your input as well.

The line was out of Jesus Calling for June 27th.  It said "I designed time to be a protection for you."

A protection.  

I don't know about you, but so often, I think of time as the enemy.  

• It ages us
• It reminds us of what we have not yet accomplished
• It flaunts how long we have been without that thing we truly desire 

It most often drags during our workday, making it seem intolerable.  When we're having fun - on vacation, with friends, being entertained - it flies.

So to me, it is foreign to think of time as a protection. 


The next line of that devotional said "You couldn't bear to see your life all at once." 

Okay... maybe I DO see the possibility of protection. 

I have a number of friends going through some really tough stuff right now.  The death of a friend, a separation, a serious illness.

If we saw these things at the outset, we might run in the opposite direction.  And if we did that, we wouldn't experience the joys that come with the sorrows.  We would live life in fear of what we knew was coming.

On the flip side, the space of time protects us by healing some of our hurts as memories fade and pain subsides.  The distance that time provides can help us think more clearly - sometimes seeing that what we thought we wanted or needed would have been harmful had it come to pass. 


God protects us in time.  I think I may just have to change my attitude about my former enemy.  Embrace him and understand his usefulness. 


So what do you think?  Is time a gift?  A protection?  I'd love to hear your thoughts...if you have the time.

It's Christmas already?

I've never much liked the 4th of July. It's not that I'm not patriotic...not by a long shot. It's really more about the logistics of summer. Somehow once the 4th of July has passed, it seems the rest of the summer flies by in the blink of an eye and before you know it - it's Labor Day. The days grow short, the weather grows cold, and I grow an extra layer of fat from hibernating in my warm house.

So as Labor Day looms, I view it with bittersweet anticipation.

You know what's funny?  This is the start of a post I wrote in August...3 years ago.  Everything changes and everything stays the same lol.  I've taken to saying that MY calendar jumps from Labor Day directly to Christmas.  Now that may be an over exaggeration, but it IS bumming me out that, among other things, trips to the lake are less frequent.  By the time I'm done running my 'after work' errands these days, the sun has almost set.  I want to dig in my heels and yell at the top of my lungs...STOP!!  Time is just moving too fast.

You may be feeling the same way.  Vacations are pretty much over (and I'm NOT happy I never made it to the beach this summer)...college has begun and grade schools start up in a matter of days (I AM happy I'm beyond the life stage of finding just the right back pack!)  And all those things you were going to accomplish in the lazy days of summer...the books you wanted to read, the room you wanted to clean out, the sewing project you were definitely going to finish this time...never got done.  Where did the time go?

Before you know it, we'll be singing Auld Lang Syne and making a whole new list of resolutions.  So before that happens, I challenge you to join me in trying to beat time to the punch.  Right now...today...what can we do differently so that time is not so fleeting we can't remember how we spent it?  What or who would you pay more attention to?  What would you give up?  Something is eating your time...what is it?  Look at the beginning of this blog post - the one I wrote 3 years ago...I was going to start blogging way back then, got a paragraph in and didn't touch it again for all this time.  What dream/calling/desire have you put on the back burner that you need to grab hold of?  Time waits for no man...or woman...don't just watch it pass you by.

That's it this time around...no lesson, moral, parable or teaching.  No 'deep' theological insights.  Today I've just got questions...and they aren't rhetorical.  I invite you to weigh in and comment!