Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it

It would be silly of me to not write about my very favorite holiday:  Christmas.  This particular year I have decided that It's a Wonderful Life is not only my favorite Christmas movie, but probably my favorite movie of all time, save for You've Got Mail ...hmmm, it's a close call.  If you know me, ranking films is an important pass-time.  Well, just the five films that I like and continue to watch over, and over, and over again. One reason I love it so much is the cast of actors.  But the biggest reason is how I think most people can relate to it.  George Bailey had his whole life planned out.  He had big dreams.  He wanted to "make something of himself" only to be humbled and humble himself to the death of those dreams.  How do I know?  He said it so himself: "I don't want any plastics , and I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married - ever - to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do!" ...

I saw a woman standing outside a convenience mart smoking a cigarette.   I was fueling up my little tan car when I wondered if I should start a conversation with her.   I fought my own brain, and wondered if that was God’s voice or my paranoia.   She wasn’t relatively close by any means. I plainly took my receipt and drove on.   Now jump to this logical thought.  The things I’ve heard about marriage are all true.   I have listened to love story after love story and all the couples say that they have been joined together to bring further glory to the Lord.  Marriage is ultimately a mirror of God’s love for His bride, and these teams are used for expanding His kingdom on earth.  Those are all true statements.  Most of the time I agree with them because I do think it would be easier to go on a mission trip with your husband.  Yes, it would at times be easier to serve and love someone unconditionally when it is your beautif...

A potter starts out with a vision and idea.  One pair of hands skillfully creates the object of the artist's desire.  Sometimes the clay becomes a pitcher for water, a vase for flowers, or maybe a cookie jar.  What once started out as an image in the potter’s mind becomes a reality. However, would a piece of clay actually become the intended shape if there were, say, two hands upon the clay?  The clay might be created into a work that could hold flowers or water, but guaranteed it would not be at all what the first artist originally intended.  Now what would happen to the piece of clay if we did not only have two pairs of hands, but three, or imagine even fifty.  The more pairs of hands, the more artists and differing ideas. Would this clay be considered "well rounded" as an individual after 100 hands have meddled in it, each with it's own idea?  I doubt it.  Perhaps the original Creator would know best.  He’s the one wi...