Comments Anyone?

Okay, so I know I have a fair amount of blog readers out there who actually read and enjoy my blog simply because you make verbal comments to me after you've read one that speaks to you. However, since many of you don't blog yourselves and recieve my blogs by email, you may not realize that you can actually go on my blog and make a comment. The blog is so much more fun to look at than just a simple black and white email :)

Follow these instructions to visit the blog and make a comment:
1. go to http://alichall.blogspot.com
2. click on the word comments located at the bottom of the blog you would like to comment on
3. type in your comment in the box
4. if you have a google or yahoo email account, you can simply enter it in the appropriate box OR simply choose the Open ID box to leave a comment
5. Hit "Publish your Comment" and VOILA! you send smiles to me :)

One of the main reasons I post is so that I may encourage others to ponder their relationship with Christ, family, and friends. It is my desire to challenge others to wholeheartedly pursue their relationship with HIM, so that every relationship they have here on earth is strengthened.

If I do that in any way, let me know. If I don't hear from you, I'll take that as a sign that God wants me to use my time more effectively.

A special thanks to all my "buddies" who consistently encourage me in my writing. One day you'll all be immortalized as a character in a book or a topic of an article;)

Can't wait to hear from you!

My Obsession

What do pom poms, baby dolls, and Ricky Schroeder have in common?  Not much, except for the fact that I had a passion for them when I was a young girl.  During its television run, I never missed an episode of Silver Spoons, starring my favorite blonde-headed obsession, Ricky.  My pom poms were always shaking for  I spent every waking moment ( and probably a few sleeping moments) practicing cheer  moves and cartwheels.  When I wasn't cheering or watching TV, I was playing house, school, and  grocery store with my baby dolls.  Those passions encouraged me to dream of one day becoming Ricky Schroder's wife and mother of his children while maintaining a career as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

I know some of you may be chuckling to yourself, "What silly dreams?"  But before you laugh, think about all the times you wrote your name and attached it to Elvis Presley's or maybe even one of those mop-haired Beatle boys.  What about Tom Cruise's? Or could it be that you were obsessed with Barbie's wonderfully pink world of sports coupes, beach houses, and RVs which were occupied by the entire Barbie ensemble?  Some of you may have covered your rooms in collections of stuffed animals, Cabbage Patch dolls, tie-dyed clothes, or even Beanie Babies.  Whatever it was, I am sure that you can identify with being obsessed with something during your younger years.

If the childhood obsessions do not come back so quickly, maybe reminiscing about more recent times can help.  As a woman in today's world, we have a tendency to become obsessed with all the different roles society tells us to play.  Our career can lead us to being overly passionate about climbing the corporate ladder or pursuing a better education.  Our desires for the perfect family can initiate an obsession for angelic, popular, and successful children, or for the strongest and most romantic marriage.  In addition, our passion to obtain a higher social position can lead us to be obsessed with our body image and having the right wardrobe.  While a little passion about each of these can be helpful and productive, too much can be frustrating, controlling, and ultimately destructive.

Most people would agree that having an obsession or uncontrollable passion is  a negative thing, but what if you were given a magnificent obsession that consumed every thought, word, and deed and also gave your life a glorious purpose instead of destroying it. Can such a thing exist, you ask?  This singular positive obsession is an uncontrollable passion for Christ.  When it is pursued with devoted prayer and Bible study, the results can only be positive.  In contrast, take a look back a what those childhood collections of stuffed animals and Cabbage Patch kids gained you - nothing.  Matthew 6:19 encourages our obsession with God: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures here on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.  Store up treasure in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal."  By "collecting" bible study time, prayerful moments, and fellowship with other believers, you store up a treasure in heaven that is priceless and can never be taken away or lost.  Similarly, those innocent fantasies we had for various movie and rock stars never became a reality -- Ricky Schroder never showed up at my door with flowers, and he surely never asked me to become his wife and mother his children.  Yet my God promises, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you" (1 Chronicles 28:9).  My obsession with seeking God promises that I will find Him.  In addition, remember those walls we decorated with Teen Beat posters, album covers, pictures of beauty queens, collections of dolls and stuffed animals; eventually, each one was taken down and put away.  However, our passion for Christ compels us to redecorate the rooms of our hearts with His word.  This new interior design is invincible: "The grass withers and the flower falls but the word of the Lord stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). This God obsession continues to be positive as we plaster His word all over our lives: "Hide His word in our heart, so that we might not sin against Him" (Psalms 119:11, NIV, italics mine).  Finally, even those adult passions can lead to our downfall: "For what does it profit a woman to gain the whole world -- with a perfect family, super-model body, successful career, and inspiring marriage -- yet lose her own soul" (Luke 9:25, NIV, italics mine).

No matter what we choose to be obsessed with here on earth, it will lead to our destruction unless we choose to be obsessed with God. This magnificent obsession never destroys, never disappoints, never fails, never falls short of our dreams, and never goes unfulfilled.  The Old and New Testament encourages us several times to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  That is the definition of obsession - loving something so much that it consumes your whole being -- mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  May it become our prayer to find and obsession with Christ that produces a gloriously fulfilling life just like the words to this chorus so aptly state: 

Give me one pure and holy passion

Give me one magnificent obsession.

Give me one glorious ambition for my life

To know and follow hard after You.

After all these years, my pom poms have been shelved, baby dolls passed down to my sweet little girl, and Ricky has married someone else, but my obsession with the Lord still burns white hot.

Older and Wiser

I'm baaaaack!  Sorry for the two week haitus but like my earlier blog said,  life gets in the way quite often.  

Anyway, just a note to say - I'm old.  Today while entering the gym, a young man politely held the door open for me.  (Manners still exist in the younger generation.) Anyway, I responded with a kind thank you to which he quickly replied, "You're welcome, Maam."  OUCH!  Just when I was feeling good about my recent working out and slimming up some more. However, I must say that the 30's have been great even though I spent about two years dreading them. Well, here I am and there's no turning back.  I'm happy with me and my age.  But just a note that in the future, young man, you better keep respecting your elders :)

Beam Me Up!

Sometimes during the praise and worship part of our church services, I have a mental image much  like that of Captain Kirk's being "beamed up" by the Enterprise's transporter.  I'm totally unaware of the people around me and get lost in God in the middle of a very familiar place.  At that moment, there is no where else I could dream of being.  Those worship times remind of a song we often sing entitled "Better is One Day" which simply says, "Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere." We all have our good and bad days, but even those days that I think couldn't get any better can never compare with just one day in the presence of God.  

Many of you may be wondering: "Have I ever really experienced a day like this?"  If you have to stop and think very long about it, you probably haven't.  Furthermore, if you haven't experienced a moment in His presence, you are really missing something incredible.  

Consider this word picture:  One of my favorite places in the world to be is on the beach in the late afternoon sun: the waves rhythmically crash into the shore, seagulls frolic in the azure world above me, the sun's warmth envelopes me, and the love of my life sits on the towel beside me. At that moment, life could not be more perfect! However, the truth is that a moment of true worship and communion with God could not match a thousand of those days.  What an awesome experience! 

I never pass up an opportunity to head to the beach and be renewed by its peacefulness and enjoy some relaxation away from my hectic world.  If my time with God in true worship is a thousand times better than one of those days at the beach, why would I not take every opportunity to be in God's presence?  Why do I rob myself of the chance to be renewed, relaxed, and at perfect peace?  Yet there are Sunday mornings when I just don't feel like worshipping, or I spend praise and worship time questioning, "Why me God?" or "When are you going to answer my prayer, God?"  All the while, I should be renewing my love and commitment to Him no matter what I am going through or how long He may take to answer a prayer.  

A true worshipper will come in a service ready and excited about having the opportunity to commune with God, be renewed physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.  We can have all of that just by entering into His courts during praise and worship, ignoring the people and things around us, and focusing our thoughts and energy on God as we sing songs of dedication, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  Yet each Sunday (and other days during the week), we simply sit back and read the words off the screen like we're reciting the phone book.  Is it any wonder why we don't move FORWARD to intimacy in our relationship with God?  Why our prayers never seem to be answered?  And why we can't know victory in our everyday Christian life?  The answer and victory will come when we learn to take those 45 minutes and every other spare moment to worship God no matter what is happening around us.

Take time to picture your most perfect day then multiply that feeling by 1000.  That's what you are missing every Sunday morning when you CHOOSE to waste those minutes of praise and worship. (Let's be clear - it is a choice!)  Make a determined effort not to let Satan rob you of those moments when God can transport you into His courts where peace, contentment, and quiet solitude reign and be renewed as you learn to worship at any cost.  Then you will know as others do that Captain Kirk's transporter can't compare to being "beamed up" into God's presence. 

Grandparents Day

In honor of grandparents day (September 7), I decided to post a poem I wrote shortly after my grandfather's death.  He was such an important and special part of my life. When he passed away, I truly felt like my childhood had ended.  Hopefully this poem will give you some insight into  just how WONDERFUL he was.

In All Seasons

In Autumn,

He was in-house forts

built with chairs, worn bed sheets

and the whirl of an electric fan.

He was the knee-horse

bucking you through

that old "field tum a wield."

In Winter,

He was the recipe

of drowsy mornings, mixed heartily

with cartoons and cereal

baked in the glow of a well-stoked fire.

He was 3 AM Christmas mornings

of a letter to Santa that came true

by that austere Christmas fir.

In Spring,

He was the song

"Doodle-bug, won't you come out tonight"

accompanied by the sounds of tractor tinkering.

He was a day of long walks

down that yellow dirt road

that always lead to my 

favorite candy bar and Coke.

In Summer,

He was tractor rides

catered with iced watermelon

and straight-from-the-field sugar cane.

He was a push on the tattered rope tree swing

that sent you to the heavens and back.

In all seasons,

He was a child's day of play

that even the sunset could not end.

But mostly, he was my grandaddy,

this child's best friend.

New Family Member

Famous Last Words: "We can  go look at the puppy, but we're not gonna buy one yet."  

LOL!  Tuesday after work Keifer comes home and says he found a beagle puppy and it's only in Georgia a little over a hour away.  Want to go see them.  Understand here that we just gave our golden retriever away last Saturday to a loving home simply because her big doggie frame was too much for our new home and tiny back yard.  I had to coax the kids for several months about giving her away.  Finally, they agreed and we found a wonderful couple who specifically wanted a golden and planned to treat her as "their baby."  Copper left on Saturday morning, and Tagger joined our family Tuesday night.  We love dogs and did a lot of research on beagles and found that they would fit best with our family and our lifestyle.  We wanted a small dog that sheds minimally, great with kids, and had plenty of personality.  Tag, as we've nicknamed him, has plenty of it all.    Anyway, the kids love him and he's seems to like us pretty well too.

I don't know why I thought I could "window shop"  for a puppy; I can't even window shop at the mall :)

Just over 8 years and 16 hours ago, my sweet little Bayleyboo entered this world.  To say I was giddy on the day I found out I was having a little girl would be an understatement and now I was holding her in my arms.  She had a closet full of pink that I couldn't wait to get on her.  Below is a poem, I wrote upon bringing her home.

Bedtime Swooning

In the dark of night

with the moon's quiet light

Sliding through slits in the shade,

There she lay

Serenity personified

Innocence unknowing

Sweetness glowing

All in the face of 

one small child.

Eight years have passed and that little baby has grown into an amazing little girl.  Here's a glimpse into who she is. 

Bayley loves...

pickles.  (Thus the picture to the right. She goes through a jar in about 3 days.)  

shoes.  (This is cute right now, but give it a couple of years, and I'm convinced this might be a problem.)

mirrors.  (It's not for vain reasons but for entertainment.  Who needs a playmate when you can stand in front of a mirror and have a complete conversation with your reflection?   Who needs an audience for a performance when you can just dance and sing for yourself and an imaginary audience?)

friends.  (She loves to be with friends and the more the merrier.)

Kidtropolis. (Whatever you do, don't remind her that she miss Kidtropolis service when we're out of town.  She'll just want to know if we can come home early.)

her daddy.  (In fact, every night she wants to sleep in one of his t-shirts.  He will be wrapped around her finger until the  day he dies.)

school. (She definitely has her momma's genes. She's gonna be a nerd- just like her momma- but at least she'll be wearing cute shoes while she makes the honor roll.)

baby dolls and stuffed animals. (The day is fast approaching when she won't even want to play with them anymore. Tear rolling down the cheek here.)

questions. (I thought the questions were supposed to slow down after the age of three.  Not with Bay, her questions only get more complicated and her conversations more philosophical. )

debate. (These last two go hand in hand.  Her Daddy is convinced she would make a great attorney.  She's got questions AND answers for most any situation.  Visit us at bedtime and you'll see.)

Jesus. (I saved the best for last.  Her heart towards God is so tender.  So many times, I've been able to redirect her behavior simply by reminding her of how Jesus would want her to act. She's also reminded me a couple of times as well :)

Happy Birthday Bay!  You are my heart:)