Day 222 Blessings Flow

August 16, 2015
Day 222

Home. Settled. Content. Rested. Motivated. Challenged. Inspired. Recharged.

This time away was exactly what we all needed, what I needed. I will endeavor to remember God's goodness expressed to us this past week.  He is so good. We strive, yet He asks us to rest in Him.

Praise be to Him from whom all blessings flow!

The view from the kitchen window...

Day 221 Thank you!

August 15, 2015
Day 221

Robert L. Treichler - The Man!

Doug - "I am the high commander."

Today we share the last few moments on Moose Pond in Denmark, ME. We are curious as to how Moose Pond received its pond status. This is a body of water covering a stretch of about eight miles. Regardless, the floating dock, shore lined evergreens and ascending pseudo-mountains will be but a memory in a few short weeks. But for now it is our reality and a darn good one! This time is a perfect birthday celebration for a man who has lived long and hard, my father, Bob Treichler.

Rainy Days on Moose Pond - Stunning

God knows what he is doing when Scott and Courtney Brown offer their getaway home to my brother, Doug. Originally, we are heading to a rental lake house in Rhode Island to celebrate my father's eightieth. But the Holy Spirit detours us and the plans are hijacked. Through a series of fortunate events we find ourselves bypassing Rhode Island, heading up Rt. 95, four more hours, to the unadulterated beauty of the state of Maine. For a period of five days we are given an opportunity to vacation, reflect and celebrate, eighty years of our father's well lived life, at Scott and Courtney's home. Oh, and when their pontoon boat is repaired we watch it dock outside their residence for us to use. C'mon! This is too much, too much kindness and goodness to handle. But we manage and our time at the Brown's is perfect.

Suzanne - Not much this woman will not try!

We live enchanted-like at Moose Pond. We stay inside on a rainy day and brush up on our game skills. No worries, we love games. And when the sun calls us out to play we wander to the dock and hop in the water. We push, we shove, we heave each other off the raft. All week, we watch and hear a loon couple call to one another from both sides of the Pond. We navigate the paddle-board with laughter and shrieks. We are adventurers of the Nile or fishermen in Hawaii. On this paddle board is a balancing act many of us lose but that does not stop us, we get right back on. The descendants of Bob and Suzanne Treichler are a determined lot, it is in our DNA.

Mornings at Moose Pond - to die for.

Then there are the fireside chats with our father. Everyone knows Bob Treichler will swim out of the shallows given a chance and go into the deep recesses of someone's spirit. He is the emotional guide through souls. We give him the freedom to guide our discussion around the fire pit for he is the master of creating reflective moments making them last as healing balms. We spiritually hold hands high lifting one another to the throne, knowing more how to pray for each other than when we first gathered.

 

Diane's Snacks...Lakeside service!

 The discussions vary during our time together. Deep insights, trivial bits of information passing back and forth without direction, and recipes shared. We figure out life, we raise more questions and we will go home with more insights. This is living. The cousins are given an opportunity to know each other beyond their relational status and into deeper friendships. Their last day is spent sailing over the wake twisting and turning on a big overstuffed couch pulled by a beautiful pontoon boat driven by the one and only commander of the high seas, Uncle Doug.

Taken Moments Before the Slow Descend

Scott and Courtney will probably never know the treasure this time has been and is for our family. These are soon powerful memories that will be driven by gale force winds blowing into our dreary days turning our hearts to good and solid memories. We might wonder, "Can life get any better?"

Doug missed his calling.

Moments before we leave we gather together to thank God for our time and ask His traveling mercies as we motor to our different places. Though physically we will separate, our hearts will remain closer than before. God is good and the time we just spent on Moose Pond is indicative of His extreme and over exuberance in goodness! Thank you Scott and Courtney Brown for allowing us to make your getaway home our home for five solid days in August of 2015. This truly is a perfect way to celebrate our father's eightieth birthday! And we know now that Narnia is real!*

The Raft and The Cousins - Coming soon to theaters near You!

Heaven in Denmark, ME on Moose Pond

*Thank you Jenifer Snider for a great image.

Day 220 Lights Out

August 14, 2015
Day 220

We are sitting around a golden fire blazing in an impressive fire pit with the lake in front of us and stately trees framing out the view. The lights from the homes across the lake reflecting in the water are mesmerizing and haunting all at the same time. Then it ends. From the vacation home there is no light streaming out of the massive windows. We begin to realize it is not just our home that lost power but every home on the lake. Why? What happened?

The reasons might be numerous or possibly just one glaring problem. Our imaginations create our very own horror and terror flick. We will sit around the fire longer than we had intended. More logs are put in the golden flames. We laugh, we pop jiffy pop corn and tomorrow we will leave with another warm memory.

We still do not know why the lights are off, but right now, we do not need to know why. We have one another.

I used my hotspot on my phone to complete this post.

Day 219 Jesus Completes It All

August 13, 2015
Day 219


Certifications, completion of goals, awards, degrees, titles, resumes, curriculum vitae - visible and tangible achievements, provide you with points. Your points provide you access to more opportunities. More opportunities help to place you in a better status. Your status provides you with an invisible banner that speaks to all around you, "I am significant." But Christianity rubs against this.

Christ achieved all. All the hoops that needed to be jumped through, all the awards that needed to be awarded, all the documentation that needed documenting, all that was needed to be provided for completion, He completed. But we want to do something to earn awards and achievements. We want something to refer to us. This frustrates our pride.

If you are the highest paid educator, the most awesome lawyer, the cleverest mechanic, the world's smartest medical doctor, the most advanced human being, it does not raise you above anyone. At the cross you are completely equal with all of humanity, no one rises above anyone. This pricks our pride.

Christianity is the Pride Slayer.

Day 218 No Caste System With Him

August 11, 2015
Day 218

It's all a reflection on me, or so I think

I know so many people and so many of them are amazing.  I know some famous people. I know some significant people. I know some very wealthy people. I know some highly educated individuals. And I want you to know all about these folks and how I know them. Why? I want to impress you. In fact, I will try to slip them into my conversations. I think I am tricky, but if you spend enough time with me, you'll see the shamelessness of my attempts. You will catch me doing this. I try to be modest but sometimes modesty seems far too much work. My Savior operates differently.

When I am with someone who looks visibly needy I want you to be impressed that I am with them but I want you to clearly know that I am "helping" them. I do not want you to put me on their same plane. I am not identifying with them, I am one of their benefactors. I am above them and yet willing to be with them but I have a hard time when you identify them as someone I am like. My Jesus became my brother.

Then there is the God of the universe who took on human flesh. I look on the caste system with horror but internally, if I'm ruthlessly honest with myself,  I think I actually adhere to the stupid thing. Especially when I am not interested in being identified with someone who is clearly needy. But God wants nothing to do with the caste system, absolutely nothing! He associates with people of all statuses and seals the deal when He even identifies with them.

God is not just a friend of mine who choses to give me a hand and help me out with issues. God identifies with me in every area of my life. He took on my sin. The poorest of the poor, the most sinful of the sinful, the ugliest of the ugliest, the most uneducated individual, this is who God identifies with. On the cross He looked like everyone, He identified with everyone. He grieves over the caste system. No matter what the status of an individual was, God identified with them to save them. On the cross He died looking like a criminal to identify with us and save us.

This is love.

Day 217 The Raft

August 11, 2015

Day 217

Jesse, Geoffrey, and Tyler, Denmark, ME: The Brown's Home

I watch three boys on a raft playing in the rain today and my heart is happy. This is how life should be lived, outdoors. They are on and they are off and they are on and they are off and it is laughter and raucous and water everywhere. The rain is falling enough to make it fun but not enough to limit visibility. They are rough housing, they are investigating, they are under the raft, they are diving off the raft. They are being boys.

I have to be with them. The bathing suit comes on and I go out. The water is cold and I reconsider until I hear Geoffrey tell his cousin, "I am going to get my mom."  My sons know I love to play and if they are not embarrassed by me, their mother, and my son Geoffrey is swimming in to bring me out, then I am not reconsidering, I am swimming to the raft.

The rain keeps falling, little balls of white on the surface, it is mesmerizing. It makes the time in the lake enchanted. My mind is present and story telling. Only I know the stories. There is a little mouse who came into my mind last night. He travels and explores and his bathing suit is adorable. I need to flesh him out and give him a name. I see him in the lake near the raft and he gives me a "thumbs up" in his nonchalant way indicating familiarity and a desire to get to know me. I'm in.

I come back quickly to the boys. The goggles pull their faces into nerdish forms as they dive down investigating the brown array of lake stuff below the surface. Below the surface holds mystery and a call to discover. Not for me, I do not want to know. Soon it is only Jesse and me. The older boys head in to shore, they have been out forever. But Jesse, to have his mom out in the water to play, he knows he wants to take full advantage of this moment. And we do.

We, Jesse-fish and Momma-fish,  swim silly. We swim hand in hand. We dance and twirl. The goggles pull our faces into beautiful masterpieces, no mirror would view my image and what I do not know is not going to hurt or distract me! I am Marla Mermaid, blithe, beautiful and able to move with ease through the smooth waters. I am free, completely. This is life at best, life as all of us know it before we emerge to land, before our first cry.

He swims underneath me on his back. We swim hand n' hand like a three legged race. We call to the loon couple on the lake. Jesse does his wolf imitation, so good. I do my loon imitation, a better one than Kathryn Hepburn in "On Golden Pond." The loons beckon the call and move closer and closer to us diving down and popping back up. All of a sudden, I am a Loon whisperer and researcher. And that little mouse is on the lady loon's back. This time he is looking straight ahead in full command of his transport.

We swim in to shore. We soggily walk up to the porch with the rain on our backs and the cold air on our face. Inside we are warm and full of visual memories that will last us a lifetime. This is how life should be lived, outside.

Denmark, ME The Brown's Lovely Home

Day 216 Another Go: "A Thousand Gifts"

August 10, 2015


Ann VosKamp's book "A Thousand Gifts" is one I have yet to read from cover to cover. She uses lots of words loosely putting her big toe over the edge of acceptable and dabbling in the deep end of prose. I have attempted to read this book but have had a hard time wading through all the words, so many words. However, to not like this book just seems wrong, especially when the theme can be wrapped up into one word: Gratitude! But then again, I am a jerk. A Big one.

Something in me decided yesterday to give this book another try. And I am pulled in immediately. It is apparent that my initial dislike of the book had nothing to do with the book but everything to do with an inability to hear the message.

This piece has been roaming around in my mind and Ann just wrote it out for me, seemingly:
"If I am ruthlessly honest, I may have said yes to God, yes to Christianity, but really I have lived the no."

Ann, forgive me! And thank you for your kindness.