Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Riding Bikes, Hanging Out With Friends & Communing With God

We had a wonderful but busy weekend. We went to Abilene to see Moonlight & Magnolias on Friday night and had dinner Friday night and lunch on Saturday with Jeremy. We came home on Saturday, went to church on Sunday and then headed out Sunday afternoon on a bike trip with some friends to Longview and on to Jefferson on Monday. We had a great time!!

The weather was great and there is nothing better than riding, except riding with friends! We rode 360 miles this weekend! We had the best time. You would have thought we were all in high school the way we were laughing and carrying on in the lobby of the hotel; until 2:00 a.m. I might add. (The next day I didn't feel like I was in high school! I felt like the 40 something woman I am on only 5 hours of sleep!)

We stayed up just talking, playing spades and having some of the most wonderful pie I have ever eaten. If you ever head to Longview, go to "The Butcher Shop" and have some chocolate pie! You won't be sorry!!

There is nothing like riding a bike through the back roads of East Texas to make you really stop and appreciate God. When you are on your bike with the wind blowing all around you and driving through some of the most wonderful trees, you can't help but think of God and all He created. There is nothing like it in the world. It really gave me time to reflect on God and the priorities in my life.

I've been thinking about priorities for a while now. Mine have seemed to be way off lately, or maybe not so off. But I do think it's a time for refocusing. The priorities of the last 22 years have been my kids. Loving them, raising them and attending all of the events they were in was what we did and pretty much who we were. While I loved that time dearly and will miss those times, I realize that God is calling me in other ways. I have really been reflecting a lot on how I spend my time now and becoming aware that God is calling me to something different in my life. I'm not sure where is He leading, but I know that I need to be aware of His calling and pay attention to opportunities He may put before me.

I know that God wants to use me to make some kind of impact. And it doesn't have to big. It reminds me of the impact of skipping rocks on water. When you skip rocks, sometimes they just skip lightly across the water making impacts every time they hit. You can see all the splashes in the water and see all the impacts they make. But sometimes when you try to skip a rock it just plops in the water. And while it only makes a plop and doesn't skip across gracefully, it still makes an impact. There are still little ripples in the water from where it dropped in.

I think sometimes we get too bogged down in trying to do something big. Trying to make huge graceful skips across the water. When sometimes just a big plop in the water still has its impact.

I'm not going to try and make huge skips across the water. Someday I may and then again I may never make that big of an impact. But I hope I can always make at least a little ripple in the water. A little ripple that spreads through the rest of the water and touches something or someone. I don't ever want to leave the water still. Even a little ripple can make a difference.

Blessings!

6 comments:

Lynn Leaming said...

Thanks for the reminder Liz. I too sometimes do nothing in trying to do something big. I needed to be reminded that the ripples matter. I know the Lord will use you because you have an open heart. I look forward to seeing what He does!

Anonymous said...

Just know that you are already making ripples that you don't even know about and touching people's lives because you touched mine and I thank you for it.

Anonymous said...

ok i can't BELIEVE you came to longview AND ate at the butcher shop (did you get cake?) and didn't come see ME..... what's the deal, bill? Tiersa

Liz Moore said...

I know!!! We went with friends and I honestly never looked at a map to see what we would be around. While we were driving on the back roads I saw a sign that said Diana 10 miles... that's when I realized we were close to y'all! I was actually thinking I'll have to look and see if we pass their street, and about that time we took a right turn. I was thinking about you at that time and not about the road and I actually went off rode taking that turn! (I stayed on the bike!:) So you were on my mind while we were riding! It's hard to stop someplace outside the trip when you're with other people. I promise we will ride back that way by ourselves though now that we know where you are! I've give you a call sometime soon. Love you!

Neva said...

Beautiful post! Sounds like my kind of day (s).

Blessings
Neva

preacherman said...

Wonderful post.
Thank you for sharing it with us all.
I wanted to thank you so very much for stopping by my blog and telling my happy birthday. It meant so much to her. Ever since 9/11 she seems to have a bad day but yesterday all the comments and well wishes made her day great. Thank you for making a difference in my mom's day. I appreciate it more than you know. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I have added your blog to my favs and will be visiting regularly. I love it. You do such a fantastic job with what you do and say. Keep up the great work! Again, have a blessed weekend sis!