Joyful Words Blog
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.
– Psalm 119:105
– Psalm 119:105
It’s hard to believe that we’re already slidin into the last bit of July! It’s been a lovely summer and I love all the great summer things there are to do in this beautiful lake dotted state. A few weeks ago, I was sitting by a lake watching a beach full of swimmers and dozens of boats pulling skiers and tubers. One thing the boats had in common was no matter how big or small they were, they left a wake. I spent a long time peacefully watching the waves from the wake make their way to shore. I hadn’t thought much about that afternoon until last weekend when one of the readings was from Psalm 23. Someone wise once told me that at the beginning of each Mass or service, ask God for at least one nugget to take home. I don’t always remember to take that good advice but last Sunday morning I did and verse 6 of the 23rd Psalm was that nugget.
That one line jumped into my ears and stuck in my mind like glue! I thought about it all day and then I remembered the day at the lake and the wakes from the boat. I gave the Psalm, and the boat wakes some thought and realized there was a lesson. As a boat moves through the water with any speed at all, a wake is unavoidable and that wake spreads and touches many things. I suppose what the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me was we are just the same. As we pass through life and go in and out of people’s lives, we too leave a wake. What we do and say spreads farther and touches more than we know. In this one verse, God reminded me what should follow me and what I should be leaving in my wake…mercy and goodness. A boat never looks behind and once the wake has been set in motion, there is no taking it back…it just keeps speeding along. Sometimes the wake can be a lot of fun for the tubers or skiers but sometimes the wake can be harmful or hurtful. I had to stop and think about what I leave in my wake. We all leave a wake and quite often, like the boat, we aren’t even aware of what’s happening behind us. I thought about people in the same aisle of the grocery store…what do I leave in my wake as I speed to the end of the row? Since the number of places we leave a wake is large, it just might be our biggest opportunity to grow in holiness and discipleship. I wondered how many times I have sped by people so fast I didn’t even notice the person that needed a little help or encouragement or even a simple smile. How many people do I leave in my wake unnoticed who simply needed someone to acknowledge them? This Psalm did a great job of describing what we should be leaving in our wake…mercy and goodness. The Father is so fancy isn’t He! Heaven doesn’t depend on giant things like building an orphanage or feeding a village. Thank goodness He makes it simpler than that. Mercy is love in action and goodness is the definition of the thoughts and actions of Jesus. That’s what we should be leaving in our wake. I think I’ll spend some time paying attention to what I leave behind instead of being so worried about charging full speed ahead. A Seed To Plant: Pray about your wake and pay attention to those who leave good things in their wake…let’s see if we can’t make a difference before summer ends. Blessings on your day
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I was walking through the living room with a load of laundry the other night and paused to see a hunting show Dave was watching. A small group of men were following a guide through brush and up inclines and through tall grass in pursuit of some kind of wild game. The guide led the way whacking out a path with a machete. All along the way the guide was pointing out the dangers and beauty of the trip and it really made me stop and think. The men following the guide had no idea where they were or where they were headed. They were unfamiliar with the path and had only a mental vision of the destination. They were fully dependent on the guide to lead them to the bounty or prize of the day.
I couldn’t get that show out of my mind for several days. All I could keep thinking about was how dreadful the whole adventure seemed to me. As the guide pointed out snakes and bee hives the size of Volkswagens and loose gravel near cliff edges I know for certain I would have turned around within the first few hundred yards and gone back to the camp to drink coffee. On my next pass through the living room, I noticed that the guide had indeed led the hunters to a beautiful clearing with a breathtaking view and exactly the game they had been in search of. After an adventurous hike filled with peaks, valleys, danger, delight and blind faith, they got exactly what they were hoping for. I walked out of the living thinking there was probably a lesson. I have been blessed to share a rough journey with a few friends this summer. Each of these beautiful, strong women has faced fierce battles of different kinds. I’ve laughed, cried and prayed with and for these friends as they picked themselves up and trudged on after each setback. I’ve been inspired by their courage and faith and then it dawned on me; their lives were a little like the hunting show Dave was watching. Isn’t life like that sometimes; tough, dangerous and tricky to maneuver. The wrong turn can lead to more difficulty and forging off in an unknown direction without a guide would certainly not end well. God is an awful lot like that hunting guide. He’s always ahead clearing a path and offering direction and warning. Even in the thick of it all, the only thing he asks is that we stay close and follow his lead so he can guide and protect us on our way to a destination far more beautiful than we could ever imagine. Just like the guide on the TV show, nobody was forced to follow but it sure made sense to do so. I had to ask myself what kind of follower I am. As I think back on that show, I see so many places in my life where I felt like I was stuck in thick brush, and he led me through it every time and led me to a place greater than I had imagined. I suppose the next time I get stuck I’ll remember this image of God as my guide and trust and follow a little more easily. A Seed To Plant: Are there some adventures going on in your life that you need to invite God to lead you through? Blessings on your day! I have a terrible habit of dragging my feet about doing things I think are going to be hard and frustrating. Instead of just jumping in and getting down to it, I procrastinate and make the whole thing seem big enough to swallow me. I recently had to tackle a problem that required a consumer service department, an IT specialist and three computer downloads. I had put it off for nearly a week before I made myself get to it. As it turned out, the folks were very friendly, and the project wasn’t nearly as difficult or daunting as I thought it would be. I felt pretty silly for wasting a week and making such a mountain out of a mole hill. My faith in my ability to tackle the job was pretty small. I truly made it a much bigger deal than it needed to be. As I was thinking about it all the verse about the mustard seed popped into my mind and made me wonder how many times I made things harder than they needed to be.
God calls each of us to love Him and love each other. His mission for us is pretty straightforward but we sure can complicate it can’t we! We are each called to discipleship which means we are tasked with spreading the love and the story of Jesus and what He’s done in our lives. Sometimes the Lord presents an opportunity to evangelize but we talk ourselves out of it. We don’t tell the story of Jesus because we are afraid we’ll say the wrong thing or people will think we’re weird. The truth is, we often overcomplicate the process completely. I heard a visiting priest tell a story that was a great reminder of what God can do with our mustard seed of faith…and it isn’t as difficult as we think. According to the priest, the story first appeared in the New Your Times and it was about seeing the love of Jesus at a Dunkin Donuts. As the story goes, there was a long line of customers waiting and a woman began to speak out in a loud voice sharing her troubles. Loudly she said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t sleep, I can’t get well, everything is falling apart.” Everyone heard her but everyone either looked down or glued their eyes to their phone. The distraught woman looked around again and shared more of her fear and said, “I have no place to go, I have no family, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Again, everyone shifted nervously and looked anywhere but in her direction. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop when everyone noticed the sound of a tall, well dressed womans high heels walking toward the troubled lady. She simply bought a cup of coffee and gave it to the woman then put her arm around her, walked her to her table and said, “Sister, sit down here and tell me your story.” I don’t know that the well-dressed woman had all the answers or solutions but I’m not sure it mattered. All it took was a two-dollar cup of coffee and one question to share Jesus and change a hurting persons life. Her simple Christ-like compassion no doubt changed everything that day. That story has been sitting on my heart for a couple of weeks and once again I realized God isn’t asking us to be Scripture Scholars or Theology majors reciting facts and information…He’s asking us to simply share his love and notice His children. One simple question, one simple act of connection offered because we’ve seen with His eyes can make all the difference to someone in a tough spot. Who knows what that tiny seed of faith shown to a hurting woman that morning turned into...the Father knows and rest assured, He turned that little something into something marvelous. A Seed To Plant: Prayerfully make a decision to respond kindly in even a tiny way to one of God’s children this week. Offer Him your mustard seed of faith and know He will do something great and it won’t be as difficult as you think. Blessings on your day! My grandkids are the light of my life! I have so much more time to notice and enjoy my grandkids. When I was a mom and the kids were sleeping or content, I was running Mach 10 with my hair on fire trying to get things done but with the grandkids, everything else just gets put on hold. I’m thrilled with they come and sad when they leave but after they go home, there are always little traces of them left behind and my favorite is their little handprints on the doors and windows. The other day after they all went home, I was trying to read, and I just couldn’t seem to focus on the book. Once I took off my glasses to rub my eyes, I realized the problem…fingerprints, nose prints and water splashes from the kiddie pool covered my lenses. Once I cleaned them up things were good as new but as I stood there wiping my lenses clean, I soaked up the memories of an awesome, smudgy day.
Those clean glasses changed everything, and it got me to thinkin. Sometimes we see life like I was trying to see the words on a page through my smudgy glasses. Things can get so cloudy and distorted and if we look at things that way for long, everything we see seems cloudy. Maybe it’s time to clean our lenses a little and clear away some of the fuzz that can not only bother our eyes but our hearts and attitudes as well. Later this week, we will celebrate Independence Day. It’s a lovely summer holiday that has such a deep meaning. During an election year things have a tendency to get fuzzy for sure! Maybe we need to clean up our lenses as we celebrate on the 4th and realize that the truth about our Independence, is that it was deeply steeped in God and faith and religious freedom. The great part about our independence is that it should make us completely dependent on the Father. If the days and times we’re in the middle of seem pretty fuzzy compared to what our Forefathers intended, maybe we need to stop looking so much at Washington D.C. and start focusing in on God the Father and pray for this great nation. The way we see things is more important than what we actually see. We don’t have to look very hard to see troublesome things and worrisome people but there is always another lens to look through. When all we see is rotten, everything we see is fuzzy like my glasses were the other day. It’s not a new problem for sure. Think about Adam and Eve. They lived in a huge and luscious garden. That garden was a paradise filled with more trees, plants, animals and beauty than we can even imagine. In the midst of all the splendor of the garden, God said they could have it all except the fruit from one tree. Now, there were more trees than they could probably even count and more delicious food to eat than they could stuff down but they couldn’t take their gaze from the ONE thing they were told wasn’t for them. It’s no wonder we lose track of all the things we have when we get stuck on the one thing we don’t have. Why is it that we can receive many positive comments and compliments and enjoy many lovely conversations in a week, but we stick like glue to one negative thing someone said or suggested? How many times do we go to Google or to friends for answers and grab the information and ideas like they are golden, but we don’t pick up Scripture and seek the Father’s truth and encouragement. I wonder how many times we put more stock in memes and quotes than in the words of Jesus? The truth is the words that clear up the fuzzy lenses we go through life with are so simple. Jesus said in times of trouble, stand firm and trust in the Father. Jesus said, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Jesus told us that His ways are not our ways and He said again and again, look and act with great love. If Adam and Eve had done any of those things the story would have looked so different. The Lord NEVER gives us less and even when His ways aren’t clear, His plan is perfect and the first step to seeing this is to clean your lenses and focus on the things you have and not the things you don’t, or the things others have. The second thing is to ask the Father what you need to do to fulfill His plan instead of worrying about what others are or are not doing. The third step is to ask constantly for the Lord to soften your heart and help you see with His eyes, ask Him to help you see the good because that’s HIM, the rest is not of Him. Things don’t always look like they seem, ask the Father for clarity and the ability to see Him in all things because If you can’t see God in all things, you won’t be able to see God in anything. A Seed To Plant: Make a list of situations or people you need to look at differently. Blessings on your day! Retirement from teaching has brought so many beautiful things to my days, the greatest being time with grandkids and the second thing that I have truly enjoyed is reading. I went to the library for the first time in more than twenty years looking for books to read for fun. Not books for an article I was writing, a class I was teaching or a talk I was preparing for but books simply for the pleasure of reading. I forgot what it felt like to get lost in a book and turn page after page not worrying about papers to grade or lessons to plan and it’s been delightful. I’ve been reading from a series of Christian fiction books that connect Scripture to real people and time periods and events. One was literally the book of Tobit set in the California gold rush days. Another series followed a group of Roman, Jewish and Greek characters living about thirty years after the death of Jesus. It’s amazing how so many of the places and events from both the Old and New Testament come to life through these fictitious folks. The story revolves around the characters who are new Christians and the ways they are working to tell the story and bring others to the love of Jesus. Their courage and passion is inspiring and I often finish a chapter thinking I have so much discipleship to gain.
The people in the story live with a peace and a faith that blows my mind. They face persecution and death with such joy knowing choosing to follow Jesus is everything. Many times lately I’ve had the thought, sure I’m faithful when things are going well, but I often fall asleep wondering how my faith would look if I really faced hardship. It doesn’t take me long to be honest and admit I probably wouldn’t be the towering pillar of strength and courage I might imagine I’d be. The Lord is really using these stories to make me think and pray. In the middle of these thoughts a few Sundays ago we heard the words from Paul to the Corinthians at Mass where he urged and encouraged the early Christians to bear up against their struggle and “light affliction”. For the early Christians, light affliction included things like floggings, public humiliation, prison time, starvation, slavery or a trip to the arena with lions and other wild animals. They referred to all of this as light and momentary because they longed for the Glory of God. Their love of Jesus totally washed away their fear and they would be held in the dungeons below the arena for days or weeks waiting and all the while they were singing songs of praise and spreading the works of the Lord to every guard or prisoner they could. I’m pretty sure I’d be curled up in a corner! St. Paul also encouraged the Corinthians to live with a spirit of joy, peace and forgiveness in the midst of affliction. I don’t know about you but if I’m being “afflicted” I’m usually trying to think about how to make it go away not about how to be joyful and forgiving. St. Paul’s words are for us too, even today. It’s probably a really good thing I wasn’t one of the first Christians; thank goodness God knew that and didn’t create me to live then. It would be easy for me to think about all this and feel like a lousy disciple because I couldn’t do what they did or that my life today is such a piece of cake compared to theirs, but the truth is, God has a different plan for me. I got stuck comparing afflictions and that never works out well. I think I was missing the point! God doesn’t love us more if our afflictions and struggles are bigger or harder. We don’t “get a better seat” in heaven if we’ve slugged our way through a really messy life. His love is the same…the reward is the same but it’s about HOW we include him in our affliction and not HOW BIG the affliction is. Scripture promises we will have trouble but what do we do with it when it comes? Let’s be honest, we never invite it or desire it, but it shows up…that’s life. Sometimes the trouble is gigantic and sometimes it’s a mole hill we turn into a mountain. Instead of growling at it or hiding from it or blaming 5 dozen people for it. we need to face it for what it is…a chance to trust, a chance to hope, a chance to grow and above all else…offering and inviting Jesus into our affliction is how we bring Glory to God and get to heaven. One of the book characters again and again says, “Lord, whatever pleases you, allow me to be a part of it.” I think my prayer would add, “Just drag me through it because you know what’s going on and what lies on the other side of this affliction that I’m trowin a fit about!” When one of the characters was sent into the arena with hungry lions, she said, “Lord, send the hungriest lion my way so I can call out your name and come home to you.” Thank goodness there are no lions in my life so perhaps I’ll start with “Lord, send the ridiculous drivers, or the cranky person, or the car repair, or the broken washer, or the illness, or the squabbling kids, or the ungrateful boss so I can call out your name and use this affliction to grow closer to heaven.” A Seed To Plant: Make a list of your current afflictions and talk to the Father about how to include him in them. Blessings on your day! I’ve always loved this verse from Psalm 119, and I associate it with that picture of a sandal footed man carrying a lantern walking down a dark path. The thing about that lamp though, is that it really only lights up the next step and not much beyond it. The lamp is great, but it doesn’t illuminate the whole journey…it just gives enough light to do the next thing. God is that light for us but like the lamp, he only reveals the next step, and we have to trust him with the rest but there are so many times I think I’d be a better disciple if I knew what was coming so I could prepare and make a plan.
Sometimes our human nature wants to plan, organize and prepare. We like to have choices and weigh our options, usually looking for things that are most comfortable and convenient. Those things chip away at our surrender and trust and make it more difficult to be overwhelmed by the loving care of the Father. We pick straightforward and He chooses loops and sidetracks which always contain surprises. We pick what’s good for us and He gives us tricky and yucky and sad in order to draw us close to his love and protection. We pick predictable while He picks surprising. We pick comfortable and He picks bold and uncomfortable. He does all these things because He knows what we need beyond the next step, and He knows how we need to be formed so we can take that step. Twelve years ago, He led me to write the first Joyful Words post and He’s been leading me ever since. Each post is literally like that lamp just showing the next post and not beyond. I don’t have a file of pre-written future blogs; I just trust Him to send me what He wants typed always hoping I’m careful to use His words trusting they will be the message one of His beloved needs to hear. A dozen years is a long time to do something you never planned to do in the first place but as long as the Holy Spirit keeps sending words, I’ll keep typing them. As I prepare to write the 12th year of posts, I decided to do a little googling and discovered that the number 12 in Scripture is symbolic of perfection, entirety and order. I giggled thinking this blog is not those three things but maybe He can use my perfectly imperfect words to touch a heart. The blogs don’t contain His entire message and teaching but hopefully He’ll help me pick a piece that speaks encouragement and truth. As far as order goes, I hope the posts are a weekly reminder about putting God first in the order of our days. The googling also reminded me that there were 12 tribes of Israel, 12 gates and 12 foundations to the New Jerusalem, and there were 12 Apostles. That’s a lot of important twelves! Again and again, He reminds us he is the gate, the foundation, the leader and the way the truth and the light. Thanks to the number twelve for some great reminders. As each blog anniversary rolls around, I wonder how much longer He’ll ask me to write, and I realize the answer is much like the lamp that just shows the next step. As I begin writing for the twelfth year my understanding with the Holy Spirit remains the same; I’ll keep writing as long as people keep reading. Hopefully we can all grab a thought or two that can help us take that next good step. A Seed To Plant: Spend some time praying with this scripture verse and the image of illuminating the next good step. Blessings on your day! Do any of you have a person in your life that is brutally honest with you? You know, that person who will tell you just like it is and is not one bit afraid to call the kettle black! This type of person has an amazing ability to leave you breathless with one quick sentence. The outcome is often the same…we stop, steam a bit, and then take some time to realize they just spoke a truth. We may not like the sound of it but it turns out very often to be something we need to hear. I heard a story several years ago about a person just like this.
The story goes like this; a wife told her husband that she wanted to take part in a new Bible study group at the church on Tuesday nights. He replied “another one? “ “Yeah” she snapped, “You got a problem with that Mr. I go bowling and hunting and fishing and never go to church with my wife on Sunday?” The husband smiled and said, “I wouldn’t mind at all if you went to another Bible study, but I don’t see any evidence that you’ve used anything you’ve learned at the last 12 Bible studies you’ve already gone to.” Ouch! There was that one honest line that left her breathless! After four days of not talking, no cooking, sleeping on the couch and no communication what-so-ever, she realized he was right! She hadn’t changed one bit despite all the time, energy and resources she’d invested in her former studies. On day 5 she got up the courage to look him in the eyes and tell him he was right! She surprised her husband even further when she told him she wanted to make a deal with him. She said she would be willing to spend her time reviewing all the materials she already had instead of going to another Bible study if he would agree to go to church with her if he began to see her using what she had learned. I don’t know how the story ended, but I have a hunch! St. James used some very simple words in this verse, words many of us, just like the lady in the story are challenged by; being doers of the word and not just hearers. I may aspire to be the town’s greatest cook and I may buy cookbook after cookbook, and I might discuss cooking and recipes with others but none of that will really make me a great cook! I have to DO it…I have to roll up my sleeves, dig into the words and put them into action! I have to take a risk and be willing to get messy and goof it up a few times before I get it right! God doesn’t want to hear what we know; he wants to SEE what we know. Easier said than done for sure but now is the time to dig in and be a DOER of the word! A seed to plant: Read James Chapter 1 and pick two things that hit your heart. Write down how you will “DO” those two things this week! Blessings on your day! I’m sorry for the “delay” in todays post but it seems “delay” has been the word of the week. As I type, I’m sitting in an airport waiting again. I’ve logged 20 hours of airport waiting since Monday afternoon and it’s been full of lessons. I’ve been booked, re-booked, stand by assigned and bumped off a plane because the storm we were heading into required two passengers had to leave the flight and I was picked. It’s been such a strange trip and my quick “there and back the next day” to Knoxville has taken on a design of its own.
I went to Knoxville to present a retreat on the theme of “Being Formed by the Father” which focused on the scripture image of the potter and his clay. One entire section of the retreat focused on being patient while the Lord was molding, shaping, and then re-forming us. It is a process that constantly allows us to be made into the person we were created to be. This waiting is part of the process that the Father uses to mold and change us so we can become more focused on Him and less focused on the world. Sometimes it’s as if the potters wheel stops spinning and we need to be still where we are and soak in the struggles, blessings and the lessons. It might be easy to look at these seasons of waiting on the Lord as a delay and we might be tempted to think the Lord needs to hurry up and change things, but we have to remind ourselves that the clay never leaves the potters hands and the Lord is truly doing something during the “delay”. God is so fancy because this whole trip has been a giant lesson in “practice what you teach”! I’ve had plenty of opportunities to live out this thought in the last few days. My prayer has been to use the unexpected delays and changes to practice peace, joy and trust. Honestly, it’s been a grace-filled time. I’ve realized a few things; all things work for good but they don’t always work for our convenience. If we ask for patience and peace, He will most assuredly give us opportunities to practice them. When we expect the potter to mold us into His design instead of our preference, He will and He does it in some very fancy ways. As I stood in the re-book line late last night after being removed from the flight, I took a minute and offered my three big hiccups (one being where will I sleep) in prayer and one by one each was resolved. I trusted Him to put all things in order and He did. The surprise at the end of a long wait was a customer service agent who handed me a Starbucks gift card and a travel voucher with a thank you for not yelling at her. She looked like it had been a very long day with lots of yelling. There were so many people to pray for who were put in difficult situations by the delays and many times I heard peoples story and I silently prayed that the Lord would intervene with His peace and more than once I heard a ticket agent say with great surprise in their voice, “Wait, something just opened up on that flight, I can get you there.” The delays gave me so many chances to see Him working. I’m hoping to be home by the end of this day but if I’m not, I’ll remind myself that I can offer the trials and delays for the good of someone else because a delay gives us an opportunity to think about Him and what He might be inviting us to see, do, hear or learn. I’m currently watching a mama teach her toddler how to sing the ABC song and it’s cracking me up, I’m pretty sure that little guy is gearing up to give a concert at gate G13 and I’m glad I have a good seat! And on a really happy note, I’ve got a Starbucks gift card to use. A Seed To Plant: What seems to be on “delay” in your life right now and how can you invite the Father into the wait or the re-route? Blessings on your day! A couple of weeks ago I watched out the laundry room window to soak in something that truly made my heart so happy. I was watching Dave and our 3-year-old grandson Lewis plant the garden. They were digging and planting and chatting like a couple old farmers. I loved watching them enjoy the dirt, sunshine and each other. It doesn’t really matter if the harvest is great because the planting was awesome. Lewis had a lot of questions and Dave had a lot of answers, but “Will we have lots of corn?” was a question Dave couldn’t truthfully answer. He could hopefully answer but a lot of factors that Dave and Lewis have no control over come in to play as we wait.
Whether we’re talking about growing vegetables or growing in discipleship, truth, trust and unwavering faith are things that require depth. In our walk with Jesus, we crave those moments when we “feel” him. We love those warm, sweet “He’s got me in His arms” moments but true discipleship is so much bigger and deeper and more meaningful. Those cuddly feelings don’t last forever and if they are all we’re in this for we will wither and be scorched by the trials of life so we have to dig deeper. My first year as an elementary teacher I had a mentor who told me that some lessons were meant to be a mile wide and an inch deep but the important lessons…the ones the kids would need for a lifetime needed to be a mile deep and an inch wide. Those are the lessons that carry us through the trials and temptations and noises of the world. Love, surrender, humility; these are the things that need to take root deeply in our daily prayer and our daily living. Allowing these things to take deep root requires daily focus. When we find ourselves fretting about the past or stewing about the future, we aren’t allowing the Father to root us firmly in the space where we are and where He is; the present. I have recently been reading a lot about an amazing saint named St. Francis de Sales who truly lived a life of wisdom and prayer. I was thinking of him as I watched Dave and Lewis working in the dirt and realized the whole wonderful afternoon would have been ruined if the two of them had been worried and fretful about the harvest instead of enjoying the beginning. Today is a good day to ask the Father to help us be firmly and deeply rooted in Him as we think about some wise words from St. Francis de Sales who said, “Let us think only of spending the present day well. Then, when tomorrow shall have come, it will be called today and then, we will think about it. A Seed To Plant: What things cause you to dwell in the past or drift to the future? Make a list of those things and then slowly and prayerfully sit with the words of St. Francis asking God to help you let go of those things and help you root deeply in the present. Blessings on your day! There are a lot of things I’d like to do. I want to see Niagara Falls, go to Hawaii and sit on a sunny beach. There are even more things I don’t want to do like visit a reptile farm, run a race and climb a mountain; all three of those things sound equally as awful to me! I know for a fact that I don’t have what it takes to do any of those three things…especially climb a mountain. As I get older, I have discovered that there used to be more things on the “I don’t want to” list but sometimes life just gives you no choice. For instance, I always said I’d never design and build a house or rent a car in an unfamiliar state, but I have done both in the last couple of years because it’s just how it had to be.
It's funny that when it came to doing those things I didn’t want to do, help came along at the right time and the task was way better than I had imagined. I heard a man recently whose life goal was to climb Mt. Everest and I listened with fascination as he shared all the planning and prepping, he’d been doing for the last couple of years to prepare. After listening to his long list, I easily came to the conclusion that I indeed was not a mountain climbing kind of girl. When asked if he was worried about the danger, he explained all about the role of a Sherpa. He explained that a Sherpa was an expert climber and guide. Sherpas are from mountain areas, and they are used to the climate, the climb, navigation, and terrain. He felt assured that a Sherpa would make the adventure successful. I thought about this guy and his adventure for the next several weeks and decided some days I could really use a Sherpa of my own. Sometimes staying on the path to sainthood is rough going! There are many times I could use the expert direction of someone who was familiar with the route to heaven and could help me avoid the dangers and pitfalls of the journey. I daydreamed about how much easier holiness would be if there was a Sherpa directing me, protecting me and teaching me every step of the way. But then I realized I do have a Sherpa…actually I have several of them in fact, and so do you. Now, they aren’t the kind of Sherpa who will carry our things, set up our camp and walk ten steps ahead of us at all times but they are there to guide us nonetheless. I decided to make a list of all my Sherpas and here’s what I came up with. The Saints are like our Sherpa. They lived a life that honored and followed God just like we’re trying to. They didn’t always take the right path or the most direct route, but their example of service and devotion serves as a guiding light for us. Mama Mary is absolutely our Sherpa…she has only one mission and that is to lead us to her Son. Regular people can also be our Sherpa. There are people filled with wisdom and strength and faith. There are people who are suffering with grace and trust. There are people who are teachers and leaders who share their ideas and insights with us. When I really think about it, sometimes God chooses a little person to be a Sherpa. Kids can be wise and cut right through to the heart of things. The thing is, we can have as many Sherpas as we want but if we don’t listen to them, trust their wisdom and follow where they lead, we’re not going to end up reaching our destination. A Mountain Sherpa is constantly checking, observing, adjusting and has enormous respect for God’s might and creation. I certainly can’t climb a mountain even with the help of the most spectacular Sherpa ever but tuning in to the wisdom and direction of the Sherpas God has put in my life is something I can do with a little trust and surrender. I think I’ll begin with some wise words from a Sherpa that crossed my path recently and said, “If you can’t see God in ALL things, you can’t see God in ANYTHING.” A Seed To Plant: Where are some places in your life you could use a little direction from a Sherpa? Take that to prayer and pick one to follow! Blessings on your day! When I was young, I wore leg braces that had cables and hinges on the inside and outside of my legs. They ran from the bottom of my shoes up to my waist, and they were connected to special corrective shoes. Needless to say, I hated them for so many reasons, one being the shoes were just so ugly. Any time I wanted to throw a pity party when someone in my class got fancy new shoes my mom would remind me that shiny shoes were not going to help me walk properly then she’d wink and let me know that I would outgrow pretty shoes, but I’d never be sorry I could walk better. It was a choice even on the days it didn’t feel like it! To this day, I always notice people’s shoes and if I wasn’t so tight with my money, I’d probably own a dozen pairs!
Those braces were a great teacher. They taught me about humility and patience and gratitude. They also taught me that we need to think carefully about how we see things. Michigan spring is such a crazy season. The past couple of days it was sunny, gorgeous and in the 70’s but today it’s rainy, cold and in the 50’s. It would be so easy to grumble about the yucky weather today, completely forgetting about the beautiful days we just enjoyed. We can be such pouty babies when things don’t line up with our wishes can’t we! I was trotting through the grocery store feeling completely annoyed this afternoon because my shoes got wet in the parking lot and I was soggy and chilly when all of the sudden I rounded the corner and saw a lady with leg braces and a guide dog. My mind went back many decades to my braces, and I ducked into a quiet aisle to have a chat with myself. As I thought about my soggy feet all I could feel was overwhelming gratitude for feet that could easily tromp through the puddles. After I said a prayer of thanks and got ready to take off again, I realized I had ducked into the coffee aisle, and I couldn’t help but smile and thank Him again for one of my favorite things…COFFEE! And just because He’s so fancy, my favorite kind was on sale. Rain and coffee were the perfect example of what I like and what I don't like smushed together to make me pay attention. I spent the next five aisles thinking about all the times I rumble in my head when things aren’t just how I like it and then I remembered the remedy! Fr. Ruotolo is famous for a prayer called the Surrender Novena and it is comprised of one simple line repeated ten times. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. I pray that simple prayer on repeat and when I forget to be grateful or I try to manage things that are not mine to manage, it draws me to peace and truth. When the prayer is said with love and trust the outcome is powerful. It serves as a great reminder that life comes with things we love and things we don’t; things we’d choose and things we’d like to take a hard pass on. If someone tries to give us something, we do a quick evaluation and run through questions like; do I like it, do I need it, do I want it, is it valuable? But when we offer something to the Father, he gladly takes it all. When we surrender to Him, and offer Him our very self, he doesn’t just pick the good parts or the pretty parts or the put together parts…He wants ALL of us…every single part of our life. He wants our bad days, our distractions, pain, sadness, frustration, disappointment, rotten sleep, quick temper, half-hearted attempts, doubts, fears, impatience and pridefulness. He’s not like us…he doesn’t just want the sunny warm lovely days; he wants our storms and puddles. I guess you could say he wants our yucky rain drops as much as our wonderful, comforting coffee pots. In case you’re wondering why He would ever want us to surrender all our mess and offer it as a gift to Him, the answer is easy and definitely worth remembering…He wants it so he can replace it with something so much better…His peace and His love and His joy! Doesn’t seem like a fair trade but then again fair is a human concept. With God it’s all about helping us navigate and surrender the junk so we can experience his mighty, perfect love. A Seed To Plant: Write that simple surrender prayer down and put it several places so you remember to say it often and soak up the peace as He walks with you through the sunshine and the puddles. Blessings on your day! This verse made me remember a plastic suit of armor the boys had when they were little. One of the boys would wear the armor and the other would wear the Detroit Lions shoulder pads and football uniform and pretend to slay all the bad guys in the county. They were invincible in those get ups. They felt strong and brave and confident as they rode their bikes up and down the lane defending the land. It didn’t matter to them that it was just cheap plastic, what they wore convinced them of something.
That memory and this verse made me think about what our wardrobe says about us. It seems like a simple thing, get up, get dressed and go on with your day but when you think about it WHAT we put on can send a message. We identify police officers, doctors and nurses by the clothes they wear and we automatically assume they will be helpful because of the way they are dressed. We will approach a total stranger in a store to ask for help based on a simple plastic name tag pinned to their shirt. We have the potential to trust, mistrust; judge and misjudge people every day based on what they wear. Does that seem crazy to anybody else? I guess the big questions are what does God’s armor look like and how often do I wear it? Then it hit me, it’s not really about fabric at all. The clothes we wear may reflect something about our style, profession or personality but they don’t necessarily tell the whole story. I think the armor of God is something we put on from the inside. It can be pretty easy to look at someone’s clothes and assume a thing or two about them that may or may not be correct but the armor of God is unmistakable. Putting it on is intentional, never just a quick grab and go outfit. The boys always needed my help putting on those get ups they used to wear and so it is with Gods armor; we need him to assist us. If we intentionally ask God to protect us and defend us we have to be willing to let him. Wearing his armor means we are protected and safe, but silly humans that we are, we think it means we are now prepared to charge into the world and defeat all the evils much like two little boys I remember in my back yard. God is the defender and we are the defended; the armor of God doesn’t give us a job it gives us peace. God’s armor is not heavy or clumsy; it’s powerful and designed to fit perfectly. I realized that if I woke up each morning and asked God to dress me in his armor, I would be more confident and peaceful and content. I realized I wouldn’t have to worry about harm or evil because nothing is stronger than God. It doesn’t mean nothing bad will happen, it means God will protect me no matter what the circumstance. If I puddled my way through each day without worry or distraction about all the things that might happen or could happen or shouldn’t happen I would have so much more time for great things! I would have more time to pray, more time to help and WAY more time to love. I think I’ll ask God to help me put on that armor right now and leave the defending to him while I get busy with trusting bigger and loving harder…talk about dress for success! A Seed To Plant: Stop right now and ask God to suit you in his armor and then give him a list of all the things you’d like to be defended from. All that’s left is to trust and be protected. Blessings on your day! Would everyone who ever had a mother look into their eyes and say, “Just do it… because I said so!”, please stand up. If you are a reader who follows directions, you’re probably now reading this post standing up! Somewhere early in mamma school the women in my mother’s generation learned how to say that phrase with such authority and strength it was simply a conversation stopper! When my mom launched that phrase from her lips it was a done deal…mamma said do it…case closed! Lucky for me, my mother passed on the talent. As I fast forward lots of years, I have said those same words to my own children at the end of a debate I had to come out the winner of. It’s like the motherhood trump card…do it because I said so!
Why is it so powerful…why does it work…why do we say it? I think the first thing that makes it so powerful is that it’s biblical…if Mary, the mother of Jesus could use the line successfully all mother (and fathers) should be encouraged to use it too! I think it works because it’s simple and I think we say it because we love our children, and we know what’s best for them. Mary’s words had a deeper meaning; they were an invitation to the servers to be a part of something amazing that was about to happen. Mamma Mary knew great things were about to begin with her son…she knew best that night, so she used those powerful words and the servants at that wedding did what they were instructed because Jesus’ mother “said so!” Those words from John’s Gospel have a strong tie to our lives even today. We are the servers…we are those called to be Christ’s hands and feet on earth. We are called to live and spread the Gospel message so Mary’s words are as relevant to us today as they were to the servers in Cana the night Jesus performed his first miracle. Our mothers told us to “do what they said” because they knew there was more to the situation than we could see. Mary knew that too. Mary knows that still. Whenever we hear the words in this Gospel message, we should be reminded to “do whatever He tells us”. That really is our job…to do whatever He tells us. He has every last detail about our life sealed in His heart why wouldn’t we listen and obey? We are a stubborn people. Lucky for us, Mary reminds us through this verse to do whatever Jesus tells us, and even luckier for us, because of God’s great love and wisdom, we are invited back again and again to try to do it the right way…the way He tells us. A Seed To Plant: Before you go to bed tonight, recall a situation where you didn’t “Do whatever He said”. Think about the outcome of that situation and prayerfully sleep on it. Tomorrow morning pick one tricky or difficult area in your life and specifically ask God to help “do whatever He tells you”. Blessings on your day! Raise your hand if you like spicy food! Mine is not up because I avoid food that has the potential to hurt me. Flaming hot Cheetos, Doritos and hot cinnamon candy were snack time favorites and the 6th graders were always trying to get me to “try just one” but I stood my ground and took a hard pass. I haven’t been offered a flaming hot snack of any kind in almost a year, but it crossed my mind the other day when I heard the phrase “Spicy Disciples”. That made me giggle and after some thought, I realized I have a new goal…to be a spicy disciple of Jesus so I can follow him with no fear! I suppose the opposite of a spicy disciple could be considered a “Soggy Disciple” and that doesn’t seem like it would do much good at all.
The whole idea of being a spicy disciple has made me wonder what kind of follower I really am. There are all kinds of followers when you think about it. Think about irritating little siblings or whiney toddlers. What about needy, moody teenagers who follow behind like they have a rain cloud hanging over their head. Then I thought about the Eeyore type of folks who just plop along looking at the negative side of everything and don’t seem excited or grateful about anything. Oh, and then there are the complainers who don’t see the good in anything or the strong natured folks who follow along because they always need something. And let’s not forget the demanding, bossy, “I have the best idea” kind of followers. After thinking about all these kinds of followers I wondered what kind of follower Jesus sees me as? I wondered if Jesus ever gets annoyed as I followed him constantly asking for stuff or pointing out the things he didn’t do the way I wanted. I wondered if he sees me like a pesky little sister who gets bossy and sassy. Most of all I wondered if I appear to be ungrateful and selfish, always wanting to be in charge of the plans for the day. I suppose none of those things would qualify me as a spicy disciple would they! An honest question I had to ask myself was, “If I was Jesus, would I enjoy having someone like me following me around? The dictionary definition of spicy contains words like bold, exciting, intense, fragrant and surprising. Living out our discipleship in such a way that bold, exciting or intense could describe us would make a true difference in our lives, in our relationship with Jesus and it would have a positive impact on those around us. A soggy disciple just seems to perpetuate all the things the world has too much of, so now is the time to spice things up! Thank goodness becoming a spicy disciple doesn’t require Flaming Hot Cheetos or Cayenne Pepper but rather a decision to let the Lord be in charge and to ask him for the boldness to follow him with joy and trust. I’m going to start being spicy today by saying the words “Jesus I Trust In You” three times before I complain, compare or ask for anything. Being a spicy disciple won’t make my lips burn but I sure hope it makes my heart burn with a desire to love and serve him more joyfully! A Seed To Plant: Pray with the words bold, exciting, intense, fragrant and surprising asking the Father to help you pick one to develop on your way to becoming a spicy disciple. Blessings on your day! Consider trials JOY? What was St. James thinking when he wrote this? Upon first glance at this verse we might be tempted to wonder if the beloved Saint put in a few too many prayerful “all-nighters” because surely he wasn’t serious about feeling joyful when the washer breaks, someone you love gets sick, the fuel pump on the car goes out or the sweet teenager in your home eats the last piece of peach pie you were hiding…I mean saving, in the back of the fridge! Joy…I don’t think so! And what about the really big stuff like losing your job or serious illness, surely he couldn’t have meant those things could bring joy. I suppose we could sit down and make a list of all the trials that have happened upon us in the past month and we would be overcome with many emotions, none of which would be joy!
The real meat of this verse is the part that explains what we can get in exchange for our trials…stronger faith and perseverance. Do you remember when you were young and you went home from school and complained about that boy who pulled your pigtails or the girl who annoyingly pointed out your every move to the teacher? The standard reply from home went something like this, “Well honey, if they didn’t like you they wouldn’t tease you.” This verse has a little bit of that flavor to it don’t ya think! God promised that we would have trouble…it is a guarantee, not a possibility. Even though we’ve read those words more than once, trials still seem to catch us by surprise. We sometimes even cop an attitude and think, “What, me…why me Lord? What have I done to deserve this difficulty?” We might even get really sassy and say, “Oh, pardon me Father, but you’ve made a mistake, I’ve already had 8 serious trials this month, I believe this current dilemma belongs to the neighbor or even better, the guy who cut me off in traffic this morning!” The simple truth is, if He didn’t love us, He wouldn’t give us trials at all. Each difficulty or disappointment that knocks on our front door or barges right into our day is an opportunity to grow in trust or compassion or patience. When we throw up our hands in despair and say, “Ok God, I don’t know how to do this…I don’t think I’m strong enough for this, please guide me and guard me and love me through it!” we will grow in faith and perseverance plus we will be blessed with grace and mercy. I think what St. James was teaching us is that any time we surrender to the holy power of God, that’s joyful, and the blessing is more strength, more grace and more faith for the next thing! It seems strange to thank God for the lousy stuff but that is what we are called to do. We need to act like we are completely aware that He is about to do a might work through that trial if we would just stand back and let Him take us through it. A Seed To Plant: The next time a trial comes your way, stop and thank God for it and ask Him to show you the joy in the situation. We’d love to hear your stories! Blessings on your day! Growing up I remember pot-luck dinners in the church basement. Sometimes they were held for special occasions and events and other times they were for no particular reason at all. I remember everybody laughing and chatting and enjoying each other’s company. This sweet memory popped in my head this week listening to the daily readings from the Acts of the Apostles about the early church sharing meals and prayers together. Maybe it was because it was a simpler time or maybe it was just cooks from a small rural community but the food that would show up on those long tables was always beyond delicious. As I was taking this little walk down memory lane, I remembered a time my mom took a dessert that everybody wanted the recipe for. Everyone made such a big deal out of this dessert. Mom served it from a lovely glass bowl that made it look extra fancy. When we got home, she just laughed as she washed the bowl because this super delicious, fancy dessert only had four simple ingredients. A cake mix, a can of fruit cocktail, a stick of butter and a tub of cool whip. She said it was the easiest thing she’d ever made but it sure looked and tasted like a big fancy thing.
That dessert was such a hit even though it was so simple. We tend to underestimate simple but the Gospel story about the healing of the blind man came to mind as I remembered the story of the famous pot-luck dessert. Did you ever stop to think about how in this story Jesus did something absolutely profound with something as simple as clay and spit? We are the seekers of the fancy and we’ve become so immune to the simple that we often miss it because we’ve got our heads stuck in the “over the top”. I wonder how much peace we could add to our life if we were to make it our goal to seek the simple. This entire Gospel is an episode of the blame game. It’s pretty easy to get our mind stuck in the things we feel we’ve earned, or we’re owed. When things don’t go according to our plan we want to know why and find the reason things got messed up. The truth is, God does some of His very best work in the messy, the broken and the disappointing. When we hold too tightly to our wishes, we miss God’s plan and the dozens of ways He’s ministering to us and to others through us. At the beginning of this Easter Season, let’s pretend we are the blind man begging Jesus for sight to see with His eyes and to see His plan and to see His beloved in our midst. I can be so blinded by my own ambitions, expectations and foolish pride. I’d like to be healed of the bad habit of seeing things only through the lens of what’s best for me. Lord cover my eyes in clay and spit so I will truly be able to see You in all Your magnificent Easter Glory! A Seed To Plant: Spend some time this week with this simple prayer. Dear Jesus, help me see with your eyes. Heal my eyes and make me aware of the simple ways you walk with me, lead me and invite me to draw close and grow holy. Amen Blessings on your day! Happy Easter! We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song! Are you still singing three days after Easter Sunday? I sure hope so because this joyful season lasts 50 days and takes us all the way to Pentecost Sunday…it’s not over: it’s just beginning! If you’re wondering what that even means, this is the post for you.
This is BIGGER: Perspective is a helpful thing here. We make a big deal out of lots of things…currently many of us are celebrating college basketball and getting all caught up in the NCAA tournament which lasts for nearly three weeks. We host celebrations and give gadgets and awards for so many things but honestly how do any of them compare to something like Being Raised from the Dead? That trumps everything but we can so easily skip past it in one day. For the entire Easter Season, what if you told yourself and your family “Happy It’s Still Easter” and spent a minute thinking about what Jesus did...that’s worth celebrating! Stay In The Sunday: God loves us with a love we as humans aren’t even capable of. He doesn’t count mistakes, shortcomings and take plea bargains for our bad days. He just loves in spite of it all…we get caught in Good Friday and the pain, suffering, punishment and brutality and sometimes we apply that thinking to our own life thinking we can never be “good enough” to “pay Jesus back” for all he did for us. That’s true…we can’t! But He’s not asking us to and he’s not asking us to stay stuck there. He’s asking us to realize he did it for us…the dying has been done so we can move on to the living and the JOY and EXCITEMENT of Easter Sunday. He wants us to stay in the Sunday with him, to celebrate, to rejoice, to soak up his extravagant love for 50 full days. Fancy Stuff: Easter calls for fancy stuff like baskets, decorations, flowers, new shoes and clothes and of course goodies. All that is part of the celebration and it’s an event deserving of all of that, but it goes so much deeper. The shoes and clothes will go out of style, the flowers will wilt, and the goodies will be gobbled up, but the gift of Easter is eternal. If we spend a little time each day thinking about that, it will leave us changed. Share it to Keep it: Easter dinner and goodies can be shared more than just once. What if we celebrated each of the 7 Sundays of Easter as a “mini-Easter” and took the time to sit down to Sunday dinner and invite friends or family to join you. What if we shared Easter goodies with a different person each week of the Easter Season in order to keep the good news of Jesus’ gift alive. What if we read and talked about the “what happened next” events that took place after Easter Sunday in order to keep the Easter joy alive in our hearts. Our Resurrection and New Life: The 50 days of Easter is the perfect time to focus on the things we would like to “rise up” from. Maybe we would be closer to Jesus if we rose above gossip or pride. Maybe we would enjoy new life in our relationship with Christ if we spent a few minutes in quiet peace thanking the Lord. Maybe our families would experience New Life if we spent more time together doing simple things like pizza picnics in a fort or playing games and going for a walk. How can we rise up from the noise and chaos of our days…Easter is an invitation to ask the Father to help you do exactly that. A Seed To Plant: How will you celebrate Easter for 50 days…give it some prayer and some thought…you won’t be sad you did it! Blessings on your day! When I hear the word poor, I usually think of no money…anyone else think that? The story of the widow’s coins is a part of the Holy Week narrative, and it was one of many lessons Jesus was teaching during his final week. Truth is, it’s not about money or earthly wealth at all but rather about humility, generosity, trust and the sincere condition of the heart. I pondered some areas of my life where I needed to imitate the poor widow because I missed the point of story and here’s what I came up with.
There are days when I’m short on patience. My tongue can be snappy and my judgments quick. One of the great casualties of being poor in patience is not being a good listener. To be like the poor widow, I need to listen more than I insist on being listened to. Lord, on these impatient days, help me know the wealth of loving those beloved of yours that come into my life. Sometimes I’m short on trust. When my trust is low, I decide to take control and try to do God’s work for him. I tend to look to heaven and say, “I got this one God!” I can tell ya how that usually works out. When I’m low on trust, I doubt his love for me and the wisdom of his plan…silly me! Being like the poor widow means believing with all my heart that the Father’s plan is Heaven, and getting there is a beautiful story. I can’t forget that I’m looking at one page of the story and He’s holding the whole book! Lord, on the days I lack trust, help me remember the only riches I should desire come from trusting you and being your disciple. I’m often rich in pride instead of poor in humility. I forget that God organizes things specifically the way he needs them to be. When money is tight or when success seems to find its way into someone else’s life it’s tough not to get discouraged. Remind me of the wealth that comes from celebrating the good things that come to others because they are blessings from you. We are like the poor widow we rejoice in the blessings of others instead of evaluating all the reasons it should have happened to us instead. When I’m poor in humility; Lord remind me to keep my nose in my own journey. The poor widow showed us how to live in the present. God has created THIS day and is inviting us to be with him here. Yesterday is already finished, and tomorrow isn’t a guarantee. The people, the opportunities, the joys and the challenges of THIS day are His gift to me and it’s my job to soak it all in and ask constantly through the day how to do his will. A Seed To Plant: As we prepare for the Glory of Easter, let’s take these last few days of Holy Week praying for ways to be like the poor widow who gave from the bottom of her trusting heart. Blessings on your day! Believe it or not, here we sit right in the middle of the last regular week of Lent. As we close in on Palm Sunday, I’m offering this re-post because it contains so much to consider. If your Lent expectations didn’t quite match up with your Lent reality, this is the perfect way to finish strong and head into Easter with a joy and a prayerfulness that will bring peace to your heart. As Palm Sunday comes barreling toward us, some of you are tired, some are frustrated, some are happy, and some are worried. No matter what you’re feeling as we wrap up this week and head into the next week, I’m going to ask you to put it all on hold and realize this is not just another week. This is HOLY WEEK and more than anything I want this week to be different for you, for me, for everyone who is a Christian. This is a week of powerful sacrifice, love, commitment and glory. The point and purpose of this post is to help you make this week set apart from all the others. I’m asking all of us to lay down our worries, our burdens and our “stuff” and choose instead to walk this week with Jesus.
The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Duluth MN have a spectacular way of living out this week and setting it apart. I’d like to share their Holy Week focus in hopes it will change our focus too. Here’s what they think and pray about each day this week. They actually begin on Saturday before Palm Sunday. I’ve added a couple of questions to each day in hopes we can think about and act on them as we walk with Jesus through this extraordinary last week of his earthly life. ***Commitment Saturday - Ponder and pray about the commitment Jesus made to his Father’s plan and will. The commitment he made to our salvation. How have I committed to Jesus? What can I commit to do for him today? ***Procession Sunday - Jesus publicly showed his love for the Father. Will I walk with him? What will I do today to publicly stand and walk with Jesus? ***Extravagance Monday - How extravagant was his love for us. Read the story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume in Matthew 26. Her love and her actions showed extravagant love. How has Jesus shown extravagant love for you? Who can you love today? ***Compulsion to Completion Tuesday - Jesus was compelled to move forward to do his Father’s will despite doubts, worries, troubles or fear. He was determined to complete the Father’s will. What is God asking you to do for him? Where do you need to add compulsion and completion like Jesus? ***Aloneness Wednesday - Jesus knew the next day he would give everything and he paused to be alone in prayer, in silence in the presence of his Father. Spend at least 30 minutes in silence today. Take time to be alone with your Father and His Son pondering the upcoming few days and all Jesus did for you. Read the Gospel accounts of Holy Thursday and Good Friday so you will be ready to think about them in the upcoming days. ***Body Given Thursday - Jesus gave everything. His body to the guards who arrest him this night and in the Last Supper, he gave us the everlasting promise of His Body and Blood which were to be poured out for the salvation of us all. What is Jesus asking you to give? Are there people in your life who need the gifts you can offer them? ***Impotent Friday - Jesus was powerless on this day. He who was Almighty became powerless for our sake and his Father had to observe it all. That happened for you and for me. Where do you need to submit to the Father? Where do you need to relinquish some power to the Father, knowing all the while he will be with you? From the time you wake up until 3 spend 5 to 10 minutes each hour meditating on the events of Good Friday; walking with him through this sorrowful day. ***Saturday - The Day of Night, Jesus spent this day in darkness. It was still, it was waiting, it was quiet. It was a day that with patience, reaped great glorious joy. Where do you need to be more patient? Find a way to practice that today. ***Sunday - The Day of Miracles. After you eat your chocolate bunny, make a list of all the miracles God has worked in your life and be sure to put Jesus a the top of the list. A Seed To Plant: Print this one or open it each morning so you remember how to pray your way through each day and say a prayer of thanksgiving for the good Sisters for their Holy Week example. Blessings on your day! I’m often asked how I like my first months of retirement and the truth is, I have loved all the extra time I’ve gotten to spend with grandkids and time spent helping family. I had the opportunity and the time to write a book. I do enjoy the extra prayer time and the time with my handsome groom, but I miss my teacher friends and I miss the kids for sure. I was cleaning out a file folder and came across some wise words written by some fifth graders a few years back and have been saving them for a Lenten post. These were snippets from Stations of the Cross Reflections written by some very beautiful and prayerful hearted eleven-year-olds. I hope they give you cause to ponder and pray.
*Jesus, they stripped your garment from you, and you didn’t complain, help me realize I need to be stripped of bad habits without complaining. Jesus, help me strip from evil things and put on clothes of kindness and clothes of love. *Jesus, when they rolled that stone in front of the tomb it separated you from the people who loved you. Help me realize my sin is just like that big stone; it separates me from you and the more I sin the heavier that stone becomes making it harder to roll away. *Jesus, when Simon helped you, he showed us how to be unselfish, he showed us how to be a friend even to a stranger. Help me love others even when it’s hard or I don’t want to. *When the women of Jerusalem came to meet you, they weren’t afraid; I would have been. I would have worried about those mean soldiers and their whips, but you weren’t. This station shows me I shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for Jesus and defend him. It also makes me think that I should be a friend to others and accept friendship when somebody shows it to me. *Jesus, I could never do what you did. I don’t think I’m supposed to because you did it for me and I thank you for that. I can carry my own cross though; I can fold the towels when my mom asks me and not pretend, I don’t hear her ask. Jesus, you give us little crosses to carry and every time I do that, I make it easier for the person who follows me just like you made it easier to follow you because you did the hard stuff. *I can understand why you fell Jesus. You were so tired, and the cross was so heavy but you got up and kept going. Help me get up when I fall, help me realize things like being ignored or getting blamed for something I didn’t do are so tiny compared to what you did for me. Help me be stronger and not make such a big deal out of little things. As I read their reflections, I was inspired to be a better Disciple of Jesus. Their words were so honest and to the point they left me changed. As adults we tend to complicate things, so maybe this Lent these simple words can inspired us to pick up our cross. A Seed To Plant: Strip yourself of devices and screens and noise this week and spend some prayerful time reflecting on the Passion Narrative from the Gospel…walk with Jesus this week in a quiet powerful way. Blessings on your day |
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Sheri's writing can also be found at Faith Catholic Publications and on CatholicMom.com
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