Joyful Words Blog
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.
– Psalm 119:105
– Psalm 119:105
I asked some students I was leading a retreat for one day what they thought God looked like. One boy said he supposed God would look old and tired with wrinkles like his grandpa. I asked him why he thought God would look tired and he said, “Well wouldn’t you be tired it you made the whole world in 6 days?” Another student thought God would look beautiful like a flower and still a third thought God would look like a fancy king. Next, I asked them where they thought they might see God. The standard answer was, “in heaven”. Then that one little voice said, “I think we can see Him everywhere, but we have to look with our heart.” As I was tearing up and reveling in her deep and faithful insight, I was quickly snapped to reality by one of the boys who loudly said, “That’s not right, your eyes are in your head not your heart.” Ahh, kids…gotta love it!
I came across this verse from Psalms a few weeks ago and it reminded me of that discussion with the kids about where God is found. If we are supposed to seek His face always, I suppose we’d better know where to look! It’s easy to seek the face of God in the obvious, like creation, babies and children. I have no problem seeing and feeling the presence of God when I’m doing ministry! Working with people who are seeking Jesus fills my heart with joy but it’s a bit more of a challenge to seek His face in the unpleasant, the unfair, and the unlikable. Seeking God’s face doesn’t just apply to people…we need to seek His face in situations and experiences. Sure, we recognize God in the events that are happy and joyful like weddings and celebrations but we need to know He is present in the sad and difficult and sorrowful events as well. His love, presence and inviting spirit are there even if we recognize no apparent good in the situation. We are reminded not only to seek Him but to praise and thank Him in all situations. That’s easy to say until we’re smack dab in the middle of ugly and we have to spit out the words, “God, I’m seeking you in this mess and I thank you for these circumstances…even though they STINK!” Sometimes uttering those words can taste like vinegar in our mouth but if we repeat them again and again, we can begin to see His face and feel His presence guiding and teaching and blessing us. We like things to be simple and easy and happy and when they aren’t, we tend to think God has left us all alone. Our purpose in seeking God shouldn’t be to make us “feel good”, the purpose is to build us up for Heaven and a life spent with Him. Very often the things we need to learn can only be taught when life isn’t all neat and tidy and happy. But make no mistake…God is there…just waiting for us to seek Him so He can take us by the hand and begin the next lesson! A seed to plant: Write the words, “God, I trust you, God I love you, God I will be faithful and seek your face” on a notecard and read it again and again when you’re in a situation where it’s hard to seek His face. Blessings on your day!
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Sometimes when I see kids playing in the neighborhood my mind will flash back to when the 3 little Wohlferts were young. I had one of those experiences this week and it really put a dent in my perspective. There have been a few snow days lately but as I walked from window to window all I saw in the yard was fresh unmarked snow. No sled marks, no snowmobile tracks, no snow angels or tunnels, forts or snowmen. As I stood there getting way too sentimental, I remembered the wishes I’d made when my kids were in their snow stomping days.
I remember all too well how long it took to bundle them all up, find 6 gloves and 3 hats and 6 boots that all fit and matched (ok…so they didn’t always match). By the time they all got zipped and buttoned and tied up I was sweaty and frustrated and relieved that they were out the door! I would wish they would stay out and play for hours so I could have some peace and quiet. I remember all the energy it took to get them out there and it never failed, 5 minutes later someone was yelling from the doorway, “Mom, I have to go to the bathroom!” or “Mom, so and so put snow down my back, I need a towel!” or my very favorite, “Mom, I lost my boot in the snow hill!” For the amount of work it would take to get them out there to track up the snow, it never seemed to last long enough. I wished for them to be independent and creative out there in the snow without my help but before I knew it, they would be in and the back room would be a mess of wet, cold puddles and drippy snow pants and boots. It would take twenty minutes to get everything hung and mopped up and then we’d do it all over again. Flashing back to that part of winter made that sparkly uninterrupted snow seem less sentimental. I wondered that morning as I stood there staring at the snow how many things I had wished away in my life. It seems like we’re often wishing for the day when we won’t be so busy or when things won’t be so hectic or when the kids get more independent and don’t need us so much. But are we really satisfied when that day arrives? That recent snowy weather made me realize I should do a better job of recognizing the hand of God in every circumstance and stage of life. Life comes in seasons. It won’t always be the same, which is to say if things are hard, it doesn’t mean it will always be hard and if something is simple and lovely that won’t always last either. God works through all circumstances and with each season of life there is growth and challenge and joy if we stop and look for it. There is blessing and benefit in every stage and season of life. Each one has a purpose and God has perfectly designed and arranged it to define and mature a certain part of our holiness. Little kids mean puddles in the entryway, big kids mean uninterrupted snow…each is full of blessing and beauty; I have to ask God to help me find that beauty in every season of my life. God help me find you in the NOW of my days and help me stop looking so hard for you in the “then’s” and the “when’s”! A Seed To Plant: Say a prayer for your “present”. Ask God to help you recognize His work THIS day without comparing it to yesterday or tomorrow. Blessings on your day! One of my mom’s favorite sayings was, “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill!” It was her way of keeping me from being dramatic or overwhelmed and I’m grateful for the lesson because that silly little line always made me stop and check my perspective. In the heat of the moment or the center of a crisis it can be pretty easy for molehills or small problems to look like mountains. Something I came across the other day reminded me of mom and her famous line. The phrase that caught my attention was this, fretting magnifies the problem, but prayer magnifies God.
We live in a world that is programmed to look for the bigger choice. We want the bigger cup of coffee or the extra scoop of ice cream and the vehicle with more leg room. On some level most of us fall prey to the notion that bigger is better; especially when we get a “deal” on it. We seem to go through life looking for the mountains and sometimes things get unrealistically inflated and we can lose our perspective and get carried away. In a society that embraces big…the Father is often leading us in the opposite direction. I’m taking a Scripture class, and the teacher was drawing comparisons between Saul the King in the Old Testament who lost his way and got tangled up with power and “bigness” and Saul in the New Testament who was also on a quest to be big…so big he found it his lifes mission to stamp out the name of Jesus. I had never really connected those two dots and thought about the similarities of the two Sauls so as I did a little thinking about the two I remembered watching Jim Caviezel (Jesus in the Passion of the Christ) speak and he taught that the word Saul means big and the word Paul means small. I’m pretty sure Paul found greater favor and did a better job living out his discipleship and seeking the Will of the Father than Saul’s did. I think when we get stuck on seeking or chasing the big things it’s easier to drift away from the Father but the more we focus on the little, the more the big things of the world lose their appeal. We begin to realize molehills are often much better than mountains. The truth spoken by someone much smarter and holier than me is this…If God isn’t bigger than my life, my life is bigger than God. Scripture is full of stories of people who showed us what happens when our life gets too big. God wants our little…little hearts, little worries, little problems, little attempts to be holy. When we bring them, He clams all the fears, anxieties and troubles. Corrie Ten Boom said, “Anything too small to take to prayer is too small to be a burden. He turns our little tries at goodness into giant success and he takes our big troubles and worries and squishes them up small. I suppose today is the perfect day to stop looking at the big things and start thinking about the little things I can take to God. A Seed To Plant: Where might the Father be asking you to trade big for little? Blessings on your day! I let His face shine upon me alright…and it made me wonder if He laughed as hard as I did! Have you ever been in a rush even when you felt like what you needed most was to just zip your lips and be still for a few minutes while you gathered your peace? I knew that’s what I should do but I just kept charging forth like a bull in a china shop…I was bargaining with Him and telling Him I’d get to some quiet minutes with Him as soon as I finished with my stuff. Bad idea!! It wasn’t until I tried to unload way too many plastic shopping bags from the back of the Buick at once that I got it. I’m not quite sure if it was the broken jar of salsa my shoes were swimming in or the rotisserie chicken that hit the driveway so hard it busted open the plastic container and rolled halfway down the driveway that got my attention, but I got the message. Luckily the salsa was on sale and the chicken was a day old discounted bird so I wasn’t out full price but I heard my Dad’s voice repeating that line from my childhood; “pay attention; it doesn’t cost anything to pay attention!” Mostly true but on this day, it cost about six dollars to pay attention.
The thing about asking the Father to help you get better at something is He actually does. I’ve been praying a lot lately about being more attentive to His promptings and guidance. Now I clearly need to pray for the ability to respond properly and not keep doing things my way until I’m darn good and ready. When I had finished cleaning up the salsa and chicken goo, I put the cold stuff away and left the rest on the counter while I made a cup of coffee and sat myself down to laugh, pray and be still. I started that little prayer time feeling pretty proud of myself for chopping off half my to do list before ten in the morning, so I started adding things to the list instead of using the time to focus on Him. I finally settled my mind and came across this a nugget that left me a little flabbergasted! The thing I was reading (randomly selected reading…yeah right!) said if you want to follow Christ, stop using the word priorities. There is no such thing as priorities…only PRIORITY! We can’t make everything the most important thing…only the Father can be the most important thing. I was letting that ruminate a little and began to listen to a Gospel Reflection on the Hallow App and the host, Jeff Cavins started talking about exactly the very same thing! He pointed out that our PRIORITY in life is to follow the plan God has for our life…that’s it! We can’t be all things to all people, only God can be all things and when we focus on that one PRIORITY and use it as a direction for all the things we do in a day, things will always be alright. He used the example of having the opportunity to go to a big fancy pants event where he would be a big deal celebrity or go to a birthday dinner for his daughter. If the PRIORITY was the Father’s plan for his life he knew being a dad was his vocation and the work God had given him, so there was really no decision to make. The will of the Father was to be present for one of God’s greatest gifts to his life, his daughter. I’m tellin ya, this has been kind of a big deal in my mind. The Father’s plan for our life involves commitments and responsibilities but the PRIORITY is always Him and those commitments, responsibilities and tasks are what help us grow in holiness and live out the Father’s plan. I actually had to look at all the things I considered my priorities and guess what I realized…none of them were as important as the Father and in their own unique way, each of those things were a huge, lovely part of His plan for my life. I guess chicken and salsa are pretty good attention grabbers. A Seed To Plant: Sit with the work PRIORITY and see how this idea of having only one fits with your busy schedule…and pro tip…don’t carry too many grocery bags at once! Blessings on your day! Happy New Year! May 2024 be a year of grace and blessings for each of you! I typically write the first post of the new year about my “word of the year”, but the Holy Spirit has been leading me in a different direction the past several weeks. As the end of December grew closer and closer, I began to be puzzled that I wasn’t getting any sense of direction about my word for 2024. The more I thought about past words, the more I realized they were all about something I should do. Be still or be content or be open…all great words but they all put the focus on ME and required ME to do something. Fast forward to mass on New Years Day and a message I’d never considered whapped me right upside the head.
The Holy Spirit didn’t inspire a word for me to act on, rather as I listened to the first reading on Monday from the book of Numbers I realized He was inviting me to focus on HIS word to me in stillness and probably quietness…and rest in the truth of what HE wants to do in my life FOR me instead of me thinking it’s always about ME doing something “for Him”. In all honesty he doesn’t need me to do anything for Him…He’s inviting me to just be His so instead of a single word this year I will be focusing on this message instead…. Numbers 6: 24-27 interpreted as a message to me (or you) personally…I, The Lord will bless you and keep you, Sheri! I, The Lord will let My face shine upon you and be gracious to you Sheri. I, The Lord will look kindly upon you Sheri and give you peace! You shall invoke my name, and I will bless you. I honestly think I let out a sigh of relief when these words jumped off the page. It’s kind of like that phrase work smarter, not harder. Instead of trying to muster up things to please the Lord maybe I should just sit still, shut up and allow Him to do the things that are best for me like love me, bring me peace and bless me when I call on His name. It almost seems too simple, but I tend to overcomplicate things so I’m going to make this my focus for 2024. As I begin the New Year with this truth, I realize after just a couple of days, I’m bossier than I thought and rooting myself in this truth will be tricky; the good news…maneuvering the tricky stuff with trust and faith always brings blessings. When there is chaos, Lord, I’ll let you give me peace. When I’m frustrated and worried, Lord I will look up and feel your face shine upon me. When I’m overwhelmed and feeling inadequate, I will accept your kindness. When I make decisions, I’ll invoke your name and take your hand as you walk me through whatever lies in my path leading to your blessing. Yeah…this is gonna take all year for sure!! A Seed To Plant: Pray a few days with these words from Numbers and see where the Lord might be leading you. 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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