​I was preparing for a staff training I will be presenting in August and came across some “warm-up” questions.  One question on the list made me snicker was, if you could be any animal which would you be.  I pondered lots of choices and dismissed most of them for silly reasons.  I didn’t want to be a lion or gator because I didn’t want people to be afraid of me.  I didn’t want to be a cheetah because I hate running and I didn’t want to be a skunk for obvious reasons.  I wondered about being tiny like a hummingbird and giant like a hippopotamus.  After much thought I settled on a dog.

Dogs are loyal, enthusiastic, friendly and affectionate.  Puppies especially are adorable and tend to bring laughter and delight.  Dogs are also intelligent, helpful and easy to get along with.  They don't need a lot of expensive stuff and they are usually very content.  In my mind, it was the answer that made sense.  The funny thing is that those are all qualities I really admire in people.  I thought about this question far longer than I care to admit so then I turned it to prayer and wondered what the Father was teaching.

Animals have characteristics that are meant to help them survive and take their place in the order of creation.  The same is true for each of us.  We aren’t supposed to all be alike.  Each of us was perfectly created by the Father who loves us to be, act and think differently.  Our differences were meant to make us stronger and to help us grow in holiness.  We seem to have lost sight of that.  We would never expect a shark to be as cuddly as a kitten or a giraffe to snuggle up at the foot of our bed.  We wouldn’t expect a tiger to help bring in the cattle and elephants perched in trees chirping delightfully would be a little terrifying.  Maybe God was reminding me to open not only my eyes but my heart to the differences he purposefully designed in each of us.  We have so much to learn and appreciate and respect when we walk among God’s sons and daughters, but we have to open our eyes and notice.  

As I pondered the silly question that started all of this, I realized it helped me notice the beauty in everything God created. The next day I found this line in a prayer book and it seemed like the perfect lesson.  Lord, Lord, I could learn so much if I would notice before I nag and pray before I panic.

A Seed To Plant: Spend some time this week with that line from the prayer book and if you really want a distraction think about the animal question too.​

Blessings on your day!

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.
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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
 

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.
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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.
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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.
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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!