ENCOURAGE - EQUIP - EMPOWER
IT STARTS HERE.
Several years ago, I walked into Willowdale Chapel on a Wednesday morning for my first experience with women’s Bible study. At the time, I was not yet a believer in Jesus Christ and not sure what I was getting into. As I aimlessly walked around looking for the woman who had invited me to Bible study…
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I keep expecting to wake up a different person. As if by some instant divine transference I’ll be a better woman: I won’t be too forceful. I will no longer be impatient with people when they don’t understand what I’m trying to say. I’d no longer be angry when they make stupid decisions, especially after I gave them sound advice. I would no longer feel like I need to justify everything to everyone all the time! What a beautiful fantasy!
In the musical Les Miserables a prayer is sung by the main character Jean Valjean who prays for the life of young Marius. The song is “Bring Him Home,” and it begins with the words, “God on high, hear my prayer, in my need, You have always been there.” The words capture perfectly the position we are all in when we come to God in prayer. It is a place of need.
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Auld Lang Syne - If you’ve been awake until midnight on New Year’s Eve, you’ve heard this song. Many of us try to sing along but very few of us actually know the words. In fact, it has been estimated that only 3% of people know the words…
I’m not going to lie, writing the blog for the week before Christmas seems like a lot of pressure. I feel the need to come up with something memorable; something that ignites your holiday spirit and leaves you with warm fuzzies, a renewed sense of peace and goodwill, and a deeper understanding of Jesus’s love for you. Something that makes you laugh out loud and blink back tears at the same time. Something you’ll want to share with all your friends and family members and that stranger at the grocery store who looks like they could use some cheering up.
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Coming home at Christmas is often momentous in our house as for many years it has meant someone returning after being far from home. In 2020, Covid separated us from one of our daughters who was in Canada. Last year when she pulled in after driving cross-country to be home for Christmas, we raced to the door singing, “She’s here, she’s here, she’s here!”
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The other day I had one of those moments where I dwelled a bit on the whole idea of Jesus, Son of God, coming to Earth as a human. I’d been reading about the solar system with my five-year-old, and Christmas season was rapidly approaching. NASA had a rocket launch and a lunar eclipse was happening, so I had set an alarm to make sure I got up in time to see the orange-red moon. All of those things were swirling inside my head – our smallness, the vastness of the universe and what we claim is true about Christmas.
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If you are reading this on Thanksgiving Day, I’m guessing you just took a breather before the hustle of the day. If it’s after Thanksgiving, I’d say you didn’t have a moment prior…
So right now, I challenge you. I challenge you to STOP. Pause. BE.
Look around. What do you see?
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“So what do you do?”
“Nnnothing…well…lots of volunteer work.”
Or if I’m prepared, I respond with an affected air, “Domestic Goddess.” That usually works.
I left my career nine years ago. I didn’t really want to, but the circumstances seemed beyond my control at the time.
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Often, I can easily become wrapped up in the stressors and hardships of things of this world. Psalm 103 reminds me that my struggles are temporary and my time on earth is fleeting… The psalms are full of great examples of praise and lament. There are many I go to often, but Psalm 103 is probably my favorite. Let’s dive in for a closer look.
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When my dear friend recently invited me to spend an hour with her at a prayer labyrinth, I was both intrigued and concerned that I would not be able to quiet myself long enough to make it through…I had no idea what to expect but agreed to commit an hour of my time for this experience. For me, it turned out to be deeply emotional and meaningful.
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One of Willowdale’s faithful women passed away recently. Her name was Becky Williams. She had been a member of Willowdale Chapel for about 60 years, and she was my friend for 17 of those years. In case you missed knowing her, let me share a little about her life and her impact on me.
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This week, while teaching about dystopian literature, my students and I watched a movie about a dystopian society. The goal was for students to identify characteristics of a dystopia and list examples of a graphic organizer that they had been provided. As we began watching the movie…
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I spent a lot of my growing up years feeling guilty, like I was letting God down. I’d go my own way, turning my heart toward things of the world. Inevitably, I’d feel convicted, confess my sins, ask Jesus to come back into my heart and rededicate my life to him. This would last for a while, then before long, I would stray again.
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Eutychus probably sounds like it needs to be followed by “bless you.” “Euty…who?” You might be asking. Or you might remember him being mentioned in Bonnie Kotler’s blog a few weeks ago. I’m going to unpack the story a little bit more as Eutychus just happens to be one of the main characters in a favorite Bible story of mine.
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Ladies, we are all longing for deep friendship — an inner circle of friends who we drop in on, cry ugly tears with at any hour, and who will be by our side through the rough seasons. But how do we get friendships like that? We work on it. And it will probably be awkward!
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