I wonder what I would have seen.

25 Jul posted by

One warm summer evening not too long ago, I lay in my grass with X. beside me looking up at the sky. He had decided {without provocation} that he would lay down, look up and enjoy. I decided to join him and while doing so discovered how much you notice when you choose to look up. The earth feels different somehow. A realization of just how small you really are starts to form. Things are seen in a different light, you begin to notice things.

Our world today is not one which encourages laying in the grass.  We have too many distractions. Technology at our fingertips means there’s work to be done at all times. We feel big and important. We believe that we are the people who can do, who must do.  We are moving, advancing, progressing. Our society is too busy to see, too busy to notice.

As I’ve been reading through the Gospels I’ve seen just how much Jesus noticed. He saw people for who they were. He taught them truth and when they misunderstood taught truth again. He cared for those in the margins, for those who were not noticed by others. Jesus saw all people and I know in my heart that I haven’t seen enough. His words are jarring. It can be uncomfortable to read as he leaves those who are faithful and seeks out the lost. I am one of the faithful. I am one of the people he would have left behind. I wonder if I would have had the courage to follow him.

I’ve discovered that God is often found in the unnoticed. God exists in the margins of society. With a nudge and a push God points us in the direction of his choosing, so often it is a place we don’t wish to go. The question is will we notice, will we see?

As I lay there with my toes sunk deep in damp grass something incredible happened. While gazing at the cloudless blue sea before me something came into my field of vision. A bird swept overhead and began a sky dance for me. Had I not been lying there I would never have seen it, I would never have known the beauty of that moment.

I wonder how much I have missed in my life during the times I’ve been ‘too busy’.
I wonder what I would have seen if I had just stopped and noticed for a while.

 

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Christianity, Faith, Musings, Reflections

Do all to the glory of God.

23 Jul posted by

How did you do this week?  I did fairly well.  I ate out a little too often {as my husband and I had some time alone this past weekend thanks to my parents} but I made good choices and did focus on not eating when I wasn’t hungry.   I focused on ridding my pantry of excess and not falling victim to the sales at the store.  It felt good to share some of our food with others and it also felt good coming home with less from the store.  

Before we begin this week I would recommend reading 1 Corinthians 10.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Idolatry.  Idol worship.  Whatever you want to call it, it exists.  In today’s world our idols aren’t golden calves or marble statues.  We create idols out of money, fame and power.  Let’s not forget food.  Food has become one of our biggest idols with advertisements and restaurants telling us we want more, need more and have to have more.  Chefs have become celebrities and we’ve created entire networks around the watching of others prepare food.  We’ve idolized food and those who prepare it while separating ourselves from what food really is.

We’ve come a long way in these past few weeks.  We’ve embraced healthier habits and brought food back into our homes in a fairly old fashioned way.  We’ve felt food, created dishes and embraced a meal from start to finish.  We’ve taken a step back from the idolization of food and have instead embraced the idea that food is a gift of nourishment from God.  It’s okay to enjoy it but we shouldn’t obsess over it.

Every day we wake up and have the choices to embrace life in a healthy way.  Healthy living is more than just eating the right foods and exercising.  Healthy living is about our whole bodies in action.  It’s a function of the mind and soul, a desire to live in a way that honors the gift we’ve been given by God in our life here on earth.

This week our challenge is to live by this statement “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  As we go about our lives we need to remember that it’s not just the food that we eat but also the choices we make that formulate who we are as people.  This week we will strive to make choices that are healthy for us.  Whether it’s saying no instead of yes, offering to help someone else who’s struggling or just choosing to impact the world for the better, each choice has consequences.  Each choice has significance. As you make your choices with food and life, do it all for the Glory of God.

Faith and Food Challenge:

This week as we head out into the world I have no real challenge for you food wise.  You’ve done it all. You’ve focused on discovering when you were really hungry, added whole foods to your diet and sought to relieve yourself of unneeded excess.  This week we need to believe that we are in fact living a healthier lifestyle.  One slip up does not beat us down, we will prevail and ultimately succeed.  We are reminded in the letter to the Corinthians that “…God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Temptation is out there but we can endure it.  We can endure anything with God.

 

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 28 Days of Faith and Food, Bible, Christianity, Food

The real Jesus

17 Jul posted by

“On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it.  When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.”  {Mark: 11:12-14}

Sometimes when you’re listening to the Gospel in Church {or preaching on it as the case may be} it can be easy to disconnect from the human side, the real person side of Jesus.  We often discuss his teachings and his life.  We speak about how wonderful he was and are grateful for the grace and forgiveness we’ve received through his death and resurrection.  We embrace him as our savior, as God and that’s a good thing. Sometimes though I wonder if we miss out when we neglect his humanity. Sometimes I wonder if we really understand the enormity of the decisions he made.

When you read through the gospel of Mark it’s almost like Jesus’ life is in fast forward.  Things happen quickly.   Event after event happens and we do not see what happens in between, what happens in between the times Jesus is being ‘Jesus’. Until this point that is. Until the point when Mark shows us a little of the human side of Jesus. He’s just been carried into the city on a colt. He knows what is coming, what will need to happen next.  The energy and excitement of the day would wear out even the most extroverted person.  The next day he seems tired. He appears to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed and he’s hungry.  So hungry in fact that he curses a fig tree that’s not even in season. He then enters the temple {as he’s done many times before} and he loses it with what he sees. He cannot stand their actions and their misguided ways.  He gets angry.  He shows emotion.  He is real. Jesus is human in this text.

This real Jesus is far more meaningful to me than the ‘pink puffy heart Jesus’ we see today.  The real Jesus gets hungry and angry and irritated.  He turns an angry episode into a learning lesson for his disciples.  This is the man I want to follow.  This teacher is the one I want to learn from. He’s a presence, not a caricature.  He’s God on earth and it’s powerful.  It’s forceful.  It’s real.

As Christians today we are called to follow. We are called to follow Jesus and embrace his teachings. I think sometimes we have forgotten what that means. We have forgotten that he was passionate about people, that he died for us all and he wants us to make a true difference in the world. Today we use words like ‘personal savior’ and think as long as we accept him we will are alright with God.  I’m almost certain that’s not true. When I read through the Gospels I get the sense that being a Christian isn’t just about making a choice to accept Jesus as a personal savior but instead making many choices constantly to live the life that he has wants us to live, to persevere when things get tough and to get up the day after an angry episode and start all over again.  Jesus is the messiah but it’s not enough for us to just accept that. We cannot just show up to church on Sundays and think we’ve done our job. We need to live it, to live out this grace we’ve been given and spread it throughout the world.

I want to follow a real man, a real God, a real presence. I want to go to a church that lives it’s mission, that feels God’s presence and moves with it when it pushes. I want to stop waiting and start doing. The real Jesus is a man of action. This real Jesus reminds us that being human is no excuse.  This real Jesus wants us to understand who we are and start being that. I like the real Jesus. I’d like to see where following him would take us.

 

2 Comments
Filed Under: Bible, Christianity, Faith, Musings, Reflections

More isn’t always better.

16 Jul posted by

How’d you do this week?  What were some of your successes and where could you make improvements?  We’re half way through the month and I thank you for joining me!

This week was fairly good on my part.  I am still reminding myself that an apple is available should I feel the need for a snack and did focus on eating whole plant foods over the last week.  I did eat a few things that weren’t whole plant foods {I’m looking at you smores & persians} but overall I had a successful week.  Our goal is a healthy lifestyle that is attainable, right?  This gives us a touch of wiggle room.

Before we begin I would suggest reading Matthew 6.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

This week during my regular reading I happened to hit the passage in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is giving express commands on how to live.  Jesus reminds us that a good life is one where the focus is on others, not ourselves.  A life where material things can be enjoyed but are not be worshipped.  Food can be delicious but shouldn’t be our focus.  Our focus instead should rest in God and on living a God-centered life.

Our world today makes these instructions so much harder to live by.  Jesus did not have to face a world determined to consume as much as possible.  There were no 0.99 cent Big Gulps or shows about Extreme Couponing. Our world is one that thinks that more is better, we can never have enough. Jesus reminds us that this isn’t true.  More is not better, more is just more.  More fills up the space in our lives and prevents us from seeing the needs of the world around us.  Perhaps it’s time to clear out some clutter.

This week our challenge is to clean out our cupboard clutter.  If you’re anything like the me you’ve probably lost track in some way of what’s actually in your cupboard.  This week we are going to organize our cupboards and see what’s really there.  We’ll purge the things we shouldn’t be eating or that we have too much of {our local food banks will be very happy!} and we’ll plan meals around what is left. Jesus reminds us that hoarding our treasures is not a solid way to live.  When we hoard and collect we forget how blessed we are.  Our focus shifts from one of gratitude to one of consumption. This is not healthy for us and doesn’t jive with our new approach of living healthier.

Faith and Food Challenge:

Jesus reminds us that we are not to worry about what we shall eat or drink.  Life is not about what we’re eating, it’s about what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with. Our goal this week is to honor the gift of food and sit down when we are eating.  Michael Pollan reminds us that families traditionally ate together around a table.  He says “It’s a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love.”   Seek out friends and family to eat with at least 3-4 times this week.  Make an effort to enjoy the company of those you love.  Food is about connection and community, not just physical nourishment.

2 Comments
Filed Under: 28 Days of Faith and Food, Bible, Christianity, Faith, Food, Healthy Living

A God-Centered Life

15 Jul posted by

One strawberry is all I have been able to harvest from my very small patch of strawberries. All the rest have gone to feed the chipmunks & bunnies who live around my yard. I looked beautiful though, didn’t it?  If I could only have one this is the one I would want, right?

Wrong.

It looked beautiful.  The taste did not live up to expectations. It was beyond sour.  No hint of sweetness lay beneath it’s beautiful surface. It was not a good berry. It’s as if the strawberry put all of it’s energy into looking good instead of helping it sweeten. It’s as if the priorities of the strawberry were slightly confused.

Lately I begun to wonder if our priorities as Christians are slightly confused.  As I’ve been reading through the Bible there is one constant theme.  God reminds us to take care of the widowed, the orphan and the foreigner.  God reminds us to take care of the vulnerable in society.  God wants us to care for one another.

God doesn’t want us to judge one another for reading 50 Shades of Grey or watching Magic Mike.
God doesn’t want us to focus our energy on keeping up appearances and looking the part.
God doesn’t want us to focus our energy on building maintenance or survival.

God wants us to love one another as he has loved us.
God wants us to care enough to invest our time and energy into those around us.
God wants it to be less about us and more about them.

Perhaps my expectations for the Strawberry were not correct.  Perhaps I need to rethink my reaction. Instead of selfishly expecting a berry that meets my needs I should commend the berry for surviving and thriving in the face of adversity.  Our outlook on life often fuels our reactions.  God wants it to be less about me and more about what’s going on around me, right?

As Christians we are called to move from a self-centered life into a God-centered life.  A God-centered life.  A life filled with God thoughts and God desires.  Filled with spirit and love, with hope and grace.

It sounds good to me.
I think I’ll give it a try…

{FYI: I have not read 50 Shades of Grey or watched Magic Mike.  I haven’t read 50 Shades of Grey because I abhor bad writing and frankly am not interested in the story.  I haven’t watched Magic Mike because I had a full description of the movie from my grandmother who went accidentally with her friends to watch it on a Sunday afternoon not knowing what it was and that description was so hilarious I don’t want to ruin what I imagine the movie to be by actually seeing what it is. That said I think it’s time we Christians stop blogging about it. :) }

2 Comments
Filed Under: Christianity, Church, Faith, Musings, Reflections

Daniel: Prophet, Lion Tamer and Health Guru?

9 Jul posted by

Before we begin with this week I have to ask how last week went.  Was it okay?  Did you run into any challenges?

For me I found that thinking about whether I was hungry enough for an apple went a long way towards getting me to think about food in general and what I was consuming.  As the mother of a two year old who is home during the day I found I was mindlessly snacking on whatever lay around instead of being intentional with my food.  I’m glad I took on the challenge and look forward to a new week.

Before we begin this week I recommend reading Daniel 1.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

You’re heard about the prophet Daniel, right?  The guy who survived the lion’s den and have incredible visions.  He had a pretty amazing life.  One of the things that is kept fairly quiet about Daniel is that he was a very healthy guy.  While he was young and in training to enter into the service of the King he made a choice to avoid the assigned rations that the King offered and instead eat a vegetarian diet as a way to ensure he kept his body running pure.

Imagine sitting in a room with twenty other people all eating rich delicious dishes and indulging in all that is available to them.  It would have been difficult to choose a separate path.  The courage required to refuse the King’s offering and stand separate from those he worked with is incredibly when you think about it.  Daniel did not bow to outside pressure.  He refused to conform and instead stood firm knowing that the diet he chose would be best for his body.

I think we can all understand a little of what Daniel is going through at this point.  In our fast moving world where things have to be accomplished yesterday and food is something that we often buy prepackaged and prepared for us it can be hard to know what we are consuming, it can be hard to keep things pure.  When Daniel makes the decision to eat vegetables and water, he’s making a decision to control what goes into his body.  He’s making the decision to consume only the food that will benefit him and honor God.

We need to make that decision ourselves.  Each item of food that we consume which is prepackaged and prepared for us contains ingredients we cannot see and may not choose to eat if we knew what they were.   These foods can make our bodies feel tired and run down.  They can prevent us from running at their optimal levels.  The food we eat should {like Daniel’s} be whole foods found in nature made to fuel our bodies and keep them running clean.   We should be searching for the foods that help us feel our best.

This week our challenge is to avoid as much packaged food as possible and return to food at it’s most pure source.  We should be eating whole grains {like oatmeal and brown rice}, beans, vegetables, fruit and minimally processed soy products {if your into that kind of thing}.  If you eat meat, you should be eating meat pieces instead of nuggets and fish instead of fish sticks.  Let’s strive to run clean and pure like Daniel did.

Food and Faith Challenge: 

Michael Pollan says  ”Eat food, not too much, mostly plants“.  Daniel stuck to eating plants.  More and more studies are showing the health benefits of eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains. This week try to cut back on your meat consumption and consume more plant based foods.  If you eat meat 3 times a day scale it back a little.  If you can try to throw in a couple of vegetarian meals throughout the week to see how your body reacts to more phytonutrients and fiber {two of the greatest things plants can give you}.  Each bite that goes into our mouth is one that fuels our body and helps to keep things running and we all want to feel great, right?

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 28 Days of Faith and Food, Bible, Christianity, Food

Going back to the garden.

2 Jul posted by

What is 28 days of faith and food?  This month we pledge to seek a more balanced approach to food as enjoyment and fuel.  Together we will discover delicious recipes, healthy tips and find a little food for thought as we dive into the Bible to discover a little more of what God says regarding food.
_______________________________________________________ Before we begin I suggest reading Genesis 3 to get a little background on the topic we’ll be discussing.
_______________________________________________________

The scene is set.  A beautiful garden, a lovely young girl.  Wandering through the garden seemingly aimless, uncertain of what to do next she is met by a friend or so she thinks.  This friend convinces her to try something that she knows is forbidden, he convinces her it will do no harm.

This moment filled with temptation, seduction and pressure.  We’ve all had a moment like this.  A day when we’ve been trying to eat right and a friend hands us a donut saying it can’t hurt, it’s only one day.  A moment when a magazine ad caught our eye and those Oreos with rainbow frosting suddenly became irresistible.   We know the rules.  We know to avoid processed food.  We know to limit our portions.  Yet when we enter society there is so much around us, so much to tempt us and seduce us.  How can we possibly resist?

When we look at the story of Eve and this forbidden fruit we see that ultimately she makes a choice.  She chooses to take that bite, chooses to give in to the pressure that surrounds her.  We also have to make that choice.  Temptations today may not come in the form of an apple or a pomegranate, they might come in a bag of kettle chips or a slice of pound cake, but they are real.  The choices might not have the eternal consequences that Eve faces but they do come with consequences.  Each morsel of food has the potential to provide our bodies with antioxidants, nutrients and healthy calories it needs to keep going.  Our choices affect how we feel and function in this world.

In a way it’s rather humbling to realize how little things have changed over time. To realize that temptation is still such a force in our modern lives when things are supposed to be easier and experts have all the answers.   We are told what to eat, what not to eat and how much of everything.  In all of the rigidity, in all of the rules it would seem that we’ve forgotten something very important.  God has given us food to eat and enjoy.  In the story of Adam and Eve there is only one tree that’s off limits, we’ve got the whole world to explore and enjoy.

There is so much available to us in the world.   So many fruits and vegetables, beans and lentils and so much more.  God has given us a world of food to explore and discover.   Unfortunately we’ve lost sight of how appealing this food is, we’ve discovered ways to change and manipulate God’s gift to us to create some pretty unhealthy things.  It’s time to take our food back.

This week as we make our food choices we need to listen for our serpents, for the voices in our heads that attempt to sway us and drag us in directions we don’t wish to go.  We want to make healthy choices from foods that are given to us by God.  This week the goal is to discover the rest of the food in the garden, to find the things Eve overlooked when she was seduced by the forbidden fruit.

As you head out this week to do your shopping pick up a fruit or vegetable you’ve never had before, grab some beans if you’ve never used them and experiment with the gifts in God’s garden.  If the ingredient list is a mile long or you don’t know what an ingredient is, put it back.  This week we embrace the food that God has given us.  This week we’re going back to the garden.  As we go through the week I’m will post some recipes as I experiment myself and if you have any great culinary success let me know and I’ll post a link here.  We’re all in this together!

Faith and Food Challenge:

Every week I thought I would add in an extra challenge for those who are interested.  This week’s Faith and Food Challenge comes from Michael Pollan who says “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re probably not hungry.”  This week every time we’re about to mindlessly munch or grab a few crackers we should ask ourselves if we want an apple.  If I’m not hungry enough for an apple, I’m probably not hungry.

 

4 Comments
Filed Under: 28 Days of Faith and Food, Bible, Christianity, Food, Healthy Living

Doubting God.

28 Jun posted by

I was in the middle of writing a post about tomatoes, gardening and pruning {I bet you have an idea of where I was going with this} but then I ran across this article “Young Americans Losing Faith?  New Poll Shows 31 Percent Of Adults Under 30 Doubt God Exists”  This doesn’t surprise me.  Does it surprise you?

To put this another way, 1 in 3 Americans under 30 have doubt about the existence of God.  I would bet the Canadian number is higher if only because we might be slightly less afraid to admit it and we’re a more secular culture in general.

To me this means as a church we are dealing in an increasingly secular world.  A world that isn’t afraid to express doubt and acknowledge the possibility that God may not exist.  It means we are living in a world that is different from one we have in our church memory banks.

We have to change.

We have ignored this doubt.  We push doubt away and pretend it doesn’t exist.  It does.  It has to.  If we’ve never wrestled with our faith or really struggled with God, how can we mature and grow as Christians.  We need to allow doubt to be part of the conversation.

Things are not as they were 50 years ago.  People today see churches as places that are great for weddings and hold a great deal of nostalgia but are not relevant as a faith option.  Instead of coming to church people are turning to the internet, friends and celebrities for ideas on faith and God.  We’ve lost our influence.  We are no longer part of their conversation.

This loss of influence has frightened us.  Fear is not the answer, faith is.  In the Bible God constantly says ‘Be not afraid’ and yet we find ourselves living daily in fear.  We hide from the outside world and wonder what comes next.   The problem with this way of living is that we will never know what happens next if we do not do something to make the next thing happen.   We cannot show others light if we are hiding it from them.

Jesus called us to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

This is a heavy calling.  We are to live in the world and shine our light.  We are to add flavor and substance to our communities.  We aren’t doing this.  Our lights grow dim and our salt is losing it’s flavor.  In focusing on ‘not’ dying we’re not living.  In our struggle to stay alive we’ve forgotten our purpose and mission.

Imagine a church that lived according to the Gospel.  That was the light of the earth and recognized the need to live in community and care for others.  Imagine a church that could say the following:

We are Christ followers.  We gather together to worship and praise the Lord. We live in the world God created and care about it.  In our community we love, we laugh, we live. We long to serve and will find ways to help those in need. We know that our building is a resource but is not our God. We pray hard and fierce. We read the Bible and learn from it’s message. We are living a mission given by God to us in this time and place. We are Christ followers. 

I would go to this church.
Others would too…

 

2 Comments
Filed Under: Christianity, Church, Faith, Musings, Reflections, Worship

Lost in Translation

27 Jun posted by

X. ran around today shouting ‘die, die, die!’.  He did it at the store.  He did it on the driveway for our entire neighborhood.  He did it for anyone we ran into.  This made me want to ostrich very badly.  I was so embarrassed.  As I shushed him and tried to express how inappropriate this was, my head was filled with thoughts like ‘Where did he learn this word?’ and ‘Why is he running around shouting die, die, die!’.  It was not a good scene.

As the day progressed and he continued to utter death threats I just began to pray that eventually he would grow bored of this fun new word and move on.   When his speech therapist arrived for our last appointment of the year I had almost forgotten the events of the morning until he began doing it again.  And that’s when it hit me, he wasn’t saying ‘die’ he was saying ‘dive’.  When my little boy says the word dive it sounds like die because he has not yet mastered the v sound.

Palm to forehead.   Assume ostrich position. 

The speech therapist and I had a good laugh about this.  And it really made me wonder how much in our lives gets lost in translation.  How often do we just not get it?

As I read through the Prophets I have to assume this happens more often than not.  The people of Israel cry out to God and wonder why God’s upset when it’s been expressed repeatedly by the prophets.  The thing is, the Israelites don’t want to hear or are unable to hear.  The message is confused and puzzling to them.  They need to sift through it and find out what God is trying to say.

I think this happens to us in the church today as well.  When we deal with our desires and plans we often shove God off to the side and plan on using him if he is needed.  There is a sense that if we make enough plans and prepare enough events eventually things will work out for us.  If it doesn’t then we’re lost and confused.  We wonder why things aren’t happening.  We wonder why God isn’t answering our prayers.

Unfortunately for us, God likely is answering our prayers.  The problem is like that we don’t like the answer or we don’t understand it.  We have a hard time with the translation.  We have a hard time hearing what God wants us to do.  This is something we need to work on.  We need to start listening and discern the message God is sending us.  We need to begin the process of translation.

4 Comments
Filed Under: Christianity, Church, Musings, Reflections

Saturday afternoon

23 Jun posted by

Over the last month weekends we spent in celebration.  I went to my brother and sister’s university graduation in Sault Ste. Marie, I attended a Bridal Shower, a Bachelorette Party and managed to squeeze in a birthday party for my husband. We’ve been busy.  This weekend I’ve been able to relax a little.  It’s been nice.

I’ve not been able to relax too much however as I do have to work tomorrow. That being said I’ve never been a person to allow a little work to ruin a beautiful afternoon.  I took my laptop out on the patio and sat in my backyard oasis while I did some editing.  It was heaven.

As I sat out on the back deck, enjoying the sunshine and sipping on some Iced Pomegranate Green Tea that my husband brought me I started thinking about how much work went into creating this lovely environment.   Over the years we’ve added to the garden, installed a retractable awning, hung baskets and fought against a particularly stubborn colony of carpenter bees.  We’ve cleaned and scrubbed and called for help when it was needed.  A backyard garden is not something that can be ignored.

That’s the way of things, isn’t it?  You cannot ignore something and expect it to remain perfect and functional.  Our garden, like our home needs maintenance and care. We must tend to things in order to keep things working the way we would like.

As maintenance is required in homes and gardens, so it is required in faith.  In order for us to function well we need to perform constant maintenance.  We need to fill ourselves with God’s truth by reading, discussing and examining scriptures. We must pray and open ourselves to a relationship with God.  It’s not easy, sometimes it’s work but it’s incredibly rewarding.

For the past 55 days I’ve been getting up around 6 to read the Bible and pray. Some mornings are more productive than others.  Some days I read more than I pray and other days it’s the exact opposite.  There is but one constant, God. There is one thing that matters, my relationship with God.  This personal time, this private time with God was not something I had allowed for myself on a regular basis before.  Often times my private reflection time was overwhelmed by Sunday preparation.  I wasn’t a diligent as I should have been about personal reflection.  I had forgotten to do regular maintenance and was in jeopardy of breaking down completely.

I have discovered much about myself these past 55 days.  I love the quiet time in the morning and am grateful for a chance to give thanks and embrace the stillness before the day begins.  In adding this activity to my already busy life I’ve actually found more time.  I’ve discovered peace.  I’ve shifted my priorities.  I’ve embraced a life with fewer worries and have found that going with God is a heck of a lot easier than fighting him.  It’s been wonderful, challenging and incredibly rewarding.  Much like tending a garden I’ve watched my own faith grow and change.

Maintaining our faith requires work and this is something we in ministry often forget.  We think we’re doing maintenance when really we’re helping others on their journey.  In order for us to function well we need to set aside time for spiritual development and reflection.  I think the same can be said for those sitting in the pews.  It’s easy to attend church on Sunday and expect the minister to do the work for us.  We want to come into a pretty garden, not do the work to help create it.   Faith is work.  Faith requires some effort.

This morning I ran across a passage that says it all:

“…In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”  Isaiah 30:15

We need to make time in our busy lives for God.  We must return to God’s presence frequently to find strength and peace.  In that quiet time we will discover who we are.  In that quiet time we will find God.

How will you find your quiet this week?
How will you meet God?

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Christianity, Church, Musings, Prayer, Reflections
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: