A Little Fun and Book Spine Poetry/Prayers

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Let’s have some creative fun today!Ever play the game with the telephone books? (I wonder how much longer we will have telephone books? Are they a thing of the past? oops, I digress....) I guess you could also play this with a dictionary.You open the telephone book and look at the two words printed at the top of the page. Our minds will attempt to make connections. Our eyes try to find patterns. Read them together for a sometimes-humorous connection. These are actual finds from my phone book that sits on my desk:Bowling BurglarCellular ChurchesCremation DentistsFertilizer FloristsWhen we go looking for just the right book, the same phenomenon occurs. Book lovers often have neck strain - not from reading or writing but from standing in front of bookcases - at home, at the library or in the bookstores - staring at book spines. We tilt our head to the right reading the titles. Awkward, isn’t it?After a time of reading all those titles with a slanted head, the words begin to merge and … [Read more...]

Awesome Wonders – How Great Thou Art

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Last Sunday I was blessed.I attend a church that still sings the classic hymns. Though we loosen up occasionally and partake in some modern upbeat praise music, we usually stick to the regular songs in our hymnals.If you are Lutheran I know the question on your mind. Not which hymn, but which hymnal. The cranberry one- Lutherans will understand. But I digress.My daughter, son-in-law and three perfect grandchildren sit with church with us each Sunday.  Now there is a blessing, though noisy at times. Kyla is three and the boys (yes twins) are perpetual motion 14 month olds. More on Kyla and this song later.How Great Thou Art:I love this song and it draws me into worship every time I sing it. Powerful words:O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made...Ready for its story?How Great Thou Artbegins with Carl Gustaf Boberg (1859-1940). He was a Swedish pastor, editor, and member of the Swedish parliament. Boberg was enjoying a nice walk when a … [Read more...]

Tame my Tongue, Lord – Lectio Divina

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We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and … [Read more...]

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast – Quote of the Week – Madeleine L’Engle

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Daily BlessingWe must bless without wanting to manipulate. Without insisting that everything be straightened out right now. Without insisting that our truth be known. This means simply turning whoever it is we need to bless over to God, knowing that God's powerful love will do what our own feeble love or lack of it won't. I have suggested that it is a good practice to believe in six impossible things every morning before breakfast, like the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass. It is also salutary to bless six people I don't much like every morning before breakfast.Madeleine L'Engle … [Read more...]

Rut or Rest? – Revisited

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Rut or Rest? - RevisitedI mentioned on the last post my confusion whether I was in a rut or in a time of rest. I pondered how to best discern, to hear God in this foggy wandering of my soul.If I have learned anything in my walk with Christ is the fundamental ingredients of discernment boil down to:  ·      Prayer - quiet listening to/for God.·      Bible - slowly reading His word, taking it into my heart.·      Community - being vulnerable to share my searching with others and with the Spirit’s help, learn from others.·     Trust - putting my faith in all of the above that the process will eventually become clear.Since I posted last I have:·      Journaled and prayed and spent much quiet time with God·      Revisited and slowly savored some of my favorite Bible passages (see below for the one that really spoke to me)·      Heard loud and clear from emails and comments left on this blog one consistent and very powerful message:RUT OR REST:  GOD IS WITH YOU NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE!(Care … [Read more...]

Rut or Rest?

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“I just wish God would tell me clearly what to do,” said one of the participants in our spiritual direction group. “I don’t know which direction to turn and I really do want to be obedient.”I certainly could identify and empathize with that statement. With all my being, I do want to follow God’s path for me in life. Discernment is more than just making a decision: it is taking God’s view into account, not just our wants and desires.  To discern comes from the Latin word, discernere:  dis means apart and cernere mean to separate:  So we look at all the options before us and we separate them apart for find the answer. I am in discernment right now. I can’t decipher if I am in a rut or a time of rest.  I think I hear God telling me just to rest, but my natural tendency so to make a decision and get on with my journey. Have a missed the bus or am I to linger longer at this spiritual rest stop? If God is in all things and I do believe that, just what is He trying to teach me here?Then I … [Read more...]

Listen First, Then Speak – Lectio Divina

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My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1: 19-21 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angryLord, don’t You have that backwards?  Speak, then listen is what I usually do.  At least that is how I seem to function. Speaking first, getting my opinion out. Making sure my point of view is heard. Validating my ego. I have to defend myself, don’t I?But You are telling me: Listen, then speak.  Relationship begins with listening. Listen first.My number one step with You: Listen.My initial response to the person speaking before me: ListenMy entire focus on You.My full concentration on Your child before me.Listen.Lord, I needed this reminder. These verses don’t just … [Read more...]