Isolation

Sealed off in a thought place
Sealed inside this huge vaccuum
Sealed off from social intimacy
Sealed inside the all-encompassing grace of living
In isolation

Stride

To move over or along with or as if with long measured steps; a stage of progress, advance; the most effective natural pace; maximum competence or capability.

At the beginning of the summer, I was drawn to the immutability of Christ, in that he is the same “yesterday and today and forever”. This is a great comfort as I take strides in a new venture this fall. I am continuing my education, and pursuing my bachelor’s degree in English. I have often marveled that my most effective natural pace is to be in sync with the school calendar, going to school from late August to mid May or late June, then enjoying a summer of leisure. Each year the expectation of learning more looms on the horizon. This year I hope to move along with long measured steps in all aspects of my life: intellectually, spiritually and relationally. I am in a stage of progressing toward greater illumination, deeper devotion and further understanding of how to live and love well. I will only advance under the tutelage of the One who already knows the end from the beginning, the great narrator of our stories. I look forward to discovering more about his life and how he desires to be involved intimately with each one of us. I want to be a “part of the greater story and to add to the beauty” of his Creation.

May I keep in stride with his Spirit, and welcome the breezes of his creativity in the midst of life on a university campus where there is so much diversity and potential and energy.

“Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.”
Galatians 5:25-26 The Message

Impossibilities!

For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37

Jesus replied, What is impossible with men is possible with God. Luke 18:27

from Through the Looking Glass:

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying, “she said: “one ca’n’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as

six impossible things before breakfast.”

-Lewis Carroll

How much practice have I had believing the impossible? But actually as I think about it, it is not the impossible I would be believing. A better question is who am I believing? Do I believe God truly is capable of the impossible? Or do I just believe in possibilities? That which I can see could happen or even know that I can manipulate so that it does happen.

Living by faith is much more risky and adventuresome. I can't see around the corner or into the future, but I can trust in an all-knowing, compassionate and loving God.

Let's ponder some impossibilities for at least thirty minutes today. Maybe even more than six. With God all things are possible...

Where I Have Been

O LORD, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my every thought when far away.

You chart the path ahead of me and

tell me where to stop and rest.

Every moment you know where I am.

Psalm 139:1-3 NLT

Ever since Spring arrived, I have been drawn to the outdoors, and my pen and journal, rather than sitting in the "green" room typing my ramblings to the unseen audience of this blog. I usually muse here and in my journal mostly for myself, but let's be honest in our heart of hearts writers want to be read. So let me know if you're reading :)

My favorite spot to sit once the winter weather breaks is our front porch. I can't boast a majestic view, I live in the suburbs. My view includes the two or three houses across the street, and since we are on a corner lot, I also can look over at my dear friend and neighbor's home. We have lived next door to each other for nearly seventeen years now. Have we really lived in this one place for so long already? Will our oldest son be twenty-one in a couple weeks? And the youngest off to new ventures at the local community college?

So where have I been since April 30th? I have been avoiding the reality that my kids are grown up. That the world is going through hard economic times, including family and close friends. Hiding in the city and getting lost in the country, wandering the shore of the gulf of Mexico in Florida. Immersing myself in the creativity of a summer drama program at our church. Sipping coffee on quiet Mondays on my front porch, and entertaining angels who come for some respite. Enjoying the different pace, not necessarily slower, but good and fulfilling.

I love my life, and it is a great comfort to know that God has known where I have been every moment this summer. He has sought me out in the late night laughter of girlfriends, as well as the tear stained confessions of our heart aches and concerns. Through unexpected new friends in both of our sons' lives and our own. Rekindling and keeping up with the tried and true friends. Being in my first parade on a rainy day on the 4th of July, and asking God to hold back the rain for the parade, so we could represent moms who pray and hold out the hope of connecting with God. He answered with a resounding yes! Hallelujah!

Where will I be headed? God knows! And for that I am ever grateful.

Staging Old Masters

On the Saturday before Easter, my son and I had the time to go see a couple unique plays in St. Louis. One has already finished its run, but “Staging Old Masters” is still playing this weekend. The shows are free on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, which is down the street from Sheldon Hall. On their website they describe how the play came to be: “the Pulitizer [Foundation for the Arts]…in collaboration with Prison Performing Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, and Employment Connection—becomes home to an innovative theatre program in which former prisoners & formerly homeless veterans use the exploration of art and theatre to help develop skills for their future lives and employment.” For more specifics about times and location go to the following link:
http://www.pulitzerarts.org/events/film-poetry-other/staging-oldmasters-3

During the evening the audience walks from painting to painting, and at the same time gets a glimpse into the perspective of each of the actors, as they creatively perform their response to the art. Many of the paintings depict biblical themes. It was an evening of being confronted with the transforming grace of God through art, as well as the various responses that we as humans have to the artists’ depiction of such lofty and lowly themes, such as heaven and hell. The struggle we as humans have with the “seven deadly sins” is the climax of the evening in the closing scene of the performance. In reality three perspectives are intermingled- the original artist, the performers and yours as a member of the audience.

I was struck by timeless theme of human need for divine intervention, as it was communicated through the Old Masters to the performers and then ultimately to me. The poignancy of the program lies in the fact that the performers themselves admit their personal struggle with temptation, and are living documentaries of how grace moves us away from ourselves into the redemptive love of God.

My son enjoyed it so much that he took a couple friends back last weekend. I hope you have time to check it out this weekend.

Stuck

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
(Psalm 40:2 NIV)

This is a reflection I wrote the other day in response to the question:

“How am I choosing to be stuck?”

I am focusing on my weaknesses- trying to overcome them, instead of capitalizing on my strengths. I choose to believe lies. I choose to procrastinate. I give into fears and insecurities. I want instant change instead of accepting that life is one choice after another. It is very freeing in a way to realize that my “stuckness” is a choice. I feel stuck in my investments of time. I feel stuck as a parent. I am stuck in my ways- I chafe for change and then complain when change occurs. I am stuck in discontent.

I once again am stuck in the future- wanting what comes next more than embracing now. Being stuck in the future is hazardous to my mental and emotional health. I long for future joys to escape present pain. But joy comes through mourning. I have been sealing myself off from truly mourning the changes in my life. I am tossed about by emotions related to the natural process of children growing up and moving on in their own lives.

Another hard part of my life right now is standing by watching others who are stuck, too. I can’t make them choose to move forward, I have to trust God to intervene. I can ask God to capitalize on each of our strengths and to buttress our weaknesses. I need God to direct my investments, and to help me focus on a couple of my strengths. I get bogged down because I’m not sure which direction to take. I spend a lot of mental time “trying” to decide, which bogs me deeper into the muck and mire of my indecision.

Crossroads: A Crucial Point Especially Where a Decision Must be Made

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life…
Deuteronomy 30:19-20a NIV

I find myself and others in my family at a crossroads. We have crucial choices ahead. We each want specific guidance on how to move forward. I was praying this week about each of our decisions, and hoping for some word from God to pop out of the pages of my Bible to tell me whether I should go to the state college or the private college. Instead, the search in the Scriptures led me to an even more crucial choice- life and death, good and evil, blessings and curses.

My guidance was not specific, but the sense I had was whatever I chose make sure it led to life and blessings. Beware of the trappings of those other things that entice me away from devotion to God. We know what leads to life and death, but sometimes we ignore the life path, because we hope just this once self-centeredness will lead to life, but it doesn’t. Instead it leads to disappointment, and destruction at its worst.

In Proverbs, we are told to “Guard our hearts above all else”. This principle can guide us in our decision making as well. It is another way of saying, does my choice please God or myself. God has some pretty wide parameters when it comes to specific choices, but the general choices tend to be narrower. And that is good, because Jesus said the narrow way leads to life, but the wide way leads to destruction. It is a mystery how we can have so much latitude in what we choose to do in our vocations, yet in our pursuit of being, that is, who we are and how we live in relation to God and others is simpler: Love one another.

As I was contemplating the choices before me I came across a journal prompt, which encouraged me to draw an X on the page, and write the choices at the end of each line of the X. I was going to write go to this college or that college. Instead I decided to write life, death, blessing and curse. As I thought about those choices, I began to draw a cross over the whole thing. That was when I realized Jesus actually chose all four of those, so that I might live.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross .

Colossians 1:19-20NIV

Responsibility

“…the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NLT)

So what defines a responsibility? The dictionary states that it is “a duty resulting from a job or position.” So first, I must figure out what my job or position is to further understand what is expected of me. In the secular sense, I am jobless. I do not work outside the home. But I do work and study and pursue activities for which I am liable. I partner. I parent. I pursue learning and practice writing.

Responsibility is a huge word, and sometimes my responsibilities overwhelm me to the point where I feel stuck. I don’t want to move in any direction. I am paralyzed by the potential for failure. I lack the motivation to actively move toward the expected outcome of what I believe is required of me to fulfill my duties.

My position has various manifestations based on whether one looks at it from a marital, social, or spiritual status. From a spiritual perspective, I am a child of God. And with this relationship there comes certain responsibilities as well.

Today I was reading about Jonah and the big job that God brought to his attention. It was interesting to note that Jonah’s decision to go the opposite direction and hop a boat to get away from Nineveh was an indication that he was actually moving “away from the presence of the Lord.”

As I was reading about Jonah, I started to ask myself this question: Is there any place that God has asked me to go that I am resisting? Not really. Well, maybe a couple places, which were actually related to my responsibilities. But when I thought further, I realized the question could be asked a different way: Do I resist God’s presence? And I had to admit that I do resist him at times. This admission led to the thought how the presence of God might be related to my various realms of responsibility. He does not ask me to care for or to be obligated to someone or something without his trustworthy presence strengthening me and giving me the grace to pursue his plans and to extend the same grace to others.

Where there is responsibility, there is the presence of God.

Costumes

“…clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:12-14 NLT

I wish I could say that the following thoughts were my own, but actually the idea was shared in a devotion I read this morning. The author was relating a time when she had a role to portray and how when she put on her costume, she was better able to take on the character she was portraying. With my recent experiences in theatre, I could relate to what she was expressing. Many times, as I’ve shared before, people will comment on how hard it must be to memorize all those lines. But there is so much more to developing a character than the lines they must say on stage. The actor must learn where they are to move on stage, analyze the background and personality of their character based on clues in the script, as well as work with personal props and their costume. These are just some of the things the actor must consider to create a well-rounded, believable character that interacts with the other characters to bring the story to life.

All these activities bring to mind the spiritual disciplines of memorizing and meditating on God’s word. Lately, I have been thinking of the Bible as my script, and studying it to find out how as a child of God I am supposed to act. It is a common practice to memorize sections of Scripture and then to mull it over and think about how it might change our perspective or our actions. In acting, a person rehearses their lines and their blocking over and over until it becomes a part of the character they are representing. I think this relates to memorizing and meditating. After weeks of rehearsal, one of the most exciting times is when the costumes are given out. The actors don their costumes, which seem to complete their character. Now all they need are few dress rehearsals to feel out how everything works together, and then they need an audience.

In a spiritual sense, we put on the attitudes and actions that are implied in Scripture and our character expands. It is not enough just to rehearse and meditate on the meaning, we need to clothe ourselves in the attributes of the new life outlined for us in Scripture, and modeled by Christ.

Let’s go to the costume closet and find something that will enhance our character, which each of us have inside, and give the performance of our lives for our personal audiences, those we live with and work with in order to offer more love and more peace and more acceptance and more forgiveness.

Give It Up

I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit;
for apart from Me you can do nothing
John 15:5 NASB


Give it up. Those were the words I read on a sign that I regularly pass on my drive to walk at the mall. Lately I had not been walking much because of a very full schedule. In my quest for education and experience in the theatre, I had agreed this semester to be stage manager for the spring play at the college. Most people know that I am fairly organized, and I can think on my feet. I went in with great confidence in my skills, and humble dependence upon God, mostly. This week the show opens and my humble dependence upon God has been greatly challenged. Meaning my eyes were more widely opened to my need to depend.

The past few years I have been more in tune with the church calendar, and I like to observe Advent and Lent. Last week I was so busy, I didn’t really think to much about Ash Wednesday, but I was musing about what people give up for Lent. In my inner dialogue, I was thinking I wouldn’t give up chocolate because stressed people need chocolate. Maybe I could give up watching TV, but it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice, because I hardly have time to watch anything. Then the a radical idea crossed my mind, what about giving up certain negative attitudes, like complaining or worrying. Those thoughts meandered for awhile, and then I got back to the task at hand, mentally keeping track of all the details for the play. (And also learning Algebra formulas at the same time, yikes!)

In a gentle and firm way, God began to show me what he wanted me to “give up” for lent, while I was in the middle of my stage manager training. I had graduated from giving lines to the actors, the prop tables were ready and it was time for me to enter the BOOTH. The booth is where the stage manager gets to run the show. Supposedly a control freak’s haven, but this frightened me greatly. I had never done this before. The cues are like a foreign language, and if something doesn’t happen most likely it falls back on me. Great potential for failure and looking foolish. Two of my lifelong fears. Fortunately, I have experienced people training me, and to make sure I was under the right amount of pressure they both sat over my shoulders prodding me to call my cues correctly. I was definitely humbled. I came home, and thought of all kinds of ways to avoid having to go into the booth again.

The next morning, I got up to drive to the mall for my walk and there was the sign: “Give It Up”. I immediately knew God was “talking” to me. He wanted me to give IT up. “IT” being everything that I foolishly think I can control, my reputation as an organized, sharp person, my inability to control others, etc. So I laughed and cried and praised God for being so kind and thoughtful to remind me that He alone is the one who can manage my life or anyone’s life for that matter.

So as they say, “Let’s give it up for God!”. (Loud applause)

Have a great Lent! Love-Kel

To Do List (Alphabetized)

Always
Basic tasks
Cleaning
Dusting
Eating
Fighting
Going
Humming
In Jesus’ name
Kitchen
Living Spaces
My Room
Not the boys’ rooms
Outside activities
Planning
Questioning “Does this
Really
Satisfy?”
Taking
Upon myself a myriad of
Venues
Wanting to be done with
Xtra chores
Yet another day ends with
Zzzzs….

(written by Kel Rohlf, all rights reserved 2009)

Cluster: A Number of Similar Things that Occur Together

I recently was sitting in my “thinking spot” bemoaning the fact that my winter break was coming to a close. It was time to get back to school and finish out this semester. And while I was excited about the new adventure of being stage manager for the school’s next play, I was reluctant to get back to the routine. I had enjoyed quite a bit of solitude over Christmas and the month break. I had more time to read, to journal, to plan for the next thing, to pray and to just sit.

On the couch next to me was a magazine I picked up at the checkout line because the main article heading was “Feel calmer now: 20 essential lists to organize your life”; it was going to help me with my new year plan to get organized. I read a few articles, and it has been sitting there now for a few weeks, since I started the hectic pace with the play and classes. I happened to glance over at it and read the quote on the spine; just the words to describe how I was feeling, and how to navigate through this season: “Life comes in clusters, clusters of solitude, then a cluster when there is hardly time to breathe.” (May Sarton)

One of my “goals” for writing this year was to blog Monday through Friday each week. As you can see I have already fallen short. So I will adjust my intention; I will write in clusters. I will write as often as my hectic schedule will allow. I will squeeze in some time to express myself in words, even if I am in a cluster of time where I barely have time to catch a breath.

Hungry

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6 NASB

Over lunch on Monday, some friends and I were talking about fasting. Have you ever fasted? Isn’t hard? Why do Christians fast? Good Questions. I have tried fasting at times and it is hard. I felt hungry and irritable, and it caused me to have to talk to God more than usual, except that I was talking to him about keeping me from feeling hungry, which then led to tirades about is this really necessary.

It is interesting that the topic of fasting came up while we were having a meal. And then later that day a book that I had forgot that I requested from the library came in. It is called Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner. I “heard” about the book in my devotional reading. One book leads to another. Anyways, I found out by thumbing through the pages of Mudhouse that Lauren and I had the same struggle with fasting. She wrote a whole chapter about it. I like the conclusions that she, and a mentor of hers came to. Here are some quotes from her chapter; she says “Fasting is not meant to drag us down, but to still us. It is not meant to distract us from the really real, but rather to silence us so that we can hear things as they most truly are.” Her mentor said this: “When you are fasting and you feel hungry, you are to remember that you are really hungry for God.” So now when she fasts, she prays this simple phrase: “I am hungriest for God, my truest hunger is for God.”

So fasting is a means to remind me of my hunger for God. Hunger will always be part of my human experience, and God in his wisdom links it with the spiritual dimension of us to whet our appetite for him. No wonder Jesus talked so much about bread, and even provided miraculous bread two times that is recorded in the gospels, and had to make the spiritual connection for his stomach bound disciples. (See Matthew 16:5-12)

Eating is a great metaphor for our relationship with God. When we eat we are satisfied, when we are consumed with God we are truly satisfied.

Songs

I have adopted this new idea for journaling this year that I learned at a journaling workshop last November. It is called “Topic du Jour”. I wrote 31 topics that related to my life on little pieces of paper, then randomly picked one at a time and list them on a paper numbered 1 to 31. (Yet another indication of my affection for lists.) Then I pasted the list into the front of my journal for easy access. The idea is to journal about the topic that coincides with the date of the month. Today’s topic was "songs". I don’t even remember now why I chose that as one of my topics, but today I enjoyed just journaling about why I like songs and how they affect me, and I also listed 4 new CDs that I bought for the new year. It seems like the New Year has been a great excuse for a lot of my recent purchases.

Here’s an excerpt from my journal: “Songs are lifelines for me-they express my heart and touch my heart in ways no other media does.” Then I go on to describe what influenced my choice of the CDs, like the titles and the cover art, more than the music artist(s). My favorite of the four is called “The Bright Sadness” and had a very unique cover that drew me in. A silhouette of a girl’s profile and then bluish green water colors superimposed with purple black cutouts of a bouquet of wildflowers.

I did not really know what kind of songs would be on it, but it actually had one song titled, “New Year”. It is an upbeat tune, and became kind of an anthem for me as I listened to it in my Green Room.


Here is the refrain: “This is a new year, this is a new day to rise
Shine, lift up your eyes
This is a new year, this is a new day to rise
Shine and point the way to God’s great life


If you want to learn more about Charlie Hall’s music and spiritual journey check out http://www.charliehall.com/


He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be astounded.
They will put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:3 NLT

Lists

‘Tis the season to make lists. We are not talking about Santa, as we all know, that season is over. I am talking about the lists that we pen to start the New Year fresh. Goals, resolutions, wish list; whatever you want to call them. And even if we haven’t written them down yet, we are mentally listing what we will do next or what we need to pick up at the grocery store. I sort of like and enjoy lists, so you won’t be surprised that while I was at the grocery store this past weekend I picked up the January edition of Real Simple, which headlined with “Feel calmer now: 20 essential lists to organize your life”. Lists tend to calm me down because I am afraid I will forget something. I do not totally know why I like lists so much, sure I get satisfaction after crossing an activity off that has been completed. They also can be a measuring tool to see how far I’ve progressed on my desired goals. I guess it is just fun to put a list together. I even bought a book once called “List Yourself”. It has categories and you just start listing until your mind is exhausted of ideas. I liked a couple lists that the magazine suggested: “The Not-To-Do List” and “The To-Do List You Can Actually Do”. On the second list, they had suggestions like “Forget to put laundry in the dryer. Clothes can be permanently pressed (whatever that means) tomorrow.” I love it.

A list can be a sort of an aphorism, which is a concise, memorable statement. A proverb comes to mind. Those witty sayings of Benjamin Franklin, such as “A penny saved, is a penny earned,” or from the Bible we get many of these memorable statements like “Pride comes before a fall.” Both sayings are potential items for our goals for 2009. You might be surprised how many lists are in the Bible. Genealogies, commandments, proverbs, a time table (see Ecclesiastes 3) and a list of benefits that we are not to forget, are all there in order to glean wisdom.

I will leave you with the benefits and a link to the Real Simple list page.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,and forget not all his benefits —
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Psalm 103:2-5 NIV

www.realsimple.com/lists

Resolution

I read a church sign today that stated something to this effect: “Let God be the solution of your resolutions.” I had to drive a couple more miles before I realized that the word resolution has the word solution in it. Aha! Let God be the solution. Let God help me resolve or solve again the tendency toward waywardness and that lack of discipline I try overcome especially as a new year begins. Another church sign encouraged a similar sentiment: “Your resolutions will go better if you rely on God.” Truly a credo to live by and relying on God makes life so much easier in all ways. So since I haven’t made any particular resolutions yet for 2009, I feel better informed by these signs from God that I read today.

I resolve to "trust God with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. I will acknowledge him in all my ways, and He will make my paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5,6) He always directs me back to this central principle of our relationship: He is trustworthy, and it is worth my while to trust Him completely.

Familiar: Frequently Seen or Experienced

“God uses the booboos, the blatant mess-ups and those old familiar moments to point the way to his grace and mercy.”
- Chonda Pierce

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT


My friend sent me a New Year’s devotion written by Chonda Pierce, a comedian that keeps our relationship with God and ourselves in perspective. She talked about how familiar tended to be a negative word for her, conjuring up boredom and routine. Yet this year she began to realize how comforting the familiar can be. If you look at the definition of familiar as “an everyday occurrence”, it follows that my attitude about life could become indifferent. The old “been there done that”…yawn. But if you turn the word over and see another one of its definitions, it has the sense of intimacy.

This struggle with the value of familiar pervades all aspects of my life. One moment I can be longing for the familiar and the next I am bemoaning the fact that life is so unchanging and even boring. I get excited about the beginning of a new semester or a new season, then after awhile I get bogged down. I want a new outfit, but then I find myself wearing my worn jeans and a favorite sweater. I want routine, but I also want adventure.

Putting Christmas Back in the Boxes

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven… Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV

I did not have an epiphany this year as I repacked the Christmas decorations and ornaments for the tree. But I did experience a bit of euphoria, as I realized how freeing it was to let go of some our Christmas trimmings. I finally did it; I put the decorations that have not seen the light of Christmas for many years into the donation pile. I feel more ready for next Christmas than any other year. I know what is in the boxes and it will be the stuff that I want to decorate with next year. Fewer boxes to haul back to the attic and new place to store the tree will make it a more pleasant experience for each of us. Usually I get all sad when it is time to put everything away, but I guess over the years I have finally learned the lesson there is a time for everything.

It was nice this year to turn on the Christmas music one more time, as I sorted through what I really wanted to keep, and then gently wrapped the ornaments placing them into two containers, instead of four. After I was done, I pulled out our photo album that contains pictures from past holiday seasons. It is amazing to see how far we have come. It was a relief to know that we have arrived in a new season. A time to let go. A time to seek new adventures. A time to be grateful for the rich family times we’ve celebrated in the past. A time to move forward. A time to wait upon the Lord and his purposeful plans for the new year.

Breaking Bread Together

“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11 NKJV

Eating a meal together, celebrating a holiday with food these are familiar patterns of our lives. And they also were common experiences during the time of the early church. This idea of eating together most likely dates back to the first family. Once they were banished from the Garden of Eden, man and woman had to begin toiling for their food. But over the years and through God’s provision meals had special meaning. Passover was one the main meals from the Old Testament, which was particularly planned by God to remind the Israelites of their deliverance from death and slavery. And in God’s wonderful way of washing everything with eternity, it also foreshadowed how Jesus would come to save the world from its sin. Jesus would even celebrate Passover with his disciples just before his death, and teach them the deeper meaning of the meal.

Today we take communion in remembrance of the deliverance from death and slavery that Jesus accomplished for each one of us. Sometimes at a meal or holiday we try to recreate past celebrations of the same event with the same emotion and authenticity of previous years. And I think somehow we have lost the feeling of what was happening in the early church when they celebrated communion. Sometimes I wish I could have been around when the disciples broke bread together after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension.We can get a glimpse of how they celebrated in Acts 2:42-47.

Today as I read that familiar snippet of Scripture, I was marveling at the main result of their devotion to the teaching, fellowship, worship and breaking of bread together in remembrance of Jesus. The author summarizes with this revealing statement: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” God was saving people on a daily basis, as a result of their living out their lives for Christ. Eating bread together and recounting what the bread and the wine signified was enough evidence for many to put their faith in the Savior. Oh, that we would break more bread together this year, and speak of the sustenance that the Lord Jesus provided through his body and blood. Praying “Give us this day our daily bread” can take on a richer, deeper meaning.

Dear Heavenly Father- Add to our number daily those who are being saved.

Unfinished Business

2009 has arrived with little fanfare here. We went to bed at 10:30pm last night after sipping a glass of bubbly apple cider. Our kids were at their own party. After dinner I did go out to get a great draught of Spirit filled worship at a Lincoln Webster concert with my good friend at her church. Hallelujahs rose from our lips and many of the lyrics echoed the cry of my heart to trust God more.

This past week I was perusing some journal entries from 2008. In one I was talking in drama lingo with God, asking him what was the super objective of my life, and how could I fulfill that by following the simple objectives each day. I noticed that the Scripture in the margin was about trusting God. That was the answer for the super objective or the theme for my life: TRUST GOD!

Now on to the simple objective of doing those things which lend to the super objective, the activities and attitudes that demonstrate my faith and trust in God and God alone. This is the unfinished business of life.

I also found today that instead of my usual listing of what I hope to accomplish this year in different arenas of my life, I just got up and starting doing my mental "to-do" list. I gathered Christmas decorations to be sorted and put away. I went through some dishes and other knick knacks to get rid of. I sorted through some boxes in the basement. Tackled the laundry, even matched our socks. We usually just maintain a sock basket that we each dig through to find our daily socks. Crazy and lazy, but true!

So now here I am pursuing one of my other ambitions for 2009, to write something on this blog every day, except maybe not the weekends. So I hope someone out there is reading this, and if not I am happy to just express my thoughts in print.

As I ramble I also think I will throw out a question from this book I found- to encourage thinking in your own life, or just for grins. I will answer it here and would love to hear from you, too.

Question: Would you rather spend the day at the beach or on a snow-capped mountain?

I would rather spend the day at the beach. The sun, the surf, even the sand are welcome. The power of the waves overwhelm me, and I definitely think of God when I am at the beach.


The seas have lifted up, O LORD,the seas have lifted up their voice;the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,mightier than the breakers of the sea — the LORD on high is mighty.

Psalm 93:3-4 NIV