Wow, today has been full of lots of interesting things. My husband's company Memorial Day celebration happened today, and it was full of great fellowship with a lot of wonderful people. There was some food involved, a bouncy house, a petting zoo that included a Llama, and a fantastic orchestra who played really great music for us. I really enjoyed watching the kids play all around the area we used for the celebration, and seeing them really love on the animals that were brought for them to enjoy!
It got me thinking about something. Enjoying the company of others can be challenging sometimes. It requires the ability to not only talk, but to listen. I will confess I struggle with listening with care sometimes. I am thinking I spend too much time alone and when I get around others I tend to let it all out because subconsciously I am not sure when my next fellowship opportunity is going to come. That sounds kind of sad doesn't it? One of my goals is to learn to be a better listener so that my loved ones, both family and friends, feel loved. When a person hears nothing but their own voice, it shows a sad lack of caring about others, and this is a personal growth area.
The people around me are gracious for the most part. Every once in a while I get someone who looks like they might be avoiding me, and this always makes me feel sad, but I ask myself why that might be, and usually I find that its because I am too focused on me and not enough on them and they feel like I don't really care. Those that have taken the time to get to know me seem to enjoy my company, but they have worked through my anxiety about doing something stupid in front of them, and shown that they care about me and so have brought me to a place of letting my guard down.
My day was fun because who doesn't enjoy fellowship, food, good music and a petting zoo! It was also thought provoking because those I fellowshipped with are part of my family in Christ and I want them to feel loved and appreciated by me. So that is my challenge. Learn to listen, practice saying fewer words so that they can get a word in edgewise, and hold no grudges.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Community Within Your Family
It has been a lot of years since my son was small. When he was young we had regular family devotions, had evenings set aside for reading as a family from some book we found interesting, and had regular game nights. He got older and we got busier and those things by and larger fell by the wayside. We still counted important our fellowship together, but we lost our way about how to do this, especially when our son became an adult. Learning to relate to adult children is far different from when they are little and even teens and they are still under your authority for their schedule.
Finding a new kind of relationship within that family dynamic is critical. Why? Well do you want your adult children to value you as you age? Do you want them to come see you when they move out of the house on their own? How about when they have their own children, do you want them to bring those grandchildren to see you and to teach them to love and respect you like they do? Then it is really important to find your way in establishing a new kind of relationship that focuses on community within the family.
Community is talked about a lot in Scripture, and having a healthy relationship with others. Churches teach about having a fellowship or community of believers that love and value each other. This is just as true in families. My family has started going through the process of seeing this as important and figuring out what that means for us. We are on a journey to build our relationship with God and with each other. It will not look like it did when our son was young, and it will not look like another family's journey. It will start with hope, and end with love and in the middle it will take a lot of faith to persevere, and not give up when failures happen. Building a community within our family will help us to be a better part of the community that exists in our church and everywhere we go and interact with others.
How about you? What does your family community look like? It is a good thought to ponder on.
Finding a new kind of relationship within that family dynamic is critical. Why? Well do you want your adult children to value you as you age? Do you want them to come see you when they move out of the house on their own? How about when they have their own children, do you want them to bring those grandchildren to see you and to teach them to love and respect you like they do? Then it is really important to find your way in establishing a new kind of relationship that focuses on community within the family.
Community is talked about a lot in Scripture, and having a healthy relationship with others. Churches teach about having a fellowship or community of believers that love and value each other. This is just as true in families. My family has started going through the process of seeing this as important and figuring out what that means for us. We are on a journey to build our relationship with God and with each other. It will not look like it did when our son was young, and it will not look like another family's journey. It will start with hope, and end with love and in the middle it will take a lot of faith to persevere, and not give up when failures happen. Building a community within our family will help us to be a better part of the community that exists in our church and everywhere we go and interact with others.
How about you? What does your family community look like? It is a good thought to ponder on.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
A Walk on the Light Side!
It is gloomy outside! I am not fond of gloom. I typically like sunshine and heat and sitting by the poolside outdoors. We have had a string of cloudy days and some rain this last week. I was bumming when I found out that this week's forecast was filled with gloom. I have a hard time begrudging rain because we always need it, but gloom? I am not a fan of endless cloudy days.
In life I am the same. I thrive on optimism and looking for the good instead of the bad in life. I am not a constantly cheerful person, but if given lemons, I typically see if I can make lemonade out of them. I am to use another trite expression, a glass is half full kind of gal.
Walking on the light side for me does not mean endless fluffy topics of conversation that mean nothing, it means remembering that in spite of the gloom I have The Son, and He is light and hope and joy and peace. I could never be a sith Lord because use of the force for me would be in the light range, not the dark. I can maniacally run around bashing bad things in my favorite game, Guild Wars 2, but I am still a light girl.
These are the things that let me walk on the light side when the day is gloomy.
Jesus Christ my Savior, He is my glory and my crown.
The Bible. It gives me truth and hope, conviction of sin when I walk in it, and direction to live by.
The Indwelling Holy Spirit. He is my Comforter and Convicter when I do wrong. He walks with me so that I am never alone.
The Body of Christ. These fellow brothers and sister remind me that I am part of a family, though often dysfunctional, and that they are there to help and for me to help them.
My Family. My husband and son. God's Word says He sets the lonely in families. I often feel lonely, and can go to my family and receive comfort and companionship that staves off those lonely feelings and reconnects and grounds me.
A couple of my favorite verses in the Bible are Proverbs 3:5-6 and Jeremiah 29:11.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
To walk in the Light is so joyful when I fix my eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face. These things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!
In life I am the same. I thrive on optimism and looking for the good instead of the bad in life. I am not a constantly cheerful person, but if given lemons, I typically see if I can make lemonade out of them. I am to use another trite expression, a glass is half full kind of gal.
Walking on the light side for me does not mean endless fluffy topics of conversation that mean nothing, it means remembering that in spite of the gloom I have The Son, and He is light and hope and joy and peace. I could never be a sith Lord because use of the force for me would be in the light range, not the dark. I can maniacally run around bashing bad things in my favorite game, Guild Wars 2, but I am still a light girl.
These are the things that let me walk on the light side when the day is gloomy.
Jesus Christ my Savior, He is my glory and my crown.
The Bible. It gives me truth and hope, conviction of sin when I walk in it, and direction to live by.
The Indwelling Holy Spirit. He is my Comforter and Convicter when I do wrong. He walks with me so that I am never alone.
The Body of Christ. These fellow brothers and sister remind me that I am part of a family, though often dysfunctional, and that they are there to help and for me to help them.
My Family. My husband and son. God's Word says He sets the lonely in families. I often feel lonely, and can go to my family and receive comfort and companionship that staves off those lonely feelings and reconnects and grounds me.
A couple of my favorite verses in the Bible are Proverbs 3:5-6 and Jeremiah 29:11.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
To walk in the Light is so joyful when I fix my eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face. These things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!
Monday, May 4, 2015
Death, How to Face it without Fear
I sat down today to have my quiet time. I started a week or so ago going through my Pastor's past sermons. I have been battling with something and knew I needed help. I decided that help could come from my Pastor in a slightly different way then seeking counseling sessions. In my quiet time I listened to his message on Revelation 1:17-18. He pointed out, and rightly so, that most of us spend a lot of time avoiding death, and even thinking about death. We have come up with a bazillion words to describe what we do not want to accept. We are a dying people. We are a dead people.
When sin entered the world, things literally went to Hell in a handbasket. Everyone died in Adam that day. We are true Zombies. We live and breathe and move around, but we are dead spiritually. I don't feel dead, do you? Bodily we are not dead of course. It is spiritually that we are dead. God breathed the breath of life into Adam and man became a living soul. We became different from the animals God had created. We were made in God's image. Therefore when Adam and Eve sinned, they spiritually died just like God had told them. God has been working on redemption ever since. He has finished the work of spiritual redemption through what Jesus Christ did on the cross, but there is still a physical redemption to be had. He is working on that.
In regard to death, Jesus conquered it. Most Christians don't even live with this in mind. Many of us are just as fearful of dying as those who have not received Jesus as their Savior. Why? We embrace the culture around us, and spend just as much time fighting off aging and death as everyone else. This is our cultural norm. A few weeks ago I looked up what the average American lifespan is. I found that for men it's around 78, and women its 82. In my mind I though to myself, wow, I have a shot at 82! That is 33 more years to live! Woot! I can do lots of fun things in that time. I too am in the mindset of fighting off death in order to play and have fun, in order to accomplish my personal goals.
Death is coming whether I like or accept it or not. Death is not a faithful companion, it is the enemy, but Jesus conquered death. Because He conquered death, I don't need to be fearful of it. I need to accept death as an inevitable reality, and live my life, not for me, but for Him who saved me. If I want to face death without fear, I need to trust in the One who conquered death and I need to follow Him in faith. I need to accept what death is, the reality of it and stop running away from the truth. What that is going to look like for me I don't know yet. I am sure of this, its time to put away this fear and trust the One who loves me and sent His Son to be my salvation.
When sin entered the world, things literally went to Hell in a handbasket. Everyone died in Adam that day. We are true Zombies. We live and breathe and move around, but we are dead spiritually. I don't feel dead, do you? Bodily we are not dead of course. It is spiritually that we are dead. God breathed the breath of life into Adam and man became a living soul. We became different from the animals God had created. We were made in God's image. Therefore when Adam and Eve sinned, they spiritually died just like God had told them. God has been working on redemption ever since. He has finished the work of spiritual redemption through what Jesus Christ did on the cross, but there is still a physical redemption to be had. He is working on that.
In regard to death, Jesus conquered it. Most Christians don't even live with this in mind. Many of us are just as fearful of dying as those who have not received Jesus as their Savior. Why? We embrace the culture around us, and spend just as much time fighting off aging and death as everyone else. This is our cultural norm. A few weeks ago I looked up what the average American lifespan is. I found that for men it's around 78, and women its 82. In my mind I though to myself, wow, I have a shot at 82! That is 33 more years to live! Woot! I can do lots of fun things in that time. I too am in the mindset of fighting off death in order to play and have fun, in order to accomplish my personal goals.
Death is coming whether I like or accept it or not. Death is not a faithful companion, it is the enemy, but Jesus conquered death. Because He conquered death, I don't need to be fearful of it. I need to accept death as an inevitable reality, and live my life, not for me, but for Him who saved me. If I want to face death without fear, I need to trust in the One who conquered death and I need to follow Him in faith. I need to accept what death is, the reality of it and stop running away from the truth. What that is going to look like for me I don't know yet. I am sure of this, its time to put away this fear and trust the One who loves me and sent His Son to be my salvation.
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