Star-fish

    Lately, my husband has been ill and our puppy is six months old and finding new ways to cause chaos in our home. My energy level has been low and I'm struggling to keep our home clean and in some semblance of order. I've been talking to God a lot!     I can't get my COVID vaccine until the very last group of people, so somewhere around May or June in our state. So, some people I know have had the vaccines and want to go out to dinner and visit with the grandkids (who have gone back to school), I am trying to remain cautious as I've spent over a year hunkered down and don't want to get exposed to it the last month or two of my personal quarantine.      The things I could/should be doing, I don't want to do (exercise, eat right, clean house, etc.) and the things I shouldn't do I do (eat comfort foods, shop, watch TV, etc.). I've tried shaming myself and reorganizing my time and then there's puppy problems that need addressed or doctor's appoint...

    We received an email yesterday reminding my husband that it was his grandmother's birthday. His cousin shared photos and memories. We wrote back with other stories, and another cousin emailed the group today with a favorite  anecdote regarding Grandma Lydia's life. Lydia lived to almost 113 years old. She was at one time the 20th oldest person in the world and even had a full page photo and article about her in the National Geographic magazine.      Most of the memories are about her calm demeanor and strong faith. She rode shotgun in the days of buckboards from the silver mine to the bank with her husband. She noted spryly, "And we never got robbed!" She moved twice in one day, due to her initial house burning down as they were moving in, but she said she was grateful they saved the kids and a bag of beans. One time in her hundreds, she noted not sleeping well at night and I asked her what she did about it. She noted, "I pray for other p...

    What does the Bible say about hate? Actually, quite a bit, but let's just look at a couple of scriptures in Proverbs. "'I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Counsel and sound  judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power'" (Proverbs 8:12-14).     Those few scriptures pack a powerful punch. First, there is the issue of pairing wisdom with prudence. The sense that we should act with  discretion. Then, if we have wisdom we will also "possess knowledge and discretion." So with our knowledge of the truth, we are now free to make choices that are wise. Those wise decisions are not to puff us up or make us feel more superior to others, rather our wisdom of God should draw us nearer to Him and develop our character further.      Once our character is more like God's, we will walk humbly with our God and no lo...

    A couple of my good friends and family members are in the process of moving or transitioning to new homes. I thought back to when I was younger and how many times I moved during and after college. Moving then amounted to getting someone with a truck to take my few boxes of belongings to the next location. (I always laughed when I saw this bumper sticker on a person's truck, "Yes, I own a truck. No, I will not help you move!)     Moving, as an "actual" adult, becomes much more complicated and there are many more emotional strings attached. The home may have many memories, not unlike a scrapbook, where you picture events or family members around the dining table or chatting at the kitchen counter. Moving, as an adult, usually means cancelling a lot of accounts and sending new addresses to many businesses that need to locate you later for processing bills for utilities, health insurance, etc. The list of "change of address" forms and emails feel endless.  ...

    Leviticus is a tough book of the Bible for me to read. There is a lot of animal sacrifices and rules and regulations and it can become a bit gory and mundane at the same time. But today, the notes at the bottom of the page that explained one especially sad event really spoke to me.      Leviticus 9:23-24 is about God sending fire to consume a burnt offering and the people's reactions to this miraculous event, "they shouted for joy and fell facedown." But then it goes on to say that, "Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD..." the fire then consumed them and they died. Wow, brutal, right?!      So, I am thinking, what does this mean, why did they have to die? The notes of my NIV Bible on page 158 explain it this way, "The new community had to be made aware that it existed for God, not vice versa." I have another Bible on my desk and picked...

      Sometimes, as the days of COVID drag on, and the gray days of winter do the same, I begin to feel down and gloomy as well. A friend, I was texting, said she felt the same way some times and wondered why we have these low days. I texted back, "Sometimes we forget this is not our home," which is true, but also, it is the nature of the human race to feel a variety of emotions, sorrow is just one example.      Even Jesus, as His last days here on earth started to come to an end, became "overwhelmed with sorrow." Matthew 26:36-39 gives us the  scenario, "Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' Going a little farther, he fell with his face to th...

    As I was flipping through channels yesterday, I stopped at a preacher talking about forgiveness. He noted that you can forgive, yet not forget, and it is still forgiveness. Peter came to Jesus and asked, "'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?'  Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times,'" (Matthew 18:21-23 NIV).      I love how Peter probably thought he was being quite generous by forgiving others seven times and Jesus put him in his place by saying, "not seven times, but seventy-seven times." In other words, Peter, you aren't even close to forgiving enough times, how many times have I (Jesus) forgiven you and your brothers and sisters? Jesus took all our sins to the cross on His very own blood stained back. He took the sins of generations past, present, and future to the cross and every time, not sometimes, but every single time we genuinely bring our si...

      These days of toil and struggle due to natural disasters, the global pandemic, and manmade strife and division, can make me seek peace, comfort, and feel in need of counsel. I was reminded this morning as I read Isaiah 9:6 where my peace and counsel comes from, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."      Isaiah, (his name literally means, "The LORD saves"), is an Old Testament prophet that writes about God's final judgment and salvation through the Messiah (later to be called Jesus Christ in the New Testament). He tells his readers about a day when there will be peace and safety on earth, but it will come at a cost. Those that do not repent from their sins, will be judged for them. This is not unlike when wise parents discipline their children. They want their children to re...