Recently in Grace Category

Do you ever find yourself staring at a to-do list on a Monday morning and wondering where to start? Yesterday morning I was like a deer staring into the headlights of a Mac truck. I had two books to edit, a house that needed cleaning, a pile of laundry that looked like a bed for a horse and a son, still on vacation who wanted to go swimming. If I'm not careful, I can get so overwhelmed that it sends me into a semi-comatose state where I think to myself, "I know what to do, I'll take a nap." Now, I have nothing against naps, I am a big fan of naps, but I only got up two hours earlier. So, I took a deep breath, a cup of coffee and I slipped out of the house onto the back patio and sat in my Father's presence. Psalm 46:10 reads, "Be still and know that I am God." The Hebrew root of, 'Be still' means-Let go! I used to think that verse was encouraging me be still in perfect silence until I attained some mystical knowledge of God. I found that very hard. Now I consciously bring everything I have to do and everyone I love to God and I let go. I let go of the stress of getting it all right or even done on time. I let go of my desire to be perfect and I stay there in the love of God until that joy is greater than anything that needs to get done. I pray that for you today. I don't know what your to-do list looks like but I pray that it pails in comparison to the awareness of how much you are loved by your heavenly Father.

I looked at my to-do list today and had two more cups of coffee! I have to take Christian to basketball camp, pick up groceries for the next four days, do the laundry, get my nails done, pick Christian up from basketball camp, take him to get new school uniforms, cook dinner, go to my exercise class, take the dogs for a walk.... oh, and write a Blog!

Do you ever feel as if you fall into bed at night thinking, "I didn't really get anything significant done today, just the same old stuff I did yesterday."? As I lie in bed not sleeping I'm thinking about the fact that I have to leave for a conference in Ohio tomorrow and I haven't packed and I wonder if I got in enough of the right kind of groceries to tide my husband and son over until Sunday when I get home.

I don't think God designed us to carry the worry and stress that we drag with us through our days and into our nights. Jesus made that pretty clear, "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:34 (The Message)

God promises us grace for this day, not for tomorrow. He says that when tomorrow comes there will be fresh grace for that day too. When I'm concentrating about what might happen in the next few days I'm not fully present in this moment. This is the day we have, it is a gift but if we forget that, we might miss it altogether. So my prayer for you today is that you would be acutely aware of the presence of God in every moment - no matter how long your to-do list is!

It was real sadness that I listened to news of Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina's affair with a woman the press is referring to as, Maria. Sadness for many reasons. One because of how publicly betrayed his wife must feel. Two, a huge ache as a mom for her four boys but three, for the man himself. I would imagine that if he could turn back the pages of time, he would but that opportunity is never available to any of us. We must live with the choices we have made. There is something in us as humans that is fascinated by the failures of others. Perhaps we think by reviling them that we remove ourselves from the arena of the fallen, as if by judging their demons we exorcise our own. It is usually true that those who are the most vocal about a particular sin dance just a few steps ahead of it in their own lives. To me, this is not a time to judge or to condone. It is a time to get on our knees and ask for mercy and grace. Let's pray for this family. Whatever the long-term outcome, they are all in pain. Let's ask for mercy for ourselves that when we find ourselves confronted by moments that could detrimentally change our lives forever we will find God's strength to walk away.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Dear Friends,

If I am in my car sometimes between noon and two o'clock, I listen to a particular talk radio program where people call in for advice and counsel. Some days I cringe when I hear the caller lay out a situation, because the host's main concern is not to win popularity contests but to speak the truth, however painful that may be to hear. And at times the truth is fairly brutal.

I was driving to school one day to pick Christian up and I tuned in to the show. The woman caller was very upset at her stepmother who had never lived up to the daughter's expectations of what a mother should be. The caller had never known her own mother, and for thirty years she had allowed herself to be wounded over and over when her new "mom" didn't measure up.

I felt real sympathy for this woman. There are so many things in life that are just not fair. Life seems random and cruel to many people who are rejected over and over again.

The host didn't appear to share my sympathy. And I was struck by her simple message that has enormous potential to impact our lives. I'm paraphrasing a little, but she said something like this:

You have a choice. You can spend your life being angry at what you did not get out of life or you can count your blessings for what you have.

I thought about what she said for some time. We all have losses in our lives. But if we choose to feast on them every day, they numb our souls to all the good that God pours out on us every day. I still miss my dad. I would love to have grown up with a father. I would love to have been able to talk to him about men, to tell him when I was afraid, to have him tell me that I was beautiful, but he died when I was a child. Sometimes at school functions I would look at other fathers and wish that I was at my dad's side. I could have spent the rest of my life regretting that or blaming my poor choices or lack of courage on the fact that I lost my father, but the flip side has much more to offer. I have a wonderful mother, who was there for me in ways that my friends with two parents didn't always experience.

We can choose to remain in a "stuck" place regretting what is not, or we can become alive and fully awake to what is good and true about our lives.

That evening, as I took our dogs for a long walk, I watched the sunset over our lake as I reflected on the day. I thought again that sometimes we don't notice what we have in our own backyards because it doesn't look like we think it should. I'm sure your childhood was not perfect. Maybe your loss or anger involves your dad or your husband or your wife or your stepson or yourself. Sometimes we are so aware of what is not there that we miss what we have. Yet the very act of being grateful for what we do have multiplies our gratitude and opens our eyes so that we see that we have even more than we thought we had at the start.

Can a grateful heart change our actions and our relationships? The woman who called the radio show will never have the mother of her dreams, but I propose that by loving her mother and encouraging her and being the kind of daughter she herself would like to have, the caller might see the step mom blossom. Yet even if that does not happen, it is the right thing to do, to choose to act with a grateful heart. Cultivating gratitude removes us from being victims to being free to love and act as we are called to do.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul encouraged the church to let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts. I believe that living with a thankful heart is a large part of that process. Waking the soul is more than a one-time conversion. It is a daily turning from what is destructive to what is Christ like.

If this sounds too Pollyanna-like for you, let me remind you of several things that are true for those who follow after Christ:

1. God loves you more than you will ever comprehend on this earth.

2. Christ has already paid for your sins. Your bill is paid in full.

3. Your eternal home is secure with him in heaven.

4. There will come a day when every tear will be wiped away and every heart be made new.

5. You are not alone, for Christ is with you every moment of every day.

6. You are a child of the King of Kings. That is your eternal identity.

I know that life can be hard sometimes, and I encourage you to take time to grieve your losses. But do not be defined by them. Use them by the grace and strength of God as stepping-stones to a deeper life, a life of peace, a life lived with a thankful heart.

Dear Lord,
Thank you that you love me.
Thank you that my home is secure with you for eternity.
Thank you that because of you I am never alone.
Thank you.

Amen.

With love,

Sheila

A friend asked me a couple of years ago if I blogged and I looked at her with the blank stare of the uninitiated. There are words that have today become the cornerstones of our pop culture that had no meaning at all five or ten years ago. Most of them have to do with methods of connecting or communicating and that fact in itself speaks volumes. The world that we live in is a vastly different place than the world our parents grew up in.

I have just returned from a trip to Scotland to celebrate my Mom's eightieth birthday. She lives in the same small town where she was born. She is a member of the same small church where her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother were members. She is connected in many deep and meaningful ways to her community and culture. She can tell me the name of almost every child she went to school with and what career and family choices they made. The tapestry of her life is rich and vibrant.

Many of my generation tell a different story. We went away to college and then relocated across the country or world depending on career or calling. We have a lot of 'stuff' that previous generations would not have known to dream of but beneath it all we still long for connection, to know that we are not alone in this journey.

If I had to define my life's passion in one sentence it would be this-To live every moment in the love of God and be a channel of his love to others.

So that's what my blog will be about-moments of seeing God in unexpected places, moments of unexpected grace amidst the questions and challenges of life. I don't know where you are in your journey as you read this but if you will allow me to lay the first piece of the jigsaw puzzle of faith on the table it would be this simple truth, God loves you, right now, as you are, he loves you...to be continued!

Sheila