Logs, Specks, and Big Rocks

Matthew 7: 1- 5 (NLT)

 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others.The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eyewhen you have a log in your own?  How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

I took on the writing of this blog because it is such familiar territory and a lifelong challenge for me.  I, Janet, am inclined to be a perfectionist.  Perfectionists tend to have a very harsh inner critic… but do pretty fabulously at outer criticism as well.  We know a way, the better way, the best way to do things.  We like to improve things and processes (which can be very positive and helpful) and really like to improve people (which can be very annoying and judgmental). Over time, I found this not only an exhausting way to go through life, but an extremely unloving, unChristlike frame of being.   Jesus is pretty straightforward on this one, don’t you think?

I love nature, including the geological world, and often think of my earthly being as a pile of stones in a river.  God continually flows around, over, under those stones… shifts a few downstream,  tumbles them around, and gradually wears away the rough edges and shapes things to His purpose.  This is one of my rougher and bigger stones for God to work on.  So I’ve learned how to smooth this on a daily, practical level over decades from God and wise teachers and life.  Here are some of the questions I have learned to ask myself when the critic in me emerges:

-          Do I know the whole story?

-          What might be really happening with this person right now?

-          Aren’t people usually trying their best with the knowledge and skills that they have?

-          What part of my internal reaction is born of my own expectations and being?

-          Could there be another way of thinking about this activity/event/situation?

-          How can I be present with what is happening?

-          How can I love in this situation?

-         Do I need to pray… ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner’

I’m sometimes sad that this stone still exists in my part of the river.  I’m often disappointedwhen I hear the verbal stone of judgment being flung about freely in the family of God.  I am always grateful that God gives grace, that God keep rolling me along, and that God always loves.

For all in the world who I have encountered with judgment….

In the name of One who loves at all times,

Janet

“Don’t Worry…be happy?”

Anxiety is like having a hatchet suspended above your head, and fully believing it will fall upon you, and the results will not be pleasant.

Anxiety – worry – takes all the joy out of life.  We all have anxious moments when we entertain the fear of something going terribly wrong.  But some of us are such dedicated worriers that we always have something to be anxious about.

We live in the information age and are constantly being told if “you just buy this” or if “you just do that” all your problems will go away; all your needs will be met.

Maybe you will remember a song that was made quite popular back in the 1980′s by Bobby McFerrin:

“Don’t worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy……”

The song suggests that the answer to worrying is just, “Be happy.”  Aah, if it were just so simple.  It’s like telling an obese person, “Just eat less.”

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  . . . .

 “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.

 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.   Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Mt 6:25, 33-34 NLT

Jesus is not talking about living an indulgent life with no concern about providing for our needs today or in the future.  He is talking about pointless and destructive worrying.  Worrying that serves no benefit and accomplishes nothing good.

He suggests that worrying about how our needs will be met, instead of just trusting in God to meet them, is a sure sign that our faith is weak.  Anxiety is, essentially, a lack of trust in God.  In verse 30, he asks, “Why do you have so little faith?”

Meanwhile, for we who are anxious, let us dwell on this old favorite.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

(Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above,
the entire prayer reads as follows…)

Living one day at a time;  Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Shalom,

Doug Murphey

Letting Love win

Matthew 5:43-48    The Message (MSG)

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

I wanted to share the Message version of this passage as an introduction to our continued exploration of the Sermon on the Mount.  While I encourage you to find and read the NLT version as well, there is something about the way this is phrased that hits home.  Grow up.  Live like we are people of God’s kingdom. Love our enemies.

Enemies is an interesting word to consider.  I think of Hatfields and McCoys.  Of Osama bin Laden.  Of Nazi Germany.  I don’t think of myself as having enemies.

But what of those I’ve wronged in some way… or who have wronged me?

Of someone who has gossiped and backstabbed?

Of the friend who disappointed me that I’ve let drift away?

Of the family member who wounded me, that I may not punish but I certainly can avoid?

Of those who I think of as ‘different’ and ‘less’ and ‘them’?

Maybe most of us have Enemies that are enemies. Who may not decimate our lives or kill our family… but who are the source of our hardest feelings: sadness, despair, anger, loss, bitterness, frustration, hatred.  I’ve found that out of those hard feelings can come a hard place in my heart.  A dark place I protect from the light and the love of God.  A small kernel that I feed in and feed on to keep those feelings alive.

I don’t think Jesus calls us to love our enemies because He thinks we can do this on our own.  He met a few of us after all.  I think Jesus call us to love our enemies because He knows that God can do it.  Let God’s power of Love flow into you.  Into the dark, hard, kernel of non-loving.  Let God’s light shine in and soften the hardest parts of your being.  Let Love flow in… and open yourself up to the miracle as it flows back out in directions you did not expect.  Let Love win.

With peace,  Janet

 

 

Legacy

This Sunday is Mother’s Day.  This Sunday we are also celebrating Music Appreciation Sunday.  I can’t think of a better way to honor our mother’s than through the gift of music.  When I started thinking about that, I thought about my childhood—the role my mother played in shaping the person I was becoming—and the songs she taught me.  Our home was filled with all kinds of music:  The Carpenter’s, Streisand, Ferrante and Teicher, Glenn Miller, Mama Cass, The Beatles, Mozart, Debussy, The Gaither’s, and yes—even Elvis!  The list goes on and on.  What great memories!

But the songs I remember the most, are the songs of faith my mother sang.  She would sing these beloved hymns and choruses while she cleaned the house or while she prepared our meals.  She would sing them when she was happy and when she was sad or while she sat outside on a sunny day watching us play.  She even sang them as sweet lullabies to us at the end of the day or as songs of comfort when we were frightened.

One of her favorite choruses went like this:

Jesus is the sweetest name I know

And He’s just the same as His lovely name

And that’s the reason why I love Him so;

O Jesus is the sweetest name I know.

And with that little chorus, she taught me the greatest and most important thing:  Jesus was the Lord of her life.  She laid the groundwork in my heart—and in my life, so that as I got older, Jesus became the Lord of my life, too.  What an awesome legacy!

Although this week we are celebrating mothers, I believe we all have the opportunity to “lay the groundwork” in someone else’s life.  No matter who we are—mother, father, sister, brother, child, whether a parent or not—we can all leave behind the greatest legacy—a life lived for Jesus Christ!

Paula Harris

Jesus on Anger Management

It’s no surprise that someone who clearly understood forgiveness would have something to say about anger.

I don’t believe that Jesus asks us to deny our anger.  He tells us to deal with it and let it go.  We shouldn’t hold onto it and let it fester.  Festering anger can lead to bitterness.

Take a moment to think of how a bitter flavor tastes in your mouth.   What are the results of drinking something bitter?  Does it leave your mouth dry?  Does it make your mouth pucker?  Does your body shudder?

Now take those sensations and apply them to your heart.  Can you be open and loving if your heart is dry?  Can you be kind and giving if your heart is puckering or shriveling? Can you be aware of those in need if you are wallowing in anger?

A friend of mine has a favorite psalm that instructs us to guard our hearts.  Jesus is telling us how to do that – Don’t hold on to anger.  Let it go so that you may continue to be open and loving to others.

Let us pray.

Dear Father – Please help us to recognize the times when we have refused to forgive a wrong; when we have held on to damaging anger.  Help us to release the anger and let your healing Spirit mend our hearts.  Give us strength in the future to be more quick to release our anger and let your healing love live cradled in our hearts.  We ask this through Jesus Christ Your Son who lives and reign with You and the Holy Spirit one God forever and ever.  Amen.

Fasting in the Margin

Well, it seems that we have been fasting from blogging.

I can’t say that we planned it that way.  Yet, the last post was right before Ash Wednesday… and here we are, nearly 40 days later.  What did God plan?  Did He plan a fast for a staff team working very hard to create all that comes with the Lenten season?  Did He give you a fast from more time on the computer?  Did He give us all more space to find Him in other ways?

Sometimes we choose a fast.  If you pay close attention, you may see that God may give us room to fast… to choose more of Him.  When the cable goes down and a Bible is on the end table.  When we’re stuck at the tracks with an endless freight train and we can choose to listen to talk radio… or just be with Him.  When the computer goes down at home and there are suddenly more hours in the day then we remembered.  Where is God in the space/time that is provided?

I am… perhaps you are… so used to going through days with all of the space filled.  I am so good at filling time with tasks, noise, words.  Yet… I continue to be amazed at the life and joy to be found in the slowing of things and the fasting from filling moments.  In the connection that I can find with God in the quiet spaces.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing long.  Just being with God.

May your reflection on this Lenten season let you see the possibility of those spaces.

May there be abundant room in your life for the celebration of Easter.

May you believe with all your heart, mind and soul that…

          Christ has died.  Christ has risen.  Christ will come again.

 

Janet

Self-Control ~ a wonderful gift

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.”

Self-Control – I believe this gift is one often forgotten about or not asked for as often as the other wonderful gifts that we can receive from the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps we believe that if we have humility, kindness, love, joy, peace, goodness and faithfulness then self-control is a given.  After all, we need to practice self-control to gain these do we not?

Kindness and humility are sometimes impossible to obtain during a really stressful day.  Self-control is very important in the midst of a stressful day.  For sometimes in the middle of stress I am very tempted to lash out.  Patience is definitely not there nor is love or joy.  How we work our way to back to these other gifts is through the grace of self-control.  Self-control ensures that I  don’t lash out at my children or husband with thoughtless words or actions.  Self-control can lead me to the Father to ask for more than the ability to curb my tongue.  I can ask for the peace and patience I desperately need in that moment as well as the humility to understand that I cannot do this alone.  I need the Father’s help through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

During this Lenten season, may we all ask the Holy Spirit for the mighty gift of self-control.

In God’s caring love, be blessed,

Kate