Unplug so you can Plug in

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes...including you." Anne Lamott

  All of us can be guilty of our feet moving faster than the rest of our bodies. We are trying to do too much too fast. Recently I tried to make an appointment with a colleague, when she opened her calendar, my jaw dropped. Instead of making an appointment to meet with her, I suggested she make an appointment to unplug.

  The other day, I was guilty of doing too much too fast. My feet had barely hit the floor and I was already doing everything. By mid-morning, I had done a lot of things, but my mind was swimming. I walked right by my prayer chair a dozen times. The chair in the corner that I set up to meet with God each day. Somewhere, back in the annuals of my mind, I remembered setting up that prayer spot so I could give my agenda and calendar to God each day. The intention was heartfelt at the time, but the my practices had fallen way short.  So, without a lot of fanfare, I plopped down in the chair. I unplugged for a moment and invited God into my day. To the outside world, I didn't look very productive in that moment. I was sitting in a comfy chair, with my eyes closed, and taking deep, slow breaths. But, inside, there was a great shift occurring, the Spirit's grace pouring into me, God's peace touching me, and a calm came to my mind. Within those moments, I saw my calendar before me, but instead of feeling overwhelmed, I felt gratitude, as God highlighted "his" priorities on my calendar.  To the outside world, when I got up from that chair, I didn't look much different, but I had grown an inch closer to God. 

   Jesus prayed often. Jesus went away alone to pray, he went off in the wilderness to pray, he got up early and climbed a mountain to pray alone. Read this verse from Luke 11:1 "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” As soon as Jesus was done praying, his colleagues (the disciples) asked him to do something. It's like our phone ringing, or our e-mail dinging, or the toddler tugging on our shirt. What did Jesus do? He taught them the greatest prayer the world has ever known, the Lord's prayer. Jesus unplugged himself for a minute to pray so when he plugged back in he was ready to face the demands of the world.

  All of us can hit the "restart" button. We may only have a minute in an hour, or a quick lunch break, but we can choose to give some of our time to God. Giving some of our time to be with God is an offering that we make, and God blesses and multiplies. 

  Right now, go ahead, pull out your calendar, take a look, find a spot where you can write "unplug"? 

To Catch your breath, you need to stop running

To catch your breath, you need to stop running!

  Yesterday, I sat outside and breathed. So many of us take breathing for granted. We do it without thinking, thank God! A few years ago, whenever I was asked to pray, I would say, "Let's pray" and then take a long slow breath. After one of these prayers, a woman said to me, "I was afraid you had forgotten what you were going to say!" This led to a discussion on breathing. So many of us have a hurried pace to our days. Taking long, slow, deep breaths is not just a way to calm down, it's a way to center ourselves and take a moment tho thank God for that breath. No matter where you are, paying attention to your breathing for a few minutes, can connect you straight to God. 

  So often I hear people who want to have a more intimate connection with God, our breath is that intimate connection. 

Meditate on this verse for a moment 

"...the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life's breath into his nostrils." 

             Genesis 2:8 Contemporary English Bible.

We can't get much closer to God, than God's own breath in our lungs.  This world changes very fast. It seems as soon as we upgrade one system, another one is ready to come out. As soon as we get our handle on one fire, another one pops up somewhere else. As soon as we think we've got it all together, the gas light comes on.  This is a fast paced, technological world, but God designed some simple reminders of his presence, our breath is one of those gifts. 

   So yesterday, I got home and I sat outside for a bit, I let the dog romp and play and I did nothing, but breathe. Breathe and thank God for that breath. Achoo! And then I sneezed, and I thanked God for that topsoil and the pollen too. 

 

Prayer: (Take a long, slow, deep breath). Lord, you breathe life into me, may I breathe your Word into your creation. Amen

Wild Geese

“Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth!

 Be happy! Rejoice out loud!

 Sing your praises! With trumpets and a horn blast,

 shout triumphantly before the Lord, the king! Psalm 98:4,6 (CEB version)

We gathered in the graveyard for Sunrise Easter service. We gathered in the graveyard, because that is where Mary and Peter were when they discovered the tomb was empty. They were not at the cross, they were at the cemetery. The story of the Church begins in the graveyard, at an empty tomb, early in the morning. So, this past Sunday, the faithful Shiloh community gathered in the graveyard and we looked to the East. We saw the pink, yellow, and blue start to paint across the horizon. I planned for us to stand in silence for a minute to appreciate the sunrise.  The silence was broken by trumpets. Two wild geese sounded their trumpets and then splashed down on the pond. Then our worship began, with trumpets and great fanfare. I knew it was a special moment.  Later that evening, I was conversing with a friend, who told me how touched she was at her church’s sunrise service, by the sound of wild geese. Then she said to me, “Did you know the Celtic Christians thought wild geese represented the Holy Spirit?” I did not know this. But, now that I do, I am totally awed by God’s grace that welcomed us to worship, early on Easter morning, with the sound of heavenly trumpets. Sometimes the best worship is in the cathedral of God’s creation.

I have been researching these Holy Spirit geese and came across this quote that has given me great pause for prayer this week:  

“Jesus said that those Christians who were led by the Spirit were like the wind—you don’t know where it comes from and you don’t know where it’s going. A Christian who follows the wild goose is wild and free themselves. They have lives that are less than predictable. They live life to the full (John 10:10). They are wild and free, untamable either by society that would bind them with lies or by religion that would chain them with duty and obligation. 

A life following in the tailwind of the wild goose. That’s the kind of life that calls to our innermost being and awakens the lethargic longings within. The problem is, we know few—if any—Christians who have discovered the flight path.” from Flight of the Wild Goose 

by Bill Tenny-Brittian (http://www.hcna.us/articles/flight-of-the-wild-goose.htm)

Pray: God of resurrection and new life, I stand in awe of your amazing creation. Forgive me when I rush past your spring glory and complain about the rain. Today, may I follow the Holy Spirit’s tailwind. Awaken my innermost being and open my ears to the sounds of worship and praise all around me. Amen

The rain pounded down on the roof this morning. I love the rain. I heard some thunder, too. We haven’t had warm enough weather in a while to cause a storm like this, so I just listened. As I sat there, in the silence of life, but in the midst of the storm, I was very glad I did not have to go outside. I was safe, warm, and dry inside. Later in the day, I ventured out. The ground was soggy, but I didn’t need an umbrella. As I was walking over to our church, I saw the daffodils by the cross. They seemed to be bowing. “Hmm, I thought, bowing at the foot of the cross!” So this set my mind spinning. There are many storms in life. Some are pop up rain showers, some may be grand thunderstorms. If you asked the daffodil, it probably did not want the hard pounding it had received, the downpour that made it bend over a bit. But, if the daffodil stopped to consider the whole scene, the very rain that pounded also gave it much needed water that seeped into to help it grow. So, what do we do when the storm seems to be raging, harder and stronger than we can handle? Take a lesson from the daffodil, sometimes, in the midst of the storm, all you can do is bow down at the cross, but know that while you are bowing, your roots are being watered.

Bible Nerd

I am a Bible nerd. As I drive, I like to listen to pray-as-you go (can be found as prayasyougo.org). This is a 10 minute prayer time, with music, scripture, silence, and reflection questions. Yesterday, I had to hit pause, after I heard this from Daniel 9:4

"As I prayed to the Lord my God, I made this confession: Please, my Lord—you are the great and awesome God, the one who keeps the covenant, and truly faithful to all who love him and keep his commands"  

I paused and reflected on this amazingly faithful statement by Daniel. I tend to forget rather often how awesome God was, and is.  I get lost in the mundaneness of everyday and I forget that God makes covenants and keeps them. A covenant is more than a promise, it is initiated by God, like the rainbow covenant with Noah and the many descendants covenant with Abraham and Sarah. God begins the conversation, offers the promise, and then keeps the covenant, no matter what I do, how far I stray, or how often I forget, God KEEPS the covenant. God is faithful to me, always.  So, I hit pause, I thought about this verse, I thanked God, and then I spent some time thinking about all the times God has kept covenant with me. This pause gave a little nudge to my heart and I was reminded, I truly do love God, even if I forget to say it, a lot, I forget a lot. 

   "I love you, takes a second to say, an hour to explain, and I lifetime to prove."

Prayer: Lord, my God, you are great and awesome, you keep the covenant and are truly faithful to me. Thank you, I love you. Amen

Swiss chard and kale, oh joy!

Tonight, I am thinking inside the box. We order our groceries from Relay food. I love it. Saves me time. I buy more local and more fresh. We have also tried new things. We order a tasting box once a month and they send us the most amazing and sometimes strange foods to taste. I just pulled out of the oven pesto beer bread. They sent the mix, I provided the beer, and WaLA!

Also, we have ordered the harvest basket in an attempt to be healthier. Beautiful, colorful, in season produce is delivered to us and it is delightful. Tonight I realized, I know what this stuff is now! The first time we received swiss chard in our bounty basket, I had no idea what it was. Now I jump for joy. Tonight we are using the flat leaf kale, and we are excited.

So why am I telling you this?

Because I have always been told it takes at least three months to change a habit. The problem is I don't normally stick with anything for three months. Now I have, I am healthier in mind and body and excited about kale. Three months ago I had never eaten a bite of kale.

There are so many things we think we want to do or we know we ought to do. But we just don't let it out of our brain. We never put it into practice. And many of us beat ourselves up and worry about it. The to do list that never gets checked off. I have learned it is far better to do it, get it out of you mind, off your head, if you fail you are more likely to succeed the second or third time you tried and you will learn other, unexpected lessons along the way.  I have made a change and here is what I know....
1. Let it out of your brain, tell your friends what you want to do.
2. Make simple easy steps. For us it was making a middle man, someone to deliver our groceries.
3. Stick to it. You may not do it as much as you want, don't set you goal to high or too far.
4. Celebrate. The first time I threw away the swiss chard. The second time we got it I found out what it was, then it spoiled. The third time I got it I googled a recipe and now I am excited over swiss chard.

                                          Just a thought from inside the tasting box tonight!

Perfect Practice

The olympics have inspired me so much it is fun and exciting to watch our favorites “go for the gold.” But I imagine it’s not so exciting to watch the daily practices. The hours and hours of falling off the beam, hitting the wall, missing the goal. I imagine it’s no fun as one athlete said, “I haven’t ordered dessert in two years.” To be an Olympic champion you must put in the work, every day, you must push through the pain, the disappointment, make no excuses this is how you become strong. 

Training for the olympics is a metaphor for training for life. We are all working toward perfection. To be more like Jesus. We must put in the time to reach this goal. We must study, pray, worship and grow. But we are a grumbling people. That word is used a lot in the Bible. We grumble, we complain, we make excuses.

The Good News is that we are never alone. God is with us, our coach, our cheerleader. God is with us when we fail, God is with us when we succeed. 

As awesome as winning an Olympic Gold Medal is, it will be put in a sock drawer where dust, and time will eat it away. 

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

But when we put in the work each day of drawing closer to Jesus we will never be disappointed. And if we falter and fall, it’s ok, God’s grace will pull us through this race. So today, I am going to put some work into reading God’s word. I am not going for the gold, I am going for God.