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.

Over Thinking

I am an over thinker. It's crazy because I am also an impulse thinker. There are things I don't ponder for long. Things that are rather significant, like getting married. Then there are things that I think and think and think about. I ponder for days. I change my mind over and over. I feel the first step is often the biggest step. I fear the first step so often. I fear because I do not know what lies beyond the first step. On the other hand, I can see what was behind me and it feels safe.
  Some people learn to swim by being pushed into the pool. Not me. For those who pushed me into the pool in my younger years, I still hold a bit of animosity. I prefer you to tell me what swimming is like, how to do it, maybe even show me. Then encourage me to take the first step, support me, reassure me, don't pull the rug out from under me.
  As I mature I am understanding mor the phrase, "It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." My problem isn't the tricks, it's the fear. The fear of that first step into something new. I know it could be better than my wildest dreams but then I start over thinking again.
 So, I am loving the person that I am but working on the person that I want to be. The person that I want to be is going to stop writing what I want to do on the bucket list and start putting some check marks on things that I have done.

Thank you God for the birds that sing of your joy when we moan and groan,
Thank you God for your plans and taking it out of my hands,
Thank you God for sleeping dogs and melodic tones.
I am so sorry that I forget to say thank you,
I am so glad that you love me anyway.

God is working when I am piddling

This week has been a cleaning up bits and pieces, odds and ends, do something here and there, constantly moving but not really finishing anything big. My mother calls this piddling. She loves to piddle. In fact one of her favorite things about being retired is the free time to piddle. When I piddle I feel a guilt, like there is something bigger I should be completing.

Today, I was reminded that God is always working even when I think I am piddling.

This woman was looking for the bathroom in the church. After I showed her where that was I started a conversation with her. It turns out she is the daughter of a homebound member of my congregation. She shared some information with me and I with her...God's grace was working in that encounter, in that relationship, and in my piddling.

A wise clergywoman told me once, "Sarah there is an ebb and flow to ministry, just go with it, rest when you need to rest, go with the flow when it's flowing, but most of all don't worry, God is always working." Thank you God, for giving me a season to piddle and rest.