"Waiting is the in-between time. It calls us to be in this moment, this season, without leaning so far into the future that we tear our roots from the present. When we learn to wait, we experience where we are as what is truly substantial and precious in life."
Sue Monk Kidd, "When the Heart Waits"
Always looking ahead to the new Big Thing can cause you to miss the Potentially Big Thing right now. I used to keep a calendar on my desk when I was in college and I carefully X-ed out each day as the sun set. I was totally living in the future, as if my life began when I finished school and not a minute before! The truth is, now I look back and am sad I didn't live more in that present. When I finally DID get out of school, the Big Thing that I had been marking time to reach really wasn't all that big or great. I had been looking to the future to finally live, and, in that process, missed living that time to the fullest. We do get caught up in the up-coming, don't we? We are old enough to be looking toward retirement as the next Big Thing, marking off years, or even days. Like, once in a moment of insanity, I figured out I have 500 Mondays til I retire! Good grief! (I didn't factor in Monday holidays, however, so it's possibly less). The point is, today may be all we actually have to live. If our hearts and minds are living in the future (or the past) we will miss this critical day of life. Live today, each moment, to the fullest! Love, heidi
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Look harder
"But Herod said, 'John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?' And he kept trying to see him."
Luke 9:9
And the same could honestly be said about us...we keep trying to see Jesus. We are either looking in the wrong places or we are missing the obvious. Where are we looking? Are we walking right past Jesus, looking for him only in church when he is actually on a street corner? Herod was the king, if he wanted to really see Jesus, he could have sent for Jesus. I don't think he wanted to see him that badly. Do we want to see Jesus that badly? Mother Teresa used to say that she didn't need to preach about Jesus to the poor she served, because the poor she served WERE Jesus. Jesus is in the most difficult people and in the most unlikely places. If we are looking for him only in church we are like Herod, not looking all that hard. Where is Jesus in our day, today? Love, heidi
Luke 9:9
And the same could honestly be said about us...we keep trying to see Jesus. We are either looking in the wrong places or we are missing the obvious. Where are we looking? Are we walking right past Jesus, looking for him only in church when he is actually on a street corner? Herod was the king, if he wanted to really see Jesus, he could have sent for Jesus. I don't think he wanted to see him that badly. Do we want to see Jesus that badly? Mother Teresa used to say that she didn't need to preach about Jesus to the poor she served, because the poor she served WERE Jesus. Jesus is in the most difficult people and in the most unlikely places. If we are looking for him only in church we are like Herod, not looking all that hard. Where is Jesus in our day, today? Love, heidi
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Get up and follow!
"As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him."
Matthew 9:9
It never ceases to amaze me how fast and fully Matthew just got up and followed Jesus. There may have been a bit more to the story, but the point is clear...Matthew answered Jesus' call without much hemming and hawing. Do you wonder what his wife said, "Oy vey! So you're going to quit your job and follow a preacher around? Like that's gonna put food on the table?" We can laugh but, many times, our answering the call of Jesus is upsetting to those around us. And why? Because answering Jesus' call makes us different, unusual. Our lives will not be the same as they were. Following Jesus may put us at odds with others. They may feel that we have become too goody-goody or ooey-gooey. Following Jesus puts us at odds with the world and its emphasis on money, power and success. We may do strange things like put others first, pray for our enemies, give generously to the poor. Weird stuff like that. It says that Matthew just got up and followed Jesus. His life changed beyond imagining. He lost his old life and took on a new life in Jesus. And we are called to do the same. How fast do we get up and follow? Love, heidi
Matthew 9:9
It never ceases to amaze me how fast and fully Matthew just got up and followed Jesus. There may have been a bit more to the story, but the point is clear...Matthew answered Jesus' call without much hemming and hawing. Do you wonder what his wife said, "Oy vey! So you're going to quit your job and follow a preacher around? Like that's gonna put food on the table?" We can laugh but, many times, our answering the call of Jesus is upsetting to those around us. And why? Because answering Jesus' call makes us different, unusual. Our lives will not be the same as they were. Following Jesus may put us at odds with others. They may feel that we have become too goody-goody or ooey-gooey. Following Jesus puts us at odds with the world and its emphasis on money, power and success. We may do strange things like put others first, pray for our enemies, give generously to the poor. Weird stuff like that. It says that Matthew just got up and followed Jesus. His life changed beyond imagining. He lost his old life and took on a new life in Jesus. And we are called to do the same. How fast do we get up and follow? Love, heidi
Monday, September 19, 2011
Hurry up and wait patiently!
"When you're waiting, you're NOT doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be."
Sue Monk Kidd, "When the Heart Waits"
It seems that, whenever I have reached a certain goal or milestone, I immediately want to leap to the next thing, right away. As soon as I got out of college I thought, "Time to get married!" As soon as the last kid graduated from high school and left home my thought was, "OK, Next! Time to make a change!" But, just the this title of this book suggests, there is a need and a time to wait. Waiting has never been a strong suit of mine. I'm very impatient, and waiting seems like a waste of time...let's just get on with it, shall we? But, the heart needs to wait. The soul needs to quietly wait and mature and allow God to build up from within. The advice in this quotation from "When the Heart Waits" was the advice the author received from a monk at a retreat center. It was brought home to me when I was on retreat in June, basking in the silence of waiting. I'm so much more a "do-er" than a "wait-er." But there are times in our lives when the best thing we can do is wait. There is much being done within us while we wait. Love, heidi
Sue Monk Kidd, "When the Heart Waits"
It seems that, whenever I have reached a certain goal or milestone, I immediately want to leap to the next thing, right away. As soon as I got out of college I thought, "Time to get married!" As soon as the last kid graduated from high school and left home my thought was, "OK, Next! Time to make a change!" But, just the this title of this book suggests, there is a need and a time to wait. Waiting has never been a strong suit of mine. I'm very impatient, and waiting seems like a waste of time...let's just get on with it, shall we? But, the heart needs to wait. The soul needs to quietly wait and mature and allow God to build up from within. The advice in this quotation from "When the Heart Waits" was the advice the author received from a monk at a retreat center. It was brought home to me when I was on retreat in June, basking in the silence of waiting. I'm so much more a "do-er" than a "wait-er." But there are times in our lives when the best thing we can do is wait. There is much being done within us while we wait. Love, heidi
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