Use your gifts!

"For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control."
2 Timothy 1:7

So true, this. But what about those times when one feels extremely lacking in these areas? The spirit may be there, but it isn't evident...what about those times? What about the times we don't feel the love and the self-control? We feel irritated and angry? I guess that is when we pull out this scripture and realize we really do possess the gifts we are afraid we lack. We need to tap into the Spirit within and draw from the gifts our Great God has given us. It reminds me of a wonderful homily Fr. Caleb gave years ago. He was given a pint of very rich and wonderful ice cream and, not wanting to eat it that day, he stuck it in the freezer. There it stayed for months and months, until, finally he found it and decided to enjoy it. The first taste told him that it was freezer-burned and was awful! The moral he gave for that story is that we are given these wonderful gifts but if we don't use them, they may go bad on us. We are gifted with power and love and self-control, but we need to put these gifts to good use regularly! Love, heidi

Questions and answers

"I asked, 'What shall I do, sir?' The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything appointed for you to do.'"
Acts 22:10

We all have a conversion story. Even those of us, baptized as infants, have a moment or a time in our lives where our grown-up faith story begins. I remember even praying that I would do with my life whatever God called me to do. "Please just make it clear!" I prayed, knowing full-well that I needed a message just like St. Paul..."Get up and go to Kalamazoo, Michigan to school and work with blind people..." It was just that clear and the path just that straight! But, we really do have daily conversions, don't we? Each and everyday we are up against situations that may not be quite as clear as Paul's road to Damascus or my road to Kalamazoo. Each day, we have many times when we could say, "What shall I do, sir?" What shall I do about the difficult client or co-worker? What shall I do about the fact that I don't have a job or I have just received a bad diagnosis? The answers may be murky as well. But, if we take the time to be still and listen to the silence, the answers will come and we will have peace. I think sometimes we want the answers Hollywood-style and God doesn't work that way...well, God worked that way for St. Paul, but it is not always that obvious for us. Today, let's pray that little prayer of St. Paul at his most vulnerable state, "What shall I do, sir?" And listen and watch for the response. Love, heidi

Dance a jig!

"Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the Lord with abandon, as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn."
2 Samuel 6:14-15

I love the image of David dancing, with abandon, before the ark! I kind of know how he feels too, because, sometimes, you just gotta dance! Sometimes the Spirit just wells up inside and you have to express it! I think, sometimes, we mistake somberness for reverence and we look like we are at a funeral each Sunday. But, God's beloved David teaches us how to really celebrate God's Presence, doesn't he? With shouts of joy and dancing with abandon...now, that is MY kind of church! Today, let's reach down and touch the joy that is surely in our hearts as followers of Jesus. Whether it is singing in the car and not being concerned who is watching from the next lane, to breaking into a jig at the office...we've got that joy, joy, joy, joy...down in our hearts! Love, heidi