God's peace...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?"

Psalm 27

No matter how often we read or hear this Psalm we can't hear it too often! Despite our best efforts, the world can chew away at us and really erode our good humor, can't it? Stuff happens. Maybe it's fear of huge world issues. Maybe it's anger at injustice. Maybe it's a terrifying diagnosis, loss of a job, or maybe it's just irritation at each other. But, bottom line: life is hard sometimes. That's when we can turn to scripture and find just the answer we need. And, very often, it is Psalm 27:

"The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek; to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life..

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living."

There now, isn't that better? No matter what is troubling us, God wants us to come, sit down, and open ourselves up to the healing Word. There is nothing going on that is out of reach of God's peace. Love, heidi

God on the back burner?

"In essence, there is only one thing God asks of us--that we be men and women of prayer, people who live close to God, people for whom God is everything and for whom God is enough."

Brennan Manning, "The Ragamuffin Gospel"

This seems like such a stage-of-life thing to me. During our early stages of life we may put God on the back burner. We know about and appreciate God, but God may not be our "everything." I had such a strong sense of God even as a child, but, even so, I was not as tuned in to God as I am now--kids grown, more time to pray...It is so wonderful to realize that God waits for us during those times, isn't it? Now that I have more time to spend with God, I appreciate even more how God carried me through some of the difficult times of my life. Especially during those times God languished on the back burner of my mind! Today is a good time to spend some time in quiet with God and sort of touch base. Are we making significant time for God during our prayer time? Where is God in our day? God wants to be smack-dab in the middle of it! Love, heidi

Of one heart and mind...

"The community of believers was of one heart and mind..."

Acts 4:32

This passage always makes me giggle to myself; I'm pretty sure this was the LAST time a group of Christians was of the same heart and mind! Anyone who has attended a Catholic school PTA meeting when uniforms are discussed knows that a group of Christians all of the same mind is rare indeed. But giggling aside, we Christians aren't always of the same mind and heart and is that OK? Saints Peter and Paul didn't even get along all the time! Sometimes we need to get down to the very basis of our mutual faith...we love Jesus. Some of us celebrate that love as Catholics, others as Methodists, Evangelicals, Lutherans...but the bottom line is we love Jesus. And Jesus loves us, so much we will never understand it. Jesus wanted us all one and we can all be one, in love with him. We can show Jesus that one-ness by appreciating each other and the common bond we share in Jesus without criticizing or judging each other. We are all sinners in love with Jesus. And that is a beautiful thing! Today, let's put aside any differences we have with the large, world-wide community of Christians and let's be of one heart and mind...loving our Jesus! Love, heidi

Ready to do your will!

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

Luke 1:38

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation (since March 25 was in Holy Week and this is the first possible day after Easter week--I know, I was scratching my head, too). Anyway, the message of today's feast isn't lost just because we wiggle it around on the liturgical calendar! We are all here, Christians, thanks to Mary's "Yes!" Yesterday at mass we sang "Refiner's Fire" and that line, "I want to be holy...set apart for you, Lord. I want to be holy, set apart for you, my Master, ready to do

your will!" (Brian Doerksen). Time and time again, when I hear the message to do God's will, I answer each time, "Yes, I want to in the worst way, but please be clear about what it is--exactly!" In pondering Mary's Yes, and my wanting to do God's will (or at least saying I do!) makes me realize I have choices all throughout my day to do God's will. It's not just a huge vocation thing, although it could be. But it is more choosing what God would like me to do all through the day. Is God nudging me to invite someone to coffee? Is God putting in my mind to pray for someone? Is God asking me to step out of myself and reach out to someone who may be going through something? So today, as we celebrate Mary's yes and we sing about being ready to do God's will, let's be open to the little ways that will may come clear to us. Love, heidi
If you want to pray this beautiful song with the man who wrote it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA6fCAHVzs