"Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet..."
Mark 6:11
Pray-As-You-Go mentions that this passage is Jesus teaching his disciples how to handle rejection. You know rejection--people don't want to hear you or have you around. Ouch, right? But Jesus teaches the Twelve to just brush it off. Don't take things too personally. It's not about you. Even if it feels like it's about you, it isn't. Recently, I've had a wee bit of rejection myself. But God has given me the grace to see it for what it is...not about me. It's much more about a Bigger Picture that has me surrendering to God's plan and God's idea, which are vastly better than my own. So today, this first day of the month of Love, let's take Jesus' advice and learn to accept things that do not seem to be going our way. For in the reality of God, they are working out just the way they should. Love, heidi
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Live gently...
"To live simply is to live gently, keeping in mind always the needs of the planet, other creatures, and the generations to come."
Eknath Easwaran, (As quoted in Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, 1/31/2018)
Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution I actually kept. Of all the many through the years that went by the wayside by the end of January, the year I vowed to begin recycling was one I still keep. Our city makes it easier with curb-side recycling, but even before that we have recycling bins all around the city. It just makes sense to me and I bristle when I hear people say, "Oh we don't recycle!" Why not? Do you not see that the earth is groaning under our piles and piles of stuff? Do you not rejoice when you see something re-purposed into something else useful? I used to wonder how people could only have a small little bag of trash on the curb while we seemed to have a ton we lugged out on garbage day. Now I know...they must recycle, and so must I! Today, let's think about how living simply and gently could look in our lives. Let's think about how we treat our earthy home and are they ways we could treat it better, with more care and love? It's never too late for a New Year's resolution to reduce, reuse and recycle! Love, heidi
Eknath Easwaran, (As quoted in Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, 1/31/2018)
Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution I actually kept. Of all the many through the years that went by the wayside by the end of January, the year I vowed to begin recycling was one I still keep. Our city makes it easier with curb-side recycling, but even before that we have recycling bins all around the city. It just makes sense to me and I bristle when I hear people say, "Oh we don't recycle!" Why not? Do you not see that the earth is groaning under our piles and piles of stuff? Do you not rejoice when you see something re-purposed into something else useful? I used to wonder how people could only have a small little bag of trash on the curb while we seemed to have a ton we lugged out on garbage day. Now I know...they must recycle, and so must I! Today, let's think about how living simply and gently could look in our lives. Let's think about how we treat our earthy home and are they ways we could treat it better, with more care and love? It's never too late for a New Year's resolution to reduce, reuse and recycle! Love, heidi
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Touch his cloak...
"The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth."
Mark 5:33
The woman with the hemorrhage wanted to keep a low profile, certainly. She was, after all, considered "unclean" and shouldn't have been out and about with others in the first place. Touching Jesus the way she did would render Jesus "unclean," too. So she very quietly and secretively touched his cloak, hoping against hope that his power would heal her. But Jesus foiled her plan when he felt the healing power go out of him and he wanted to know who had touched him. Imagine her fear! Imagine the courage it took her to admit it was she would had touched him and made him unclean! But the healing power of Jesus healed all of her, not just her hemorrhaging. She came forward and courageously "told him the whole truth." Can you imagine how freeing that was for her? Especially when Jesus praised her faith and held her up as an example to others? Pray-As-You-Go invited us this morning to sit with Jesus and tell him the whole truth of our lives. We need not fear that our deepest, darkest secrets would render Jesus "unclean" or even startle him. Jesus already knows them and the masks we wear to face the world are completely unnecessary for Jesus. He loves us in all of our uncleanness, illnesses, crabbiness, faults and failings. Jesus just invites us to touch his cloak. Can we do that today? Love, heidi
Mark 5:33
The woman with the hemorrhage wanted to keep a low profile, certainly. She was, after all, considered "unclean" and shouldn't have been out and about with others in the first place. Touching Jesus the way she did would render Jesus "unclean," too. So she very quietly and secretively touched his cloak, hoping against hope that his power would heal her. But Jesus foiled her plan when he felt the healing power go out of him and he wanted to know who had touched him. Imagine her fear! Imagine the courage it took her to admit it was she would had touched him and made him unclean! But the healing power of Jesus healed all of her, not just her hemorrhaging. She came forward and courageously "told him the whole truth." Can you imagine how freeing that was for her? Especially when Jesus praised her faith and held her up as an example to others? Pray-As-You-Go invited us this morning to sit with Jesus and tell him the whole truth of our lives. We need not fear that our deepest, darkest secrets would render Jesus "unclean" or even startle him. Jesus already knows them and the masks we wear to face the world are completely unnecessary for Jesus. He loves us in all of our uncleanness, illnesses, crabbiness, faults and failings. Jesus just invites us to touch his cloak. Can we do that today? Love, heidi
Monday, January 29, 2018
Uncovering our desires...
"But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, 'Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.'"
Mark 5:19
It seems like just a few days ago Jesus was calling folks to join him, like Peter, Andrew, James and John. "Come after me," he beckoned (Mark 1:17). Now we have this fellow, who certainly has a powerful story to share if he went along with Jesus, but Jesus tells him to go back to his own family and share his story with them. And the guy did as Jesus asked. What does this mean for us? I think it means we are all called to serve God according to our gifts. God knows best what our gifts are and where we can share them most effectively. God shares that information with us if we just ask and pray to serve as we are needed. It would be lovely to have our mission so clearly and unmistakably stated, as in this reading, wouldn't it? But God does share our mission with us as the deepest desire of our hearts. If we can be still long enough to go there--deep inside our hearts--we can uncover that deep desire. That desire may seem out of reach or impossible. Okay. But if it is really there, we must pray about it and cultivate it. God will help us make it happen if it is truly God's will. So, as we go about our mid-winter Monday, let's take some quiet time to pray and ponder about what we really want to do. Is it vastly different than what we are doing? If so, how can we wiggle that around? Love, heidi
Mark 5:19
It seems like just a few days ago Jesus was calling folks to join him, like Peter, Andrew, James and John. "Come after me," he beckoned (Mark 1:17). Now we have this fellow, who certainly has a powerful story to share if he went along with Jesus, but Jesus tells him to go back to his own family and share his story with them. And the guy did as Jesus asked. What does this mean for us? I think it means we are all called to serve God according to our gifts. God knows best what our gifts are and where we can share them most effectively. God shares that information with us if we just ask and pray to serve as we are needed. It would be lovely to have our mission so clearly and unmistakably stated, as in this reading, wouldn't it? But God does share our mission with us as the deepest desire of our hearts. If we can be still long enough to go there--deep inside our hearts--we can uncover that deep desire. That desire may seem out of reach or impossible. Okay. But if it is really there, we must pray about it and cultivate it. God will help us make it happen if it is truly God's will. So, as we go about our mid-winter Monday, let's take some quiet time to pray and ponder about what we really want to do. Is it vastly different than what we are doing? If so, how can we wiggle that around? Love, heidi
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