St. Francis Day!

"Attracting followers, (Francis) launched a new order, the Friars Minor, who, in their strict faithfulness to the Gospel--seeking out the poor, the sick, the marginalized, embracing poverty and nonviolence--turned the values of their society upside down."
Give Us This Day

If St. Francis walked among us in our day he would certainly turn the values of our society upside down, too, wouldn't he? How did we get so far afield with our lust for consumerism, our treatment of the poor, our reverence of wealth? We put statues of St. Francis in our yards, but could we live more faithfully to the Gospel to honor him instead? It would be one thing if Francis had been born poor and just did well for himself, but the interesting piece of his story is that he was born rich--a Rich Young Man, in fact, who did exactly what Jesus told the RYM in the Gospel. Francis was a little more dramatic, perhaps, as he stripped naked and gave his fine clothes back to his father to the shock and horror of all gathered in the town square. From then on he lived the true Gospel: not the Prosperity Gospel of "Do well for yourselves," but Jesus' Gospel of taking care of each other, loving each other, and providing for each other. Today we honor the man who brought Jesus to the thirteenth century. How can we emulate him and bring Jesus to the twenty-first century? Let's do one thing today that we can picture St Francis doing--one act of giving, sharing, embracing, including and, most important of all, let's do it joyfully! Love, heidi

Speak life!

"My strong angels, be with me wherever I go...Stand at the first gate with your sword in your right hand. Keep this entrance closed to proud, lazy words. When they want to leave my mouth, don't let them."
St. Umilta of Faenza, "Sermons," as quoted in Give Us This Day

Wow, this must have been when women were still allowed to give sermons! And such a vivid image St. Umilta portrays! Angels stationed at our mouth to keep us from saying stupid stuff. My angels have obviously not been beckoned enough to this particular duty...I'll work on that today!  It's interesting to think of the mouth as the "first gate," isn't it? Jesus points out that it isn't what goes into our bodies that causes us to sin, but what comes out via the "first gate." Words cannot be shoved back down the throat like they never came out, even though we'd like them to. No, we have to stop the offending words from coming out of our mouths in the first place and I like the image of the angels standing guard. I like the image of a clutch on the mouth that must be engaged before saying something, too. Either way, our words can bring life and positivity or they can be hurtful and destroy. Today, let's make an effort to bring forth goodness from our "first gate!" Love, heidi

Teaching moments

"An argument arose among the disciples about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his side..."
Luke 9:46-47

Jesus sees the ambition and competition among the disciples and wants to teach it out of them, via his lesson with the young child. I was thinking what lesson would Jesus want to teach me this autumn Monday? What unattractive trait would Jesus want to teach out of me? Well, probably my tendency to judge quickly and harshly, for one! For example,  I have some new neighbors and they make take a little getting used to. That doesn't mean they are bad, but they have been giving me someone to snap to judgment on! Ugh, that. Notice how kindly Jesus uses this moment with the disciples to teach them? He doesn't scold them or speak harshly to them, but he places a child by his side and says, Be like this kid and you may be great...I know Jesus speaks kindly to all of us when we realize, to our chagrin, what about ourselves needs changing. Recognizing that, let's be open and honest with Jesus about what we can do better. Today. Love, heidi

Everything has a season...

"God has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done."
Ecclesiastes 3:11

The more widely known part of the verse, "There is an appointed time for everything," in other words the song from The Byrds, is more popular; but this part hit me this morning. I was thinking how fast time goes and things seem to come around full circle. When we were newly married and living in Billings, my mom and I used to go shopping or "prowling," as she called it. I always did the driving, as she was beginning to feel less confident behind the wheel and I was young and fearless. Now, however, many years later, whenever Sam and I do some prowling around, she always does the driving, since I am so much less confident...yada, yada. Criminy, I even wear my mom's old blue jacket! The seasons turn round and round and before I could even catch on to the work God has done, I'm the elder, the old lady in the blue jacket, letting my daughter drive me around like Miss Daisy!  It is sneaky, though. You may not even realize it's happening until this reading from Ecclesiastes or The Byrds' song comes on the oldies station. It's sneaky and fast, but also has a right and good sense about it, too. "To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn. And a time for every purpose under heaven." Love, heidi Oh and enjoy a trip back to the sixties with The Byrds below:
Turn, Turn, Turn The Byrds

Something new...

"What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? One generation passess and another comes, but the world stays forever...Nothing is new under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 1:3-4, 9

This poor grumpy Gus could have been me a few years ago, I'm sad to admit. My advice to him would be to get rid of all he has, move across the state and get a job working with little kids. But, really...these difficult times we are experiencing now in our world do give us pause to wonder, What is it all for? What reason do we have for getting up each morning and doing it all again? We need to find that out for ourselves, but for me, it has been about letting go, seeking what God desires for my life and, essentially, climbing down the success ladder. It's not about what we achieve or how well we do or the fancy stuff we accumulate. It's about how we can serve God and our fellow creatures on the planet, and the planet itself. When I heard this reading this morning, I shuddered with understanding. What can we hope for long after we are gone? That some day some future relative will delight in finding us on ancestory.com? We'll be a leaf in someone's family tree? Maybe. But, for me, I delight in wanting to help out right here, right where I am. God has graciously given me a new pond, a new wineskin and I'm loving every minute of being here. There CAN be something new under the sun if we just look for it! Love, heidi

Hear and act!

"(Jesus) said to them in reply, 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.'"
Luke 8:21

An interesting little caveat to this is that God is actually doing the work through those who hear and answer. That may help us get over the hump of thinking we are responsible for it all on our own. Thinking that will just get us spiritually proud and ew, who wants to be that? If we hear and act on God's nudgings in our lives, it is God who picks up the banner and waves it, not us. Knowing that may help us overcome any shyness or discomfort wading into waters with a faster current. It will help us thinking how wonderful we are for doing something charitable. It will help us give God the glory, where the glory belongs. We can be instruments and helpers of God, but God is really behind any good that we do. Does that make it easier for us to do good stuff? Love from the treehouse, heidi