Category: Building Christian Character

On Sunday, our sermon was about the pitfalls for people who seek status in the world. It came from Luke, Chapter 14, and centered around people trying to get a spot at the head table. It was a good sermon. But, as the pastor read the scripture, the very first verse stuck with me, so much so, that I jotted it down.

Jesus went to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee, the religious people of the day. They would most likely translate in modern terms to people who are regular church goers, who thought they were in the know, righteous, and living a holy life.

The part that caught my attention was, “he was being carefully watched.” That’s in the second part of the very first verse.

We can find phrases like that throughout the Gospels. Jesus was always being “carefully or closely watched,” but not for reasons we might think.

Most of the religious people of the time were not seeking to learn from Him or to emulate Him; they were seeking to trap Him. They were hoping to catch Him breaking Jewish laws. They were seeking to disprove his goodness, His Godliness.

When I think about how the world looks at Christians today, don’t we find the same pattern?

The word Christian, from the Greek, means follower of Christ.

When the secular world looks at Christians, what does it see? What does it seek to see? What do we show it?

Jesus’ three year ministry, consisted of a lot of prayer, a lot of time in the synagogue, a lot of teaching, a lot of healing, a lot of compassion and a lot of community. He did seem to get frustrated from time to time when people refused to listen. He got downright angry when people were using His Father’s house to make money. He also exhibited lots of patience and forgiveness.

When we go through our daily lives and we claim to be Christians, what does the world see? How do we behave at work? How do we treat the cashiers we come into contact with? How do we act when we are driving down the road? How do we treat our family members? How do we treat our neighbors? How do we react to the homeless guy on the street?

The world carefully watched Jesus when He was on earth. The world carefully watches His followers today. Are we carefully watching Jesus? Are we seeking to emulate Him?

What is it that we are showing the secular world that would make the people in it, want to become one of us?

Jesus wants our hearts, not our lip service. Our faith is one of free will. What are we doing to share with this sometimes dark world, the beautiful light and love of Christ?

The answers of course are as individual as every person who reads this, but in the end, we are all called to do something, to be a walking, living, advertisement and invitation, to be a part of the Greatest Story ever told.

A Bible verse reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

On Sunday, after a church fellowship lunch, my family returned home. My hubby took our son out to practice his driving and I was running around doing some chores. I had a load of laundry to do. I had to make some more sugar water for our insatiable hummingbirds. I needed to iron.

My daughter was sitting on her bed playing on her phone. She’s been fighting some kind of allergy/cold deal for a couple of weeks. She hasn’t been sleeping well and she was exhausted. I told her she needed to take a nap.

She was kind of reluctant. I smiled to myself, thinking about how she didn’t want to nap as a three-year-old either. Mommy knew, however, that rested children are happier and much easier to get along with children than those who aren’t.

This mommy also knew that rested seventeen-year-olds are also much easier to get along with than those who don’t get enough sleep. Not to mention, they heal better too.

When she finally agreed to take a nap, I found myself tip-toeing around the house, struggling not to make any noise, a habit I picked up when she was still in the crib. She always had a difficult time falling asleep.

But, as I moved about my quiet house like a ninja, thinking about all of the things I needed to accomplish before Monday, I realized that I too, was completely exhausted. I had been cramming lots of to-do lists into my weekends and left very little down time for myself.

I had an internal debate. The house was quiet. I had some time to write without answering anyone’s questions or trying to block out the noise of the television. It was a very rare event these days. It was a gift. Right? Wasn’t it foolish not to take it?

But, I also felt another nudge, a stronger one, that reminded me that I too, needed rest to function well. I needed rest to communicate well. I also needed rest if I didn’t want to be a cranky member of my family. Didn’t they deserve the best of me?

Upon retrospect, it was so ironic that I could easily see how much my own child needed to rest, but I couldn’t see it in my own situation.

But, God knew. I pray daily that I can hear His voice and that He will guide my thoughts and steps and I know that the nudge for some rest came from Him.

I gave in and took a thirty minute nap. I woke refreshed and ready to write. I had a better attitude and the chores I needed to do, they got done anyway.

If I knew that my own child needed to rest, why wouldn’t my need to rest matter to my Heavenly Father? Am I not a child of His?

The answer is of course, yes. That’s the awesome God we worship.

He is with us in the everyday, in the seemingly mundane details in our lives. There are no cares or concerns of ours that are too big or too small for Him.

My tired seventeen-year-old reminded me. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

Last weekend, my hubby and I volunteered to chaperone at the Bandathon, which is a dance held every year for the members of the high school marching band. I’ll have to admit that I was not looking forward to it. It was on a Friday night and I was tired from a long week.

But, band dances are different from other school dances and I was in for a treat.

First of all, there’s always a theme at those dances. This year was simply music and anything that had to do with it.

There was a girl who simply showed up with musical notes on her shirt. John Lennon was represented. There were rappers present and so were the Village People. The children’s group, the Wiggles, was there. We saw a disco era John Travolta and the more recent group, One Direction. Weird Al was there too.

It was a never-ending parade of different genres and musical styles and that was before the first song was played.

The DJ played music almost exclusively requested by the teens. It certainly wasn’t what I expected to hear at a school dance in 2016. There were line dances like the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha Slide. There was disco music by the Bee Gees. There was a ton of 80’s music and some newer tunes as well.

As I looked out across the dance floor at the eclectic group of teens, I was amazed at how they all danced together in big groups to whatever music they heard. Nobody sat out and no one got left out. From time to time, the parents jumped in and danced too and what did the kids do? They just danced along side us.

I have thought about that dance all through the past week. I have thought about how those band kids weren’t afraid to use their creativity. In fact, they were encouraged to be creative and no one was afraid of feeling stupid. They laughed and clapped for each other as they entered the room.

They cheered each other on. When the DJ played a song from the children’s television show, the Wiggles, the group dressed as the Wiggles, danced together and the other kids danced with them and clapped.

Can you imagine the average teenager, being willing to express themselves like that?

High school can be a rough place and so often, fitting in, is every kid’s mantra. Grown up life can be very similar, can’t it? Things from saying the right thing, to wearing the right clothes, to having the right job, to living in the right neighborhood, to having the perfect kids, can wear us out emotionally, physically and spiritually.

We can get so focused on being just like everyone else that we forget that God made each of us wonderfully unique for a purpose, His purpose.

We weren’t meant to all look alike, or act alike, or think alike. We are different and different is good, because when people of all different ideas, colors, styles, shapes and sizes, come together to let our light shine and build the Kingdom of God, the world takes notice.

And this world is in desperate need of all of our individual gifts and graces. A high school band dance reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

There’s a window in the office I work in. It’s a rather large window. Until this week, it had a very large Japanese maple tree growing in front of it that almost completely covered it. I love Japanese maple trees. They are beautiful, ornamental trees. But, this particular one had grown so big that it totally blocked the window. We couldn’t see out.

Our principal put in a work order to have it trimmed. A few weeks passed and no one showed up.

Last Saturday, he brought his son and his own trimmers and trimmed the tree.

I can’t tell you the difference the trimming has made to those of us who work in the office and use the copier, which happens to be under the window, a hundred times a day. Every time we make a copy, we can now see the yellow cone flowers blooming beside the building and the gourds that are climbing the fence. We can see the sunshine and the clouds. We are now able to appreciate all of the landscape.

Almost everyone who has used that copier has commented on the view.

It’s amazing what a huge difference a couple of people could make when they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

I have thought about that tree trimming all week. I have thought about how removing the overgrowth in our lives can have such a huge impact on the world we see around us. I have thought about how much beauty we miss by allowing our lives to become so overgrown.

I was reminded that overgrowth happens over time. I’m sure that tree took years to get that big. The problem with overgrowth in our own lives, is that it’s often so gradual that we don’t realize it.

When did we get too busy to have lunch with a friend? When did we get too busy to sit down to a family dinner? When did we get too busy to sit out on the porch or to take a walk? When did we get too busy to read a book? When did we get too busy to pray or read the Bible? When did the people in cyberspace become more important than the people who are standing in front of us?

The great thing about overgrowth, is it can be trimmed away and we can be left with a beautiful new view that we didn’t even know we had.

We can simply wait for something to happen to clear it, or we can pick up some trimmers and do it ourselves. Personally, I can’t imagine why we would want to wait.

My principal and his son, reminded me that clearing away the overgrowth and making changes, is a choice that can have beautiful results. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

When I was a kid, and learning to write, I remember my teachers being downright fanatical about writing in the margins. There was a clear red line on both sides of the page. One teacher even had us hold our papers up to the light to see the line on the other side of the page. We were taught that under no uncertain circumstances, were we to write in the margins.

The margins were the place where the teacher could write her comments or make her corrections. They also just helped to keep everything a little neater. And believe me, with my handwriting, every little bit helped.

Even word processing software, has built-in margins. The program automatically knows when to start on the next line. The margins are kept clear.

Kids these days, don’t give much thought to the margins. They often will write all over them, leaving themselves no clear space and no room for correction.

I wonder if it’s somehow a reflection that comes from the fact that they are often overscheduled and have very little clear space of their own.

We all need some clear space in our day, space to breathe, space to pray, space to exercise our bodies and our minds, space that allows us to have some quiet time.

But, when we live to please others, feeling guilty for saying no, we can find ourselves with zero clear space. We can find ourselves with scheduled activity from the minute we wake up, until the minute we fall back into bed. We can find our reserves completely empty, yet we can’t understand why we are so exhausted.

When we change our focus from what others think about us or what they might say about us, to what God thinks about us, the clear space can change dramatically.

When we come to understand that clear space isn’t a luxury, but a necessity in our walk with Jesus, we can shift our priorities, and saying no, becomes a type of obedience.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians, have an enemy who would love to steal our peace and even though he knows he can’t have our souls, he’s also content to stunt our growth. If we can’t spend regular time in prayer and reading the Bible, how can we grow our faith?

If we leave ourselves zero clear space, how can we have time to spend with God?

The world is not a peaceful place at the moment. Turning on the news for five minutes, can make your stomach hurt. But, the peace that Jesus offers is different because it’s supernatural. It’s not of this world. It’s for our souls.

Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 15:27

Sounds pretty good. Right?

We can have that peace, but we have to be willing to provide the clear space to get it.

A sheet of paper reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Last week, my pastor’s wife, subbed at the school where I am working. She just retired from there and she was thrilled to be back. She also happens to sit right beside me in the choir and we laugh together a lot, mostly at ourselves and our inability to get the notes just right. I’m thankful that God put her in my path and made us friends.

At the end of the day, she came up to my desk and asked me how things were going with my new job. I told her that everyone was so nice and that I was really enjoying it, but that I also really missed having quiet.

It’s never quiet in the office of an elementary school. The phone rings. Children regularly parade through to the clinic. Parents come to check their children out and then to check them back in. And the bus radio, the bus radio is AM radio on steroids. It’s static and bus drivers from like ten schools talking over each other and ours sits right at my desk in my ear. Remember the seventies? It’s like that.

She smiled and told me that she completely understood, that she too, needed quiet, when she was working and that a lot of people didn’t understand that, but that it’s something that we all need.

She leaned in and told me that I had to find pockets of quiet. She told me that she would sometimes go home and just sit on her porch for a few minutes after work, but that she had to search for and create those pockets.

I thought about our conversation over the next few days. It made so much sense. I had always been one who liked a big chunk of quiet, like an hour or so, but what if I just tried to snatch 10 or 15 minutes here and there?

What if I turned off the radio when I was driving? What if instead of returning phone calls when I got home before my children, I just enjoyed the quiet time? I think she’s right about the pockets and I’m choosing to think of them as peace pockets.

I am choosing to seek out several times a day, whenever I can, to find a few minutes of peace, a few minutes where I can have some quiet and take a deep breath, to say a little prayer, to get back to center, and to ask God for guidance on my journey.

Sometimes, we have to be willing to fight for the quiet and insist on it, but I feel like it’s totally worth it. We can’t hear God, if we aren’t quietly listening.

A dear friend reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂